Monday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 11/10/2014

Retailers see hope in lower heating, gas prices

Retailers hoping for a lift to the year-end shopping season see promise in gas prices, which last week fell below $3.00 for the first time since 2010. Those savings, along with the effect of lower heating fuel, could amount to more than $2 billion extra per month for consumers, analysts calculate. More from Reuters.

Tips from the Trenches
Advice for small business success

You can learn a lot working at a grocery store as a kid. Like how to treat customers. That lesson stuck with Chris Johnson, President of Piper Fire Protection, guiding him to grow his family’s business in Central Florida. Read Ron Stein's conversation with Chris Johnson.

Space Coast companies growing with security market

Business Profile
Tropic Oil

To people who run cargo ships, cruise vessels, trucking companies, construction sites, as well as many yacht owners, Tropic Oil’s red trucks are a familiar sight, filling up their tanks with diesel fuel and providing them with specialized lubricants for marine and truck engines, hydraulic systems, forklifts and other equipment.

» More from the Miami Herald

A new agreement between Quantum Technology Sciences, a provider of sophisticated seismic detection solutions based in Cocoa Beach, and Delta Group Electronics in Rockledge, is leading to new jobs for both companies. More at Florida Today.

High hopes for this year's snowbird migration

After several years of record-breaking growth, tourism and travel promoters are hoping for another strong winter season. They are keeping their fingers crossed that harsh storms in the nation's northern reachers this year are cold, but not too cold. More at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Small Business Advice
The myth of multitasking

So many people -- especially Millennials -- believe multitasking is a skill they have perfected and will proudly proclaim how much more effective they are because of it. Sadly, the opposite is true in reality. Read more from Jerry Osteryoung.

Out of the Box
Virtual kiosks will take health care outside the clinic

Clinic "kiosks" will soon be connecting Floridians and physicians via video screens and interactive tools. Guidewell, the parent company for Florida Blue health insurance, carted out products it expects to become part of Florida's health care future, at the MediFuture conference in Tampa.