One day we got tired of being serious about the situation and came up with Googolopoly, a game where you can take part of ruling the internet even if you dont work in Mountain View. The goal of the game is to use Google shares to buy as many properties as you can without landing in the deadpool and losing your stock. As with any great board game, theres a very real metaphor to whats going on. What happens when the Google monster gobbles up all that is left in the web world, is present on your cell phone, desktop, and even controls your health information? For all their product excellence, the threat of amassing this much data is too serious to ignore. Anyway, at Box.net, well work to continue to build superior products and keep those mountain-viewers honest.

The cars on the "Spindle" starting at the top:

1. 1967 VW, red
2. 1976 BMW, silver License Plate reads "DAVE"
3. 1981 Ford Escort, blue
4. 1974 or 1973 Mercury Capri, green
5. 1978 Ford Mustang, white over blue
6. 1981 Pontiac Grand Prix, maroon or burgundy
7. 1980 or 1979 Ford LTD, light yellow
8. 1981 or 1979 Mercury, black

It was created by Dustin Shuler and commissioned by the partnership (Cermak Plaza Associates, LLC) that owns the shopping center.

The sculpture is being sold subject to copyright claims asserted by the artist Dustin Shuler.

The Spindle is probably best known from its appearance in the 1992 film from Paramount titled Waynes World. At the same time the movie was released a companion music video was created for the song Bohemian Rhapsody by the group Queen was released and received wide play on the cable channel MTV.

The Spindle is an international known roadside monument and Chicago area landmark and was even was featured in a State of Illinois tourism campaign.

The buyer will need to pay for removal and relocation. The foundation, guard rails and concrete base are not able to be salvaged. Engineered plans for construction are included.

NEW YORK - Whats scary, funny and boring at the same time? It could be a bad horror movie. Or it could be the fine print on your Internet service providers contract.
Those documents you agree to — usually without reading — ostensibly allow your ISP to watch how you use the Internet, read your e-mail or keep you from visiting sites it deems inappropriate. Some reserve the right to block traffic and, for any reason, cut off a service that many users now find essential.
The Associated Press reviewed the Acceptable Use Policies and Terms of Service of the nations 10 largest ISPs — in all, 117 pages of contracts that leave few rights for subscribers.
The network is asserting almost complete control of the users ability to use their network as a gateway to the Internet, said Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press, a Washington-based consumer advocacy group. They become gatekeepers rather than gateways.
But the provisions are rarely enforced, except against obvious miscreants like spammers. Consumer outrage would have been the likely result if ATT Inc. took advantage of its stated right to block any activity that causes the company to be viewed unfavorably by others.
Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet governance and regulation at Oxford University, said this clause was a piece of boilerplate that is passed around the corporate lawyers like a Christmas fruitcake.
The idea that they would ever invoke it and point to it is nuts, especially since their terms of service already say they can cut you off for any reason and give you a refund for the balance of the month, Zittrain said.
ATT removed the unfavorably by others wording in February after The Associated Press asked about the reason behind it. Subscribers, however, wouldnt know that it was gone unless they checked the contract word for word: The document still said it was last updated Oct. 8, 2007.
Most companies reserve the right to change the contracts at any time, without any notice except an update on the Web site. Verizon used to say it would notify subscribers of changes by e-mail, but the current contract just leaves that as an option for the company.
This sort of contract, where the subscriber is considered to agree by signing up for service rather than by active negotiation, is given extra scrutiny by courts, Zittrain said. Any wiggle room or ambiguity is usually resolved in favor of the consumer rather than the company.
Yet the main purpose of ISP contracts isnt to circumscribe the service for all subscribers, but rather to provide legal cover for the company if it cuts off a user whos abusing the system.
Without the safeguards offered in these policies, customers could suffer from degradation of service and be exposed to a broad variety of malware threats, said David Deliman, spokesman at Cox Communications.
The language does matter: In a case involving a student accused of hacking, a federal appeals court held last year that subscribers should have a lower expectation of privacy if their service provider has a stated policy of monitoring traffic.
But these broadly written contracts still dont provide all the legal cover ISPs want. Comcast Corp. is being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission for interfering with file sharing by its subscribers. The company has pointed to its Acceptable Use Policy, which said, in general terms, that the company had the right to manage traffic. Since the investigation began, it has updated the policy to describe its practices in greater detail, and recently said it would stop targeting file-sharing once it puts a new traffic-management system in place late this year.
The Comcast case is a rare example of the government getting into the nitty-gritty of one of these contracts.
There really should be an onus on the regulators to see this kind of thing is done correctly, said Bob Williams, who deals with telecom and media issues at Consumers Union.
If there were more competition, market forces might straighten out the contracts, he said. But most Americans have only two choices for broadband: the cable company or the phone company.
Williams himself knows that its tough to pay attention to the contracts. He recently had Verizon Communications Inc.s FiOS broadband and TV service installed in his home. Only after the installation was completed did he get the contract in the mail.
He could have read some of the terms earlier, when placing the order online, but he just clicked the button.
m a hard-nosed consumer advocate type I really should have examined it better than I did, he said. But, he added, he acted like most consumers, because of the lack of alternatives. You click the button because its not like youre going somewhere else.
Other common clauses of ISP contracts:
ISPs can read your e-mail
Practically all ISPs reserve the right to read your e-mails and look at the sites you visit, without a wiretap order. This reflects the open nature of the Internet _ for privacy purposes, e-mails are more like postcards than letters. Its also prompted by the ISPs need to identify and stop subscribers who use their connections to send spam e-mails.
Some ISPs, like ATT Inc., make clear that they do not read their subscribers traffic as a matter of course, but also that they need little or no excuse to begin doing so. Cablevision, a cable operator in the Northeast, says one of the reasons it might look at what a customer is doing online would be to help operate its service properly.
The federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act protects e-mail and other Internet communications from eavesdropping, but several of its provisions can be waived by agreements between the ISP and the subscriber. Also, the law is mainly aimed at making it difficult for the government, not companies, to snoop.
Wiretapping laws may also apply, but the situation is unclear. A federal appeals court panel in 2004 dismissed charges against a company that provided e-mail services for booksellers and snooped on their Amazon.com order confirmations. The charges of illegal wiretapping were reinstated by the full appeals court the next year, but the case hasnt been tried.
ISPs can block you from Web sites
Or at least they would like to think so. In a clause typical of ISPs, Comcast reserves the right to block or remove traffic it deems inappropriate, regardless of whether this material or its dissemination is unlawful.
The ISP sees itself as the sole judge of whether something is appropriate.
Broad enforcement of this kind of clause for business purposes other than protecting users is likely to draw attention from regulators like the FCC, as is happening in the Comcast file-sharing case.
ISPs can shut you down for using the connection too much
For cable ISPs, up to 500 households may be sharing the capacity on a single line, and a few traffic hogs can slow the whole neighborhood down. But rather than saying publicly how much traffic is too much, some cable companies keep their caps secret, and simply warn offenders individually. If that doesnt work, theyre kicked off.
Its difficult to reach these secret bandwidth caps unless users are downloading large amounts of high-quality video from the Internet, but the advent of high-definition Internet video set-top boxes like the Apple TV and the Vudu could make it more common.

I feel like Im prepared to give an educated opinion on both this article and a few of the comments, but I wont. I will say, however, that after taking a long (ten year) hiatus from Christian music (it was a dark period, brother), coming back and not being terribly impressed by what Ive found it has been good going through some old CDs and re-discovering bands I loved back then. The message they deliver even to this day: the hope we have in Christ; grace; a call to repentance; means so much more today than it did in my teens. What these bands had in common is that they did not have some corporate conglomerate label behind them, pumping their latest CDs out to Christian book stores to sell at a 150% markup. No, they travelled, they played shows you got to know them when they came into town and you bought their CD. And you played it all the time. You shared it with friends. You kept it for YEARS to come. And their message had the same impact then as it has now, because their basis was the Word of God.
So it makes perfect sense that Christians screwed up Christian music. Man screws up everything, remember? Alan, you have a great closing statement here. Ill leave it at that.
The Dane it sounds like you just want the worlds music. And thats fine. But I can tell you from personal experience where a love affair with the world takes you. Just dont be so frustrated with Christian music: you two obviously have different agendas. I dont mean to offend you; it just seems fairly obvious and I thought Id point it out.

Further to my previous post on rumoured FBI plans to data mine online game World of Warcraft, in an unrelated incident magazine and the register have recently reported that UK Banks the Halifax and Royal Bank of Scotland have started blocking Visa and Master Card payments to game publisher Blizzard Entertainment.
Following an increase in the number of fraudulent card payments for world of war craft game subscriptions, the bank has set the default action for these payments to block. This does not affect existing account holders, and legitimate card holders can contact the bank and have their account overridden to allow these transactions if desired. The banks have stated that they do not believe that publisher Blizzard Entertainment are at all involved in these fraudulent transactions but due to the nature of the type of transaction there is a great enough security risk to justify their action.
This is not the first credit card problem that Blizzard Entertainment have had to content with. In 2005, many World of War Craft customers received statements stating that the 8.99 charge was being made by the Croyden Park Hotel, Croyden or Swallow St. George Hotel, Harrogte, after card processing company Euro Conex based in Dublin, Ireland made a processing error on the payments.
Interestingly World of War Craft, actually offer their own credit card scheme in the US, that allows users to earn game time at 1% of every dollar purchased.
This kind of credit card fraud is very popular, because it is relatively difficult to trace. It is  comparatively easy of set up an account with a false name and address, but comparatively hard to trace an account back through an isp to a phycial address or person. Its a card not present transaction not requiring a pin number, there are no phyisical goods are being delivered, so there is no delivery address to trace back to, making it much easier for stolen cards or card details to be used.
According to industry organisation APACS, the numer of card not present card frauds affecting UK gambling sites rose by #12.7 million in the first half of 2007, It is estimated that mail order websites suffered 13 million pounds worth of fraudulent transactions in 2007. Many of which come from overseas transactions.

The Pierce County sheriffs office says a 26-year-old man who was making a bomb died in an explosion and fire that destroyed a home in Puyallup.
A body was found in the rubble.
re finding pieces 75-100 feet away, said spokesman Ed Troyer.
Troyer said the man - a registered sex offender - had rented a room in the home from a couple.
When the couple came home at around midnight, they saw their roomate, who they say had been acting paranoid lately, with a cache of bombs and explosive materials.
The couple called 911.
He grabbed the duffel bags and went upstairs. We got the people outside of the house, said Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriffs Dept. Shortly after there was a large explosion, which engulfed the whole entire house and took off the top floor.He either accidentally or intentionally set the explosion off, which took the whole top floor off of the residence and engulfed the house in flames, Troyer said. Our deputies were standing 75 to 100 yards away. It drenched our deputies in beauty bark and dirt.
Investigators say the bags contained shrapnel-packed, homemade explosives.
Source -KING5
Popularity: 1% [.

1. An Open Internet Is Vital to America.
High-speed Internet access is no longer a luxury; its a lifeline for every American. The Internet has fueled economic growth and engaged millions in our democracy. No other tool in history has held such promise. When we block citizens from getting online or accessing the content or applications of their choice, we undermine the Internets vital democratic potential. We must make sure that every American can benefit from access to a fast, open and affordable Internet. We all should be free to connect to others without censorship or discrimination.

2. Consumers Dont Have Real Broadband Choice.
The cable and phone duopoly now controls more than 95 percent of the residential broadband market in America. Moreover, a significant portion of the country has only one broadband provider to choose from or none at all. As a result, America has fallen behind other developed nations in high-speed Internet services. A recent survey by the International Telecommunications Union shows the United States slipping to 16th in the world in broadband penetration (down from fourth in 2001). American consumers now pay far more for slower speeds than consumers in Japan, France, Denmark, South Korea and other countries. Americans must no longer be held captive by a lack of choice.

3. Phone and Cable Companies Plan to Block, Degrade and Filter Web Content.
The top executives of nearly every major telecom company have stated that they intend to start manipu-lating content on the Internet. Some are already carrying out these plans: In 2007, Comcast blocked competing content-sharing applications; Verizon blocked text messages sent by NARAL Pro-Choice America to its own members; and AT T launched plans to filter all Web traffic for possible copyright infringements. For years, Net Neutrality prevented network operators from interfering with and discriminating against Web traffic in this way. But a 2005 FCC decision pushed by industry lobbyists stripped away this protection. Now its up to citizens to confront this rising threat and safeguard a free-flowing Internet.

4. You Can Make a Difference.
In 2006, more than 1.5 million Americans urged Congress to take a stand against Internet gatekeepers, stopping legislation that would have gutted Net Neutrality protections. Now, Reps. Ed Markey and Chip Pickering have introduced the bipartisan Internet Freedom Preservation Act (HR 5353), a major step toward a forward-thinking communications policy. It ensures that Net Neutrality protections apply to new broadband services. It guarantees that economic innovation and free speech will continue to flourish on the Internet by stopping would-be gatekeepers from discriminatory blocking or interfering. It also calls for a nationwide series of public hearings. By taking the debate beyond the Beltway, we have a rare opportunity to make certain that phone and cable lobbyists no longer set the agenda. Support this important bill by visiting SavetheInternet.com.

For once, this celebrity-backed video venture has chosen a worthwhile project, because there really isnt a good place to stream legal versions of all the worlds music videos, despite the fact that they do so well online. But PluggedIn hasnt yet executed that, either; apparently it doesnt have all the major music labels signed on. According to the Times (where we got the screenshot above), the site will offer 10,000 videos from Universal, Sony BMG and EMI at launch.

I'm Brendan Loy, a 26-year-old graduate of USC and Notre Dame now living and working in Knoxville, Tennessee. My wife Becky and I are brand-new parents of a beautiful baby girl, born on New Year's Eve.

I'm a big-time sports fan, a politics, media law junkie, an astronomy buff, a weather nerd, an Apple aficionado, a Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter fanatic, and an all-around dork. My blog is best-known for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina, but I blog about anything and everything that interests me.

You can contact me at irishtrojan [at] gmail.

Disasters such as the Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes, and floods will continue to test International Aid’s ability to provide compassionate care in emergencies.
Yet, it is our experience and preparedness as a disaster aid provider that allows our health ministry to offer compassionate care beyond the time and place of disaster.
International Aid is committed to improving global health care by making quality health services available to the world’s poor.
For the past five years, we have leveraged the impact of our worldwide network of ministry partners in countries with unmet health needs.
International Aid bridges the three components of health delivery systems: community health, clinical care, and technology, and embraces them as mutually supportive approaches to health care in the developing world.
The work we do is a physical expression of the power of compassion. We introduce tangible projects of mercy and love that restore the physical, emotional and spiritual health of others.

New Delhi: Global economic uncertainties have casted a shadow on India's realty market as property stocks declined by upto 46 per cent in the first quarter of 2008, and more challenging times are on the cards, says global financial services major Citigroup. Citigroup Global Markets in its latest report said, "Indian property stocks are down as much as 46 per cent in the past three months. They have corrected 50-67 per cent from their highs in January this year and we expect more volatility."
The report also talks about India's property development story that is structural in nature, markets that remain tough because of rising inflation, a sharp fall in property transactions, stagnating prices and supply risks. On December 31, 2007, the realty index of the Bombay Stock Exchange was quoted at 12,727.42 points and it tumbled to 7,554.80 points, a fall of 5,172.62 points, as on March 31, 2008.
K P Singh-promoted DLF has suffered a loss of Rs 427.30 in the January to March period, while Unitech lost Rs 212.10 during the period under review. The other real estate biggies such as Indiabulls Real Estate fell by Rs 258.65, Housing Development and Finance Corporation(HDFC) shed Rs 488.70, Parsvnath Developers lost Rs 241.35 and Omaxe by Rs 365.55 in the first quarter of this calender year. Citigroup said that this decline can be largely attributed to the weakening global economy, sharp reduction in risk appetite and the uncertainty about appropriate valuations for property stocks in emerging markets including India.

If you go with the theory that senators in office can actually accomplish something, you can't say that McCain couldn't do something about gas prices this summer. Unfortunately, his proposal is an obvious campaign ploy aimed at those people who would take a price break on gas at any cost. Can you see the folly here? McCain proposes reducing the federal tax on gas. That means federal funds must come from another source (that source is of course the taxpayers). Meanwhile, your gas is cheaper by the amount of the reduction. The oil companies still make the same amount of money. Has anyone noticed that McCain might have some buddies in the oil industry? Certainly, the only people served by such a proposal would be those that profit from oil. Federal funds will continue to come from the taxpayers or the country will continue to go deeper in debt. The oil companies will continue to make their normal huge profits. If we had any sense we would raise gas taxes and make driving a car more of a luxury. This would promote greater use of mass transit and the dependence on oil. Reducing dependence on oil would mean we might be able to even stop contriving wars with countries whose threat to us is merely their abundance of oil or opium or cocaine. Time for Americans to stop taking head-meds and wake up! Follow the money and you'll find the crooks!

Posted by G.

Grooveshark Lite leverages all the various bits of the Grooveshark service -- streaming music, paid downloads, music sharing, and recommendations -- and packages them nicely in a gorgeous flash-based player. Lite extends Grooveshark firmly into Pandora territory with a service that lets users build streaming playlists and download tracks directly.
I was keen to see how Grooveshark Lite would integrate with the playlists and music I already had on the service, unfortunately I couldn't get it to properly access my library. The site did display a message today that it "may be unstable" as the company rolled out the new Lite service, so perhaps that was just a hiccup.

In the meantime, as Amber and House continue their competition for Wilson’s attention, chaos is certain to ensue. Since most House episode titles convey a multitude of meanings, one can only guess who is no longer going to be playing “nice” (along with the patient, that is). Is it Wilson? Amber? Or is it House himself, who seemed to have given his blessing to Amber and Wilson’s relationship when last we saw them in February? Let the speculation begin!
In the May 5 episode, “Living the Dream,” House’s obsession with soap operas comes into play as he notices something is not quite right with an actor on his favorite show Prescription Passion. Neither House’s team, nor the actor himself, believe anything is awry, as they dismiss House’s assessment that the soap star (Jason Lewis) has a serious medical condition.
The fourth season finale, a two-parter called “House’s Head,” will air on consecutive Monday nights, May 12 and May 17. In part one (May 12), House is a passenger on a bus when it is involved in a serious accident. With a head injury causing him short-term memory loss, he begins to piece together recalled fragments about a fellow passenger who was exhibiting signs of a “deadly illness.” Unable to recall who the person was, or even how he came to be riding on the bus, House desperately tries to process the information from “fleeting flashes” to save the life of someone who may not even know he or she could be dying. As part two, s Heart (May 19) unfolds, and House continues to pieces together his murky memories of the accident and the night before, his friendship with Wilson is pushed to the limit.
I have not seen any of the episodes, so this is all I know from the latest FOX press release. Sorry. If youve seen the previews shown following recent reruns on FOX, you can see flashes of the accident, and House inside the bus as it happens.
One more bit of news for readers of this column. I will be interviewing House executive producers/writers Garrett Lerner and Russell Friend after part one of the season finale airs on May 12. Im very excited to have the rare opportunity of a one-on-one (I guess its technically one-on-two) converstation with Friend and Lerner, who are the writing team behind several particularly character-driven episodes, including Skin Deep, Cane and Able, and 97 Seconds. Oh, and I almost forgot to say — they are also two of the season finale writers. So stay tuned.

Authored by: Dianna Kokoszka
Seller: Well we are not going to give our house away.
Agent: I understand, if you are going to give it away give it to me.  (Pause) The fact is that what I sense is that you want an agent, like me, who will guard your equity and insure that, together,me, who will guard your equity and insure that, together, we will get the money possible.

Seller: But I want $400,000 for the house.
Agent: I understand and I want to get you the most money, too.  Let me ask you (seller’s name), have you ever bought stock or known anyone who has?  The fact is that if you bought Disney at $49 last year and the market says the price is $29 this year, what price would you get?
Seller: $29 dollars.
Agent: So even if you want $49, the market will only give you $29 because that is what the market says the stock is worth.  Real Estate is like stock, therefore we have to sell for what the market will pay, not what you want.
Objection – Another Agent Can Get Me More Money
Seller: Well, I still want my $400,000; because another agent told me they could get it.
Agent:  I understand, so what I am hearing you say is that as a buyer you would be willing to pay over market value for your next home. Is that correct?
Seller: No
Agent:  So why do you think another buyer would be willing to do that?  See many agents want to put a sign in your yard and have buyers call.  Then they can take that buyer, and run out and sell them a better priced home, so they would use your home to sell others.  So do you want to sell your home, or have it used to help others sell their homes.

Posted by Susan Esparza
Last session of the day. My headache has declared war on my eyesight and my hands are cramping. Never get old, kids.
Our closing session is moderated by Imran Khan (JP Morgan Research). Panelists Yogen Dalal (Mayfield Fund), Jason Rapp (Interactive Corp), Dave Morgan (TACODA, Inc) and Elizabeth Ross (Tribal DDB West) are going to bring this day to a close with a discussion of the business side. It's like our Shuffles section of the newsletter come to life.
Imran starts off by asking about how the online ad market will be affected by the recession.
Elizabeth: People are starting to hunker down. They're going to start cutting costs in marketing.
Dave: I think online will do a little bit better than other media but we're dependent on optimism and hope. And when you don't have hope that marketing will get a return, you pull back.
Jason: I agree. One of the themes will be performance marketing versus general branding.
Yogen: Frivolous advertising gets cut in any down turn but online marketing is critical and it's going to be the ones that provide value that will be the ones that get continued spending. When you look at the advertising loop, advertisers want to ensure they're going to get something of value out of their spend.
Imran: Moving to online video, where are we in monetizing online video?
Elizabeth: I think pre and post roll are pretty lackluster. The interruption model of advertising doesn't work on the Internet. That's a smarter way to do it. We're a little lazy right now as marketers and agencies. We just want to roll the ad and not have to earn the attention. [Oooh, the guy from the previous panel will fight you.]
Dave: We're still trying to innovate. We still haven't seen a lot of things that work yet. The things we've seen haven't worked yet. It's going to involve a business model shift.
Yogen: That's really where the focus will be in the nest couple of years. Right now the current solutions don't work. Advertising is going to have to become entertainment. We're seeing it in American Idol and some of the beer commercials on YouTube.
Imran: How will brand creation change?
Elizabeth: The 360 marketing program works to build a brand. Can you build a brand with just text links? Probably not. A lot of the work on TV is for products that you're already aware of. What's the role, we should be asking ourselves. It's true of any channel. If we think it's going to work for every brand, we're fooling ourselves.
Dave: It's not really directly related. Audience down doesn't mean rates go down. Rates go up because it means that there's fragmentation and they're even more the only point of mass contact.
Jason: Fragmentation favors the quality content creators online.
Imran: What's the next big thing?
Yogen: I wish I knew for certain. He thinks its widgets. The content is brought to the user through the widget. It's advertising through entertainment. Better than banner ads.
Elizabeth: The next 'shiny' thing. 8 months ago it was Second Life. But it really is a matter of stepping back and looking at the consumer and seeing what's the driving force behind it. Don't call it Facebook or Widgets or Second Life. You need to think more broadly than that.
Dave: There's no pre-destined Next Big Thing. It requires someone focusing on it and investing in it and making it the next big thing. So many of the potentials are copycats and they're not going to be the real next big thing. [No, Lisa, I'm not trying to rank for Next big thing, that's just how many times he said it.] Liar.
Imran: How will the landscape change in the next couple of years?
Jason: No one knows but the shift in the lending market is going to change things. You need to get into where there's synergy. Play where you're getting the most bang for your buck. It's more difficult to be public now than before.
Imran: Yahoo+Microsoft?
Jason: It's a landscaping changing deal. Depends on where you're standing. You're going to have fewer paths to exist if you're a startup. If you're a mid-stage investor, you're looking at possible partners. But it's hard to say what will happen.
Dave: We have a big four today, so right now it's a good time to try to be selling. We might end up with a big two and if we do, it's doesn't just halve your opportunity. Right now it's all about cash. How much cash do you have in the bank?
Imran: How will VC investment change in the next year?
Yogen: Some of the greatest companies are started in the worst of times because the entrenched players are busy taking care of business so the little guys are looking for chinks in the armor. Big mergers slow down the market leaders and VCs love that. I expect to see a lot of companies getting funded in the next year that we won't hear about for three or four years when they break the surface. They want to look for people in lasting companies, not companies with a 12 month exit strategy.
Imran: When you look at the international ad market, what are you hearing from your clients?
Elizabeth: Our offices around the world are doing very different kinds of work. It depends on what people are looking for and how they're looking for it. Mobile penetration is higher in other countries for example.
Dave: Online advertising outside of the US is going to grow faster than inside. The biggest difference is that it's national markets not regional markets. In the mid-late 90s, the national markets weren't robust enough, that's not the case anymore.
Yogen: More and more international users are coming to "US" Web sites. How do you display ads to them so that they get relevant ads? Are there going to be new international ad networks?
Jason: Our experience at IAC, for example at Match.com, is that people have a hard time coming into our market. But it's not an easy import even if it's a 'great' business model.
Dave: what if they go after niche markets instead? They don't go for the whole thing, just their niche?
Elizabeth: I think the next big thing is the idea that I do something and things around me change. Harmony road in Japan and the Wii for example.
Imran: How do you get into mobile? He would argue we're a little behind the world in that kind of thing. You can download comics in Japan, etc.
Elizabeth: It's difficult to figure out how to buy mobile. You need to figure out why you're in mobile. It's not that you're walking by Starbucks and you get SMS that gives you a coupon, that's not a reason to be there.
Jason: Points out that mobile's been the next big thing for the last 8 years.
Yogen: Why did Google succeed? Because the user had intent and they fulfilled it. That's what needs to be done with mobile. How do you intercept and anticipate that intent.
[I'm skipping Q A to get this over to Lisa for posting. See you tomorrow!] Go eat something and stay out of trouble, you hear.

The DataLibre blog runs an entry on earth observation data policies, specifically discussing an April 2004 short summary on Canadian EO data policy. From the blog: "The paper also includes the following which is an excellent way to think about data pricing and its effects: - A direct association exists between pricing and its effects on public access and commercialisation of government agency information. Current pricing problems are having a deleterious effect on the affordability of spatial data in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom; - A direct association exists between the application of intellectual property rights and the degree of public access and commercialisation of government agency information. The greater the restrictions on access, the less successful dissemination programs will be; - Reducing prices and relaxing intellectual property restrictions on government datasets are significant factors improving opportunities for access and commercialization for stakeholders in the geographic information community." This is a recurring theme, several previous stories copied below.

Already you can tell this will be a different kind of post for me. Before I begin my curmudgeoned polemic, let me state for the record: Overall I LOVE the internet. I love how it empowers, entertains, enables, etc. I believe it is the most powerful communication and civic tool since the printing press.

BUT - I also love playing devil's advocate and anytime I am in a room filled with 'yes' people - I instantly want to consider the argument for 'no.' So while my overall views remain the same, certain things have been bugging me lately about "social media" and other buzzwords that are constantly shoveled into my internet experience.

Pope Benedict, on his first papal visit to the United States, meets President George W. Bush at the White House and U.S. Roman Catholic bishops at a Washington basilica today, his 81st birthday.
More than 9,000 people are expected to attend the White House ceremony, making it one of the largest arrival ceremonies ever held at the White House, Bush's spokeswoman Dana Perino said. Bush, however, also took the unprecedented step of personally welcoming the Pope at the airport last night.

The meeting with U.S. bishops at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception will include an address in which the Pope is expected to discuss the scandal of sexual abuse of children by priests, which he said had left him deeply ashamed. The scandal, which broke in 2002 and forced U.S. dioceses to pay damage settlements amounting to $2 billion, has tarnished the Church's image and created considerable dissatisfaction among American Catholics.
Benedict and Bush both oppose abortion and embryonic stem cell research, but differ on questions such as the Iraq war. The Vatican opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 but now see U.S. troops as a stabilizing who help protect threatened Christian minorities.
I really don't think that the president is planning to spend a lot of time talking about the issues of Iraq with the Pope, Perino said. The root issue of terrorism and extremism is something that they will talk about. Benedict told reporters during his trans-Atlantic flight he would ask Bush to boost development aid to poor countries so their citizens would not need to migrate.
The fundamental solution is that there will be no need to emigrate, that there will be enough jobs and a sufficient social fabric so no one has to emigrate any more, he said in English. The United States has to help these countries develop. It is in the interest of everyone, not only these countries but of the world and particularly of the United States. Perino said the two would discuss ways of protecting human rights, combating extremist ideology especially in the Muslim world and building interfaith dialogue and religious freedom.
She singled out Africa and Lebanon as regions of concern.
Benedict is expected to deliver an upbeat message to U.S. bishops despite the sexual abuse scandal. In his in-flight remarks, he expressed respect for the role of religion in public life and said the U.S. Church was a force for good. Amid all the painful things, let us not forget how much real humanity there is, how many positive acts there are, he said. The papal visit and his rides in the popemobile through Washington are expected to cause traffic chaos in the U.S. capital, where security is tight. Bush will host a birthday party in Benedict's honour at the White House this evening, but the Pope -- who rarely attends big social functions -- will not attend. Most of the guests will be U.S. Catholic leaders.
Picture: President Bush and his family welcoming the Pope on the airport tarmac in Washington.

Individuals who are willing to invest time and energy learning the knowledge and skills necessary for online success will most definitely be able to make money on the internet.

More and more people want to opt out of the rat race and make money on the internet so that they can work from home. There many reasons for the increase in popularity of online home businesses but probably the most common are flexibility and portability. When you work for yourself online you can create a flexible work schedule that fits around your family and personal interests so that you are able to achieve balance in your life. The portability factor is another wonderful benefit of operating an online business. All you need is a computer that can access the internet and you are off and running.

The first step to creating an online income is to decide on a business. Do you already have skills or products you can sell in order to make money on the internet? Or will you have to develop or locate them? If you decide to opt for product sales consider what sort of products would be of most interest to your intended niche audience? Will you create your own products or market someone elses? This decision will guide your research, business set up and the implementation of your marketing strategy.

Given how many "make money on the internet" opportunities are advertised online, it can be surprisingly difficult to find genuine home business opportunities. Most new internet based businesses fail because of a lack of careful preparation, including initial research, planning and evaluation. You can get up and running quicker in an online business selling online services than if you have to create or source marketable products.

However, you need more than marketable skills or products to make money on the internet, you also need a professional web presence including website and blogs, that you can make work for you. These days having a professional looking website is affordable even for very low budget operations. You can use an online website creation program or outsource.

It is important to choose a business and domain name that is easy to remember and reflects the nature of your business. Your website should be well organized and easy to get around and most of all, your customers should find the payment process fast and easy.

Even with a professional and appealing website, you will not be able to make money on the internet unless you can attract website traffic. Traffic generation strategies must therefore be an essential part of your business building activities.

Firstly, you need to ensure that your web and blog content is optimized for search engines to ensure maximum exposure on the free search results. It is also important to regularly submit new high quality articles and other information to your website and blogs to encourage regular updates by the search engines. Furthermore, it is essential to consistently use traffic generation strategies such as article marketing which is free and pay-per-click advertising which is a paid service.

To make a success of a new internet based business will require you to acquire new knowledge and skills before you will be able to make money on the internet. Nevertheless, individuals who are willing to invest time and energy learning the knowledge and skills necessary for online success will most definitely be able to make money on the internet.

We focus on Taiwan because that's the one that was spotlighted at a screening and roundtable sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation. (It's also the health care system that we knew the least about.) Since creating their health system, which is similar to U.S. Medicare but not only for the elderly and disabled, Taiwan has gone from covering 57 percent of the population to 99 percent, according to Tsung-Mei Cheng, an international health expert at Princeton who joined Reid at the roundtable. It went from spending less than 5 percent of GDP on health to just above 6 percent (but probably need to spend a bit more). The U.S. in comparison spends 16 percent of GDP and leaves 47 million people uninsured. And Taiwan has some of the best use of health information technology in the world, way ahead of the U.S. Everyone in Taiwan has health smart card the size of a credit card that tracks their records, use, and billing information. (Ironically, given the lag in adopting health IT in the US, Taiwan bought the technology from a company in St. Louis, Reid said.). Cheng said it's paid for itself three times over.
Reid found much to admire overseas and much to bemoan in the system here at home. But he ended his lunchtime conversation on a note of optimism. Next year, he said, I think we're going to fix it.

Have you been thinking about expanding your online presence. Owning your own free online games site could be the answer. Thousands of web surfing individuals such as yourself love to play free online games. I know I sure do.


After some more research, I ran into GameSiteScript. GameSiteScript is a PHP-based online game site framework that can be deployed in minutes.

The 11th Circuit has weighed in on a pair of hot legal topics involving trademarks and the Internet. At issue are a pair of medical product competitors and meta tags -- words and phrases a business might embed within its Web site computer code to drive search engine traffic to the site. Although there's some question as to the extent search engines still use those tags in the algorithms that determine search results, the 11th Circuit's decision on the meta tag issue may affect other key cyberlaw issues.

Good Stuff. Could have been a little longer.
On my list are the Infiniti G35 and G37. However, I refuse to own a car like that RENT an apartment, so I will wait until I reach condo/house status before I make the leap. I do think that some things need to be clarified by way of a few addendums:
1. Base models are a no-no. A stripped down BMW may impress a UEBP, but an EBP will not be moved. Better and best are the only trims that allow a true EBP to show off their status. Be prepared to shell out for the navigation, moon roof, and xenon headlights.
2. Satellite radio is a must! This separates you from the UEBP who listen to the same handful of local radio stations that play the same terrible songs over and over. Satellite makes you look more well rounded among your EBP friends with the hundreds of channels that are available. Plus you can program the receiver to notify you when your favorite songs come on! Who wouldnt want to get their CNN, NPR, BBC, jazz, sports, RB, neo soul, classical, rock, alternative, hip hop, Sinatra, and Stern (or Oprah ) all in one place? Added bonus: Purchase an external receiver at your local retailer so you can have yet ANOTHER gadget to proudly show off once someone gets into the car.
3. Some EBPs prefer luxury cars that are more sporty (especially young, single professionals.) In this instance, it is acceptable to put after-market rims on your car ONLY if they dont compromise the integrity of the car. No 26s, no spinners, no rims that dont spin. One mantra to keep in mind when upgrading your car: Dignified, not drug dealer.
4. As an EBP, youve got to let everyone know where youve graduated from. Be sure to purchase a plate, plate frame, or decal that prominently displays your alma mater. Greeks must also rep their organizations on their vehicles. More is better, so be sure to get something that specifically names your particular college (only if you got your degree in business, engineering, or lawsorry English and music majors) or your organizations chapter. If youre a legacy, get something that states that too. Band fraternities and Greek letter honor societies are also acceptable. The phrase Less is more does not apply to EBPs. Your car should essentially be a moving resume.

Thanks Molly for posting about the CMA's last night! I missed the show, and needed the pics!
Just to throw my 2 cents in...Taylor Swift is annoying, and though I'm a HUGE country music fan and I will admit, the girl is a talented songwriter but she really can't sing.
OH and I'll jump on the Nicole back-to-redhead bandwagon and love on her! Tho--aren't you NOT supposed to color your hair when you're pregs?? Keith's baby better come out lookin' normal.... I'm just sayin..

SAN FRANCISCO -- Genentech Inc. said late Tuesday its board approved increasing the share buyback program to 150 million shares from 100 million shares and boosting the total value of shares to be repurchased to $10 billion from $8 billion. Genentech plans to use the repurchased stock to offset dilution from the issuance of shares in connection with its employee stock plans, the biotechnology company said. The board also extended the buyback program to June 30, 2009.

Copyright 2008 MarketWatch, Inc.

The audience for a niche affiliated product is typically a group with a well defined interest in something. The job of an internet marketing genius is to define and determine exactly what the interest is. After that, you must figure out a way to convey to the audience that you have a product or service that caters directly to their interests.
By carefully defining your companys niche market, determine who the people are that make up the market, examining what their needs and wants are, and then pinpointing a way to cater to the market with a unique product or service, you will soon be well on your way to becoming an internet marketing genius.
Some important factors to think about is, will your product solve a problem? Will it meet a need? Will it save them time and money? Will it help them achieve a goal? Will it provide them with something they want, etc..? All these factors are important parts of internet marketing.
In terms internet marketing, its all about keywords and key phrases. Study your niche markets keywords and phrases. By doing this exercise, it helps you determine how to connect the consumers with their products and services by the keywords they search for.
As you analyze your niche markets, consider carefully whether these people are typical web surfers and whether they have the ability to order products online. By truly understanding your target audience, will you be able to become an expert in the field of internet marketing. Its that simple.
Work from home ideas - how to find your goldmine
Whatever you think or feel about work from home ideas, there has to be something very special about them because every 11 seconds yet another person gets to launch a home based business.
While it is true that many people have gotten very disappointed and their heady dreams shattered by work from home ideas that they thought would transform their lives, it is also true that many others have succeeded and continue to thrive beyond their wildest dreams. So what makes the difference? Actually it is simply knowledge and skills.
The fact that you cannot fly a passenger jet from Coast to Coast does not mean that it is an impossible task. A trained pilot does it easily. In the same way your income generation from home ideas will never work for you if you do not have the required knowledge and skills to make it happen. It is as simple as that.
For example there is no way that your home business idea will take off without you having a sound strategy for advertising and promoting it. And whatever promotional ideas and strategy you come up with, remember that it has to be effective in generating a constant supply of targeted leads that you can easily turn into paying clients for your work from home ideas website.
One of the things you should actively explore that will go a long way in helping you turn many simple work at home ideas into gold is the use of effective online classified ads. Remember that classified ads work much better online than those colorful banner ads that usually need hundreds of thousands of page views to generate a click through or two.

Ha, you thought I was going to post about American Idol! Well, not tonight. Although I watched the show and have my opinions (boy, do I have those!), I decided Id wait until tomorrows elimination show to write a more thorough post about this week. So, that means one longer post (boo!) but a only one post on American Idol per week (yay!).
Ill admit that I regularly check Break.com and usually scan through the videos to see whatever video clip is making its rounds on the various video clip sites online. Most are fairly generic - a guy falls off his skateboard in a horrific accident or theres some gross body party/food/human feat that tests your gag reflex. But, every now and then, I find some videos that are simply cool. This one caught my attention today.

Cant is the worst word thats written or spoken;
Doing more harm here than slander and lies;
On it is many a strong spirit broken,
And with it many a good purpose dies.
It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning
And robs us of courage we need through the day:
It rings in our ears like a timely-sent warning
And laughs when we falter and fall by the way.
Cant is the father of feeble endeavor,
The parent of terror and half-hearted work;
It weakens the efforts of artisans clever,
And makes of the toiler an indolent shirk.
It poisons the soul of the man with a vision,
It stifles in infancy many a plan;
It greets honest toiling with open derision
And mocks at the hopes and the dreams of a man.
Cant is a word none should speak without blushing;
To utter it should be a symbol of shame;
Ambition and courage it daily is crushing;
It blights a mans purpose and shortens his aim.
Despise it with all of your hatred of error;
Refuse it the lodgment it seeks in your brain;
Arm against it as a creature of terror,
And all that you dream of you some day shall gain.
Cant is the word that is foe to ambition,
An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
Its prey is forever the man with a mission
And bows but to courage and patience and skill.
Hate it, with hatred thats deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed twill break any man;
Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
And answer this demon by saying: I can.

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that My blog contains only my personal opinion and is provided for informational purposes only, and no mention of a particular security costitutes a recomendation to buy,sell, or hold that or any other secutity.My past results are not necessary indicative of future performance.Any trades or investments are committed at your own risk. I am not a professional money manager. Always consult your broker for any of your investment decision.Trade at your own risk. All opinion in this blog is intended for educational purpose only and AC Investor is by no means liabl