If you commute to work you’re twice as likely to catch a cold than if you work from home, a survey by flu relief brand Lemsip Max All in One has revealed today – another reason, if you needed it, to get away from the daily grind and start a business.According to the survey, 98% of those who regularly commute by bus and 96% of those who travel by train caught colds last winter – compared to just 58% of those who work from home.Disgustingly enough, the survey also found one person’s sneeze can infect 150 people in the same space within five minutes, while someone who doesn’t use a handkerchief or tissue when they sneeze will blow 100,000 ‘germ-filled droplets’ into the air, which then attach themselves to seats, handles and rails.Gross.

Sod the drop in interest rates, we knew they were coming and anyway, Smarta, like much of the country, still hasn’t got over VAT.While the recession has sparked a number of eyebrow-raising activities on behalf of the middle classes (who could honestly have said this time last year, it would one day be all right to drink Prosecco at dinner parties, as long as it’s from Aldi?), never has a pre-budget report been so much the subject of popular conversation than this year’s.Darling’s unprecedented decision to cut VAT sparked a groan from beleaguered retailers, who grumbled that they have quite enough to worry about, thank you very much, without having to reprice every single item on their shelves; as well as snorts of contention from consumers, many of whom moaned that actually, the cut wasn’t enough.Some retailers, though, have taken the opportunity to turn the smiles of the three or so shoppers expected to grace high streets this before Christmas firmly upside down by turning the cut into, well, a bit of a joke.Not content at having changed its name, brand philosophy and main offering, Pizza – sorry – Pasta Hut is giving Darling a fiscal slap in the face by throwing a ‘VAT-free weekend’, taking 15% off the price customers’ bills, while news has just come in via Chiconomise of Holborn bar and restaurant Pearl, which will be celebrating the Chancellor’s generosity by selling champagne at £15 a bottle – but only for 17.5 minutes after 17.50 until December 17, natch.Smarta is enormously impressed by these retailers’ creativity, and would like to suggest similar methods of protest for other industries: office clock manufacturers producing bendy clocks to help businesses under pressure from the government’s extension to flexible working rights, perhaps? Or even banks giving loans with an interest rate of 2%...?Whoops - sorry, we got ahead of ourselves there.

It’s not uncommon for the brains behind the newest and brightest technological ideas to be university academics. But they don’t always have the business experience or know-how to get investors on board and see how a product could work in the wider market.This opens an opportunity for entrepreneurs looking for a new technology to exploit commercially. They can jump in and offer their business acumen in exchange for holding the license to the product or building a company around it which they then have a share in.The academics, on the other hand, may well know that they have a great new piece of technology on their hands, but need to find that person who can turn their idea into an economic success and handle the business and financial nitty-gritty that they’re too busy inventing to worry about.There’s an interesting article in today’s FT exploring this - how to turn new academic research and developments in technology into commercially viable businesses. The process is known as creating a spin-out.If spin-outs are the type of entrepreneurial opportunity that you might consider, it could be worth reading the advice the FT gives in the article – handily summarised especially for you by your dear Smarta blogger:Employ a successful technology transfer boss, with experience of running university spin-outs, who knows the ins and outs of the academic world. Be patient – expect numerous revisions of the business plan and manage expectations. Be prepared for a long gestation. As with any entrepreneurial business, keep in touch with investors you know and always be on the look-out for new ones. Be willing and ready to partner with a larger technology transfer office at another uni or VC group – particularly if your university lacks resources.There are also some things you shouldn’t be doing. Don’t create spin-outs simply to meet targets or create PR – failure is worse than no product. Don’t lose sight of the fact that the point of this is to transfer technology to society in the safest way possible – that may often mean licensing technology to an established company rather than using the spin-out model. And don’t spin-out a company if the researchers aren’t on board. You need them on board, if only because much of the intellectual property is in their heads, even when you hold the license. Make sure they know how much work is involved in spinning out a company. And realise that investors aren’t always going to put in money quickly – don’t be impatient.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.Just as once-powerful retailer Woolworths nears the end of the long road to credit crunch doom, another high street Goliath has announced it might not be doing quite as well as we all thought.Tesco: just two years ago, there were grumblings among citizens’ rights groups that the company was perhaps overstepping the mark a tad by allegedly buying up land near its stores so competitors couldn’t move in. And now?Sales are actually down.Yes, Tesco – which until recently was replacing church as the British public’s Sunday morning activity of choice - saw like-for-like sales grow just 2% in the last three months – its worst figures for 14 years, according to The Guardian.Smarta is having difficulties feeling sympathy for a company which has been heavily criticised for allegedly anti-competitive behaviour, and would like to suggest a positive effect of the downturn could be the beginning of the end for the super-chain, and the end of the end for small shops – which would be nice.

Ahh, 'tis finally the season to be jolly (well despite the you-know-what).Except - oh no - the CPI has gone up. No, not the Consumer Price Index, silly, the Christmas Price Index. That is, for the less romantic amongst you, the price that being a True Love comes in at around this time of year.Compiled by American investment group PNC Wealth Management, the index is based on the total cost of purchasing the following in the US:twelve drummers drummingeleven pipers pipingten lords-a-leapingnine ladies dancingeight maids-a-milkingseven swans-a-swimmingsix geese-a-layingfive golden ringsfour calling birdsthree french henstwo turtle dovesand, of course, a partridge in pear tree.Apparently it's those swans-a-swimming that have pushed things up a bit, as well as the hefty export costs of all those different birds. Although if you're going for a credit-crunch version of True Love, you may be pleased to hear that the drummers-drumming, pipers-piping and lords-a-leaping have seen wage inflation kept in check by worries about job security, so their cost has increased by just 3%.PNC assert that the index is actually a good indicator of broader trends in the American economy. It's leapt up by 8.1% to $21,080 this year up from last year, the second highest ever increase. The US government's Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen 3.7% this year.Not perhaps the index of the future for statisticians and economists everywhere, but certainly an intersting way of looking at things. So remember to cut backs on the swans this festive season and you should come out the other side of the crunch like a lord-a-leaping.

Congrats to Baileys and Archers manufacturer Diageo, which has made it to the top of this year’s ‘Most Admired Companies’ list.The list, compiled by Management Today, is decided by peer reviews and investment analysts based on the companies’ quality of marketing, ability to attract, retain and develop talent, and their quality of goods and services.The list is a reflection of the market conditions: a piece in The Telegraph points out that while Diageo has knocked Marks and Spencer off the top spot, the banking sector has fallen 44 points, and there’s just one media company in the top 10.Some of the companies which did well in last year’s list are conspicuous by their absence at the top: not only did Woolworths drop from 216th position last year to 238, but beleaguered bank Bradford & Bingley plummeted from a respectable position at number 166 in 2007 to 235th this year.Matthew Gwyther, Management Today’s business editor, told The Telegraph the list is ‘an extremely accurate barometer of what is happening out there’ – but British business is still going strong.“While it brings more doom and gloom for many retailers and banks, and the writing is clearly on the wall for lame-duck brands such as Woolies, there is still much to admire about British companies,” he said.

As the Mumbai tragedy continues, the only confirmed British victim of the massacre is shipping entrepreneur Andreas Liveras.73-year-old Liveras truly embodied the entrepreneurial spirit: having left Cyprus with his family in 1963, he worked at the 'tiny' Fleur De Lys bakery in Kensington, until the business' owner decided to shut up shop five years later. Liveras took on the bakery, and grew it to become one of Europe's biggest frozen gateaux manufacturers.In 1985, Liveras sold Fleur De Lys for 'an eight-figure sum' to Express Dairies, and used the money to start a new business, Liveras Yachts, in Monaco.

According to The Guardian, the luxury yachts included features such as Roman baths, saunas, steam rooms, jacuzzis, cinemas and helicopter landing pads.Liveras built the 280ft Alysia, the 'biggest charter yacht on the seas', which cost £500,000 a week to charter. Guests have included Robbie Williams and the King of Bahrain.Shortly before he died, Liveras spoke to the BBC from inside the basement of the Taj Mahal hotel, where he was barricaded with a group of guests. "We're just living on our nerves," he said.The Telegraph reported that a woman at his son Dion's house last night told the paper the family are 'in deep, deep mourning'.The death of such a vibrant, creative individual represents a huge loss to the entrepreneurial community - our best wishes go out to his family.

There are many routes you can go down to secure funding these days – equity finance, bank finance, if those are non-starters, scrabbling around down the back of the sofa usually turns up something.An interesting blog from Robert ‘darling of the recession’ Peston alerted Smarta to the government’s newest suggestion, though: publicly funded business loans.The £1bn scheme, announced by Alistair Darling in his pre-budget report on Monday, will allow small businesses to borrow between £1,000 and £1m at ‘more flexible terms than before’ which, according to Darling, will make lending ‘more affordable and easily accessible’.Is it a good idea, though? Well, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) certainly seems to think so.“It’s a sign of the importance of small businesses to the UK economy,” beamed the organisation’s national policy chairman, John Walker. “It will provide a vital cash boost to businesses struggling with rising costs and a lack of credit.”While Smarta can see some problems associated with having a group of entrepreneurs who are essentially working for the government, we’re inclined to agree. Well done, Darling. You’ve have given us at least one thing to look forward to in February.

The recession doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Not to say it’s a good thing, but forced cut-backs can teach businesses some very valuable lessons.For a start, all companies worth their salt are now looking for ways to reduce overheads and production costs. Scrutinising the necessity of even a micro millimetre’s worth of material can lead to big savings when the difference is spread over a large quantity of product. Coca Cola, for example, has saved on 15,000 tons of aluminium in the past year across Europe by making its cans ever-so-slightly thinner. (Who would’ve known?) Drinks giant Britvic has managed to cut back on 1,670 tons of plastic per year simply by redesigning its Robinsons squash bottles.And all of Cadbury, Mars and Nestle have announced that they’ve stealthily cut back on Easter egg packaging by a quarter. These changes were all led by consumer pressure to reduce packaging for environmental purposes, but the lesson is clear – a bit of time spent reassessing design and packaging can lead to massive reductions in materials.Reductions mean savings. And savings, right now, mean survival.

Interesting and fun new site for all tech entrepreneurs is www.techfluff.tv. It features 10 minute video round-ups of all things tech, including interviews, events, advice and upcoming dates for the diary.The vids are engaging and fun - not too much fluff, and not too much tech, but enough of both to keep you interested and smiling.It's all been put together (and is presented by) young new media entrepreneur Hermione Way, who is still in her very early 20's but is already - with this - on her second major project. Big congrats to her for knocking up Techfluff, which has today got the Twitter crowd all a-flutter with praise.