Controversies Surround Credit Card Interchange Fees

Credit Card Applications > Credit Card News > Controversies Surround Credit Card Interchange Fees
[12:00:00 AM Saturday, October 31, 2009]

Controversies Surround Credit Card Interchange Fees

Some victims of interchange fees demonstrated in the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. These interchange fees are the amount which the customer pays to the banks and card networks. The protesters are calling the government to limit these fees.

Credit card interchange fees have increased in recent years. There were bills passed to limit these fees. Now merchants can collect lower fees from the credit card companies and they are also permitted to give discounts to their customers when they will pay in cash.

However some big companies said that interchange fees are needed for the funding of electronic payments innovation that could give more convenience to their customers. But as a customer you should know these myths about interchange fees.

The first myth is merchants are using interchange fees to get more money. This is not true because the real people who benefit from the increasing interchange fees are the banks. As Zoe Lofgren said, banks are greedy. The very large companies are posting higher interchange fees to gain more profits.

Some credit cards companies can also be blamed. Interchange fees solicited were used to pay pieces of junk mails. However, credit card experts that this activity is not acceptable. A credit card expert says that there is no correlation of the interchange fee and the numbers of mailings the customers get.

The intense competitions among the card companies drive the interchange fees to get high.

So interchange fees are often used to fund the rewards programs that come with certain cards.

It is more expensive for small neighborhood banks and credit unions, for example, to provide credit transactions because they get fees from much fewer transactions than the big banks.

The second myth is that people know where their savings go if the interchange fees are regulated. Some form of arguments said that lower fees are the only means of getting more from the customers. Last 2002, the Reserve Bank of Australia applied a cap on interchange fees and also allowed stores to surcharge customers who use cards-policies similar to what is being considered in the United States. The U.S. Government Accountability Office however found out that no evidence supports that lower interchange fees can reduce retail prices.

The third myth about the interchange fees is that limiting fees is the only answer. There are still burdens that can arise without directly prohibiting fees over certain levels. There should be transparency between the credit card issuers and merchants about their payment agreements.

Currently, when a business owner signs an agreement to be able to use credit card payment in his or her store, the agreement restricts the owner from disclosing the size of the fee or from giving a discount to customers who pay in cash.

There was a bill proposed by Peter Welch, Congressman from Vermont that would let credit card companies to reveal their interchange rates and terms to their customers. It would allow great flexibility in business pricing.

Such a change, however, wouldn't do much to benefit customers who like to keep cash to a minimum. But it's not just Washington that could do something to reduce the burden of interchange fees. States and localities could do it too.

25 Blogs To Help You Stay Current With Social Media | FreelanceFolder

25 Blogs To Help You Stay Current With Social Media

Posted November 24, 2009 in How-To, Tools/Resources 87 Comments »

social-media-blogs-to-read


Most of us agree that social media is valuable — but keeping up with the latest trends can be difficult given the speed at which social media is growing and changing.

The big sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are easy to folllow, but there are many others that often get ignored such as Docstoc, Scribd, Slideshare. With all the different platforms, it’s hard to be able to keep up with everything that is new.

In this post we’ve listed 25 of the best social media blogs out there. Read through some of these blogs and you’ll quickly find yourself getting an edge in the social media world.

25 Social Media Blogs You Should Read

Here are 25 social media blogs that you should read. Some keep you current on new trends and others give you advice on how to leverage social media to your advantage.

I’ve included an excerpt from each blog’s about page to give you an idea as to what to expect from them. This list isn’t a ranking of social media blogs, so these are listed in no particular order.

  1. Mashable Founded in July 2005, Mashable is the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Media news. With more than 12.5 million monthly pageviews, Mashable is the most prolific blog reviewing new Web sites and services, publishing breaking news on what’s new on the web and offering social media resources and guides.
  2. Social Media Explorer Social Media Explorer is the online home and blog of Social Media Explorer LLC, of which Jason Falls serves as principal. Falls has established himself as one of the leading thinkers in the social media, public relations and communications industries.
  3. Social Media Today Social Media Today LLC helps global organizations create purpose-built B2B social communities designed to achieve specific, measurable corporate goals by engaging exactly the customers and prospects you most want to reach.
  4. Chris Brogan Chris Brogan is a ten year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds on his blog. His blog is in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati. He is co-author of the book Trust Agents.
  5. Dosh Dosh Dosh Dosh is a blog offering internet marketing and blogging tips, alongside social media strategies. Best consumed by bloggers, entrepreneurs, web publishers, marketers, freelancers and small business owners.
  6. 10e20 10e20 is a New York-based Internet marketing company specializing in Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization. Founded in 2002 in Brooklyn, NY by Chris Winfield and Danielle Lanzillo.
  7. PR 2.0 Brian Solis is Principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning PR and New Media agency in Silicon Valley. Solis is globally recognized for his views and insights on the convergence of PR, Traditional Media and Social Media. Considered one of the original thought leaders who paved the way for Social Media and PR 2.0, Solis is co-founder of the Social Media Club.
  8. Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni is a professional marketer with 20 years of real-world corporate experience, 10 of which online, across a broad array of mid-to-large sized companies. Hands-on work at a Fortune 500 technology company, a technology start-up, in health care, chemical manufacturing, risk management consulting, and the non-profit sector have provided her with a wealth of experience and insights.
  9. Scott Monty Scott is a marketing and communications professional focused on the digital industry — specifically on social media. His career spans a number of industries such as healthcare, pharma, biotech, travel, automotive, tech, and communications, and includes a wide range of clients, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.
  10. Chris G Chrisg.com is where Chris posts daily (or thereabouts) thoughts and advice on the business of new media, blogging and online marketing. The aim is to teach you ways you can create compelling resources, provide your audience more value, build trust and loyalty, and generate more rewards for yourself.
  11. Altitude Branding Amber Naslund is a social media and marketing crackerjack and the Director of Community for Radian6, where she’s responsible for client engagement, community building, and helping companies tap the potential of online reputation management, customer engagement, and social media monitoring.
  12. Successful-Blog Liz is a social web strategist and community builder. Coming from a background of publishing, business, and instructional design, Liz understands how people perceive a blog, a product, and an experience — how the head and heart engage to make a fiercely loyal customer.
  13. Techipedia Tamar Weinberg is a freelance writer and author of The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web (O’Reilly, July 2009) who specializes in social media consulting and strategy, blogger outreach, reputation management, and search engine marketing (SEO, link building, and Pay Per Click Marketing).
  14. Very Official Blog Shannon Paul works as the communications manager for PEAK6 Online, parent company of OptionsHouse.com, OptionsNewsNetwork (ONN.tv), and WeSeed.com. Here she oversees the integration of social media communication into PR and marketing strategies for the company’s three brands, including an online retail stock and options broker, a web-based options news and education site, and an online community that allows people to learn about the stock market through investing in virtual stock portfolios.
  15. Instigator Blog Benjamin Yoskovitzis the CEO & co-Founder of Standout Jobs, a venture-backed startup founded in 2007. He is also a blog and social media consultant. This blog is where he expresses his thoughts on startups, entrepreneurship and business, as well as diving into social media, blogging and online communities.
  16. All Facebook AllFacebook.com is a blog that was started by Nick O’Neill. The purpose of the blog is to cover all issues pertaining to Facebook including new applications, general news, and analysis about the future of Facebook.
  17. SmartBrief On SocialMedia SmartBrief is a media company on a mission to save you time and keep you smart. The premise behind SmartBrief is simple: there’s too much information out there and too little time in the day to read it all. Their editors hand-pick the most relevant and important news from all over, summarize it, link to the original sources and deliver it — for FREE — in one-stop-shop e-newsletters.
  18. Web-Strategist As a Web Strategist Jerimiah Owyang strives to define and deliver user and community needs, business goals, and web technology to craft and deliver long term successful web programs for companies.
  19. Collective Thoughts Each member of Collective Thoughts are a known or rising star in their own field, but they also have a passion and unique understanding on social media. Together, they make up Collective Thoughts.
  20. Dan Zarrella Dan Zarrella is an award-winning social, search, and viral mar­ket­ing sci­en­tist and author of the upcom­ing O’Reilly media book “The Social Media Mar­ket­ing Book”. He has a back­ground in web devel­op­ment and com­bines his pro­gram­ming capa­bil­i­ties with a pas­sion for social mar­ket­ing to cre­ate appli­ca­tions.
  21. Social Times Social Times is founded by Nick O’ Neill. He is an industry expert on the social networking industry, providing no holds bar commentary and insightful analysis on social networking and social media. He speaks at conferences nationwide and has been written about in multiple national publications.
  22. Brent Csutoras Brent Csutoras is an Internet Marketing Consultant who specializes in Social Media, Viral linkbait and Search Engine Marketing.
  23. Twitip TwiTip is a blog all about Twitter. It covers Twitter Tips of all varieties including Writing for Twitter, Branding, Growing a Following, Corporate Tweeting and a lot more.
  24. Danny Brown Danny Brown has been providing business branding and emerging media consultancy services to the consumer and commercial markets for more than 15 years, from small start-ups to Fortune 500 businesses. Danny is the founder of the 12for12k Challenge.
  25. The Viral Garden Mack Collier is a social media consultant, trainer and speaker. He has been actively immersed in social media since 2005, and in that time, has helped advise, teach and consult with businesses of all shapes and sizes on how they can better connect with their customers via these amazing tools and sites

Your Turn to Share

The blogs mentioned above are some that I visit on a regular basis. If there are any that you would like to add to the list, feel free to do so in the comments section. And finally, what do you think of this list of some of the top social media blogs out there?

top image by striatic


About the author: Ritu is a freelance writer who has been involved in social media for several years. At the moment he is working on a variety of projects, but is always open to new ideas. Contact him at email(at)ritubpant(dot)com or follow @ritubpant on twitter.



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87 Comments
  • User Gravatar

    Paul O'Mahony (Cork)
    November 24th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    Thanks v much. There’s enough here to keep me going for a while.

  • User Gravatar

    Vivek
    November 24th, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    Thanks a lot for providing this information to me as i am searching a lot about social media and mashable is my favorite one.

  • User Gravatar

    Scott
    November 24th, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    I biasedly recommend SEO.com’s blog. Many of the posts approach social media from an SEO perspective – using “social” to drive “search” — which is what every business should be concerned with.

  • User Gravatar

    Ilija Brajkovic
    November 24th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    Thank you very much for this list, I will definitely use it.

  • User Gravatar

    Luke Jones
    November 24th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    Oh God no, my RSS reader is splitting at the edges already :-(

  • User Gravatar

    Lee
    November 24th, 2009 at 6:50 pm

    Thanks! Just input them into my RSS reader and all is well!

  • User Gravatar

    Ahmed Gaber
    November 24th, 2009 at 8:09 pm

    Very Good set here. I’ve added all them to my RSS Reader

  • User Gravatar

    mack collier
    November 24th, 2009 at 8:26 pm

    Ritu thanks for the mention, and hope you and your readers have a Happy Thanksgiving!

  • User Gravatar

    Ritu
    November 24th, 2009 at 9:08 pm

    Glad you all found this list useful :)

    @Mack : Happy Thanksgiving to you and family as well

  • User Gravatar

    Dana
    November 24th, 2009 at 11:23 pm

    Great post! Thank you!

  • User Gravatar

    8a Certification Tutorials
    November 25th, 2009 at 1:31 am

    Hey thanks a lot that is a great list…

  • User Gravatar

    8a Certification
    November 25th, 2009 at 1:32 am

    Wow thanks a lot for those links I really needed some…

  • User Gravatar

    Gladys
    November 25th, 2009 at 1:35 am

    What a great list. There are several on there I’m not familiar with, so I look forward to taking a look at them. Although as someone mentioned, my RSS reader is already quite full!

    Happy Thanksgiving!

  • User Gravatar

    WPCONCEPT
    November 25th, 2009 at 3:50 am

    Great list. I’ve put these blogs in my rss reader :) Thanks

  • User Gravatar

    GDevelop
    November 25th, 2009 at 6:38 am

    Great list, i will definitely add some of these sites to my feedreader.
    Thank you.

  • User Gravatar

    Blogging in Web 2.0 Beta
    November 25th, 2009 at 9:48 am

    Really Great Work Bravo

  • User Gravatar

    Danny Brown
    November 25th, 2009 at 11:18 am

    Hey there Ritu,

    Cheers for the shout man, really appreciate it. I see there are some names on here I’m unfamiliar with; have to remedy that shortly :)

    Great to see the likes of Shannon and Valeria getting a mention too – both different, both excellent resources.

    Thanks again bud, and have a great holiday weekend!

    Danny.

  • User Gravatar

    Rob Birgfeld
    November 25th, 2009 at 11:19 am

    Thanks so much for including us on your list. Just a quick FYI that the daily newsletter, SmartBrief on Social Media, also has a blog component at http://www.smartblogs.com/socialmedia

    Thanks again!

  • User Gravatar

    Kathryn Jennex
    November 25th, 2009 at 11:25 am

    Great list – thanks. Another one you shouldn’t miss – it’s full of great information is :

    http://www.simonmainwaring.com

  • User Gravatar

    NewBloggerTemplates
    November 25th, 2009 at 11:34 am

    This information is very good because social bookmarking is very important to increase traffic visitors.. thank’s

  • User Gravatar

    Ritu
    November 25th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    Thanks for all the comments guys and glad that you all found the list helpful.

    Hey Danny, you are very welcome! And a very happy thanksgiving to you and the family.

  • User Gravatar

    The Blog Builder Guy
    November 25th, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    Thanks for posting the blogs. I put a link to the post in my Facebook page and in my Twitter stream.
    More for Google Reader to do!

  • User Gravatar

    Brian Wallace
    November 25th, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    Many thanks for the mention Ritu and great list!

  • User Gravatar

    Jonathan Kochis
    November 25th, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    The daily e-newsletter from SmartBrief is perfect for me. Concise and relevant. Thanks for compiling the list!

  • User Gravatar

    jim Gilbert
    November 25th, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Thanks for the list. At the risk of sounding not humble, my blog is about direct marketing, social media and how the two need to be intertwined.

    Thanks in advance for checking it out.

    Jim Gilbert

    http://gilbertdirectmarketing.wordpress.com

  • User Gravatar

    Leslie Poston
    November 25th, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    You left off Corvida Raven: SheGeeks.net and all of her blogs @corvida

    She’s a font of information about both Gen Y and Social Media

  • User Gravatar

    Ray Wenderlich
    November 25th, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    Wow thanks for this list, I’ve started subscribing to several of these.

  • User Gravatar

    Social Networking Software
    November 26th, 2009 at 11:25 am

    Great list! I already follow most of the blogs listed but there were a few new ones for me to check out. Navigating the social networking jungle can be tricky so the advice found on these blogs is going to be helpful. Another one you might want to check out is Larry Brauner’s Blog at http://online-social-networking.com/ , great advice and updates on a regular basis. Thanks again for the information.

  • User Gravatar

    OweEng2
    November 27th, 2009 at 4:20 am

    Great post, Thanks for the great list. I for one is a avid mashable reader for years now. I’ll definitely go and check the others sites on the list as well. Keep up the good work!

  • User Gravatar

    Mike
    November 27th, 2009 at 5:24 am

    Thanks for this very comprehensive list of social media blogs, I will be checking some of these out for sure.

  • User Gravatar

    Neal Schaffer
    November 28th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Thank you very much for this excellent list, which I am certain will provide navigation for many people to find their next favorite blog. I haven’t seen many lists like this one, so your contribution is extremely appreciated!

    As for others that could have made the list, I will be very humble in saying that my social media blog on LinkedIn, Twitter, social media marketing, and social media job seeking lacks the volume and breadth that @Mashable has, but hopefully it would make your Top 50 List should you create one! Would love your feedback on it: http://windmillnetworking.com.

    I also agree with the above commenter that Larry Brauner’s blog (http://online-social-networking.com/) is another excellent one.

    Thanks again and looking forward to your future posts!

  • User Gravatar

    Mari Smith
    November 28th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    Excellent compilation – completely agree with your choices, Ritu!!

    I’d add new social media online magazine, http://socialmediaexaminer.com by Michael Stelzner.

    I also like http://readwriteweb.com and http://marketingprofs.com – though not exclusively social media, they definitely include cutting-edge SM posts.

    And along with Nick O’Neil’s allfacebook.com, Justin Smith’s http://insidefacebook.com is excellent. (I’d include my whyfacebook.com if I blogged more frequently, lol!!)

    Cheers,
    @marismith

  • User Gravatar

    Andy Williams
    November 28th, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    Great list – now I just need the time … You may like to also include the “Smart Mobs” site (of the book “Smart Mobs” fame) http://www.smartmobs.com/ which looks at how technology of various kinds is not just connecting us but also changing us

  • User Gravatar

    Des Walsh
    November 28th, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    Thanks for sharing this list, so chock full of great sites. I checked it out because I heard – and was very pleased to hear – that Liz Strauss was on it. Then I found a whole collection of social media experts I like, admire and follow, plus a couple of sites new to me and which I will now add to the RSS feed.

  • User Gravatar

    Phil Buckley
    November 28th, 2009 at 11:53 pm

    I’m surprised you didn’t mention my very favorite social media blog at outspokenmedia.com/blog

    It’s one of my few non-RSS stops every day.

  • User Gravatar

    Free Online Flash Games
    November 29th, 2009 at 2:41 am

    very good post !
    i add it to rss!

  • User Gravatar

    Anton Ranestam
    November 29th, 2009 at 7:53 am

    Very good wrap up on all the major and good blogs.

  • User Gravatar

    Ryan
    November 29th, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    An extremely helpful list Ritu. I hadn’t heard of more than a few of the sites.

  • User Gravatar

    Melanie Kissell
    November 29th, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    I’m a big fan of Chris Brogan’s blog, TwiTip, and Mashable, but I don’t think this list would be complete without including:

    http://Problogger.net by Darren Rowse

    Blog on!

  • User Gravatar

    China Law
    November 29th, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    Lexblog.com is a great blog, whose focus is mostly on social media for lawyers. It was through that blog’s lead blogger that I learned of this list/link.

  • User Gravatar

    Orlando SEO Marketing
    November 29th, 2009 at 5:50 pm

    That’s a great list to work with. I think it’s going to take me a while to digest it all, espically since my leftover turkey is first in line. Thanks for your hard work on the list, I’m excited to go through it!

  • User Gravatar

    freeblogger
    November 29th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    This list is okay. Mashable leads the pack and others follows. You have done a good job.

    In addition to the blogs you have listed, there are others you can check out here: http://adesojiadegbulu.com/social-networks

    It contains a list of useful Social media blogs & topics. Your own topic is on the list too.

  • User Gravatar

    Anwer
    November 29th, 2009 at 7:43 pm

    Great post!

  • User Gravatar

    Jerry Chapman
    November 30th, 2009 at 12:36 am

    Wow! Thanks for the useful information. My challenge is how to keep up with it all! But, it is a good challenge to have. Thanks for the initial list, and the growing list of sites in the comments section.

  • User Gravatar

    Terrance Charles
    November 30th, 2009 at 7:47 am

    Thanks for sharing, mashable is one of my favorite ones :)

  • User Gravatar

    Puja Madan
    November 30th, 2009 at 7:52 am

    Great list Ritu! Some usual suspects :) but I was also happy to find a few unfamiliar names/blogs to explore and read. Another site I follow and find useful is http://www.insidefacebook.com for FB related news and updates.

  • User Gravatar

    Joe Spake
    November 30th, 2009 at 10:12 am

    I enjoy http://horsepigcow.com – Tara Hunt’s Blog

  • User Gravatar

    Jill Anderson
    November 30th, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Fabulous list but you left off one of my very favorite bloggers – Tac Anderson at NewCommBiz – http://www.newcommbiz.com/. He is a genius IMHO.

  • User Gravatar

    Casie G
    November 30th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    Good list…would definitely add Outspoken Media’s blog as well. Always good info and fun to read. http://outspokenmedia.com/blog/

  • User Gravatar

    Anthony Crecco
    December 1st, 2009 at 3:16 pm

    This is really great info. thank you for putting this together. It is Very helpful

  • User Gravatar

    Ben Yoskovitz
    December 1st, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    Thank you for including me on the list. That’s a great group of people. What’s amazing about social media related content is just how fresh and new it remains. That’s really where a lot of the folks you’ve mentioned stand out – they take things up a notch (or two) and stay unique, even when we’ve been hammering “social media” for awhile now.

  • User Gravatar

    Karen Clark
    December 1st, 2009 at 10:35 pm

    Great list! Some new names I’ll be checking out. Here are some of my favorites you and the others don’t have yet:

    (Anti) Social Development
    http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/

    How to Make My Blog
    http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/

    Keep em coming!
    Karen

  • User Gravatar

    Bazil
    December 2nd, 2009 at 2:49 am

    Great list! Thanks for the hard work putting this together.

  • User Gravatar

    Jack Smith
    December 3rd, 2009 at 11:16 am

    Great list, thanks for your list and everyone sharing their additional resources. I also enjoy reading Convince And Convert by Jay Baer.

    http://www.convinceandconvert.com/

  • User Gravatar

    Karl Foxley
    December 3rd, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    I must be very cool, almost all of these are already in my RSS reader. :)

    Nice round up,

    Karl

Ad Agencies 10 Most Popular Blog Posts About Blogging in 2009

A blog is now as important to your agency as was your agency’s Website. The blog is becoming the “gate-way” and the face of the agency as its Website becomes more the agency’s brochure. Here’s some excellent resources to help your agency blog for new business.

Zemalf.com is the personal blog of Antti Kokkonen. He has assembled a great list of 42 most popular blog post about blogging in 2009. The posts on Antti’s list were picked from Digg, Delicious, Twitter and other social networks, based on the number of “votes” the posts have received in those services.

I perused through this list to find the top 10 that are most relevant  and helpful for your agency’s blog:

  1. 25 Blogs To Help You Stay Current With Social Media
  2. Starting Your First Blog? 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers
  3. How to Build a High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself
  4. Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog
  5. Do You Make These 10 Mistakes When You Blog?
  6. 23 Essential Elements of Sharable Blog Posts
  7. 50 Helpful Resources That Will Enhance Your Writing Skills
  8. 73 Ways to Become a Better Writer
  9. 100 Ways To Find Ideas For Your Blog Posts
  10. The Art of Writing Great Twitter Headlines

Click on the following link for the entire list of the:  42 Most Popular Blog Posts About Blogging 2009

Four people that I read and  highly recommend as a resource for blogging:

Additional articles that may be of interest:

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IRS: Mileage reimbursements lower in 2010 - South Florida Business Journal:

Cheaper gas prices mean less reimbursement for motorists who use their vehicles for business.

On Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service issued its 2010 optional standard mileage rates.

Here’s how it breaks down:

  • 50 cents per mile for business miles driven, down from 55 cents in 2009.
  • 16.5 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes, down from 24 cents.
  • 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations, no change.

To give you an idea of how the rate fluctuates, the business mileage rate was 50.5 cents in the first half of 2008 and 58.5 cents in the second half. The medical and moving rate was 19 cents in the first half and 27 cents in the second half.

The new rates for business, medical and moving purposes are slightly lower than last year’s, reflecting “generally lower transportation costs compared to a year ago,” the IRS said in a news release.

The IRS notes that taxpayers have the option of calculating the actual costs of using their vehicle, rather than using the standard mileage rates.

Yahoo making new Facebook connections - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

Yahoo Inc. said Wednesday it will soon integrate

Facebook Connect into its many Web sites, allowing users to monitor their Facebook feeds while surfing the company's sites.

It will also allow users to opt to have their Yahoo activity shown on their Facebook news feed.

Facebook users can already access their feeds on Yahoo’s homepage, and share some specific Yahoo content on Facebook. The new policy expands this to other Yahoo sites, including Flickr, as well as its Sports, News and Finance sites.

The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital blog reported the moves are part of a massive social networking update dubbed "Project Rushmore."

It said similar changes could follow involving

Twitter,

LinkedIn and

MySpace, citing unnamed sources.

The New York Times reported that no money is changing hands in the Facebook-Yahoo move, with the companies instead getting a broader reach for their products.

“There is lot of potential future integration work we can do,” the Times quoted Yahoo spokesman Jim Stoneham as saying, adding that he described the arrangement as a “very deep long-term partnership.”

The changes are expected to be in place in the first half of 2010.

Online job demand up in Florida - South Florida Business Journal:

Florida had six unemployed people for every online job advertised, according to The

Conference Board.

In the South, November online advertised vacancies were up 6,100, reflecting increases in all of the most populous Southern states, except Virginia and Maryland.

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Florida gained 10,300 and Texas was up 10,00, offsetting October declines. Online vacancies in Florida dropped in October by 8,300.

Nationwide, the report said online openings rose by 106,500 to 3.38 million in November.

“Since April, when labor demand bottomed, monthly gains can only be described as sluggish,” said Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board, in a news release. “We have yet to see a significant increase in employers’ demand for labor, and, until we see job openings pick up, it will be hard to bring down the unemployment rate."

Florida among most 'entrepreneur-friendly' states - South Florida Business Journal:

Florida ranks sixth in the nation when it comes to being entrepreneur-friendly, according to a new report by the

Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

The council’s 14th annual Small Business Survival Index, released Tuesday, considers 36 costs to small businesses that are imposed by or reported by the government. Most factors are taxes, including personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, property taxes, unemployment taxes and health insurance taxes.

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Also factored in are energy costs and crime rate.

The five most entrepreneur-friendly states are South Dakota, Nevada, Texas, Wyoming and Washington.

In the bottom five are Vermont, New York, California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.

Click here for the full report.

Fla. justices say ‘yes’ to corruption grand jury - South Florida Business Journal:

Two days after rejecting his petition, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday gave thumbs up to a request by Gov. Charlie Crist to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate public corruption statewide.

The state high court selected Broward County Judge Victor Tobin to preside over the grand jury proceedings.

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It will be the grand jury’s job to investigate crime and return indictments.

Crist first petitioned the court in October noting that there was “good and sufficient reason” to investigate criminal activity pointing to the recent indictments of Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Broward School Board member Beverly Gallagher, and Alan Mendelsohn, a prominent Hollywood eye surgeon on public corruption charges.

On Monday, Crist filed an amended petition with Florida justices, after they rejected his first request because it failed to meet the minimal allegations as required by state law. In it, he noted that since taking office he has removed 33 public officials from office as a result of wrongdoing

If government corruption is a fact of life, how can government agencies be held accountable? Business can be fined; why not agencies and those convicted?

BlackBerry Bold 9700: Why It's RIM's Best BlackBerry Ever - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership

November 23, 2009 — CIO — BlackBerry enthusiasts, "CrackBerry" addicts and gadget-heads in the United States can now officially purchase Research In Motion's (RIM) latest and greatest smartphone: the BlackBerry Bold 9700. I've used many BlackBerrys in my day, but this is almost my dream smartphone...almost.

image of RIM's BlackBerry Bold 9700
RIM's BlackBerry Bold 9700

T-Mobile became the first U.S. carrier to offer RIM's new Bold smartphone when it listed the device for sale last Monday for $199.99 with a new, qualifying two-year wireless service contract. AT&T quickly followed suit, releasing its own version of the Bold 9700 to the masses a week later for the same exact price and contract commitment--after a mail-in rebate.

I've been using the T-Mobile BlackBerry Bold 9700 for a few weeks now, and I'm nothing short of infatuated with the smartphone. It has nearly everything I want in a high-end device. It's reasonably priced--the original BlackBerry Bold, the Bold 9000, was more expensive upon release more than a year ago and still sells for $199.99 on contract. And the 9700's just plain ol' good-lookin'.

Here are nine reasons, in reverse order, why the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 is RIM's best BlackBerry ever. If you're considering a BlackBerry upgrade or are thinking of taking the plunge into the world of BlackBerry for the first time, I strongly suggest you keep these points in mind when checking out the Bold 9700.

Still, you'll find a few minor shortcomings. None of them are deal-breakers in my opinion--I wouldn't be naming the Bold 9700 RIM's best BlackBerry ever if they were---but the points are worth noting, nonetheless.

Hit that jump for specifics. And you can check out a full BlackBerry Bold 9700 unboxing here.


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BlackBerry Bold 9700: Why It's RIM's Best BlackBerry Ever
RIM's latest smartphone, the BlackBerry Bold 9700, is now available in the United States from both T-Mobile and AT&T. CIO.com's BlackBerry guru Al Sacco explains why the Bold 9700 is the best RIM smartphone ever (think: battery life) despite minor drawbacks (think: on-device storage.)

Good news to me since I just purchased one Friday at T-Mobile and switched my plan to lower unlimited rate with NO CONTRACT!

Who’s Who? What’s What? What’s Real In An Internet world? « pwc.com / innovate

Who’s Who? What’s What? What’s Real In An Internet world?

December 1, 2009 ·

The New Yorker published a cartoon in 1993 which shows a dog sitting at a computer terminal saying to another dog, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”  A few years ago, I went to a talk given by one of the computer graphics experts who worked on Jurassic Park.  He was describing how they created many of the dinosaurs in the movie completely by computer.  He went on to say that within a decade, they will be able to create human beings on film completely by computer without any need for actors.  The power of Photoshop to recreate photographic reality is seen as magazines are caught digitally manipulating photos to meet their needs.

Over 15 years after the original New Yorker cartoon, there is still no widely deployed mechanism for verifying the identity of anyone or authenticity of anything found on the web.  As the web becomes the primary source of information for more and more of the world’s populace, it becomes harder and harder to discern truth from fiction.  The question is, “How do you know who to trust?”

Over time, as technology has evolved, new trust models have been developed to keep up.

  • Recommendations through friends – This is perhaps the oldest method of establishing trust.  You simply ask someone you trust for a recommendation, e.g. you move to a new city and ask a colleague to recommend a doctor or attorney.  You believe a story because someone you know and trust tells it to you.
  • Recommendations through trusted third parties – Restaurant, movie, or wine reviews in a newspaper are examples of this model.  Because you trust the judgment of the reviewer you trust their recommendations.  Gartner reports on IT products and vendors, and their ratings of consulting firms are an example of how effective this can be.
  • Process creates trust – Traditional journalism requires the validation of a story from more than one source.  You believe what you read in the New York Times because you trust the vetting process they use before they print a story.  Wikipedia is also an example of this trust model.  You trust the contents of Wikipedia because you believe that the “crowd sourcing” process used is effective.
  • Community ratings – Zagat guides demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.   Rather than depending on a single trusted 3rd party, you simply aggregate the opinions of a large number of people and use that as a recommendation.  Based on their success with restaurants, Zagat has extended their model to hotels, nightlife, movies, music and now even dating (& dumping).  This model has been dramatically extended on the Web to everything from local repair people to attorneys and doctors.
  • Reputation systems – eBay’s trust model is perhaps the most novel.  With most eBay transactions, an auction winner sends payment to a completely unknown seller when the auction completes.  The seller then ships the product to the winner.  There is no formal recourse if the product does not meet the buyer’s expectations or even to complain if the seller never ships the product at all.  Within eBay, there is a system of community reputation in which buyers rate sellers.  For a prospective buyer, a seller with a high reputation score has lots of satisfied customers and therefore can be trusted.

However, as web information continues to explode and search engines now provide results which include Twitter and Facebook, clearly a new trust model is needed.  Recently David Pogue, the respected New York Times columnist, was accused of a conflict of interest by a number of Twitter posters.  One such Twitter post was from a Twitter user with the name “John C. Dvorak”, which also happens to be the name of another well respected computer journalist.  David Pogue gave an interview about the incident and took John Dvorak to task for his Twitter posts.  Unfortunately, the Twitter poster was not the computer journalist John C. Dvorak but someone else with the same name.  The journalist actually posts under the Twitter name “TheRealDvorak” and had made no comment at all about Pogue.  In this case even Pogue, an experienced New Times Reporter, didn’t realize he had mistakenly assumed he knew who the post was from.

Twitter has responded to the growing problem of mistaken identity by providing a program which tries to verify the identity of some Twitter users.   Unfortunately, the program is limited to a very small number of celebrities, and given the rate at which Twitter is growing and the company’s limited resources, this problem will likely grow as more and more people believe what they read on Twitter.

Solving this problem is one of the great challenges which will require significant new innovations to solve.  If you can’t tell who’s who, or what’s what on the internet, its value as an information repository will start to diminish.

Author: Sheldon Laube, Chief Innovation Officer

Categories: Information Security · Society · Trust