Digital Democracy Director Slams Google’s Greed

Jeffrey Chester, the onlooker in question, has some impressive credentials, and works as the Center for Digital Democracy’s executive director.  So when he states, “Google’s new marketing strategy poses a huge threat to our privacy and democratic aspirations for the Internet,” the rest of his argument is worth reading.

Chester begins by listing ways in which Google has come to dominate various markets.  YouTube, AdSense, Gmail, not to mention the main search engine – the Mountain View’s products are simply omnipresent online.  As online media overtakes print – we’ve seen data indicating that a shift in the balance will occur by 2011 – Google will grow even more powerful.

Which leads Chester to ask, “Do we want a ubiquitous data collection system where private repositories of sensitive information can be sold to the highest commercial bidder — or turned over to the state for its own political interests?”  Even assuming that Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt stick to the “do no evil” way of business, their successors might not.

In related news, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated that Google reads users’ emails.

New AT&T Same As The Old AT&T

UPDATE and CORRECTION:

The quote attributed to Ed Whitacre was intended as a parody, but it was not immediately clear at the original source that it was a satirical take on the issue.  Our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Go ahead and change all the indefinite articles in the preceding sentences to "the." In his new position, Stephenson is officially incarnated as the Man, in all his inglorious, deep-pocketed, well-connected fury.

He looks mild-mannered enough, a real Company Joe, polished, conservative, well-coifed. But if you thought a younger, more with-it CEO was a remedy to the heavy-handedness with which the telecom giant handles its bidness, think again.

And judging from Om Malik’s interview, Stephenson paid a lot of attention to his PR team on word choice, spin, and how to answer questions without answering them.

I especially like this quip:

The new AT&T is a 6-month-old company with a 130-year legacy of innovation and reliability behind us.

Now that’s quality spin.

Or when asked why AT&T would embrace another company’s product like iPhone, Stephenson answers:

The iPhone is a radically innovative new device and it only makes sense that AT&T and Apple would partner to bring it to market. This device is very important to us, it’s important to Apple and it is going to do very well with customers.

Translation: The iPhone will make us a lot of money.

But what was noticeably lacking from Om’s interview were questions regarding Net Neutrality to settle whether Stephenson would be as hard-line about his company’s "pipes" as his predecessor.

But wait, you say, because you’ve been following this for a while now and you’re an astute observer with BS detectors set to highest sensitivity. Didn’t AT&T agree to Net Neutrality principles late last year in order to get their merger with Bell South approved?

Yeah, they sort of did, but that was akin to telling a cop you’ll slow down if he just gives you a warning. The agreement to adhere to Net Neutrality principles had no teeth whatsoever. 

Stephenson too has echoed Whitacre, even if less abrasively. Nice move on AT&T’s part, swap out the curmudgeon for Chief Silver Tongue. Stephenson says "the content guys will have to make a deal with us," and complains about the amount traffic YouTube and Google are "dumping" onto the network.

But again, there’s no mention of how Google pays for the bandwidth they use already, or of how a tiered Internet, – where not just Web services providers, but also content providers and access subscribers pay – will create tollbooths at every turn…just like cable, just like mobile phones with the 7000 percent markups on simple services like text messaging.

You see, it’s a stockholder thing, a money thing, and if the free and open Internet has to be destroyed to achieve that, so be it. AT&T says it’s about creating incentive to invest – as if controlling the last mile of fiber wasn’t incentive enough – but, as we’ve noticed in light of the company’s backpedaling on Net Neutrality, what they say isn’t always what they mean.

Just to ice this off, CommonCause.org notes Stephenson’s position as the Vice Chair of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), his close relationship with the White House, and his personal donations to an all-star anti-Net Neutrality roster of Congressmen.

Hmmm. This couldn’t be connected to AT&T setting up special offices for the NSA at their headquarters, could it?

Yes, CommonCause, the new boss is pretty much the same as the old boss.  
 

Google AdWords Quality Score Has Major Bug

Google AdWords Adds Quality Score Column & To Improved Quality Algorithm from Wednesday warned us of the new changes coming but apparently there is a bug that makes good performing ads prices spike through the roof.

GrowMy » Blog Archive » Major Google AdWords Bug With Quality Score Increases CPC Prices

There are dozens of reports of people noticing their CPC prices in Google AdWords jump through the roof. With the launch of a new AdWords quality score, a bug has been released and verified by Google to increase the bid…

SearchAnyway PPC – Online Search Marketing Guide for Webmasters: Costly Google AdWords Bug

It seems that Google AdWords’ new Quality Score feature has a bug, and that are driving cost-per-click prices on certain keywords through the roof.

Google Plans AdWords Algorithm Change; Expects Complaints | Marketing Pilgrim

It looks like Google’s pushed the button too early – and it could be the wrong button too. Lots of people are complaining that their Quality Score has gone crazy.

While Google is aware of the problem and is fixing it they refuse to rollback the code and are content to charge advertisers more until they fix it. So if you went to the store and the cashier said I know this item only costs you $1 but the register is broken and I have to charge you $2, but we’re working on it, would that be acceptable? C’mon Google do the right thing, do no evil rollback the code.

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The RIAA is seeking a gargantuan compensation figure as part of the suit, a whopping $1.65 trillion dollars.

That’s right, trillion.

*raises pinky to mouth and cackles*

How did the RIAA arrive at such a staggering, Dr. Evil-esque amount? According to their calculations, between June and October of ’06, approximately 11 million songs were downloaded from AllofMP3. Multiply that by the $150,000 the RIAA is seeking in back royalties for each song, and you arrive at the magic number.

Russian-based AllofMP3 responded to the outrageous figure rather calmly in a blog post:

The RIAA has been the object of some scrutiny by many who claim that artists rarely, if ever, see any part of the “royalties” collected by the organization from online music sales. Along with AllofMP3.com, the EFF is taking a stand against the RIAA by petitioning Congress to put an end to the egregious lawsuits that the organization files against American citizens rather than the entities that distribute the illegal content.

Taken from the EFF site:

Disclosure: I signed this petition as a show of support for the EFF’s stance.

I’m left wondering how much of this proposed $1.65 trillion that the artists would actually be entitled should the RIAA win this mockery of a lawsuit? After the RIAA takes their cut, and the record labels then take their share of the loot, and after it’s all distributed to the various artists whose music was “illegally” downloaded, how much is left – $150 per artist? Maybe?

Even better, though, let’s look at the alternative. What would be the ramifications of a court decision in AllofMP3′s favor? Nate Anderson over at Ars Technica delivers a great theoretical analysis:

As you might have been able to deduce by now, I’m not exactly a card-carrying member of the RIAA. It’s not that I condone piracy, quite the contrary in fact. It’s just difficult to support an organization that has a long and well-documented history of sticking it to musicians time and time again and keeping the loot for themselves.

The facts are:

Legal or not, AllofMP3 provides all of these benefits to the customer. Perhaps the RIAA would be better served by learning how to leverage the digital music community in a similar fashion, instead of employing these Gestapo-like tactics to hunt down and prosecute ordinary civilians and off-shore providers.

That’s my .02, anyway.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Once the MillionDollarHomepage was back up and running, Tew mused on his weblog that because of the added publicity, the attackers may have inadvertently done him a favor. If sued, though, the hackers may have cost him more than the $50,000 demanded to prevent the attack.

According to AdAge.com, the lawsuit is being threatened by Elijah Kliger, the owner of Brooklyn, New York-based Netnutri.com, who paid $38, 100 on eBay for the last $1,000-worth of space on the infamous gimmick-site. If he sues, Kliger will seek $1 million.

MillionDollarHomepage.com was launched in September by Tew with a simple premise. One pixel of advertising space out of a million available could be bought for just $1.The desired end result for Tew, was to raise a cool $1 million. The idea had huge viral appeal and won him coverage from just about every major news outlet in the world.

Traffic soared, drawing around 500,000 visits a day to his site, while greatly increasing site-traffic for sponsors. After wild success, Tew decided to auction off the final 1,000 pixels on eBay. Tew received an email from the would-be hackers shortly before Kliger’s ad space was to go live on the webpage.

The text of the email was provided the Financial Times.

“Hello u website is under us atack to stop the ddos send us 50000$.If u pay we do not ddos u site even again! if u do not pay: u site NEVER came online; again this ddos is not potect; and u have BIG problem with u sponsors. U must answer TODAY, if u pay u site came online imidiatli.”

Tew refused to pay and the site went down as threatened. It would appear that Kliger believes that getting his money back is not enough and is suing for the entire value of the webpage. Part of the reasoning for that amount came from Kliger’s lawyer, Scott J. Fields, who implied Tew failed to deliver the promised “million dollars worth of PR.”

“Here’s my guy sitting there at the Super Bowl who’s bought the million-dollar field goal at halftime, and the power goes out,” Fields told AdAge. “The goal was not to spend $38,000 for essentially a square millimeter of space-it was to spend the money for the publicity.”

Tew has not mentioned the lawsuit on his weblog, but has said the FBI are investigating the attack and that his web host, US-based Sitelutions, was working to further protect the website.

“it’s not the smooth ending to the site I was hoping for,” writes Tew on his blog.

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Seidenberg said application providers need to “share the cost” of broadband, and cited how Verizon has been discussing the issue with Google already, a TechWeb report said.

Unlike AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre and BellSouth CTO Willam Smith, both openly critical of companies like Google and VoIP service Vonage, Seidenberg went for the softer approach. He noted that those providers need a network to reach their customers.

In calling for “the right economic model,” Seidenberg referenced “free” applications, such as those supported by advertising. Those don’t provide any direct compensation to the network provider.

It’s an interesting claim, and echoes those made by Whitacre and Smith. Despite their positions within their telecom companies, none of them seem to realize that numerous customers pay them each month for use of those broadband networks. Perhaps ‘direct compensation’ has a different meaning in telecom than it does in other industries.

However, Verizon must be given some credit for not declaring open war on “net neutrality.” The company’s VP for public affairs, policy, and communication, Tom Tauke, said in the report that Verizon actually favors codifying “network neutrality” laws. He also said Verizon would not go so far as to block an application like VoIP.

Verizon is no stranger to forcing more favorable agreements when it comes to use of its network. Seidenberg recounted in the story how the company did so for 800-service providers:

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Grab your popcorn and cotton candy and sit back and enjoy Carnival of the Capitalists: The Greatest Business Show in the Blogosphere.

That was a little long for a tag line. I’ll have to work on improving that one.

One of the truly exciting aspects of hosting Carnival of the Capitalists is the wide assortment of bloggers who enter.

Many of the entrants to this hosting of Carnival of the Capitalists are here for the very first time.

This is my second hosting of the Carnival of the Capitalists and I hope you enjoy the show.

Got your refreshments in hand?

Let’s join the midway!

Marketing

Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing suggests storytelling as a powerful form of marketing. Nothing deepens and enriches a relationship with others like telling them a good story.

Marketer Michele Miller of WonderBranding: Marketing To Women recommends that when approaching the topic of marketing to women, stop thinking feminine. Instead, she says, focus on the logical.

Is it possible greed is a great quality for salespeople? Or is the word so tainted, it’s an unacceptable quality for all people and professions? Those are the provocative questions posed by Jim Logan of JSLogan as he channels Gordon Gecko of the movie Wall Street.
Laurence Haughton of BusinessBlogcasting graphically illustrates the purpose of marketing in a world where marketers are encouraged to be liars.

Empowering employees is key to creating remarkable customer experiences is the message from Joseph DePalma of Joseph’s Marketing Blog.

James Cherkoff at Modern Marketing says The 4Ps is an idea that most marketeers have come across during their education. That makes it a good vehicle to discuss change as it is so widely understood. For those who don’t know it refers to Price, Place Product and Promotion, the mixture of areas that traditional marketing has concerned itself with. James asks: So what do the 4Ps mean in a digital era?

John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing recommends bringing small groups of your clients together to meet, network and generally discuss how brilliant you are. After an opening like that, you simply have to read on.
Heather Burke at Pro Wrestling Impact asks what to do when something goes wrong at your event is something you should always plan for. She says the reason you should plan is because you need to have some idea of what you want to do to compensate your fans if something goes wrong. Her advice on planning ahead is applicable to any special event marketing.
At The Guerilla Marketer Michael McLaughlin says it’s common for clients to experience sticker shock when they see the price tag of a consulting project. With a little work, you can soften the blow.

Gina Vescio at A Weight Lifted describes how the diet and weight loss industry is marketed and how many well known historical persons would be left out of the so-called marketing ideal body type.

Blogging, Reading, and Writing

Vikk Simmons of Down The Writer’s Path discusses writing and the creative process. Evoking the legendary science fiction writer Ray Bradbury as an example, Vikk tells us how to free up our creative minds.

Over at The Blog Studio, Peter Flaschner sends us Part Two of a series examining how certain businesses could benefit from blogging. In this case, Peter suggests that realtors become bloggers. The post includes specific tips and examples.
Yvonne DiVita at Lip-Sticking says “Smart Blogger, Andy Wibbels” makes us look good by being both informative and funny in this interview on blogging and more. Read some dood business advice, in a fun environment, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

Ed Deevy of The Deevy Report describes what he’s learned about blogging from six months of online publishing. Deevy writes from the perspective of an individual who is a “lay person” when it comes to Internet technology. He clearly sees the blogging platform as a powerful easy-to-use communications tool…and he’s on a mission to convince his clients and colleagues that they should get on-board with the Blogging Revolution.
At Seeking Alpha, David Jackson discusses the attractiveness and drawbacks for finance bloggers of adding ads to their sites.

Evelyn Rodriguez of Crossroads Dispatches receives a new book, A Clear Eye for Branding, that reminds her that “Keep it Simple, Stupid” is sage advice in business and life and sets off the trigger for this post.

Here at Blog Business World as my own entry, I offer a post entitled “Case studies: A blogging idea” where I suggest writing real life case studies as a regular blog posting feature.

Tinu Abayomi-Paul of Free Traffic Tips invites us to tell our business story. As a multi-part post series, start with the first entry and enjoy the story of “Your Business and the Story of a Tree: Part One”.

Finance, Markets, and Investment

FMF of Free Money Finance has a post featuring people commenting on the outrageous sums that they’ve spent on their pets. Poor Fido and Fluffy.

Over at TechTrader, Anonymous discusses buyouts of IUSA. Wanna get in on the share trading action?

Toni Staka of The Prudent Investor – seeing too many bubbles asks is there a rift developing on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors? It seems so. Toni suggests that Governor Donald Kohn has started the finger-pointing, by distancing himself from other FRB members. ‘Don’t blame me, I told you so,’ he will be able to say in the future, once economic developments have turned sour. “It is not the time for complacency”, he warned bankers, who should put in extra hours to finetune their risk management systems.
You may often ask how much money do you need to save to pay for college for you or your kids? Ironman at Political Calculations has a tool to find out what you’ll need, to cover the costs, of what many people consider to be the most important investment they’ll ever make.

John Mudd of Tampa Bay’s Inside Real Estate Journal discusses the explosion of condo sales in the Tampa, Forida area.

Peter at Fund Universe offers a few tips that can help you build the wealth you will need to
assure your future financial security. In fact, Peter provides “8 Rules That Will Make You Wealthy”.
Joshua Sharf at View From a Height discusses a popular means of evaluating fund managers’ style. It is something called “Returns Based Style Analysis”. Joshua believes that a much better system can be developed.
Joe Kristan from Roth & Company Tax Update cites reports that say that the US Justice Department may indict KPMG. Joe discusses why that would be unwise.
When moving out of a rented apartment your security deposit is typically returned in full. However, as Ezra Marbach of Sound Money Tips says, landlords have been known to argue for deducting money from your deposit in order to cover supposed issues that you are leaving behind. The post offers some pointers on getting your rented apartment’s security deposit back in full when you move out.
Big Picture Guy at Big Picture, Small Office talks about how the Board rejects loyalty rebates on the basis that customers are commodities that can be bought and sold…like feeder cattle and corn. What is the price of “Pork Belly Futures” today?

Business Management and Methods

Gretchen Ross of The Green Lantern comments on the rumoured proposal from Wal-Mart that their employees be on call and available for work around the clock.

Gautam Ghosh of Gautam Ghosh on Management suggests that eventually every KM project is an attempt to change the corporate culture of the organization and the behavior of people in the organizational systems. He says this change can never be sustainable unless human and organizational processes change to support this change. Gautam believes that is the insight that traditional OD consulting brings to KM.

When you are in business, says Rosa Say of Talking Story says learning to be a reader gives you a definite edge. She says this post is about organizing yourself to take advantage of opportune pockets of time. Rosa suggests don’t let “I have no time to read” be your excuse.

Practical advice arrives from Susan Getgood of Marketing Roadmaps on how to make sure your sales and marketing teams are really communicating with each other, not just talking (and complaining) at each other.
Aleah at Ricksticks believes that successful organizations must honour individual spirit. Note the Lord of the Rings reference in the post too.

Elana Centor at FunnyBusiness examines corporate culture from the lighter side of the street. Elana ponders a new Universal Symbol –MY BUTT IS ON THE LINE. I can see her design possibilities on Post-It notes already.

Skip Angel of Random Thoughts from a CTO asks the following questions about leadership and principles: As a leader, do you want people to understand you better? Do you want them to know what you value and what you don’t?

At pc4media, Peter Caputa discusses how Fundable.org is a website that lets users create fund drives. Peter says the fund drives can be for any purpose: to fund a software project, to raise funds for a non profit, to raise funds for a group purchase. The goal, continues Peter, for how many participants and how much each has to give is set by the person creating the action. If the goal isn’t met, all the money is refunded. Peter concludes that it is a no risk way to support a mini or a major cause.

Christopher Bailey from The Alchemy of Soulful Work asks is there a good time to conduct a learning dialogue? Christopher concludes: Sure there is. The timing of a manager’s criticism is as important as its constructiveness.

Mad Anthony of Mad Anthony is “Going Postal”. Well not really. Actually, he is taking a look at the things the post office does right and wrong – and why.

“How big are your batteries?” asks Lisa Haneberg of Management Craft. Lisa sends a thoughful post about how people are equipped with different natural energy levels.

Communications, Technology, and Podcasting

Neville Hobson of Nevon provides a detailed step by step primer on putting the power of podcasts into production for your blog or online business and public relations program.
The joys and triumphs, and trials and tribulations and everything e-mail are fodder for cehwiedel of Kicking Over My Traces. Also provided are some ideas for eliminating spam. Now I know you want to read that!

Improving your voice mail message is the message from Phil Gerbyshak at Make It Great. Practical tips and techniques are included. No more “name your own adventure”!

At her Selling To Small Businesses blog, Anita Campbell says despite all the free tools available for online collaboration, there is still a market to sell such tools for a fee to small businesses. Anita says once small businesses get a taste for online collaboration — especially in this day and age of small businesses working virtually from multiple locations — they will find that they need these tools. Anita beleives the availability of the free stuff will actually increase the demand for paid products that are easier to install, configure and customize to the small business’s needs. She concludes that today the use of “free” tools is what actually creates a market demand for the upgraded, fee version of the products.

The User Experience approach, in the opinion of Barry Welford of The Other Bloke’s Blog is most useful for websites and coffee-grinders. Barry believes it would work wonders for the remodernized Montreal International Airport.
Russell Buckley of The Mobile Technology Weblog says the community showed its displeasure as eBay continued to host Live 8 ticket auctions. Russell states that eBay were forced to quickly back down as the community responded to Bob Geldof’s calls to “mess up the system”.
Economics

Charkie Quidnunc of Rip and Read Blogger Podcast give us a listen to a podcast called “Democratic Anti-Economics” where he sends a clip of the appearance by Alan Greenspan, before a Congressional committee, discussing the concept of class warfare with Maurice Hinchey.

Brian Gongol of Gongal.com addresses the causes and effects of debt relief for poor countries, and some of the consequences resulting from different solutions.

Martin Lindeskog of EGO says that Ebay has been in business for 10 years. He provides thoughts on the future of online auctions between individuals, and questions on B2B e-auctions.

Join David of satire as he takes you on campus with Steve Jobs of Apple fame. It’s definitely an interesting and surprising ride.

Mastiff of Critical Mastiff says if we are serious about cutting back on subsidies, we need to start with the biggest beneficiaries: ourselves, or more specifically government-subsidized homeowners.

Les Jones at Les Jones.com believes sales tax is a huge issue for online operations. As an example, Les says “Borders.com Must Charge California Sales Tax”.

Gullyborg at Resistance is futile! points out that it’s big economic news, but it’s not getting reported in the mainstream media: despite Bush’s so-called “reckless tax cuts,” the US government has just set a new record for tax revenues.

At The Big Picture, Barry L. Ritholtz asks “How Much Does Sarbanes-Oxley Cost?”. Barry believes the cost is much different than publicly presented and thinks that some intellectual dishonesty afoot.

Half Sigma at Half Sigma addresses the question of whether competition causes higher prices. Yes, says Half Sigma, this is the opposite of what everyone “knows” to be true.

Steve Conover from The Skeptical Optimist offers a fiscal responsibility plan to keep the American debt burden under control, for the next fifty years. The result might be a surprise.

At Interested-Participant, Mike Pechar is concerned about “Legislation to Regulate Indoor Air”. Mike states it’s not clear what the long-term implications of the legislation would be, but it is clear that the state would dump a plethora of expensive design and habitability regulations on industry and the public while empowering some sort of sniffer police to enforce the provisions of the law.

Over at Mover Mike, Mike Landfair is enjoying that the Treasury International Capital (TIC) report is out and US Federal Reserve Chairperson Alan Greenspan relies on the government for his information. Mike is laughing about that turn of events. Give him a chance to recover a bit. Okay?

International Business, Trade, and Economics

While Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends was on vacation this week, Martin Lindeskog of EGO made an interesting guest post commenting on the difference in the entrepreneurial climate in Sweden and in the United States. Martin would love to get comments from others on some of the differences.

The trade agreement called CAFTA is examined by Will Frankin of WILLisms.com. Will calls CAFTA “The most important American free trade agreement in a decade”, making the post a must read.

Over at The Sharpener, Stuart presents a short piece on how GBP 2.8 bn (that’s a lotta dollars…) government subsidy to the BBC is killing regional media in Scotland: first radio,TV and advertising. According to Stuart, now Scotland’s newspapers are struggling to maintain an online presence in the face of state monopoly.
Trent McBride at Catallarchy challenges the conventional wisdom that agricultural subsidies in the First World promote suffering in the Third World. The discussion in the comments section is also interesting, with numerous trackbacks along with guest appearances from well known bloggers Jonathan Dingel, Megan McArdle, and David Tufte.

Brian David Crane from BrianDavidCrane.com discusses some techniques for doing business in Latin America. Along with the tips for opening business, Brian points out a few pitfalls to avoid.

According to Aamon Lamba of Audit Trails Of Self the $23-billion Reliance Industries, representing 4% of India’s economy, will be split between the brothers Anil and Mukesh Ambani. Aamon provides details of the transaction.
Education, Careers, and Employment

In “A Student’s Guide To Landing a Great Job” blogger and student Devin Reams of BusinessBits offers real world, nitty gritty ideas for landing the job of your dreams…or at least for avoiding the job of your nightmares.

Deputy HeadMistress at The Common Room sends us Part One of an Economic Education. Deputy HeadMistrss says ecause the employees did not understand some basic economics (and had no consideration for others) an employee nearly loses her job. (In part II, she lost her job).

School Choice is the topic for Warren Meyer of Coyote Blog. Warren presents his views on the joys of capitalism and choice, particularly as applied to schools.

You own a firm and you want to promote the career of the young rising star. Michael Higgins at Chocolate and Gold Coins asks how do you avoid allowing her career to fall victim to office politics?

John Dmohowski at Drakeview tells us that a number of companies and institutions conduct periodic surveys of small and medium businesses. Interland and Florida International University have recently published theirs. John says the hosting services firm reports SMB owners are focused and optimistic about their businesses. FIU reports fewer people are seeing start-ups as viable career options. John concludes this is not surprising given the diversity and dynamics of the SMB universe.

Over at Ripples we find David St. Lawrence suggesting that there are times when your work situation just does not work out well. Even the best of employers can create a losing situation while trying to add a new position to the organization. David offers ideas for improving and changing an unpleasant employment situation.

Politics and Politicians

Matthew at TriggerFinger writes that blogger The Bitter Bitch questions whether requiring businesses to allow firearms owners, who are also employees, to lock guns in their cars without risk of being fired is a good thing. The question for Matthew is, of course, prompted by recent legislation in Oklahoma allowing that very thing. He says she’s got a point, one which I approached slightly in my commentary on the case of Feliciano v 7-11. Matthew thinks there’s a good point of differentiation, though.

David Gerstman from Soccer Dad: Maryland’s CEO writes that
The Washington Post doesn’t like it that Governor Bob Ehrlich makes his case on talk radio instead of in its printed pages. David says the reason is that the governor has a case to make that the paper just won’t consider.

David at satire follows Virginia Governor Mark Warner (D), a Presidential hopeful, during an interview with Salon.com who said that he wants, “to change the framing of the political debate, from right vs. left, conservative vs. liberal, to future and past. But…Mark Warner, who was a honest professional poker player, before becoming a shrewd professional politician, explained his winning strategy in terms easily understood by the rural Americans and the popular World Poker Tour tele-viewers. Keep reading for the rest.

Thanks to Jay and Rob for letting me host the Carnival.

Next week, look for Carnival of the Capitalists at First Call.

And finally, a big thank you to all of the contributors and to everyone who dropped by and peaked under the big tent.

I couldn’t have done it without you.

.

Reader Comments…

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Check out Blog Business World for yourself.

So what’s the answer for the aspiring trader?

It all boils down to 2 main components:

1. Having a plan

2. Having an appropriate trading style

You hear the first point often. Obnoxious little phrases like “Plan your trade, Trade your plan” are thrown around like it was really just that simple. But without the second part, the first part is useless. What good is a plan if you don’t know what type of plan is appropriate?

For example, you could plan your commute to work expecting to make the 30 mile trip in 20 minutes, but if you’re on foot that plan isn’t going to work very well is it? The plan was simply not appropriate for you in that situation.

There are an unlimited number of possible trading methods and styles, from chart reading to fundamental analysis, cycles to Fibonacci retracements, intra-day, Dogs of the DOW, Options, Futures, FOREX, Pork Bellies, Arbitrage – it can make you feel like your head will explode! But what you trade does not matter nearly as much as how, or perhaps why you trade.

Why do you trade?

Are you the sort who likes to play video games, loves fast action, and has no problem being glued to a screen all day? Then maybe intra-day trading 1 and 5 minute charts of high volatility equity options is for you.

Rather check your trades maybe every few days, or maybe once a week? Then perhaps swing trading currency pairs is more your style.

Prefer sleeping easy at all times, never worrying in the least about your trades because you knew up front that they would profit? Then my friend, arbitrage trading is calling your name.

Every style has its advantages and disadvantages, its risks and rewards, but most important is that the style must match the trader. If you jump into trading believing that just because someone else can do it this way, then so can you – you may be in for a very painful surprise.

Never trade someone else’s plan. Never trade someone else’s style. You absolutely must know your own temperament well enough to determine what you will trade, and exactly how you will trade it. Your money management rules, your tolerance for losses, i.e. costs, , your willingness to change the trade if your market opinion is proven wrong – these are the true secrets to trading that separate the novice from the veteran. With these in place, emotions can be reduced if not eliminated.

After all, which would put you most at ease? Driving through an unfamiliar city alone with no guidance, driving with a map, or driving with a full color street-level-detail GPS navigation system?

I’ll take the GPS, thank you.

So before you place your first, or next, trade, consider the following:

a. Do you understand what you are trading and why?

b. Do you know what you will do given any of the possible outcomes?

c. Are you ready and willing to admit you were wrong about the trade, and if so what will you do about it and when?

d. Are you comfortable with the thought of losing the money you are putting into the trade, and will your trading account survive to trade another day if you do?

These are all part of what you need to have in your plan. I urge you to have considered them thoroughly before risking the slightest amount of money in a real trade.

Emotions – “You can’t trade with em, and you must trade without em.”

Jonathan van Clute is a full time investor, educator,
speaker, and online options and sports arbitrage trader. In
addition to his business activities, he is also a musician,
video editor/animator, and one of the world’s greatest
Segway Polo athletes. He can be reached via email at
jonathan@PMLinvestments.com and is speaking at an upcoming
teleseminar, visit http://snipurl.com/dotsig for details.

And what do you see? Links to dozens of products, from cyber-dating services to Internet marketing books that claim to make you $10,000 in 2 weeks, to all-natural pet shampoo, to the miracle herbal weight-loss remedy that will let you lose 20 lbs in a week without dieting or exercise! You’re in consumer heaven! Or are you?

More than likely you’re going to surf away – if you haven’t already done so after being forced to wait for what seems like HOURS for the web page to load.

Entrepreneurs entering the world of eCommerce have been told that “multiple streams of income” is the best way to make a decent income online. That’s true, BUT …

… You have to *target* your market. People surfing the web are looking for information on a particular topic [note: I said they're looking for *information*, not necessarily for *products*]. If you’re looking specifically for information on how to care for the iris in your garden, you probably won’t be especially receptive to offers for the Ultimate Cheese Grater for a mere $12.99 (plus shipping and handling).

On the other hand, offers for gardening tools and specialized fertilizers may catch your eye.

You can still create multiple streams of income. Just group together all the similar products (eg. products of interest to one particular target audience) on one website. Group together others that go well together and promote them on yet other websites.

Only select a few of the best products to offer on each website. By limiting the choices, you will be helping your visitors focus on only those products that are of interest to them. Create a website that’s high in relevant content (people are looking for *information*, remember?), quick to load, attractive, and well-written. The result? More affiliate sales.

Remember that “more products” isn’t necessarily “better”. By all means, create multiple streams of income – just be sure that you do so in a focused manner, by targeting your audience and selecting the best products you can.

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Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, a practical, down-to-earth guide to building an Internet business on a beginner’s budget. If you enjoyed this article, you’ll love the book! Visit http://www.onlinebusinessbasics.com or request a series of 10 free reports to get you started.