Glycerine, Europe and Senses

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower Drives my green age;

Dylan Thomas’s powerful portrayal of the universal life force is an apt symbol for the activity of glycerine. For what normally preserves dead tissue will usually harm life (e.g. formaldehyde, alcohol) and what generally promotes life will typically contribute to decay in the inanimate (e.g. moisture, oxygen).

Not so with glycerine. In interesting research published in the December 2003 issue of The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Dr. Wendy Boilag and Dr. Xiangjian Zheng, researchers at the Medical College of Georgia, found that glycerine makes skin look, feel and function better by attracting moisture and by helping skin cells mature properly.

The researchers discovered glycerine’s role in skin cell maturation while studying phospholipase D, an enzyme that converts fats or lipids in the external, protective membrane. All cells have this layer, but skin cells secrete extra lipids to form a protective barrier. Says Dr. Boilag, “Think about it. If there was not some sort of barrier, when you took a bath, all the water would go into you and you would blow up like a balloon.”

This research is not news to natural soap makers who for years have been extolling the virtues of real soap over mass-produced chunks of chemicals that are cheap, but not skin-friendly. For while natural soap makers return the glycerine that is a normal by-product of the soap making process back into the soap, and often add even more, usually from vegetable oils such as coconut or other nut oils, commercial soap manufacturers remove the glycerine to add to more profitable products such as hand creams and other cosmetics.

It wasn’t until 1889 that a viable way to separate out the glycerine from soap making was discovered. In those days the primary use of glycerine was to make nitro-glycerine, which was used to make dynamite. Suddenly, commercial soap making became a lot more profitable, which gave birth to the mass manufacture of cheap soap, to the detriment of the small local soap maker.

But what exactly is glycerine? It is a sweet-tasting, colourless, viscous liquid, which can be dissolved in water or alcohol, but not oils. It is a trihydric alcohol with the chemical formula C3H5(OH)3. Glycerine (sometimes spelled “glycerin”) makes a good solvent and is highly “hygroscopic,” which means that it absorbs water readily.

Glycerine was first discovered in 1779 in the saponification (the conversion of fats into soap via the addition of an alkali such as lye) process of olive oil. Today, glycerine is found in and sourced from animal fats, vegetable oils and synthetically from petrochemicals.

The uses of glycerine are many. In addition to soap and cosmetics it is used in medicinal ointments, sometimes thickened with finely powdered starch. It is lubricating, emollient, soothing and healing to the skin. When mixed with floral waters (e.g. rose or lavender water) and borax it makes an effective wash for chapped skin. In this form glycerine is toning and astringent. When added to pills, suppositories and lozenges, glycerine will prevent them from becoming hard and mouldy. Glycerine suppositories are an excellent remedy for consistent constipation and haemorrhoids. Glycerine is antibacterial and is a valuable food preservative, being used extensively in the food processing industry. Although not quite as effective as alcohol for extracting the active ingredients in herbal tinctures, glycerine based tinctures are recommended for children or anyone wishing to avoid alcohol. Finally, to bring us back full circle to the Dylan Thomas quote, glycerine is fabulous for preserving flowers, enabling them to maintain pliability and avoiding the brittleness of air-dried flowers. Dye can be added to the glycerine solution to retain or change the original plant colour. It can take up to a week for the plants to absorb the solution, but they will then last for years. Check with your local craft supply store, bookstore or library for information on how to do this effectively. Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station has some excellent online instructions on how to preserve flowers using glycerine. The information can be downloaded from http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/hort2/mf2446.pdf. One word of caution: If you’re adding dye to the solution, don’t place the flowers in a bathroom, kitchen or any other area susceptible to moisture. The glycerine will attract this moisture. The plants will weep and you’ll have an indelible mess on your hands.

Bruce Burnett is a chartered herbalist who has also won four Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold awards for travel journalism. Read more of Bruce Burnett's writing on his websites:
1. http://www.globalramble.com
2. http://www.bruceburnett.ca
3. http://www.herbalcuisine.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bruce_Burnett

"Europe for the Senses: A Photographic Journal" by author, traveler, and photographer Vicki Lanes is a breathtaking collection of full-color photographs from around Europe. Images range from wildflowers to the Leaning Tower of Pisa juxtaposed against an aerial view of flying to Pisa, to Luxembourg's American Military Cemetery, and much more. Most photographs have a brief commentary in the form of text, printed in a handwriting-style font and reminiscing fond memories as well as recounting historical facts about the images that portray classic locations.
ISBN 1419629441

World traveler, Vicki Landes, portrays Europe in the most delightful way one can imagine.
I imagined the smell of the water blooms, and almost heard the pipe organ in the Fraumunster Church.
"Pisa a collection of clay-colored roofs being interrupted by a pallid square of marble structures. Contain a smirk when you ponder Pisa’s only claim to fame is an engineering failure; imagine the perplexing mixture of pride and embarrassment for its creator, knowing the world remembers you for this crooked tower too unstable to ring its own bells."
To me, Austria is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been to. The photos of garden urns and fountains are magical.
Secondly, I love the Netherlands, and of course Landes added a wonderful section. She explains "Rows of colorful tulips as far as the eye can see"it’s tulip time in the Netherlands. As each flower greedily reaches for the sun, countless visitors at the Keukenhof Gardens snap pictures and purchase bulbs and seedlings." It is obvious that Landes was one of those snapping pictures. The rainbow of colors that are portrayed in the photos of "Europe for the Senses" is spectacular and the hyacinths are so true to form that I feel like putting my nose into the picture. In fact, I’m sure I can even smell the flowers!

http://www.readerviews.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Irene_Watson

"Europe for the Senses: A Photographic Journal" by author, traveler, and photographer Vicki Lanes is a breathtaking collection of full-color photographs from around Europe. Images range from wildflowers to the Leaning Tower of Pisa juxtaposed against an aerial view of flying to Pisa, to Luxembourg's American Military Cemetery, and much more. Most photographs have a brief commentary in the form of text, printed in a handwriting-style font and reminiscing fond memories as well as recounting historical facts about the images that portray classic locations.

Official Google Reader Blog: Some of our engineers don't work at Google

Official Google Reader Blog: Some of our engineers don't work at Google
Thanks God! Some of engineers don't work at all in Romania!
Blogs are public notes about one subject and particular for me, my computer face! I'm using for each computer, that have a specific job, one blog and entries mirror the operator position.
Google Reader is the tool for news until my read4me is ready. I want to post direct on the blog that article!
Great job Google team this year (please include and this)
Let's search!

SEO Plan

Basic SEO Plan includes the following:

Project Initiation Report; this includes opening the communication channels, identifying the communicators mode/ etc. Team introduction, Introduce Search Engine Marketing in detail

Site Analysis Report: This includes analyzing the client site for: Site Overview, Home page stats, to check the Links and indexes at time of project initiation, is the Page Design/s marketable, is the content on pages good enough for conversions, do site follows what Search Engine usually likes.

Competitor analysis, how they are performing so to understand the basic required thrust for Optimizing the site

Understanding client business, Services and products

To do keywords Analysis, touching the extra mile effort to bring up most relevant keyword list

Adding keywords on pages, optimizing Meta Tags Titles, descriptions and keywords

To identify pages for Text optimization

Implementing proper Site map and navigation scheme

Spotting problematic areas which Search Engine generally avoids and dealing with frames, flash and script languages

Doing Directory submissions, starting with main and open directory, category wise submissions

Reciprocal link generation with sharing value based links, following the links stats and maintaining it

Plan 2
Intermediate SEO Plan includes a proper step-wise procedure for better efficiency. It involves:

Step 1-Project Initiation Report
This includes:

A welcome Note
Introduction to Project Manager (experience, qualification (if) – for trust building)
Mention the scope of project
Introduce SEM
Communication details, like, email id’s, Chat messengers, phone numbers,
concern relation manager/personnel, call time etc.
Process flow


Step 2-Initial Site Analysis Report
This includes:

Site Overview
Nature of business
Home page
Site Dimensions, number of pages
Product/Services categories
Phrase-Specific Pages
Keyword Density
Google PageRank
Yahoo
Link Popularity
Positioning with respect to SE’s
Identifying Page Characteristics: Frames, J Scripts, Dynamic pages etc
Site Map/ Navigation Tracking
Analyzing internal links, broken links etc
Content Review (Only with reference to Optimization Procedure)
Page Design – Is the page Marketable
Checking Relevancy
Projections: give idea to client when he can expect results/activity wise
Conclusion/Summary

Step 3-Recommendations
Analysis Report is immediately followed by the Recommendations Report and is
supported by the Detailed Analysis Report.

Step 4-Project Plan for SEO Implementation
According to the Detailed Site Analysis, Recommendations, SEO team outlines the
project plan. It includes:

Project Component Time Esitmation

1) Keywords Analysis As per Site Dimensions
2) Competitor Analysis One Day
3) Initial Traffic Analysis One Day
4) Directory Submission to Major ones One Day
5) Dealing with Recommendations As per Plan/Site dimensions
6) On Page Optimization Implementation As per plan/recommended/dim
7) Link Building Campaign Ongoing Process
8) Optimize Text As per site dimensions/plan
9) PPC Bid Management (as per scope of project) As per project scope
10) Newsletter Campaigns Management
(as per scope of project) As per project scope
11) Blogging (As per scope of project) As per project scope
12) Usability and conversion As per Site Dimensions/plan
13) Analyzing Logs Ongoing
14) Monthly Progress Reports Month Ends

Step 5-Implementation of Planned Project Details

Keyword Analysis
KWA as per first approach -- As per site pages, services/products
As per client business recommendations
As per SEO point of view -- traffic, intitle, competition, etc
Page wise Keyword Analysis
KWA using SEO tactics -- spellings, small/caps, stemming, keyword combination,
removing ambiguity, KEI analysis, singular/plural, etc.
Preparing final keyword list.

Competitor Analysis
Site wise analysis
On business basis
On demographic
SEO point of view, Links, Indexed Page, Positioning on Different SEs.

Initial Traffic Analysis
Request for log files or any software
Traffic Initial Status with respect to Search Engines
Reporting (ongoing--monthly in MPRs).

Directory Submission to Major Ones
DMOZ, Yahoo, Google and MSN
Paid Submissions (if applicable)

Onpage Optimization Implementation
Meta & Description Tags
Navigation, Sitemap
Text Optimization
Page Maintenance (Ongoing)
Links
Placement of different objects/options etc.
Page updations as on requirements

Link Building Campaign
Reciprocal Links
Process of explanation
Monthly links update--reports through MPRs
Directory Submission
Category wise, as per business importance
Suggestions for paid submissions (subject to client recommendation/interest).

PPC Bid Management (as per scope of project)

Newsletter Campaigns Management (as per scope of project)

Blogging (as per scope of project)

Affiliate Program (as per scope of project)

Analyzing Logs

Usability and Conversion (it includes a meticulous eye on all details)

Dealing with Search Engine advance nature/changes
Dealing with New Search Engines, updates versions, beta versions
Implementing SEO Advance Strategies
Localized SEO (as per applicability of project scope)
Multilingual SEO

Step 6-Monthly Proegress Reports
Monthly Progress Report
Traffic Analysis
Report on Link Building status
Reports for Newsletters, Blogging, PPC, etc (as per scope of project)
Recommendations for next month

Step 7-In House Project Review
Project Manager prepares Review for in-house usage and, Client Relation Manager.
Project Audit
In-house Planning and Implementation for project handling as per Audit.

Plan three

Site Analysis
Competitor Analysis
Site Overview
Nature of business
Home page
Site Dimensions, number of pages
Product/Services categories
Phrase-Specific Pages
Keyword Density
Google Page Rank
Yahoo
Link Popularity
Positioning with respect to SE’s
Identifying Page Characteristics: Frames, J Scripts, Dynamic pages etc
Site Map/Navigation Tracking
Analyzing internal links, broken links etc
Content Review (Only with reference to Optimization Procedure)
Page Design Is the page Marketable: Checks
Checking Relevancy
Projections: give idea to client when he can expect results/activity wise
Recommendations Analysis Report immediately to be followed by Recommendations
Report, supported by detailed analysis Report.
Project plan for SEO Implementations According to Detailed Site Analysis,
Recommendations, SEO team shall outline the project plan.
Some Keyword Checking Tools: TheDowser--Overture Keyword Tool, Google Keyword Sandbox, Keyword Harvester, Google AdWords report analyzer, Google AdWords Optimization Tool, log file analyzer, conversion tracking and optimization tool.
Click , for some really useful SEO tools.

Keyword Suggestion Tools: A handy little tool will show you the results of your query from both Wordtracker and Overture for determining which phrases are searched most often. Enter a search phrase below to see how often it's searched for, as well as get suggestions for alternate (but similar) keywords.

Keyword Ranking Tool: This utility can be used to check search engines for keyword ranking and track search engine ranking for your various keywords over time, which, as you probably know, is critical when doing search engine optimization.

Topword Tool - Topword Tool is a free online tool that analyzes a complete web page and counts keyword occurrences, as well as keyword phrases (number in brackets), equal to or above that set in the Minimum Occurrences setting. It supplies a list of keywords and keyword phrases which are most likely to achieve the highest rankings on a major search engine. The tool will also analyze your meta description/keyword and title tags and then, through color coding, inform you of words/phrases which should be included. The main use for this tool is checking your optimization and tweaking existing web sites to rank well.


Tracking and analyzing logs of sites, to give you clear view of visitor movements

Sending you Daily Status Report of your project work done details

Sending Monthly Progress Reports which includes Month Progress Report about what has been done, Traffic Analysis, Report on Link Building Status and Recommendations for next month.

Get Suggestions For Phrase: Brought to you by Digital Point Solutions

comments open 21 days

Explore Your Possibilities: Chemical Nano Engineering

Explore Your Possibilities: Chemical Nano Engineering
First the obvious (that is, if you're not brainwashed by economic orthodoxy): the economy doesn't reach equilibrium. It isn't static—it's dynamic, constantly changing. And changes can happen suddenly and non-linearly. In other words, unlike a ball that you might push on a flat surface, the economy is more like pushing a ball into a series of curved surfaces and connected bowls of different heights. The track is always changing and different balls might be at different heights at different times. More on this in a bit.

Second: While most economic theories presume people will optimize and take all available information into account—we, err, I mean they—don't. We use rules of thumb: heuristics. There are volumes covering the various kinds of cognitive biases from which we suffer. And while most economists assume we are rational agents—it just ain't so. People are irrational. Whether its information cascades, fads or cults (dot-com bust, pet rocks, Jonestown massacre) for every rational person you show me, I'll dig out five irrational ones from the graveyard of folly and foible. Of course as has been said, it ain't the things we don't know that get us into trouble—it's the things we know that just ain't so.

Next: networks. All the people and all the companies interact in networks and those networks are in themselves hard to predict. Have you ever met someone you judged to be of average intellect and ability but turned out to be connected to another of great power and influence? People always wonder, "how did HE meet HIM, and how are they still friends?" Small worlds indeed and when networks morph, merge into larger ones and break-off into sub-networks, it's even harder to predict.

Once you have these networks, interesting and unpredictable things can happen. In a sand pile there is a network of potential energy, "fingers of instability" where a small input can trigger an avalanche. And that network—like a market—can change quickly and suddenly. You can also get the emergence of a phenomenon known as "emergence". Emergence is a fancy way of saying that the whole is greater than the some of the parts. Ant colonies, brains, cities, behavior in markets all exhibit this phenomenon of emergence where the constituent components give rise to higher order.

The last key principle is this: evolution. Organisms, technologies, business models, social structures all evolve. And this is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. There are a few key aspects in the process of evolutions—whether in life, inventions or ventures.

First is "variation". In life: it's via random mutation. In technology: it's via accidental discovery, intentional invention, trial and error and combination of already existing technologies.

The second aspect: once there are a variety of things, it's clear that some are better than others.

The third feature is that there's some process or algorithm of "selection". And of course the fore mentioned "better" depends on what environment or landscape the thing is performing or competing in. The fancy name for this is "fitness landscape". Think of climbing a mountain: you try to scale a local peak. When you get to the top, you might see a new peak which could even require you to descend, move to the new base and then climb again. Tiger Woods did this years ago to perfect his swing—so did IBM. And so it is with technology adoption, startup companies and even incumbent companies that can adapt and reinvent themselves.

The last key feature is amplification. Good biological designs—or good technologies or businesses benefit from positive feedback effects and get dialed up. They get amplified, attract capital, get more adopted and spread through the proverbial (or literal) gene pool. Conversely, bad ones get dialed down. They get negative feedback, lose prominence, suffer from decreased population size or even extinction.

You can use all the above to see patterns that might be emerging, note when the wisdom of the crowds breaks down and leads to information cascades with people parroting other people. You can also see how a collection of new technologies can come together to create applications that weren’t predicted.

There's one key part of this framework that I've found frustrating. Feynman famously said that for a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. But I've realized to the unfortunate happenstance of investors: that people can be fooled—namely by other people.

Most short investors are right to predict the eventual demise of a company run by a manipulator rather than an operator. But in the short-term, under the captive spell or so-called "reality distortion fields" of such promoters, frustrating as it may be, I must admit that the promoter has economic value. He can lower the company’s cost of capital. How do you quantify that? What' that guy worth? The same thing goes with countless private ventures. Imagine a market mechanism for shorting private companies…

OPINION: NANOTECH BLOG

Keep up with me by reading my personal opinions posted to this website covering issues about the money, markets, science and undiscovered trends behind

nanotech: just click on the link below:

http://www.forbeswolfe.com

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Comments and/or information for analysis: nanotech@forbes.com Subscription and customer service issues: nanotech@forbes.com Media services and trade show requests: nanotech@forbes.com

JAN.19.2006 by Josh Wolfe (email: nanotech@forbes.com)

Pareto Principle of Optimality presume that equilibrium is at that point where don't appear more losers Real life is permanent battle on limited resources. When I'm using theories the results appear for public something like "... the probability is..."

Social Media Optimization vs. Social Media Marketing

Social Media Optimization vs. Social Media Marketing
"
In Social Media
Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) are two new phrases that popped up last year to define marketing through social media and social networking sites. There seems to be a lot of confusion about what each of them mean and what exactly they define, which is bound to happen with any new phrase.
Even when potential clients contact us there seems to be a lot of confusion between the two. I see them as two different emerging marketing techniques. When the phrase Social Media Optimization was first invented by Rohit Bhargava, some people didn't agree with the phrase and instead suggested that we rename it to SMM.
I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone though, even I am guilty of making the same mistakes; when I jumped on the original SMO meme-wagon and added some rules of my own I added one about creating viral content. I would no longer classify that rule as SMO and instead would now classify it as SMM. In my opinion creating something new is more about marketing than it is optimization. In light of this confusion, I am going to make an attempt at clarifying the two phrases.
SMO refers to the process of refining a website (optimizing it) so that it's awareness and content are easily spread through social mediums and online communities by users and visitors of the website. This can include anything done "on-page" such as improving the design and usability of the website so that it becomes more compelling to users, in an effort to help them spread it through social media sites. The simplest example of SMO is represented by all the "digg this" and "add to delicious" icons and links that are all over the web today.
SMM on the other hand plays more of an active role in relation to social media by referring to the creation and distribution of content and other messages through the social web by some form of viral marketing. This can be anything from creating compelling content that gets bookmarked and even hits digg's homepage to spreading a viral video by putting it on YouTube and other social media websites. It's about the things that are done off-site, for example, participating in online communities where your customers hang out would be an active role that falls under SMM.
In some ways the two remind me of the differences between push vs. pull marketing. But only a little bit, and I have to be careful what I say here. In a way with SMM you are actually pushing your message out there, but that's usually where the pushing stops. Once you push that message out there it should not require any more pushing. A true viral marketing campaign is so good that it spreads on it's own and people actually want to spread it, so the push usually ends with the creation and initial "planting" of the campaign. SMO is all about pulling people in with an "optimized" site and encouraging visitors to spread your content without any effort on your part. I think the clear difference between the two is that SMO refers to on-page modifications (on your website) while SMM refers to activities that take place outside of your website (on other websites). As I see it, SMO can be one of the ways to encourage SMM activities by users and visitors of your website.
I would love to hear what other people think about these ideas about social media optimization and social media marketing, does my explanation make sense to you, or do we need to go back to the drawing board?

Back in Business

For successful B2B marketing in 2007, there are three “ingredients” to keep in mind:
Paradigm shifts in the planning of marketing strategies and budgets (search engine marketing anyone?)
Establishing proper metrics to track
Studying analytics as part of the lead generation process
Paradigm Shifts in the Planning of Marketing Strategies and Budgets
I’ve already touched on this, but as B2B marketers we need to take advantage of online opportunities. A well rounded search marketing strategy involves a sponsored and organic component. Part of your marketing budget should be directed at search marketing (whether you will be outsourcing or performing it in-house). Organically speaking a site that is well optimized and ranking in the search engines can prove very effective as organic results are longer lasting. With the B2B arena involving a much more complex web of interactions between prospects and vendors, having your organization represented in the prime real estate of a search engine results page will help ensure that you are on the list of potential vendors during the selection process. The point is planning of a dedicated search marketing budget is becoming more important that ever. Still not sold on a dedicated search marketing budget? Well you can bet that your competition is doing is as search continues to gain popularity and enter the mainstream.

Establishing Proper Metrics to Track

Another key in B2B marketing in 2007 is establishing the proper metrics to track. With B2B marketing, the actual transaction represents only a small part of the entire purchase process. As a result, establishing proper metrics to track along the way is key to determining your success. These metrics can be established from:
a) Your Organization’s KPIs – the key performance indicators for your company as a whole can help determine the proper metrics that you should be tracking. Lead generation sites may have different KPIs than would an information type site.
b) Online Goals – may or may not be the same as your organization’s goals. You may have an online goal to increase traffic to your site by 20% every quarter for two years. In order to measure your site’s success, you may want to use online goals such as these to determine if your SEM strategies are returning the results that you expected.
c) Competition – Know your competition and visit their websites. They may disclose some information as to how they are measuring their success. From here you may be able to establish key metrics that you should be tracking as well.
If you are unsure whether you are tracking the proper metrics for your online success you may want to revisit the metrics and evaluate your analytics to determine if improvements are necessary.

Studying Analytics as part of the Lead Generation Process

With B2B companies, lead generation is a vital cog in the wheel that turns. It’s no secret that B2B transactions have a longer selling cycle and usually involve a higher end purchase. The amount of time a potential client researches a solution for their need can take weeks, months and even years. Therefore studying analytics as part of the lead generation process may help uncover areas of improvement for your lead generation process. Analytics can offer a wealth of knowledge providing you take time to ensure that your analytics is set up correctly and is tracking proper metrics. With proper analytics you can review items such as:
Number of repeat visitors to conversion pages
Sponsored search cost - broken down by products/services, keyword, source and campaign
Length of time spent on site
Where search visitors go on your site after leaving the ‘landing’ page or your site entirely
Search visitor form requests drop-out behavior and rates
Path analysis as an indication where potential leads are leaving the site
Geo region where the majority of site visitors are coming from (this can help you define new markets to enter or existing markets to focus on)
There is so much more that you can track though your analytics providing that you have an analytics package that is robust enough to measure what you need to measure. That in itself is the trick, “measure what you need to measure.” This recipe may not guarantee success but it will sure contribute to it. I see B2B marketing in 2007 incorporating the use of search marketing as not only a tool for promotion, but as a necessary means to improve ROI.
Discuss this article in the Small Business Ideas forum

Best Pogue's Posts

Marketers determine what the masses want, product managers guide the design, engineers bring the thing to life - it’s a lot of cooks. No wonder so many people across the country are, at this very moment, staring at newly unwrapped electronic holiday gifts in utter bewilderment.
Even so, brilliant ideas sometimes make it off the drawing board, past the layers of lawyers and onto store shelves. Sometimes, a delicious idea is part of a triumphant overall product. Other times, the flash of greatness is wasted on a turkey.
Here, then, is my second annual Top 10 List - not of the greatest tech products of the year, but of the greatest ideas, individual features, that surfaced. It’s a little tip o’ the egg nog to the great thinkers whose ideas made it out of committee.
THE FLASH-DRIVE FUEL GAUGE You gotta love those U.S.B. flash drives. They’re cheap, shiny and tiny, and they offer a practically perfect way to transport computer files.
On the other hand, you gotta hate it when you plug in a flash drive to receive a file you need - and discover that the darned thing doesn’t have enough free space.
That’s the beauty of Lexar ’s Mercury flash drive, whose case has a “fuel gauge” - a bar graph that tells you, without even plugging the thing in, how full it is. Thanks to a technology called E-Ink, this graph is always on and stays visible indefinitely, without requiring any power whatsoever.
THE MAGNETIC POWER CORD Somewhere there’s surely a support group for people who have dragged their $2,000 laptops to the floor by tripping on the power cord.
That doesn’t happen with Apple ’s 2006 laptops, whose power cords connect with a powerful magnet rather than a pin or a plug. If someone trips or yanks on the cord, the magnet detaches and drops harmlessly to the floor. The laptop switches seamlessly to battery power, saving your data, your money and months of therapy.
Better yet, this magnet has no “right side up”; it works no matter which way you slap it on. Oh, and it lights up to confirm that you’re plugged into a working outlet.
THE TWO-STAGE FLASH It may seem counterintuitive that the more expensive the digital camera, the less likely it is to have a built-in flash. The manufacturers assume that if you’re that much of a professional, you certainly own an external flash unit.
Among other virtues, an external flash can be aimed upward so the light bounces off the ceiling, rather than blasting into your subject’s face. The result is more even and flattering light.
Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-L1 and LC1 cameras, though, offer the best of both worlds. If you push the open button for the built-in flash firmly, it pops up and faces forward.
But if you push lightly, it pops up to a different position, angled 45 degrees upward - yes, in bounce-off-the-ceiling position. Great idea, cleverly done.
A RECORD RADIO BUTTON Samsung Helix is a regular music player, like an iPod (though smaller). But it’s also an XM satellite radio receiver.
That’s already a good idea, but here’s the clincher: When you hear a song that you like on one of XM’s 70 themed, ad-free music channels, one button-press records that song from the beginning - even if you were a little late hitting record. In all, this gadget can hold about 25 hours’ worth of recorded radio.
Long-suffering music fans could probably have predicted that XM would be sued over this glorious idea, and, well, sure enough. Maybe what’s so great about this idea isn’t so much its ingenuity as its bravery.
MUSIC BEAMING The Zune, Microsoft ’s new music player, does something amazingly well that its rival, the iPod, doesn’t do at all: It lets you beam songs or photos wirelessly to another Zune. It’s easy and fast, and it could be a great way to discover new music recommended by your friends.
In practice, there’s more to the story. To avoid lynch mobs from the record companies, Microsoft designed the Zune so that beamed songs self-destruct after three plays or three days, whichever comes first - even, idiotically, your own recordings like college lectures and garage-band demos.
The Zune, therefore, is that classic case: a killer idea diluted by a ham-handed execution.
THE VIDEO-GAME WORKOUT Nintendo’s Wii game console, on the other hand, is a stellar product that succeeds precisely because its central idea is unencumbered by corporate baggage - and is tons of fun.

Diamonds are not forever

Entrapping of Icosahedral Metallofullerenes in Carbon Nanotubes: (CsC60)n@SWNT Nano-Pea pods

Bao-Yun Sun, Yuta Sato, Kazutomo Suenaga, Toshiya Okazaki, Naoki Kishi, Toshiki Sugai, Shunji Bandow, Sumio Iijima, and Hisanori Shinohara*


Abstract:

Icosahedral C60-based metallofullerenes, CsC60, have been synthesized and successfully encapsulated into single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in high yield by reducing C60 molecules into anions. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images and in situ electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) indicate that Cs atoms and C60 molecules align within SWNTs as CsC60 icosahedral metallofullerenes, and that the formal charge state of encaged CsC60 is expressed as Cs+1C60-1. The present pea pods with the icosahedral metallofullerenes provide a new insight and the possibility to fine-tune the electronic and transport properties of carbon nanotubes.



J. Am. Chem. Soc., 127 (51), 17972 -17973, 2005.

Well, we know to produce those fullerene from more than 1700 Years, for swords as you have seeing in previous post. For the people the use of Seeds of Time is more difficult.

EPA will now consider nanosilver used in washing machines as
pesticides
Susan Morrissey
Silver nanoparticles from Samsung's SilverCare washing machine will soon have to be registered with EPA as a pesticide.
Silver-claimed to be nanoparticles-employed to kill bacteria in washing machines will now be regulated as a pesticide, EPA announced late last month. Currently, washers that generate silver ions are classified as devices and are not required to be registered with EPA.
The products at issue are Samsung washing machines that are advertised as using silver ions to kill 99.9% of odor-causing bacteria. This technology,
called SilverCare, generates ions by applying current to two silver plates housed next to the machine's tub. The ions are then directed into the tub during the wash cycle.
"EPA has determined that the Samsung silver ion-generating washing machine is subject to registration requirements under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act," according to an EPA statement.
The agency decided to change the classification of the washer because it releases silver ions into the laundry "for the purpose of killing microbial pests," the statement explains.
For its part, Samsung has pledged to comply with the change of policy. "Samsung has and will continue to work with EPA and state regulators regarding regulation of the silver washing machine," the company says.
Several groups concerned about the environmental impact of nanoparticles of silver had asked EPA to reevaluate the way products containing such materials are regulated. For example, environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) noted in a letter to EPA that there are currently more than 40 products on the market in addition to Samsung's washing machine that have made or implied claims of using nanoparticles of silver to kill bacteria. NRDC praised EPA for taking what it called a "step in the right direction" by reclassifying nanosilver generated in a washer as a pesticide. The group also said this revised policy should lead to EPA reassessing other products that use
nanoparticles of silver for their biocidal qualities.
Chemical &
Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347

Well, the Indian maharajah's know from more than two thousand years this!

Visualizing the rise of the Long Tail or The World is Flat

Mouse-clicking individuals can be as tasteless, in the aggregate, as entertainment professionals.

The key word there is "aggregate". Popularity is simply a place where many roads--each one a single consumer's path through culture--intersect. Each road is different, but for a brief moment many crossed that point. Hits are products that reflect the coincidence of our collective tastes, and the reality is that most of the things that we agree on are relatively banal (that's why they call it the lowest common denominator).

Individually we may have excellent taste, but collectively we're as low-brow as they come. This is simply an artifact of the statistics of the Long Tail--when demand is spread over a huge number of products, most things won't be popular. And the things that are popular won't necessarily define their consumers.

T'was ever thus: Yogi Berra's quote in the title reflects the reality of minority taste. We're as likely to avoid doing what everyone else is doing as were are to join them. For the discriminating, popularity is often a curse, even if it was their early embrace that kick-started that popularity in the first place.

Once the most popular fare defined our culture. Now a million niches define our culture and the few blockbusters are the exceptions that define none of us, even through many of us brush by them.

David Foster Wallace, writing about television, said it best:

"TV is not vulgar and prurient and dumb because the people who compose the audience are vulgar and dumb. Television is the way it is simply because people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests."

PR titan Richard Edleman has a great post of media trends and their implications for PR. Two stats in particular caught my eye: "
1) Every dollar coming out of print advertising revenue for newspapers is replaced by only 33 cents online.
2) The largest 50 Web companies are attracting 96% of the ad spending on line, according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, with the majority going to AOL, Google, MSN and Yahoo."
That second stat sounds like a very short head indeed, until you realize that half of the ad revenues for Google and its ilk are actually redistributed to thousands of smaller sites, via such affliate models as AdSense. It's actually a quite good long tail example.

Everyone With His Communist

This guy definitely isn’t from the same planet as bankers.

Tell them customers first and profits- whatever, is like spitting their face.

Bankers reaction would have truly been a kodak moment

Craigslist is definitely a leader of the Open source movement: but this is an open source business model, not open source software. Craigslist is hardly communist: just think of all the transactions it has enabled! By removing the profit margin of the intermediary, Craigslist has expanded the number of participants in the market and increased the relative power of the individual. Milton Friedman would be proud.

Then again, providing targeted AdSense advertising DOES help your buyers find relevant information so you could make a few billion AND help the users.

Jim Buckmaster, the chief executive of Craigslist, caused lots of head-scratching Thursday as he tried to explain to a bunch of Wall Street types why his company is not interested in “monetizing” his ridiculously popular Web operation. Appearing at the UBS global media conference in New York, Mr. Buckmaster took questions from the bemused audience, which apparently could not get its collective mind around the notion that Craigslist exists to help Web users find jobs, cars, apartments and dates — and not so much to make money.


Wendy Davis of MediaPost describes the presentation as a “a culture clash of near-epic proportions.” She recounts how UBS analyst Ben Schachter wanted to know how Craigslist plans to maximize revenue. It doesn’t, Mr. Buckmaster replied (perhaps wondering how Mr. Schachter could possibly not already know this). “That definitely is not part of the equation,” he said, according to MediaPost. “It’s not part of the goal.”

“I think a lot of people are catching their breath right now,” Mr. Schachter said in response.

The Tech Trader Daily blog ponders this question: “If YouTube was worth $1.65 billion, who knows what Craigslist would be worth if Jim and [site founder] Craig Newmark ever considred becoming — what’s the word? — capitalists.”

Craigslist charges money for job listings, but only in seven of the cities it serves ($75 in San Francisco; $35 in the others). And it charges for apartment listings in New York ($10 a pop). But that is just to pay expenses.

Mr. Schachter still did not seem to understand. How about running AdSense ads from Google? Craigslist has considered that, Mr. Buckmaster said. They even crunched the numbers, which were “quite staggering.” But users haven’t expressed an interest in seeing ads, so it is not going to happen.

Following the meeting, Mr. Schachter wrote a research note, flagged by Tech Trader Daily, which suggests that he still doesn’t quite get the concept of serving customers first, and worrying about revenues later, if at all (and nevermind profits). Craigslist, the analyst wrote, “does not fully monetize its traffic or services.”

Mr. Buckmaster said the company is doubling in size every year, as measured by page views and listings.

Larry Dignan, writing on Between the Lines blog at ZDNet, called Mr. Buckmaster “delightfully communist,” and described the audience as “confused capitalists wondering how a company can exist without the urge to maximize profits.”

Bloggers Vs Internet Marketers - Which One Are You?

What is the fundamental difference between a blogger and an Internet marketer? Is there any difference at all to begin with?

Since I had nothing better to do today, I decided to take the risk of being flamed by hate mail by telling you exactly where the line is drawn. While these are examples from the extreme ends of the online publishing spectrum, I believe you'll see my point by the end of this article.

Nowadays, almost every Internet marketer I know has a blog. However, none of them like to be called a blogger. Most bloggers on the other hand think they're Internet marketers. Those poor misguided souls.

Here's what fundamentally different between a blogger and a real Internet marketer making a living online:

1) Living on Search Engine Traffic

The most obvious trait I've seen in a blogger is their over-reliance on search engine traffic. In fact, probably the only way they know of getting visitors to their blogs is by getting a "degree" in Google, and spending all their time trying to please Big-G.

Internet marketers on the other hand see search engine traffic as just one component of their entire marketing campaign. They have access to a wider range of tools such as articles, joint-ventures, pay-per-click advertising and email marketing to mention a few. They have the knowledge to use them and they do so regularly.

2) Lack Of Control Over Their Mailing List

Another common trait of a blogger is the dependence on RSS subscription services like Feedburner to build a database of potential customers. they're content with the fact that by doing this they will never be able to send messages to their loyal readers other than what they post on their blogs.

When you get to a blog maintained by an Internet marketer, instead of seeing a "Subscribe by Feedburner" form, you'll see a "special offer" or reason to optin, followed by a customized form using Aweber or a similar service. By doing this, the Internet market captures the full details of his visitors and is free to send them emails that were never intended to be published on their blogs.

The Internet marketer also analyzes his list to determine their interests, and provides more value based on this findings. He masters his list and knows that they're his most important asset; not the blog.

3) Reluctance on Promoting Affiliate Products

I've seen so many bloggers state "That's my affiliate link" right after they post it on their blogs. It's almost as if they're afraid of their readers finding out that they somehow benefit by putting that link up. They feel guilty making money from others with an affiliate link, so they clearly brand it as such.

The Internet marketer however has no issues with this. His job is to promote products he feels will benefit his market, and he is not afraid to get paid for it. In fact, the Internet marketer EXPECTS to get paid for his efforts, or he doesn't bother doing it at all.

4) Just Publishing Vs Real Marketing

Most blogger are publishers. They focus on getting content up, and then wait for people to come and chew it up. "Build it and they will come", says the blogger. You can't really blame them for taking that stand, because they lack marketing and advertising skills. They really have no other option.

Internet marketers on the other hand know that the marketing graveyard is filled with great ideas and excellent content that never saw the light of day. They know that they need to get out there and market themselves, their products and their overall brand in order to survive in the long term.

5) Limited Knowledge on Monetizing Traffic

Bloggers know of only one monetization method: advertising. The easiest is of course some sort of contextual advertising like Google Adsense or Chitika. Some even go for blog advertising networks and selling text links on their blog, but at the end of the day, they're still dependent of advertising dollars.

The Internet marketer has more tricks up his sleeve. He knows that advertising income is as stable as a melting glacier, and he diversifies his income by selling his own products or services on his blog. In fact, most of them don't even bother with contextual ads because they live much higher up the food-chain.

Let me just say that a true Internet marketer can make the same amount of money from 3 pages of his blog that the average blogger does with 300.

This article may disgust you (if you're a blogger) or may strike a chord in your inner melody (if you're an Internet marketer). Bloggers may say "Oh... but I get tons of traffic, I make money from Adsense and I'm doing fine. So what's the problem?"

The problem is that Internet marketing is a volatile business. By observing both type of individuals all I can say is that in the next few years, the blogger will still be blogging. But the blogs they write for will be owned by a savvy Internet marketer.

It's just the way it works!
Want to advertise online without spending a fortune? Get a blog.
If you're an Internet marketer, you need a blog, because:
* A blog helps your site to rank higher in the search engines; and
* A blog expands your customer base.

Blogs are often called social marketing tools, because they let you interact with your readers via comments and permalinks (see the glossary below.)

What's a blog? Get up to speed here:

* http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogs

Let's look at five ways a blog helps you to market your business.

One: A blog helps your site to rank higher in the search engines

In 2003, when Google bought Pyra Labs, the company which developed Blogger, the reaction was Huh? At the time, blogs were seen by most as online journals, primarily maintained by the demented and teenage girls.

How times change. In 2005, companies small and large are using blogs to promote their businesses. This is because Google and the other search engines love blogs because of their constantly updated content.

Blog often, and you'll get more visitors and a good search engine ranking.

Two: A blog expands your customer base – you'll reach people you could reach in no other way

A blog helps you to reach people you can reach in no other way because your frequent updates mean that you'll automatically get niche visitors – those people who have no clue about you or the product that you're selling, but who happened to type in a search engine query that mentioned words you used in a single post.

Those niche visitors can become buyers, and this means that you don’t need to struggle to get top listings in any search engine. Write (or link to) quality content, and your visitors will find you.

Three: A blog helps your site to differentiate itself

A blog is a form of stealth marketing. Therefore a blog doesn’t need to be about the products you're selling. A blog can be about any topic that you're passionate about. Blog about your passion, and mention – in passing – the products you're selling. You can also link to them, but don’t bother selling heavily – that's not what a blog is about.

Four: Like a diamond, a blog is forever

Although the most-visited blogs update often, some of them several times a day, that doesn’t mean that you have post more often than you can fit into your schedule. Your permalinks (see below) mean that since your blog items are standalone pages, they’re indexed by search engines in the same way that any HTML or other page is indexed – your blog items/ pages will continue to bring traffic even if you don’t update very often.

Five: A blog attracts new opportunities

A blog makes your business visible. Your stealth marketing efforts will attract the attention of people who may become joint venture partners, or who will have other opportunities for you.

The time and energy that you invest in your blog can bring results beyond your wildest expectations. Create a blog – it's your hardest-working, and most cost-effective online marketing option.

GLOSSARY:
Blog = Web log.
Permalink = permanent link, an URL for a single blog post.
Comment = blogs have a comments section, where readers can interact with the blogger and others.

Geami

If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.
Isaac Asimov

And in sad news, the speaker of these oft-cited words, Nobel laureate, famed economist, laissez faire advocate and fellow Brookline, Milton Friedman passed away the day before yesterday at 94.
He was outspoken about government staying the heck out of business. On TV he was quoted saying the following:

There are four ways in which you can spend money. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money. Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost. Then, I can spend somebody else's money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I'm sure going to have a good lunch! Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else's money on somebody else, I'm not concerned about how much it is, and I'm not concerned about what I get. And that's government. And that's close to 40% of our national income.

His view on drugs was controversial but logically sound. He said "I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal…It’s because it's prohibited. See, if you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug cartel. That's literally true."
Good news: an Geami conected program.

E-comerce

"How often have you left the house or picked up a phone in search of a salesperson? Is it less often than you seek out friends, colleagues, or relatives? How often do those networks lead to a salesperson via recommendation? More often than your own initiative? If so, you’ll understand what the Web is becoming."

A brief introduction to the theory:

The relationship between social networks, search engines, and blogs mirrors what we already know about the word of mouth function in the real world, except it is much more efficient in cyberspace.

The way people bounce from home to work to lunch with friends to dinner with family and on to the mall is a behavior replicated online. Jointly, an entire system of relationships is a system of influence that directly impacts consumer behavior.

The power the online social network yields, then, is staggering. Expect the next generation of Internet users to embrace social networks the way the present one has embraced search.

Combined, the two magnify their ecommerce power exponentially. Beyond the current hype surrounding the prices Google and News Corp. are willing to pay for these networks should be recognition of that power, as well as careful attention paid to who owns them.


Search is already a market cornered and MySpace is the early leader for that prize in social networking. But watch out for Second Life, World of Warcraft, EverQuest and other more interactive otherworlds as they evolve. The addictive quality of these sites is compelling enough, but when the numbers start coming in as to their impact on peripheral sales, people will begin to take notice.


Let us use mothers as a case study. Did you know that mothers represent a $1.7 trillion market? Moms account for 55 percent of consumer electronic spending; 51 percent of food spending; 49 percent of health and beauty spending; 48 percent of home furnishings spending; and 47 percent of apparel spending.

That is a powerful grouping. And 95 percent of them are online at least once day - 85 percent of them clicking on an advertisement - 86 percent of them buying something. And only 20 percent of them say that advertisers really know how to connect with them.

Recent research shows that moms do not really care what celebrities are selling, though celebrity endorsement has been a staple of advertising since the beginning. Part of this, you could say is due to a concept called “demystification,” which applies to political leaders too.

Consumers know celebrities are paid handsomely to recommend a product and have learned not to trust them. They ultimately turn back to those they trust before buying anything. Sixty-seven percent said they’d rather get information from a peer rather than a celebrity.

This phenomenon is mirrored online. Blogebrity Robert Scoble expressed a desire on his blog that some algorithmic genius develop a measure of engagement, or likeability, to better represent the impact of bloggers. He speaks from personal experience to illustrate the power of the online relationship:

I’ve compared notes with several bloggers and journalists and when the Register links to us we get almost no traffic. But they claim to have millions of readers. So, if millions of people are hanging out there but no one is willing to click a link, that means their audience has low engagement. The Register is among the lowest that I can see.

Compare that to Digg. How many people hang out there every day? Maybe a million, but probably less. Yet if you get linked to from Digg you’ll see 30,000 to 60,000 people show up. And these people don’t just read. They get involved. I can tell when Digg links to me cause the comments for that post go up too.

A friend of the Scobleizer concurred. Buzz Bruggeman, CEO of Active Words, received 32 whole visits from USA Today, but 400 upon the recommendation of Scoble. People trust Scoble more, most likely because of the relationship he has with his readers.

So how are moms, bloggers, social networks, search, and ecommerce all interwoven? There is an emerging pattern that shows online journeys begin with social networks or search, move on to visiting blogger friends, who direct them to good places to spend money. Bloggers blog, tell their blogger friends about it, all of whom have friends or visitors that like to email instead of blog.

In the UK, the market share of blog traffic is driven evenly by social networks and search, according to Hitwise. Over 25 percent of blog visits in the UK originated from social networks or chat rooms. Search engines sent 22 percent of that traffic. But what was more interesting is where British consumers were going after blogs.

Over six percent of those leaving blogs head off to shopping and classified sites. The majority repeat the cycle by going back to search and social networks, while others are trickling over to other blogs, to their email accounts, or to news and media sites.

That’s a lot of opportunity to reach people along the way. Like in the outside world, the most important part of having an online business becomes the business location, and then relying on word of mouth.

In the US, Hitwise says those numbers are slightly different. Net communities and chat drive nearly 60 percent of blog traffic, followed by search engines at 9.5 percent, and email with 8.4 percent.

Where people go after that is more evenly split, first among social networks (17%), entertainment sites (15%), email (11%) and lifestyle sites (9.8%), and then among search engines (6.2%), news sites (6.1%), blogs (5.9%), photography sites (5.2%), portals (4.5%), and shopping sites (4%).

It’s easy to get lost in those numbers, but the important thing to remember is that people leave blogs and, often upon the recommendation of a trusted blogger, go to places where money is spent or products are considered.

What you should really pay attention to then, is how the big players understand this traffic flow situation as well they understand the power of the peer.

Did Google really overpay for YouTube? Is Facebook really worth $2 billion? Did News Corp. get a steal on MySpace? It’s not so much about the price. It’s about controlling the flow of traffic, and harnessing the subtle whispery power of word of mouth.”

Preluare din WebProNews, articol scris de Jason Lee Miller

People, Performance, Profit

People

Something big has been happening in the world in recent decades, for earliest 60's. This isn't something you'll hear about in the news because it's not just one event. It's a series of events ,good or bad, that are happening gradually and sporadically, but early signs point to a mega world power shift, which could end up being as important as the Industrial Revolution, increasingly affecting us all, in one way or another in the years ahead. Previous Industrial Revolutions have increased the power of human muscles using physics or water energy or fossils fuels energy. Now the Digital Revolution will increase the human mind power.

From the lathe to the laptop

The tools of the modern business laptop, cell phone, and PDA stand in sharp contrast to the predominant tools 100 years ago: plow, wrench, and pen. Over the past 50 years, in the United States, the percentage of manufacturing and farm jobs has dropped by nearly 70 percent (to 13 percent of the total work force), while the professional, business, and information work force has nearly doubled (to 15 percent). When Peter Drucker originally articulated the idea of a "knowledge worker" in 1959, he described people who applied knowledge to their tasks in a direct and unique way. One important differentiator of the knowledge worker is that he or she owns the means of production. Unlike blue-collar workers who do not own the factory equipment that they use to produce products, knowledge workers own the knowledge and skills that they apply to data to create information. Knowledge workers for some, a term now synonymous with "professionals" as a segment of the work force accounts for 25 percent or more of such industries as financial services, high tech, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and media and entertainment, "in some cases, undertaken[ing] most typical key line activities." As the PC revolution took hold, it became apparent that work itself was changing. The percentage of people working with data was increasing, and was no longer limited to the creation, collection, and forwarding of that data to knowledge workers.
The demographic crunch
Demographic trends show an aging, shrinking work force in most of the developed world over the next 50 years. As the work force matures, businesses will have to maximize the productivity of their remaining workers while retaining them in the face of increasing competitive pressure. As competition heats up for talent, businesses will have to increasingly cater to the desires of all their people, increasing focus and resources on HR functions while ensuring that the culture of the business is one that attracts and retains the best people. In addition, it’s important for businesses to capture as much knowledge as possible before the experts, the fonts of wisdom, and the masters of process retire. At the other end of the demographic curve, the "Net generation" that is coming into the work force today has lived its entire life in the digital era. These people have never known a time without computers, cell phones, and the Internet. E-mail, the Web, interactive video games, instant messaging, and mobile devices are as natural to kids today as the wired telephone, television, and ballpoint pen were to the previous generation. They are fluent in the most current technologies used to trade information and collaborate, and they communicate around the clock. They expect their work to be as connected as their play. Businesses that understand and embrace this new "digital lifestyle" will certainly enhance their ability to attract and keep this new generation of employees, while benefiting from the increased connectivity and communication.

Performance

Business success, business results
Those running businesses, however, have to deliver success: grow revenue and profits, satisfy customers andstockholderss, and successfully navigate the perpetual winds of change. For each business and for every employee the particulars may differ, but the outcomes that drive business success tend to remain the same: creating loyal and profitable customer relationships, inventing and enhancing products or services, managing a business in the most efficient way possible, and building high-value connections with partners and suppliers. The emphasis may vary, but every business must focus on these outcomes. Whether closing a sale, designing the next great product, or discovering a way to squeeze inefficiency out of the supply chain, success depends on the people in a company. Rarely in business does total victory or complete catastrophe stem from a single decision. Rather, success or failure is based on the cumulative impact of a myriad of decisions and actions by a broad range of people. Are the systems, tools, and culture of the business enabling people to make better decisions? Does the business get its people the right information so they can delight customers, create new products, or work with business partners, whether they are at a desk or on a cell phone thousands of miles away? Does the business culture help break down barriers so people can work more easily with each other? With partners? With customers? Are the right priorities, organization, motivation, and leadership in place to drive success? Does the technology that supports your business adapt to change so that your people don't have to?
People matter
Even though many of today’s tasks are automated, people remain the heart of any business. People develop relationships and close deals. People make insights and improve products. People work together to make the thousands of small decisions that collectively add up to success. Finding, developing, and retaining the right people is a crucial and increasingly difficult task for today’s businesses.

Profit

You see Einstein once said, "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." With confluentsence of global events colliding as they are, Dali's art seems qupresentlyient. Speaking of overestimating the value of money: there's a good reason why we have loss aversion-that is, why we hate losses more than we like gains (roughly twice as much hatred for that love). Let's use basic structural physics as an analogy. Forgive the pun, but I think visualizing this helps cement the concept. Imagine building a structure. Now think of your net worth as a pile of bricks. You've got big bricks on the bottom that make a foundation and successively smaller bricks stacked on top. The more you are worth, the less valuable each marginal dollar might be. In our analogy, the smaller each successive brick gets. Well now if you had to remove a brick from the top of the structure, it would be a larger brick than whatever the next brick you would add to it. Thus the pain from loss is greater than gain.
Profit, from Latin meaning "to make progress".

Tehnical

Technorati Profile

Supersized Sandwiches

Supersized Sandwiches: "Aromatic hydrocarbon ligands flank metal monolayers in stable complexes"

network's marketing: Strategy

PEOPLE PERFORMANCE PROFIT

A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, as differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand. Strategic management is the process of specifying an organization's objectives, developing policies and plans to achieve these objectives, and allocating resources so as to implement the plans.

Strategy will integrate goals, policies, and action sequences (tactics) into a cohesive whole, and must be based on business realities. Strategy must connect with vision, purpose and likely future trends. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Johnson and Scholes (Exploring Corporate Strategy) define business strategy as follows:
"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations".
In other words, strategy is about:

• 
  Where is the business trying to get to in the long-term (direction)
  Which markets should a business compete in and what kind of activities are involved in such markets? (markets; scope)
  How can the business perform better than the competition in those markets? (advantage)?
  What resources (skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competence, facilities) are required in order to be able to compete? (resources)?
  What external, environmental factors affect the businesses' ability to compete? (environment)?
  What are the values and expectations of those who have power in and around the business?

Strategy and strategic planning have the potential to align the people, processes and resources in an organization with a clear, compelling and desired future.In this evolving world of transparency "The World is Flat", it makes much more sense to develop a "why" based strategy or strategic plan leaving flexibility in "how".
As a consumer, I am constantly confronted by organizations who have created processes that frustrate and alienate me rather than make my life simpler and easier. Organizations have become so focused on improving their internal functions that they have ignored both the people who have to make the system work and the people who have to use it.Lots of businesses approach customer satisfaction from the standpoint of the best customer service being where people serve themselves. When it works it can be a terrific experience, but it doesn't always work.
Risk
The bargaining power of customers

• 
  buyer concentration to firm concentration ratio
  bargaining leverage
  buyer volume
  buyer switching costs relative to firm switching costs
  buyer information availability
  ability to backward integrate
  availability of existing substitute products
  buyer price sensitivity
  price of total purchase

The bargaining power of suppliers

• supplier switching costs relative to firm switching costs
  degree of differentiation of inputs
  presence of substitute inputs
  supplier concentration to firm concentration ratio
  threat of forward integration by suppliers relative to the threat of backward integration by firms
  cost of inputs relative to selling price of the product
  importance of volume to supplier

The threat of new entrants

• 
  the existence of barriers to entry
  economies of product differences
  brand equity
  switching costs
  capital requirements
  access to distribution
  absolute cost advantages
  learning curve advantages
  expected retaliation
  government policies

The threat of substitute products

• 
  buyer propensity to substitute
  relative price performance of substitutes
  buyer switching costs
  perceived level of product differentiation

The intensity of competitive rivalry

• 
  power of buyers
  power of suppliers
  threat of new entrants
  threat of substitute products
  number of competitors
  rate of industry growth
  intermittent industry overcapacity
  exit barriers
  diversity of competitors
  informational complexity and asymmetry
  brand equity
  fixed cost allocation per value added
  level of advertising expense

Stage

"Business as usual is deed", next stage is emerging.Together Business Process Management and Service Oriented Architecture facilitate the next phase of business process evolution from merely "automated" to "managed flexibility." Thus business automation will no longer be about hard-coding a function to be repeated infinitely. Automation will be about creating services reusable in many different ways in multiple processes that can be continuously improved. This helps allow enterprises to achieve dramatic improvements in market capture, cost effectiveness and profitability. Many consider the current preponderance of niche marketing, rapid customization of product design and manufacturing through just-in-time systems to be the death-knell of "one-size-fits-all" products and services
Questions to ask:

• 
  Who are our competitors?
  What threats do they pose?
  What is the profile of our competitors?
  What are the objectives of our competitors?
  What strategies are our competitors pursuing and how successful are these strategies?
  What are the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors?
  How are our competitors likely to respond to any changes to the way we do business?

Resources

Creativity remain the most relevant resource. Now it is time to use customer creativity. All strategies will follow this pattern, that in fact represent Internet creativity distribution at this moments ("The Horovitz pyramid") and represent a niche market due the fact: this is not a Gauss distribution (normal distribution). This resource is change the evolution shape with high speed, so is just the time to get the connection that we need. Multi Level Marketing was suggested as technique for nice market.
Existing finance funds

• 
  Cash balances
  Bank overdraft
  Bank and other loans
  capital
  Working capital, already invested in the business
  Creditors (suppliers, government)
  Ability to raise new funds - Strength and reputation of the management team and the overall business
  Strength of relationships with existing investors and lenders
  Attractiveness of the market in which the business operates (i.e. is it a market that is attracting investment generally?)
  Listing on a quoted Stock Exchange? If not, is this a realistic possibility?

Human Resources

The heart of the issue with Human Resources is the skills-base of the business. What skills does the business already possess? Are they sufficient to meet the needs of the chosen strategy? Could the skills-base be flexed / stretched to meet the new requirements? An audit of human resources would include assessment of the following factors:

• 
  Exististaffing resources - Numbers of staff by function, location, grade, experience, qualification, remuneration
  Existing rate of staff loss ("natural wastage")
  Overall standard of training and specific training standards in key roles
  Assessment of key "intangibles" - e.g. morale, business culture
  Changes required to resources - What changes to the organisation of the business are included in the strategy (e.g. change of location, new locations, new products)?
  What incremental human resources are required?
  How should they be sourced? (alternatives include employment, outsourcing, joint ventures etc.)

Physical Resources

The category of physical resources covers wide range of operational resources concerned with the physical capability to deliver a strategy. These include:
Production facilities - Location of existing production facilities; capacity; investment and maintenance requirements.

• 
  Current production processes - quality; method & organisation
  Extent to which production requirements of the strategy can be delivered by existing facilities
  Marketing facilities
  Marketing management process
  Distribution channels
  Information technology
  IT systems
  Integration with customers and suppliers
• 
  Intangible Resources

It is easy to ignore the intangible resources of a business when assessing how to deliver a strategy - but they can be crucial. Intangibles include:

• 
  Goodwill - The difference between the value of the tangible assets of the business and the actual value of the business (what someone would be prepared to pay for it)
  Reputation - Does the business have a track record of delivering on its strategic objectives? If so, this could help gather the necessary support from employees and suppliers
  Brands - Strong brands are often the key factor in whether a growth strategy is a success or failure
  Intellectual Property - Key commercial rights protected by patents and trademarks may be an important factor in the strategy.

Mission

Create in two years frame a safe smart networks and inside three to four years intelligent networks using the same business DNA patterns as intelligent molecules.

Mintzberg defines a mission as follows:"A mission describes the organisation's basic function in society, in terms of the products and services it produces for its customers".A clear business mission should have each of the following elements:
A Purpose Why does the business exist? Is it to create wealth for shareholders? Does it exist to satisfy the needs of all stakeholders (including employees, and society at large?)
A Strategy and Strategic Scope A mission statement provides the commercial logic for the business and so defines two things:
The products or services it offers (and therefore its competitive position) (What)
The competences through which it tries to succeed and its method of competing (Who)

A Business strategic scope defines the boundaries of its operations. (Where) These are set by management.For example, these boundaries may be set in terms of geography, market, business method, product etc. The decisions management make about strategic scope define the nature of the business.
Policies and Standards of Behaviour A mission needs to be translated into everyday actions. For example, if the business mission includes delivering "outstanding customer service", then policies and standards should be created and monitored that test delivery. These might include monitoring the speed with which telephone calls are answered in the sales call centre, the number of complaints received from customers, or the extent of positive customer feedback via questionnaires.
Values and Culture The values of a business are the basic, often un-stated, beliefs of the people who work in the business. These would include:
Business principles (e.g. social policy, commitments to customers)
Loyalty and commitment (e.g. are employees inspired to sacrifice their personal goals for the good of the business as a whole? And does the business demonstrate a high level of commitment and loyalty to its staff?)
Guidance on expected behavioura strong sense of mission helps create a work environment where there is a common purpose
What role does the mission statement play in marketing planning? In practice, a strong mission statement can help in three main ways:

• 
  It provides an outline of how the marketing plan should seek to fulfil the mission
  It provides a means of evaluating and screening the marketing plan; are marketing decisions consistent with the mission?
  It provides an incentive to implement the marketing plan

The center point for every missions is the fact : we have assumed the obligation to obtain profit otherwise doe's not exit any reason to exist as business. Our basic opinion is that the firm name represent the center of activity area all other lucrative areas will be centered to this.

strategic planning - setting objectives

Objectives set out what the business is trying to achieve.

Objectives can be set at two levels:
Corporate level These are objectives that concern the business or organisation as a whole.

• 
  We aim for a return on investment of at least 15%
  We aim to achieve an operating profit of over ÂŁ10 million on sales of at least ÂŁ100 million
  We aim to increase earnings per share by at least 10% every year for the foreseeable future

Functional level ( specific objectives for marketing activities) :

• 
  We aim to build customer database of at least 250,000 households within the next 12 months
  We aim to achieve a market share of 10%
  We aim to achieve 75% customer awareness of our brand in our target markets

The SMART criteria are summarised below:

• 
  Specific - the objective should state exactly what is to be achieved
  Measurable - an objective should be capable of measurement so that it is possible to determine whether (or how far) it has been achieved.
  Achievable - the objective should be realistic given the circumstances in which it is set and the resources available to the business.
  Relevant - objectives should be relevant to the people responsible for achieving them
  Time Bound - objectives should be set with a time-frame in mind. These deadlines also need to be realistic. (When)

strategic planning - values and vision

Values provide the justification of behaviour and, therefore, exert significant influence on marketing decisions.

networks s.r.l. - defining our values:

netwoks's activities are underpinned by a set of values that all netwoks people are asked to respect:

• We put customers first
  We are professional
  We respect each other
  We work as one team
  We are committed to continuous improvement.

These are supported by our vision of a communications-rich world - a world in which everyone can benefit from the power of communication skills and technology. A society in which individuals, organisations and communities have unlimited access to one another and to a world of knowledge, via a multiplicity of communications technologies including voice, data, mobile, internet - regardless of nationality, culture, class or education. Our job is to facilitate effective communication, irrespective of geography, distance, time or complexity. (Source: BT Group plc web site )
Why are values important? Many Japanese businesses have used the value system to provide the motivation to make them global market leaders. They have created an obsession about winning that is communicated at all levels of the business that has enabled them to take market share from competitors that appeared to be unassailable.For example, at the start of the 1970's Komatsu was less than one third the size of the market leader “ Caterpillar “ and relied on just one line of smaller bulldozers for most of its revenues. By the late 1980's it had passed Caterpillar as the world leader in earth-moving equipment. It had also adopted an aggressive diversification strategy that led it into markets such as industrial robots and semiconductors. If "values" shape the behaviour of a business, what is meant by "vision"?To succeed in the long term, businesses need a vision of how they will change and improve in the future. The vision of the business gives it energy. It helps motivate employees. It helps set the direction of corporate and marketing strategy. What are the components of an effective business vision? Davidson identifies six requirements for success:

• 
  Provides future direction
  Expresses a consumer benefit
  Is realistic
  Is motivating
  Must be fully communicated
  Consistently followed and measured
  

Information Architecture

Information Architecture (often abbreviated "IA") is the practice of structuring information (knowledge or data) for a purpose. These are often structured according to their context in user interactions or larger databases. (wick)

User Centered Design The practice of IA is heavily influenced by User Centered Design (AK UCD) principles, of designing the architecture around the needs and capabilities of the intended user audience. This is in contrast with more traditional/academic approaches of organizing information, where the focus is on some internal consistency or internal logic.

Opinion of IT professionals seems to be "To release the creative power of users in key roles to use new technologies to boost their personal productivity around collaboration, optimization, and being able to form views of the world, or their parts of it, to suit will require the active involvement of the traditional IT department and systems, otherwise dysfunctional chaos will be the result.

Technology

Step 1: Assessing Goals and Limitations

Clarify the goals and limitations (time, money, expertise) for this project.

Ask:

• Why are we doing this?
• What do we hope to accomplish?
• What has changed?

Skipping this step will lead to confusion and conflict later on.

Questions to ask include:

• Why do we want to move this material to the web?
• Increase user access (scalability)?
• Increase sustainability of the material?
• Improve marketing?
• Part of distance education initiative? Etc...
• What do we hope to accomplish by moving this material to the web?
• How does this project fit within our greater goals?
• Who will be in charge of the project and who will maintain the final website? (this may not be resolved until the next stage)
• What limitations (time, budget, expertise) constrain us?
• What expertise is available to us for this project?
• Are we serious about creating a quality online learning product?
• What has changed since the creation of the website?
• Has our targeted audience changed?
• Have the educational goals changed?
• Has the content become outdated?
• What did we do wrong in developing the website that we can correct now? (a detailed analysis will be conducted later)

This may all be done in a single meeting, if the goals and organizational structure are clear. However, in organizations that have not undertaken such a process before, the time is well spent to clarify these issues may be that the decision at this point is not to proceed, due to lack of funds, expertise, upper level buy-in, whatever. Being able to make that decision is part of the purpose of this step.

Step 2: Assembling a Team

Assembling the right team is the most critical task in the process.

At the minimum you will need the following expertise:

• instructional designer,
• web developer (HTML/JavaScript)
• information architect,
• web usability expert,
• graphic designer and subject matter experts (SME).

These experts can be grouped together by task to improve communication.

At the very least, your project team will need to include people with the following expertise:

• Instructional Design
• Web Development
• HTML & JavaScript
• Information Architecture
• Usability
• Accessibility
• Graphic Design for the Web
• Subject Matter

For more complex or ambitious projects, you may also need programmers, database managers, animators (Flash, Director), 3D modelers, streaming media experts, writers, editors, etc. However, one person may play several roles in the project. In our case, one person acted as information architect, web developer, and Flash animator, as well as second string instructional designer.

Step 3: Reviewing and Evaluating the site

In reviewing the existing site, examine how well the existing content, design and structure of the CD meet the goals and objectives for the project as established in Step 1. Determine what content can be transferred to the web "as is". Look for things that may have to be changed, expanded or removed entirely. Examination of websites with similar topics might also reveal important points for consideration.

Questions to ask:

• How are people going to navigate the site?
• Are there any logical groupings or hierarchies in the content?
• Is the site going to grow and change over time?
• What content should be available from every page?
• What can be done to clarify tasks and organization?
• Does the existing design use a static screen size or a graphical background?
• Is the design visually pleasing?
• Do we need to maintain brand identity from the old website to the new website?
• Does the site have clearly organized universal ("site") navigation tools available from all screens?
• What links should appear on every page?

Content

The content review should focus on the sufficiency (quality and quantity) and appropriateness of the existing content for publication on the web.

Sufficiency

Sufficiency describes quality and quantity of existing content as brought into the new website. Sufficiency issues arise when there is not enough content or the content is of less than the desired quality. This is an inherently subjective measurement: 3D animation that might astound a community member might not even make the first cut in a Hollywood production. If it satisfies your target audience, then it is good enough.

Questions to ask:

• Is the quality of this content (text, graphic, etc.) up to desired standards?
• Is there enough content here to accomplish our goals?

Appropriateness

On the web, user control is considered a paramount design principle. Animations, video and sounds are designed to be totally under user control. Users choose to play or not to play media elements and are able to control them at any point.

Questions to ask:

• How much bandwidth will this content use?
• Is there a way to communicate the same thing at a lower bandwidth?
• Do professional websites use this kind of content in this way?
• How would changing the media (e.g., from audio to text) affect the message?
• Does this content give the user control?
• How can we give the user greater control?

Step 4: Develop Information Architecture

Develop a list of content elements (pages), navigational elements (links). Group things together logically and develop an organizational structure from that.

1. A list of major content elements (most easily separated into web pages)
2. A list of major navigational elements (typically closely related to the pages)
3. A structure for organizing content and navigation

Content Elements

The list of content elements is simply a list of all the pages and page chunks to be included in the site.

Step 5a: Developing a Content Action List

Develop a detailed list of what existing content can be used as is, what existing content can be used with changes, what content will have to be recreated and what content is needed and does not exist.

• Existing content that isn't needed
• Existing content that can be used as is (sufficient and appropriate)
• Existing content that can be used with changes/additions Content that must be recreated or redeveloped (typically graphics, animations)
• Content that is needed but does not exist

This list will crystallize the status of the available content and will identify where the bulk of the content related work will be.

Step 5b: Develop/Edit Content Materials

• Develop and edit the content materials to be used in the site.
• Develop and maintain standards on editorial style, file naming, etc., and coordinate between content developers.On large projects, consistency and coordination can become a major issue.
• Standards for writing and editorial styles (spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.), file naming conventions, images, etc., should be created.

Content producers should be coordinated by the webmaster and/or designer.

Step 6: Develop Site Design

Step 7: Implement Site

Implementing the site is the process of actually building the site using the information architecture, site design and content developed in steps 4 through 6. This can be an extremely complex process, requiring extensive management and coordination. Refer to one of the many excellent references on website development (refs) for details on potential processes.

Step 8: Conduct User Testing

Ideally, formative evaluations should be taking place during the implementation phase to test the content and design of the site. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case in a small, non-corporate project. User testing might include one-on-one testing, ...

Step 9: Deploy Site

Once the user testing is completed, the site is ready to be released to the world. Unfortunately, simply uploading a site to the web doesn't guarantee any traffic. The greatest mistake you can make in the entire development process is not to have a clear, practical and realistic strategy for marketing your site. Information architecture brings together how people think with how systems work. It's a strategy and a discipline.