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Sramana: What roles does the publisher play? Maxine Manafy: The publisher who would host your app and promote it to the end user would also be in our network. They have the ability to approve or... ___

Top small business news stories this week looked at what to do when you get suspended on Twitter, and policy changes.  We also brought you information about new products such as the latest BlackBerry, a new tablet hybrid, and the possibility of a color book e-reader.  Also in the headlines is the life and times of a 26-year-old tech tycoon who has made it big … really big! Read on as the Small Business Trends editorial team takes you behind the scenes with these stories and more. We don’t just bring you a bunch of noise — we add context to show you how the news affects your business. Social Media How to come back from a Twitter suspension. Lately, members of the small business community have experienced unwarranted suspensions on Twitter. Contributors to Small Business Trends and even one of our own team member’s accounts were shut down without notice. We give a behind-the-scenes look at one Twitter suspension — and how to recover from it.  First step – don’t panic! Google+ Still missing the boat with big brands. Google+ may be popular with users, but some brands don’t seem to feel the same. A recent study finds that 40 percent of the major brands with a presence on Google+ have either never posted content on the social media site or do so infrequently. However, as we point out, that’s not a good reason for small businesses to stay away. Get your Google+ page up and active, and don’t wait until you have to play catch up. Hangout with pizzazz. You’ve probably heard of Google Hangouts. Some of us may even use them for business. But now an app allows you to add a dash of style as well. We show you Hangout Magix, a tool that will give you new options when it comes to adding Google Hangout graphics like logos, speaker names and titles, captions and more. Tech New BlackBerry Q5 – 3 So Far This Year for BlackBerry. The new Q5 smartphone is aimed at developing markets, not at North America. But the phone is a reminder of how pervasive mobile devices have become in the world … and how  BlackBerry is reinventing itself with the BlackBerry 10 software platform. HP targets iPad with new hybrid tablet. What’s cheaper than an iPad and able to function as both a tablet and a laptop? It’s called the SlateBook x2, and it’s coming in July from HP. The device is priced at $475, just $20 under the current iPad’s recommended manufacturer retail price. And hey, you get a keyboard, which business users love. Could a color Kindle e-reader be on the way? Sure the Kindle Fire already displays content in color, but it’s really a tablet computer rather than a book e-reader. A new color e-reader would offer advantages over its black and white counterpart without some of the disadvantages of a tablet (such as price and battery life). Rumors abound based on an acquisition Amazon made  - although so far no confirmation has come out of the book etailing giant. Policy Immigration: E-Verify isn’t required for all businesses – YET. This online system lets employers check with a government database to be sure workers are legally able to work in the U.S. The trouble is that using it is costly in terms of time and productivity, especially to small businesses. In the opinion of many it needs to be simplified. It could also be mandatory in just four years, if Senate bill 744 making its way through Congress now is passed.  But if there’s any good news in this, it’s that a provision to accelerate mandatory adoption to just 18 months was defeated in committee. So we’ve got that going for us.  :) Feds owe $3 million dollars in fees to small businesses. The U.S. owes a lot to small businesses in more ways than one. A recent investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Small Business shows the U.S. federal government owes 1,281 small businesses approximately $3 million collectively in termination fees after the government failed to meet

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Amazon recently announced acquiring Liquavista, a Holland-based company, from Samsung.   And speculation is rife  that the purchase may lead to a color Kindle e-reader to come. Liquavista makes display screens and specializes in a process called electrowetting.  Reuters describes it as technology that ”makes displays clearer in all lighting conditions and can show video without using much power.”  The technique has applications not only for e-readers but for other devices like smartphones and laptops. It’s true that Amazon already has a color Kindle, but it is really a tablet computer rather than an e-reader (read our Kindle Fire review).  But this new technology would offer certain advantages over the black and white versions of the e-reader without certain disadvantages of the current color Kindle.  VentureBeat observes: “Liquavista has built a screen technology that approaches the efficiency of traditional e-reader black-and-white e-ink screens while offering the color of LCD and other full-color screen technologies. In other words, you can have your cake and eat it, too: gorgeous full-color screen plus long-lasting battery life.  That might be just the technology that Amazon needs to kickstart conversion of its full e-reader line to a full-color and quick-response screen, as e-ink is also notoriously slow to refresh.” NateHoffelder at Digital Reader first broke the news and suggested the color e-reader connection.  The development, if it comes to pass, could be important to both readers of e-books and e-book publishers. When you consider that e-reader sales are down 28% in 2012 compared with 2011, it seems like the e-reader market needs some shaking up.  A color screen would give people who already own a black-and-white Kindle reader a reason to upgrade, and get them excited to buy more Kindle books.  And it could make Kindle content itself more compelling to owners of e-readers, especially for books with images in them.  Who wouldn’t rather see images in color? Amazon is focusing heavily on digital content, so investing in devices that make it more compelling  to consume that content make sense. In an e-mail to CNET, an Amazon spokesperson stated: “We are always looking for new technologies we may be able to incorporate into our products over the long term. The Liquavista team shares our passion for invention and is creating exciting new technologies with a lot of potential. It’s still early days, but we’re excited about the possibilities and we look forward to working with Liquavista to develop these displays.” Further details of the purchase have not been made public. The video below shows the technology in action. Image: still from Electrowetting Display video The post Will We Soon See a Color Kindle E-Reader, Instead of Black and White? appeared first on Small Business Trends.

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