Business Administration Education Guide

How to Take the SAT Test: Study Tips

2008-08-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

(reprinted from Career-Opportunities.net)

As with any test, there are strategies you can use on the SAT Reasoning Test to ensure you finish in the allotted time and with the best possible score. Here are a few tips related to the three main areas of the SAT: the writing portion, the critical reading portion, and the mathematics portion.

The writing portion

The essay:

Use a pencil, because essays written in ink are given a score of zero.
Your assigned topic will take the form of an issue presented in a passage, so you will not be able to plan out your response beforehand -- but you can practice organizing and outlining arguments.
Read the entire assignment. The goal is to be thorough, thoughtful and organized, and all of the information given to you can help.
Organize the essay any way that makes sense to you, as long as you can make a point and convincingly back it up with examples. One option is to follow the 5-paragraph essay style, though the style itself won't earn any points.
Plan your time well. Spend the first few minutes thinking about your main point and writing a rough outline. Come up with your overall statement and 1-3 supporting points. Organize your thoughts on how you will use each point to support your main idea.
When writing, stick to your outline, stay focused on your main statement, and take the time to thoroughly explain the points you're making -- but keep an eye on the clock, because you want to save some time for review.
Spend the last few minutes reviewing what you've written. Make sure it makes sense, and make any changes you need to. If it reads well to you, chances are it will read well to the reviewers.

Multiple choice:

Read the instructions carefully to make sure you completely understand the question.
Eliminate the answers you know are wrong first. If you're still not sure, make an educated guess from the remaining ones.

The critical reading portion

Multiple choice:

Answer the sentence completion questions first, since they are easier than the reading questions. The sentence completions increase in difficulty if you do them in order.
Read the passages carefully. All the information you need to answer the question is supplied, so don't be fooled by answers that sound right but aren't supported by the reading.
Don't jump from passage to passage. These questions don't increase in difficulty, so it's better to answer them one passage at a time.
Mark the questions you skip in your test booklet, so you can go back to them later.
Leave it blank, don't guess, if you have no idea what the answer is and you can't eliminate any choices. Wrong answers subtract 1/4 of a point, while blank answers don't add or subtract anything.

The mathematics portion

Student-generated (grid-in):

Do practice problems online.
Formulas are provided in the test booklet, so you don't have to try to memorize them.
Read each question carefully, looking for key words that indicate what the problem is asking. Is the answer a percentage? An angle? The complement of an angle?
Draw a sketch of the problem if you need to, and use the booklet for scratch work.
All figures are drawn to scale unless otherwise indicated. The test won't try to trick you with inaccurate drawings.

Multiple choice:

Look at the answer choices before taking the time to figure it out. One might make itself obvious to you right away.
Eliminate wrong answers by trying them in the question -- but don't do this for every problem, as it takes up time.

(See source article)

How to Take the SAT Test: Overview

How to Take the SAT Test: Sample Questions

How to Take the SAT Test: Dates and Schedule

Types of Accounting

2008-07-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

The field of accounting is divided into four main parts: public accounting, management accounting, governmental accounting, and internal auditing, each with different accounting specialties. Knowing the differences, and what functions each serves, is helpful to anyone pursuing a degree or career in accounting.

Public accounting

Public accounting, is also called "assurance services," and is the broadest, most basic type of accounting. Public accountants work for a client, whether an individuals, a private business, a public firm, a government agency, or a nonprofit organization. A public accounting business can consist of one accountant, several accountants working in partnership, or hundreds of accountants comprising a large accounting firm.

Public accountants carry out many duties ranging from simple tax advice and preparation for businesses and individuals, to consultations in the areas of employee reimbursement and accounting system logistics and design. External auditing is another responsibility taken on by public accountants who review their clients' finance records, making sure statements have been handled correctly before investors and finance authorities. These types of accountants are primarily handling historical financial data, discovering problems or errors in retrospect.

Within public accounting is the area of forensic accounting. Accountants in forensic accounting track white-collar crimes such as securities fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, and other questionable or illegal financial activities by analysing historical financial data. Forensic accountants are equipped with law knowledge as well as accounting skills, often working with law enforcement and lawyers or appearing as expert witness in trials.

Also under the umbrella of public accounting are Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), though CPAs are also employed in the private sector. The designation of CPA is applied to public accountants (PAs) who have become nationally certified by passing the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination, in addition to being licensed by their state.

Management accounting

Management accountants are also called cost accountants, private accountants, or industrial or corporate accountants. This type of accountant is employed by a business or agency rather than being available to the general public; their primary function is to record and analyze the company's financial data. This type of accountant uses private financial data to provide services such as asset management, performance evaluation, budgeting and cost management. They are often consulted prior to the release of new products, and can also prepare the company's financial data for tax authorities and investors. Whereas public accountants analyse historical data, management accountants look at current data as well, in order to plan for the future.

Also employed in the private sector are Certified Public Accountants, who can hold such positions as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO), provided they are well-rounded in business practice.

Governmental accounting

Governmental accounting is related to public accounting, but it is applied to government agencies and private businesses regulated by the government. Accountants in the field of governmental accounting render public accounting services for these agencies, ensuring financial practices are carried out legally. Accountants employed by the Federal Government can be found in the IRS, as well as in budgeting and asset management departments.

Internal auditing

Internal auditing accountants analyze financial management practices for their own company, watching for financial mismanagement, waste and fraud. They evaluate the performance of the company's management and budgeting operations for efficiency as well as compliance to laws and regulations. Internal auditing accountants may specialize in areas such as information technology auditing, environmental auditing and compliance auditing.

Different accounting job titles

Enrolled agent (EA)

Enrolled agents are usually accountants, but not necessarily. EAs represent taxpayers before the IRS, and must pass an IRS-administered exam before being allowed to practice. This is a popular area of accounting for new entrants in the field.

Bookkeeper

Though bookkeeping is an entry-level position within the field of accounting, it is one of the most valuable accounting services, because all other data depends on the accuracy of bookkeepers' work. Bookkeepers record a company's financial business transactions, keeping all financial data in organized ledgers, which they check and update regularly. They are responsible for balancing these ledgers against the company's assets, making sure every dollar is accounted for.

Accounting Clerk

A clerk is another entry-level accountant whose role is to help maintain ledgers and prepare financial reports, sending financial data to the management. This type of accounting can be repetitive and mundane, but is useful for learning the processes of a company's accounting department. The clerk's role is a good launching pad for higher accounting positions.

Accounting Director

Accounting directors are a step above entry-level accounting positions, as they manage and oversee bookkeepers, clerks and lower accountants. They handle payroll, cost accounting and other administrative tasks, reporting to higher management within the accounting department.

Controller (or Comptroller)

This job title refers to a management-level accountant who oversees the accounting activities within an organization. These accountants supervise the company's internal accounting systems, ensuring they function properly, and is responsible for creating and enacting policies and practices within the accounting department. The controller reports to the Chief Financial Officer.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

The CFO is a high-level accountant who analyzes broad-scale financial risks within a business or firm. The CFO receives data handed up from the business's accounting department, using it to assess the wisdom of future financial undertakings on a company-wide level. They often report their financial findings to the company's highest management. The CFO is typically part of a firm's board of directors, reporting directly to the CEO.

See source article, Types of Accounting

Five ways to find a good job even if it is not your dream job

2008-03-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Trying to find a source of income, but worried you'll end up in a dead-end job you hate? Here are five quick tips to making sure your job doesn't ruin your life.

Find a job that will make you happy, or at least content. Your tastes will change over time, and you'll likely discover something you like as you gain more experience.
Don't take a job just for the money. Money really doesn't buy happiness, but money earned doing something you love almost can.
Don't take a job just because you are desperate. Especially in tough economic times, it can be easy to fall into a "temporary" rut that turns into an unfulfilling career. Take the extra time to find a job you can see yourself in.
Don't take a job you are extremely overqualified for UNLESS it will make you happy. This goes back to getting stuck in a temporary rut.
If you are under qualified for your dream job – go back to college and get the training you need, it is worth it!

More resources:
Job Interview Tips
Up-and-Coming Careers for the Next 10 Years
Find Jobs in Los Angeles

Yahoo Microsoft, Google, AOL - The Web Wars

2008-02-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

If you are an obsessed Internet nerd like me you have already heard, read, debated and theorized about the possibility of a Microsoft / Yahoo merger. There are a lot of people who do not want to see a Yahoo/ Microsoft merger, but the most influential “Hell No! That can't go” is none other than Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt. So opposed to the deal was he, that he immediately raised the anti competitive war flag and even called Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang to offer his company's help in any and all effort to squash Microsoft unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo.

Let The Games Begin!

What sort of help could Google offer? Lets start with huge amounts of lucrative deals to sell advertising on Yahoo’s search results. It's extremely unlikely that Google could buy Yahoo outright, for antitrust reasons. However, Google could offer a long-term guarantee for advertising revenue on Yahoo’s search pages. This would enable Yahoo with the finances it needs to stay competitive and give some of that money back to shareholders in the form of a share buyback or special dividend (i.e. shareholders would be less likely to say a hardy F you and ditch Yahoo.)

Here is the problem for Google – It is said that Yahoo hates Google. Is that hate strong enough for Yahoo to disregard any Google offers and finally accept a partnership for MicroSurf? Meanwhile AOL is preparing to dump Netscape which is the daddy who gave birth to Internet surfing popularity. Where do they stand in all this?

A lot of people disagreed with Yahoo when they decided to take on Google and fight fire with fire in search engine competition. Industry people felt that Yahoo should have partnered up with other companies so that Yahoo could concentrate on brand advertising, where it had been the leader. Taking that approach would have limited their presence in search advertising and probably would have given Yahoo a much smaller role in the future – which is now today. But that is neither here nor there. As it stands Yahoo has a link fence surrounding them with a couple of very dangerous corporate dogs salivating at the prospect of biting off a rather nice chunk of Yahoo's limping behind.

But what does it all mean and why is it such a big deal?

If Microsoft buys Yahoo, Microsoft will have a dominance in search engine marketing and advertising that would surpass Google. The buy out will take Yahoo's loyal readers, subscribers, searchers and all over to Microsoft – even though they continue to use Yahoo applications. Than again, if Microsoft was to buy Yahoo, would MS intergrade Yahoo's email with Hotmail?

The challenges, the advantages and the integration is much bigger than just email use. If Microsoft did buy Yahoo, Microsoft would acquire a much larger set of online services, a better advertising network, and can better utilize the people who know how to build, brand, and market web products and services that people actually want and use. Yahoo would suddenly be part of an organization with an even more diversified revenue source.

Microsoft takes the long-term view approach and pours money into projects that takes years to turn a profit. One of these long-term projects, hopes and goals is web presence. They say they are dedicated, serious and they are a force that cannot be stopped. However, there are days when I seriously doubt that belief. Management from both Yahoo and Microsoft have not presented a concrete vision of where and how the companies should tackle web presence. That lack of vision leaves us, the users and clients asking if they combine, will they finally be able to create a solid vision that will build loyalty and support and can they follow through with it?

When Microsoft announced that they had made a bid offering, Yahoo stocks soared while Google's dropped. Microsoft has the resources to pay for the development that Yahoo does not. The combination of Microsoft and Yahoo would have the second largest advertising network and a vast array of sites on which to place its own ads. But, where does AOL stand in all of this?

Why so quiet?

The Microsoft's bid revived gossip about AOL's online advertising goals. The main question on mouse click gossip was -- is AOL a target for acquisition and will Google consider purchasing part or all of AOL's (advertising network) Platform A in an effort to balance a potential Yahoo / Microsoft combination?

In November 2007, Time Warner chief executive Jeffrey Bewkes said he would consider selling parts of the company to enhance its "strategic advantage." The Time Warner / AOL merger of 2001 has never lived up to it's promises of grander times and as a direct result, the company stocks have suffered. However, other than yet anther AOL purchased of yet anther technology based media business – this time Goowy Media on February 3rd, 2008, AOL has been strangely quiet. Time Warner has never said that AOL is for sale, but there has been rampant speculation for years.

There is a lot of money and Internet power at stake and if we the pubic could watch the inside corporate drama of all four companies (or at least the 3 biggies) to see how this will all play out it would be better than any reality tv show in the history of television. Better than any celebrity reality tv cat fight and better than any MTV Real Life boy band look-a-like dawg fight. This is what would bring me back in front of the television.

Different types of Information Technology Careers

2008-01-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

Because there are so many different types of computer careers, skills and specializations the list is a general umbrella list of computer careers.

Database Administrator is responsible for the planning, implementation, configuration, and administration of relational database management systems.

Database Analyst is responsible for designing and developing an organization's data flow model and database architecture (set up).

Hardware Engineer is responsible for the specification and design of a computer and communication hardware workings.

Help Desk Technician is responsible primarily for supporting end-user software applications in person and on the telephone.

Information Systems Manager is responsible for managing an organization's overall internal information technology architecture (set up). IS managers (also called IT managers, for Information Technology) are responsible for the day-to-day management of an organization's information systems, including databases, operating systems, networks, technical support, and computers and server maintenance.

Internetworking Engineer (also called an Internet Engineer) for short is responsible for managing and maintaining the networking architecture for an organization's web site and Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity.

Multimedia Developer is responsible for developing quality media content for the World Wide Web. Multimedia developers use programming and development tools like Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver to build interactive content for a computer-based training module, software demo or for consumers.

Network Administrator are responsible for managing and maintaining an organization's Local Area Network (LAN).

Network Engineer are responsible for the planning, design, and implementation of Local and Wide Area Networks (LANs and WANs).

Network Security Analyst are responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining an organization's network and computer security policies.

PC Support Specialist are responsible for assisting end-users, either remotely or in person, with personal computer maintenance, troubleshooting, and management.

Programmer/Analyst are responsible for designing and implementing computer information systems, and for using computer programming languages to write software applications for those systems.

Programmer are responsible for developing computer programs which allow end-users to interface directly with computer operating systems and hardware.

Software Engineer are responsible for designing and programming large-scale computer systems and applications.

Systems Analyst are responsible for researching, planning and recommending software and systems choices to meet an organization's business requirements.

System Administrator are responsible for managing an organization's computer and operating systems.

Technical Writers are responsible for authoring hardware and software documentation either for an organization's internal computer systems or for third-party vendors.

Web Programmers are responsible for designing and developing applications and scripts for the World Wide Web.

Webmasters are responsible for the implementation and administration of a World Wide Web site.

Ten Hot Careers For The Future

Wikipedia Moves To San Francisco

2008-01-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

St. Petersburg, Florida is losing Wikipedia.com to the west coast. Having just returned from the west coast of Florid I can't really blame them. As I drove to different cities on the west coast I often found it difficult to locate wifi services. There are not any major technology corporations that can help Wikipedia move forward.

San Francisco has remained one of the biggies for the high-tech economy which was the reason Florence Devouard, chair of the Wikimedia Foundation listed as the primary reason behind the relocation.

"San Francisco is the center of high-tech in the United States and will give the foundation access to a rich array of resources," said Florence Devouard.

While Wikimedia Foundation's goal is to provide free online information, their press release stated that the valuable resources include “best-in-breed online talent.” The statement hints at the notion they are seeking to increase their staff from six full-time employees by searching Bay area 'top-tier universities'.

What you can do with Internet Explorer 7

2007-12-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

Internet Explorer 7 has some new Google like options. If you don't like the way it looks you can change it. They also offer a few new working tips as well. With the new 7 which work for both Windows XP and Windows Vista, you can now build your own search bar engine, control how pages are printed and navigate a little easier using keyboard shortcuts. The tweaking ranges from easy to advanced – but a very stern word of warning must be given -- If you're unfamiliar with Registry editing don't mess with it. As a g33k friend to do it for you.

From Computerworld

1. Add your own search engine to IE

IE (Internet Explorer) 7 comes with a variety of built-in search providers you can choose from the Search Bar in the browser's upper right-hand corner. It's easy to add more by clicking the down arrow on the far right of the bar, choosing Find More Providers and then adding them from the page that appears.

But you're not stuck with the list of search providers (also called engines) that Microsoft supplies. You can build your own search engine and use it in IE's Search Bar to search through any site, no matter where you are on the Internet.

Click here for more information

3. Get multiple tabs under control

Anyone who's tried tabbed browsing knows it's vastly superior to the old way of browsing, with a separate window for each Web site you're looking at. But once you get going, it's easy to get lost in a sea of tabs.

Click here for more information

6. Get around IE fast with keyboard shortcuts

Mousing and clicking in IE can slow you down. A much better bet is to use keyboard shortcuts. The following tables list some of the most useful ones.

Find a word or phrase Ctrl-F

Zoom In Ctrl-+ (Ctrl and the plus sign)

Refresh the current page Ctrl-R or F5

Open a new tab Ctrl-T

Click here for more information

Does being brutally honest work?

2007-12-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

“If you … can come to work on time, not steal from us, not show up drunk, then come in and see us today,” reads the ad written by Charmaine Rose, owner of high-end lingerie stores La Belle Femme in Edmonton and Sherwood Park AB, Canada

From the news article:

Rose said she wrote the full-page ad out of sheer frustration after she had employees steal from her and swear at customers.

"I've had 50-year-olds coming to work drunk and missing shifts after payday, and basically saying to me, 'I know what the job market is like and I can basically pick up 10 positions in a half-hour,'" she told CBC News.

Rose said she stewed about the situation for six months before taking out the ad, which also reads: "Finding caring, honest people is like finding a needle in a haystack."

Rose said she has been receiving "awesome" feedback from the ad, and found the staff she needed by Wednesday.

Are You Keyword Optimizing Your Resume?

Don’t Work Yourself To Death

2007-12-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

It can happen, it did happen to Kenichi Uchino. Kenichi Uchino collapsed and died on Toyota’s factory floor before dawn in February of 2002, he was into his fourth hour of overtime. That fourth hour was only four of the more than 106 hours of overtime, most of it unpaid. In his final month at the Toyota car plant he died from sudden heart failure at just 30 years old.

A district court ruled that Kenichi Uchino had literally worked himself to death. after almost six years of legal battles his widow, Hiroko won the battle while holding down her own job and raising two young children.

In Japan, workers are too often expected to sacrifice their personal lives and happiness for the company's benefit. So common place is this practice that there is a Japanese word for this -- 'karoshi', a household Japanese term meaning 'death from overwork'

"Until now, all this unpaid work has contributed to Toyota's 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) profit. As Toyota continues to grow, I hope it will return some of it to its workers. That would make it a true global leader," Hiroko Uchino said.

In Kenichi Uchino’s final week, Uchino was on the second shift at the Toyota factory, which builds the popular Prius hybrid model. According to his widow, he had a heavily overloaded work schedule and a lack of labor to help him. This usually meant that he wouldn’t get home until after 6 am which by that time he would be too exhausted to finish his breakfast or play with his children.

Hiroko Uchino, who said she was probably the first to speak out in public against Toyota on the 'karoshi' issue, accused Japanese media of being reluctant to give Toyota any negative press, fearing repercussions on advertising revenues.

"One regional paper refused to print Toyota's name, only calling them 'a carmaker in the Nagoya area'," she said. "Another magazine also refused to disclose the company, and when I saw the issue, the back cover carried a Toyota ad."

SOURCE

Leaving The Rat Race

Social Networking Websites Worth Spending Time At

2007-12-03T12:51:00.000-08:00

Originally I was writing this for an acquaintance but found a bit of humorous fun in it so I thought I would share. Because my job and entrepreneurship depends on online popularity I have something like 80 different social networking subscriptions (profiles) and the best ones in my opinion are as follows

MySpace: Silliness, silly surveys, find old friends, look up bands you like, find new bands you may like & get updates of the next band event and generally anything extra that doesn’t have much to do with job or careers. However it is also poorly moderated and drenched in Spam

Tribe: Liberal artist free thinking place where the chances of meeting a non-psychotic person is much better here than any other place online. However…. Anyone looking for a “serious long lasting committed’ relationship is definitely a minority on Tribe. Tribe is THE community of Burners.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burner (Burning Man): A burner is anyone who participates in the creation of Burning Man art and or a Burning Man theme event or one of the many regional Burning Man events that occur outside the Black Rock Desert, or anyone who self-identifies with a core set of values manifest at such events.

Live Journal: Writing in a diary where the user has the choice to make each entry read by anyone and everyone, read only by those the user says is “Friends” or keep completely private and no one but the user can read it.

LinkedIn: I’m not a big user of LinkedIn, I find it boring and tedious and not well suited for my purposes. However, I’m also not a traditional corporate office kind of gal so the site is more geared towards business individuals in a variety of industries and career positions. Speaking in the view of someone who works in tie & jacket world, it’s a great place to network if the person is willing to put in at lease half a hour every few days to networking on the site. In a nutshell it’s MySpace without any Glamour.

Second Life: (In my opinion) This is the devil of online life where as soon as you register, log on and spend more than ten minutes in the virtual world you have typed your permission to suck your soul dry of any life offline. Sadly, it is the next big thing and many influential corporations are getting involved not only in Second Life but other potentially profitable virtual worlds. In a nutshell it is social networking but in a virtual world where you can create a character based on either you (for business) or as freakish Furrie spending real money on clothing, real estate and life (un) necessities so that your Virtual Self can live and look better than the real you.

BUT…. It is the next biggest thing in networking and for those who can either
a) Withstand the sucking of your soul and make valuable business contacts
b) Doesn’t care that a real world exist offline

It’s a great place to make business contacts. They recently held their fist virtual job fair and it was a tremendous success.

Facebook: Hate it, everyone else loves it. In my opinion it’s a better software developed website that lacks MySpace’s pretty colors and easy user friendly functionality and Tribe’s easy to locate group categorization.

Mashable: Mashable is a great resource for social networking news i.e. if your researching a project and need a bundle of resources to create a successful report / article, campaign ect…. Mashable is like a giant bucket where thousands of people pour information into different areas and those areas all have feeding tubes that lead to and into the Mashable bucket.

Craig’s List: Free stuff, decent used stuff for sale, garage & Yard sales, find a local event as well as a great place to

a) Be made fun of with your horrible dating ad
b) Learn what not to write for a dating ad
c) Read the Best of Craig’s List when you need a laugh
d) Find quick cash for a job (or someone to do it) that normally costs twice as much but lasts only one or two days
e) Potential meet a nice stranger who posses a 50% chance of being either a friend or your newest stalker
f) Lose respect and hope for humanity

Two new possibilities I’m experiencing with includes

Ning
Matador: Social networking for travelers

The Importance Of Online Social Networking

Big Company Lay Offs

2007-11-28T08:49:00.000-08:00

Pep Boys cuts 550 jobs, shuts stores
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Pep Boys said late Tuesday it cut approximately 550 jobs and closed 31 stores as part of a five-year restructuring plan, while its third-quarter loss widened partly on declining merchandise sales.

Source

Wolseley cutting 1,300 more U.S. jobs
LONDON (AP) -- Wolseley PLC, the world's largest distributor of plumbing products, said Wednesday it is slashing 1,300 more jobs in the United States as it seeks to cut costs amid the struggling U.S. housing market.
Source

Is it time for a career over haul?

Hackers Poised for Black Friday Assault

2007-11-20T10:32:00.001-08:00

SOURCE: CIO

November 20, 2007 — Network World — You know retailers are ready for Black Friday -- but so are hackers poised to launch a slew of Web-based attacks against consumers. Your money and personal information could be at risk.

"Freebies may be freebies in the sense that you get free malware," says Jamz Yaneza, a senior threat researcher at Trend Micro.

A common scam is to pick the hot toy of the season and send out a spam e-mail blast offering it for much less than the typical price, Henry says. Victims end up entering credit card information on malicious sites designed to look like well-known, trusted ones. They might also unknowingly download a keylogger that can steal personal information people type in when making any kind of Internet transaction.

"Be leery of sites being advertised [in e-mail that might be spam]. In all likelihood you're being directed to a malware-connected site," Henry says. "Do not click on URLs within e-mails even for well-known public sites."

Fraud losses related to U.S. e-commerce will top $3.6 billion in 2007, up 20% from last year, according to a report by the vendor CyberSource this month.

8 Things the Search Industry Can Teach Small Businesses

2007-11-15T10:26:00.000-08:00

I think these two are the most powerful / important... for me at least.

6.) Branding is powerful.
Once you’ve found your niche, you’ll need to know how to be a rock star in your niche, like Neil Patel has become. Neil’s an expert at personal branding, and writes about it on his blog, Quick Sprout. You’ll want to learn from his techniques to establish your identity in the marketplace and have positive thoughts associated with your business name.

8.) The personal touch matters.
Great customer service stories usually boil down to this: a business treating a customer like a person, not an account number. If you’re a small business trying to distinguish yourself from bigger competitors, do what the big guys don’t: develop an actual relationship with your customers. Need a good example? Go back and read my Danny Sullivan story from 15 months ago. Danny has used the personal touch to become the leader of our industry. Ironically, I started that post by saying there’s nothing useful in it for small businesses, and here I am now saying otherwise. I think you’ll agree there is a lesson: If you want to make an impression with people, try the personal touch.

8 Things the Search Industry Can Teach Small Businesses

Five Things to Do When You are Being Manipulated<

2007-11-14T11:31:00.000-08:00

Mark Dykeman

Just thought you might like to know that I've written a sequel to the original manipulation article if you are interested:

Five Things to Do When You are Being Manipulated

Blogging granny a hit with surfers

2007-11-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

SANXENXO, Pontevedra (Reuters) - "Today it's my birthday and my grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog."

So reads the first entry by one of the world's oldest Webloggers, Maria Amelia Lopez, who, at the age of 95, has surprised herself by a sudden conversion from Web-illiterate to cybercelebrity.

"When I saw my grandson using the Internet, it caught my attention. I said to myself 'What's this? You can find out about anything. I want an Internet!'"

With 60,000 regular readers so far, Lopez's homely mix of memory and chat, available at http://amis95.blogspot.com/, attracts regular readers from around the world and has put her back in touch with the younger generation in a way she had never imagined.

CIVIL WAR MEMORIES

Due partly to cataracts which mean she can't see screens well, Lopez is assisted in her blogging by her grandson, Daniel, who takes her dictation.

Many of her stories deal with a long life, which started happily and then had to steer through Spain's vicious Civil War and the long years of dictatorship by General Francisco Franco which followed.

"I had a very happy youth," she wrote, describing expeditions to bullfights and fun times with her cousins.

"Young men were different back then. They brought us flowers, gardenias, violets, chocolates. Not like the foul-mouthed bunch today."

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has written to congratulate Lopez on her blog and she recommends other seniors to take up blogging. But it's not all easy.

"I'm going to die before I get broadband," read one recent, sad entry.

Maria Amelia Lopez

NOTE: I just registered www.SeniorCitizenBlogging.com I would love to post stories from Senior Citizens to keep alive the good memories and history that doesn't make the history books.

What does an eBay phising scam alert look like?

2007-11-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

Like a eBay website.

When I first got a message from eBay user from JackJack14 I was weary but curious (I’m a Libra) so I went ahead and clicked on the respond now. Thanks to FoxFire they caught the phis and warned me with a This is a phishing scam pop up.

The message I received:
"Hey, I have tired twice to pay you through paypal but the transaction is not working its keeps giving an error message (This recipient is currently unable to receive money) is there anything wrong with your paypal??"

Be careful

buy TSA contraband

2007-11-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Since 9/11, the Transportation Security Administration has collected tons of items at security checkpoints; in 2006 alone, screeners took in more than 13 million items. What happens to all that stuff? The TSA turns it over to state surplus property agencies, which tend to sell it online or at retail stores. (Sometimes the contraband is sold in bulk.)

The agencies say they'll reunite you with your prized pocketknife, if they can locate it. But they would much prefer that travelers figure out the rules and abide by them. "Our goal is for passengers not to bring this stuff on anymore, so we won't have to deal with it," says Steve Ekin, Georgia's surplus property division director. Here's where to look, and what you might find.

Alabama
Airports: 14 in Florida and Alabama, including Miami, Orlando, Huntsville, and Birmingham
Where to buy: eBay (seller ID: alstatesurplus)
Typical deal: Golf driver $100
Craziest items? "There are always lots of plastic fake swords that people buy at Walt Disney World, so there are probably lots of mad kids."
Info: adeca.state.al.us/surplus%20property

Georgia
Airports: Atlanta, Savannah/Hilton Head
Where to buy: Stores in Tucker (Atlanta Surplus Center, 770/414-6468); Swainsboro (Swainsboro Surplus Center, 478/289-2623); and Americus (Americus Surplus Center, 229/931-2407)
Typical deal: Hammers $3, cordless drills $10
Craziest items? "We get flatware and kitchen knives stolen from restaurants, and we've received a bowling pin, a chain saw, and a few circular saws."
Info: surplusproperty.doas.georgia.gov

Illinois
Airports: Chicago O'Hare, Chicago Midway, and occasionally four more in Illinois and Michigan
Where to buy: Auctions held at ibid.illinois.gov
Typical deal: 25 pounds of Swiss Army knives for $250
Craziest items? "On occasion, we'll see big bowie knives and ninja swords. And nunchucks--a lot of those come through."

Kentucky
Airports: Eight in various states, including Orlando and Miami (Alabama shares the loot), and Louisville
Where to buy: eBay (seller ID: kysurplus)
Typical deal: 50 Swiss Army knives for $250
Craziest items? "We've collected about 500 mini Louisville Slugger bats bought at the Louisville Slugger Museum."
Info: finance.ky.gov/internal/surplus

Oregon
Airports: Portland and Eugene
Where to buy: eBay (seller ID: oregontrail2000)
Typical deal: 10 Leatherman multitools for $75
Craziest items? "Golf clubs and machetes."
Info: oregonsurplus.com

Pennsylvania
Airports: 13 from various states, including New York JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, and Cleveland
Where to buy: eBay (seller ID: pastatesurplus)
Typical deal: Deer-hunting kit (gut-slitting knife, multitool, pocketknife, large safety pins, rope, flashlight) for $50
Craziest items? "We've received hundreds of pairs of fuzzy handcuffs and other ... paraphernalia--I wanted to create funny Valentine's Day kits, but folks here thought taxpayers wouldn't like it."
Info: dgs.state.pa.us/surp_prop

Texas
Airports: Seven across the state, including Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin
Where to buy: Austin Storefront in Austin, 512/463-1990
Typical deal: Scissors and corkscrews 25¢, knives 50¢, multitools $2.50
Craziest items? "Brass knuckles, crutches, and piñata sticks. And we once got a cane with a knife inside it."
Info: tfc.state.tx.us/communities/supportserv/prog/statesurplus

Washington State
Airports: Seattle-Tacoma, Spokane, and Tri-Cities
Where to buy: Auburn Retail Store in Auburn, 253/333-4912
Typical deal: Corkscrews for 25¢
Craziest items? "Lots of ulus--round Eskimo chopping blades. Also, a Sit'n Putt. It's a short-handled putter designed to be used while you're on the potty."
Info: ga.wa.gov/surplus

SOURCE

House Approves 7-Year Ban on Internet Tax

2007-10-31T10:11:00.001-07:00

The House approved a bill yesterday to bar states from taxing Internet access through 2014

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged Bush to sign the bill immediately.

Since 1998, a federal law has prohibited cities and states from taxing most forms of Internet access.

High-speed Internet service providers AT&T, Verizon Communications and Comcast, and Web companies such as Google, had sought a permanent ban but welcomed the seven-year renewal.

The legislation would allow states and cities to continue taxing all forms of telephone and pay-television service, even if carriers bundle those services with Internet access.

SOURCE: Washington Post

"It's Bacn!"

2007-10-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

New Online Terminology: Bacn

Everyone should know by now that a misspelled word isn’t always misspelled. Bacn is not spelled wrong, and it's not food. It's a new online Spam term slithering into the social networking community. Spam is unwanted emails, forum advertising or totally annoying junk. However bacn is the new in between term for email that is neither wanted or unwanted that you receive through your social networking site – be it a message, a comment or a new blog posting from one of your Friends. Every time your friends do something you can opt to receive bacn from them too. Before you know it your In Box is full of bacn.

Bacn (pronounced bacon) is the term given to electronic messages which have been subscribed to and are therefore not unsolicited. - Wikipedia

What is the fascination with bacon?

talk to a stranger

2007-10-16T14:42:00.001-07:00

http://www.chancechat.com/

More AOL job loss

2007-10-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

The AOL transition from online access provider to online advertising is making waves and the latest one has dumped 2,000 jobs. This is in addition to last year’s 5,000 employee lay offs where AOL said would work to boost traffic to its ad-supported Web sites by giving away AOL e-mail accounts, software and other features once reserved for paying subscribers.

Employees at AOL's Dulles, Va., location have been speaking in hushed tones for weeks that big layoffs were coming. Last week speculation intensified when employees reported seeing large pallets of empty cardboard shipping boxes arrive at an AOL warehouse.

AOL Chief Executive Randy Falco told employees

"This realignment will allow us to increase investment in high-growth areas of the company -- as an example, we added hundreds of people this year through acquisitions -- while scaling back in areas with less growth potential or those that aren't core to our business."

Last year's lay offs were mostly in customer-service and marketing as AOL opted to stop producing and distributing its infamous free trial discs. The latest cuts were expected to affect employees across the board. While more reduction in staff is expected by year's end, severance packages are to include at least four months' pay. In addition, AOL recently announced it was moving its headquarters to New York to be closer to the media advertising industry.

Last month, AOL announced that it was consolidating its advertising operations to share innovations across the company and help potential advertisers more easily buy ads across AOL properties and third-party sites that have become part of the AOL network through various acquisitions.

Shares in AOL LLC's parent company, Time Warner Inc., (Charts, Fortune 500) dropped 17 cents to $18.81 in Monday trading.

SOURCE: CNN

Will Sprint Move to Kansas?

2007-10-15T09:31:00.001-07:00

When Sprint purchased Nextel in 2005, establishing executive offices in Reston was part of the merger agreement. Nextel started and matured in Northern Virginia, and some board members believed maintaining a Northern Virginia presence was crucial to the future of the combined companies and shifting from traditional telephone lines to wireless operations.

At the time of the merger, top executives said they did not want to uproot employees. Nextel employees were reluctant to move to the Midwest, and Sprint folks wanted to avoid the high cost of living of the Washington area.

According to former executives, leaders of Sprint Nextel have discussed the possibility of relocating the company's headquarters from Reston to Sprint's longtime home in Kansas. Sprint spokeswoman Leigh Horner said the question of a headquarters move is "not an issue the board has on the table right now." However, rumors have picked up listeners when the Wall Street Journal reported that Gary D. Forsee had mentioned the idea when he resigned as Sprint's chairman and chief executive. Acting chief executive Paul Saleh discounted the gossip though.

The company currently has two corporate offices. The executive headquarters is in Reston and the operational headquarters in Kansas. Integrating Sprint and Nextel has proven to be difficult which has caused some in the company to wonder if consolidating operations at a single location would smooth the transition.

Sprint, which has Kansas roots dating to 1899, has for decades been the largest employer in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The company occupies a 200-acre office complex that resembles a large college campus.

Of the 58,600 people employed by the company, 13,000 are in Overland Park. About 4,300 people work in the Washington area.

"One advantage to moving the headquarters is that they already have more employees there," said Christopher King, an analyst who covers the company for Stifel Nicolaus, an investment research firm in Baltimore. "But they may have more trouble attracting talent."

Northern Virginia business boosters note that Sprint's presence in the region has spurred other wireless-related start-ups to locate nearby. Several of those ventures have been launched by former Nextel employees.

SOURCE: Washington Post

Wordie

2007-10-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a game my supervisor and I started. We each get the same Word of The Day email and we each try to say something to each other using the word. Here is mine for today.

Me:
I do believe that too many of today's youth are purblind.

His Response:
Yup, that just makes me feel that much more impervious to their agglomeration as to I'll never truckle to them

Word of the Day

Monday
Purblind \PUR-blynd\, adjective:

1. Having greatly reduced vision.
2. Lacking in insight or discernment.

Sunday

Impervious \im-PUR-vee-uhs\, adjective:

1. Not admitting of entrance or passage through; impenetrable.
2. Not capable of being harmed or damaged.
3. Not capable of being affected.

Saturday

Agglomeration \uh-glom-uh-RAY-shuhn\, noun:

1. The act or process of collecting in a mass; a heaping together.
2. A jumbled cluster or mass of usually varied elements.

2007-10-08T12:53:00.001-07:00

2,022,300

JustSayHi - Free Personals

Learn From Other’s Mistakes

2007-10-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

1. Falling asleep at work

When Michael F. was having trouble with his cable service, a technician came out to fix the problem. After waiting on the phone with the support team for over an hour to activate the new modem, the technician fell asleep -- on Michael's couch.

Forty-one percent of sales representatives have snoozed on the clock, along with over half (51 percent) of all information technology (IT) workers surveyed. Another 43 percent of healthcare and hospitality workers have dozed off at their desks, along with 41 percent of those employed in banking and finance.

2. Kissing a co-worker

The aforementioned kiss between Jim and Pam didn't initially fare well for their work relationship -- in fact, shortly after, Jim transferred offices completely. OK, things worked out for them in the end, but not before Pam called off her wedding with Roy, Roy tried to attack Jim and was fired, and Jim entered into an ill-fated romance with co-worker Karen.

More than half (52 percent) of hospitality workers and 38 percent of all retail workers have smooched with a co-worker, according to the survey. Just 33 percent of education workers have puckered up compared to nearly half (47 percent) of IT workers.

3. Drinking alcohol on the job

In February 2007, CBS 2 News launched a hidden camera investigation that caught several construction workers drinking beer and whiskey on their lunch break before heading back to work. Despite safety issues and lack of concentration after drinking, startling percentages of workers have tipped the bottle on the job.

Sales representatives led the industries surveyed with 30 percent of workers admitting to knocking back a few at work. Twenty-six percent of banking and finance employees have drank on the job, along with just 12 percent of healthcare workers.

4. Stealing from the office

Anthony Zuniga, 53, was recently arrested and imprisoned for stealing 5,937 Netflix DVDs and 1,497 Blockbuster DVDs from the mail when he worked as a U.S. postal worker. While most employees are nabbing staplers and pens, it's stealing all the same.

All industries surveyed admitted stealing from the office within five percent of each other, ranging from 21 percent of healthcare workers to 26 percent of education employees, with the exception of retail workers, who reported 15 percent.

5. Spreading rumors about a co-worker

Gossiping about co-workers is no minor offense -- in May 2007, four workers with 46 years of experience between them were fired for gossiping and starting rumors about a colleague and the town administrator.

Thirty-nine percent of government employees plead guilty of the same crime, according to the survey. Twenty-five percent of sales representatives have fed the rumor mill in their offices, while only 12 percent of IT workers have done so.

6. Snooping after hours

You name it, it's been done -- whether digging through someone's desk, sifting through discarded files and even logging onto co-worker's laptops. Bonnie R. nosed around a co-worker's background. She created a fictitious company to obtain information on someone she knew was fired by a law firm. She called the law firm's HR department and identified herself by saying, 'I'm with Quick Staff, a temporary staffing agency. I'm going over the application of Peggy Sue Smith. Peggy was quite candid with me over her recent firing so I'm just contacting you for a little background.'

"While I expected to obtain some information I was not prepared for the in-depth level of dishing this firm's top HR person then dished," Bonnie says.

Retail workers were least likely to snoop after hours according to the survey, with only 14 percent of employees having done so. Government employees led the industries with 26 percent of employees having poked around after hours.

SOURCE: MSN Careers
Written by: Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer

Advertising: The Box Is Gone - You Need To Think Outside

2007-10-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

Innovative thinking for innovative consumers

Thats a lot of shaving

An interesting twist on ambient billboards - Ponds has changed advertising ideals by changing the shape of the billboard itself. This is a perfect, although probably very expensive, execution of this idea.

Interactive Billboard

Silicon Valley CEOs Past & Predictions

2007-10-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

My biggest hope for the valley is that we continue to have the focus, creativity and capital to reinvent our future and the future of technology.

My biggest fear is that we will get complacent and allow it to happen elsewhere. But after watching us adapt over and over again, I'm betting on hope.

- Paul Otellini, Intel Corp

My wish is that we will have the courage to continue to evolve and to collaborate...
We can't rest on our laurels and lose the ability to collaboratively make dreams come true.

- John Chambers, Cisco Systems Inc

My greatest hope is that Silicon Valley will solve the current energy problem with the same genius that it has solved the problems of commercializing the integrated circuit, biotechnology and the Internet.

My greatest fear is that Silicon Valley will enter into a technological dark age...

- T.J. Rodgers, Cypress Semiconductor Corp.

Our greatest opportunity and challenge is to continue to foster a spirit of risk taking...
The real genius of Silicon Valley, and the one thing it can not afford to lose as it matures, is this willingness to look for unconventional ways to solve new or historic problems.

- Eric Schmidt, Google Inc.

Read the entire Past & Predictions at SF Gate

Wasting Hours Commuting

2007-09-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

I love when I’m number one or when my city is number one. First in line for a new great movie, city is listed as number one for entertainment and so forth. However, there are times I don’t want the city I live in to be number one and this is one of those times. Los Angeles ranked number one as the most congested area for traffic.

According to a national study by Texas Traffic Institute released in September 2007, drivers wasted approximately 72 hours in one year sitting in traffic on the way to and from their jobs. The numbers of hours increased from 4 billion in 2004 to 4.2 billion hours in 2005.

However a US Census Bureau study found that the commute for 2004 stated that extreme commuters are commuting 90 minutes each way. In a year the number is closer to 900 hours a week. A article commenter did her own math of how much time she wasted going to and from work. Her average commute calculations totals nearly 200 hours a week wasted – she lives 20 minutes a way in non-traffic hours (early weekend mornings). In the US Census Bureau New York was number one for extreme commuting and California was number five.

Alan Pisarsky, a transportation expert and the author of “Commuting in America” says that the problems will only get worse. Reviewing the study results he summed it up this way: “Too many people, too many trips over too short of a time period on a system that is too small.”

High gasoline prices appear to have cut into not obligatory driving but not commuting to work, said David Schrank, an associate research scientist at the Texas Transportation Institute, and a co-author of the study. In addition, about three-quarters of all commuters drive alone to work, according to census data. The Los Angeles metro area had the worst congestion, delaying drivers an average of 72 hours a year. It was followed by Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington and Dallas.

The study offers options for easing congestion which included:

Adding roads or lanes where needed
Improving public transportation
Changing driving patterns through flexible work schedules, telecommuting and carpooling.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters says Tuesday's report "is ample evidence that our current transportation model is broken. We need fresh approaches like new technology, congestion pricing and greater private sector investment to get America moving again."

Which contradicts what the report says.

“The problem has grown too rapidly and is too complex for only one technology or service to be ’the solution’ in most regions,” the report said.

Pisarski suggests that building more roads or mass transit options, such as trains or buses, would only encourage more long-distance commutes. The real change, he says, will be when companies build away from the metropolitan centers.

Sources

MSNBC

USA Today

US Census Bureau

Things To Always Consider In Life

2007-09-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

Source: Dumb Little Man
NOTE: Slightly changed but is from the Dumb Little Man blog

No one will believe in you more than you do.

If you want to start a business your spouse or friends will never have as much confidence as you. Listen and consider their concerns, advice and opinions, but don't let popular opinion be the sole factor in your conclusion. If you believe in it, do it. Even if the business isn’t a financial success you will learn lessons from it that will push you closer to financial success.

Garbage Sticks.

We all do it, at some point in life, particularly at a young age, we will be faced with the major choice of having to decide who to be friends with. I’ve made the mistake of befriending trash and learned the hard way. Trash will get you nothing but trashed.
My mother used to say, "If you hang around shi*, don't be surprised if it gets on you." - - Jay Dumb Little Man

No Free Rides

He just got lucky. She was born with money and didn’t earn the business she gets. He sucks up to everyone he knows. If a person wins the lottery, than yes they got lucky but if a person has no college education, started a business, worked 80 hours each week for 5 years, and sold his business for $15 Million, he earned it. Create your future and dedicate yourself to it.

Corporations & Job Change Is Good.

The days of dedicating yourself to a single company are gone. If you are not constantly looking at your options, you are passing up salary increases and a solid resume.

In Business, Trust Is Sacred.

Business and money much like love changes everything. The bottom line in any business relationship whether it’s with your best friend or someone you don’t know – trust in business is sacred and trust needs to be earned (by everyone involved) and not given away like some cheap trade show promo item.

I’ve been burned by a person who promoted their religious ethics in business as the end to any question regarding their integrity. I wasn't naive but I was ignorant to the fact that money changes people. Self-righteousness, ignorance, and being too trustworthy will kill your business investments. Money Changes People!

Money Isn't Bad.

Money is good - your spending habits are bad. If you have a choice, spend $3 a day at Starbucks or buy a quality coffee maker for $29.99 and go to star bucks only once a week. Money and saving it is an absolute requirement to obtaining what you want in the long term. Every single dollar you spend must be scrutinized. If the dollar is not helping your long-term goals, don't spend it.

Expose Your Emotions Appropriately

I absolutely hate seeing a women (and I am a women) cry at every little work dilemma. When I see the same women over dramatize every single thing that shoes go her way I become callous. However, I’ve seen men (though much more rare) do the same thing and I cringe at having to witness it. You shouldn’t be completely unfeeling because your emotions are a positive attribute that will help your career excel. Emotion shows you care getting fired up about a new project can help you get noticed.

People Are People.

Don't get stressed out about potentially negative or unexpressive interactions of others.
Everyone goes home at the end of the day and has problems, concerns and plans of their own. Someone might be excited one day and not approachable anther – no one but that person knows why. Don’t assume they are a jerk simply because they didn’t pay as much attention as you wanted in the meeting. They are the people just like you.

Not Starting A Business Is Risky.

The risk of not starting your own business when you constantly talk about doing it is the risk of regret. Follow your dreams and ambition. If, at a minimum, you don't research your plan, you will always wonder what could have been. You don't want to live a life of "what ifs".

Divorce & Break Ups Happen

Sometimes it meant to be – two people were meant to be together but only for a few years. Sometimes two people don’t know how to communicate and they don’t bother to learn how. Sometimes one is simply a jerk. If you have kids make sure she he knows the break up / divorce has nothing to do with ‘because of them’.

Having a kid will change your life and having a child never guarantees that it will make a relationship work or make it a stronger relationship. No matter how you plan and no matter how much you think you know, having a child will change everything including the relationship. Don’t have kids simply because it is the society accepted next move in a relationship. On the same token, having a child will not keep him (or her) in the relationship.

You Choose Your Destination.

Choose your destination. The path may change slightly or dramatically but choose one from the start. If the destination needs altering, do so. But make a choice and feel confident about it. The time to experiment is now before you die with regrets and or before your obligations restrict the amount of experimenting your able to do. Choose a path that makes you feel good and one you can be happy about.

Learn A Language.

Unfortunately, most schools are still teaching Spanish and French. Spanish is only slightly needed but the business world is changing and if you want to succeed you need to change with it. Learn Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Arabic or Persian. Most of the world knows English but these countries are the face of the new economy, unfortunately US schools are still stuck in the 70s.

Education Is Necessary

Education is an indispensable asset. At a time when educational policies are being harshly criticized now is the time to get an education and to further your education. Nothing will propel your success further than education. Numerous studies consisting of hiring managers said they would fire a educated employee over one who has no higher educational training. Furthermore, the minority of educated people will pass laws and elect officials who promote their own bought interests of the elite rather than the general population. Education is necessary

MinuteClinic

2007-09-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

The new emerging health trend (which means new jobs)

I cannot remember how many doctor appointments I have missed because I just couldn’t leave the office at the specific time for a doctor's office visit. However with the new company MinuteClinic, a visitor can be seen by a physician's assistant or a nurse practitioner in appx 15 minutes. MinuteClinic is one of the largest chains of walk-in medical centers cropping up in pharmacies or stores such as Target or Wal-Mart. However, the clinics are only for basic ailments like earaches, seasonal allergies, common colds and pinkeye.

As new MinuteClinics open in new states, new career opportunities are becoming available. Their innovative approach to healthcare allows clients with simple healthcare problems be seen in one to two office visits while opening more opportunities for nurse practitioners and physician assistants. MinuteClinics offer both part-time and full-time positions with benefits. Office hours are reasonable which means a nurse practitioners or physician assistant could continue their education if desired.

Check out MinuteClinic for yourself

The Danger Of Fake Jobs & Fake Job Recruiters

2007-09-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

Job seekers are interviewing with online recruiters that pressure job candidates into giving sensitive and confidential information. Using fake job postings and targeting specific individuals for fake job interviews have become a tool for spying and identity theft.

Scenario One:

The target is lured by the position, salary, benefits or other enticements and in the interviewing process becomes comfortable and becomes less guarded about the details of the work they are doing at their current company.

Answering seemingly harmless questions about plans, programs, environment practices, people, marketing strategies or even technologies can lead to derivative intelligence. Derivative Intelligence is the gathering of mole intelligence from unknowing victims who voluntarily give pieces of information that can do an individual or a company financial harm. Using this technique, work projects, timelines and events that may be disclosed during a job interview could destroy competitive advantage for a corporation.

According to News Release Wire a un-named recruiter said this tactic has been and still is used in Silicon Valley where the competitive environment is extremely intense among technology companies.

Scenario Two:

By creating phony job ads, identity theft scammers hope to fool job hunters into sending them personal information (called phishing) such as filling out an online application that asks for social security numbers and or state identity numbers. Phony job ads often use familiar-looking or convincing company logos fakes and marketing slogans and provide links to fake web sites that appear to be those of genuine corporation. Many legitimate corporations may ask for this information but make sure you thoroughly research the company prior to providing this information. One red flag include charging a fees for services they never intend to make good on. Typically, after a few days the thieves close down the scam and disappear.

On the other hand, many scammers will go in hunt for personal web pages and resumes on public job sites. Once they find what they believe to be an easy target, the con artist will send an email pretending to be a job recruiter. The email will announce that the receiver is an excellent prospective candidate for the XYZ company and that the receiver should reply with a resume and or personal information right away to schedule an interview.

The scam is continued into a phone interview where they will than try to gain their victim's confidence to get personal information. With information such as a name, birthday, city of birth and city of residence a scam artist can locate the remaining needed information to steal an identity. A lot of this information is not required before an in-person interview or even until you have been offered a job with a company.

Tips For Online Job Hunters

1) Never provide any non-work related personal information such as your social security number, credit card number, date of birth or home address, through e-mail, and now it’s often suggested not to include it on your resume.

No job needs your credit card number
It’s illegal for employers to ask how old you are
They may want a job candidate who lives near the job site so do indeed list the city and state you live in. The home address and social security number isn’t needed until you are officially hired.

2) List your resume on a job site that allows only verified recruiters to scan them and uses a privacy policy. Use the first suggestion as a guideline.

3) Verify a prospective employer, recruiter, and or recruiting agency through another source such as the Better Business Bureau or even your local phone book. Try to contact them by phone and visit them in person if it’s a local company.

4) If a prospective recruiter or employer requests a background check, agree to do so only after you have met with them at their company location during regular work hours.

5) You should never have to pay for "exclusive" job leads or for a job itself. Beware of anyone who asks you for money in exchange for finding work for you. There are social networking groups that specialize in specific industries but members are paying for a membership with a basket of benefits such as job leads.

6) If you are paying for job placement services, use a prepaid credit card such as Green Dot. If you do use your regularly used credit card or bank direct payment program don’t start any financial trading until you have been to the place of business in person and have researched the prospective recruiter or job agency.

7) Does the e-mail address feature the company's name? As in JohDoe @ APlusJobServices.com Is the address or locations inconsistent with the area or zip code?

8) Instead of using links from the ad or email, check out a web address by highlighting, copying and pasting the url with www in front (www . APlusJobServices.com)

9) Create an exclusive web-based e-mail address and account for job hunting only.

10) Trust your instincts

Always remember: If it sounds too good to be true it usually is.

Why some computer technology is blocked at work

2007-09-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: CIO - The Eight Most Dangerous Consumer Technologies

Instant Messaging

In one study, 40 percent of study respondents said they use consumer a instant messenger service such as AOL or Yahoo at work. Consumer instant messaging presents numerous security challenges. One such challenge is that malware can enter a corporate network through external IM software. Every time IM users send sensitive company data across insecure networks, the company is at risk of vicious attacks.

Web Mail
Nine out of ten people I know use services such as Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail for both personal and professional email services. The problem with consumer e-mail services is that we the users don't realize how insecure our own e-mail exchanges are because messages are transported over the Web, stored on the ISP's server and temporarily stored on the e-mail provider's server. Even though I know this in the back of my head, even I don’t always consider the value of sending sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, passwords and or confidential business information through email.

Portable Storage Devices
Have you ever lost or have you ever had a purse, wallet or jacket stolen? An IT manager’s and executives biggest fear is the shrinking physical size of portable storage. It’s anther thing a lot of people do. Too tired to stay at work, you decide you’ll take home some of the files to work on after dinner. With portable drives so convenient it’s incredibly easy to transfer some copies and slip into your purse or pocket. The problem is what can be pocketed can be stolen.
PDAs and Smartphones
Not all computers, software and gadgets speak the same language. People are using smartphone and PDA for everything. But When a employee with a smartphone or PDA (BlackBerry, Treo or an iPhone) try to sync up their device's calendar or e-mail application with their own PC, it can cause problems ranging from application glitches to the blue screen of death.

Why? Because if you go to Korea expecting to communicate easily with the locals but you don’t speak Korean, you’re going to have this blank look on your face when they talk to you in Korean. Some computers, software and gadgets act the same way. If they don’t speak the same language they will malfunction.

Camera Phones
Not just instant happy moments, unless you’re a thief. A undercover ‘mystery shopper’ (for lack of a better word) from DeKalb's Finney went to a hospital, stood at the hospital station and took pictures with her camera phone without the nurses knowing it. She than downloaded and enhance the images to see if she could get any patient information from them. The nurses were good about security she didn’t get any. With an advanced digital camera phone or small digital camera, any thief can easily randomly snap pictures of secure documents.

Anther trail of thought - It’s someone birthday at work and the office surprises the person with a cake at their desk … as she / he is working on highly confidential company information. Someone than posts a picture of the happy surprise moment and unbeknownst to the picture taker, she / he is also showing the screen full of confidential company information.

Downloadable Widgets
The risk is that these programs use processing power on the computer and the network. Any software that is downloaded without being determined ‘not a threat’ is a potential threat of viruses and vicious attacks.

Virtual Worlds
Using virtual worlds such as Second Life involves downloading large programs in order to run the virtual world which is than stored inside the corporate firewall. There's really no way to know the genuine identities of the avatars behind the online name in virtual worlds. You could be talking to a just anther employee of a company that has a few minutes to kill… Or you could be talking to a competitor trying to manipulate confidential company information. Even telling someone that your company will be at the XYZ tradeshow could potential hurt sales for your company.

What America's Top Ten Jobs Pay

2007-09-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: MSN Careers

Physician assistants -- Unlike medical assistants, who perform routine clinical and clerical tasks, physician assistants practice medicine under the supervision of physicians and surgeons.

Job Growth (through 2014): 49.6 percent

2. Computer applications software engineers, applications -- These professionals analyze users' needs and design, construct and maintain general computer applications software or specialized utility programs.
Growth: 49.4 percent

3. Dental hygienists -- Dental hygienists examine patients' teeth and gums to detect diseases and abnormalities, teach patients how to practice good oral hygiene and provide other preventive dental care.

Growth: 43.3 percent

4. Computer systems software engineers -- They coordinate the construction and maintenance of a company's computer systems and plan their future growth.

Growth: 43 percent

5. Network and computer systems administrators -- They design, install and support an organization's local-area network (LAN), wide-area network (WAN), network segment, Internet or intranet system.

Growth: 38.4 percent

6. Database administrators -- Database administrators work with database management systems software and determine ways to organize and store data. They identify user requirements, set up computer databases, and test and coordinate modifications to the computer database systems.

Growth: 38.2 percent

7. Physical therapists -- Physical therapists provide services that help restore function, improve mobility, relieve pain and prevent or limit permanent physical disabilities of patients suffering from injuries or disease. They restore, maintain and promote overall fitness and health.

Growth: 36.7 percent

8. Diagnostic medical sonographers -- Sonographers operate the sonograph equipment, which collects reflected echoes and forms an image that may be videotaped, transmitted or photographed for interpretation and diagnosis by a physician.

Growth: 34.8 percent

9. Occupational therapists -- Occupational therapists help individuals who have conditions that are mentally, physically, developmentally or emotionally disabling perform a range of activities, from using a computer to dressing, cooking and eating.

Growth: 33.6 percent

10. Environmental engineers -- These engineers apply the principles of biology and chemistry to develop solutions to environmental problems, assisting with pollution control, recycling, waste disposal and public health issues.

Growth: 30 percent

Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts

2007-09-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

CTRL + T: Opens a new tab.

CTRL + R: Reloads the current tab.

CTRL + H: View your browsing history in a sidebar

CTRL + J: Opens your Firefox download manager

CTRL + TAB: Moves to the next tab.

CTRL + SHIFT + TAB: Moves to the previous tab.

CTRL + Z: Undo last action

CTRL + SHIFT + Z: Redo last action

CTRL + ENTER: Auto-complete URL to .com

CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER: Auto-complete URL to .org

CTRL + SHIFT + T: Restore the last closed tab

CTRL + number: Change to the tab with this number

CTRL + F4: Close the current tab

CTRL + N: Opens a new Firefox window

CTRL + S: Download the current webpage page as a HTML file

CTRL + L: Highlights the URL in the browser address bar

CTRL + HYPHEN: Decrease text size on the webpage

CTRL + PLUS: Increase text size on the webpage

CTRL + D: Add webpage to bookmarks

ALT + Home: Loads your start page.

ALT + F4: Close the browser window

SHIFT + ENTER: Auto-complete URL to .net

F5: Reload the current tab

F11: Go full screen / normal screen

Space: Scroll down the page

ESC: Stop

Ten unusual websites you may not know about

2007-09-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

1. Google SMS

I’m only guessing at this number -- but I have a feeling that approximately only 50 percent of cell users have web capable cell phones or use the Internet potential on their cell phones. However, there have been times where I sincerely wished I had a laptop as I sat in the passenger seat hoping to come by something of interest for lunch or dinner.

With Google SMS you send a text message to 466453 ('GOOGLE' on most devices) and they will send you back results. I text messaged Art Supplies 91423 and found two in my immediate area.

For a demo and more info go to Google SMS

2. Retail Me Not

Your not cheap you’re a savory shopper and with Retail Me Not you can locate coupons for web merchants and services.

It’s Not Playdo It’s Plaxo With A Pluse (Review)

2007-08-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

As a online researcher with what seems like a billion news sites, social networking communities and information resources along with my personal interests, local events I would like to attend and blogs I would like to read -- I simply can not keep up with them all. I’ve tried a handful of free online tools that make big claims to simplifying my life by coordinating everything in a one two three WOW format but so far none of them have held up to what really works for me.

So I stumble upon yet anther one called Plaxo 3.0. Plaxo is an online address book service founded by Napster co-founder Sean Parker. However they’ve received a lot of scowls from earlier Plaxo versions. Plaxo 3.0 is said to be better, more secure, less spam and basically a new Plaxo with less evil. Their website tour didn’t impress me but I decided to watch their video tour which was more impressive. Not yet a wow kind of moment, but enough so that I decided to sign up and see if it can hold up to their marketing of “it’s simple” and “don’t leave home without it” tactics.

Using my Hotmail as my test it did indeed easily sync up my Hotmail contacts into Plaxo. I could have added my Outlook if I wanted to download the software and instant message people through Plaxo. However, since I use AOL I didn’t seem the necessity of adding anther. What I would have liked to do though is sync up my AOL instant message contacts with my instant messages in MySpace. I don’t use MySpace for IM but it does tell me when I have new mail when signed in.

After syncing my Hotmail, it didn’t point me to do anything else so I moved over to Pulse to explore what that was.

“Welcome to Pulse. Let's get you up and running.” - Size 18

Get me running with what? What is Pluse? For all I know it’s the newest internet plague…I don’t want to run with the plague!

Thankfully in very small font it says “Not sure what Pulse is or why you should use it? Read our blog.” – size 8

According to the blog “Pulse is a social network for your REAL life.”
Real life? Is that like Second Life? I call my real life by my real name that I rarely use online… Than again I’m not even sure if that’s real either though…but I’ll run with it. Pulse is for real life, got it.

So what Pulse is suppose to do is gather all of the social networking and community websites that I belong to and “through the power of RSS and APIs” Pulse will pull in whatever community website I update and share it with whomever I designate to read those particular websites i.e. family, online buddies business contacts and real friends.

As of May of 2007 (and a promise to add more in the future) Pulse can “pull together” Amazon.com, AOL Pictures, Del.icio.us, Digg, Flickr, Jaiku, Last.fm, LiveJournal, MySpace, Picasa, Pownce, Smugmug, Tumblr, Twitter, Webshots, Windows Live Spaces, Xanga, Yahoo! 360, Yelp, and YouTube.

Here’s the promise that seems too good to be true. The webshots on the What Is Pulse blog look tempting and technically I belong to more social networks than a nerd should. I don’t read or even check in with most of them regularly, but from time t time one will send me an automatic email telling me I have mail from Webcam Wendy or Make Money Mike. Sometimes though rarely, I do receive a genuine email from a potential network buddy or online acquaintance. The social networks I use on a daily basis has blogs from a select few I would love to keep up with but have seem to lost time to do so. So I’m giving Pulse a chance to impress me.

The simple 1 2 3

1 Set up your profile.
2 Connect with your friends, family, and business network.
3 Add feeds for the sites you use.

Profile – simple enough

After I click on Save Changes, nothing happens. This is one of the things that may or often frustrate new internet uses (whether your 15 or 85). It doesn’t tell you what to do next. So I take the initiative and click on “Pulse Feeds”.
Here a not so long list of available feeds allows you to add whatever communities you would like to coordinate and sync. Here is where I take Pulse for a true test drive.

Amazon Wish List – why is this the first one? I have never created a wish list because it just seems like internet begging. Maybe I should create one – maybe some generous anonymous online sugar daddy / sugar mommy will buy me one of the more pricier reference books, tech toys or perhaps someone indulge me in escaping reality with a fantasy books.

When you choose to add a social networking and or community website you belong to you have five options to choose from. However you are only allowed to choose one. What if I want both my family and friends to view a website but not my business contacts to view a website?

Business network
Friends
Family members
Public
Nobody

“Sites you use’ will ask for you to choose a nickname and than provide you with a public profile and calendar. Not sure how or why I would use this but that is what experiments are for.
Add site

Again, not sure how this is used but it says that any site you add will be listed on your Plaxo profile and asks if you would like it to be seen on your public profile.

It seems like Plaxo has a lot of features and I keep adding content and links to the features.
After you’re done with Sites you use and adding any sites you would like to, it again leaves a user hanging in “what next”? So I go over to Connections. In connections it asks for you to add your connections from their list of available capability such as Hotmail or Outlook, but didn’t I do that already at the beginning? Ahhh you have to go to Address Book to see them. So if you want to find a connection you have to sync up your contacts which is a separate function and sync from Address book. That’s sort of annoying.

I don’t often save my planned and potential events in Hotmail but I want to try out Plaxo’s calendar, but if I want to try it out I have to download Plaxo’s software for Outlook in order to sync my Outlook calendar with Plaxo even though I have no intention of using the Plaxo IM feature. That’s annoying!

Calendar download for Outlook was confusing and I never was able to get it to sync -- so I can’t give a review of this feature which says a lot in and of itself.

So I’m done – now what? Yet again I’m left hanging with “what now?”

I lick on My Profile and it an edit profile window comes up. I don’t want to edit it I want to see what others see.

I click on Plaxo and assume that will take me to a home page. No, It takes m to the last page I was on.

I log out and than back in to see the promise of easy coordination and it’s not what I was expecting after almost an hour of adding social network community websites and syncing my Hotmail account. I log out and use a different browsers to see if I can find me as a non member. Nope. There isn’t a search field to look for my membership name.

I log back into Plaxo using my regular internet browser and share a message. It shows on Pluse page but since I have no friends (oh is me) no one sees it. In connections I can look for names so I randomly choose a name. I pick dawg because there is always a Dawg somewhere right? Not in Plaxo, no Dawgs to be found. Okay, how about a Smith? Smiths are like ants you can’t take a step forwards or backwards without stepping one right? Apparently in the internet world Smiths are hiding under the cyber sidewalk. Than it hits me… You can only search for connections that you have always established in your profile and only with connections that also have Plaxo profiles.

Test

As a test, I send an Plaxo Invite to my work email address. This is what I get.
From: Plaxo Pulse
Subject: Sierra added you as a connection on Pulse
At that point you must open the email or view it if you have Outlook.

Email says:

I'd like to connect to you on Pulse.
Pulse is the easiest way to stay up-to-date and share photos, contact info, recommendations, or just about anything from the sites you already use (YouTube, Flickr, Digg, etc.) with the people you know.

Thanks,
Sierra

To accept this request and see what I'm sharing:

I accept the invite from myself and join Plaxo to see what I’m sharing.
Only a small portion of all that I added shows up and the picture I added to the profile is non-existent.

The news sources for Plaxo says this is a don’t leave home without it…I’m leaving home to go outside ad play.

Last thoughts of Plaxo: A couple of hours wasted and disappointed yet again.

Why: because I wanted to be able to read postings and blog entries from MySpace, Live Journal & Tribe all in one location.

Using Key Marketing Tools to Market Yourself on The Job Market

2007-08-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

Marketing is the essence of all successful businesses and organizations. Without marketing, no matter how good the product or how valuable a service; the business or organization will fail. How does this little marketing lesson apply to you?

In today’s job-hunting jungle, the most successful job-seekers are those who understand the value of marketing. By applying similar principles in a job hunt you gain better expose yourself to valuable companies by demonstrating that you understand basic marketing.

Tip #1: Marketing is not sales. Sales is a small part of marketing but marketing is a product (or service) that says look at me not buy me. Selling yourself in the job market is certainly an important aspect however this article will expose you to the much broader aspects of marketing that get your resume and qualifications seen. Selling is when you are at the interview.

Tip #2: Believe in yourself. Every good salesman knows that you must believe in your product. If you don't believe in yourself why should anyone else?

Job Hunting Marketing Strategies

MISSION STATEMENT (Career Objective) ~ Develop a mission statement to let employers know what direction your interested in – what are your long-range goals for your career? Through this understanding, employers can see more clearly how your role as a potential company employee can contribute to the further success of the company goals.

MARKETING ANALYSIS (Career & Industry Research) ~ To market yourself to potential employers you need to use marketing techniques used to attract and persuade consumers. But instead of attracting consumers you are attracting Personnel Managers.

Marketing includes research so go online and research what the industry or specific company needs are for your chosen career goals. One stone in a solid marketing campaign is to find out what employers want, then setting out to meet their unmet needs and providing it.

STRATEGIES & TACTICS (The Job Hunt Jungle) ~ There are many viable marketing tools available in receiving interview appointments. The trick is to remember that every conversation whether it last twenty seconds or twenty minutes is a marketing moment in introducing yourself as a successful and valuable professional.

Blogs & Social Networking

Don’t promote your personal profiles; make new ones that are strictly for personal networking and demonstration of your skills and abilities. Use blogs to talk about your industry (positives), the trends, the news and what you think or how you would solve particular problems.

DESIRED RESULTS (Examples of Work / Accomplishments) ~ Would you buy a product you have never seen or heard of? Have a list of accomplishments you have had success in. Have companies of your work available online and in a portfolio.

OBSTACLES & OPPORTUNITIES (Teamwork) ~ Explain how your skills and experience will meet and overcome obstacles in the company. Describe your ability to solve problems that are expected and unexpected and how you can turn obstacles into opportunities. Clarify how you value cooperation and commitment of other individuals and place value on networking with other companies and associations outside of the company.

An effective strategic job-hunting plan is industry-based and employer-oriented. It provides a detailed step-by-step tactical approach for acquiring interviews at quality potential employers. The benefits of self-marketing will far outweigh the time needed to set up a good strategic job-hunting plan. Do what other people are not doing or at least not doing as well as you. Conform, and you’re really nothing special.

Scripps Networks Buys Incando - Social Networking

2007-08-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

Scripps Networks, leader in lifestyle media, has acquired Incando Corporation, a provider of social networking and content sharing tools online. Incando is known for its user media-sharing service Pickle.com and the user-generated content management platform Powered by Pickle. Pickle’s website quickly uploads photos and videos from consumers' computers, mobile phones and digital cameras and can be used on social network sites such as MySpace and Blogger.

"With the acquisition of Incando, we now have the back-end tools to engage consumers, viewers, and marketers in a multi-branded, multimedia online universe with compelling, personalized experiences." - John Lansing, president of Scripps Networks

Scripps Networks also just acquired Recipezaar.com, a popular user-generated recipe and community site. User content has quickly become a highly valued commodity. Consumers want both professional guidance and personal opinions, outlook and suggestions. According to Deanna Brown, president of Scripps Networks Interactive Group, within the next few years, Scripps Networks expects as much as 50% of its online content to be co-created by its users.

Jobless claims rise by 4,000

2007-08-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

Figure is below expectations, underscores strength in labor market; four-week moving average down for the fourth consecutive week.

CNN Money

New applications for U.S. jobless benefits rose by 4,000 last week, government data showed Thursday, underscoring continued strength in the labor market. First-time filings for state unemployment insurance benefits, a rough guide to the pace of layoffs, rose to a seasonally adjusted 307,000 in the week ended July 28, from an upwardly revised 303,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said. Last week's level of claims came in somewhat lower than the 310,000 claims that Wall Street economists - polled by Reuters ahead of the report - were expecting after a previously reported 301,000 claims the prior week. The four-week moving average of claims, a more reliable measure of employment trends because it irons out volatility in the weekly data, fell for the fourth straight week to 305,500, its lowest level in two months. The number of people who already qualify for benefits and remain on the jobless rolls fell by 16,000 to 2.53 million for the week ended July 21, the most recent period these figures were available.

Best Companies to Work For

2007-08-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

Google: The New No. 1

2. Genentech
3. Wegmans Food Markets
4. Container Store
5. Whole Foods Market
6. Network Appliance
7. S.C. Johnson & Son
8. Boston Consulting Grp.
9. Methodist Hospital Sys.
10. W.L. Gore & Associates

See all of the Best Companies to Work For

What Are The Creative Commons Licenses & What Do They Mean?

2007-08-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

Creative Commons Licenses Summary

Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives

License is often called the “free advertising” license because it allows others to download your work and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike

Allows others to change, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

Attribution Non-commercial

Allows others to change, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Attribution No Derivatives

Allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed
along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.

Attribution Share Alike

Lets others rchange, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.

Attribution

Lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.

Source: Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Marketing That Works

2007-08-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Is it time to upgrade your career skills?

2007-08-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

According to a MSNBC news article new job creation slowed down in July and didn’t meet the expectations predicted in January by economists. Construction, manufacturing, retailing and government jobs seemed to have the most job loses. However, Edward Lazear, chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, said businesses are still eager to hire and the want of new employees “is still very strong.”

One of the potential reasons for the loss of jobs and weak hiring outcome is said to be directly tied to the decline of the housing market, seesawing economic activity and high energy prices.

The bad news in July

Construction companies slashed 12,000 jobs
Manufacturers shed 2,000
Retailers cut a thousand.
Approximately 28,000 government jobs were eliminated.

The good news in July

Education and health care added 39,000 jobs
Leisure and hospitality expanded employment by 22,000
Professional and business services added 26,000 new positions.

Hiring new employees has cooled off in July and has pushed the nation’s unemployment up to 4.6 percent, a six-month high. The average time unemployed people spent in their job searches was 17 weeks in July, which is up from 16 weeks in June.

So wile the employment news is pretty ad there is anther side that many unemployed people don’t know about. The Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program provides unemployment benefits to eligible workers and has many programs they may assist you in advancing, strengthen or even changing careers if eligible. In addition, many states have Federal-State funded career centers (in California their called One-Stop Career Centers) which has a big kiddie box of career tools that will help you locate a job, build career skills and prepare you for your new job.

One-Stop Career Centers are sort of a one shopping mall for all career needs. Most centers offer assistance in

Job search assistance
Job listings
Access to phones, Internet, printers, fax machines, copy machines
Career & job workshops
Information on wages and trends
Community resources
Referrals to other services

Unemployment offices offer benefits such as

One-on-one specialists to identify your skills and help find a job
Veterans with disabilities program
Workforce Investment Act (WIA)

If you qualify for WIA you can receive assistance in / with

Tutoring, study skills training, and instruction leading to completion of secondary school
Alternative school services
Job & education mentoring
Locating internships, apprenticeships, and job shadowing
Occupational skills training
Leadership development
Guidance counseling
Supportive services and follow up

Unemployment also has what is called Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits

Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits

“Extended Benefits are available to workers who have exhausted regular unemployment insurance benefits during periods of high unemployment. The basic Extended Benefits program provides up to 13 additional weeks of benefits when a State is experiencing high unemployment.”

Other U.S. Department of Labor programs include

Disaster Unemployment Assistance

Special programs for individuals in disaster areas declared by the President.

Trade Readjustment Allowances

Federal program for workers unemployed because of U.S. trade policies.

Self Employment Assistance

Special voluntary state programs in a few states for workers starting a business

Look up your states Employment Development Department website and see what your state has to offer. They’re your benefits, you’ve earned it!

Extra

Career One Stop: Provides a suite of tools for people to use at any stage in their career

It's NEVER too late - 94-year-old woman has earned her masters degree

2007-08-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

A 94-year-old woman has earned herself a masters degree in medical science from the University of Adelaide.

Great-great-grandmother Phyllis Turner left school at 12 years old to help raise her 9 siblings but always wanted to go back to school.

After marrying and raising her own family she finally took the time to fulfil an ambition at the grand old age of 90.

Employer Liable for Employee’s Illegal Use of Internet January 2006 By: Robert G. Brody

2007-08-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Employer Liable for Employee’s Illegal Use of Internet January 2006 By: Robert G. Brody (Founding Partner) and Richard S. Moskowitz

(Associate) at the Labor and Employment Firm of Brody and Associates, LLC

A New Jersey corporation was liable for harm to third persons as a result of an employee’s activities on a company owned computer. The New Jersey appeals court ruled the company had a duty to report the employee’s internet activities involving child pornography to the police and to take internal action to stop them. Having failed to do so, the employer was liable for harm caused to the employee’s step- daughter and ex-wife.

Read the whole story here
Source: Jim Stroud

Hot Markets Hot Careers

2007-08-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

ORLANDO, FL

Hottest jobs:

Senior mechanical engineer ($80,400), physician's assistant ($76,000), IT project manager ($75,200), construction project manager ($71,200), electrical engineer ($64,900)

LAS VEGAS, NV

Hottest jobs:

Construction project manager ($78,800), IT project manager ($74,600), construction superintendent ($71,900), civil engineer ($70,000), executive chef ($65,500)

RALEIGH, NC

Hottest jobs:

Senior software develeoper ($91,000), software project manager ($87,300), senior network engineer ($84,100), IT project manager ($83,300), pharmaceuticals project manager ($82,300), biotech research scientist ($75,300)

CHARLOTTE, NC

Hottest jobs:

IT project manager ($83,000), senior software developer ($82,900), regional sales manager ($80,500), senior financial analyst ($72,900), construction project manager ($71,200)

PHOENIX, AZ

Hottest jobs:

Senior software developer ($84,800), IT project manager ($78,600), semiconductor process engineer ($78,000), physician's assistant ($76,200), construction project manager ($74,000)

WEST PALM BEACH, FL

Hottest jobs:

Senior software developer ($86,100), senior mechanical engineer ($81,800), IT project manager ($80,400), construction project manager ($73,200), construction superintendent ($73,000)

TAMPA, FL

Hottest jobs:

Senior software developer ($80,900), senior IT systems engineer ($75,500), IT project manager ($75,000), nurse practitioner ($70,200), construction project manager ($67,400)

RIVERSIDE, CA

Hottest jobs:

Physician's assistant ($78,800), construction project manager ($77,600), manufacturing plant manager ($77,200), construction superintendent ($75,800), construction estimator ($68,600)

AUSTIN, TX

Hottest jobs:

Senior software engineer ($97,800), senior electronics design engineer ($97,500), senior software developer ($92,700), computer hardware engineer ($83,600), semiconductor process engineer ($81,600)

ATLANTA, GA

Hottest jobs:

Regional sales manager ($86,400), senior software developer ($84,900), IT project manager ($83,000), business process/management consultant ($76,500), senior financial analyst ($72,100), construction project manager ($70,300)

SALT LAKE CITY, UT

Hottest jobs:

Senior software developer ($81,600), electrical engineer ($73,800), IT project manager ($69,200), financial controller ($67,200), construction project manager ($65,800)

JACKSONVILLE, FL

Hottest jobs:

IT project manager ($79,400), senior software developer ($77,800), financial controller ($76,800), physician's assistant ($75,900), construction project manager ($74,600)

DALLAS, TX

Hottest jobs:

Senior software developer ($88,500), operations director ($84,800), IT project manager ($84,500), regional sales manager ($84,300), financial controller ($83,200)

SAN ANTONIO, TX

Hottest jobs:

Senior software developer ($83,900), physician's assistant ($78,400), IT project manager ($76,800), human resources director ($75,800), construction project manager ($66,300)

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL

Hottest jobs:

Senior software developer ($84,600), financial controller ($78,600), IT project manager ($75,700), HR director ($73,500), construction project manager ($72,700)

Source: CNN Money - America's best jobs in the hottest markets

Thousands of adolescents work as unpaid baggers in Wal-Mart’s Mexican stores.

2007-08-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

The retail giant isn’t breaking any laws.

Wal-Mart prides itself on cutting costs at home and abroad, and its Mexican operations are no exception. The company’s practices have aroused concern among some officials and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that Wal-Mart is taking advantage of local customs to pinch pennies at a time when its Mexican operations have never been more profitable.

Wal-Mart is Mexico’s largest private-sector employer in the nation today, with nearly 150,000 local residents on its payroll. An additional 19,000 youngsters between the ages of 14 and 16 work after school in hundreds of Wal-Mart stores, mostly as grocery baggers, throughout Mexico—and none of them receives a red cent in wages or fringe benefits. The company doesn’t try to conceal this practice: its 62 Superama supermarkets display blue signs with white letters that tell shoppers:

"OUR VOLUNTEER PACKERS COLLECT NO SALARY, ONLY THE GRATUITY THAT YOU GIVE THEM. SUPERAMA THANKS YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING. "

The use of unsalaried youths is legal in Mexico because the kids are said to be “volunteering” their services to Wal-Mart and are therefore not subject to the requirements and regulations that would otherwise apply under the country’s labor laws.

Federal District Labor Secretary Benito Mirón Lince. “In economic terms, Wal-Mart does have the capability to pay the minimum wage [of less than $5 a day], and this represents an injustice.”

In its defense, Wal-Mart says it fully complies with a 1999 agreement covering the teenaged baggers that the Mexico City municipal government negotiated with the Supermarkets and Department Stores Association of Mexico. The company also says it goes beyond the obligations of that accord, awarding bonuses twice a year to baggers who maintain high grades in school and also providing accident insurance that covers the kids not only when they are on duty, but also when they are en route between home and workplace. The company’s written statement cited a study conducted by the Mexican government and a U.N. agency that found that teenagers participating in the baggers’ program were less likely to use illegal drugs than peers who panhandled or hawked merchandise on city streets.

Read the rest here

American Airlines to test in-flight Wi-Fi

2007-08-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

August 01, 2007 (Computerworld) --

American Airlines Inc. will test in-flight Wi-Fi services across the U.S. starting next year, according to the airline and its Wi-Fi provider AirCell LLC.

Other airlines are reported by Engadget and others to have expressed interest or have planned tests for 2008 with similar in-flight technology, including Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Southwest Airlines Co. and Qantas Airways Ltd.
Business and leisure passengers on American flights would be able to e-mail and surf the Web from laptops and handheld devices while in flight aboard 767-200 aircraft primarily on transcontinental routes, according to a statement from Itasca, Ill.-based AirCell.

"We understand that broadband connectivity is important to our business customers and others who want to use their PDAs and laptops for real-time, in-flight broadband communications," said Dan Garton, executive vice president of marketing at American Airlines, in a statement.

The cost of the service was not announced, and American did not say whether passengers will be allowed to use Skype-type voice services from their devices to make voice calls. Some airlines have been concerned about voice calls in-flight disturbing other passengers nearby.

Lufthansa is also interested in adding in-flight Internet service.

Read the rest here

Kids take on lunch lady -- and win

2007-07-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- Even someone who believes you can fight city hall might think twice before taking on the lunch lady. But some second-graders who raised their voices over reheated frozen green beans are being rewarded with tastier vegetables.
art.lunch.gi.jpg

Pupils are beginning to speak up about the quality of food at school cafeterias.

The menu at William V. Wright Elementary School is getting a makeover after Constantine Christopulos' class went on a poignantly polite letter-writing campaign aiming to see less of that particular vegetable in the cafeteria.

"A little boy said, `Anything, anything, I'll even eat broccoli,"' said Connie Duits, the lunch lady. "So that one touched my heart."

The children were careful to offer praise as they expressed their concerns.

"Dear Mrs. Duits, The food is so yummy and yummy. But there are one problem. It is the green beans," wrote Zhong Lei.

"We love the rest but we hate the green beans," wrote Viviann Palacios.

The Las Vegas students undertook the exercise in mini-democracy after the class read a book called "Frindle," in which a boy contemplates organizing a boycott of the cafeteria.

"I asked the kids, 'Is that a respectful way of doing it?"' Christopulos said. "And they said, 'Oh, not at all."'

As a result of the students' campaign, the food service department of the Clark County School District sent staff to the school to see what alternatives they preferred.

With a handful of reporters watching, two dozen students sat down Monday to a veritable salad bar of cooked, frozen and canned vegetables, from baby corn to cherry tomatoes, and filled out a survey.

Because of cost restrictions, the children's only real choices were between canned and frozen green beans, corn, cooked or raw carrots and cooked or cold peas.

Corn and carrots were popular; cooked peas, not so much.

"The cooked peas, it's warm and all, but inside of it, it's all soft and stuff and I don't like it," said MacKenzie Rangel.

Brenden Lucas said he liked the raw carrots, "Because it's hard and crunchy."

Some children got downright prolific when asked to write what other foods they would like for lunch or breakfast. Viviann requested "stake" and lobster, while Logan Strong wanted "chocolate filled panda cookies" and "chicken cordon blue."

While not all the requests would be accepted -- and green beans would still occasionally be served -- district supervisor Sue Hoggan said the survey will help district dietitians "tweak" the menu.

"They were so excited to get a response back," Christopulos said. "I taught them the pen is mightier than the sword, and hopefully they remember that forever."

College adds PowerPoint to application

2007-07-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

In a first, the University of Chicago will begin requiring prospective students to submit four pages of PowerPoint-like slides with their applications this fall.

The new requirement is partly an acknowledgment that Microsoft Corp.'s PowerPoint, along with similar but lesser-known programs, have become a ubiquitous tool in the business world. But Chicago says so-called "slideware," if used correctly, also can let students show off a creative side that might not reveal itself in test scores, recommendations and even essays.

"We wanted to have a freeform space for students to be able to say what they think is important, not always having the school run that dialogue," said Rose Martinelli, associate dean for student recruitment and admissions. "To me this is just four pieces of blank paper. You do what you want. It can be a presentation. It can be poetry. It can be anything."

"If there's one foundation of business, it's innovation, and this is your change to elevate yourself and show you can do something innovative," said Nicole Chestang, chief client officer for the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Source: Associated press

Top 50 Military Friendly Companies in America

2007-07-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

Union Pacific

Transportation - Railroad

2. The Home Depot

Home Improvement Retailer

3. Johnson Controls

Automotive & Electronics

4. BNSF Railway

Transportation - Railroad

5. USAA

Insurance & Financial Services

6. General Electric

Aerospace, Defense, Energy, Finance, Healthcare

7. ITT Corporation

Industrial Manufacturing, Defense, Electronics

8. BellSouth

Telecommunications

9. ManTech International Corporation

Computer Services

10. Sears Holdings

Retail

11. J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.

Transportation - Logistics

12. Kellogg, Brown and Root

Construction & Logistics

13. Applied Materials

Nanomanufacturing Technology

14. Cintas

Business Services

15. Sprint Nextel

Telecommunications

16. Georgia-Pacific

Packaging and Building Products

17. Schneider National

Transportation - Trucking

18. Brinks

Security Production & Services

19. Coca-Cola Enterprises

Beverages

20. Lockheed Martin

Aerospace & Defense

21. State Farm

Insurance & Financial Services

22. Morgan Stanley

Financial Services

23. Fluor Corporation

Construction & Design Services

24.Werner Enterprises

Transportation - Trucking

25. Sunbelt Rentals

Contruction Equipment Rentals

26. Booz Allen Hamilton

Business Services

27. American Electric Power

Energy & Utilities

28.Southern California Edison

Energy & Utilities

29.Merrill Lynch

Financial Services

30.Norfolk Southern

Transportation - Railroad

31. Honeywell

Aerospace & Defense

32. Progress Energy

Energy & Utilities

33. American Express

Financial Services

34. Westinghouse

Energy

35. 7-Eleven

Retail

36. NVR , Inc. (NV Homes/Ryan Homes)

Residential Construction

37.Southwest Airlines

Transportation - Airlines

38. The Vanguard Group

Financial Services

39. CDW Corporation

Computer & Software Sales

40.Smurfit-Stone Container

Packaging & Container Manufacturing

41.Phelps Dodge

Mining

42.Correction Corporation of America

Corrections

43.FMC Technologies

Energy

44. Bank of America

Banking & Financial Services

45.CSX Transportation

Transportation - Railroad

46.AT&T

Telecommunications

47.Merck & Company, Inc.

Pharmaceuticals

48.Southern Company

Energy & Utilities

49. ExxonMobil

Energy

50.Allstate Insurance Company

Insurance & Financial Services

Source: GI Jobs

Online Sports Spending To Hit $1 Billion By 2011

2007-07-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

Story Highlights:

MARKETERS WILL SPEND SOME $727 million on paid search and rich media ads on sports Web sites in the U.S. next year--up almost 33% from this year, reports eMarketer. And while advertiser spending on the Beijing 2008 Olympics will fuel much of that bump, the upward trend is slated to continue, pushing sports site ad revenues to top $1 billion by 2011.

The popularity of fantasy sports leagues has also drawn advertiser attention, as the fantasy games bring in between 15 and 18 million players each year. In 2006, marketers spent $150 million on branding and advertising deals with these online communities, and analysts are forecasting the dollars to continue to flow.

Streaming video is the only questionable component in the online ad spending forecast, as user adoption of online video for sports has been slow. The eMarketer report found that only 11% of consumers "were likely" to stream sports clips, compared to almost 50% that "were likely" to stream news clips and music videos.

Source: Online Media Daily

Thirteen Useful & Valuable Job Hunting Web Sites

2007-07-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

Alumwire.com ~ Focusing on job searches for college graduates and young alumni.

Amiko.com ~ Online resume generator.

AuthenticJobs.com ~ Full-time and freelance web designers.

Care.com ~ Babysitting ~ nanny ~ child care ~ tutoring ~ pet care and senior care jobs.

Bookalesson.com ~ A site for personal instructors in sports and music to find students.

Clickforlessons.com ~ Jobs board for private instructors in sports ~ art ~ music and the like.

Indeed.com ~ Searches several job sites ~ newspapers ~ associations and company career pages.

SeriousTeachers.com ~ Focusing on teachers ~ and schools looking for them but mostly all of them in countries other than the US.

Talentdatabase.com ~ Jobs boards for creative types such as artists ~ actors ~ dancers ~ musicians and much more.

Whototalkto.com ~ Give people leads in to your former job ~ while getting tips on the one you want to get.

Talkbean.com ~ Virtually connecting students and teachers from all over the world.

Peekface.com ~ Read reviews of employers written by people with experience in the same company.

YourOnRamp.com ~ Focusing on career women trying to balance work and a personal life.

In-Car Gadgets & Entertainment - Necessary Or Narcissistic?

2007-07-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

The idea of entertainment in a car sounds not so bad… if they are used to entertain children and or bored adults on a long and winding road trip. But at what point has technology gone too far when the driver is the one using the entertainment? While driving late at night on a not so busy Los Angeles major freeway I looked to my left to see a driver watching a movie while driving. There were not very many cars on the road but if he was using it to stay awake during the drive, than he was twice the danger of causing an accident.

Typical luxury and family automobiles features a navigation system, DVD player, MP3 player, Bluetooth abilities, HD radio broadcasting, and even Wi-Fi technology. All of these luxuries and entertainments are additional distractions on the road. The gadget distractions have become so bad that laws have already or are now being passed that makes it illegal to text while driving. Seems perfectly logical yet hundreds of drivers still send text messages while driving. I know because I use to be one of them. I stopped after a way too close minor accident could have occurred if I hadn’t looked up at exactly the perfect moment to slam my brakes on. In addition, I now ride passenger on my boyfriend’s motorcycle and the things I witness as a motorcycle passenger leaves me gawking in utter disbelief.

With these thoughts in mind, I have severe doubts about the sensible use of South Korea's new GPS navigation system that is an all-in-one navigation system that allows passengers (or drivers) to watch television on a 7-inch display that also displays photos, plays videos, permit games to be played, controls music selection and now has a digital karaoke machine. The all-in-one navigation system looks beautiful but would any of us be all that surprised to see the driver next to us singing in their car with a microphone in their hand? Thankfully, they're only available in Korea.

On The Other Hand

Mouhamad A. Naboulsi, president Applied Computer Technologies, Inc. believes there is a middle ground that does not compromise safety. He says that his company has developed a system that balances the driving practice with emphasis on safety, while still allowing drivers to use communication & entertainment technologies while driving. Here are the key advantages he lists as luxury and safety features

1- Hands are monitored to be on the steering wheel, otherwise devices are disabled
2- Incoming communications are silenced when Drivers are passing, merging and or changing lanes etc.
3-System is calibrated to the driver’s skills and experience and fits into a cell phone.

In addition, Mouhamad A. Naboulsi makes some very valid and important points that demand attention. He continues by saying

“What we need is to educate our legislative bodies to require a device like ours on every vehicle. Auto manufacturers are aware of our device and some are already using it overseas, to avoid our patents. let's face it, if we turn off our cell phones, we will be passed by Europe, Japan and the rest of the world. We need to stay connected to stay competitive, but we need to do it safely.”

Mouhamad A. Naboulsi president of Applied Computer Technologies, Inc. said that the company is currently looking for capital and for political mentors. If interested, please visit the Applied Computer Technologies, Inc website.

Source: Yahoo Tech: Navigation System features In-Car Karaoke

Cyber Tracker

Cubicle Farms Are Becoming A Thing of The Past

2007-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

Most people do not like square boxed in particleboard "offices." Thanks to new technologies many career positions no longer need them. However, these remote working arrangements will completely depend on trust between employer and employee. Whether at an office or working from home, if an employee cannot be trusted to get things done without supervision, they do not deserve to have a job. Both employees and companies continue to discover that the web is revolutionizing the work environment.

Most people, myself included, truly believe they are or can be more productive and happier when working from somewhere other than the standard workplace environment. Whether it’s home, Starbucks or Barnes and Noble the increased use of virtual offices is demonstrating the value of losing the micromanagement in exchange for happier and more beneficial employees.

Thanks to the power of the web, anyone can be anything they want to be in life. A hiring manager gives you an opportunity. It’s up to you to capitalize on it and only one thing will define your career, and that’s your track record. Your office cubicle experience (”track record”) in the corporate world will be the deciding factor on rather or not you will make the switch from cubicle employee to virtual worker.

How To Build An Ideal Track Record

Rarely be sick, never be late, always be early and don’t give a disrespectful “why should I” attitude. Don’t abuse your break time or make excuses or waste time on the phone. Avoid arguments but don’t avoid giving your well thought-out suggestions or opinions.

Be dependable, trustworthy, and don’t loiter around the water cooler or kitchen gossiping. Follows company rules, policies, and protocols and give the extra ten percent by working past office hours occasionally.

Don’t get tipsy at office parties, don’t over shmooze your way into a power clique and don’t succumb to vicious rumors. In other words hold on to your ethics but realize office politics will help a career move forward.

Always strive to be the first team member project managers want to recruit for projects. Have the ability to communicate with everyone from the president of the company to the janitor of the company. The best managers and executive associates never disqualify an idea or opinion based on someone’s job title.

Learn to listen, listen to learn and be an active member of the organization without becoming a drone.

As we’ve seen time and time again, the companies that adopt will lead the way to tomorrow, everyone else will only follow. Too many companies believe that employees should not be trained to be entrepreneurs for fear of losing them. However, retention rates can increase if employees do not feel the need to leave a company that provides them with an inner company entrepreneur ownership state of mind in relation to the work they do. On the other hand, employee must develop a solid track record and demonstrate they can be trusted working with no supervision.

For the employees who desire nothing more than entrepreneurship starting a business is no longer a risky dream. Employees wishing to make the transition from salaried employee to self employed can develop a business on the side as long as you don’t go after the same clients as your day job. This will only burn bridges and future networking resources and opportunities.

Conversely this will require an education. An education is invaluable to the success of your career. However, too many graduates depend on the illusion that what they learned in college or at a trade school learning foundation is exactly what they will do in the corporate world; it’s not. It is not something that prepares you one hundred percent for your career; it gives you the training you need to step into your career. The development of your career is solely up to you.

Experience (track record) results will speak for themselves when it comes time to seek the virtual office in exchange for the cubicle. Build slowly, listen, learn, take some chances so you can learn from both your success of risks and your mistakes from risks.

Soon you will be presented or you will be able to confidently ask for what you want. You may not conquer the universe, but you might have enough to live the comfortably, which is really the goal after all.

Cyber Tracker - Rhinoceros or Natual Disasters?

Google’s Unavailable After META tag

2007-07-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

Tell Google spiders to stop indexing a web page. At the annual SEMNE (Search Engine Marketing New England) conference Dan Crow, director of crawl systems at Google introduced Unavailable After. It’s a time sensitive META tag that that tells Google spiders when a particular page is no longer available for crawling.

The new META tag provides a way for webmasters to insert instructions that basically say a web page’s information is valid for a specifically set of dates, such as from July to August. The META tag comes as a useful resource for consumer product businesses that frequently lists sales on their website.

During a political campaign the website subject wants as much exposure as possible. However after a campaign (if s/he loses) the subject may not wish to upkeep the website which does not provide a needed community service. The Unavailable After META tag could be a useful tool in discontinuing the Google ranking development.

Anther way the “Unavailable After” can be a resourceful tool is for articles that are free for a particular amount of time, but then get moved to a paid-subscription area of a website. The article can use the META tag in specific marketing campaigns while listed as a Free Article drawing potential readers to the site.

The tag seems to have limited uses, but as the tag is used and experimented with I can see other uses for the new META tag. In theory, those looking for a new career or job could use the Unavailable After tag for their resume on personal websites. This may not be the best use for the tag considering the potential pitfalls of never knowing what opportunities could be missed if the resume is unavailable and not searchable.

However, employers could use the tag for career opportunities “currently available”. The Unavailable After would eliminate the need to manually remove online career opportunities ads after a period of time. Thus ending a flood of emails with resume attachments.

In the past, if a web master wanted to discontinue a web page from being indexed a web master would have to maintain a very large and time consuming robots.txt file. Now Unavailable After META tag can erase the long-drawn-out process. The new tag will not be supported by other search engines immediately, but considering that Google is at the top of the spider food chain, I believe that other search engines will support it soon enough.

Source: Garett Rogers - Google will soon support “Unavailable After” META tag

Cyber Tracker - Rhinoceros or Natual Disasters?

Will the new Nielsen web metric affect websites?

2007-07-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

Nielsen / NetRating's announcement that it would stop using the traditional Page View measurement as its primary metric to compare web sites has created some entertaining blog debate reading. In one corner bloggers say that the new system is just as unreliable as the current Page View since websites are designed for time saving efficiency. Along the same lines other people say that the time measurement is unreliable because if a site is difficult to navigate a user could spend the recorded time simply hunting down what they want or it could be that the site uses mainly Flash.

Meanwhile in anther corner bloggers point out that there is no one blanket way to equally measure all websites since websites are designed for different uses. Reading a blog and using web search engines are utterly different. Example. Based on the new system Google drops to fifth in popularity based on the time spent at their site. This is because Google is a search engine, which is focused on giving visitors quick answers and links away from Google. .

Page views are used to determine the popularity of websites. The reasoning was that, the more times users view a site, the more chances advertisers have to sell them products. With the new Nielsen Web metric system it measures total time a user spends at a website.

However, Nielson isn't a usability expert, they are a market research company. The simplest (yet also not perfect) common measurement that would be more thoroughly equal is returning unique visitors which tracks returning visitors within a specified period of time. On the other hand from everything I have read and researched, I believe the best way to evaluate a website’s content value should be a combination of time, new visitor views and returning visitors.

Camera Phones Will Exceed One Billion

2007-07-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

From: The Center For Media Research

According to a market study by Strategy Analytics, one third of the world population will own a camera phone by 2011. The number of camera phones in use this year will exceed one billion, with new sales boosted by early adopters replacing one-Megapixel handsets and first-time buyers alike.

Other key findings from the study:

Nokia is the clear market leader at 28% global share, while Motorola also shipped over 100 million units in the last 12 months
SEMC has raised the user experience bar for camera phones with their Cybershot range, and has outperformed in this category as well as in the music domain
VGA camera phones' share of the market will fall from 38% to under 7% over the forecast period

One Megapixel Camera Phones Are Now "Table Stakes"

Transformers: More Than What Meets The Eye

2007-07-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

I completely disagree with the Transformer reviews I’ve been reading. As the good little geek that I am I saw the movie last night. The movie is fantastic from start to finish with spectacular special effects and a great sense of humor. I especially liked the fact that Transformers was not made out to be a cheezy special-effects only movie. They developed the story starting with a geeky teenager and his first car to the initial dramatic transformation that lets you soak up the full glory of what a Transformer is -- later you see the awesome power of their capabilities.

Along with thousands of other 80’s kids, you just know that Michael Bay was one of those kids that held a Hasbro transformer in his hand and went off to fight Megatron leader the Decepticons. All grown up, Bay sends his transformers into the air twisting, turning, and shooting, while they transform into gigantic, rock-em-sock-em, battle-ready robots.

The explosions are fabulous, the alien creatures transform themselves in ways that leaves you gawking like a six year old and humans are not completely helpless. The supporting characters surrounding the Transformers and the main characters do what they’re supposed to do and they do a great job of it. However, I will agree that one character (and only this one character) was just an annoyance and was really unnecessary.

The fight actions with the big bangs and ‘BOOM” in the movie was thrilling and I loved every single one of them. They were exceptionally coordinated and my movie making fantasies images that the stunt drivers and animators had a blast blowing shit up. The visual effects were so stunning that they might as well not nominate any other films for this year's FX Oscar.

Throughout the movie grown-ups can see the little details that will make them giggle and the kids will be screaming “Oh my god! Did you see what he just did?” Oh wait that was me.

Peter Cullen’s reprisal as Optimus Prime’s voice made my inner child giddy. Pay that man whatever he asks. Hugo Weaving’s awesome character voice fit in perfectly for Megatron and Shia LaBeouf made a great geek.

“I AM MEGATRON”

A boy only movie? Definitely not. There are so many girls that love the same thing boys do so why should the movie be classified as a boy’s obsession? It strikes different obsesses for every (geeky) pre-teen - cars, robots, aliens, guns, explosions, and the hottest (most popular) girl at school.

In regards to the bad reviews out there, I just don’t understand them. The 80’s cartoons was quirky why shouldn’t the modern movie be just as quirky? This is a fun movie for those who love fantasy; good verses evil and love to see the underdog win. It’s shows us that the people in the military are genuine people that the most popular girl in school can be just like us geeky girls and outer-galactic robots can be hip. It was never supposed to be a Terms of Endearment romantic drama, it’s an action film. Were we complaining that Die Hard wasn’t a romantic action thriller dramatic storyline? It’s fun and it’s entertaining.

Hasbro sales of Transformers toys are going to explode! There will be Transformers everywhere and Halloween night will be a sea of Megatron, Optimus Prime and Bubble Bee. Kids will see and remember the movie and say, “I want to do that” which will usher in a new generation of animators, computer artists and moviemakers. I for one am looking forward to what they bring when I’m pushing a flame painted walker and cheering right along side the other kids.

Optimus Prime: Autobots, transform and roll out!

Contest: Create 15 to 90-second animated film

2007-07-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Source: Media Post Publications
by Les Luchter,

DIPPIN' DOTS, WHICH SELLS ITS frozen beads of ice cream, yogurt, sherbet and frozen ice in thousands of franchise stores and other locations, has partnered with Santa Monica, CA-based branded entertainment production firm matrixx Productions on a user-generated online contest called the "Adventures of Packy Movie Mash-Up Challenge."

Contestants will use a matrixx-developed, Web-based game tool at Dippin Dots to create 15 to 90-second animated films starring the Dippin' Dots' mascot, Packy. Dippin' Dots said users will be able to easily select various background scenes, animations, props and soundtracks, and they will also have the ability to add bubble-text dialogue similar to a comic book.

The emerging media group at matrix created the content tool in Flash 8 AS2. Following the contest period, the application will live on as a playable game on dippindots.com, and matrix has also seeded social networking profiles on MySpace and Facebook with links to the game.

The Dippin' Dots contest started Friday, with entries due by August 7. A panel of company judges will then select the top five films based on visitor ratings and number of views, as well as creativity and originality.

The selected movies will next be voted on by fellow contest entrants during a two-week period, with the top vote-getter receiving $2,500 and Dippin' Dots for a year.

Following that, Dippin' Dots will post the five finalists on YouTube for another couple of weeks; the most viewed entry there will win a "wildcard" prize of $1,000 and a six-month supply of Dippin' Dots ice cream. Dippin' Dots is based in Paduch, KY.

U.S. Department of Labor denies

2007-06-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

Intel request to help employees they will lay off in August
Source: Computer World

Summary
June 27, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- Intel Corp. plans to lay off 800 workers from a chip-making plant in Colorado by August, after Marvell Semiconductor Inc. began ordering those parts from another supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC).
Intel learned of Marvell's decision to find a new supplier around January, and warned its workers that month that it planned to sell the Colorado Springs plant, said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy. He declined to say how much revenue Intel will lose when the contract ends.

Intel plans to offer severance packages to its workers beginning in early August. The company also applied for a federal grant to help those workers learn new skills and find jobs, but the U.S. Department of Labor denied the request, he said.

Now Intel is appealing the government's action, and asking the department to reconsider its decision to withhold a grant from its Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. Under the TAA, the U.S. government gives aid to workers who lose their jobs through increased imports, providing them training, job search and relocation allowances.

Marvell is struggling with its own problems, including a delisting threat by the Nasdaq stock exchange for failing to file quarterly reports for the last two terms of 2006, or its 2006 annual report. The company is also restating past results, after finding in May that CEO Sehat Sutardja and other top executives had illegally backdated stock options to increase their value.

MySpace Founders Eye $12 Million Salaries

2007-06-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Source: OnlineMediaDaily

MySpace founders Chris De Wolfe and Tom Anderson plan to hold Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation hostage once their current contracts expire in October. According to the blog, the pair seeks $25 million over two years each, plus a development fund of $15 million to invest in Internet companies.

Not that News Corp. is blinking. MySpace and its Fox Interactive Media siblings may be the key to the media giant's future, but it's also one of the cheapest companies on earth when it comes to executive compensation." However, the company is understood to have made a counter offer of $15 million each for the two years, which would make De Wolfe and Anderson the second-highest paid executives at News Corp. behind Roger Ailes, chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group.

They two already have equity stakes in MySpace China, which means the chances of them getting what they want are highly unlikely, despite MySpace's dominant position in social networking, where its market share is near 80 percent. A relatively new phenomenon over the last few years, social networking has already proved to be fickle in nature; Friendster, the former king of the pile, was later usurped by MySpace, which today faces stern competition from Facebook, which now has 12% of the market. - Read the whole story...

Smart Companies to Start Now - By CNN Money

2007-06-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

Howard Schultz, Steve Case, Vinod Khosla, and other major investors are sharing their best startup ideas. And they're willing to give a collective $100 million to the entrepreneurs who can make them happen. Business 2.0 Magazine

The Ultimate iDrive
A Flyweight Database
The New Power Play
A Better Energizer
Spreadsheets That Truly Excel
Patient Monitoring to Go
New Tricks for Old Drugs
Search for the Small Screen
GPS-Guided Coupons
Text Ads on the Fly
The eBay of Product Placement
Helping Vlogs to Flog

How Does The Blind Use The Internet?

2007-06-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

I’m absolutely blown away by how advanced technology can be after reading so many irrelevant technology advances such as poppy quarters (that caused the US to put a spy alert on Canada), IT and taxidermy and Radio Toasters because that is what the world needs -- a way to combine breakfast making with "My Hips Don't Lie" in the morning.

So when I come across something truly unique and consumer needed, I feel like I've been cannonball shot to the future.

Every (or practically every) sighted person has a cell phone, a computer, a blog and access to upload and or view YouTube videos. While the sight granted users have a variety of technology gadgets that seem to only bore them after a few months the blind are rarely heard bragging about all the cool gadgets they have. Why?

I'm sighted, so I’m just as guilty not thinking much about how the blind access the internet and the tools that are available. We don't think much about the things we don't need until someone mentions the lack of it and suddenly a light turns on.

According to a U.S. Census Bureau more than 1.5 million blind or visually impaired people have access to the Internet. A blind person who buys a minimal feature included $300 personal computer has to then purchase an additional $1,000 (or more) worth of specialized software to make the computer work for them. They are online and they are professionals and consumers. Yet, the majority of online businesses and even educational institutes do not recognize their need for the ability to shop / or learn at their website. Their missing out on 1.5 million blind or visually impaired consumer dollars.

Accommodating blind people online is equivalent to targeting international users, in that unique issues of usability and technology must be considered. In most cases, a separate version of an online website is the best way to serve blind and visually impaired users. Think that's too much of an expense? Consider if only one percent of 1.5 million blind users visit your ecommerce website and only half of those make a purchase -- if each purchase is a minimum of $5 than 7,500 consumers spent $37,500 at your website.

How Does The Blind Use The Internet?

Using screen access software from vendors like GW Micro users translate text on a computer screen into either synthesized speech or into a braille display unit. To make a website screen reader friendly, sites must be largely or entirely text-based. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) offers invaluable recommendations for creating content accessible to the blind. Advanced technologies like Java, Flash and even web browser frames confuse most screen readers. Web developers should study the WAI recommendations and be open to different web styles that are routine for sight user websites.

Amazon introduced a blind accessible website back in 2001. However, they are not the only web-based company addressing the needs of blind consumers. Job site Monster has held disability awareness virtual career fairs, linking disabled people with potential employers. Conversely, making a website accessible to the blind may not only be a business advantage but may soon be a requirement.

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) sued Target, alleging their website violates California disabled-rights law because its website was not operable by blind computer users. In the suit, it stated that the site prevents a blind user’s equipment and software from reading the non-compliant alt-text and the invisible code that is embedded beneath graphics. In addition, the suit stated that because a mouse is needed to complete a transaction, blind customers were unable to make purchases on their own. In September of 2006 a federal district court judge ruled that a retailer can be sued if its website is inaccessible to the blind.

Every web company must decide for itself how to approach this sensitive issue. But companies should at least invest the time to understand the unique needs of blind consumers. As our society increasingly depends on digital communication and ecommerce for basic activities and as technology races ahead at an ever-increasing pace the online digital world requires accessible-for-all capability.

Exponential Launches Free Ad Server

2007-06-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

Source: Online Media Daily

Summary

More than 100 clients--including Intermarkets (ad manager for sites such as DrudgeReport.com)--have been testing Expo9, which is currently serving a reported 20 billion ads onto the Tribal Fusion network. E

The platform allows publishers to manage multiple campaigns and advertising partners through a single interface, with technology that figures out how to maximize revenue on every ad call by serving the most relevant ad to each user.

The Expo9 server differs from some free ad-serving solutions in that publishers don't have to download or host the platform themselves.

Don't Just Exist

2007-06-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

Are you living or just existing? The only thing in this world you will never be able to repeat is Life. Life is a quantity of one for every living species on this planet – why would anyone want to waste it?

If you truly want to experience and enjoy life, instead of scraping by, then you need to break away from the mold that is deteriorating your enthusiasm for life.

This is only a list of ideas and is probably obvious ones that you could have thought of yourself. However, when we get stuck, some of the most basic principals are hidden from us. It’s only when someone clears away the pollution hiding it from our view that
we see it again. We all need reminders sometimes. If you find this useful, print it out, and tape or tack it to your wall as a daily reminder.

1. Love. Fall in love, if you aren't already. Whether it’s friendship love or heart felt love -- If you have fallen in love, fall in love with that person all over again. But again, it doesn't have to be romantic love -- Love all of humanity, one person at a time.

2. Go outside. Don't shut doors and windows and become a hermit, it’s horrible for your skin. Grab a raincoat and go out when it's raining. Kick off your shoes and walk on the beach. Slip on your hiking boots and take a walk through the woods or on a trail. Nature is Life’s battery recharge.

3. Savor food. How much favor does a two minute hamburger really have? Don't just eat food enjoy flavor filled scrumptious food. Taste the bursts of flavor and savor every bite. Don’t limit yourself to sweets try new foods you have never tried before.

4. Career. Drop the job and get a career. If you work an average job that consist of eight hours per day, than you are spending forty hours per week of your life doing something you don’t even like. Why? Find your passion and turn it into a career. There is no reason and there are no rules that say you must earn a living doing something you hate.

5. Mornings. If you hate mornings than wake up a little early and do something you enjoy. Watch the sun rise, tell yourself positive things, watch an early morning televsion show or a taped one. Stretch, meditate or exercise as part of your ritual. Enjoy some great coffee at home or meet up with a acquaintance every morning to help make the day better.

6. Take chances. I hate it when the phrase “what if?” creeps into my mind. Too many of us live our lives too cautiously. We worry about what might go wrong, what others will think of us or we tell ourselves “I’m too old for that”. Non-sense! Take a risk and see what happens. At best you’ll have fun, meet some new people or even be offered a career instead of just a job. Go up to that girl / boy you've liked for a long time and ask her / him out. What do you have to lose?

7. Find Enthusiasm. Find the things in life that wake up ideas in you. Adventures are not simply outdoors. New ventures, new friends and weekend travels are all adventures. Make life one exciting adventure after another

8. Out of the cubicle. When it’s time to leave, leave! Get away from computer, stop shuffling papers and taking phone calls and X out of the Internet. Your work will be there tomorrow, spend a few evenings cubicle free. At the very least do your work on a laptop on a boat or from a city park bench.

9. Turn it off! If you can tell me what the top ten television sows currently are, you watch too much TV. Stop wasting so many hours away in front of the Idiocy Tube. Every hour you spend in from it is an hour taken from our lives. How many hours do we have to live? Use the TV for DVDs, an occasional show or a weekly favorite series. Better yet, turn it into a cool artsy plant holder. This way your get more out of it than put into it.

10. Travel. Buy a local surrounding city map and look at all the cities you haven’t been to. Use a weekend to travel to a nearby city you have never been to. What festivals do they have? What is the local history? What’s the oldest monument or building in the city? Travel there and find out.

11. What's important. Go to a park or a local café and make a list of everything that's important to you. Than add to it to the list of everything you want to do in life. Than make time for them.

12. Eliminate everything negative. Get rid of the junk in your life. What is holding you back or discouraging you from being happy? If it is a person, consider if this person is simply unhappy or toxic. All the negative people and stuff is wasting your life and pulling your attention from what's important. Get rid of the junk and simplify your life.

13. Be positive. Learn to recognize the negative thoughts you have. These are the self-deteriorating and take away from enjoying life. No more self criticisms and consider why you dislike something before you criticize someone else. Stop yourself whenever you start to say I can’t. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to do but with practice, it will become easier. This is one I’m also still learning how to do.

14. Face your fears. What are you most afraid of? Whatever it is, recognize it, and face it. Afraid of heights? Go to the tallest building, and look down over the edge. Only by facing our fears can we be free of them.

15. Suffering. Sometimes, life just isn’t fair and sends us down a particularly bumpy road. Suffering is an unavoidable part of life. We lose our jobs. We lose our lovers. We didn’t get something we wanted. Something happens to everyone and that is just part of life. The key is to allow yourself to have those feelings, to feel the pain and grieve and than move on.

16. Charity. If you can read this, than there is someone out there who is currently experiencing worse than yourself. Charity isn’t just about giving money, it’s about giving of yourself. Volunteer an hour or two and help someone less fortunate, it can be a very humbling experience.

17. Play like a child. Why should children have all the fun? Play and learn to be carefree.

18. Talk to people. Talk to the young, the strange and the older. There is no one more experienced than those who have lived through fifty years of life. They may not always be wiser, but they’re definitely entertaining. Talk to someone you wouldn’t specifically talk to, you may learn how incredible insightful they are, maybe they will give you advice on making a marriage last or staying out of debt.

19. Learn something new. Constantly improve yourself instead of just standing still. It doesn’t have to be career focused, it can be a potential hobby or something that just sounds interesting.

20. Look inside yourself. For some, this means finding religion. For others, this means learning about our ancestors, or nature. Than again, others learn about their inner energy. Whatever spirituality means for you rediscover it, and its power.

21. Do nothing. There is tremendous value in doing nothing. It’s also called relaxation. Doing nothing as in sitting there, doing nothing can be just as inspiring as a weekend vacation or getting rid of a headache. Learn to listen to your inner voice.

22. Watch sunsets. Every so often or even daily, stop and watch the sun set. Nature creates the most beautiful backdrops that Photo Shop will never be able to recreate. Make it a weekly ritual to watch the sun leave during dinner or while sipping tea.

23. Stop reading artificial self deteriorating magazines. They're not real and they are a waste your time and money.

24. Laugh. Laughing is one of the best ways to live. Tell jokes or laugh until tears flow freely. Laugh at a politically incorrect joke, don’t take life so serious. Learn to laugh and the world won’t seem so nasty.

25. Tryism. Try something new. Seek out new experiences and adventures. Try a new restaurant, do something you haven’t done since you were fourteen years old or go someplace that sounds bizarre. The worst thing that can happen is you waste a few dollars. The best thing that could happen is that you like it.

"The proper function of man is to live - not to exist." -- Jack London

Stress Gets You Nowhere

2007-06-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

I came into work this morning tired -- and everything about me was tired. My body was tired, my mind was tired and my eyes were so tired I was actually seeing colored spots of light whenever I looked at my monitor.

I lost my glasses, I have no date for a Masquerade I'm going to, I need to create anther fifty + career profiles and research career ideas in addition to new articles while updating my blog as well as working on personal errands… I told my boss I would do an interview this weekend yet I couldn’t locate a reasonably priced hotel, motel or campground after being told my original accommodations fell through and on top of all that my back was hurting. So I wasn’t surprised that I developed a sever migraine headache that lasted into the afternoon.

By 12:30 I had enough and was ready to call it quits. Instead, I went outside, sat in the sun next to the fountain for a bit, left a long message regarding this coming weekend’s frustrations to my traveling partner and babbled something about upcoming room reservations. Nonetheless, the headache refused to allow the sun to re-energize me. I massaged my temples, I rotated my neck this way and than that way. I took my hair out of the ponytail, put it up in a loose bun and put in back into a ponytail… nothing changed, so I decided to take a long walk shop gazing.

The headache persisted past each window and I had no heart to even enter any of the shops. As I was at the corner to cross back over to work I finally asked myself out loud. “What is it I can do to change anything that will reduce my stress?”

I than mentally ran over the list of what I could and could not change. I ran through what was the worst thing that could happen if I didn’t do or was late in doing each item of the list. I asked myself couldn’t this wait until XXX?

I hate admitting I can’t do or find something and so one more time I looked to see if I could find a motel reservation in the 90% rented Bay area. Still nothing. I was ready to admit defeat when my friend called and was none too happy about something personal regarding our trip. After hearing about the disappointing problem, I got my second wind and refused to admit there wasn’t one more thing I could try. So I did the second thing I do best, I networked. I emailed online acquaintances that I know either go to the Bay area frequency or live in the area. It was a long shot in the dark, but it was still one shot. That one shot hit a lead.

There is an activity lodge in the Bay area that is a cross between a hostel and a campground that not only rents rooms but also occasionally exchanges those rooms for volunteer assistance. I looked them up on the web and the property is beautiful, the atmosphere seems incredibly friendly and the rates are beyond reasonable. Too good to be true? Depends on your outlook.

While they do have their own parking, it’s a two-mile hike from the parking lot to the lodge itself. There is no electricity and guests must bring their own sleeping bags as well as food for the large family / communal kitchen accommodations.

I left a message for the two-mile hike lodge and hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon. However, even if there are no availabilities, I’m reminded that stress gets you nowhere while determination at least gets you a lead… and my migraine is gone.

The Surveillance Society

2007-06-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

The younger generation is revealing their entire lives on places such as MySpace, Live Journal, Facebook and has advanced the theatre of community. Their sense of privacy is not the same as that of older generations.

As most girls did, I used to write to myself in a diary, which I kept locked with the accompanied key. I wrote down all of my most private thoughts. All of which, I would have been mortified if anyone would have read. Conversely, kids of today has their diary online with computers they were given in elementary school. They instant message their friends and create online profiles at a variety of sites.

Eight year olds can “network” with people all over the world through consumer product sites as Barbie Girls.

Teenagers are revealing their inner most thoughts, anxieties and party life complete with infamous pictures at sites such as MySpace.

Adults from young to senior have stepped into a world of self-documentation focusing on the intimacy, the dullness or the adventures of daily life – just anther individual in a quite or uploaded noisy music track of a busy virtual world.

The caution of us over 30’s who are careful not too reveal too much personal information over the internet isn’t understood by the younger generation of online citizens such as Kitty Ostapowicz whose said in the article “Say Everything”: “Why not? What’s the worst that’s going to happen?"

The worst that can happen is that cyber stalking becomes real life stalking. What could also happen is that your public online life can and has affected people's careers and college education. Human resource managers and university faculty staff members are going online to find the non-application information that will reveal the "truth" or at least the image of the prospective employee or college student. If they don’t like what they see, they will not hire you or accept you into the college of your choice.

There’s a lot of transparency between being known on social networking communities and Hollywood celebrities -- it's about being a public figure and seeking an audience. The problem arises when something we don’t want others to know is published.

Hundreds or even thousands online may see a picture or a video of you, that you thought would only be seen by one or two other people. In 2000 a women named "Susie" was the victim of an uploaded video she took for her than boyfriend. It's believed her than boyfriend's roommate uploaded the tape to the internet where "Susie" was suddenly infamous. Sadly, this has become a trend among the broken hearted. We may say today's boyfriend / girlfriend would never so such a thing to us, but the truth is once feelings are hurt and pride is wounded, people are capable of anything.

There are advantages to manuscripting a life though. Patient blogs are a way for patients to communicate their feelings in a positive way and letting others know that they 're not alone. Their blogs give hope where before there may have been none. When a terminally ill individual or family member passes away, or a friend leaves unexpectedly, the blog or profile remains as a memorial for that person. Allowing family and friends to celebrate and remember the person.

As I grow older I have gone back to the beginning of my earliest public exhibitionist days and sometimes I’m amused at my former self’s writings and other times I reinforce my belief of how much of a nerd I really am. Which gets me thinking about the generation before me. How I would have loved to read about the life and personal adventures of “normal” everyday people in the earlier years.

From reading the adventures of the “new breed" of young women flappers and her bad boy (of that era) boyfriends to the thoughts of someone in 1929 when the stock market crashed and into the fashionable global phenomenon of Talkies in the 1930s…. That was a time to be recorded.

Yes, I know books still exist and I can walk from my desk stiff legs from my car to the door of any Barnes & Nobles. But those books are written mostly about famous or infamous people. While those stories and recollections are indeed fascinating, nothing beats the Girl / Boy Next Door retelling of what s/he thinks is dull.

So when I think about the future of who may be reading my public life, I wonder if they will find it dull or fascinating? Will Google still be popular by then? What will the internet have morphed into?

On a planet that is wired and networked and continues to grow USB cable tentacles stretching into rural villages, privacy is an illusion when you choose to publicize your life. People of all ages need to constantly ask themselves if what they publish is something that they can live with everyone on the planet knowing.

Are you considering how your private information can be used? Are prospective roommates, friends, husbands or wives or employers Googling you right now to piece together the reality of your life as opposed to the tales you’ve spun? Google probably knows more about us than any one person on this planet.

Virb – A Place For Webbies

2007-06-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

On the surface, it isn’t obvious why Virb is useful or even fun. It looks like just another social network and it doesn’t do anything revolutionary. However, Virb offers a lot of features that take away the constantly annoying traits that are present at other social networking sites.

Virb is a cleaner sleeker and more personalized neighborhood with a ton of great features that combines easy user customization, Flickr photostream, VirbTunes (aka iTunes plugin), a wide screen video player with a light box effect and a ton of other features that annoy users at other social networking sites. In addition, Virb is busy building new features and functionalities such as a Twitter module.

According to Virb

“Virb.com is a music-oriented content and information website that provides a service to musical artists and to record companies on behalf of musical artists” -- the people behind popular music networking service PureVolume. Conversely, Virb is attracting non-music industry users who simply enjoy music but are not involved in the music industry and who doesn’t like some form of music?

The Downers

Virb isn't for the 'newb", "nub" or "n00b (new to social networking / internet). While Virb has fantastic customization features the problem is that most people (including myself) don’t know how to use CSS that well. Until there are a large number of easy to find Virb layouts that users can copy and paste Virb growth will be slower than it could be. Yet, if Virb implements easy to use ‘copy and paste ‘ Virb layouts will the viewers be forced to see “this layout created by XXX” ads? Anther thing to consider is that a business driven user cannot reach a mass audience through Virb alone -- but a business driven user can certainly reach a quality audience.

Here are some the coolest Virb features that I found and believe have the potential to steal MySpace users.

Gives you the ability to easily customize your profile and unlike MySpace, if you don’t want to hear today’s Top 40 blazing song or yester year’s classic, Virb has a feature that allows you to turn off the person's customizations while viewing their profile.

Virb Rocks: Shows off some of the best designers and designs on Virb

Virb Transport: Allows you take any piece of your Virb profile and put it on your own website or other profiles

Virb Music Browse: Choose the music you like and choose only the music you want to locate on Virb. When you find a musical artist you like, you can save all the songs in your personal player list on your profile. The top 3 songs you enjoy the most show at the top of your profile -- similar to MySpace Friends.

External Blog: Syndicate your external blog and Virb will feed it into their system which will show up in your friends' recent activity, and will be displayed as if it were part of Virb.

While I do consistently use MySpace for writing placement, I have never cared for MySpace and the numerous Spam messages, ‘meat market’ and teenage atmosphere and "it's ok to look" display ads. Virb has much more of a community feel that displays the personal, the artistic and the business aspect of people. It is an all in one social networking site that should pick up more of the technically minded people as the site gains popularity

Virb is what MySpace should have been by now if it actually worked as an online social networking community and not an enormous marketing flea market. I won’t say that Virb will overtake MySpace (yet), but as more of the age 25+ web savvy users get sick of web cam girls, emo attitudes and pyramid messages, people will want a social networking community and not simply a “place for friends’. So if you're looking to connect with webbies, Virb looks like the place to do it.

SierraNightTide: Virb - A Place For Webbies

Give Animation A Chance Again

2007-06-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

By Media Post - email Insider

Though animation fell out of favor years ago, it’s time for email marketers to give the technique another look. That’s the conclusion I came to after nearly a year of collecting and analyzing emails with animation from the largest online retailers in order to write the just-released 2007 Animation in Retail Emails Study.

Already, 34% of the major online retailers tracked by RetailEmail.Blogspot have used animation in at least one email in recent months. Based in part on retailers’ increasing use of animation on their Web sites, we predict a doubling of its adoption rate in email marketing over the next 12 months.

Animation’s appeal is easy to understand. It can be deployed for a wide variety of purposes in emails and, if properly used, can entertain, inform and inspire subscribers in ways that static images and text cannot.

After we’d examined well over 100 retail emails with animation, a number of strategies emerged:

1. Animation packs more into limited real estate by demonstrating an assortment of products or features. This strategy is becoming more attractive as more and more email clients adopt preview panes, limiting the viewing area of emails.

2. Animation draws the eye to less visible screen real estate, such as items below the fold.

3. Animation demonstrates critical product features that drive revenue and increase sales.

4. Animation adds visual interest to emails, particularly around holidays.

5. Animation emphasizes certain messages and key copy elements in emails.

Of course, there are plenty of opportunities to misstep with animation. In the study, I critique more than a dozen emails and address numerous pitfalls, but let me leave you with the following tips:

1. Use animated gifs instead of Flash because of email client, support and rendering issues.

2. Animation is a more attractive tool if most of your subscribers have broadband Internet access.

3. Keep image file sizes small (50K or less) in order to minimize hard bounces.

4. Send test creative to email accounts at Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, Gmail, etc. to ensure delivery. Or better yet, use a rendering testing tool.

5. Make sure that the first frame of the animated gif contains useful information in case the subsequent frames are blocked. Avoid fade-ins.

6. Provide a link to the online version of the email, as some subscribers will have problems viewing any images.

7. Make the animation cycle last at least a few times so readers can catch portions they may have missed the first time. And keep the animation at a good pace.

8. Don’t go overboard with animation, as too much can distract the reader.

Should We Fear For Kids "Public" Lives?

2007-06-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal:

a quarter of human-resources decision makers had rejected job candidates because of personal information found online.

Parents are more reticent about revealing personal information on the Web, but teenagers and 20somethings seem to have no problem growing up in public. A report claims that nearly one-quarter of human-resources decision makers had rejected job candidates because of personal information found online. One of the most important background checks an employer can do these days is to Google prospective job candidates, and then scour the social-networking universe for their personal profiles.

Where is the money going?

2007-06-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to get up on my soap box and shout out how Americans could b saving money due to the high gas prices. Instead, I'm only going to give a couple of links and hope for the best.

Motor Gasoline Prices

What Can I Do To Save Money?

Make Sure Potential Employers Read Your Email

2007-06-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

Almost everyone uses email everyday to send a quick note to a friend or confirm weekend plans. But as you move from high school (or a non office position) into the corporate arena, the way you use email has to change. This is indeed one of the places where the little details truly matter. Ignoring capitalization may not be such a big deal for personal emails, but writing work related emails in this style is regarded as someone not meant to be taken seriously.

Email is an invaluable tool of communication with potential employers before the initial in-person interview. It is your chance to prove how well you can communicate in text. So while email can be a great tool in landing the job, it can also show prospective employers that you are an irresponsible, careless job prospect.
Emails are meant to be short and get straight to the point of why you are corresponding. Always use a professional salutation, proofread your email three times, and run spell check before you hit "send."

Do Not

Use shorthand like: BCNU (be seeing you), BTW (by the way) or ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing).

Type IN ALL CAPS

Forget to spell check

Send attachments to recipients who wouldn't normally receive email from you unless they specifically ask for a attachment.

Spray & Pray - send the same email to multiple employers

Include a clear & precise subject line

Clearly identify yourself as the sender and why you are writing to them.

Send the message only to relevant recipient

Make sure all links work properly

Set up an auto-reply if you are away – such as on weekends.

Does Duck Tape Really Fix Everything?

2007-06-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

I’m clicking on Laughing Squid’s Writers & Publishers web links one by one. With each link I quickly look over it and self-doubt creeps in a little more and a little more and little more. That nagging little girl entity deep down inside of me that has never grown up and has never felt too sure of herself starts questioning my ability to be a Blogger let alone any kind of a ‘comedy of life’ online columnist.

I scan web sites like Infiltration, Annalee Newitz (Techsploitation) and Wikipedia’s biography of Hunter S. Thompson and I wonder if I’m full of unruly bravado boosting potential for a developing project (not only to myself but to others) that maybe, I have no right to do.

Much too often I find myself plagued by the same insecurities that have held me back in the past only to later find out I could have done it. Or I listen to stories from others who did what I wanted to do and I felt even worse for not following my heart and or desire. More than anything, I hate that nagging little girl that whispers I'm not good enough, not smart enough, or not talented enough, that no one wants to hear what I have to say, so why bother? Too often, I listened to those voices.

I’ve been able to lock her inside a small cabin but she never sleeps, she’s always there making un-approving faces at me, reminding me that she hasn’t gone away and doesn’t plan to. I’ve learned to silence her whiney voice most of the time, but she always manages to find an open window where she whispers insecurities. I can't even begin to imagine how many opportunities I have missed because I listened to her. It saddens me to think of where I could be right now if I only I had the courage and confidence to go forth and pursue my destiny with full vigor.

Fortunately I also carry a stronger entity than her -- she has always wanted to be out. She is the one that has held me up and forced me to keep walking in my most trying times. She’s been there all along, for all of my life rumbling rowdily, building and gaining momentum. I didn’t understand her. I thought she was a danger to me, I believed she was the one that needed to be silenced. I believed that she would cause me harm and didn’t want me be happy. Now I know she was the one trying to save me from the true evil of self-doubt.

Insecurities weigh us down or hold us back. Allowing feelings of self-doubt, feelings of not being good enough, feelings like we don't deserve success, or that success is not ours to achieve seems to burden women more than men. A friend and I were talking about this last night, after we climbed a 10,000 foot mountain with nothing but a bottle of water, a small pug dog and an over zealous health …. Ok, it wasn’t 10,000 feet but Runyon Canyon Park felt like it at the time.

Next to guilt, self-doubt is one of the most self-defeating personal emotions to carry. There’s a book named Living the Artist's Life by Paul Dorrell. This is excerpted from chapter eight of the book.

Every living artist I’ve ever worked with, and every deceased artist I’ve ever studied, have all shared one simple trait: each of them has gone through varying levels of self-doubt; each of them, at different times in their lives, has questioned the worth of their talent. No one that I know of has ever been exempt from this. For some, like the poet Sylvia Plath (who was also a talented illustrator), their spells of doubt and depression were mind-numbing, paralyzing, and, in the end, beyond their control. For others, like Picasso, those spells were nothing more than a minor dip on their emotional graph.

I feel that spells of self-doubt occur so that we will reassess our lives, and work. For some, these spells can virtually destroy them if they don’t keep their emotions in check.

I do feel that I have the tools at hand to conquer the demons that have always held me back. I look around me and I see opportunity at every turn.

The days of making excuses for why I can't are over. It's not that I’ve plugged into some super Matrix of overwhelming self-confidence -- I’m still battling the whiney little girl of self-doubt. It is because I no longer want to deny myself the possibilities that are laid out before me under a sunny California sky. There is something great out there for me, and it is my mission to find it, to claim it and make it mine. Anyone have any duck tape I could barrow? There’s a slow whispering leak I need to fix.

No Limits!

2007-06-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is pretty cool and in my opinion it's difficult to do anything truly original these days. However, Sam Benson in the UK is going to being the coolest original I've heard of in a long time. He is planning to skateboard across five European countries in 10 weeks.

Starting in July, 2007 Sam Benson will begin the journey in Barnstaple and travel along the South coast of England to Folkestone than using the Channel Tunnel to get to Calais, before skating to Paris where he will be joined by Adam Colten; a Professional Longboarder from Los Angeles, CA.

From Paris they will skate to Geneva, Switzerland, before making the journey across the Alps to reach Turin, Italy, and then back over the Alps to Marseille, France. From Marseille, they will skate across the Pyrenees into Barcelona, Spain, before they travel through Valencia and Madrid, where they will make the final leg of their journey to Santander, on the 15th of September.

The ride is to raise money and awareness for three select children’s charities. Link Community Development, which establishes nationwide education in Africa. The Lowe Syndrome Trust, which is a family run organization working to help children worldwide suffering from the incurable Lowe Syndrome; and Sailability Australia, who teach disabled children worldwide how to sail off the coast of Australia.

Sam Benson’s team includes his friends Tom Fletcher, Chris Morris and Tom Walker, whose tasks will include driving the support car, filming the event and mapping the route. Several companies worldwide are sponsoring him with equipment for the trip, ranging from Longboards and shoes, to headwear and sunglasses which allows him to concentrate on the physical training, where he has been sponsored by GB’s Gymnasium.

So that the ride can continue to raise money and awareness after the end the journey has been completed, BeatsWalkinEurope will create DVD of the journey. In addition, the DVD will have a ghost writer, Owen Platt, who is preparing to write and publish the travel adventures of the BWE team as a book. The profits from both these ventures will be donated in full to the said charities.

BeatsWalkinEurope is an affiliate of Boardfree, a program that promotes skateboarding to youngsters of all ages and encourages a ‘no-limits’ attitude to the lives of people everywhere. Founder Dave Cornthwaite inspired Sam by skating across Australia in 2006 for the same charities as Sam is skating for.

Read more and follow the trip at BeatsWalkinEurope, and how you can help. Also, you can help with donations by visiting Just Giving / BeatsWalkin

What Can I Do To Save Money?

2007-05-31T09:27:00.000-07:00

4bucks - Drink less expensive coffee. Make your own gourmet coffees. Cutting out one latte a week can save three to five dollars a week.

Breakfast - Always eat something in the morning before you leave. It will help you not buy the $4 McBreakfast meal that will only leave you hungry again at noon.

Bulk - Bulky is better If you have a family, buy in bulk. Bulk savings can be as much as $20 a month.

Cable Vampire - Cancel cable, buy a DVD player and read books. Watching television is one of the most expensive monthly habits. I wait until quality shows go on DVD and than rent them from Block Buster. You can easily save over a hundred dollars.

Computers - Turn your computer off every night. Not only does this save money on your electricity bill, but also rumor says that it prevents personal information from being stolen from your pc while inactive.

Deflating Money - Once a month make sure all of your car tires have the correct amount of air. Tires with less air than they should have costs more gas.

Fast Food - Prepare your own “fast food.” Check out these two links for ideas

Free Fun - Find fun / interesting / relaxing projects that doesn't burn money. Volunteering for entertainment organizations is a great way to experience the event from a completely different view. You gain a much more in-depth of appreciation for everything that goes into the planning. Plus you get to see the entertainment for free.

Freebies - Most large cities have free events. They're not always highly advertised because the organizers are trying to save money as well as attract a more appreciating crowd. Go online and look for free events, you'll be surprised at what you find.

Grocery Stores - Before getting in line to pay, do a scan of everything in your cart and use the ten-second rule - do you really need it?

Grow Vegetables - A great hobby that could save a few dollars is to try growing your own vegetables. If you live in an apartment, try growing tomatoes in a big terracotta pot.

Library Love - Does the library have it? Remember those places your grade school walked you to? They still exist and often they have the book you want to read for free. Public Library Locator

List Writer - Keep a list of what you spend. Keep a small notebook inside my jacket along with a pen, and whenever I spend money on anything, I write it down. I have done this in the past and I always feel guilty or stupid (sometimes both) when I go over my list and see all the little things I bought that I didn't really need.

No Pop - Bypass sodas and designer waters. Keep a water bottle full at your side and take a big drink every time you feel hungry or thirsty. Buy a water filter, fill up and add flavor:

Slice of lemon, orange or cucumbers and lemons
Add powered drink mix
Mix a pitcher of water with mint leaves
Cut a nice slice off off ginger and put in hot water for a great tea

Pause - Use the ten-second rule. The ten-second rule basically states that you should pause for ten seconds before making a purchase and spend that time asking yourself if you really need what you’re buying.

Stay Healthy - Every time I go to the doctor I spend fifteen dollars on a co pay alone. Since I've been going to the gym (forty a month) I have been sick a lot less, use less over the counter medicines and have more energy to do things I love.

Stone Soup - Also known as potluck dinners. A great way to spend time with friends and have a big meal for a fourth of the price.

Thrift Stores - A great treasure hunting hobby. I find the most entertaining things at thrift stores. It constantly amuses me to see what people have bought and than donated. Often I find brand new clothes that still have the tags attached. I've also found furniture and home accessories that were donated by stores because they didn't sell. Thrift store shopping is a modern day treasure hunt.

Green Geek

2007-05-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

In December of 2006, Congress passed a law requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to put together a report regarding power consumption in information technology data centers by mid 2007. The goal of the report was to outline potential incentives and voluntary programs that would promote energy-efficient computer servers and data centers. In other words, Congress wants corporations to go Green with environmentally friendly technology.

In July 2007, the government will launch the upgraded Energy Star 4.0 standards, which is a tougher rating system that will help users measure their computer’s energy efficiency. The Environmental Protection Agency says the upgrade will prevent the same amount of ozone-depleting greenhouse gases that is annually released by 2.7 million cars. In addition, Energy Star 4.0 will also help companies lower their electric bills-by enough to light 730 million square feet of U.S. commercial building space each year, according to the EPA.

Energy Star who has been labeled as Uncle Sam's green seal of approval for computers and is currently working on Green technology. Project leaders says that it’s a very real possibility that companies may soon face environmental legislation that would essentially tax data-center costs. That could be bad news for companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google that have recently built massive new data centers to meet demand for web-based software and services.

One of the motivations in promoting Green technology is the money that can be saved by reducing electric bills. But meeting the new standard won't be easy. Only one in four current computers will measure up to the upcoming 4.0. The current 3.0 rating requires machines to use 15 watts or less while in ’Sleep’ mode. Under the new version, computers must not consume more than 4 watts of power in ‘Sleep’ mode. The new grade also takes into consideration how much power a computer uses when it's in active use.

While the new standards may seem annoying, the information highway’s fast-growing power consumption has already been forcing companies to adopt green energy practices. Technology experts say the power consumption of data centers doubles every five years or so, making them one of the fastest-growing leeches of energy in the U.S.

"The IT industry is where the automotive industry was 20 years ago," says Rakesh Kumar, research vice-president at consulting firm Gartner (IT). "We are so backwards when it comes to using alternative-energy and energy-efficient technologies."

Green light for Green technology

On May 10, 2007 IBM took the LED spotlight with their plans to invest $1 billion a year in products and services that will help reduce IT power consumption in data centers while doubling the computing capacity of its data centers. A hefty goal that other IT companies such as HP is also committing to.

Soaring electric bills for power-hungry data centers has companies creating energy-efficient products such as chips, desktop computers and servers. Last year, an industry consortium of IT companies called the Green Grid was formed to address the growing problem of power consumption in data centers.

"We're seeing a growing crisis in the amount of power consumption taking place with the natural growth of computing power it takes to run our daily lives," says Bruce Shaw, a board member of the Green Grid and director of worldwide commercial and enterprise marketing at AMD.

In mid-May of 2007 85% of the surveyed executives conducted by Forrester Research, showed that environmental concerns were deemed ‘important’. However, only about one-fourth of the companies said they had a policy for considering green criteria when it comes to making purchases. Corporate buyers place money savings as the top priority versus environmental friendliness. Conversely, the new IT products will help save both energy and money.

Green technology can mean anything from the way vendors design and manufacture products to how efficiently those products operate to the ease of recycling them.

One small data center in Romoland, Calif., has figured out how to run on only alternative energy. "We use no electricity from the power grid," says Phil Nail, chief technology officer of Web hosting company AISO.net. The company operates its 2,000-square-foot data center with solar energy captured via ground-mounted solar panels. But right now alternative energy is not a viable option in most cases… not yet.

Green PCs

Hewlett-Packard
HP Compaq dc7700 Convertible Minitower PC
Watts in Sleep Mode: 2.34

Hewlett-Packard
HP Compaq dc5700 Microtower PC
Watts in Sleep Mode: 2.60

Dell
Dell OptiPlex Model #745 Mini Tower
Watts in Sleep Mode: 2.66

Tech Networks of Boston
Earth-PC
Watts in Sleep Mode: 2.66

ClientPro 434
Watts in Sleep Mode: 2.70

Be Yourself

2007-05-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

From: Robert Clough Search Engine Marketing News

Hi Everyone,

Mom's advice to "just be yourself" comes to mind today after reading Jennifer's article responding to a piece about trying to make your site appeal to social media visitors. I have to ask, why try to hide who you really are, and what your business really is about, just to please a group of visitors who apparently don't want to know the real you? Check out Jennifer's article and let us know if you think it's better to be yourself or to try to fit the expectations of people who aren't likely to be your customers anyway.

Plus, we've added local search expert Paul Jahn to our all star line up of bloggers. Welcome aboard Paul!

Have a great week!

Robert Clough

If you are in the Los Angels area

2007-05-23T07:19:00.001-07:00

check out: Other Things To Do

35 Things To Reduce Stress In Your Life

2007-05-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

1. Allow yourself ten minutes of Me Time everyday for privacy, quiet, and introspection.

2. Always be early. Allow 15 minutes of extra time to get to appointments and never assume the airport won’t be busy this time of year.

3. Always set up a just in case plan.

4. Appearance. Do something that will improve your self-confidence. Buy an article of clothing such as a shirt, that is a bit over priced but looks really good on you. If you look good you feel good.

5. Ask questions / Confirm. Repeat back directions, confirm meeting plans and ask questions to make sure you know what time, where and what is expected of you.

6. Choose your environment. One of the most obvious ways to avoid unnecessary stress is to select an environment which won’t be overly stressful for your type of personality. If you hate desk jobs, don't get a desk job. If you hate to talk politics, gently tell the person that you don’t enjoy talking politics.

7. Diversion. When stress is getting in the way of getting a job done, doing something else until there is less stressful feelings.

8. Do nothing. Seriously, after work or when you have some free time, do nothing. Take that moment to breath.

9. Do something for somebody else. No help is too small. Buy someone a scoop of ice cream, make dinner for someone who doesn’t cook or offer a ride to someone without a car. The feeling that something little you did helped someone else immensely reminds us that all of us need help during our lives.

10. Doesn’t work? Fix it or get a new one. The little things can make huge stressful moments. If your alarm doesn’t go off, your late for work. If your car windshield wipers don’t work well, it’s dangerous… get it fixed or get new ones.

11. Don’t be afraid to say NO! Saying "no" to extra projects, invitations and outings you know you don't have the time or finances for always gives an instant breather relief.

12. Don’t skip lunch. Lunch is a break for both mind and body. If the two are not working correctly, they’ll both collapse.

13. Don’t wait too long. Get gas before the red light comes on. Buy stamps when you have only three left, buy more bus tokens or buy a bus pass on your pay date before the first.

14. Every other day, do something you really enjoy. Whether it’s a scoop of ice cream, a walk at your near by park or a weekly Happy Hour.

15. Get enough sleep. Try using an alarm clock to remind you to go to bed.

16. Get up and stretch periodically if your job requires that you sit for extended periods. Step outside, walk down a flight of stairs and take the elevator back up… the point is to get up and move.

17. Have an optimistic view of the world. Find the good things when bad things seem to out number you.

18. Help. Learn to delegate responsibility to capable others.

19. If you know or suspect there will be a line, bring a paperback book. A paperback can make waiting in line tolerable.

20. If your memory or if your days are hectic like mine, don't rely on your memory. Write down or enter appointment times into your cell phone and set an alarm.

21. Let the steam out. Writing or type away your thoughts and feelings in a journal (a paper bound book or online) This can help you clarify things and can give you a renewed perspective. One popular method is to write down your negative thoughts and the horrible words you would have like to said to “XXXX”, than burn the paper and let the fire and wind take away those negative words.

22. Listening & brainstorming. Discuss a problems with a trusted friend and listen to a potential different perspective. They could help you clear your mind of confusion so that a solution can be found.

23. Make duplicates of all keys. Place a home key in a plastic box and than bury it in secret spot near by but not where they could easily be found. Give duplicate keys to someone you trust and carry a copy of your home key in your wallet or in a magnetic box so you can place the secret magnetic box to the underside of your car. If you lose your keys, there's a copy or at least you have a copy somewhere inconvenient but available.

24. Make friends with non-drama kings/ queens. Nothing can get you into the habit of “frantic” than associating with chronic drama queens / kings. .

25. Organize: Ask a friend to help you get your home / workspace organized so that you will always know where things are.

26. Practice preventive maintenance for expesive equipment such as cars, computers, cell phone, laptops ect….

27. Prepare for the morning the evening before. Make tomorrow’s lunch, plan to wear and put your work stuff on the table so your able to just grab & go.

28. Relax. The world will not end if you forget to pay a utility bill, the Fashion Police is just a joke and your home doesn’t need to be perfectly organized, that’s a preference not a necessity.

29. Schedule a no appointment day. Once a week or every other week – have a day where you have no appointments and no appointments will be made to see you. This way you can work or play as you see fit. This doesn’t mean that anyone can just show up to see you. It means that no one will be seen or heard unless that is what you want on that day.

30. Take a hot bath (or a cool one in summertime) or take some Me Time in a sauna to relieve tension.

31. Turn your cell phone off. Take a long bath, read a book, or just plain well sleep without worrying if your phone is going to start ringing. If you feel you absolutely can not do that, than either turn on your pc and utilize your instant massager Away messages or turn your cell phone on vibrate, than screen your calls.

32. Wake up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning.. This way mishaps are less nerve-racking.

33. Wash your car. I try to remember to do this during the week. This ay I almost always have the entire car self wash to myself. I’m alone with my car, some soft tunes playing and alone with my thoughts as I get rid of the trash in my car and in my head.

34. Yoga. Hundreds of people have made they’re own declarations to how less stressful their life is after beginning a yoga routine.

35. You Power! For every one thing that doesn’t go the way it was supposed to, there are five and potentially more good things that has gone right.

Soma Girls tv: Clean & pretty because girls never get dirty!

2007-05-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

For every guy zine that does well, a new chick rag is born endorsing their site as a re-instilling of self-esteem and positive girl images -- while selling cosmetics and skin care at the same time. Soma Management LLC. is a digital media and entertainment company that has just given the world Somagirls.tv which focuses on (not so) original lifestyle content for young girls and women.

It has a fresh and clean look versus the loud obnoxious glitter and brat look that I’ve seen way too often. Not all girls are into loud, obnoxious and gaudy, so my first impression was that it deserved a thorough look see and read through; until you click into the Model Dairies. Thankfully the categories are filled with pod casts because you know us girls just ca ant ummm cant read none well.

Model Diary’s video cast shows the same stereotypical very thin women at a modeling shoot and shows just how easy being a model is.

Stand there

Lie there

Turn your head

Smile

Don’t smile

The pod casts than moves into a model that talks about her photo shoot in Hawaii and just how much fun it was as she strips off her bikini top. In my best little girl voice “Opps it fell, silly me.”

Health Tips shows a group of thin model like young women doing yoga on a beach with the beautiful ocean waves behind. Sadly, this was the best thing about the website. Nowhere did I find the pretty girl size 18 nor did I find the geeky girl blog who lists her height as 5’4 with interests that doesn’t include yoga, working out or makeovers.

Where are the career category, the sports category and definitely where the heck is the college and finance category? Oh wait that’s right, girls are meant to be pretty, fashionable, healthy size 3 and we lounge around in our pretty clothes reading the latest advice on How to Snag A Man.

Somagirls.tv promotes themselves as a venue offering young women a diverse site of interests but instead all it offers is a luxury spas looking website aimed at the majority of young girls anxieties of I don’t have enough money, I’m not thin and I’m not pretty enough.

As a form of important news offerings I got to read (yea, I actuly gots to reed) about how
(from the website) “Pop star KELLY CLARKSON was staggered when a sexist music executive let her know he wasn't a fan of women writing songs.”

OMG! Life is over as we know it! Hand over the chocolates and give me a credit card I can’t handle this!

Come on! Where are the news stories about women like Anne Sweeney the Co-Chair of Disney Media Networks who was named one of Fortune’s 50 most powerful women in business? How about talking about Summer Williams, the Houston Texans cheerleader and aerospace engineer for NASA. Why are there no stories about the next generation of entrepreneur women who decided to make they’re own rules?

Instead, what somagirls offers is just anther Tween / Teen Happy Meal packed with travel, fashion, beauty and even (gag) anther celebrity category.... Oh yea, that’s whats young girls need, anther (It's fun to spend $200 on a blouse and or get drunk and stupid) celebrity category.

Ahhh I’m not being fair? Okay, the site does have some super fun downloadable games {sarcastic sneer}

Boom Voyage
Spot and his Friends
Blingo!
Face Card Deluxe, which will come in very handy for the next game
Runaway: A road Adventure

BleEp!

Where is Final Fantasy and World of Warcraft? Are they kidding me? What is this? A free how to be a Paris Hilton Carbon Copy Look-A-Like training center?

Through the use of interactive online video, somagirls.tv provides young women with enough anxieties to encourage depressing self-images and inspires them to live a life constantly reminded that they’re not good enough physically and life’s main purpose is to be pretty … oh and do yoga looking really cute on a beach.

“Our mission is to deliver a full and meaningful experience that enriches young women’s lives,” said E.C. Morgan, CEO and President, Soma Management.

Target age ranges: girls 12-24.
It's never too early or late to "learn how to transform your old t-shirts in to sexy hot summer tank tops.

MySpace Says: will give information for subpoena

2007-05-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

When a group of eight state attorneys general sent MySpace a letter May 14 demanding information collected by the site about sex offenders who use the social network, MySpace publicly said they could not provide the information without legal guidelines being followed. However, they encouraged all of the state attorneys to follow the legal necessities so that MySpace could give them what they wanted.

On Monday May 21st 2007 MySpace announced they will indeed now provide the information requested per subpoenas. MySpace Executive Vice President and General Counsel Michael Angus says the site always intended to provide its sex offender information to the attorneys general but couldn't respond until required to by law. In other words, the company wanted the states to subpoena it for the data. They are after all a business making money and as a matter of law, officials at News Corp.'s (nyse: NWS ) social network said, they could not provide details like the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders who use the site.

However Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sings a different tune.

"I am pleased that MySpace has heeded our demand, now by subpoena, to provide information about convicted sex offenders and confirm steps to remove them from the site," Blumenthal said in a statement. "Our subpoena compels this information right away--within hours, not weeks, without delay."

Blumenthal said there are currently 5,000 registered, convicted sex offenders with MySpace profiles.

MySpace Vice President and General Counsel Michael Angus says

"For each state it is different, but in some cases we would need a subpoena in order to get this information to them." It has to go through the proper legal processes, and we've worked with the attorneys general to help them determine the right language to make the request."

MySpace has been working with the attorneys general for over a year and began deleting sex offender MySpace profiles on May 2, using its Sentinel SAFE system for checking databases.

The "Inner Child" update

2007-05-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

I started this list I believe in December of 2006 and so far I’ve earned my first martial arts belt, a friend is planning to teach me to surf and I’m getting ready to try a couple of imaginings.

RULES:

They cannot be professional ambitions, they have to be something fun that you wouldn't normally do or you have been putting off saying "maybe next year". Than within the next 12 months you have to do at least one fourth of the items of either list. You must list at least 10 items on both lists.

Things I Would Love To Do:

Fly in a hot air balloon

Swim with Manatees

Build a raft like Tom Sawyer and float down the Mississippi river

Be in a movie

Burning Man

Fly a plane

Skydive

Go on a blind date TV Show

See the Northern lights

Travel Europe

Things I Promise To Actually Do:

Scuba Dive

Parasailing

Travel across the US

Learn to ride a motorcycle

Whitewater rafting

Martial arts lessons and earn different colored belts - Simplified List: ~~White~~, Yellow, Orange, Green, Purple

Learn how to Surf

Sea kayaking

See a live baseball game - I have tickets for Dodgers stadium

Hike up to the Hollywood Sign

Jet skiing

ZONKS! Topsy Turvy - which side is up?

Driver’s License / Gas Debit Card

2007-05-16T15:33:00.001-07:00

Everyone is trying to save money these days. What use to be a silly ‘not worth it’ savings of fifty cents is now a rarely forgotten savings. Gas continues to roll back and forth between a few cents but constantly above three dollars. So when National Payment Card (NPC) created a new program that would allow gas savings, people took notice.

The new program doesn’t require customers to slip on yet anther key chain discount card, it instead uses the driver’s license. How it works: You set up an account by entering your driver's license number and bank account information online. After the account has been set up, account holders would be able to pay for gas by just by swiping the driver's license (linked directly, via the existing magnetic stripe, to the bank account), and entering a personal identification number.

The benefit for gas station owners is that NPC processes the payment as an e-check with the Automated Clearing House (ACH), a network most commonly used for direct deposits, participating retailers bypass credit card companies such as Visa and Mastercard. The processing fee is already attached to the account owner and isn’t applied to the gas station owner. The current processing charges add up to more than small change for gas station owners.

National Payment Card started piloting the patent-pending technology at a handful of gas stations in Texas this year. Since then the company has begun singing new contracts to start the system to five more regional convenience store chains later this year. By 2010, NPC Chief Executive Officer Joe Randazza expects the system will be in place at more than 36,000 locations.

While a $36 traditional credit card purchase could cost a gas station around 86 cents (or more), NPC charges a flat 15 cents fee for each transaction it processes. Randazza says the technology has applications in other industries, but for now the company is focusing on gas stations, where already-slim profit margins have been particularly hard hit by fees
Another reason for the current focus: It's one of the only markets price-sensitive enough that a few pennies off can count as a serious incentive for consumers.

In Texas, a spokeswoman for the state's Public Safety Dept. issued a statement advising that consumers use caution when providing any retailer with their driver's license number, and emphasized that the Public Safety Dept does not endorse National Payment Card or any other programs that piggyback on state-issued drivers' licenses.

People are too well connected to believe a lie.

2007-05-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

As a blog writer / hopeful, I read Real Story of JPG Magazine and thought “wow, I’m not the only one”. So while it has nothing to do with me, I found the story of "Do Not Lie" an interesting but sad lesson that apparently needs to be consistently taught and learned.

From Laughing Squid: JPG Magazine Founders Leave 8020 Publishing / Derek Powazek and Heather Powazek Champ, founders of JPG Magazine, are leaving the magazine’s parent company 8020 Publishing due to a “fundamental disagreement” with 8020’s CEO Paul Cloutier.

Derek's post titled “The Real Story of JPG Magazine”.

Red Carpet premiere of Pirates 3 Tixs:$1,500

2007-05-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

Red Carpet premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End
Saturday May 19th 2007
Location: Disneyland - CA
Tickets $1,500
All ticket sales goes to Make A Wish Foundation

Rides, buffet, free valet parking, Entertainment such as
Kaptain Raymond Kula

Release Date Change: Disney Moves Pirates of the Caribbean Release Date

Disney has confirmed Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End has been moved up for a Thursday night release --one night earlier than planned.

The Night Before Monday Morning

2007-05-14T18:39:00.001-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been really stressful for me as I learned the painful lesson of how changes in people due to they’re surrounding circumstances affect ourselves. Part of that lesson was that you may think you know someone even when you are particularly close to them, but you still only see the side of them that reacts to your personality and their current surrounding circumstances. When they’re circumstances change in ways they would rather not accept, people around them may fall prey to they’re negative scrutiny.

This in-depth awareness came about in a very random and disjointed way. In thinking about it though, I am still somewhat disappointed in recent failures of other people. They’re negative scrutiny came from them based on them – not me.

Since I do have the luxury of blogging about a variety of topics. The blogs sometimes become a more ‘lost in thought’ extension of myself; where as my weekend (for really that’s my only available play time) is more an abundance of energy that’s been conserved during the week and finally able to let go. Every day I’m bombarded with images, business concepts, news horrors, technological advances, carer trends, human regression and media bias… and than of course there’s Lio and Danae to keep me sane in an insane world. Hundreds of thoughts pass though my mind every day and maybe I’m lucky for the times I am able to allow these traveling thoughts in and seperate the keepables from the throw-aways.

People in general tend to perceive and judge others based on they're previous experiences that has nothing to do with us individually. We know that people’s personalities are generally very multi-faceted. No one is ever “what you see is what you get” because people change and react according to their circumstances and the people around them. But if you can never truly know a person, how could you ever dare to judge them?

Moving onto a completely different train track, I had a fabulous little weekend filled with lazy sunshine hours of California sun. It didn’t start so well, but it’s amazing what happens when you just let the steam out and move on. I ranted and bitched and even screamed wondering if the entire world had been effected with a softer 28 Days Later agent virus knowing that I wasn’t the only women experiencing insane circumstances or delusional people.

In spite of this, the heroines won out and we beat society’s melodrama by going to a movie night called Fright Night here in Los Angeles to see Peter’s Jackson’s Bad Taste aliens with really big butts.

Refusing to let the melodrama tremors effect me anymore, we three (friends & I) went to or at least tried to roller-skate down Huntington Beach trail but the gravel trail was worse than an wood roller coaster after eating 3 hot dogs. So we opted to cruising Belmont Shores -- a peaceful dog friendly cove of Long Beach, CA.

We started the evening by going to my favorite Greek restaurant with the still most friendly restaurant owner in the world who welcomed us with hugs… even MRMan (friend of mine) received a family like hug after a jibe of “no hug for you” (with a very cute Greek accent). As always the calamari was amazing. The evening was finished by having a makeshift slumber party staying up late and watching movies….

Sunday we just spent the day lazily walking around and just life watching. Thankfully, the newest tradition hasn’t been broken by negativity. Later that night we made dinner together and just talked and watched one more movie before we had to succumbed to returning to our own realities of The Night Before Monday Morning.

Profits Verses Art - When Strange & Beautiful Isn’t Legal.

2007-05-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

Homelessness refers to the grungy, dirty and criminal like individuals that most of society tries to ignore. They are classified as only people who cannot or refuse to acquire permanent housing because they supposedly too drunk or on too many drugs to afford “safe” and or adequate shelter. Homelessness is an umbrella term that is used to classify anyone and everyone whom does not neatly fit into the boxed like definition of acceptable…much like most of today’s computer manufactured homes.

Berkeley artists built a Road Warrior / Beyond Thunderdome approach to a beehive of artists using 30 shipping containers. But as of today (May 14th) they have been forced to vacate. The ‘Shipyard’ artists began amassing the shipping containers about five years ago by stacking them two or three together on an industrial lot in West Berkeley. The containers were used for studios, performance art, welding, storage and occasional living quarters.

The Shipyard has been home to countless large-scale art projects & installations, events and alternative energy experimentation, including a Survival Research Labs show (2001), How To Destroy The Universe Festival (2004 & 2005) and Burning Man projects The Clock Works (2005), Neverwas Haul (2006) and The Mechabolic (2007).

But on Friday May 11th Berkeley's building and fire departments served The Shipyard, a group of several dozen Burning Man original creators, with a "cease and desist" order due to ongoing building and fire code violations, said Berkeley Deputy Fire Chief David Orth.

"We don't want to drive artists out of Berkeley. Their work is cool," Orth said. "But we can't have them living in shipping containers."

The artists, however, feel they've been trying to work with the city but Berkeley's codes are too stringent and expensive to comply with. Jim Mason the landowner has sent letters and has tried to work with city officials but contrary to what Deputy Fire Chief David Orth’s statement, city officials have offered little movement in expanding building codes from traditional structures. In addition to the contrary “we love art” declaration, the Fire Marshall maintained a get out or be fined ($2,500 per day) overload tyranny.

As San Francisco’s rent remains consistently high and rises, rent in Berkeley, CA can be just as repressive. The containers offer cheap and secure space for local artists, many of whom can't afford Berkeley's steep rental prices. Below are just two advertisements found at the popular Craig’s List website. Several advertisements were for summer sublets, over a thousand monthly rents and boarding home-style room rentals.

$1800 / 1br - A Must SEE CONDO in Gourmet Ghetto

$2495 / 2br - New Downtown Berkeley

This is a fight that has steadily been building steam. When the city denied them access to the electrical grid. Jim Mason responded by designing a solar power system so that The Shipyard produced all the energy it consumed. Than the city argued that the shipping containers were not safe, a weak argument at best.

One of the most interesting trends in the green building movement of today is utilizing old shipping containers. Jones Partners is an Architect who has received high acclaim for his “critical manipulation of technology” building design using shipping containers… and SG Blocks Inc has partnered with local shipyards in depleting the over abundance of shipping containers and making new homes in the Louis area. So the argument that shipping containers are not safe is an unstable argument.

In London, the government announced plans to build thousands of shipping container apartment / homes in the capital so public sector workers will not forced to move because of rising house prices. No news on rather this actually happened or not though.

Berkeley is an alternative cultural Mecca and everyone is wondering why would Berkeley city officials would evict what they on their own website promote as being a city that has “cultural diversity, art, beautiful parks, innovative businesses, and friendliness amongst neighbors.”

There are different theories as to why the city previously tolerated the Shipyard art community and than suddenly looked for reasons to evict the artists. One of the more popular beliefs is the upscale Berkeley Bowl supermarket near by.

"The boxes are a 'Road Warrior,' 'Waterworld' castle of steel," O'Hare a Shipyard artist said. "They're completely safe. But the city doesn't recognize them under the building code."

If Berkeley officials would have worked with artists instead of against the artists, both parties could have found the relationship mutually attractive. Berkeley should have given them a grant for being energy-efficient and attracting tourists to the area, while the artists would have gained not only additional funds for future projects but maintained a place to work and live.

With new development constantly bulldozing their way through historic and depressed areas, is high profile manufactured art the only acceptable art?

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Learn From Other’s Mistakes

Advertising: The Box Is Gone - You Need To Think Outside

Silicon Valley CEOs Past & Predictions

Wasting Hours Commuting

Things To Always Consider In Life

MinuteClinic

The Danger Of Fake Jobs & Fake Job Recruiters

Why some computer technology is blocked at work

What America's Top Ten Jobs Pay

Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts

Ten unusual websites you may not know about

It’s Not Playdo It’s Plaxo With A Pluse (Review)

Using Key Marketing Tools to Market Yourself on The Job Market

Scripps Networks Buys Incando - Social Networking

Jobless claims rise by 4,000

Best Companies to Work For

What Are The Creative Commons Licenses & What Do They Mean?

Creative Marketing That Works

Is it time to upgrade your career skills?

It's NEVER too late - 94-year-old woman has earned her masters degree

Employer Liable for Employee’s Illegal Use of Internet January 2006 By: Robert G. Brody

Hot Markets Hot Careers

Thousands of adolescents work as unpaid baggers in Wal-Mart’s Mexican stores.

The retail giant isn’t breaking any laws.

American Airlines to test in-flight Wi-Fi

Kids take on lunch lady -- and win

College adds PowerPoint to application

Top 50 Military Friendly Companies in America

Online Sports Spending To Hit $1 Billion By 2011

Thirteen Useful & Valuable Job Hunting Web Sites

In-Car Gadgets & Entertainment - Necessary Or Narcissistic?

Cubicle Farms Are Becoming A Thing of The Past

Cyber Tracker - Rhinoceros or Natual Disasters?

Google’s Unavailable After META tag

Will the new Nielsen web metric affect websites?

Camera Phones Will Exceed One Billion

Transformers: More Than What Meets The Eye

Contest: Create 15 to 90-second animated film

U.S. Department of Labor denies

MySpace Founders Eye $12 Million Salaries

Smart Companies to Start Now - By CNN Money

How Does The Blind Use The Internet?

Exponential Launches Free Ad Server

Don't Just Exist

Stress Gets You Nowhere

The Surveillance Society