What are the best examples of large companies innovating effectively? – Quora

While not a company (as asked for) we should expect near-term disruptive innovation with the growing use of RFID labels, scan-enabled cell phones, and ubiquitous internet connectivity.

The early pointers indicate this lethal combination in the retail marketing arena will dramatically shift the balance of negotiating power from the retailer to the consumer. Margins will become razor thin for commodities, favoring online markets, and forcing brick and mortar stores to compete through value-added enhancements to the business relationship.

When Google announced an upgrade to their Google Docs service earlier this month, a company blog post also mentioned several third-party applications which can help make the transition to the online service easier. With these apps, you can transfer and synchronize your local files to Google Docs without having to upload them one-by-one. But which application is right for you?

We took a look at the options Google suggested and have summarized the features, drawbacks and pricing information below. In addition, we also reviewed one other application not specifically mentioned in the Google blog post that may be of use to those moving to the cloud-based service.

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This article points out the obvious cost associated with commercial software, and ultimately recommends ‘open source’ aka ‘free’ alternatives.

He directs readers to the repository Open Source Alternatives as a great location to find suitable replacement applications across many categories.

I use a large number of these programs and can attest to both the value and quality—all due to the generosity of some very smart individuals!!

Try it.  FREE absolutely does not mean CHEAP!

Tips on how to create video in your web site.  Click here.

Most office workers nowadays use more than one computer which generates all-too-common problems–not the least of which is the problem of remembering the links to all of the critical web sites you need to visit on a regular basis. This solution is so simple and the benefit is so great I can’t believe everyone isn’t already using one service or another.  My solution is Foxmarks, but there are numerous others.

No matter what browser you’re using, if you use more than one computer, you want to keep your browser bookmarks in sync. Firefox users have Foxmarks, which is not available for IE—but a few other tools can handle this task for you in IE. The first and most obvious choice is the Google Toolbar; but if you’re anti-toolbar, check out Zinkmo (original post), another bookmark syncing tool.

The best part: both of these add-ons have Firefox versions, which means that you can sync your bookmarks with Firefox for those times you don’t have to use IE. If you’re an IE-only sort, you may also want to try out IE7Pro’s bookmark syncing tools.

See the whole Lifehacker article here.