Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Internet reputation management Services

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Monday, January 24, 2011

Making Money Your

Another Facebook change, another privacy uproar. Read the headlines and you might have thought the social network was planning to open the books on private cellphone numbers and home addresses to any advertiser willing to slip them some cash, rather than adding some more sharing options along with the usual granular control over who gets to see what of your digital details. Unsurprisingly Facebook froze its plans pending a reassessment of its privacy controls; unfortunately, nobody is taking Facebook users – and the online community in general – to task over taking some responsibility for what they share.

If you haven’t been following the story, here’s the situation in a nutshell. Facebook announced on Friday that it was planning to add address and mobile number to the personal information that could be shared with applications, websites and advertisers. As with other personal details, the degree to which that data was accessible would be managed under each user’s permissions settings: everything from a come-and-get-me open pipe to a complete block on anything being revealed. Facebook billed it as a way to “easily share your address and mobile phone with a shopping site to streamline the checkout process, or sign up for up-to-the-minute alerts on special deals directly to your mobile phone.”

Don’t get me wrong; I’m under no illusion that Facebook is doing this for altruistic reasons. Making online purchases quicker is undoubtedly handy to those who actually click through Facebook adverts, but for the social network itself it’s all about making money from its most valuable asset: its millions of registered users. Just like with a free newspaper, Facebook makes its money by showing you adverts, and it can use your personal information to tailor those ads more appropriately. Access to personal contact details, meanwhile, is even more valuable.

However, just because there’s profit to be made for Facebook, it doesn’t mean this is either bad for the user or a sign of Evil Big Business taking advantage of the general public. We manage the degrees to which we disclose personal information all the time, long before Facebook arrived and gave us a simple privacy settings page to work with. Every time you avoid giving your phone number to a door-to-door charity worker, tick the no-junk-mail box on a bank form or refuse to give your address to someone you just met at a bar, you’re exercising your own, personal privacy filter.

Perhaps I’m being unfair. After all, it only takes a quick glance at sites like Lamebook (often NSFW) to see that many Facebook users have problems with over-sharing, accidentally making public posts out of what were meant to be private messages, and generally forgetting who out of their friends and family can read what they’re saying. Maybe Facebook does have some intrinsic responsibility to shepherd its members through the difficult journey that is online life; perhaps the privacy pages really won’t be complete until there’s color coding, pop-up warnings and a virtual cash register showing just how much you’ve lined Mark Zuckerberg’s pocket.

This constant push-me-pull-me with Facebook does users no favours. Every time the privacy patrol scream, and Facebook backtracks, it reinforces the idea that the site itself is solely responsible – should be responsible – for making safe use of the information we share online. Don’t get me wrong, if Facebook was looking to sneak in a “we can sell your identify” clause into the T&Cs, that’s something worth shouting about. When, though, we muster the same amount of vitriol for sharing options that already have safeguards – safeguards that satisfactorily protect our email address and other details – it looks more like abdication of responsibility. We want to trust Facebook do “do the right thing” – based on our own interpretation of what “the right thing” is, exactly – so that we won’t have to. We can spend our time looking up old crushes, posting photos of ourselves looking fierce in clubs, and commenting on videos of cats.

Privacy is important, but the responsibility begins at the individual level. Just as you don’t hand out your address to strangers in the street, maybe giving it to every website that asks isn’t all that sensible either. Relying on other people, or companies, to protect us universally is a naivety we abandon before adulthood in the real world, yet something many seem determined to cling to online. That’s before you get to the thorny issue of lost or stolen data. In the end, it’s your life, your number, your face: it’s up to you whether it’s an open book.

We’ve been promised for a while now that our phones will become our personal assistants. Executives from Cambridge, Mass.-based Vlingo sat down with me this week to talk about how they’ve delivered on that promise — and started turning it into real revenue.

It seems like all the big guys are trying to get into this business. The incentive, as a Googler put it when the company launched a similar service last year, is that voice is much more natural than typing as a way to interact with your phone. Apple, meanwhile, showed its interest by acquiring a startup called Siri. And Microsoft included voice commands on Windows Phone 7.

The difference, according to Vlingo’s vice president of business Hadley Harris, is that the startup has built all its basic technology, including speech recognition (something that Siri outsourced) and the “intent engine” that allows the app to translate your words into actions that it understands. Vlingo is working with other companies to integrate a wide range of apps into the system, so that you can use your voice to buy a plane ticket off travel site Kayak or check your updates on Facebook.

Vlingo has been downloaded 7 million times, Harris said. BlackBerry users represent most of those downloads, since that’s the phone that Vlingo focused on first, but iPhone and especially Android are catching up. The company’s strategy is to release new features on Android first, then port them to other phones as resources and technology allow.

The app is free, so Vlingo makes money through advertising and revenue sharing with its partners. Specifically, Harris told me it currently earns $7.74 for every 1,000 Web searches, $49 for every 1,000 local searches, and $24 for every 1,000 “other” monetizable actions, such as a ticket purchase on Kayak. With users performing an average of 30 actions every month, Harris said Vlingo is making about 14 cents per user per month.

That might seem a little low, Harris acknowledged, but the plan is to dramatically increase both the number of users and the number of actions over the next year. Most promisingly, he said Vlingo has made deals with a number of Android handset manufacturers who don’t want to direct all of their usage to Google services. (He said it’s too early to reveal who the manufacturers are.) Not only will that put Vlingo on more phones, it will also make the application more prominent on those phones by turning it into the default app whenever you want to use voice commands.

Next Story: Why display ads are cool again Previous Story: Gamification is the new black, reaching beyond loyalty programs to engagement

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

American fitness guru Jack LaLanne died Sunday afternoon at his home in Morro Bay, California, according to his long-time agent, Rick Hersh. He was 96. The cause, said Hersh, was respiratory failure due to pneumonia.

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning Chiefs fans. Another super thin day for Kansas City Chiefs news. There are quite a few hits on the Hali & Berry to Pro Bowl story, but they are all basically the same info. Here are your two stories... Enjoy.

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

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Jack LaLanne dead at 96 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Hype Is Not News But We Keep Acting Like It Is

This morning I read a headline from the Wall Street Journal that had promise, especially as it could impact online ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

manage personal finances

I’ve spent hours of my life toiling over virtual cities in Maxis’ Sim City series, and it must have rubbed off after all these years. I still enjoy meticulously planning infrastructure, zoning and carefully tweaking finances to this day.

The other day whilst trying to work, I accidentally (oops) went looking for some online heirs to the Sim City throne. Despite simple Flash games lacking the depth of even the original Sim City, I guessed there had to be a few decent, free city building games out there.

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ElectroCity

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A simple turn-based Flash game created by New Zealand energy company Genesis Energy to give players young and old a shot at managing a town or city’s growth and impact. Players must pay close attention to the levels of energy used, sustainability and environmental factors.

Players are given 151 turns to alter tax rates, build things, destroy things and generally oversee the planning of a city from an environmental point of view. It is up to you to keep your citizens happy, maintain finances and get the highest score possible out of 100 available points.

If you’re seeking inspiration then there’s plenty of completed cities to gawp at, and you can even save your progress and come back to it at a later point. Remember – it’s all about balance.

IBM CityOne

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A very in-depth city management game that allows you to choose one of four aspects of city life to manage – energy, water, retail and banking. This game also uses a turn-based system which scores you after each turn made.

There’s a fairly chunky registration form to fill out before you can play (which asks for all sorts of intrusive data) but the game itself functions well, especially if you’re a business-minded individual.

Your city starts off sketchy and greyscale, with colour gradually introduced as you implement much-needed change. At times it plays like a big advert for IBM, but remains enjoyable and looks pretty good to boot. Probably not great on slower PCs, especially those with an aversion to resource-heavy Flash.

City Creator

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Not necessarily a simulation or a management game, City Creator simply allows you to do just that – create a sprawling landscape from a set of pre-fabricated buildings and features.

The game features charming pixel art from and an isometric viewpoint, which complements the laid back style of play. Simply drag items from the left hand side of the screen to your city on the right and see what you come up with.

There are 3 building sets to choose from, each with their own unique style. If you register on the site you can save your creations and share them with your friends. If you just want to build a city then City Creator should entertain for a while at least. Be sure to check out their other project Castleford.

Zanpo Virtual Cities

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Lovers of Minecraft and pixel art rejoice in this Flash block-based city building game. Instead of building preset structures and features Zanpo Virtual Cities allows you to build fairly detailed city blocks using individual building pieces.

Users then vote on the best ones, and they get added to the virtual city. This one strikes me a bit like online Lego, and the emphasis is very much on building and not management.

You’ll need to register to build, or you can simply choose a city from the drop down list and click City View and see what everybody else has been building.

CityVille

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I know, I know. You’re sick of FarmVille, so why on earth do you want to hear about CityVille? Well considering there’s already more than 20 million people playing it I figured it would be an injustice to not include it on the list.

If you’re fine with yet another application accessing all your personal data and posting whatever it feels like to your wall then CityVille might appeal. The game is a casual Sim City-esque sim in which you take a humble town and turn it into a sprawling metropolis.

Graphically the game looks awesome, and there’s the added social interactions provided by the Facebook platform. If only it didn’t clog up your feeds, eh?

There are a few more Facebook games, that I’ve left out (it’s quite a saturated market, and Facebook isn’t for everyone). If you’re interested, they were:

Social City
Millionaire City
Hollywood City

Have you found any other cool city building games? Do you prefer building or managing? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit : Shutterstock

id="more-61297">

ElectroCity

style="text-align: center;">

If you’re seeking inspiration then there’s plenty of completed cities to gawp at, and you can even save your progress and come back to it at a later point. Remember – it’s all about balance.

IBM CityOne

style="text-align: center;">

City Creator

style="text-align: center;">

Not necessarily a simulation or a management game, City Creator simply allows you to do just that – create a sprawling landscape from a set of pre-fabricated buildings and features.

Zanpo Virtual Cities

style="text-align: center;">

Users then vote on the best ones, and they get added to the virtual city. This one strikes me a bit like online Lego, and the emphasis is very much on building and not management.

You’ll need to register to build, or you can simply choose a city from the drop down list and click City View and see what everybody else has been building.

CityVille

style="text-align: center;">

Graphically the game looks awesome, and there’s the added social interactions provided by the Facebook platform. If only it didn’t clog up your feeds, eh?

There are a few more Facebook games, that I’ve left out (it’s quite a saturated market, and Facebook isn’t for everyone). If you’re interested, they were:

Social City
Millionaire City
Hollywood City

Have you found any other cool city building games? Do you prefer building or managing? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit : Shutterstock

Source:http://removeripoffreports.net/

Major earthquake strikes southwestern Pakistan – This Just In ...

[Updated at 4:47 p.m. ET] An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 struck Wednesday morning in a remote area of southwestern Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The earthquake occurred at 1:23 a.m. (3:23 p.m. ...

Perfect Market, news ad firm, lands $9 million in funding round ...

Perfect Market Inc, a start-up that seeks to help news organizations make more money through online advertising, has won $9 million in new funding in a round led by Comcast Interactive Capital, the cable giant's venture arm.

Modern & Contemporary Design Platform / Good News/ Products ...

so the user can be updated on the latest news, hopefully some Good news. Good news is made of 25mm lacquered oak veneer plywood. The product is "flat-packed" and is easily assembled by means of only one screw. ...

Friday, January 14, 2011

Free rental agreement forms where

The situation is a bit different if what is in dispute is a house. Obviously, the house cannot usually just be sold to repay a Legal Aid bill (it may be home to children) so what happens therefore is that the board will attach what is known as a "Statutory Charge" to the house in respect of monies owing. This means that when the house is sold or re-mortgaged then the Board will get their money. It is not a free loan however. Interest attaches to the charge and continues to accrue. It is rare for the board to agree to postpone their charge in the event that the house is eventually sold or is perhaps re mortgaged in the interim but they will consider it. As I stated earlier, there is no "free lunch".

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Talk with your local branch banks. Credit unions are another great route to take and you should explore membership with a credit union to have more options open to you. The small, local branches are often more inclined to work with someone who has credit challenges. There is something special about the small-town effect when it comes to your relationship with the bankers.

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Science news

Science news snippets Herpes target - UK scientists have used solution-state NMR spectroscopy for the first time to develop ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Great news: Elected officials know less about the Constitution ...

So claims the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which just concluded a five-year study on the American public's knowledge of its foundational legal document. The bad news: the general public gets an F, with just a 54% average on the ...

Thursday, January 13, 2011

web site promotion internet marketing

When I went into marketing/communications in the 80’s, things were simpler. I spoke 5 languages, which pushed me into this field. What else could I do, be a translator? Not on your life. Not when I could be creative, come up with quantitative studies and research why / how people buy.

It seemed simple, right? You have a product and you have to figure out a way to sell said product. You had magazine ad space, TV commercials, newspapers… every day, everywhere you looked, you’d see some form of advertisement. Eventually, we became desensitized to print and TV marketing – the traditional ways.

The Internet wasn’t used as it is today (although it still had some traction). The World Wide Web was the Wild Wild West. It was a “small” little marketplace, with a minor audience for client product promotion.

And Then Internet Entered the Scene… Fast Forward in Time

Advertising is more sophisticated now… but then, so are consumers. Way back when, we could survey the consumer, create charts, crunch numbers… it was all about data. Anymore, however, you have to understand consumer psychology.

Marketing has gone holistic. Yes, quantitative and qualitative data is still important, but we’re not looking at real numbers anymore. We’re looking at the consumers themselves.

What makes buyers buy? Is it the way a site looks? Does having the sidebar on the left gain a greater response than having the sidebar on the right? Are blue links more “clickable” then, say, green ones? Is “buy” more active than “act”?

What Are the Click Triggers?

With all the Google changes lately, you really have to pay more attention to your site. Of course, if you’re a regular reader, you know I push site attention anyway, no matter what Google’s doing. However, with all the vertical marketing possibilities, you want to make sure you get all the bang for your buck you can from any top listing you get.

So you study the click triggers – those beautiful little differences that cause people to click through: through to your website, through to your buy page, through to your “thank you”. It’s a step-by-step process, and you have to guide them every step of the way.

Ask yourself:

Is my content sticky? Does it have good information worth reading?

Are my headlines well written? Do they grab readers’ attentions?

Do I let others (those who will tell me the truth) read my content before I put it up? Do they like it? Do I listen when they offer suggestions?

Is it easy to navigate through my site? Does my site create a pleasant user experience?

Are You Ignoring the Individual?

This is the most serious question, and you need to really give it some thought. If your content completely targets consumers (i.e. all product/service focused) rather than having helpful bits of information, you could be losing out.

You can’t appeal to everyone; not everyone is your target market. You don’t want to get so busy trying to reach everyone that you miss those who might convert. Build your site, images, writing, etc within the context of your specific target, and then experiment.

Experiment….?

Yes, experiment. Human behavior and relevance is a beautiful thing. Being able to associate one with the other will have half your online battle won. However, you can’t just pull knowledge out of the air. You have to be willing to experiment – to test. Plenty of tools are readily available for just this purpose, such as…

Google Website Optimizer

A/B testing is in; guessing is out. If you think you might know why a page isn’t converting, that’s all well and good. However, there’s a difference between thinking you know, and really knowing. With a little A/B testing, you can find out what areas really are the problem and fix them.

Usabilla

Take a screen shot of your page and put it up on Usabilla. Let people know what questions you want them to answer and then send out the link. This little goodie can give you some very valuable insights in terms of layout and design.

4QSurvey

Very nice, very short survey. You can find out why people came to your site, whether they found what they wanted (giving you visitor satisfaction ratings) and get suggestions from them, all in the same program. Again, this is a very useful goodie.

The three above are just a few. There are, literally, tons of usability testing tools out there. Many are free; some cost, but are worth it.

You’re not going to get through today’s marketing world by guessing. You’re not going to make it with traditional marketing tools. You have to be willing to use everything at your disposal; you have to be willing to expand.

What changes have you made to keep up with online marketing and technology?

Post image via BDoughertyAmSchool

And Then Internet Entered the Scene… Fast Forward in Time

Marketing has gone holistic. Yes, quantitative and qualitative data is still important, but we’re not looking at real numbers anymore. We’re looking at the consumers themselves.

What Are the Click Triggers?

Ask yourself:

Is my content sticky? Does it have good information worth reading?

Are my headlines well written? Do they grab readers’ attentions?

Do I let others (those who will tell me the truth) read my content before I put it up? Do they like it? Do I listen when they offer suggestions?

Is it easy to navigate through my site? Does my site create a pleasant user experience?

Are You Ignoring the Individual?

Experiment….?

Google Website Optimizer

Usabilla

4QSurvey

The three above are just a few. There are, literally, tons of usability testing tools out there. Many are free; some cost, but are worth it.

What changes have you made to keep up with online marketing and technology?

Post image via BDoughertyAmSchool

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Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

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Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

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Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

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Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

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Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

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Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

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Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

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Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

bench craft company reviews bench craft company reviews

Bruno Mars Continues Hot 100 No. 1 Rotation with 'Grenade ...

Bruno Mars circles back to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as Grenade once again replaces Katy Perry's Firework at No. 1 (1-2).

Some Good News! | PerezHilton.com

The economy seems to be finally be rebounding, with stocks climbing to a two year high yesterday!

Small Business News: Twitter Tycoons

With just 140 characters, Twitter has changed what it means to communicate. And, in case you haven't noticed, the way we do business too. If you aren't using.

Monday, January 10, 2011

How to Making Money

I recently watched the movie Exit Through the Gift Shop from well-known artist Banksy. I got a kick out of this film for multiple reasons having liked Banksy's artwork for years now.

What most amused me though is how well it goes about making you question what celebrity is and how much you can achieve by becoming famous. The key point for me is questioning whether you really need to be creative and innovative above and beyond being famous.

Then Mike Butcher over at Techcrunch went and posted something this morning about startup teams trumping celebrity tech entrepreneurs. In summary, he too is making the point that execution far outweighs celebrity.

Basically, what I'm getting at, is all the parallels you're starting to see between the startup world and the movie business. I am definitely not an expert on the movie business and can only imagine what it's truly like from afar. Yet, we've all seen enough of it to realize a bit how things work in Hollywood. You basically have a couple large companies or studios as they're usually called. There you have management at the top who are the power-brokers in the industry. They back films which are used as vehicles to market actors who either succeed or not. If they do succeed, they are cast in further films and a ton of marketing is thrown at these films, regardless of whether these actors have talent or not.

Ultimately, the goal is to make as much money as possible and if you're the one making all this money, keep other people out so you can continue to make as much money as possible. Sure, there are some stand-out actors, managers and studios who go against the grain but basically it's an industry optimized to make money. Simplified by me immensely but I believe you understand what I am saying.

Now let's switch over to the startup world. It's no longer Hollywood and we're now a bit north in Silicon Valley. You have a couple firms who call all the shots and are known as Tier 1 VC's (with some major players like Google, Apple, and Facebook thrown in for good measure).

These VC's fund firms instead of films run by entrepreneurs instead of actors. Some of these entrepreneurs are successful and some are not. Those who are get funded further by these Tier 1 firms. Lots of companies are started and sold since these power brokers in the Valley sit on each other's boards and pass deals back and forth. The power brokers continue to make money and those entrepreneurs who don't lead to successful exits get weeded out (where's the reality TV version of "out to pasture" for entrepreneurs?)

Ultimately, as in the movie business, you make as much money as possible and keep out the riff-raff who would keep you from making tons of money as long as possible.

Now don't get me wrong. I am in no way arguing about whether the movie or startup business is right or wrong or skewed in someone's favor or not. I'm also probably simplifying it too much as well. But the point I am making is that we are in a world where it's about making money. Sure, you can get your touchy-feely on and say you're changing the world but ultimately you wouldn't "work" if it wasn't about making some money.

Hence, my advice to any entrepreneur is to take advantage of whatever you have if you ultimately want to be successful. If you are naturally good looking, get your face out there. Be on TV and in the press. If it helps you make money, go for it.

At the same time, if media attention doesn't help you make more money, don't focus on it. Get your pretty head down to business and execute like hell to innovate, optimize and sell your product. Or have the best of both worlds. Be a CEO focussed on getting your brand or product out there and have a number two (great blog post by Ben Horowitz) who takes care of business. What you need to focus on is making money and being the scrappy entrepreneur that you are, you'll optimize wherever you can to achieve your goal.

In the end it's never about who was most popular that determines success. Just think back to all those football players and cheerleaders in high school. (I've seen some of them from my high school....thank you Facebook.....and had a good laugh!) So often there are people you never hear about making tons of cash since they don't need to focus on media.

On the other hand, if Twitter/Foursquare/Zynga/Groupon hadn't received so much media attention, you think they'd be where they are now? I highly doubt it and I guarantee you that they had a clear strategy in place to use media (and position their founders) from the start. Hence, don't waste time focussed on the wrong things. If you're a celebrity entrepreneur who's counting his millions hats off to you. If you've become a media darling and are broke, well tough luck kid. Try something new.

By the way, here's what Exit Through the Gift Shop is about cut and pasted from Wikipedia. Think what you will about whether it's a real story or not but reast assured the dollars earned by "Mr Brainwash" were real!!

Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film is a Gonzo Documentary which tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, and his obsession with street art. It is presented as a documentary, but reviewers have questioned its factuality. The film charts Guetta's constant documenting of his every moment on film, to his chance contact with his cousin, the artist Invader, and his documenting of a host of street artists with focus on Shepard Fairey, and also Banksy though the latter's face is never shown, and his voice is distorted to preserve his anonymity

Making maple syrup in a hotter world

Maggie Koerth-Baker at 8:59 AM Thursday, Dec 30, 2010

It's hard to take big-picture global temperature increases and bring them down to a personal level—partly because of that confusion between weather and climate, and partly because scientists simply have a better understanding what is very likely to happen in an averaged-out global system, than they have of how changes in that global system are likely to affect your backyard.

I like the way Climate Wisconsin is trying to bridge that gap. First, they use interactive visuals to show the local symptoms of climate change, like rising average temperatures and fewer days of ice cover of Wisconsin lakes. Then, they connect those symptoms to Wisconsin life. If these trends continue, what impact will they have on things like fishing, forestry, farming and, yes, the making of maple syrup.

It's a hard line to walk. The family featured in this video has recently experienced some of the worst years for making maple syrup in four generations. But, because weather isn't climate, next year could be better for them, even as the climate, overall, continues to warm. At the same time, though, climate change is likely to have long-term impacts on where and how well sugar maples can grow—and when, and for how long, their sap runs in spring.

I think this video and the related essay do a better-than-average job of making that distinction. This family won't be out of business next year. But, over time, climate change is very likely to make this work harder for them. The harder it gets, Wisconsin traditions associated with maple syrup making will become less common—and the 5-million-dollar syrup industry will bring less money to the state.

Also, I just finished re-reading Little House in the Big Woods, and it's fun to see how the process of maple syrup production has, and hasn't, changed since Grandpa Ingalls threw a sugaring-off party at his Wisconsin cabin in the late 1860s. Check out the taps they hammer into the maples. They look just like the Little House illustrations, but instead of draining into wooden buckets, the sap now flows into plastic bags.

Thanks to agroman for Submitterating!

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Friday, January 7, 2011

Making Money Jobs

No summary of 2010, visual or otherwise, would be complete without an extensive overview of what pundits call Monetary Stimulus, quantitative easing or Large Scale Asset Purchases, and the peasantry calls, just as correctly (with a few footnotes), the printing of money. If there are two words that define what we had an absence and an abundance of in the past year, those would be jobs, and money. As some of the key jobs-related charts were presented yesterday, below, once again courtesy of BusinessWeek, are the main charts that among other things demonstrate the various currency manipulation playbooks, the price of gas in bacon and other products, the annotated strength of the dollar through time, and what is actually printed when the Fed does print money.

The first chart shows the progression of dollar strength (and weakness) with an annotation for contemporaneous global events. What is ironic is that while everyone realizes the world is still in a very week position, the core debate over who is weaker - Europe or the US, is sure to provide many hours of entertainment in 2011. And as a bonus, the man whose policies, together with those of Bernanke, are instrumental in just how weak the dollar gets, is presented in his key natural states: from lying just every so slightly, to lying a lot, to lying profusely to save his life, to lying at such a rate, it would make those whose pants are burning, blush with envy. And now you will know how to distinguish the four...

The next chart deals with the actual money printing, but not in an deeply philosophical manner, one in which hours of debate are wasted over whether trillions in excess reserves are actually printed money (even though the last time someone acquired USTs, MBS, and soon Munis and ETFs, with pixie dust, the legal consequences were not all that palatable). Of the just over $300 billion in actual currency printed in 2010, the vast majority was in $100 bills, next up was $20s, followed by $5s, $10s, and lastly, singles. Not a single $50 bill was printed. Also noted: the amount of cash in corporate America. Of particular interest: GM has more than half of its market value, or $27.5 billion sitting in cash. Lastly, and this not come as a surprise to many, the money multiplier: the money supply divided by the monetary base, is at near record lows, courtesy of the $1 trillion in excess reserves.

Another popular meme in 2010 was pricing X in Y, most often the stock market in gold, in which basis it is still down for the year, as gold (not to mention silver), despite the short memory of many, is by and far the best performing asset class of 2010. Those who followed our advice in early 2010 to avoid stocks and to invest in gold, are ahead of most. The chart below takes a comic approach to this relative performance, showing how much the price of gas changed when priced in other "currencies."

Last, and probably most interesting, is the graphic presentation of the currency manipulator playbook: in a world in which Ben Bernanke knows very well he has little competition when it comes to doing as he chooses with the world's reserve currency (for now), other sovereigns are forced to come up with their unique responses. The playbook below shows all the various defensive tactics adopted so far. Luckily, few offensive plays have been established to date. We doubt that will be the status quo for a long time.

And as John Taylor and many others have pointed out, now that the fiscal "stimulus" of the payroll tax has been exhausted in a few short weeks courtesy of the jump in crude oil, and any further fiscal intervention not likely to occur unless Congress wants another incumbent bloodbath next time around, as Americans are tired of subsidizing banker lifestyles, expect to see many additions to the FX manipulation playbook, as the year progresses and monetary intervention continues to be the only direct way of making sure every new banker bonus year is a record one is via the Fed and its ongoing dollar printing-cum-debasement. That said, should the bankrupt European house of cards continue to wave a white flag of surrender every 3 months, the race to the bottom may not have a clear winner well after 2011 is also history.

All charts courtesy of BusinessWeek

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Obama Calls Drop in Unemployment Rate 'Positive News,' Fills Out His Economic Team

January 07, 2011 1:40 PM

President Obama today called the job numbers released this morning “positive news” but said there still is work to be done on the economy. The numbers showed a drop in the nation’s unemployment rate to 9.4 percent in December.

“Overall, the decline in the unemployment rate is positive news, but it only underscores the importance of us not letting up on our efforts,” President Obama said from the floor of Thompson Creek Manufacturing factory in Landover, Maryland.

“We know these numbers can bounce around from month to month, but the trend is clear,” Obama added, noting that this marks 12 straight months of private-sector job growth for the first time since 2006. “The economy added 1.3 million jobs last year, and each quarter was stronger than the previous quarter, which means that the pace of hiring is beginning to pick up.”

The president said they are seeing “optimistic” economic forecasts for the year ahead, in part due to the tax cuts package he signed into law last month, including a payroll tax cut for workers and tax breaks to encourage investment, innovation and hiring in businesses.

“I fought for that package because, even though our economy is recovering, we've still got a lot to do,” the president said. “So even though we've created 1.3 million jobs, we've saved a whole lot of jobs, you've still got a whole bunch of folks who are out there looking, still struggling. We've got a big hole that we're digging ourselves out of.”

The president urged all businesses to take advantage of the temporary expensing provision in the tax cut compromise.

“Companies who are listening out there: If you are planning or thinking about making investments sometime in the future, make those investments now and you're going to save money. And that will help us grow the economy. It'll help you grow your business."

The president said businesses around the nation need to duplicate the success of places like Thompson Creek Manufacturing, a family-owned factory that manufactures and installs energy efficient home improvement replacement products and that has benefitted from the administration’s small business proposals.

Taking advantage of a tax break for hiring unemployed workers, the company grew it’s workface from 200 to 300 in one year. And by taking advantage of the tax credit the company had a 55 percent boost in sales, the White House said.

“Government can't guarantee Thompson Creek or any business will be successful, but government can knock down barriers like a lack of affordable credit or high costs for investment or high cost for hiring. We can do something about that. Government can remove obstacles in your path," the president said.

As expected, the president made four economic personnel announcements -- all of whom stood with him on stage –- calling them the people who would “help America fulfill this mission” to put people back to work.

Declaring him a man of “decency and integrity,” President Obama appointed Treasury official Gene Sperling as director of the National Economic Council, replacing Larry Summers.

“One of the reasons I've selected Gene is, he's done this before. This is his second tour of duty heading up the NEC,” Obama said of Sperling who headed the NEC under the Clinton administration. “And in his tenure in the Clinton administration during the late '90s, he helped formulate the policies that contributed to turning deficits to surpluses and a time of prosperity and progress for American families in a sustained way. “

Mr. Obama also elevated Jason Furman to be principal deputy at the National Economic Council, himself a two-year veteran of the White House already, to work alongside Sperling.

The president also announced his nomination of Heather Higginbottom, who is currently the deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council, to serve as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

“She understands the relationship between numbers on a ledger and the lives of real people. As we make cuts that are necessary to rein in the deficit, I want to make sure I've got Heather there so that we're meeting our fundamental obligations to our people and to our economy, as well," the president said.

Rounding out the personnel announcements, the president also nominated Katharine Abraham to the Council of Economic Advisers.

“Now part of our mission, part of this team's mission in the months ahead will be to maximize the steps we've taken to spur the economy,” the president said. “We have one focus, and that is making sure that we are duplicating the success of places like Thompson Creek all across the country. We want businesses to grow; we want this economy to grow; and we want to put people back to work.”

-- Sunlen Miller

January 7, 2011

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