How to make easy money using Internet

1. Get a credit card with 12-month 0% APR balance transfer promotion

If the only purpose of getting a new card is to use the interest free period to make money, then length of the promotion period is the key. There are many cards offer a 12-month period with 0% introductory rate. Any period that’s shorter than 12 months is less desirable, unless you can use the card even without the 0% rate. For existing cards, however, a shorter term such as 9 months or 6 months is acceptable, but you need even larger amount to make up the fees. The shortest term I had was 4 months.

2. Request a convenient check to transfer balance

Not all issuers send out convenient checks right after the card is issued. If the promotion period starts from the time a balance is transferred, you can wait till the condition is right (such as the interest rate of your savings account if you expect it to go up in the coming months). I know Discover Card’s promotion starts when the card is issued. If that’s the case, do the transfer immediately after receiving the card.

To expedite the process, call the issuer when the card arrives and request a convenient check. It’s better to get a blank check, but there are credit card company requires your name and the amount you want to transfer be printed on the check before they can send it to you. Once the check is in, just deposit the money into your bank account.

3. Or make the transfer over the phone

If you feel comfortable, you also initiate the transfer on the phone and have the money sent to your bank account directly (you have to provide your bank’s routing number and your account number). I did that a couple of time with Bank of America and Chase which already have my bank information from the online bill pay.

Things will a lot easier if you transfer the money right to your bank account, but that’s not always the case. For instance, last year Discover insisted I can only use the money to pay balance on another credit card. If this is what’s happening, it’s less desirable but still doable if you have cards that can issue refund for over payment. Check out my previous post on how to use Citi card to transfer balance.

4. Consolidate credit limits to get the most out of the deal

It would be impossible for me to have $100K in balance transfer without some consolidations. If you have multiple accounts with the same issuer, you can get the most out of the deal by consolidating your existing credit limits. All you need to is call the credit card company and tell them to move credit lines from this and that card to the card with 0% offer. Just move the credit lines, but don’t close the accounts as they are likely to be older than the card you just got. When the game is over, you can always move the lines back to those cards if you wish. I have done credit consolidations before and it’s quite easy to do.

5. Don’t spend the money and don’t buy stocks with the money as well

Nobody can predict where the market will be one year from now. If you don’t have other funds to cover the balance when the transfer expires, you will have to sell your stocks which could be losing money at that time. Just save the money in a high yield savings account. There are plenty of online savings accounts offer 5+% interest rate. Keep the money in liquid accounts so you can have an easy access. In case something unexpected happens (like late in making payment), you can pay the money back right away.

6. Pay more than the minimum on time every month

If you are late in making minimum payment, even once, you are screwed. So make sure you give enough time to let your payment hit the card ahead of the deadline. And paying the bill online instead of mailing a check can reduce the risk of late payment. In addition, adding $10 more to the minimum payment is always a good practice.

7. Confirm the payoff date

Call the issuer one month early to confirm the last day the balance has to be paid off to avoid any financial charge. Don’t just assume the date on the offer letter is the deadline. Also, since transferring money via ACH usually requires at least three business days before the fund settles, give yourself enough time to arrange the money and pay off the entire balance without any delay.

Finally, there are a couple of items that you should be careful when playing the credit card arbitrage:

Think twice before getting a new card for balance transfer if the fee depends on the amount transferred (such as the 3% fee that Citi charges). The profit will be eroded even if you can get 5+% return from a savings account.
Make sure there’s no balance from purchases on the card before making the transfer. Since any payment you make will be automatically used to pay balance with the lowest interest rate, the charge from your regular purchase will started to accumulate interests until you pay off the entire balance, including that from 0% transfer. Edit: And don’t use the credit card until the balance transfer money is paid off either for the same reason (Thanks Tim ).
Read carefully the deadline on your offer letter. If it says something like “the billing cycle includes August 31, 2008,” then August 31, 2008 is NOT the deadline to pay off the balance and avoid financial charges. Depending on the date of your billing cycle, you may have to give the money back well ahead of August 31, 2008. Call the issuer to confirm the deadline.

The Value of A Lifetime Client

I’ve been in the business world for almost 10 years, and I know most savvy business owners understand the importance of maintaining a good relationships with their customers. They know happy customer will keep repurchasing for many years. However, most cannot answer if you were asked them what’s the actual value of a lifetime customer is.Once they knew the answer , most businesses will not go cheap in customer acquisition and retention. Jay Abraham, the super marketing guru that charges USD50,000 for business consultation had this to say in his book, “Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got”:

“The current lifetime value of one of your clients is the total profit of an average client over the lifetime of his or her patronage – including all residual sales, less advertising, marketing, and incremental product or service-fulfillment expenses.

Let’s say that your typical new client brings you an average profit of $75 on the first sale. He or she repurchases three more times a year, with an average reorder amount of $300, and on each $300 reorder you make $150 gross profit.

Now, with the average patronage life lasting two years, every new client is worth $975. You could theoretically afford to spend up to $975 to bring in a new client and still break even.”

When you see $975 as the value of a lifetime customer, you will know your initial expenditure is indeed an investment .

Why Customer Service is Even More Important these days?

Everyone knows that customer service is important. However, most are clueless about how customer service can have a direct impact in their lives. If everyone knows customer service is important, why do most of us only pay lip service to it or adopt a lukewarm attitude towards providing an excellent customer service?

This is a true story that happened today.


I walked into a well-known electrical store with full intention to cart back 2 standing fans that very moment. The spacious outlet was quite empty with just a few lingering customers browsing around; I thought the purchase would be a breeze. I was deadly wrong.

I saw a suitable model but there were no sales consultants there. I looked at the customer service counter and noticed more than 10 sales consultants sitting or standing there, resting or chatting. I waved at them, and gesturing towards my ideal fan, the eager consumer that I was at that time. A few saw me but never bothered to stand up. Then, one with a tie, probably the supervisor, looked at me and then back to his staff, “Hey, someone go help that lady”.A woman in her mid-thirties reluctantly got up and came to me, “Yes, what you want?” There was no smile, no friendliness. I asked for the price and her answer was curt and short, “This one $99, no discount.” Without waiting for me to utter another word, she headed back to her team and start chatting away. Well, I walked out as my money is no good here.

This is so ironic when this store paid its advertising agency an obscene amount of money on TV commercials, full-colour press advertisements, promotional booklets to attract customers and when the customer actually walks in, she is ignored. The marketing communications maxim of “A.I.D.A.” states that your campaign needs Attract attention in order to arouse sufficient Interest to create a Desire to own and thereby induce Action. I was attracted by the sales ad, curious to find out more choices in store, definitely want 2 fans and took time to pop by. Their campaign is successful but it did not make them the sale. In fact, it wasted good money on advertising campaign. What went wrong? Absolutely, definitely, on site customer service!

Customer service is more than a smile, more than acknowledging a customer. These days, products are fast becoming commodities with few differentiations. What would make the distinction is the brand value and customer relationship management. A strong brand is a promise to the customer, it is a differentiating factor that distinguishes your products from other offerings in the market. More importantly, it also enables the company to build customer loyalty as the people will remember the brand and its quality. While CRM creates and sustains customer loyalty as well as promoting customer retention. The core value is in increasing customer value while reducing the cost of sales. And this store just increased it’s cost by ignoring customer!

Customer service concepts aside, I cannot understand how these sales consultants could ignore a customer. Customers are the ones that pay their boss who in turn pay for their salaries, overtime, bonus, commission, medical benefits, insurance, etc. Customers likes to do business with companies that treat them like kings. When a company offers great customer services, not only will customers return but would also spread words among friends and families. That’s one contributing factor to how a company is to build to last. When you are nice to others, others will be nice to you. What goes around will come around.

What does customer service depend upon? The company must have customer friendly policies set from the top and these executives must see that the policies are seriously being carried out both internally and externally. If the staff does not know the value of lifelong client is ignorant about how to retain customer loyalty or reluctant to provide that “extra mile”, the sincerity will not shine through the smiles and greetings. Don’t you detest those mechanical and almost robotic words with absolutely no warmth and meaning in them?

More importantly, don’t you just hate it when you went all the way there and had to go back empty-handed?

CRM Is the Cheapest Form of Marketing

Customer Relations Management (CRM) is an essential component of marketing but many people - even marketers - see it as a separate and non-related entity.

A while back, I shared in my post Why Customer Service is Even More Important these days an unpleasant experience at a well known electronics store. I was a willing customer determined to make 2 electric fan purchases, and no one bothered. There is no use spending good money in marketing, advertising and promotion in the background and to have people in the front line destroy all the goodwill created.

It is frustrating to find that so many companies chose to ignore this. In fact, customer service is the cheapest way to build long term trust and credibility and create repeat businesses among current clients. Customer relations management is indeed a marketing discipline, and should not be seen as an expense or an operational cost. I know I have been quoting Peter Drucker very often but there’s so much truth in:

“Marketing and innovation are the two chief functions of business. You get paid for creating a customer, which is marketing. And you get paid for creating a new dimension of performance, which is innovation. Everything else is a cost center.”

Much of the marketing investment of any marketing campaign are made in:
creating the message
pushing these messages to the targeted markets and
turning prospects into new customers

After a prospect becomes a client, awareness marketing makes much less of an impact on his decision to buy again. The reason being that the client is influenced by other factors. Did the product meet his satisfaction level? Did he find it tedious to drive 1.5 hours just to buy the product? Was he upset at being put on hold for 15 minutes? Did he find the online order form a breeze to use? Loyalty marketing becomes very important for repeat (aka loyal) customers. Yet only a small budget is allocated for loyalty marketing.

Marketers usually spent as much as 80% of marketing dollars on awareness marketing to create visibility and new customer acquisition. If a new customer has a problem with the product and has to spend 45 minutes getting someone to talk to him, do you really think that a creative, or even sexy, campaign can convince him to buy again? A consumer usually will be a one-time sucker only. Who wants to be a fool twice?

Many large multinational companies have outsourced their call centres to foreign lands in view of lower manpower cost. Complaints from their customers - mostly on the difficulty in understanding a different ascent - convinced some of the companies to move their call centres back home. It’s not worth spending good money on marketing and have it washed away with poor customer service. Damage Control and Crisis Management will suck up more time and resources to undo the “bad things” and get back into the customers’ good book again.

There are 2 ways to improve customer service:

Place CRM under the command of the marketing head. He can build CRM into his marketing efforts. Marketing and Customer Service can thus leverage on each other.

Educate and enlighten those who are in Customer Service to see themselves as Brand Embassador and regard them dutifully as so. If you keep referring them as “support”, they will not see themselves as an important component of marketing. We need more than one pillar to create a sturdy bridge.

We all like our marketing efforts to be good, fast and cheap. Start by having a strong customer relations management and you soon realize that it is one of the cheapest forms of marketing.

Ten Smartest Ways to Live Beneath Your Means

I managed to retire at age 51, and the way I did it was to live beneath my means.

You can adopt this strategy too, by simply spending less than you earn. You may think that's impossible for you, but if you make it a challenge instead of a chore, you'll soon be creating ways to cut corners in everything you do. And believe me, it all adds up.

There are no secrets to this strategy. It's just common sense. Here are my 10 favorite ways to live beneath your means:

1. Whenever possible, buy store brands. Nearly half the cost for name brands goes to advertising. Usually their quality isn't any better than store brands, which frequently carry a money back guarantee. This is true not only with food, but also cleaning supplies and paper products. Even if the savings are small on an individual item, using this strategy every time you shop makes a big difference. Remember, this is a long-term plan.
2. Avoid prepared foods.We're all pressed for time, but buying prepared foods can be expensive. You pay extra for the convenience and get a meal full of chemicals and preservatives too. Instead, put your main course in a Crock Pot before you leave for work, or put frozen meat in the refrigerator to thaw before you go to bed. Once you learn to plan ahead, you'll be surprised how much you'll save.
3. Shop at "you-bag-it" supermarkets. Stores like Aldi and Save-a-Lot can cut your grocery bill substantially. When you're not subsidizing a store's deli section, flower shop, or bakery, you'll find the rest of the food cheaper. No-frills supermarkets cut overhead by having fewer employees, smaller buildings to heat and cool, and primarily store brands. You'll quickly notice the savings.
4. Brown bag your lunch. I did this for years and it saved me thousands. Brown bagging has three benefits: You'll avoid greasy, high-calorie fast food; you'll save money; and you'll be more satisfied on your job, since lunch with coworkers often turns into gripe sessions.
5. Don't buy clothes or shoes with designer labels. Who do you want to make rich, some fashion designer, or you? That trendy label will cost you at least 50% extra. Instead of impressing your friends, impress yourself by adding that savings to your bank account.
6. Use coupons, but be smart about it. When a name brand product still costs more than a store brand, even after the deduction for a coupon, it's no bargain. Most coupons are for new products companies want you to try, so be selective. You can get coupons online at sites like Coupons.com or Couponcabin.com, or search under "coupons."
7. Buy used books instead of new. I visit two used book sales a year put on by local charities and get an armload of reading for less than $15. I choose used books on Amazon.com. I got my copy of The Purpose Driven Life on Amazon, paying the standard $3.99 shipping and handling, but only 39 cents for a used copy. Even better? Check out books for free at your local public library. Most libraries have DVDs and CDs, too.
8. Keep your car as long as you can. A shiny new car may impress your family and friends, but it simply costs too much. My current car is nine years old and runs like a dream because I have it serviced regularly. Today's cars, with electronic ignition, fuel injectors and superb rust protection, can last well past 150,000 miles if taken care of.
9. Severely restrict your credit card spending. Credit cards make money unreal. They take the thought process and discipline out of your buying. Before you know it, you're deep in debt and getting further behind because you can't make even the minimum monthly payment. When you pay in cash and watch those bills disappear from your wallet, you become much more careful. You relearn the value of money. You question every purchase, and that's when you become smart.
10. Reward yourself for your efforts. Your goal is to be frugal, not a miser. Small rewards--within your budget--are a wise way to keep fun in your life. Living beneath your means takes self-control, but the emotional and financial benefits are tremendous. An occasional treat energizes you to keep up the good work.

Much of living beneath your means requires seeing through the false promises of prestige and fulfillment found in advertising. You're too smart to fall for that. And, it takes discipline to resist peer pressure, but whenever you're doing something worthwhile, you have to stand up for your convictions. Living beneath your means is a proven way to avoid debt and the stress that goes with it. If I can do it, you can too.

Forbes Announces Best Cities For Jobs

Job seekers in 2007 should be turning their eyes to the South and the West, according to a new study by Forbes magazine.

In its annual Best Cities for Jobs list, nine of Forbes’ top 10 cities either lie below the Mason-Dixon line, or west beyond the Rocky Mountains. None of the major U.S. cities like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago made the top 10. New York, considered the financial capital of the world, came in at No. 63, up from its No. 99 ranking in 2005.

To compile the rankings, Forbes used five data points. They were unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, median household income and cost of living for 2006 because only partial data is so far available for 2007. The data was applied to the largest 100 metropolitan areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, and data was also obtained from Moody's Economy.com.

1. Salt Lake City, which topped the list, moved up from No. 6 last year and No. 12 in 2005. Traditionally, Salt Lake City’s economy has been driven by mining and steel, but its conversion to a center for tech-based industries has propelled it to the top of the list. The city has the second lowest rate of unemployment, the fourth-highest job rate growth and the fourth-highest income rate growth.
2. Raleigh, N.C. Raleigh fell from its previous No. 1 ranking, which it held for 2005 and 2006. It has a stable housing market, and Duke, the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University attract educated workers and tech firms. It is 17th in unemployment, fifth in job growth, and 12th in cost of living.
3. Phoenix is ranked No. 1 on the list for job growth and fifth for income growth. But according to Forbes, its No. 1 job growth ranking is due in a large part to a housing development, and given the recent housing bust it should fall on next year’s list.
4. Jacksonville, Fla. made a gigantic leap on the list, rising from a No. 42 ranking last year. It is ninth in lowest unemployment, 20th in job growth and 22nd in income growth. It sports the second largest port on the East Coast, making it the leading transportation and distribution hub in the state.
5. Orlando, Fla. Like Phoenix, Forbes expects Orlando to fall in future lists due to the downturn in the housing market. It was ranked 15th last year, is 10th in job growth and has the fifth lowest unemployment.
6. Tulsa, Okla moved up from No. 35, mostly due to a large increase in the income growth rate, at which it ranks seventh. Tulsa has diversified business base, which includes aerospace, construction, high technology, transportation, telecommunications, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and energy.
7. Austin, Texas is another city that moved up significantly after being ranked 23rd on last year’s list. It has become a center for high-tech companies and has attracted workers due to its lower housing costs than Silicon Valley. Thousands of graduates every year from the University of Texas at Austin keep the tech industry with a steady flow of educated workers
8. Albuquerque, N.M. moved up from No. 24 on last year’s list. It is the first time it has ranked in the top ten in income growth, coming in at No. 10. Like other cities that have moved up on the list, Albuquerque is a center for high-tech companies and government projects that have fueled its growth.
9. Wichita, Kan., the lone representative from the Midwest on the top ten, ranked No. 57 on last year’s list. Known as the Air Capital of the World, it is home to McConnell Air Force Base and six aircraft manufacturing companies.
10. Oklahoma City, Okla. Another rapid mover, Oklahoma City ranked 67th on last years list. It ranks sixth in income growth, 15th in cost of living and 25th in unemployment. Oklahoma City has been a traditional base for energy companies like Chesapeake Energy and Devon Energy, but its economic growth has partly been fueled by diversification into fields like information technology and health services.

[via - KNBC]

Inside the mind of a crazy (rich) inventor

(FSB Magazine) Indianapolis -- You probably don't know the name Scott Jones, but chances are his life has touched yours. Checked your voicemail lately? You've got Jones to thank. Pop a CD in your computer, and iTunes brings up the track names. That feature comes from another of Jones's companies, Gracenote. When Indiana last year adopted daylight savings time, it was Jones who pushed hardest for the change. The roller coaster at the Indianapolis Zoo? Jones. Dinosaur skeletons at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis? Made possible in part by the Scott A. Jones Foundation.

Most folks in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel (pronounced like the candy) know their wealthy, energetic neighbor as "the guy who invented voicemail." In the early '90s Jones made about $50 million on his company, which created the predominate form of voicemail, and he "retired" at age 31. But he found he wasn't the kind of entrepreneur who could just fly off into the sunset in his helicopter. Over the past two decades this driven inventor has been generating ideas for new products and companies - some were successful, others hit the scrap heap - at a pace that would make Thomas Edison's head spin.

Jones's latest company, ChaCha (chacha.com), is developing a potential rival to Google - a search engine assisted by human experts who will help you find your answer. And here's what Jones claims to have on deck: self-propelled robotic lawn mowers, a method to sequence your entire DNA in one minute, a way to make humans fly.

From anyone else these might seem the ravings of a madman. But Jones backs up his ideas with a fortune he estimates to be worth $150 million, a brain that lets him keep pace with the geekiest of scientists, and a knack for managing startups. His ambition is to change the way people live, and he figures that any one of his half a dozen or so new startups could do just that.

We were intrigued by his latest ideas, but even more so by how he conjures them, culls them, and inspires a team to nurture them. Just what, we wondered, goes on inside the head of this quintessential American inventor?

[via - CNN.Money]

Daylight Savings Time Arrives Next Weekend

“Fall Back” Time Changed by Energy Bill

Daylight savings time is tardy this year, arriving one week later than usual, on Sunday Nov. 4. The extension is the result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, to lengthen the daylight-saving time period, starting in 2007.

Among other provisions, the bill attempts to combat growing energy problems by changing the start and end dates of daylight savings time. Delaying the announced time of sunrise and sunset increases the use of artificial light in the morning and reduces it in the evening. It is presumed that more people need evening light than morning light, and energy is conserved if the evening reduction outweighs the morning increase. Despite this theory, however, many question whether daylight saving results in a net energy savings.

Believer or not, next weekend you’ll get that extra hour of sleep.

Matchmaking May Be An Old Concept But It Still Makes Money

Tal Golan knew he invented potentially game-changing technology in the fight against spam. Proving that to investors was a different story.

While venture capitalists in 2003 were intrigued by Mr. Golan's product, a hardware box that checks for spam before the message reaches corporate email servers, they kept telling him the same thing: He lacked the right pedigree for an investment.

"I didn't have the right degree. I didn't work for five years at Cisco and Oracle, then start up three companies," said Mr. Golan, who previously founded a small software development and consulting firm. "The reality is that VCs invest in people first, second and third, then the technology."

Undeterred, Mr. Golan operated out of his garage in Costa Mesa, Calif., for three years and invested roughly $750,000 in his company, Sendio Inc., by maxing out credit cards and refinancing his mortgage, betting the financial security of his wife and young children. By late 2005, the device was selling, but it was clear he needed to take his business to the next level. That is when he linked up with Momentum Venture Management LLC, an unconventional firm that promised to give him the credibility needed to court VCs.

Matt Ridenour and Andy Wilson, veteran start-up executives, incorporated Momentum in late 2004 to work full time with company founders to shape their business plan, find credible management, finish a product and gain customers -- a process that typically takes them about nine months to complete. At that point, they shop the company to VCs with hopes of securing a Series A round of between $4 million and $5 million.

Momentum is one of several firms that have cropped up in recent years to fill a funding void left by VC firms shifting their investments downstream and bypassing the traditional guy in a garage. That shift left many unseasoned entrepreneurs such as Mr. Golan to fend for themselves in bringing intelligent ideas to fruition. But it is also opening up an opportunity for smaller firms willing to take on higher risk and lend more credibility than do traditional angels.

"If you're an entrepreneur, seed and Series A deals are really tough to get right now," said Beau Laskey, a managing director at Burbank, Calif., early-stage firm Steamboat Ventures. "Venture firms are looking for customers and traction."

Los Angeles-based Momentum has a distinctive model that dedicates far more time than a typical angel or seed-stage investor would, while also assuming considerable risk. Momentum first spends about six weeks -- usually for a fee of less than $20,000 -- validating a business plan, confirming the chemistry with the founding team and completing due diligence before committing to the start-up.

Upon approval, one of three Momentum partners then installs himself as the chief executive officer, moving the founder to the role of chief technology officer and eventually bringing on a new CEO a few months later. At some point during the process, Momentum provides a bridge loan -- typically $250,000 to $500,000 taken from a small bridge fund pooled from wealthy individuals -- to keep the company going, all for a "nominal" monthly stipend.

"We're solving an intractable problem in the early-stage business ecosystem," Mr. Wilson, Momentum's managing director, said. "Entrepreneurs are often stuck in that vicious business cycle of needing money to recruit business talent, build a product and attract customers, yet they can't raise the money unless they have those pieces in place."

Typically a Momentum partner works with two companies at a time, spending half of his time on each, with an operating associate subbing as a project manager and director of operations. Momentum's ultimate goal is to deliver the company to venture capitalists and secure that first round of capital, when the firm's bridge investment converts, often at a discount, into Series A preferred stock. It is at this point the firm gets paid for its work after having deferred the majority of its management fees during the previous nine months.

Longtime venture capitalist Lou Volpe, a managing general partner at Waltham, Mass.-based Kodiak Venture Partners, believes Momentum's model is unique and would consider investing in a start-up seeded this way, but questions the firm's scalability. "Whipping a company into shape, enforcing operating discipline and building an executive team takes a lot of energy and time," Mr. Volpe said. "These guys are going to be limited with their scale."

Thus far, the firm has taken all seven of its start-ups to the Series A level, focusing on Los Angeles-area technology companies that require less than $10 million in funding to break even on a cash-flow basis. The seven have raised a total of $30 million in Series A funding from venture capitalists. The firm had its first exit in 2006 when Discovery Communications Inc. acquired Academy123 Inc., which had raised a $5 million Series A round the year after Momentum brought the company to venture firms Arcturus Capital and Hanseatic Group.

For Mr. Golan, it took about 10 months to get Sendio through the Momentum-coached process and into the hands of VC investor Kline Hawkes & Co., which provided $4 million in Series A capital in October 2006. Sendio now has about 275 customers. Earlier this year, it estimated it would have 1,500 customers and sell $7.8 million of product by the end of 2007.

Before linking up with Momentum, Mr. Golan said, he pitched his plan to angel coalitions, but found them as unwieldy as investors. "You have to make like 100 presentations to 100 guys and the only thing that qualifies them is money," Mr. Golan said. "It's kind of like 'American Idol.' You make the pitch, move on to the next round, and try to get 10 people to agree on everything. I'd rather take the risk on the credit card than have to deal with angels."

Klaus Koch, a Kline Hawkes investor who led the firm's investment in Sendio, said a firm like Momentum is especially beneficial to VCs because it is bringing only companies with proven business models and customers.

"Momentum comes in and takes out the significant risk," Mr. Koch said. "They're pitching us with all the information we need and cleaning up the legal issues. They really understand what a VC wants, and for a firm like us that manages $270 million, that's very valuable."

[via - StartupJournal]

Content Syndication As A Business

Media organizations increasingly rely on syndicated content, but access to such material typically requires expensive subscriptions or syndication deals. New York-based Mochila has devised a way to offer articles, photos, audio and videos a la carte while dispensing with subscription fees and protecting authors' rights.

Launched earlier this year, Mochila's website is essentially an online marketplace for content. Sellers offer up their wares along with price and any restrictions; buyers search for what they need and choose the best match. Content can be instantly downloaded into any publishing system, and purchases can be made in two ways: either by paying the price set by the original content owner, or by agreeing to post advertising along with the item, in which case the content is free. In the ad-supported arrangement, advertising revenue is shared among the buyer, the seller and Mochila.

For sellers, the benefits include new revenue opportunities and increased exposure; for buyers, decreased operational costs, more ad pages and revenue opportunities, and the rub-off effect of big-name content are among them. More than 1,000 media organizations have joined Mochila so far, including Reuters, the Associated Press and Hearst Magazines—you can't get much bigger than that.

World media spent just under USD 2 billion on syndicated news content last year, and that figure is expected to grow to USD 3 billion by 2008, Mochila says. The time is ripe for a new content model, and it looks like this one is taking hold. How about putting a niche or curator’s spin on the concept?

[via - Springwise]

Finding new homes for pre-owned cell phones

Despite the growing number of cell phone recyclers, junk drawers across the country hold 130 million cell phones each year. "Everyone perceives value in their phone; they just don't know what to do with it," says Cyrus Farudi, the 27-year-old co-founder of Flipswap.

Three years ago, Cyrus--along with brothers Sohrob, 30, and Rahmeen, 25, and friends Edo Cohen, 27, and Andrew Berman, 30--decided to tackle the problem of electronics waste. But instead of recycling cell phones, they put them back into use. Their program, now used by 2,500 retailers nationwide and available at cellphonetradeins.com, offers consumers cash for trading in their old phones.

More than 15,000 units a month are shipped to Flipswap in Torrance, California, inspected and then sold to companies that sell them back to consumers, most of whom are overseas. The entrepreneurs, who project $12 million in sales this year, have since added iPods to the mix and plan to start "flipswapping" other electronics soon.

[via - Entrepreneur]

How To Turn $60 Into $1000 In Three Months With Domain Names

Here is an interesting story about 'renegade webopreneur' who turned sixty dollars into a thousand bucks as a 'domain profiteer' I just received via e-mail. Most likely, we'll see more and more stories like that. Here is why:

The smart investors with big money are now jumping into this market. You should know that Ross Perot's Perot Investments, Inc. and Howard Schultz's (Chairman of Starbucks Corp.) Maveron LLC have each invested millions of dollars into companies that are buying domain names today for income and future profit. You know these guys are not going to put millions of dollars at risk on a whim.

Richard Rosenblatt has created and sold $1.3 billion dollars of Internet companies including iMALL which he founded, ran and sold for $565 million, and MySpace which he turned around as Chairman and sold for $580 million. He's raised over $200 million to invest in his domain business.

With major players like Perot, Schultz and Rosenblatt writing multi-million dollar checks, you don't have to worry about this being some fly-by-night deal. We're talking about a serious - incredibly profitable business - that's exploding across the Internet. Just one portion (according to Red Herring magazine) has exploded from $400 million in 2006 to a projected $1 billion in 2007!

Sweetest Day - National Holiday Founded in Cleveland

Sweetest Day, observed on the third Saturday of October, was started in Cleveland in 1922 by candy employee and philanthropist, Herbert Birch Kingston as a way to give something or do something nice to those less fortunate than ourselves. Originally called "The Sweetest Day of the Year," Sweetest Day has evolved into a romantic holiday, similar to Valentine's Day.

History:

The first Sweetest Day came out of one man's desire to do something "sweet" for Cleveland's orphans and unfortunate residents. With the help of movie stars, Theda Bara and Ann Pennington, Herbert Birch Kingston, delivered thousands of boxes of candy throughout the city. Begun in 1922, the holiday, observed on the third Saturday of each month, became popular during the bleak economic times of the Great Depression.

Sweetest Day Today:

Although it started as a regional holiday, Clevelanders have taken the custom with them as they moved around the country. Today, Ohio still tops the list in sales of Sweetest Day cards, but other states on the top ten list include California, Texas, and Florida. Over the years, the holiday has evolved into a day to celebrate romantic love, similar to Valentine's Day.

What to Do for Sweetest Day:

Typical Sweetest Day activities include going out to dinner at a special restaurant or giving chocolates, flowers, or greeting cards. Indeed anything "special" is an apt gift or activity for Sweetest Day.

[via - Sandy Mitchell]

J.K. Rowling outs Hogwarts character

NEW YORK — Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.

After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members.

She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."

"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."

Potter readers on fan sites and elsewhere on the Internet have speculated on the sexuality of Dumbledore, noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past. And explicit scenes with Dumbledore already have appeared in fan fiction.

Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore. A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.

Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour" of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority."

Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.

[via - HILLEL ITALIE]

Gmail Mobile 1.5, Java Application - Released

Google launched a new version for Gmail Mobile Java application for mobile phones.
If you go to gmail.com/app, on your Java-enable mobile phone and download the small application, you'll be able to use Gmail, almost as easy as on your desktop.

Gmail Mobile 1.5 makes it easier to access your contacts by adding an option in the menu. If you click on a contact, you'll see the same information available in Gmail's desktop interface: a photo, the email addresses, the phone numbers and other notes. If you entered the phone number in your contact's details, you can call him directly from Gmail.

Some key features:

• Up to five times faster access and use, thanks to automatic pre-fetching of messages

• Drastically reduced clicks and scrolling to access email

• Fewer keystrokes for reading, composing, or searching mail

• Attachments, including files and photos, viewable and automatically resized to fit the user's phone

The application lets you save an unfinished message for sending it later. The weird thing is that the message is saved on your phone, not in Drafts, and you can only have one unfinished message at any given time.

If you care about your Internet traffic, Gmail shows the bandwidth usage every time it loads data. There's also an option for encrypting your traffic, but this is not recommended because it slows down the app.

But the most surprising feature (if you can call this a feature) is the thing that helped Hotmail grow, but it's still a big annoyance in the free versions of Hotmail and Yahoo Mail: the ad automatically added at the end of your message. Gmail Mobile 1.5 appends by default to your message:

"Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com"

Fortunately, you can disable Google's promotional message by going to the settings and unchecking the last option.

Gmail Mobile 1.5 seems to have a worse performance than the previous versions and it's still incompatible with Google Apps accounts. This release is currently available only in English.

You should check the requirements, the most important being J2ME (Java) MIDP2. Gmail Mobile is also available from your browser if you go to gmail.com (or m.gmail.com) on your mobile phone, but you won't get these features.

[via - Dotoca.net]

"Mansion Madam" Arrested on Drug Charges

Lisa Ann Taylor, who gained notoriety earlier
this year after she was indicted for allegedly running a house of prostitution in her upscale Atlanta subdivision, has been arrested on drug charges.

Her lawyer, Max Richardson, says Taylor is in the Gwinnett County jail Saturday.

She was arrested Friday on three felony drug
charges and one misdemeanor charge and is being held in lieu of a $2,300 bond.

Taylor and Nicole Probert became known as the "mansion madams" and gained national attention when they were charged with running a
house of prostitution at Taylor's home in the Sugarloaf Country Club subdivision in Gwinnett County.

Their trial is scheduled for February. Both women have pleaded not guilty to those charges.


The Associated Press Contributed to this story.

[via - 13wmaz]

Are we missing a dimension of time?

Could "hypertime" help develop a theory of everything? Roger Highfield reports

A scientist has put forward the bizarre suggestion that there are two dimensions of time, not the one that we are all familiar with, and even proposed a way to test his heretical idea next year.

Time is no longer a simple line from the past to the future, in a four dimensional world consisting of three dimensions of space and one of time. Instead, the physicist envisages the passage of history as curves embedded in a six dimensionals, with four of space and two of time.

"There isn't just one dimension of time," Itzhak Bars of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles tells New Scientist. "There are two. One whole dimension of time and another of space have until now gone entirely unnoticed by us."

Bars claims his theory of "two time physics", which he has developed over more than a decade, can help solve problems with current theories of the cosmos and, crucially, has true predictive power that can be tested in a forthcoming particle physics experiment.

If it is confirmed, it could point the way to a "theory of everything" that unites all the physical laws of the universe into one, notably general relativity that governs gravity and the large scale structure of the universe, and quantum theory that rules the subatomic world.

In the quest for that all embracing theory, scientists have been adding extra dimensions of space to their equations for decades. As early as the 1920s, mathematicians found that moving up to four dimensions of space, instead of the three we experience, helped in their quest to reconcile theories of electromagnetism and gravity.

Today, theoreticians are studying a theory of everything called M-theory that adds yet another dimension, taking the total to 11: 10 of space and one of time.

Until now, they have been reluctant to meddle with time because it can lead to unexpected consequences, such as time travel.

Changing our picture of time from a line to a plane (one to two dimensions) means that the path between the past and future could loop back on itself, allowing you to travel back and forwards in time and allowing the famous grandfather paradox, where you could go back and kill your grandfather before your mother was born, thereby preventing your own birth.

Bars first found hints of an extra time dimension in M-theory in 1995 and, when he looked into it, discovered the grandfather paradox and other fears could be overcome by using a new kind of symmetry - a mathematical property to work out the relationship between the quantities of position and momentum. It is this symmetry that might help reconcile the two mighty pillars of 20th-century physics, quantum mechanics and relativity.

Simply adding an extra dimension of time doesn't solve everything, however. To produce equations that work with the new symmetry that describe the world accurately, an additional dimension of space is needed as well, giving a total of four space dimensions, he explained in the journal Physical Review D.

According to Bars, the familiar four dimensional world we see around us is merely a "shadow" of the six-dimensional reality, just as a hand makes many different shadows on a wall when lit from different angles.

Although we cannot experience the extra time dimension directly, we can effectively notice it through the different perspectives of the different "shadows".

In this sense, he points to already existing evidence of physical phenomena at both macroscopic and microscopic scales. Furthermore, he believes that more evidence for his theory could emerge next year, when particles are smashed together in CERN's Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland to create hitherto unseen "supersymmetric" particles.

The work poses a question: is his proposal a mathematical fix, rather than a real physical entity?

Bars insists his extra dimensions are more than mathematical sleight of hand. "Absolutely not," he told New Scientist. "These extra dimensions are out there, as real as the three dimensions of space and one of time we experience directly."

[via - telegraf.co.uk]

Prosecutors say Stripper Mechele Linehan Followed Movie Plot to Kill Fiance

AP Photo/Al Grillo

A murder case in Alaska is the forum for a real-life drama that ended in the killing of stripper Mechele Linehan's fiance at the time.

Mechele Linehan is on trial for masterminding the murder, where prosecutors say Linehan followed the plot in the film "The Last Seduction," where a female character talked her lover into murdering her husband for cash. Prosecutors claim Linehan was obsessed with the film and followed the script to the end, including the murder of 36-year-old fisherman Kent Leppink.

Prosecutors also say the motive for the murder was the life insurance policy of Leppink, which was for $1 million. What she didn't know is Leppink was suspicious and made his parents the beneficiaries only days before he was murdered.

Leppink's body was discovered on the ground by utility workers, having been shot three times with a .44 Magnum.

Actress Linda Fiorentino, who played the role of the femme fatale in the film said, "Isn't it unbelievable? I'm a little shaken up by it."

John Carlin III, who was another fiance of Linehan's, was convicted of murdering Leppink in April.

The case broke when Carlin's son gave testimony that he had seen his dad wash the murder weapon with bleach in a sink while Lineman looked on. He wasn't able to testify originally because he was underage at the time, and wasn't allowed to be his father.

8 Simple Ways to Enjoy Life Every Day

In The Magic of Starting Small, I made the point that it is your days that define your life. In this article, I want to challenge the common perception that it is only possible to enjoy your leisure time. In particular, this article is targeted at the professional stuck in the 9 to 5 grind who longs for the weekend and, in the process, has given up on trying to find pleasure in the ordinary experiences we have every day.

1. Appreciate Beauty

Each day we come across beauty in a number of shapes and forms. It’s a shame, then, that many people have become so accustomed to this beauty that it largely goes unappreciated. I suggest looking again at the people, plants, gadgets, and buildings (to name but a few examples) around you and taking a moment to appreciate what makes them so special.

2. Connect With Nature

Nature is an amazing healer for the stresses and strains of modern life. Eating lunch in the park, attending to a vegetable garden in your backyard, or watching the sunset are just a few simple ideas for how you can enjoy the outdoors on a daily basis.

3. Laugh

E. E. Cummings once said “the most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” How very true. Never be too busy to laugh, or too serious to smile. Instead, surround yourself with fun people and don’t get caught up in your own sense of importance.

4. Have Simple Pleasures

A good cup of coffee when I first wake. Time spent playing with my 8 month old son. Cooking a nice meal in the evening. These may not seem terribly exciting, but they are some of the simple pleasures I enjoy in life. If you slow down for just a moment and take the time to appreciate these ordinary events, life becomes instantly more enjoyable.

5. Connect With People

In so many ways, it is our relationships with people that give us the most happiness in life. Perhaps, then, the best way to enjoy your work more is not to get a raise or a promotion, but rather to build rewarding relationships with your co-workers.

6. Learn

There is a strong link between learning and happiness. Given this, there is no excuse not to be stimulating your brain and learning something new each day. My favorite way to find time for learning is to make the most of the commute to and from work. Audiobooks and podcasts are great for this purpose.

7. Rethink Your Mornings and Evenings

Are the mornings a mad rush for you to get out the door? Do you switch off the TV at night and go straight to bed? I have personally experienced the profound benefits of establishing a routine in the morning and evening. For example, in the morning you may choose to wake an hour earlier and spend the time working on yourself, whether it be reading, writing or exercising. In the evening, consider spending some time just before bed reviewing your day or in meditation.

8. Celebrate Your Successes

During a normal day we are sure to have some minor successes. Perhaps you have successfully dealt with a difficult customer, made a sale, or received a nice compliment for your work. These aren’t events worth throwing a party for, but why not take a moment to celebrate your success? Share the experience with someone else, reward yourself with a nice lunch, or just give yourself a mental pat on the back.

[VIA - pickthebrain.com]

who this man?

that he did the finger?