Ocean Tomo Auctions

Ocean Tomo Auctions will offer the “Jaipuria Patent” for sale, U.S. Patent 7,047,202 which was filed back in 2001 and is considered one of the most important patents related to social networking. It will be offered as Lot 54 at the Ocean Tomo Fall 2007 Live IP Auction on October 25th at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago.

The patent claims priority to an earlier Indian patent and describes many of the fundamental workings of social networks, including creating an online social network including individual users and groups, accessing and using social network via the Internet or wireless devices, and advanced user privacy features.

In other words, this patent describes much of how all social networks are created, and thus gives the owner a significant advantage over the competition. If the hype surrounding this one is true, MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook and others may all be using processes covered by it.
More at:http://www.oceantomo.com/

[via Forbes]

Vcasmo is an online presentation tool that lets you mash your video and images with audio or webcam video

Japan-based Vcasmo is an online presentation tool that lets you mash your video and images with audio or webcam video.

There are several ways in which you can use this service: combine your PowerPoint presentation with a video of yourself speaking, or mix a voice over with images from your last trip abroad. You can also choose what part of the video you’d like to insert voice-over. The result is a very helpful tool for combining different aspects of media to create an online presentation. The completed product can be embedded in your personal website or blog. This is not primarily an editing tool, however, so you won’t find many options for adding things like text or graphics, and you can’t add videos directly from a webcam.

On the site itself, you’ll find a community of users. You can subscribe to a user, and add them as a friend. View all of the presentations they’ve posted, leave comments and ratings, or add a presentation to your favorites. Adding some editing options, perhaps some text notes that users or the video creator could leave, like Veotag or MyPlick, and some chapter selections could make this even more useful for things like educational videos, which is a primary objective for Vcasmo.
more at:http://www.vcasmo.com/
Via-mash

How to Make Money By Renting Baby Cloths

Since newborns grow out of a clothing size every month or so in the first half year of their lives, German Lütte-Leihen came up with a solution: a layette rental service for a fixed fee per month.

Parents can choose from different sets of onesies, pajamas and outerwear. The clothes are delivered by post. Once babies grow out of a size, the set can be exchanged for the next size up, free of charge. Like Netflix for baby clothes.

The clothing may be used, but it’s in great condition; the items are only used for a short while by each baby, and there’s not much wear and tear in the first six months.

Moreover, most of the clothing provided by Lütte-Leihen is made from 100% organic cotton.

Besides saving parents the expense of clothes that are only worn briefly, Lütte-Leihen’s service spares them the hassle of shopping for new items in a period when time is at a premium.
more at:http://www.luette-leihen.de/

OURthreads is a social marketplace designed specifically for users interested in fashion, clothing, and accessories

OURthreads is a social marketplace designed specifically for users interested in fashion, clothing, and accessories. Their goal is to create a positive community experience for all of users. Members are given a ‘closet’ where they can showcase their threads and sell them. Search for closets by style (grunge, preppy, modern, label junky, trendy, etc.), by user name, or by hometown. Should you be looking for a certain item in particular, hit the ‘go shopping’ link at the top and enter in your search criteria (e.g. brand name, clothing type, size, etc.). If shopping’s not your thing, you can propose a trade and see if there are any takers. While the site is somewhat on the bare side, being new, it looks promising. Sign up for free today and show off your wardrobe.
more at:http://www.ourthreads.com/

Fly In Sky?

The Stellarium team is proud to announce the release version 0.9.0 of Stellarium, the open source planetarium for your computer. Stellarium shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like you would see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. Just set your coordinates and go.The view is incredibly realistic (3D) and exactly like what stargazers see with their eyes and viewing instruments. Stellarium has an impressive list of its capabilities broken down into four categories: sky, interface, visualization and customizability. A few shining examples are a default catalogue of over 600,000 stars, extra catalogues with over 210 million stars, realistic sunrise and sunset, a powerful zoom, projections options (used in many planetariums), stars twinkling, equatorial and azimuthal grids, and custom features that will drop jaws. Stellarium invites users to check out and contribute to the wiki with information about the program, and also with Sourceforge which is the main site for collaboration on Stellarium. Fly into the sky with Stellarium, but be careful- you might not make it back. Before you go make sure to support the site by donating through pay pall.
More at:http://www.stellarium.org/

ContentSyndicate offer a bouquet of customized content services, based on the client's specific requirements

ContentSyndicate offer a bouquet of customized content services, based on the client's specific requirements.

They're talking news, feature articles, translation, brochures, journals, press releases, white papers, websites and marketing campaigns across platforms, media and languages. Utilizing a worldwide consortium of creative talent – editors, writers, translators, photographers and freelancers located in all the major cities of the world.

Making the content you receive not simply that of the highest quality, but something that has been crafted solely for your particular needs. Delivered right to your laptop in the quickest possible turn-around time. Effectively, harnessing the potential of the internet to create a global creative platform. One that makes a powerfully positive impact on your bottom line.Content Syndicate also provides tons of resources such as consulting, small business assistance, market research, tips on website building, etc. In addition to textual prose, images and photos are available for buying and selling as well as other media formats. Currently audio and video content is not involved but they promise that AV support is on the way. For an instant quote sign in to ContentSyndicate.com and get rolling.
More at:http://www.contentsyndicate.com/

CJReport is a citizen journalism website

CJReport is a citizen journalism website.Unlike other pro-am sites, CJReport admits anonymous posts, and edits. Also it’s got a Digg-like component, whereby users vote for the top stories to appear on the front page. Stories are categorized by topic, switch through the tabs to browse them. On the page bottom, you’ll find the latest releases. Contributing to CJ is similar to using a wiki. There are tabs for viewing, editing, images, revisions and votes. Revisions are equivalent to a story’s log—all edits are shown here. Anyone, even non-registered users can edit and submit stories.
Citizen journalism brings a more democratic stance to the news. CJReport makes it very easy for everyone to contribute. The UI is of the familiar wiki-type and the overall layout is clean and focused. Particularly nice touches are the ability to submit stories via your mobile, and the anonymous feature.
More at:http://www.cjreport.com/

OF ETHICS AND EFFICIENCY

Case Study:
Steven Fraser was in a fix. His efficient man friday Dilip Khare was found to be corrupt. Should Khare be asked to go, or should he be given another chance?
STEVEN Fraser read the fax message as it rolled out of the machine. "We have discussed Tapas Roy's case amongst ourselves, with our legal advisors and HR director Maya Suri. We have also given due consideration to your feelings on the matter.
However, we feel Roy's involvement in the accident was marginal, unpremeditated and his subsequent actions a result of panic. We feel it would be too harsh and unnecessary to terminate his service. The matter has been recorded in his personal dossier...."
Steven, the country manager of Pemento India, shook his head. "Very well, so be it..," he muttered, not entirely happy. Personally, he had nothing against Roy, but the entire episode was fraught with callousness and insensitivity, he felt.
Four months ago, Roy, a salesman with Pemento, had hitched a ride with a friend on his bike. Roy was attending to a sales call at Masjid Bunder in Mumbai and since he was late for a post-lunch area review meeting, he jumped on to a friend's bike to make it to Flora Fountain before 3 p.m. In the rush to get Roy to his office, the friend jumped a red light at Mohammed Ali Road and that was when he hit a pedestrian.
Intending to help the lady, Roy got off the bike, but his friend sped off. Rattled and fearing mob fury, Roy got into a taxi and fled too, but not before the public got the cab number. The lady, it turned out, was a school teacher whose husband was a lawyer" he filed a hit and run case.
Unable to find the bike rider, the police traced Roy through the cabby to the office of Pemento India and what followed was a nightmare. Roy claimed he did not know the person who drove the bike, that he had simply hitched a ride. That did not wash with the police or the lawyer who threatened to file a case of negligence. Eventually Roy was forced to identify his friend.
Steven was hopping mad. "This is absurd," he yelled. "It is a matter of a serious human rights violation and at Pemento we take a serious view of these issues. Roy is guilty on two counts: one, neglecting to help an injured party when he was partly responsible for the injury, and two, lying that he didn't know the driver of the bike. Clearly, he will have to leave Pemento.;"
HR director Maya Suri tried hard to defend Roy. "There is no court proceeding against him" the law has declared that his responsibility was minimal because he was not the driver. Roy simply happened to be there," said Maya. "Nonsense!" said Steven. "What view the law takes has nothing to do with human rights. That a responsible member of the company, on duty, acts in a manner not befitting the image of the company is the issue.
How can we take a lenient view of his lying, of ignoring a pedestrian who has been hurt by the very friend he was riding with? If he could act thus to save himself, could he not similarly lie to the detriment of the company to benefit himself? Can we be seen as a company that protects such a person?"
"Steven, Roy is young and ignorant," said Maya. "He `lied' as you say, but that was because he panicked. He had intended to help the victim, but fearing public ire, he fled. This is India, Steven, where mob fury is unmitigated and lethal. Then again, just because a friend was in the wrong does not make Roy an accomplice. Roy was in a fix and he was trying to manage it somehow. The fact that he came straight to the office and didn't disappear is proof enough of his honest intentions. To now say that Roy was also guilty of negligent behaviour appears unfair to me. We must stand by him."
"People must learn to accept responsibility even for their ignorance and for their inability to act responsibly," said Steven. "Social responsibility is an integral part of being a corporate citizen." Maya had then taken up the matter with the board, whose verdict was now lying in print on Steven's table.
Steven shrugged his shoulders and put the fax into a tray. Looking up he saw Dilip Khare, his personal assistant, standing before him with a pile of papers. "Dilip, Roy stays, that's the board's decision," he said. "What do you think?" "It's best to forgive and forget," said Dilip.
Steven considered the remark as he watched Dilip potter around the room putting away papers and files, pulling out folders and setting the alarm for a meeting at 4.30 p.m. As he put a post-it sticker which read `Stockist Mathur' on the clock, Steven smiled. "What would I do without you, Dilip?;" he asked.
Dilip was more than a personal assistant. He did much more than his job called for, which meant managing the life of his boss too. When the Frasers came to India, it was Dilip who arranged their stay, accompanied them on shopping sprees for linen and upholstery, cutlery and gadgets, even helped with their house lease, bought the car chosen by Mrs Fraser, organised its servicing, the petrol account, a driver... In short, he was the one person who had made their India posting manageable.
Steven was enormously overworked. If he left the workplace at 7 p.m., it was only to return to his study at 10 p.m. and slave away at market reports, plans, etc. Often he would call Dilip at 7 in the morning to dictate the tasks for the day, before he left for the plant. To make matters easy he had given Dilip a cellular phone. Later in the day they would talk and check on work done and new jobs to be done.
Dilip in turn managed Steven's deadlines, meetings, follow-ups on action plans etc. He was very efficient and Steven, who had come to India wondering about the quality of assistance he might have, was relieved. He encouraged Dilip to study further -- a course in sales management -- and promised him that his dream of getting into core operations would be fulfilled before Steven left India.
After 18 months in the country, Steven had come to rely on Dilip Completely. He was his coping mechanism in the hectic life that the indian operation entailed. Now Dilip managed a lot more independently
At 26, Dilip was very ambitious with dreams of making it big, even to step into Steven's shoes if he could. So enamoured was he of Steven's style and demeanour that, within a few months, he took to growing a small French beard like his boss. Steven had no class biases, shared his cigars with Dilip and often took him out to lunch at the various five-star restaurants he dined at. It was Steven's desire to treat him as an equal, socially.
By the end of 18 months, Steven had come to rely on Dilip completely. He was Steven's means of coping with the hectic life that the Indian operation entailed. Now Dilip managed a lot more independently, like collecting sales reports, collating them and e-mailing them to Steven wherever he was. Or issuing print orders for new stationery, buying supplies and even deciding on the supplier. Steven did not have the time, or the inclination, to look into such detail. He had trained Dilip adequately so that Dilip knew what was needed, anticipate them and execute them as necessary. The odd query that came directly to Steven from the market was efficiently passed on to the functionaries concerned for action. Pemento was now on the threshold of bigger things and the routine had to fall into place
But Dilip's airs and his demeanour irked the managers. It was common to see him, feet on the table, a cigar stuck between his lips, talking on the phone when Steven was not around. At such moments if any of the managers walked in, Dilip would not correct his posture, but gesture to the visitor to sit, which was rather unbecoming of an personal assistant, it was felt.
Dilip's growing irreverence towards his seniors did not escape Maya Suri's eye. "When you are working with a senior person like the country manager, your conduct comes under scrutiny. It is very important for you to be respectful and courteous, no matter what pressures you may be under," she had said to Dilip. "For instance," she said, "I wouldn't walk into Steven's room with a cigar stuck between my lips, as you are now doing." Dilip grinned and readily pulled the cigar off his mouth and stubbed it out on the floor.
Tough though she was, Maya knew that Dilip carried an efficient head on very young shoulders. At 26, he was like any youngster, full of cola and MTV and an attitude to match. But when it came to work, Dilip was the personification of efficiency and agility.
Read full text On:Click

On Money Making

Penns Grove, N.J. (FSB Magazine) -- I am the CEO of Parkway Corp., a Philadelphia company that operates 100 parking facilities in the U.S. My second business, breeding koi, started as a hobby. I bought about 40, to study what makes these beautiful fish so valuable. What is the best body shape? Is that brilliant red pattern going to disappear in six months, leaving the customer with an inferior fish? Many dealers base a koi's price on what it looks like today. We grade them according to what they'll look like over the years.

I launched this operation in southern New Jersey in 2002. Most U.S. koi breeders sell to the mass market; I saw an opportunity to breed better-quality fish for serious hobbyists. Most U.S. dealers fly to Japan and buy everything but tategoi, the highest-quality koi. They are too expensive. A five-inch fish, which will live about 50 years, costs more than $1,400 wholesale.

At Quality Koi (qualitykoi.com) we sell that same fish for less than $1,000. We breed 40 types of koi and sell 20,000 to 30,000 fish a year, 90% of which we sell wholesale to dealers. Their customers are hobbyists, who pay $15 to $5,000 a fish. Some have won prizes in fish shows against Japanese competitors. I've invested more in the farm than I ever thought I would. We expect to turn an operating profit at the end of this year, with revenues exceeding $500,000.

We've had many surprises. Four years ago thousands of fish disappeared in one day. We tested the water and found nothing wrong. A Japanese consultant visited and told us, "You have to walk the ponds." With each step, you release methane trapped beneath the clay bottom. Unless you release the gas regularly, it can erupt with such force that it disintegrates the fish. After five years we're still learning how to run the farm.

More at:http://www.qualitykoi.com/
via-FSB Magizne(http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/23/smbusiness/breeding_koi.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2007082708)

PaceTat offers on-skin advertising in the form of pacing guides

Washington, D.C.-based PaceTat offers on-skin advertising in the form of pacing guides. Pacing guides are used by runners in marathons and races to help them maintain the speed needed to finish a race within their goal time. Existing solutions include paper or plastic bracelets, which have a tendency to chafe and get in the way. PaceTat offers a comfortable and easy to read alternative: pacing guides transferred directly onto the skin of the forearm, like a temporary tattoo.

What's interesting for marketers is the branding opportunity: PaceTat offers custom branded versions for advertisers. Priced from USD 0.39 each, depending on order quantity, PaceTat's pacing guides present marketers with a unique canvas for conveying a message that literally sticks with the consumer until it’s washed off. The company, which was founded earlier this year, has already sold over 30,000 branded pacing guides. (They picked a desirable audience, too. In the US, the running market is notable for its median household income of roughly USD 113,000, according to Runner's World.)

PaceTat isn’t currently offering franchising or partnering arrangements, but the concept should inspire advertising mavens to find other methods of ‘skinvertising’. As a marketer, you know you're doing something right if consumers merge your brand with their own self-image. If they actually tattoo your logo directly onto their skin? Well, it doesn't get much better than that. ;-) Related: Advertising after dark—branded nightclub hand stamps.

Website: www.pacetat.com
Via-Springwise

Get paid For Watching TV

BrightSpot TV, will deposit US $.50 into your BrightSpot TV account every time you watch a commercial. How does it work? First, you’ll need to sign up for a free account on the website. The site will then ask you for some personal information so they can cater advertisements to your interests. Then, all you have to do is watch the commercials that BrightSpot provides for you, answer a few questions from the advertisements for feedback purposes, and then you can begin to reap the benefits. If you don’t like the commercials you’re watching, you let the advertisers know; the more you give them feedback the more they’ll adapt the commercials to suit you.
BrightSpot delivers the power of choice to the people. It’s our right to define our own media experience. BrightSpot.TV allows their members to benefit from advertising without being intrusive or annoying. My time is precious and BrightSpot respects that. I only login to watch commercials when I have time. When I login, I have six commercials that match my interests in my SpotQueue. I can choose to watch all of them or none of them…it’s up to me.
More at:http://brightspot.tv/

For Your Project Solutions

LetsProve was found in 2006 with the vision of offering all business unit a new software-as-service model. Our first product is called "VO". VO steamlines Project planing, Task management ,Resource management, Document management, Issue management, Team collaboration, Time tracking and Analytics to help you maximize your productivity and returns. Based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Our vision is to offer a world-class software services for every business units. We accomplish this by remaining focused on inventing new technology with high-quality services.Their first product is "VO", which is an online time and project management solution. VO helps every member of the team be more productive from executives to customers. VO enables executives to track their projects status and expenses and it also allow customers to connect to the project and get the solutions they need. VO allows you to communicate with international team members so your project can be finished quickly. LetsProve.com gives businesses options so they can be more productive.
More at:http://www.letsprove.com/

Freelance Folder is a multi-authored blog dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and freelancers

Freelance Folder is a multi-authored blog dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and freelancers. Whether you're a blogger, writer, publisher, designer, artist, small business owner or entrepreneur, Freelance Folder is for you. At Freelance Folder you will find articles that provide you with the tools and information you need to succeed.FreelanceFolder.com posts daily on advice to become more successful in your entrepreneurial endeavors, with 32 different categories ranging from Advertising to Work-At-Home.The site appears to have very sound advice from the articles that I read with some very helpful tips about time management and expanding your customer base. The site links in to many other different sites that FreelanceFolder.com links to that can be very helpful for aspiring entrepreneurs as well. The site only shows posts for the last two months but already they have a vast array of articles on different subjects.
More at:http://freelancefolder.com/

8mysite.com provides a forum where site managers can post their new site for review by representatives of the general public

8MySite.com is a place to submit your web site for review and rating by our readers like you! We welcome you to our grand opening. If you need a category created: info@8mysite.com Enjoy.8mysite.com provides a forum where site managers can post their new site for review by representatives of the general public. Readers and reviews can make comments, suggestions, ratings, and offer different perspective to help the site manager improve their product. To post or review on 8mysite.com there is a free simple registration and log-in process. For reviewers, the sites are organized in 24 categories including humor, images, shopping, web tools, mobile, etc. Also, reviews can search by day, month, or year. The site is consistantly updated and has a live section displaying the progress of reviews and posts. Website managers can post their site and get feedback, but also have the opportunity to check out what other sites are up for review. This is a good way to see what competitors are coming out with and how their site compares.
More at:http://www.8mysite.com/

RoyalSurf--- By Mutual Visting Increase Your Web Traffic

With RoyalSurfyou can increase your site traffic by the thousands, simply by signing up. How it works: you visit other members’ sites and they visit yours. The more sites you visit, the more traffic will come your way. Basically you’re surfing for numbers. RoyalSurf also throws in a bit of entertainment and challenge into the mix. You can compete against other members and join teams to earn traffic bonuses and prizes. There are personal points and Kingdome points—these come into play only once you’ve qualified for the Joust tournament. Personal points are points you’ve earned on your own. Kingdom points are all the points earned by the citizens of a kingdom. Prizes are given out on a weekly basis. Signing up will only take you about five minutes, and again it’s all totally free.
More at:http://www.royalsurf.com/

Tool For SmartShopping

Created by shoppers like you, SmartShopper makes online shopping simpler and more reliable.
Fast, easy to use, and free – with SmartShopper, you can always be sure that you're getting the best deals from the best merchants, while still shopping how and where you want. SmartShopper gives you timely advice on where and what to buy, offers you unbiased opinions from other users and experts, and suggests alternative product options when relevant.SmartShopper only kicks in on e-commerce sites and only when it finds a match for the product you’re looking at. Other features include manual search, snooze for those times you don’t require SmartShopper, and customization options, e.g. shipping cost calculations, default airport codes, type of vendor sites. The plug-in is lightweight at only .5mb and it works with IE—a version for Firefox is coming soon.
More at:http://www.smartshopper.com/

Srpuz is a new site that lets you create your own website.

Srpuz is a new site that lets you create your own website.

The manner in which websites are created with the Spruz tool makes the entire process very easy and manageable for non-technical users. Even techies may enjoy the over-simplified instructions presented by Spruz. Select what type of site you’d like to create, and choose which components you’d like to include, such as a photo gallery, forums, a shopping center, etc.

The different aspects of site management are broken down into color and made easily accessible at the top of the page for as long as you’re logged in. Depending on the type of site you’re creating, and your settings, you can allow site visitors to participate in your site as users. Choose particular admin and privacy settings for each aspect of your site. For example, you’ll soon be able to allow users to upload images to your photo gallery as well.

The result is a more or less basic website where you can share information about yourself. Things that would make site building even easier would be the ability to pull content from other sources, such as your Flickr gallery or RSS feed. Similar services include SiteKreator and Sampa.
More at:http://spruz.com/

Making Money by Catering Former Professional Athlets

n 12 seasons as a defensive back for the National Football League, including stints with the Detroit Lions and San Diego Chargers, Ryan McNeil often earned more than $1 million a year. The 36-year-old could have retired when his NFL career ended in 2005, but his second act was already under way. In 2001, McNeil had started the Professional Business & Financial Network, an Atlanta-based networking organization for pro athletes.

Three years later, the six-employee company launched OverTime Magazine, a bimonthly sent to 45,000 readers, mostly current and former professional athletes. OverTime covers lifestyle topics, personal finance, and the business ventures of athletes. “We want to help enlighten individuals about business, so when opportunities come their way they are more prepared to participate,” he says. Last year the company had sales of $725,000.

McNeil isn't finished. He's starting two more companies under the PBFN aegis: a speakers' bureau for athletes and a marketing company to help players build brands around their images. Next will be an athletes' career development Web site. “We've identified niches in the sports space and we are... looking for links that connect them all,” McNeil says. “There is so much potential here.”
More at:http://www.pbfn.org/
Via-Businessweek

For Online Rebates

Save an average of 5% in Cash Back Rebates on every purchase you make while shopping online with Great Canadian Rebates. Shop at your favourite stores like Chapters.Indigo, The Shopping Channel and Canadian Tire without the hassle of crowds, long lineups and earn Cash Back Rebates on every purchase. Providing you with a complete list of North American merchants who ship to Canadians, Great Canadian Rebates is an online shopping site that makes it possible for you to shop big and save bigger.
more at:http://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/

How To Know True Value Of Health Care

They claim:
"We are a team of accomplished professionals with extensive experience in Information Technology, ranging from client-server to enterprise systems, from IT management consulting to packaged software development, and from dot-com startups to Fortune 50 companies. For the past ten years we have developed custom health care solutions for hospitals, clinics, physicians, labs and software vendors. Our team’s track record includes numerous business successes and industry awards.

As consumers of health care, we have a lot of experience with consumer directed health care choices, and are well aware of the problems that exist in our current health care system. Health care costs are out of control. Did you know that health care is the only industry that sells services to consumers without openly disclosing prices? Consumers today are required to make more decisions about their own health care and as a result, transparency has become an important issue. Consumers are demanding more choices, better service and disclosure of prices.

We recognize the need for change, and we have a passion to make a difference in the health care industry. In order to drive this change, we have launched OutOfPocket.com to help consumers look-up and compare out-of-pocket health care costs for common medical services. OutofPocket.com is a directory of true prices for health care services, and allows you, the cost-conscious consumer, to compare costs so you can effectively manage your health care dollars. The contents of the directory are contributed by consumers to share with other consumers and everyone is invited to participate -- including the uninsured, and the insured.

Our vision is to take the secrecy out of health care pricing. We strongly believe that you should have easy access to meaningful health care prices, including out of pocket costs for common procedures -- before you enter a doctor’s office. OutOfPocket.com is a collaborative effort by consumer champions like you. Price transparency is a powerful force that will help transform the health care industry and you have the power to influence this change. By exposing health care prices, consumers collectively may ultimately change what providers charge - and how much consumers pay.

Health care prices continue to rise each year. Americans are spending $1.9 trillion per year on health care, and by 2015 health care spending is expected to reach $3.5 trillion. Consumers are paying more of their own health care costs in the form of higher premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and out-of-pocket expenses for health care services. Many employers, in an effort to keep costs down, are offering their employees a higher-deductible and lower premium health insurance plan. OutOfPocket.com helps you make informed decisions about your health care spending by providing you with a directory to compare true prices for common health care services before you visit a doctor or facility."
More at:http://www.outofpocket.com/

For Promoting Your Business

AllNetworkers provides a highly responsive web-based automated marketing and business service geared specifically to create success for the everyday Network Marketer. We are committed to making it easy and affordable for Networkers to build and grow their business as well as their Internet presence, no matter what their networking skill level may be. We offer a service to meet your needs at all stages of building and growing your online business.
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Network Marketing is a fantastic and lucrative way of doing business if it is done correctly. To do it correctly in today’s business environment means using the power and global reach of the World Wide Web.
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AllNetworkers has as its core purpose the desire to significantly increase the percentage of people who achieve success in this type of business. We are quite aware that previously, only a small percentage of Networkers actually stick with it long enough to attain the knowledge required to attain the success they hope for. We keep people connected by solving the common and frustrating problems of everyday Network Marketing.Connect with others by creating a profile. Creating your profile with AllNetworkers.com allows you to list your details, business associates, most popular members, business news, your presentation, a brief summary of yourself, ways to communicate by business site or email, everything you would need to communicate professionally. These services are available for a fee of $29.95 a month and three is a possibility to earn $11.56 a month with their compensation plan. Go to AllNetworkers.com to start communicating with other professionals.
More at:http://www.allnetworkers.com/

103bees Is a real-time online tool for webmasters, bloggers and internet marketers that is highly focused on natural search engine traffic analytics

With 103bees....
It's a real-time online tool for webmasters, bloggers and internet marketers that is highly focused on natural search engine traffic analytics. It provides tons of detailed statistics and in-depth information on the search terms that drive targeted traffic to your websites.

103bees is an indispensable tool for search engine optimization (SEO) and internet marketing - everything you need to know about your search engine traffic in one place.
103Bees.com uses technology to find out what are the best keywords to use to lead people to websites so the owners of the website aren't so dependent on the use of Google Adwords and to have higher SEO rankings so traffic is led to the site naturally. In order to use the web analytics of 103Bees.com all that has to be done is add a one small line of Javascript to the page which is totally invisible and standard compliant, and within moments the technology of 103Bees will be working to obtain information about keywords and your sites visitors, just like the "likeable hardworking insects" that gather honey.
more at:http://103bees.com/

Veveo provides a video search solution for mobile devices

Veveo provides a video search solution for mobile devices.

Veveo has a product/service named vTap to simplify access to web video content from Internet-connected devices. Primarily a web video solution that allows for searching, browsing and viewing of web videos on mobile devices such as an iPhone.

vTap is not yet available.
THEY RAISED: Veveo Raises $28 Million, investors include Matrix Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, OmniCapital Group.
More at:http://www.veveo.net/
http://www.vtap.com/

How To Make Millions With Napkins

ABC Reported:
Who: Emmanuel Kastanias
Age: 24
Where: Sydney
Company: NapkinAd
What they've done: Puts advertising on napkins
Everyone uses them and by their nature, napkins are in your face.

A blank space perfect for scribbling down notes, it occurred to Emmanuel that napkins would be great for advertisements too.

Emmanuel says he found the idea staring him in the face while he was eating.

"I was looking at the napkin for 15 minutes. It's actually a very powerful medium when you look at it from a marketing perspective, not just as a napkin," he says.

"Not everybody needs a straw, or a knife, or a placemat, but everybody needs a napkin so it's a commodity that is very accessible and in demand."

Emmanuel designed perspex stands for the napkins that are also covered in advertising, targeting the thousands of consumers threading their way through food courts in various shopping malls.

"People actually use the stands like pamphlet holders," he says.

"They're targeted by the stand, pick up a napkin like a pamphlet, put it in their pocket and walk off."

Emmanuel now has stands in three locations and 20 businesses advertising.


Pitching his advertising napkins to the shopping centres was one of the hardest things he's ever had to do, says Emmanuel.

"You're out of your comfort zone and a shopping centre itself is a very large organisation - you're dealing with quite senior people.

"My very first negotiation, I was literally slaughtered," he says.

"It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it was an experience I guess I had to have."

After a disastrous first meeting, Emmanuel says he learned a good pitch was a quick pitch, and to clearly state what's in it for the company.

Building relationships with his clients was also crucial.

"I was lucky to some extent with people because I managed to build a rapport with some of the people there who thought 'Ok, here's a young guy. We'll give him a chance and see what he can come up with'," he says.

Some of the clients advertising on the napkins didn't have a website, so he built them one, even though it meant teaching himself how to do it.

"You're competing against a lot of people, a lot of very large customers, and the only thing that you can really beat them in is customer service. That's the one thing you have on top of them. So it's very important that you maintain that customer relationship, and you offer your customers whatever they need."

Emmanuel says finding investors has been nearly impossible, even after he self-funded the building of the stands and proved his product in the market, but he's not letting that slow him down.

"The plan is to be in every shopping centre across Australia, to have every person going to lunch each day and using one of my napkins," he says.
More at:http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/stories/s1783823.htm

Ad:bree is a business network, news source and events organizer for the online advertising community

ad:bree is a business network, news source and events organizer for the online advertising community. ad:bree connects online publishers, ad networks, media buyers, creative agencies, analytics providers and investors.Ad:bree is geared specifically towards the online advertising community. It gives advertising people a chance to socialize, making precious business contacts along the way. Joining Ad:bree, whether you?re a publisher looking for advertisers, a media buyer, an advertiser, or even a salesman, will get you exposure. The site is a Ning-based network, so if you don?t already have a Ning ID you?ll need to choose one to sign up. As with other networks, each member is allotted ample profile space for filling out those important deets, such as profession, location, company, and of course there?s room for photos.
More at:http://www.adbree.com/

CrowdVine is a simple way to build your own social network

CrowdVine is a simple way to build your own social network. It's free, it's hosted, and the founder is working extremely hard to build software that makes your day.
There are many reasons to create a network and with CrowdVine.com creating a network is easy. The homepage takes you through three easy steps. First design your network, basically choose your color, there isn?t a huge choice with designing your network at the moment. Then choose your profile questions, this is where you make your network unique, deciding what questions will be in your profile. The last step is to simply add friends. Tony Stubblebine is continuing to work on the site, it will upgrade from its beta status on September first.
With CrowdVine.com making a social network is so easy. If you browse through some of the social networks hosted by CrowdVine.com you will see that there are many interesting social networks such as "Providence Geeks" a tech social network for people in Providence RI. You can make your network as specific as you like for free.
more at:http://www.crowdvine.com/home

The Behance Team works day and night to help creative professionals and organizations make ideas happen

The Behance Team works day and night to help creative professionals and organizations make ideas happen. We are a bunch of designers, writers, developers, and entrepreneurs with a passion for what we call "productive creativity." We believe that all creative realms, society, and life would be a lot more interesting and enjoyable if more creative ideas were pushed forward. Quite selfishly, we'd like to live in a world where productive creativity yields more inspirational media, progressive arts, groundbreaking discoveries, revolutionary businesses, and less of the same old, same old.When you see a team or individuals profile you have the choice of looking at their portfolio, adding them to the watchlist, hearing their shout out or seeing their info, which is their professional information. When you join a circle, each circle has a theme or topic, you can participate in discussions and submit your work on the billboard. Behance.net allows you to look for job opportunities and buy products that will help you organize your projects. Behance.net helps inspire and organize creative minds.
More at;http://www.behance.net/

All about sales,discount news,best deals ,link based coupons at MYRetailCodes

At MyRetailCodes.co.uk, you can find some great bargains . With a little encouragement from their friends, thye launched MyRetailCodes.co.uk with just one goal: To make it easier for you to save money every time you shop online.

MyRetailCodes is updated a few times each day, with the hope of bringing you the latest and best deals on the internet. We offer to you online discount codes, link based coupons, product discount news and sale announcements. Many of the deals you find here are only found at MyRetailCodes.Shop for anything from clothes to airplane tickets. There is a search engine that allows you to enter a discount code and there is a thorough list of stores to browse through. There is a forum to discuss certain discounts, you can view the most popular discounts to see what stores provide them and how much they usually are. To make searching for discounts even easier, subscribe to the newsletter that sends alerts on discounts to your email address. Specify which products you are looking for and receive special alerts on those products. Don't miss a bargain because you don't have enough time to find it, use MyRetailCodes.co.uk.
More at:http://www.myretailcodes.co.uk/

Jumptojobs.co.uk isn't a job board, it's a search engine for jobs

Jumptojobs.co.uk isn't a job board, it's a search engine for jobs.
JumptoJobs.co.uk is a new concept site that lets you determine how much you spend in order to generate traffic directly to your website and jobs through pay per click. Plus, with advanced technology it copies the jobs directly from your site to us without you lifting a finger.

All you have to do is tell us how many click throughs to your jobs you want and we do the rest.

No Admin - we go into your site and upload all your jobs to our site - each time you update them we update them - you dont have to lift a finger
You decide how much to spend - giving you complete control over your budget
You only pay for traffic you receive - Thats right no spending lots of money to see if it works or not
Ensure your vacancies are top of the search category you want.
We will provide - Making sure you are always getting the best response

Weekly reports on number of clickthroughs and unique users - giving you complete control and enables you to analyse problem jobs
High visability on-line campaign - to ensure the candidates are always coming back
Cost Per Click starting from as low as 12p*.
More at:http://www.jumptojobs.co.uk/

FilesTube

FilesTube.com is a search engine designed to search files in various file sharing and uploading sites.

As an file sharing search engine FilesTube.com finds files matching your search criteria among the files that has been seen recently in uploading sites by our search spider. This information is accumulated in a database. When you execute a FilesTube.com search it delivers results from the database.

With our unique approach to crawling you can find the files shared on uploading sites that the other crawlers miss. Also our search engine collects rich and relevant metadata for each page. As a result, when you search for files (video, music, software, documents etc) with FilesTube, you can always find high-quality, relevant search results.
More at:http://filestube.com/

Youngest Entrepreneurs

Suhas is now21 years old, When he was just 14, this guy from Bangalore, India founded a company called Globals, Inc in San Jose, California. The reason for trying his luck in the United States rather than his native country was because there are laws in India that prevented him — then as a minor — to start a company legally. Starting with only 4 employees, he now employs around 400 students between India and the U.S.A.

He jokingly shares that he wants to retire at the age of 24. Right now, he’s a workaholic and national icon who’s listed in India’s record books as “The World’s Youngest Chief Executive”. He’s also terribly frugal and has shockingly turned down a $100 million investment from a VC firm. So far, he’s doing very well on his own, with 200 clients throughout the world, offices in 11 countries and software products that address market niches such as software for schools akin to an electronic class register that tracks the grades and attendance of students. Another product his company has developed (and is a candidate for a patent), is a data management tool that would help IT companies decrease their workforce and lower their costs.

-ooOoo-
These talented young people have done a lot to attract vast opportunities to their doorsteps. I’m curious to see how their lives and careers will shape up in the following years. If you’ve heard of any other such “super kids” out there, drop me a line here as I’d like to hear about more stories of this nature too. It’s a way of showing our kids — or anyone, in fact — that sky’s the limit. You can do anything if you set your mind to it.

Don’t you wish you could have started so young?

Other Resources:
More on the 13 Year Old Entrepreneur
Technology’s Next Generation
Whiz Kid is a Tech Muse
Full text On:http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/index.php/2007/06/11/5-of-the-youngest-entrepreneurs-on-their-path-to-success-and-riches/

The Liverpool Cultural Cafe

The Liverpool Cultural Cafe.

Bowness, a Merseyside native, explains: "After learning about the cultures of Fiji, after bringing employment and investment to that area, I became passionate about doing the same in my home city." His latest project aims to get 25,000 people to pledge a donation of GBP 20. The pooled amount of GBP 500,000 will be used to launch a platform for local talent—musicians, comedians and other artists. A bistro by day and bar by night, the Liverpool Cultural Cafe will be staffed by 12 trainees from low opportunity backgrounds, who will be trained by local businesses. Liverpool Cultural Cafe's 25,000 investors will be able to influence the venture's development through an online community developed for the project.

If the initiative doesn't work out, not much is lost, since investors don't hand over their twenty quid until 24,999 others have agreed to do the same. If it does work, this could be a model for other civic groups to follow to get ventures off the ground without relying on government subsidies. One to watch in 2008!

Website: www.liverpoolculturecafe.com
via-Springwise

How to Create Your own Channel

HooQs enables you to enjoy your favorite videos and music straight from your mobile phone or wireless device – without any installation or hassle.
You can build your own channels from various media sources and HooQs delivers them straight to your mobile phone, and creates a personal mobile portal that is tailored just for you.HooQs is a new video app which lets you create your own channels and then send them to mobile devices or enjoy them online. If you’re not creatively inclined, just subscribe to channels already compiled by other users. To find or create channels, simply run a search (by category or keyword). Select the videos or channels you want, and add them to your feed. You can also keep track of what other users are watching by adding them to your watchlist and subscribing to their feeds. It’s also easy to send feeds to mobile phones; just select the “Send to Mobile” option which appears after viewing the video. The site is completely free of charge, and works on any video-enabled mobile device.
More at:http://www.hooqs.com/

With Zaloca you can see who will be at your destination resort and when.

Zaloca is an exciting new way to meet people, there is no better way to meet singles than when you're on vacation with friends, with Zaloca you can see who will be at your destination resort and when.Zaloca is the place for you to visit. There you can search who is going where, share who you are and where you're going, and chat with other Zaloca community members. But what's best, you can meet them when you travel.
More at:http://www.zaloca.com/

LectureShare lets intructors post lecture notes to their students—or the world—quickly and easily

LectureShare lets intructors post lecture notes to their students—or the world—quickly and easily. Create an account, create your course, and in only minutes you can be posting announcements, documents, and media that your students can access easily. There's no frustrating software to learn, and no course web page to maintain. We feel instructors’ time is best spent with students, not struggling with problematic course management software or maintaining their own webpages.LectureShare has created a space for professors to share their course information on one single website; course leaders can upload multimedia, documents, and class notes. On the flip side, students can access LectureShare by logging into their account and viewing all the material for all of their courses on one page. Additionally, students can receive course notifications by e-mail, SMS text message, or RSS feed. Site registration is free for both professors and students.
More at:http://www.lectureshare.com/

How To Manage Your Online Business With GenevateStore Tool

Their goal is to make it easy for you to run your online business. GenevateStore makes it easy to review and improve your store’s performance by offering one of the most comprehensive reporting packages in the industry. They’ve integrated GenevateStore with Urchin’s award winning e-commerce reporting application.

In addition to dozens of advanced e-commerce reports, you’ll receive standard reports on site traffic, and visitor demographics.

They continually strive to provide you with great tools to fuel your success.

Genevatestore.com offers a program where store managers can have their inventory, sales, and statistics all together on one screen in a plain and readable fashion. The main page is a store overview with constant updates on new orders, new customers, edited products, sales, transfers, etc. There is also a statistics section with annual and monthly sales, and total customers. Below this section is the inventory alert where products that are about to run out are posted for re-ordering. These main displays can be modified to suit the needs and brand image of the company. Subsequent pages include detailed accounts of product categories, product data, coupons, content, and reports. The reports offer clients many types of reports that are updated with every transaction and displayed in a professional graph or chart. Order reports, revenue reports, and product revenue reports are available for constant review and will help the company keep a clear view of their progress and direction. Other reports are available including information on clients and traffic.
More at:http://www.genevatestore.com/

Upload Free Files

YouSwap.com is a very basic site that doesn’t offer the users extra options. If you want to send you friends a file, do it here. It is free, easy, and hard to mess up.
The site format is utterly easy to use which is great news for grammas and people who have been living under a rock for the past 10 years. There are three steps that are hard to mess up: add files (they suggest selecting multiple files at a time), fill in recipient email address(es), and finally click upload. In the second step the sender also has the option of attaching a message and their personal email address. YouSwap.com does not ask users to register or pay which is a plus. When the user clicks “Upload!” the site shows the progress of the files being sent and then follows up with a page displaying the sent files so users can be sure that the files were sent and which ones they were. YouSwap.com is the tool to keep everyone in touch and updated on families, high school and college friends, travelers, and Internet boyfriends.
more at:http://www.youswap.com/

How 'e' are you? A new research project that aims to track how people are using the internet.

How 'e' are you? A new research project that aims to track how people are using the internet. The site includes an e-test that calculates a user's e-score (0 - 100), places them in an e-group and then suggests sites that they might be interested in visiting next. Over 8,000 people have already taken the test with an average score of 48.

The site's very simple, but includes some great features built by those clever guys at Small Fry. For every completed survey we're giving 5p to Childnet - the charity that works to make the internet a safer place for children.

We've also built our first widget to promote the site - available through widgetbox - if you download the widget it generates an average score for all users that have taken the test from your site. You can see the average score of everyone that's taken the test from here - currently 81 - let's see if it goes up or down.

Hope you like the site, we're really proud of it, we've been talking about it for ages and developing it here and there between other projects, I'll keep you posted about interesting findings, be good to hear some feedback / suggestions.

MyRealPlace is the complete, realty resource for buyers, sellers, investors and realty professionals alike

MyRealPlace is the complete, realty resource for buyers, sellers, investors and realty professionals alike. We exist to help you buy and sell properties, to learn about trends in your area, to ask questions of the professionals, to search out realty professionals and to provide a meeting place where you can engage with each other. Fundamentally, we are here to give you a voice.

We are not licensed Realtors and nor will we ever be. We simply provide a place where you have access to tools and information that allow you to make informed descions in the real estate process.

This is Your Community, this is Your Real Place.
More at:http://myrealplace.com/

Unusual Business Idea

Consumers who want the luxury of having a second home at the beach or in the mountains, but don't have the money to plunk down on the choicest properties, now have an appealing alternative: half ownership. Like other shared ownership ventures, Halfshare.com gives customers the chance to get a piece of the good life, but at a much lower cost. Unlike traditional timeshares, which pioneered the concept of fractional ownership, Halfshare.com buyers aren't purchasing time in a hotel or resort, but an actual home—and all the benefits that go with owning it. Along with sharing costs, buyers share profits if the value goes up. And depending on the terms both owners agree to, the property may generate rental income, too.

Getting started is as easy as logging onto Halfshare.com, where members can browse listings of available properties throughout North America. Halfshare.com can match them with other prospective buyers based on tastes, backgrounds, interests, hobbies and lifestyles through the Buyer Match Plan. Potential co-owners can arrange to meet one another online, by phone or in person to determine if they’d make a good match. Once buyers select a property, Halfshare.com's Tenants-in-Common Agreement takes care of all the details, formalizing legal concerns and each owner’s rights. “It spells out what is expected in terms of financial arrangements, seasonal time sharing, rental revenues, re-sale, property maintenance and repair, among other pertinent details.”

Although the real estate market is currently in a bit of a slump, demand for sandy beaches, mountain air, cultural attractions and picturesque scenery isn’t likely to wane any time soon. Which means that making vacation homes affordable, fraction by fraction, could be a worthwhile start-up in almost any region frequented by tourists looking to make themselves at home.
more at:http://www.halfshare.com/

Google Phone Or G-Phone

Talk of a possible Google phone kicked up again Friday with new rumors coming out of India that the phone could be launched within two weeks.

Rediff.com reported that Google is in talks with two of the three top mobile providers in India, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, to offer the new "Gphone." The article cites unnamed sources who say the phone will also be launched simultaneously in the U.S. and Europe. The only remaining hurdle in the U.S., the story said, is approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which must certify any wireless device sold in the U.S.

Google isn't commenting on the rumors, saying in a statement that the company "is committed to providing users with access to the world's information, and mobile becomes more important to those efforts every day."

Before you get too excited and start queuing up somewhere for one of these phones, let me explain why I think the rumors are bogus. For one, Google has never actually confirmed that it's working on building its own handset. Even though it sounds really cool and sexy for the company to pull an "Apple" by building its own hardware, it just doesn't fit into Google's business model, which is to develop software applications for the Web as a way to sell more advertising.

Google executives, including Chris Sacca, head of special initiatives at Google, have said publicly that they think there is plenty of competition and innovation in the handset market.

"I think there is a healthy environment of competition and innovation in the device market worldwide," Sacca said in an interview with CNET News.com last month. "It's just the channel that discourages that kind of innovation here in the U.S."

And just this week, Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, showed off how well Google's applications worked on her iPhone. So I just don't see any reason why Google would want to build an "iPhone-killer."

That said, there's no question Google is hot for mobile. The company has introduced several new mobile products this year. And CEO Eric Schmidt recently said the company will likely participate in the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction early in 2008. Exactly what it will do with the spectrum if its wins licenses is unknown.

I think what's more likely is that Google is working with a hardware partner to develop a smart phone that's optimized and preloaded with lots of Google applications. My guess is that the supposed prototypes that The Wall Street Journal and others have mentioned in recent articles may be mockups the company has developed with partners to demonstrate and test new applications.

So could a Google-powered device made by unknown hardware partners really be ready for launch in two weeks? I think that's probably a little too soon. I checked the FCC Web site Friday and Google has not registered any product to be tested with the FCC. Of course, if Google is working with a partner, as I have suggested above, the phone could be registered in the FCC files under a different company's name.
More at:http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/aug/24gphone.htm

Best4c is a new chart design application that provides a variety of options for many of your chart-creation needs

Best4c is a new chart design application that provides a variety of options for many of your chart-creation needs.

Offering tools for creating flow charts, network charts, and home and office layout designs. As a basic tool, Best4c works well. Its drag’n'drop capabilities make the creation of a chart or layout easy, and other basic functions such as resizing are intuitive. Other features are less intuitive, especially for the creation of a flow chart, where most tools will have more automated features for creating trees, instead of all manual connections that need to be made. The chart creation tools are more useful than the home and office layout options, as the system provided by Best4c is not all inclusive for furnishing designs. That being said, there are no options for room ratio sizing, and limited options for furniture, so you’ll do best by using tools like MyDesignIn and FloorPlanner for home design.

There are also no networking options for Best4c, as it operates more like a desktop application than a collaborative tool, though charts can be shared. This also means you’ll need to go to the “Open file” tool in order to access your previous charts, or use the URL provided upon saving a chart in order to access individual charts later. Nevertheless, you’ll be hard pressed to find other users’ charts (some are shown on the homepage), and there are no profiles for seeing all of a user’s public designs. Should Best4c decide to add in more networking options, having the ability to search, view, share and customize others’ charts would come in handy.
More at:http://www.best4c.com/

How To Sketch Face With Flashface

Flashface is a site for those people where visitors can piece together archaic looking yet accurate facial features to form a face. It seems to be in the early stages of graphic development with tiny words and black and white features. The lack of color and pizzazz is off-putting but the truth is that you can make a pretty good police sketch of yourself and people you know. The features that compose the face sketch are: hair, head shape, hairline, eyebrows, eyewear, eyes, nose, mustache, mouth, chin, and beard. In each category there are between thirty and sixty options, which is barely enough to choose a feature that resembles the person you are trying to create. The site has very few preference options but once a face is formed users can save and print the face as well as view the faces in the guestbook. Flashface is a useful site for temporarily curing boredom and sketching a criminal. If Flashface introduced another version with color, more feature options, and way to link the sketch to a blog or website, it could really take off.
More at:http://flashface.ctapt.de/

The BUILDhardlink.com site encourages users to build hardlinks for personal or business use

The BUILDhardlink.com site encourages users to build hardlinks for personal or business use and add them to an Open Use Content database that can be freely accessed by anyone with an Internet enabled cell phone.
Just as a hyperlink takes you from web page to web page, a hardlink takes you from a physical object to a data store of information about that object in the form of pictures and text.Physical hyperlinking or hardlinking is a concept that is in the very early stages of emergence in most parts of the world. The way it has traditionally worked is you take a picture of a barcode (QR Code) with your phone camera as might be found on some object, say a movie poster. The result is your phones browser redirects to information about that object.
More at:http://www.buildhardlink.com/

Jitsu contains an integrated set of tools to enable developers to build and deploy sophisticated user interfaces for web applications

Jitsu contains an integrated set of tools to enable developers to build and deploy sophisticated user interfaces for web applications. These include an Xml markup language, page compiler, data binding engine, JavaScript runtime, control library, runtime inspector, animation engine, cross-platform library, Ajax, and back button support. Jitsu apps use DHTML and run in most modern web browsers.Jitsu is open source and free, which means it’s accessible. It’s ideal for building interactive Ajax apps (email, notetaking, blog editors, etc.) which are extremely popular. Jitsu is powerful, and can be used to build some serious apps. It’s an alternative to Adobe Flex and Microsoft XAML.
More at:http://www.jitsu.org/

Repairwoman Who Made Millions

With a paintbrush in one hand and a spirit level in the other, Kerrie Keeling has found her place in an industry dominated by men.

Her company A Woman’s Touch consists almost entirely of women. Plumbers, painters, electricians – they’re all there, but the difference is, they won’t go for a 2-hour tea break then trudge paint through your hallway on their return.

“My staff have a woman’s eye for detail,” Keeling explains. “They’ll clean up after themselves everyday, even if that takes longer. Your house shouldn’t have to look like a building site for two weeks.”

Keeling’s clients range from women reluctant to let messy workmen in the homes, to DIY-shy men unwilling to admit to another man their inability to fix a tap.

The business, which has doubled its turnover year-on-year since launching in 2003, currently boasts annual revenues of $1000000.

Keeling had always harboured a desire to be her own boss but initially the lure of a comfy salary and solid career path in the City proved too strong.

After seven years working for investment banks, and with a recent promotion under her belt, she decided the time was right to step off the corporate ladder.

“I was getting frustrated with all the backstabbing,” she explains. “I hated the culture and it was so exhausting trying to fit in.”

Her frustration with corporate life coincided with some home renovations she was having done. “The guys that did it left such a mess and bullied me into paying more than they’d quoted.”

Keeling wanted decorators that arrived on time, were polite, tidied up – basically treated the place like their own home. It became obvious the solution was to set up her own decorating company, offering the level of customer service she expected.

Two weeks later, she handed in her resignation. While working her month’s notice Keeling phoned around the competition posing as a potential client to find out what they offered.

Armed with a bonus and reluctant to take on debt, she refused to fund the business through borrowing. Keeling’s only start-up costs were registering the company name and setting up a website – all for under £1,000. She now admits it would have grown much faster if she’d borrowed enough to employ others from the outset, however.

For the first three months, it was just her, a car and her dad’s toolkit, working seven days a week, evenings and weekends – and the only experience she’d had was decorating her own home.

Her first contracts came from her network of city acquaintances and Keeling is a firm believer in word-of-mouth promotion rather than advertising.

It was three months before Keeling employed a professional decorator but the company now boasts a 26-strong army of tradeswomen, despite only recently having moved the business out of her home into an office.

Keeling rarely picks up a paintbrush these days. Her focus rests with expanding the business, and she’s hoping to take it national through a series of branches and franchises.

“I hadn’t grasped just how much work would be involved when I started,” says Keeling. “But I’m actually quite glad because I may not have done it otherwise.
More at:http://www.awomanstouch.org.uk/
Via-Uncommonbusinesblog

Cludr gives internet users easy access to the most popular web sites in the world

Cludr gives internet users easy access to the most popular web sites in the world.
Cludr began by asking internet users what you would like to have in an online resource. Your response was very clear. With millions of websites “cluttering” the internet, you wanted a place where you could have easy access to the best sites.
That is what you will find on Cludr, easy access to the most popular websites in the world.Their aim is to cut down on web clutter, gleaning away the grist from the mill. To that end they’ve developed a web directory of sorts. You’ll find your basic Google search bar under which are a handful (18 to be exact) of focused categories. Click on health for instance, and you’ll be directed to another list of popular health and medical sites like WebMD and the Mayo Clinic. Click on jobs and you’ll get links to Monster, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Dice, and Indeed among others. Essentially, Cludr acts a straightforward list of bookmarks. If you’re one to abhor those perky social extras, like comments, user submission, ratings, etc. Cludr’s the place to go. You won’t find any clutter there, if anything at all.
More at:http://www.cludr.com/

Web Community For Web Professionals

New name, Jobalize becomes Who's Web.
This name better fits the service: a directory of web talents, for people who works around the web and want to exchange, collaborate or meet locally. Of course all permalinks are still working and are redirect to Who's Web. We added new markers for events like barcamps, local meetings, .... You can see who is coming and from where, so if it's a long distance may be you could do the trip together.
The site is based on a Google map search, where you can enter in a city or zone and see a list of people and events in the area. The locations are tagged on the map and exact directions are available. If a city search does not provide the right results you can improve the search by expanding the mileage of the area. With every search members can view the people and events and their specific purpose. For example, when searching “New York City” the right side of the page lists members and their specific area of expertise. Who’s Web is the new and improved version of Jobalize.com. The differences are that the new version is “two to three times faster” and has a new slick design that is easier to navigate. Additionally, to stay updated there is an RSS feed that notifies members of new subscriptions, tools, and events. Looking towards the future, Who’s Web is planning to provide a custom RSS feed to find out who is joining the site in your own area.
More at:http://www.who-s-web.com/

Now Compare Price And Shop On Your Cell Phone

With mShopper there is no guessing. With mShopper, you always have access to the best Internet pricing right through your phone. After you get your price, just show your phone to the store clerk. If he doesn't match your price, you can actually buy whatever you priced right through the phone in less time than it takes to check out in the store.If you are already registered on the site, buying is as easy as choosing “Buy It Now” and entering you pin number. If not, you can register on mShopper.com simply by entering your cell phone number and waiting for a text message with the link to the application and registering with a security pin code. mShopper.com has already joined forces with big stores such as Macy’s, OfficeDepot, and Target as well as smaller niche companies and is constantly looking for more partnerships. mShopper.com is also into philanthropy and gives users the opportunity to donate money during checkout. While shopping from a cell phone might seem like a logical step from the computer, the truth is that unless you are really trying to save that extra 15% it is more of a hassle to fiddle with your phone than just to buy the item.
More at:http://www.mshopper.com/

Radio Corridor is an online community of people working in the same company

Radio Corridor is an online community of people working in the same company. However it is not affiliated in any way with the companies that are hosted on this site. You may read and post company information that is available to all registered users of your company, or you may exchange messages with only a limited number of interested colleagues. For each message or comment that you write or forward, you can control who sees your name.Users can join existing forums e.g. the forum for ‘Crazy interview stories’, or ‘Customer service: the true story’, or ‘Are we better than the competition?’ or they can create their own. Each company’s network is private, so only company members can join (you’ll need a valid company email address), and even then each member can select who gets to see and read their messages. There is a public lounge which is open to everyone. There’s also a phonebook section where members can leave their contact deets if they please. Radio Corridor is and always will be free.
More at:http://www.radiocorridor.com/