Weird Businesses You Can Surprisingly Venture Into

There are tons of kinds of small businesses existing that serves a wide variety of markets. Who would ever think that a weird business like selling in threes, cuddle sessions or a mobile wedding chapel could actually make a profit? Well, you may want to check some of these weird small businesses and see for yourself that you don't have to be conventional in order to make some profitable income.

Cuddling Service

There are times when all you need is the comfort of another person. There's nothing like a good hug or a warm cuddle, but what if you don't have the option of doing it with another person? So, here comes Cuddle Party in the scene.

Cuddle Party is a "playful social event designed for adults to explore communication, boundaries, and affection." These events are safe spaces where attendees can go to meet and talk to new people as well as to practice consent and asking for what they want, and of course, to just cuddle. Cuddling with strangers may sound absurd, but there's value in their mission to teach boundaries, consent, affection, communication, and non-sexual touch. The company was founded in 2004 and is a federally recognized non-profit organization.

Check out their website www.cuddleparty.com if you're interested to know more about this service.

Mystery Marketplace

Are you someone who is interested in something new but don't know what exactly to get? You can find the solution in the SomethingStore. This retailer offers customers who love surprises the opportunity to purchase a brand new (never used or refurbished) mystery item, or "something" for $10.

According to the SomethingStore's site, your "something" may be a cool shiny gadget, a rare book, a handmade necklace, a reverse clock, box of gourmet chocolates, portable tennis set, etc. Anything goes, as long as it's legal to trade in the United States and it's worth at least $10. Since it started last 2007, this weird business has sold over 200,000 brand-new somethings.

Socks in Threes

No matter how boring and risky it can be, doing the laundry is a part of life. Why risky? Because somewhere in the journey from the hamper to the dresser, you could possibly lose one of your favorite socks, leaving it useless.

With Throx, you can minimize the chances of handling another lonely leftover sock. The company helps customers fight the infamous "sock monster" by selling socks in threes, not pairs. That way, when you lose one, you've still got a backup sock to keep the other company, so you can keep wearing your favorite pair and doing your laundry worry-free.

Throx's socks are one-size-fits-all and range in price depending on the design, though most cost around $10.

Mobile Wedding Chapel

Are you in a tight budget but want to get married as quickly as possible? Whether you're sober or drunk, The Wedding Wagon is the perfect thing you're looking for. This unique mobile company founded in Las Vegas provides a full wedding ceremony for just $129.

You have the option to choose when and where you want to get married, and the wedding wagon will meet you there with a minister, a witness, and a fully decked-out mobile chapel. For an extra hundred bucks, The Wedding Wagon will even arrange to meet you at some truly beautiful venues.

Furniture for Slobs

Do you have a spit-up-prone baby or a territorial pet cat that sprays on every single furniture he sees? If you do, then we understand what you're going through when it comes to your home furniture. Well, you might be interested to know that there's a company devoted entirely to helping people like you.

Slobproof, a Maryland-based furniture and design company, builds custom chairs, sofas, and ottomans with specially engineered fabric that withstand spills and other messes without staining. Debbie Wiener, founder and CEO of Slobproof, said her design style marries the "common sense of a Jewish mother with the muscle of a professional wrestler."

Can't Unfollow or Unfriend People on Social Media? Mute Them!

Tired of your friends, family, or colleague who keeps making non-stop posts about what they ate for lunch or how they look when they woke up? The problem is, you simply can't unfollow or unfriend them without them knowing that you did. Sometimes, it's easier to mute them, and you can check their page every now and then if you want to keep up appearances.

Check out these guides on how you can mute people on social media without completely getting rid of them.

Twitter

For some, they can still find it easy to be annoying in 140 characters or less. Good thing you can now mute them and they won't even find out. They'll still be able to interact with you and respond to your tweets, so you don't have to worry about offending them.

All you need to do is to tap one of their tweets, and then hit the options menu (three circles next to the like button). Hit the Mute option there and you're done.

Facebook

This is one of the most common social media sites where you would really like to delete people from your news feed but you can't.

If you're getting spammed or you've had enough selfie posts of someone in particular, you can tap on a recent update and choose to receive less updates from that person. You can pick from the list (as shown below) depending on what you feel what's right for you. This method is nicer than completely deleting them from your Friends list, and it saves the hassle in case you bump into them in person.

Eventually, their posts will stop coming in to your news feed if you keep hiding their content.

LinkedIn

Even though we all know that LinkedIn is a professional social media site, there's always somebody who doesn't understand where to draw the line when it comes to self-promotion. You can mute or advert a conversation easily by clicking the arrow in the upper-right corner beside the Follow button. You can choose to hide that particular update or conversation, and it will stop cropping up in your news feed every two minutes.

Deleting people in this site is not a very good thing to do if you want to stay professional and use the site for networking or business purposes.

Google+

Google+ can be considered as a much hated social media platform even though it has a number of loyal users -- a number of them are also annoying. To mute a page or person, click on their name, then click the arrow down button at the bottom. Choose the option to mute the annoying/offending page and they'll never know you did that to them.

5 Types of Apps That Can Transform your Smartphone Into a Mobile Office

It's convenient to have a laptop -- you can do your business or finish a report wherever you are. But sometimes, carrying a laptop can still be a hassle and you know that things have to be done. It can be impractical to use a small screen to get the work done, but there are times when you don't have a choice. If you're an on-the-go professional, you need your smartphone to be more than a Facebook machine. Below are five app categories that will transform your smartphone into a work powerhouse.

Document conversion

If someone emails you a PDF file and you need to make some changes to it, it needs to be converted. In this case, you can depend on apps like PDF to Word, wherein it can pull from email, Dropbox, and Google Drive, and with just a few taps produces a .DOCX from PDF format.

Though you have to wait for about an hour unless you pay $5.99 for its premium version, which is not so bad especially if you're going to do a lot of PDF conversions. There are also other document conversion apps like the easyPDF (for Android and iOS), which can convert both ways.

Document editing

That .DOC file is no use for you if your smartphone doesn't have any word processing app installed. You can choose from any of these document editing apps: Microsoft Word (Android and iOS), Google Docs (Android and iOS), and Pages (iOS only).

Make sure you have a digital signing app installed on your smartphone as well. This is useful when you only need to sign a PDF file instead of converting and making edits to it, which is the purpose of the DocuSign (Android and iOS) app. You can sign and email documents straight from the app itself.

Cloud storage

Since we're living in a post-desktop computing era, most of us believe that storing documents directly in a computer is not a wise practice. That goes double for mobile devices, which are more likely to disappear than a desktop computer.

Cloud storage is a must for anyone doing work on a mobile device. The most commonly used are Google Drive (iOS and Android) and Dropbox (iOS and Android), but there are also other apps that you can also try. See to it that whatever document you are working on are synced to the cloud so that you'll still have a copy even if your phone dies, gets stolen, or breaks.

Business management

Operating your own business, or you're small part of one, doesn't mean you have to be tethered to a desk anymore. Many applications that are used to manage businesses have a cloud-based component, which means you can use them wherever you happen to be -- it's up to you whether that's a good thing or not.

Platforms such as Salesforce have mobile apps for iOS and Android that reportedly feature all the same content as their desktop apps. There are also various PM platforms that also have mobile apps: Trello (iOS,Android), Asana (iOS, Android), and Basecamp 3 (iOS, Android) all have on-the-go options available.

Communication

Sending emails and texts is not enough when it comes to business communication. There are times when you need to make a face-to-face call on Skype (iOS, Android) or a quick group conversation in Slack (iOS,Android).

Now, if you're taking a lot of business calls on your personal phone, you may want to consider using a secondary number, like those provided by Google Voice (iOS, Android) or Citrix Convoi (iOS). You can give your number out to clients or colleagues and you'll never have to worry about getting called on your personal one anymore.

You can also get eFax (iOS, Android), an mobile app that allows you to send and receive faxes. While most of the world has moved on to digital documents, there are still some hardcore faxes out there who still prefer doing business the traditional way. In that case, you don't have to scramble looking for a FedEx or UPS Store since you can do it directly from your smartphone.

4 Reliable Encryption Tools for Pre-Android Marshmallow Devices

If your Android device is running below version 6.0 Marshmallow, it's completely wide open since they weren't encrypted by default. This is fine since encryption isn't a life and death concern, and if you really wanted full encryption, you can do so on your Android device.

Below are some helpful tools that let you arm your pre-Marshmallow Android device with full encryption, which hopefully gets the job done. Check out which supplemental tools will best suit your encryption needs.

Andrognito 2

If you're searching to get your files encrypted on Android, Andrognito 2 is a great way to go. The great thing about this app is that you'll be able to use "military-grade" AES 256-bit encryption to secure your individual files. This means you don't have to worry about prying eyes getting access to your important data. This app also supports invisible mode, a "fake crash" mode to deceive unwanted users, dynamic PIN numbers, automatic backup, file import, and themes.

Boxcryptor

Do you have the need to encrypt something before you share it to a popular cloud storage service? Well that's possible with Boxcryptor. The app supports a multitude of storage providers (mainly Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive). When you lock up your file, it's secured and encrypted with the AES-256 algorithm, and both encryption and decryption is done directly on the device itself.

The free version just allows for basic encryption, but if you buy the Unlimited version of the app, you'll also be able to obfuscate individual filenames as well. Such a feature is incredibly useful when you're looking to secure your data and files from prying eyes.

Vault

Vault is a simple and pretty straightforward, unlike the other apps on this list. In fact, it's an easy-to-understand program, which is perfect for those who don't normally know a lot about encryption. However, if your goal is to just to protect different types of files, this application should be considered a serious contender.

The app supports pdfs, images, videos, and mp3 files. The encryption algorithm used is 256-bit AES, and it also supports password protection, as well as native camera support, automatic logout, break-in alarms, and even a stealth mode. If you need a basic encryption app, then you might just need Vault.

SSE

Even though SSE is not as modern as Andrognito 2, this app proves to be an entire encryption tool set for Android doesn't have to be. With SSE, you get more than just a file encryption tool -- you'll also get a vault to store all your important password information, a text encryption tool to lock up important documents, and the ability to encrypt entire directories or individual files.

In addition to that, the SSE encryption tool also comes with a secure password generation tool and a clipboard cleaner. Everything is run with particularly strong encryption algorithms, such as AES 256-bit, RC6 256-bit, Serpent 256-bit, Blowfish 448-bit, Twofish 256-bit, GOST 256-bit (and more in the pro version).

Use Privacy to Make Your Online Shopping Safer

One of the benefits of online shopping is that it saves a lot of time and lets you find the best prices without leaving the comfort of your home. It's now easy getting those things you want or need as putting them in your virtual cart and checking out. However, during the checkout process, do you slightly hesitate whenever you enter your credit card number? Well, don't worry because it's completely normal as you are worried that your credit card number is going to fall into the wrong hands.

If you usually shop online, then you're going to love Privacy. What this app does is it generates a one-time credit card number for your online shopping that will only be valid for one purchase. This will repeat itself every time you buy something online. This way you will never have to give your true credit card number, and as a result it minimizes the chances of you becoming a victim to identity theft. You will, though, have to give your information to Privacy in order to complete your online purchases.

Here's how to sign up and learn about the great features of Privacy.

How to Sign Up

The sign up process is pretty simple and easy. To start, you need to fill up a short form wherein you will be asked to enter your email, password, address, name, and birthdate. The last step would be to connect the bank account you will be using for your online purchase, and Privacy works with banks such as Citibank, Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

Your login information is transferred through a safe TLS (SSL) connection. Privacy also uses 256-bit encryption to keep your information secure while transferring your login details. You will also be asked to install the Privacy Chrome extension to make your online shopping a lot easier. At the moment, the extension is available for Chrome and Firefox only, but support for Safari and Internet Explorer are on the way.

Other Cool Features

At checkout you will notice a small Privacy icon next to the credit card field, and when you click on it Privacy will automatically create a new virtual credit card particularly for the website you are shopping on.

You will have the chance to choose from what account you want the money to be withdrawn from, similar to a debit card. You can either use Privacy's mobile app or the web app. To cancel cards from there, pause them or set charge limits that go from $1,000 per day and $2,000 per month.

You can also have a credit card number for a specific service. For example, you can create an alternative credit card number only for your Hulu subscription. That credit card number will be used only for that and nothing else.

You can also avoid those annoying 30-day free trials that make you give your information to try their service. This way, if you forget to cancel it on time, you can just eliminate that Privacy number you had for it.

Highly Recommended Devices That Will Increase Your Productivity

Professionals who want to be highly productive are always on the lookout for tools to make their work faster, simpler, and more efficient. Check out some of the coolest tech devices that will get your productive juices in the next level.

Dell UltraSharp 34-inch Curved Monitor	Using a curved monitor eliminates the need for dual monitors, offers 21:9 aspect ratio and 3440 x 1440 resolution. The idea of curved monitors is that by curving the image slightly forward, the world you're watching seems to 'wrap around' you more, entering slightly more into your peripheral vision, thus drawing you deeper into the world you're watching. Curved monitors also enhance the sense of depth because curving the edges of the image towards the viewer enhances the visual perception of depth in what you're watching. You can find these for as low as $750 at Amazon.
Microsoft Surface Book	The world's first Microsoft-branded laptop provides high-end graphics, a powerful stylus, solid design and aesthetics, and 2-in-1 tablet and notebook versatility. It can be a pleasant experience especially for graphic designers, project managers, Microsoft Office power users, photographers, and other types of creative professionals. You may feel a bit awkward with its hinge design and its heaviness, but it is compensated by the device's mix of standard laptop, touchscreen, and pen computing.
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	There are two kinds of feedback people give to the Edge edition of Samsung's Galaxy phones -- it's either they hate it or they love it. For some, they appreciate the phone's elegant design, but for some they find it annoying because they often hit the curved side of the screen unintentionally. The S7 Edge has a fantastic display, zippy processor, fast fingerprint scanner, and a top notch camera.
Apple Magic Trackpad 2	One of the best way to boost your productivity, especially if you're a Mac user, is to get the Apple Magic Trackpad 2. Force Touch is the new pressure-sensitive technology from Apple that promises to change the way we interact with our Macs by offering shallow and deep layers of interaction on the trackpad.
iPad Pro with Apple Pencil	For some professionals and Apple enthusiasts, they consider the iPad as a laptop replacement (or companion) because it forces them to focus on one task at a time -- whereas multitasking provides a big chance of getting distracted. For them, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is the tablet to beat. The humongous screen (with 2732 x 2048 resolution) is a huge canvass that can be used for drawing, editing photos, looking at highly visual websites, viewing documents, and marking up files and images with the new Apple Pencil.
Samsung Galaxy TabPro S	The Galaxy Tab Pro S is a Windows 10 Pro slate with solid specs and great integration with Samsung smartphones. It offers Microsoft Surface-like capabilities, starts at $800, and gives you phone notifications and lets you respond to texts straight from the tablet. This 12-incher is more tablet than a laptop, so it's considered to be more of a competitor with the iPad Pro than the Surface Book. As a pure tablet, it's one of the best Windows 10 slates you can buy out there.