Thursday, September 20, 2007

Million Dollor Photostamps

PhotoStamps, a product of Stamps.com, are custom postage stamps. The stamps are valid U.S. postage, bearing a custom photo or graphic provided by the purchaser. PhotoStamps were first made available on August 10, 2004.

There was an initial controversy when PhotoStamps were created in the initial market test depicting various notorious individuals and items, including Monica Lewinsky's dress, but that died down after the company announced more strigent standards and enforcement of them.

September 30, 2004 was the final day for the original market test for PhotoStamps. During the seven and a half weeks in which the product was made available, more than 2,600,000 individual PhotoStamps were ordered, mostly featuring pets, children, and landscapes. These so-called "vanity stamps" were also popular with brides-to-be and art designers.

PhotoStamps postage is valid US postage and can be used at any point in the future. As of April 26, 2005, the PhotoStamps program was once again reactivated with USPS approval, and "over 19 million PhotoStamps have been sold" since then.

In the United States personalized stamps are technically a form of meter labels and thus do not fall under the regulations for what can be depicted on U.S. stamps; for example, the restriction that people, with the exception of U.S. presidents, have to be dead for five years (formerly ten) before they can be commemorated is not applicable. This means that, under the standards for metered mail, they are also not supposed to be cancelled, though there are examples of this being done by unaware or other-enthusiastic employees, or perhaps as a favour for collectors.

A "PhotoStamps of the Year" contest was announced, with the winners to be displayed at the Smithsonian. In some cases certain aspects of copyright law relating to personalised postage are unclear. However, Canada Post claims sole copyright in Canadian personalised stamps.
more at:
http://www.photostamps.com
Via-nichegeek

PlaySpan Seems Viable And profitable Option For Venture Capitalist To Invest In

What is PlaySpan:
PlaySpan operates an in-game commerce network and virtual economies.

How It Works And Its Use:
PlaySpan is in the virtual goods market, in-game commerce and virtual economies. In game commerce has surpassed the $2 billion mark this year, 2007, and continues its growth as more publishers adopt micro-transaction based revenue models.

PlaySpan provides PlaySpan’s patent-pending in-game search, commerce and micropayment technologies enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users and extend the loyalty of existing users. Leading game providers and virtual world publishers have selected PlaySpan as their official marketplace for virtual goods commerce.
How Much Capitals The Raised:PlaySpan received $6.5 Million from Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC International and Novel TMT Ventures.
More at:http://www.playspan.com/

Creator of virtual world Second Life

The creator of today’s hottest virtual land offers a glimpse into his reality.
Vital Stats: Philip Rosedale, 38, of Linden Lab in San Francisco

Company: Creator of virtual world Second Life

Out of This World: Within the walls of Linden Lab’s 12,000-square-foot office space, more than 100 employees work together to ensure that life runs as usual in Second Life. These Lindeners are the reason the 3-D online world is even technologically possible, but it’s the site’s more than 250,000 users from all over the world who give soul to the virtual community. Linden Lab is run transparently, and employees are given the freedom to create and strategize. Says Rosedale, “The way we run and organize the company is a lot like Second Life.”
Wild Imagination>> As a child, Rosedale was constantly building things. In the early ’80s, computers set his imagination loose. “I was struck by the thought that you could use computers to simulate a digital world in which you could make things easier than [they are] in the real world,” he says. In 1999, computer graphics became more sophisticated and broadband was more prevalent, giving Rosedale the green light to finally build his ultimate creation.

Reality Check>> Everything in Second Life was created by its residents--from houses to clothes to the background music. But this is no game. While they operate under their own economy and use Linden dollars, Second Life businesses are earning real U.S. dollars as well--$15 million worth of goods and services are sold per month. Second Life is also on the edge of profitability, following an investment of about $20 million. Meanwhile, Second Life is increasingly intersecting with real life, as universities offer virtual classes, engineers from companies like IBM convene for virtual meetings, and Congress promotes its agenda with a virtual version of the U.S. Capitol. “I came at it more as a creator,” says Rosedale. “Now I’m more socially motivated by the positive impact it has on people’s lives.”
Via-Entrpreneur Magazine

FinanciallyHung.com is a social network that has exclusive members from celebrities to scholars

At Financially Hung they are in the business of Professional Social Networking, striving to help business professionals meet qualified contacts and achieve their goals in an exciting and stimulating environment. They provide members with an online community to network outside of the normal business day and a concierge service to turn their dreams into reality. Members are extended invitations to the most posh and lavish events hosted by Financially Hung and our affiliates.
FinanciallyHung.com is a social network that has exclusive members from celebrities to scholars. Anyone is able to become a Gold Member of the Financially Hung social network for free, but once you have seen what the social network provides you might want to become a Platinum or Black Card member. For a fee you can take advantage of the being able to network with successful professionals and be invited to the Financially Hung events. Financially Hung gives you a way to network and meet successful interesting people.
more at:http://www.financiallyhung.com/

PlugAdPlay is a video advertising site which gives any video producer the chance to earn money with video clips.

Plug Ad Play is the advertising provider for all video producers, video artists, video maker, comedians, musicians, directors, and every one who can to shoot a video.

PlugAdPlay is a video advertising site which gives any video producer the chance to earn money with video clips. Users can ad PlugAdPlay adverts to the beginning and end of their videos, or they can opt for a streaming banner. There are three different ways to actually earn money once the PlugAdPlay ads have been appended. First, you’ve got to upload your video on any site like Youtube, or Google Video; you’ll automatically earn up to a dollar for each video uploaded. Plug will pay you an extra bonus for each person watching your video wherever you’ve uploaded it. If your video becomes the most viewed on any video sharing site, you’ll reap in an extra extra bonus. PluAdPlay also pays for clicks and impressions generated by your video. Additionally, you can publish the site’s video player on your blog or website to generate even more money (each time someone watches, of course, means you’re making revenue). The potential profits are high (Plug estimates as much as $960 a month). To receive your money, you’ll need to have earned a minimum of $50.
More at:http://www.plugadplay.com/

SeoDigger is the online search optimization service, helping seo-spesialists in their work

SeoDigger is the online search optimization service, helping seo-spesialists in their work. This service shows at which keywords your web site has leading position. Type in the domain in the form at the Seodigger.com, and service find and show you those key phrases, which are positioned at the first 20 Google or MSN results. SeoDigger archive has approximately 44,000,000 keywords. Besides site position and keywords, this tool provides an estimate of the keyword count on WordTracker and Overture. Using SeoDigger you always can monitor your competitors and promoted web sites. Registration is free.
Parsed approx 60,000,000 keywords with depth of 20 first Google results!
Anonymous visitors limited to hourly 5 links searches, registered users has unlimited links and limited to hourly 10 domains searches!.
More at:http://www.seodigger.com/

This website gives nonprofits the advantage to fundraise using the everyday practice of online shopping

This website gives nonprofits the advantage to fundraise using the everyday practice of online shopping. By simply shopping online, consumers would be given the opportunity to support the nonprofit organization of their choice and, so, turn everyday shopping into everyday giving. With a strong background in sales, marketing and nonprofit development, this is what NonProfitShoppingMall.com is all about.
The trend of online shopping is powerful, measurable and easily harnessed. It is also an effective tool available to demystify the concept of philanthropy in general and make it a way of life for consumers as they continue to shop online for everyday goods and services.
More at:http://www.nonprofitshoppingmall.com/

Votelicio.us is a site where community members can create one-on-one contests between two similar items, such as Myspace vs. Facebook and Angelina

The world's largest focus group. Put products, issues, ideas, designs, movies, music, and links up to a vote and see what the people think. votelicio.us is 100% free to sign up and free to use.

They encourage the community to create contests about anything from asking which television they should buy to which entrepreneurial idea they should invest their savings in. The promise of getting free, objective and instant feedback from the general public is proving to be valuable in a number of ways.
Participants can vote in contests and participate in discussions about the contests. Contests fit into a variety of categories such as arts/culture, business, celebrities, fashion, comedy, companies, design, entertainment, finance, food/beverage, etc.

"We all know that the Internet is a place of vast wisdom and endless screens of arguing, politicking and banter. With votelicio.us we set out to create a venue for people to come to a conclusion while they argue."

Members control the content and can post images, video, music, and detailed write-ups of the items in the contest.

The site offers a voting system in which both members and anonymous users may vote and comment on contests and the most popular contests are featured on the "Hot" section of the site.

"We encourage the community to create contests about anything from asking which television they should buy to which entrepreneurial idea they should invest their savings in. The promise of getting free, objective and instant feedback from the general public is proving to be valuable in a number of ways."

The usual web 2.0 features are there, like a tag based search function and a "Hot" RSS feed.

The site is also offering a $150 prize for the contest that receives the most votes throughout the course of a month.

More at:http://votelicio.us/

At StarvingArtistsGallery.com, you can browse through different artists galleries and sometimes purchase their works online

At StarvingArtistsGallery.com, you can browse through different artists galleries and sometimes purchase their works online.
The StarvingArtistsGallery website can be extremely helpful to those who are trying to get the word out about their artwork and find a way to make a few bucks selling some of it as well. This also can be a great way for art collectors to find works before the artists become mainstream and the acquisition price jumps.
Their goal is simple; to re-invest into the artistic community, to support the unique undiscoverd artists , and to provide a portal for artists to circumvent traditional thinking by networking with others throughout the world.

They are artists for artists. Although art must crash into commerce it doesn't have to be painful. Join us and help support a positive force in our time.
More at:http://starvingartistsgallery.com/

At SmartHippo.com people post the rates that they have received from different lending companies

SmartHippo is the first ever web site that allows individuals to use the power of a community to save money when shopping for rates on financial products and services.
The company is based in Montreal, Canada and currently serves the U.S. market exclusively.
At SmartHippo.com people post the rates that they have received from different lending companies. As a result of this other users of the site can compare rates that they have been quoted and see if they are being offered a bad rate and if they should change to look at another company's rates instead. President George Favvas states that, "The lending industry is in a state of transformation and consumers are demanding more control and transparency in their dealings with banks and mortgage companies.
More at:http://smarthippo.com/