Thursday, August 16, 2007

What’s the best thing to do with money: Spend it, save it or give it away?

What’s the best thing to do with money: Spend it, save it or give it away?

The ideal answer, says Eulalie Scandiuzzi, is to recognize the importance of all three. That’s why she created colorful children’s banks with three compartments: spend, save and share.

Too many families, she said, either don’t talk about money at all or discuss it as an obstacle, the reason they can’t do certain things.

“I wanted something that brought the conversation to the dinner table in a fun way, so money would became a ‘yes’ conversation rather than a ‘no’ conversation,” said Scandiuzzi, executive director of a family foundation and a past director of Coyote Central, which offers life-skill experiences to middle-school students.

Since the bank’s debut in 2002, more than 1 million Moonjars have been sold — credit unions, banks and charities give them away — and the product line continues to expand into books and games to spark family conversation.
More at:http://www.moonjar.com/
Source:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2003817958_inventors050.html

Timesonline has a number of videos from entrepreneurs offering advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.

At the Bank of Scotland launch dinner for The Entrepreneur Challenge, business figures and entrepreneurs offered excellent advice for contenders
Getting started in business can be a daunting task, no matter how much determination and drive an entrepreneur has. It can be a lonely path at times, but there are people willing and able to give great advice on how to keep going through the tough times and what not to do to save trouble in the future.

Therefore, when Bank of Scotland hosted a dinner at London’s Quaglino’s restaurant in May to launch The Entrepreneur Challenge, we took the opportunity to ask the great and good of the business world for advice for up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

We spoke with business figures and entrepreneurs at the dinner resulting in a series of interviews, the first three below, where established players on the business field gave their top tips and advice for becoming a success.

Full text:http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/related_reports/entrepreneurs/article1965482.ece

Could You Turn Sheep And Duck Doo Into A Selling Point?

If you want to be an entrepreneur but need a business idea, consider renting ducks. It's apparently doing very well in Germany.
Germans are lining up to rent farm animals to help with the gardening as part of a new green scheme.

Werner Kiwitt, who runs an ecological park in Schleswig-Holstein, is offering sheep to cut the grass and ducks to eat the slugs.

He said: "You get free fertiliser provided by the animals as well, so it's not a bad deal."
Who would have thought you could turn sheep and duck doo into a selling point? Now that's a good entrepreneur.

More at:http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2464126.html?menu=
Via-Businesspundit

Venture Watch

KickApps provides a hosted web 2.0 platform.
KickApps allows any one to easily add social networking features and media to their site. The application is a hosted platform, meaning the social networking features and necessary servers, code etc. Everything is running and maintained by KickApps. You do not need to worry about scalability or other code and hardware related concerns as your site grows.

Their solution is "white label" and will match your sites look and feel, therefore no one knows that these social networking features and media are provided by a third party, KickApps.

KickApps provides an entire management console, reporting and other tools. Their ease of use and speed of deployment makes them worthy of consideration if you are in need of these types of services.
They raised:KickApps raised $11 Million in series B financing from SoftBank Capital, Spark , and Prism VentureWorks.
More at:http://www.kickapps.com/

With Taskee, web developers can assign, comment, and manage tasks directly on their website

With Taskee, web developers can assign, comment, and manage tasks directly on their website. Taskee makes it easier and cheaper to collaborate during the website testing process. As web developers know, the testing process may not be a process so much as a way of life.

After visiting the Taskee login page, you are shown a list of the pages with assigned tasks. The Taskee control panel resides above the pages of your site as you test them, waiting to be accessed via a small button in the top right corner of the screen. When a tester finds a problem on a page of the website, the tester assigns the problem to a developer. These tasks can be commented on, and the developers are notified of the task via email as soon as it is created. Each created task is URL specific, allowing for quick and efficient problem solving.

Taskee is really useful, and very creative. The simple way each task is assigned to a specific URL allows for simple multiple user problem solving. Taskee can help anyone coding a page, or even just someone who may notice a spelling error occasionally.
more at:http://www.taskee.com/

Personal Finance Tool

Intuit is getting ready to launch an online version of Quicken, the personal finance software. The upcoming service is currently in private testing, and the beta site is set to launch in the middle of September and becoming largely available to the public this winter or early next year.

The web-based, personal finance tool will let you create balance charts and reports, as well as track your bill payment services. All additional features for Quicken have not yet been revealed. A good amount of security issues had to be overcome on the part of Intuit, as the company notes that consumer trust levels are just now reaching a point that warrants the development of online applications for tracking personal finance information. Not sure on how integrated the online Quicken version will be with the desktop service, but it would be great to get a basic service for free, though consumers may not be that ready for business, web-based applications merging with the concepts of web 2.0.

Additionally, Quicken’s desktop software versions to be released this year have also been improved, and the Home & Business Edition comes with a desktop gadget for Windows Vista, and Paypal integration. With improved security measures and an increasing use for web-based applications, as well as paperless billing and electronic payments and banking, now is a better time to develop services for consumers to this end. While Intuit moves towards web-based applications, Adobe has hinted that it’s moving in the opposite direction, with the use of its AIR runtime.
more at:http://quicken.intuit.com

Video Converter

All2Convert.com, just go to the site, browse through your computer to find the file that needs conversion, recognize which format you wish to convert to and select it, then click start, when the conversion is finished you will be able to download your media back to your computer in the new format.
Their free online video conversion service allows you convert video from web sites like: google.com, youtube.com , break.com, metacafe.com, myspace.com in all known video formats, such as *.3gp *.mp4 *.wmv *.mpeg *.mov *.swf *.avi *.mp3 files.

They use the new method of video conversation technology for your computers (OS: Windows, Mac) and your mobile devices. It converts all video files (all known video formats) to your desired video format faster with high quality than a typical transcoder software installed on your PC.
More at:http://all2convert.com/

Realtravel.com provides detailed accounts of trips all across the globe that real travelers have documented and shared with the online community

Realtravel.com provides detailed accounts of trips all across the globe that real travelers have documented and shared with the online community. This site also offers a clear and simple way to organize a trip and good methods to lead to a better experience. Dynamic rout maps are very helpful to visualize a trip, and users can view information from Frommer´s for free! The plans are easily changed and travelers can send their information and plans to family and friends through the website. Realtravel.com also provides a massive amount of information on specific attractions and destinations. For example, users can view current weather, news, exchange rates, visa and border rules, other articles about the location, travel advisories, economic and social information, local calendars, compare prices, etc.
They Say:
"At RealTravel, we believe that travel information is about more than price and star ratings - it is about the whole experience. You want to know what it is really like there. You want information on the people, the culture, how to get around, how to avoid problems, as well as suggestions for itineraries, accommodations, dining and things to do. We also believe that the best way to find out about a place is from someone with similar tastes who has already been there. So we've created an exciting new online community that lets people like you find and share detailed advice and experiences on places around the world. And we make it easy for you to connect to other travelers who are just as passionate about travel as you."
More at:http://realtravel.com/