Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Making Money System

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) could chair the House Natural Resources Committee.The midterm elections aren't until next week, but Big Energy lobbyists have been in high gear for awhile now. They've been out there winning friends and influencing the people who can help them the most if the Republicans win the House. Like Doc Hastings.

That's what friends are for: Hastings is a Republican representative from Washington state and, if Republicans take over, the likely next chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Big Oil already loves the guy -- he was railing against the deep water drilling moratorium in the Gulf even before BP's oil stopped gushing. And he did all he could to slow Democratic efforts to impose new safety standards on offshore drillers. In short, Doc Hastings loves offshore drilling.

To make sure that he knows that the people who do the offshore drilling love him back, oil and gas interests have dropped $70,000 into his campaign coffers this election cycle compared to $10,000 last time around.

See, some things still work in Washington. [The New York Times]

And in other green news:

Gloom with a view: Republicans just got another piece of ammo in their upcoming campaign to reign in the EPA. The North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC) released a report warning that if the EPA is too aggressive in regulating pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions and closes power plants, it could "significantly impact" the power grid. NERC is funded by the energy industry, but it carries weight for its role in setting grid-reliability standards. The EPA says it's more industry doom and gloom and scare tactics. [The Hill]

Tales from the dark side: Before you start to buy into the notion that BP is a changed company, refresh your memory about how reckless the oil giant had been before the explosion in the Gulf last spring. A new ProPublica investigation paints the ugly picture:

The investigation found that as BP transformed itself into the world's third largest private oil company it methodically emphasized a culture of austerity in pursuit of corporate efficiency, lean budgets, and shareholder profits. It acquired large companies that it could not integrate smoothly. Current and former workers and executives said the company repeatedly cut corners, let alarm and safety systems languish, and skipped essential maintenance that could have prevented a number of explosions and spills. Internal BP documents support these claims.

You will run and you will like it: The Germans have finally made a splash in the electric car business. The makers of an Audi electric car say they've set a new world record by having it run 375 miles without recharging the battery. [Space Daily]

No days in the park: California's national parks could take a beating from climate change, from stunted redwoods to the disappearance of Joshua trees and Yosemite's waterfall. [San Francisco Chronicle]

That old black magic: Much is being made of China's big high-profile push into renewable energy. But is this a country that really believes it can get the coal monkey off its back? [Scientific American]

Going to shell: Scientists at the University of Calcutta have found that egg shells can absorb up to seven times their weight in carbon dioxide. And that's making them wonder if they can play some kind of role in capturing carbon. [E! Science News]

Bottle fatigue: No more bottled water at Seattle University -- not in cafeterias, not in concession stands, not in vending machines. Instead students are selling stainless steel water bottles with the goal of raising $2,000 to install a water-treatment system at a medical clinic in Haiti. [Seattle Times] And while we're on campus, students can now rent from UCLA's "Bike Library" a fully-equipped, eight-speed bike for only $35 a quarter. [Southern California Public Radio]

The aptly named Dick Armey is a real piece of work. As Think Progress noted, the former Speaker of the House turned Freedom Works astroturf teabagger leader came on Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker's new show on CNN and lied about the state of Texas benefiting from federal funding for higher education.

Dick Armey Wants To Completely Eliminate Any Federal Funding For Higher Education:

At one point, Spitzer asked Armey a series of questions about what he thinks the government should and should not be involved in funding to try to “add texture” to what the FreedomWorks chairman believes. During this question period, the CNN host asked Armey if he would “have the federal government pay for higher education?” Armey bluntly responded, “No, I would not.” He then went on to say that the university system of his home state of Texas has “not been made any better by federal money involvement.

Armey’s claim that the “federal government’s involvement in education” hasn’t “benefited the students of America” is wildly false.

Texas students are major benificiaries of this spending. Students in the state actually utilize federal student loans at a level above that of the average U.S. student. During the 2006-2007 school year, 83 percent of Texans utilized federal student loans, compared to 71 percent of Americans.

Spitzer did a good job of getting Dick Armey to lay out just what programs he and his corporate funded "Tea Party" would like to eliminate or drastically cut from federal government funding. Naturally military spending wasn't on the list, but Social Security privatization among a lot of other cuts to social programs were. These people like Dick Armey and his ilk aren't going to be happy until they turn us into a third world country with nothing but rich and poor. It was nice to see him get forced to lay out some specifics instead of just platitudes for once as he was in this interview, not that he was short on his usual platitudes as well as he answered. Big 'gubmit is evil, unless of course you privatize everything so it's used to just funnel money to your corporate funders and we need the "freedom" to pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

That works our pretty well for folks like Dick Armey who aren't living on a shoestring and have a lot of large corporate interests making sure he's never going to be hurting or worrying about how he's going to feed his family or pay his bills. For the rest of us, not so much. I wonder if Dick Armey knows what the minimum wage is? My bet is he either doesn't know, or doesn't care just like the rest of these Republicans who are trying to con the working class into thinking care about anything but the interests of big business. The only "freedoms" a Dick Armey cares about are the "freedoms" for corporations to force Americans to compete with slave wages overseas while funneling our tax dollars to the wealthiest among us who pay his bills to help spread their propaganda.

Transcript below the fold via CNN.

SPITZER: No, no, no, not the big words like that, but the specific policies you talk about. I want to see if we can get a better understanding of it and sort of see if we agree or disagree on some basic stuff.

You're talking about a radical redefinition of what government does and doesn't do. Fair to say?

(CROSSTALK)

PARKER: ... about what government...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKER: ... to be...

ARMEY: Perhaps there was a radical redefinition of what government does and doesn't do a couple hundred years ago. They called it the Constitution of the United States

SPITZER: Right. OK.

ARMEY: And it was a Constitution that limited government out of deference to the rights of the individual to his liberty

What we're trying to do is restore government back to the vision of our nation that made us the greatest blessing in history of the world

SPITZER: I understand you see it that way. I'm not disagreeing with that. I just want to see if we can add texture to what this means

ARMEY: OK.

SPITZER: Because when I read -- and I have read a lot of the documents. Let me give you some specific programs and say, would you fund them, all right, things that people can relate to? Would you have had the federal government build the interstate highway system?

ARMEY: Absolutely. And you can find that in Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations."

SPITZER: OK. All right. OK. Would you have had -- would you have the federal government pay for higher education? You're a university professor.

ARMEY: No, I would not

SPITZER: You would not have any funding, no government funding?

ARMEY: No. I don't think the federal government's involvement in higher education has benefited the students of America

(CROSSTALK)

ARMEY: Would you...

PARKER: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let him finish that thought, if you don't mind...

(CROSSTALK)

ARMEY: Well, the federal government has the military academies, and it's an important thing. They should continue to do that

But the education of our young people should be under the jurisdiction and under the auspices of the state governments. The state of Texas has a great university system that has not been made any better by federal government involvement

SPITZER: So, you would rip out all money that goes to the universities and say let the states increase their taxes to pay for it?

ARMEY: Let the states manage the education of their young people

SPITZER: Let's continue.

Centers for Disease Control to help make sure we...

(CROSSTALK)

ARMEY: Centers for Disease Control left in the hands of the scientists is probably a very important thing

SPITZER: So you would eliminate it, the Centers for Disease Control?

ARMEY: No, I did not. I would leave it in the hands of the scientists and I would tell the politicians to butt out. Let real who have real expertise make scientific decisions, medical decisions. Let's not have a bunch of political mandates issued by people who don't even understand..

(CROSSTALK)

SPITZER: I don't think that is what CDC does.

OK, how about NIH, National Institutes for Health, does all the research?

ARMEY: I think again that is probably acceptable opportunity to do some good with the federal government's taxpayer dollars, if they have the discipline to leave the agency to do its job on a professional basis, rather than corrupting it.

SPITZER: How about NASA? You going to fund NASA?

ARMEY: Oh, absolutely I would fund NASA. And I sure as heck would keep it focused on its initial mission

(CROSSTALK)

SPITZER: Now, in your book, and in all the Tea Party stuff, they say we're not cutting defense

ARMEY: I think, again, you can rationalize every agency. There are efficiencies to be made in defense, as there...

(CROSSTALK)

SPITZER: But you're saying we're not -- so, I'm just trying to figure out where you're cutting.

ARMEY: Defense is stipulated in the Constitution as a legitimate, necessary duty of the federal government

SPITZER: So, where are you cutting?

ARMEY: How about we cut out a lot of nonsense like National Endowment for the Humanities and Arts? And how about getting rid of AmeriCorps, which is just obnoxious?

SPITZER: AmeriCorps, OK.

ARMEY: Even intellectually, it's an insult to the American people

SPITZER: OK.

ARMEY: How about you get rid of the Corporation for National Broadcasting in that very nominal party of the budget which is called discretionary spending, which I would probably call indiscretionary spending?

Lyndon Johnson's Great Society transformed the budget of the United States government from 85 percent discretionary, 15 percent mandatory, to just the reverse. Now your ability to cut spending and to make the trims that are necessary to restore the government to service in the lives of the people is made very difficult because of the dominance of...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKER: One thing we should point out is that the congressman is also an economist. This is not just a political stump speech here.

ARMEY: This government cannot grow the private sector of the economy by itself, growing larger. It's like you have got a 200-pound jockey that thinks, if I just eat more and gain myself to 210, the horse will be able to win the race...

(CROSSTALK)

SPITZER: I like that metaphor...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKER: It seems pretty simple. I mean, we clearly can't afford everything we have got. We can't -- we have got to stop spending somewhere...

(CROSSTALK)

ARMEY: I will tell you what. I will give today's retirees and today's working youth a more hard, fast commitment for Social Security.

I will say to every child in America, every working man and woman in this country, I will guarantee you, you will have Social Security just as you know it today, with the only change being a cost of living adjustment that is commensurate with the consumer price index for the rest of your life, if you choose to stay in it.

SPITZER: OK.

ARMEY: But I will also give you the right to choose to leave it.

SPITZER: But you're saying something very important that I don't think most people are picking up on. What you're doing is changing the escalator in Social Security in a way that many people agree with.

ARMEY: That's right. And I'll tell you what.

SPITZER: I happen to agree with that.

ARMEY: I'm going to just say to the American people, if you choose to...

SPITZER: You already said you're going to do one of them.

ARMEY: If you, as a free-born individual person, choose to say, I want to leave this mandatory government program, you're free to leave. You're free to say no to the government.

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See, some things still work in Washington. [The New York Times]

And in other green news:

The investigation found that as BP transformed itself into the world's third largest private oil company it methodically emphasized a culture of austerity in pursuit of corporate efficiency, lean budgets, and shareholder profits. It acquired large companies that it could not integrate smoothly. Current and former workers and executives said the company repeatedly cut corners, let alarm and safety systems languish, and skipped essential maintenance that could have prevented a number of explosions and spills. Internal BP documents support these claims.

Dick Armey Wants To Completely Eliminate Any Federal Funding For Higher Education:

At one point, Spitzer asked Armey a series of questions about what he thinks the government should and should not be involved in funding to try to “add texture” to what the FreedomWorks chairman believes. During this question period, the CNN host asked Armey if he would “have the federal government pay for higher education?” Armey bluntly responded, “No, I would not.” He then went on to say that the university system of his home state of Texas has “not been made any better by federal money involvement.

Armey’s claim that the “federal government’s involvement in education” hasn’t “benefited the students of America” is wildly false.

Texas students are major benificiaries of this spending. Students in the state actually utilize federal student loans at a level above that of the average U.S. student. During the 2006-2007 school year, 83 percent of Texans utilized federal student loans, compared to 71 percent of Americans.

Transcript below the fold via CNN.

SPITZER: No, no, no, not the big words like that, but the specific policies you talk about. I want to see if we can get a better understanding of it and sort of see if we agree or disagree on some basic stuff.

You're talking about a radical redefinition of what government does and doesn't do. Fair to say?

(CROSSTALK)

PARKER: ... about what government...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKER: ... to be...

ARMEY: Perhaps there was a radical redefinition of what government does and doesn't do a couple hundred years ago. They called it the Constitution of the United States

SPITZER: Right. OK.

ARMEY: And it was a Constitution that limited government out of deference to the rights of the individual to his liberty

What we're trying to do is restore government back to the vision of our nation that made us the greatest blessing in history of the world

SPITZER: I understand you see it that way. I'm not disagreeing with that. I just want to see if we can add texture to what this means

ARMEY: OK.

SPITZER: Because when I read -- and I have read a lot of the documents. Let me give you some specific programs and say, would you fund them, all right, things that people can relate to? Would you have had the federal government build the interstate highway system?

ARMEY: Absolutely. And you can find that in Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations."

SPITZER: OK. All right. OK. Would you have had -- would you have the federal government pay for higher education? You're a university professor.

ARMEY: No, I would not

SPITZER: You would not have any funding, no government funding?

ARMEY: No. I don't think the federal government's involvement in higher education has benefited the students of America

(CROSSTALK)

ARMEY: Would you...

PARKER: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let him finish that thought, if you don't mind...

(CROSSTALK)

ARMEY: Well, the federal government has the military academies, and it's an important thing. They should continue to do that

But the education of our young people should be under the jurisdiction and under the auspices of the state governments. The state of Texas has a great university system that has not been made any better by federal government involvement

SPITZER: So, you would rip out all money that goes to the universities and say let the states increase their taxes to pay for it?

ARMEY: Let the states manage the education of their young people

SPITZER: Let's continue.

Centers for Disease Control to help make sure we...

(CROSSTALK)

ARMEY: Centers for Disease Control left in the hands of the scientists is probably a very important thing

SPITZER: So you would eliminate it, the Centers for Disease Control?

ARMEY: No, I did not. I would leave it in the hands of the scientists and I would tell the politicians to butt out. Let real who have real expertise make scientific decisions, medical decisions. Let's not have a bunch of political mandates issued by people who don't even understand..

(CROSSTALK)

SPITZER: I don't think that is what CDC does.

OK, how about NIH, National Institutes for Health, does all the research?

ARMEY: I think again that is probably acceptable opportunity to do some good with the federal government's taxpayer dollars, if they have the discipline to leave the agency to do its job on a professional basis, rather than corrupting it.

SPITZER: How about NASA? You going to fund NASA?

ARMEY: Oh, absolutely I would fund NASA. And I sure as heck would keep it focused on its initial mission

(CROSSTALK)

SPITZER: Now, in your book, and in all the Tea Party stuff, they say we're not cutting defense

ARMEY: I think, again, you can rationalize every agency. There are efficiencies to be made in defense, as there...

(CROSSTALK)

SPITZER: But you're saying we're not -- so, I'm just trying to figure out where you're cutting.

ARMEY: Defense is stipulated in the Constitution as a legitimate, necessary duty of the federal government

SPITZER: So, where are you cutting?

ARMEY: How about we cut out a lot of nonsense like National Endowment for the Humanities and Arts? And how about getting rid of AmeriCorps, which is just obnoxious?

SPITZER: AmeriCorps, OK.

ARMEY: Even intellectually, it's an insult to the American people

SPITZER: OK.

ARMEY: How about you get rid of the Corporation for National Broadcasting in that very nominal party of the budget which is called discretionary spending, which I would probably call indiscretionary spending?

Lyndon Johnson's Great Society transformed the budget of the United States government from 85 percent discretionary, 15 percent mandatory, to just the reverse. Now your ability to cut spending and to make the trims that are necessary to restore the government to service in the lives of the people is made very difficult because of the dominance of...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKER: One thing we should point out is that the congressman is also an economist. This is not just a political stump speech here.

ARMEY: This government cannot grow the private sector of the economy by itself, growing larger. It's like you have got a 200-pound jockey that thinks, if I just eat more and gain myself to 210, the horse will be able to win the race...

(CROSSTALK)

SPITZER: I like that metaphor...

(CROSSTALK)

PARKER: It seems pretty simple. I mean, we clearly can't afford everything we have got. We can't -- we have got to stop spending somewhere...

(CROSSTALK)

ARMEY: I will tell you what. I will give today's retirees and today's working youth a more hard, fast commitment for Social Security.

I will say to every child in America, every working man and woman in this country, I will guarantee you, you will have Social Security just as you know it today, with the only change being a cost of living adjustment that is commensurate with the consumer price index for the rest of your life, if you choose to stay in it.

SPITZER: OK.

ARMEY: But I will also give you the right to choose to leave it.

SPITZER: But you're saying something very important that I don't think most people are picking up on. What you're doing is changing the escalator in Social Security in a way that many people agree with.

ARMEY: That's right. And I'll tell you what.

SPITZER: I happen to agree with that.

ARMEY: I'm going to just say to the American people, if you choose to...

SPITZER: You already said you're going to do one of them.

ARMEY: If you, as a free-born individual person, choose to say, I want to leave this mandatory government program, you're free to leave. You're free to say no to the government.

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Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former News Corp. Digital Exec Ross ...

Shepard Smith Inks New Fox News Deal – Deadline.com

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2′ & '3′ For ...

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Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former News Corp. Digital Exec Ross ...

Shepard Smith Inks New Fox News Deal – Deadline.com

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2′ & '3′ For ...

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Exclusive: Yahoo Courts Former News Corp. Digital Exec Ross ...

Shepard Smith Inks New Fox News Deal – Deadline.com

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2′ & '3′ For ...

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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Forum Making Money

style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;">

“What’s needed most right now is creating the conditions where assistance is no longer needed.”

“Let’s move beyond the old, narrow debate over how much money we’re spending [on anti-poverty programs] and let’s instead focus on results—whether we’re actually making improvements in people’s lives.”

Those quotes would certainly resonate with proponents of reform to America’s welfare system—a massive labyrinth of 70 different programs whose rolls of dependents have increased steadily throughout the past 50 years, even as they have failed to boost a small percentage of impoverished families to self-sufficiency.id="more-44265">

The one exception to this trend was the successful reform incorporated in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program in 1996. Unlike the rest of the programs, TANF encouraged work and marriage and, as a result, put nearly 3 million families on a pathway to independence.

The quotes above would also be welcomed by grassroots leaders seeking a new paradigm for the remaining failed anti-poverty programs, which would involve personal responsibility, reciprocity, and an avenue to upward mobility following the model of the success accomplished through TANF.

Such reformers have been disappointed by recent policy changes under the Obama Administration that have even rolled back the TANF reform. The Obama policy changes have dictated that, once again, states should be rewarded for the size of their welfare rolls rather than their effectiveness in helping people rise from poverty.

But here’s the surprise: Those quotes are not the words of champions of welfare reform but are, in fact, comments made by President Obama during a recent U.N. forum discussing strategies for assistance to developing countries. If only the President would apply the sentiments he expresses on foreign aid to the poverty that exists in his own back yard!

Roundups, IT, deals

Evernote Snags Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins Goes Social, Zuckerberg Speaks Out, & More Bay-Area BizTech News

Wade Roush 10/25/10

Companies building cloud-based services got lots of attention last week, as did those building social applications. And companies building cloud-based social applications? Watch out!

—Evernote, the Mountain View, CA-based online notekeeping service with nearly 5 million users, collected another $20 million in venture backing in a Series C round led by new investor Sequoia Capital. I interviewed CEO Phil Libin about the investment.

—I took a close look at Zoho, the Pleasanton, CA-based company offering small and medium-sized businesses free and low-cost alternatives to desktop productivity software such as Microsoft Office and even newer cloud-based services like Salesforce.com.

—While the Apple iPad may lack a camera, there’s no shortage of cool photo apps for the device, and I reviewed 10 of them in my regular Friday column.

—Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced the formation of the sFund, a $250 million fund that will be used to invest in startups building social Web applications. Facebook, Amazon, and Zynga each put some money into the kitty.

—I profiled AudioPress, a San Francisco startup that recently launched a versatile audio management app for the iPhone. The app lets users organize podcasts, streaming radio, and spoken-word articles into personalized playlists.

—San Francisco-based Siluria Technologies, which is developing a way to make natural gas into ethylene as a precursor for many types of plastics, raised $13.3 million in a Series A venture round, as Luke reported. Alloy Ventures, Arch Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Altitude Life Sciences Ventures, Lux Capital, and Presidio Ventures participated.

—I Went to Startup School, and All I Got Was This Lousy Video. Just kidding—I had a great time attending Y Combinator’s Startup School event at Stanford on October 16, and as a bonus I was able to make of video recording of a 30-minute interview between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Y Combinator partner Jessica Livingston. Zuckerberg talked about what the makers of The Social Network got right, and what they weren’t so careful about.

—As a follow-up to my column two weeks ago comparing two leading run-tracking apps, Abvio’s Runmeter and FitnessKeeper’s RunKeeper, I staged a virtual “smackdown” between Abvio co-founder Steve Kusmer and FitnessKeeper founder Jason Jacobs.

—San Francisco’s Crosslink Capital participated in a $12.5 million Series B financing round for SiOnyx, a Beverly, MA-based company working on a method for making “black silicon,” a highly photosensitive form of silicon that could eventually be used in image sensors for camera phones, as Greg reported.

—In other tech deals news, Sharethrough raised $5 million, Causes raised $9 million, Revolution Analytics raised $8.6 million, and Kontiki raised $10.7 million.

—In Xconomy news, we announced our first-ever San Francisco event: a public forum with Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital. Moritz is widely respected as one of the leading venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, and I’ll be interviewing him on stage at San Francisco’s Kicklabs on Tuesday November 30. You can register for the event now.

Wade Roush is Xconomy's chief correspondent and editor of Xconomy San Francisco. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com, call him at 415-796-3024, or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/wroush. You can subscribe to his Google Group and you can follow all Xconomy San Francisco stories at twitter.com/xconomysf.

RDR standalone DLC disc dated News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of RDR standalone DLC disc dated. ... Red Dead Redemption Review . Latest Videos. RDR: Undead Nightmare trailer 1 October, 2010. RDR: Legends & Killers DLC 6 August, 2010. Latest News ...

"Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our Xbox 360 news of. ... "Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Related content. Latest WarDevil: Unleash the Beast Within screenshots; News WarDevil trailer set for Tokyo ; News Digi-Guys shows off gorgeous Xbox 2 war game ...

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning! We have a full day of Kansas City Chiefs news. O-line love and praise for the running game and a shout out to DJ are ahead. There are also a few articles on the Buffalo offense and how productive they've been recently.

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RDR standalone DLC disc dated News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

"Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

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style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;">

“What’s needed most right now is creating the conditions where assistance is no longer needed.”

Roundups, IT, deals

Evernote Snags Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins Goes Social, Zuckerberg Speaks Out, & More Bay-Area BizTech News

Wade Roush 10/25/10

Companies building cloud-based services got lots of attention last week, as did those building social applications. And companies building cloud-based social applications? Watch out!

—While the Apple iPad may lack a camera, there’s no shortage of cool photo apps for the device, and I reviewed 10 of them in my regular Friday column.

—In other tech deals news, Sharethrough raised $5 million, Causes raised $9 million, Revolution Analytics raised $8.6 million, and Kontiki raised $10.7 million.

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RDR standalone DLC disc dated News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

"Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

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RDR standalone DLC disc dated News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

"Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

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RDR standalone DLC disc dated News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

"Xbox 2" game WarDevil canned Xbox 360 News - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 10/26 - Arrowhead Pride

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Friday, October 22, 2010

personal financeonline personal finance

Sharp to stop selling and manufacturing PCs from now on ...

The good news however, is that Sharp will continue to provide ultra compact devices including their Netwalker series. Also, Sharp underline that this is just a “Strategic” move from now on and that the company may one day come back into ...

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Fashion, sports and magic: Moscow expats talk news over booze - RT

New Moscow Mayor, Russian Fashion Week and the Spartak – Chelsea match were among the most heavily discussed news items this week among Moscow expats.

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Sharp to stop selling and manufacturing PCs from now on ...

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Fashion, sports and magic: Moscow expats talk news over booze - RT

New Moscow Mayor, Russian Fashion Week and the Spartak – Chelsea match were among the most heavily discussed news items this week among Moscow expats.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

About Making Money

About a week ago, we noted that Verizon was gearing up to launch its own app store for Android phones. This app store, called V CAST Apps, would be completely separate from Android’s existing Market for apps. In other words, it’s Verizon kicking their partner Google in the man region.

Of course, we all knew neither side would spin it that way. And sure enough, today we have Verizon’s take. During their Verizon Developer Community Conference earlier this afternoon, the company took the time to respond to the charges that they were taking over control of Android devices with maneuvers such as this. Jkontherun has a good overview of what was said, but Verizon itself was tweeting key parts. Here’s my favorite:

V CAST Apps is NOT out to take over the phone. It’s about choice, and about simplicy – carrier-billing — and quality — great apps.

Oh Jesus. Here we go again. It’s not about control or money — no, of course not. It’s about “choice”. Excuse me while I vomit in my mouth.

Does anyone really believe that Verizon really cares about choice here? What they care about is not ”becoming a commodity connectivity provider,” as James Kendrick puts it. And that’s fair enough, there’s nothing wrong with a company wanting to be successful and maintain their success. But I’m sick of this spin that all of this is for the betterment of all. Verizon cares about making money just like every other company and that’s why they’re doing this.

But there are two main reasons I have a problem with all of this. First, Verizon has proven itself to be incapable of making a decent consumer experience. I’ll refer back to my experience with the Motorola RAZR which was delayed for many months so Verizon could load it up with their crap UI and V CAST junk. And now we’re seeing it with the Droid Verizon phones. They’re packed to the gills with garbage compliments of Verizon. There is no question that Google needs to improve the Android Market experience, but as the creators of Android, I have much more faith in them doing that than with Verizon circumventing it.

Second, here’s what really annoys me: believe it or not, I really like the idea of Android. I love the idea of an OS ecosystem that works across a range of carriers. In the U.S., Apple isn’t doing this, Android is. I like anything that gives the carriers less power. The problem is that Verizon is now using Android’s openness to ruin that approach.

Verizon is essentially making Verizon Android phones different from all other Android phones. Say I buy an app through the V CAST app store then a year down the line I buy another Android device on Sprint. Guess what? It won’t work on the new device. This was supposed to be an open ecosystem — instead, it’s turning out to be very, very fragmented. We’re seeing now that a Verizon Android phone and a Sprint Android phone will soon only share a bit of branding in common. The harmonious ecosystem is being razed.

And all of this doesn’t seem to bode well for the prospects of a Verizon iPhone. Does anyone believe for a second that Apple is going to let Verizon open their own app store on the iPhone? Not a chance. They’ll be lucky if they get a V Cast content app pre-loaded on there — you can bet Apple doesn’t even want that. So why would Verizon want to have anything to do with a device that will turn them into the “commodity connectivity provider” when Google is giving them the keys to the castle?

And so, despite the best efforts of Apple and Google over the past few years, the carriers are now striking back. And it’s us, the consumers, who will lose as a result. How’s that for “choice”?

[image: Warner Bros.]

After a ban on baked goods, city public schools were left with the option of selling "healthy" treats like Pop Tarts and reduced-fat Doritos for a boost in revenue. Except that isn't exactly working either. Due to a dispute between the Department of Education and the City Comptroller, commissions from at least $540,000 in profits have been kept from the schools.

The Comptroller's office says the DOE was hasty to install the vending machines before they had a chance to investigate possible collusion between the vendors, Answer Vending and CC Vending. A spokesman told the Post, "We will not register any contract that does not meet all legal, procedural and fiscal requirements." But the DOE says the Comptroller has unnecessarily delayed approving the contracts, which could put the city's children in danger of being utterly snackless.

School officials are griping being stuck in the middle of the vending war, and just wish they could get their hands on the 25% of proceeds they were promised. Bayside High School PTA Co-president Dave Solano said, "If they're not getting the schools the money, but the vendors are getting access to the schools, that's not right." A Brooklyn principal wishes they could go back to the way things were, when the school was making $1,000 from a contract with Snapple. Of course, nobody would have to worry about contracts if kids could just hold bake sales, but then they'd get fat! (Though it's not like their parents would notice.)

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Mavericks to give McCants a look-see | Dallas Mavericks Blog ...

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V CAST Apps is NOT out to take over the phone. It’s about choice, and about simplicy – carrier-billing — and quality — great apps.

Oh Jesus. Here we go again. It’s not about control or money — no, of course not. It’s about “choice”. Excuse me while I vomit in my mouth.

[image: Warner Bros.]

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Mavericks to give McCants a look-see | Dallas Mavericks Blog ...

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V CAST Apps is NOT out to take over the phone. It’s about choice, and about simplicy – carrier-billing — and quality — great apps.

Oh Jesus. Here we go again. It’s not about control or money — no, of course not. It’s about “choice”. Excuse me while I vomit in my mouth.

[image: Warner Bros.]

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Photo of the Week: iPhone 3GS in Shanghai | iLounge News

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Loopt adds Facebook Places integration | iLounge News

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Mavericks to give McCants a look-see | Dallas Mavericks Blog ...

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I know many people are wondering how to make money online with Google. Some of you may already be familiar with my first article How to Make Money on Google and many may be familiar with my blog Chatter Melody where I display tips on making money online and other various updates. Many of the tips I stated in my How to Make Money on Google still apply but I have did some research would love to reveal more secrets about Making Money with Google.

Google is a complicated company with many different associations and divisions. Making money with Google can take place free of charge. Google is associated with Blogger . People trying to make money on internet can use Blogger to create a webpage. Blogger is absolutely free of charge. Blogger allows you to create webpage with any content of your choosing. With a webpage through Blogger you can use Google ad sense while also using other third party affiliate advertising. For example if you are writing a blog about sports you can do some third party advertisement for Champions through www.Linkshare.com.

I know you are now saying how I will advertise my new Blog on the internet. Your new blog can be advertised through a number of channels for free. One way to advertise a blog is the same way I am advertising my blog through writing for Associated Content or other writing companies like Associated Content including hyperlinks to my blog Chatter Melody.

Another is through social media such as Twitter, providing updates to hot topics and including a link to your blog will get you some great views. Never underestimate the power of networking, I gotten some of my connection through networking on and offline. Get as many accounts with social media outlet because they are valuable and many of your views will come from social media.

Another is sending press releases. This will get your blog more hits on the search engine. Press releases are free with most companies. Some of the companies will show you how to write a press release. Here are a few place allow you to send out press releases for free.

• PR.com

• PR9.net

• Free Press Release

Here is a directory of different press release companies. Big list of Free Press Release

Hopefully this will provide some help to getting your blog up and visitors to your blog.

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Mavericks to give McCants a look-see | Dallas Mavericks Blog ...

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Photo of the Week: iPhone 3GS in Shanghai | iLounge News

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Friday, October 15, 2010

How to Making Money

One of the big problems during the financial crisis was a bank run in the shadow banking system when doubts emerged about the safety of deposits.

In my last column at the Fiscal Times, I talked about an approach to solving the problem that involves having deposits in the shadow system backed (insured) by high quality collateral.

But high quality collateral is not the only option. Another way to do this is through a type of insurance along the lines of what the FDIC does for the traditional banking system, along with restrictions on eligibility for the insurance. In reaction to my column, and in support of the insurance approach, Morgan Ricks of Harvard Law School emails:

I enjoyed your Fiscal Times piece and am glad you're focused on this issue.

I'm a big admirer of Gary and Andrew's work, but I would encourage you to give some more thought to whether collateral requirements for repo are likely to do the trick. Here are a few things to consider:

Many of the short-term liabilities of the shadow banking system were and are uncollateralized (think about Lehman's reliance on unsecured commercial paper -- the default of which caused the Reserve Fund to "break the buck," igniting the run on money market funds; and Citigroup's SIVs, which financed themselves in the unsecured markets).

Money market investors do not want to take possession of collateral and dispose of it. Even if the collateral is high quality, they don't want the interest rate risk. That's not their business. They don't want to deal with the consequences of a counterparty default. This is why, in the crisis, many money market investors stopped rolling even those repos that were fully secured by Treasuries and agencies:

See Chris Cox's testimony on Bear Stearns (here http://www.sec.gov/news/testimony/2008/ts040308cc.htm): "For the first time, a major investment bank that was well-capitalized and apparently fully liquid experienced a crisis of confidence that denied it not only unsecured financing, but short-term secured financing, even when the collateral consisted of agency securities with a market value in excess of the funds to be borrowed"

See also FRBNY's repo task force report (here http://www.newyorkfed.org/prc/report_100517.pdf): “Discussions in the Task Force emphasized repeatedly that many Cash Investors focus primarily if not almost exclusively on counterparty concerns and that they will withdraw secured funding on the same or very similar timeframes as they would withdraw unsecured funding.”

Even if collateral requirements reduce the likelihood of runs, how do we calibrate them -- what is the objective function? Presumably we think maturity transformation (fractional reserve banking) is a good thing -- it increases the supply of loanable funds by pooling otherwise idle cash reserves and deploying them toward productive investments. Risk constraints (such as collateral requirements) necessarily reduce this surplus -- there is a real social cost. How do we appraise the corresponding benefit? That is, how do we estimate the systemic instability associated with any given level of collateral requirements? My argument is that we can't. And by "we" I mean not just the government, but anybody.

My paper argues that we avoid these problems with an insurance regime; that financial firms outside the insurance regime should be disallowed from conducting maturity transformation (i.e., they would have to rely on term funding, not money market funding); and that we should develop functional criteria of eligibility for the insurance regime. (By the way, this is not the same thing as "extending" insurance to shadow banks.)

Anyway, these are things worth thinking about. I think the insurance approach needs more serious consideration than it has received -- it's a little lonely over here ...

Best,

Morgan Ricks

See here for nice summary of this approach and link to the underlying academic paper.

Submitted by Options Trading Signals

Learn How Out-of-the-Money Butterflies Create Profits Trading SPX

Over the past few weeks the broad stock market has seemingly grown
increasingly more bullish. Market pundits, traders, and even high
profile money managers are stating publicly that the easy trade over the
next few years will simply be being long high quality stocks. While
time may prove these managers wise, it is likely a bit early to be that
bullish.

As a trader, our job is to create profits consistently regardless of
price action. The best traders are masters of blocking out the noise and
emotion, and letting various forms of data guide their decision making.
At this point in time the bulls have the bears pushed against key
resistance at the SPX 1150 area. However, the bears have their eyes set
on the 1130 level and from there the key SPX 1040 support area.

If the S&P 500 breaks out over the 1150 area with strong volume
we could move higher to test recent highs; however, if the 1040 area
were to give way to the bears the bullish parade would end. At this
point in time, it is too early to tell which side is going to win this
battle. The monthly chart of SPX tells the entire story.

Until proven otherwise, my bias is to the downside. What might
surprise most readers is the reasoning behind my thinking. My
expectation of lower prices has nothing to do with macro economic
conditions, it has nothing to do with unprecedented intervention that we
have witnessed by the United States federal government, and it has
nothing to do with housing numbers. The reasoning behind potentially
lower prices is simple, defined risk. The SPX chart above and even the
daily chart listed below are both indicative that the SPX 1150 area is a
critical psychological level for market participants. We are literally
at a precipice right here, right now.

When major resistance or support is very near the current spot price
of any underlying, typically low risk/reward setups can be found. After
spinning through several ideas and option strategies, an out of the
money butterfly spread seemingly made a lot of sense. The out of the
money butterfly spread would benefit from the passage of time and would
not be as exposed to a comeuppance in volatility. This strategy could
produce a great potential return for a defined amount of risk.

After some brief analysis, the best proxy was using the Spider ETF
SPY as opposed to the SPX index. The bid/ask spreads are quite wide on
SPX at times, particularly when volatility is rising. Consequently, it
can be arduous to get decent fills from the SPX market makers in rapidly
moving market conditions which seem to be the norm recently. Besides
the normal option expiration on monthly or quarterly basis, options that
expire every week have grown in popularity recently. A primary reason
why volumes have exploded is due to the weekly expirations routine
offering of unbelievable risk/reward setups, particularly through the
utilization of Theta (time) decay trading setups.

After running through various expiration dates, it made since to
utilize the October weekly options that expire on Friday, October 8.
Since I have a bias to the downside, I used an out of the money put
butterfly. Traditional butterflies are typically written where the
current price is straddled by the wings of the butterfly spread. In an
out of the money butterfly, an option trader places the entire position
out of the money. It helps reduce the cost of the butterfly, and because
the option contracts are out of the money, they are not impacted as
harshly by rising volatility. In addition, these out of the money
butterflies usually have very attractive risk/reward characteristics.

SPY was trading around $114.13/share at the close on Thursday, so the
out of the money butterfly I constructed had the following strikes:
Long 1 OCT WKLY. SPY 108 Put / Short 2 OCT WKLY. SPY 111 Puts / Long 1
OCT WKLY. SPY 114 Put. Here is a snapshot of the SPY October weekly
option chain as of the close Thursday:

The Thursday closing option prices are as follows for the butterfly
mentioned above: SPY 108 Put = $18/contract; SPY 111 Put = $37/contract;
SPY 114 Put = $127/contract. The total cost to place the out of the
money SPY weekly put butterfly would have been $71 per side (not
including commissions). The maximum gain at expiration on this trade
would be a close at $111/share on SPY and it would produce a profit
around $225 (not including commission).

Clearly we would not expect to achieve the maximum gain, but this
trade would produce a profit if SPY closed between $108.70/share and
$113.30/share at expiration (October 8). The profitability chart is
below; keep in mind that the red line is the valuation at expiration and
the white line would be the profit based on that particular day.

Obviously market conditions throughout the trading day Friday and
next week will alter the prices and implied volatility of this trade.
This should not be viewed as a trade that should be taken, but an
example of what kind of returns are possible for option traders that
want to use out of the butterflies with a directional bias.

The most exciting thing about a trade like this is that the trader
can crisply define his/her risk. When the maximum risk is a specified
amount, managing risk becomes almost arbitrary. A trader simply
determines how much he/she is willing to risk/lose, and simply places
the trade. A mere $142 risk could produce a potential profit well over
$450! Keep in mind, that should price move within the confines of the
outer strikes (wings) of the butterfly, it might make sense to take
profits depending on the size of a trader’s position. Typically I like
to take profits once price action has produced a gain of 10-20%
depending on market conditions, time frame, and the strategy that I am
using. After taking profits, I typically utilize contingent stop orders
for the remainder of my position and manage it accordingly.

There are additional manipulations that could be made if price looked
like it were going to break below the 108 strike level that would allow
this trade to either remain essentially flat or potentially profit even
more. Additionally, a similar trade using calls could be placed using
the weekly call strikes 115/118/121 for a trader who was bullish.
Regardless of a trader’s directional bias, the beauty of options is not
only their ability to produce setups where risk is clearly defined, but
the potential to manipulate a position in real time allows for
fluctuations in price action or market conditions.

As for the direction of the market, who knows what the next six
trading sessions will bring. Sometimes not trading is the best trade,
but if you absolutely feel you must have some exposure, keep positions
small, risk exposure tight, and do not hesitate to take profits – easier
trades lie ahead.

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One of the big problems during the financial crisis was a bank run in the shadow banking system when doubts emerged about the safety of deposits.

In my last column at the Fiscal Times, I talked about an approach to solving the problem that involves having deposits in the shadow system backed (insured) by high quality collateral.

I enjoyed your Fiscal Times piece and am glad you're focused on this issue.

I'm a big admirer of Gary and Andrew's work, but I would encourage you to give some more thought to whether collateral requirements for repo are likely to do the trick. Here are a few things to consider:

Many of the short-term liabilities of the shadow banking system were and are uncollateralized (think about Lehman's reliance on unsecured commercial paper -- the default of which caused the Reserve Fund to "break the buck," igniting the run on money market funds; and Citigroup's SIVs, which financed themselves in the unsecured markets).

Money market investors do not want to take possession of collateral and dispose of it. Even if the collateral is high quality, they don't want the interest rate risk. That's not their business. They don't want to deal with the consequences of a counterparty default. This is why, in the crisis, many money market investors stopped rolling even those repos that were fully secured by Treasuries and agencies:

See Chris Cox's testimony on Bear Stearns (here http://www.sec.gov/news/testimony/2008/ts040308cc.htm): "For the first time, a major investment bank that was well-capitalized and apparently fully liquid experienced a crisis of confidence that denied it not only unsecured financing, but short-term secured financing, even when the collateral consisted of agency securities with a market value in excess of the funds to be borrowed"

See also FRBNY's repo task force report (here http://www.newyorkfed.org/prc/report_100517.pdf): “Discussions in the Task Force emphasized repeatedly that many Cash Investors focus primarily if not almost exclusively on counterparty concerns and that they will withdraw secured funding on the same or very similar timeframes as they would withdraw unsecured funding.”

Even if collateral requirements reduce the likelihood of runs, how do we calibrate them -- what is the objective function? Presumably we think maturity transformation (fractional reserve banking) is a good thing -- it increases the supply of loanable funds by pooling otherwise idle cash reserves and deploying them toward productive investments. Risk constraints (such as collateral requirements) necessarily reduce this surplus -- there is a real social cost. How do we appraise the corresponding benefit? That is, how do we estimate the systemic instability associated with any given level of collateral requirements? My argument is that we can't. And by "we" I mean not just the government, but anybody.

My paper argues that we avoid these problems with an insurance regime; that financial firms outside the insurance regime should be disallowed from conducting maturity transformation (i.e., they would have to rely on term funding, not money market funding); and that we should develop functional criteria of eligibility for the insurance regime. (By the way, this is not the same thing as "extending" insurance to shadow banks.)

Anyway, these are things worth thinking about. I think the insurance approach needs more serious consideration than it has received -- it's a little lonely over here ...

Best,

Morgan Ricks

See here for nice summary of this approach and link to the underlying academic paper.

Submitted by Options Trading Signals

Learn How Out-of-the-Money Butterflies Create Profits Trading SPX

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Fox News Ratings | Chilean Mine Rescue | Chile - Cable News | Mediaite

News - Angelina Jolie to Critics: "Hold Judgment" Until You Have ...

She fires back at reports that her directorial debut centers on a rape victim who falls for her captor.

White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons? | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons?. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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One of the big problems during the financial crisis was a bank run in the shadow banking system when doubts emerged about the safety of deposits.

In my last column at the Fiscal Times, I talked about an approach to solving the problem that involves having deposits in the shadow system backed (insured) by high quality collateral.

I enjoyed your Fiscal Times piece and am glad you're focused on this issue.

I'm a big admirer of Gary and Andrew's work, but I would encourage you to give some more thought to whether collateral requirements for repo are likely to do the trick. Here are a few things to consider:

Many of the short-term liabilities of the shadow banking system were and are uncollateralized (think about Lehman's reliance on unsecured commercial paper -- the default of which caused the Reserve Fund to "break the buck," igniting the run on money market funds; and Citigroup's SIVs, which financed themselves in the unsecured markets).

Money market investors do not want to take possession of collateral and dispose of it. Even if the collateral is high quality, they don't want the interest rate risk. That's not their business. They don't want to deal with the consequences of a counterparty default. This is why, in the crisis, many money market investors stopped rolling even those repos that were fully secured by Treasuries and agencies:

See Chris Cox's testimony on Bear Stearns (here http://www.sec.gov/news/testimony/2008/ts040308cc.htm): "For the first time, a major investment bank that was well-capitalized and apparently fully liquid experienced a crisis of confidence that denied it not only unsecured financing, but short-term secured financing, even when the collateral consisted of agency securities with a market value in excess of the funds to be borrowed"

See also FRBNY's repo task force report (here http://www.newyorkfed.org/prc/report_100517.pdf): “Discussions in the Task Force emphasized repeatedly that many Cash Investors focus primarily if not almost exclusively on counterparty concerns and that they will withdraw secured funding on the same or very similar timeframes as they would withdraw unsecured funding.”

Even if collateral requirements reduce the likelihood of runs, how do we calibrate them -- what is the objective function? Presumably we think maturity transformation (fractional reserve banking) is a good thing -- it increases the supply of loanable funds by pooling otherwise idle cash reserves and deploying them toward productive investments. Risk constraints (such as collateral requirements) necessarily reduce this surplus -- there is a real social cost. How do we appraise the corresponding benefit? That is, how do we estimate the systemic instability associated with any given level of collateral requirements? My argument is that we can't. And by "we" I mean not just the government, but anybody.

My paper argues that we avoid these problems with an insurance regime; that financial firms outside the insurance regime should be disallowed from conducting maturity transformation (i.e., they would have to rely on term funding, not money market funding); and that we should develop functional criteria of eligibility for the insurance regime. (By the way, this is not the same thing as "extending" insurance to shadow banks.)

Anyway, these are things worth thinking about. I think the insurance approach needs more serious consideration than it has received -- it's a little lonely over here ...

Best,

Morgan Ricks

See here for nice summary of this approach and link to the underlying academic paper.

Submitted by Options Trading Signals

Learn How Out-of-the-Money Butterflies Create Profits Trading SPX

bench craft company reviews

benchcraft company portland or

Fox News Ratings | Chilean Mine Rescue | Chile - Cable News | Mediaite

News - Angelina Jolie to Critics: "Hold Judgment" Until You Have ...

She fires back at reports that her directorial debut centers on a rape victim who falls for her captor.

White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons? | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons?. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Fox News Ratings | Chilean Mine Rescue | Chile - Cable News | Mediaite

News - Angelina Jolie to Critics: "Hold Judgment" Until You Have ...

She fires back at reports that her directorial debut centers on a rape victim who falls for her captor.

White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons? | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons?. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Fox News Ratings | Chilean Mine Rescue | Chile - Cable News | Mediaite

News - Angelina Jolie to Critics: "Hold Judgment" Until You Have ...

She fires back at reports that her directorial debut centers on a rape victim who falls for her captor.

White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons? | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons?. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Fox News Ratings | Chilean Mine Rescue | Chile - Cable News | Mediaite

News - Angelina Jolie to Critics: "Hold Judgment" Until You Have ...

She fires back at reports that her directorial debut centers on a rape victim who falls for her captor.

White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons? | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons?. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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benchcraft company scam
benchcraft company scam

Fox News Ratings | Chilean Mine Rescue | Chile - Cable News | Mediaite

News - Angelina Jolie to Critics: "Hold Judgment" Until You Have ...

She fires back at reports that her directorial debut centers on a rape victim who falls for her captor.

White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons? | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the White iPhone 4 delay due to mismatched Home buttons?. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Making money with books is very possible and profitable if you know what you are doing,and what you want to achieve. SO...If you want to make money with books/using books then here are a few ideas and suggestions to get you started:

1.Buy and sell used books -Make money by buying and selling used books, you could sell the books on as wholesale or as retail/individually. Sell through word of mouth, networking and in your local press and media.

2.Be a bookfinder - this is whereby you find and source books out for individuals, businesses or both. You find the book or books in question and then earn a sourcing fee for your hard work. How about advertising your services and charges in your local press and media and seeing how it goes.

3.Become freelance bookseller - For example you could work for independent book stores, book shops, small publishers and so on. Earn commission on every order you win or every sale you make . P.S there is nothing stopping you from being a bookseller for more than one company, unless of course you are tied into a deal or arrangement that states otherwise.

4.Become a book publisher - How about making money out of other peoples work. You publish peoples manuscripts, books and so on, and either make money by charging them for this service or you make money by selling the books yourself.

5.Be a book printer - How about making money by printing books for small publishing houses and new authors. You could maybe even offer an all in one service whereby you proofread, edit and print.

TOP TIPS FOR MAKING MONEY WITH BOOKS

1.Always create goals and targets and reach them. Its no good just wanting to sell books, ideally you need to know how many you need to sell to be profitable, so setting targets is essential to being profitable.

2.Know your market. Its no good trying to sell or buy anything in a market that you are unsure of, so make sure you carry out and conduct your research before jumping in at the deep end.

3.Be patient. Making money usually doesn't happen overnight, so be patient, plan and be prepared. Remember that nothing is certain or guaranteed so seize every opportunity that you can.

4.Dont take on too much - By this I mean stick to what you want to do with books, focus on it, make money with it and then move onto your next idea, for example don't try to be a book printer, publisher and seller all at once. You will probably end up losing more money than you make.

As you can see there are more than a few ways that you can make money with books, or by using books. Remember to be creative and focused, seize opportunities, and good luck with whatever you decide to do I wish you every success.

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