U.N. officials and other experts have said that meeting goals set in 2000 by the target date of 2015 is becoming more challenging. The creators of the site said that improved monitoring of progress could help achieve its goals.

Michael Jones, chief technologist for Google Earth told Reuters that, "Hiding from problems guarantees their perpetuation." Google Earth has added its satellite imagery and mapping service to the site so users can view problem areas.

The site will collect statistics from around the globe to provide a look of how each country is progressing on reaching goals, from reducing hunger to decreasing infant mortality.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the site would offer for the first time all the information on the goals in a single place and allow better monitoring to help flag areas that need more assistance.

‘Our global scorecard is mixed," Ban said. "Some regions, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, are not on track." He pointed out that close to 1 billion people were living on under $1 a day, and millions of children die every year because of causes tied to malnutrition.

Jones said," In the countries that fall behind, what they need most of all is to know they’re falling behind."

Cisco, Google, And The U.N. Take On Poverty

This is not something to which either corporation will devote billions of dollars.  On the other hand – and investors are likely to be glad there is another hand – the point of this project is to examine attainable objectives as we approach a target date of 2015.

“The MDG Monitor shows how countries are progressing in their efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” states the homepage of a newly launched website.  Cisco entered the equation by supplying technical and financial support; Google came in by offering up Google Earth.

Visitors can use Google Earth to learn about various countries’ MDGs.  They may also navigate the site through traditional lists or an interactive map, but a large “Launch Google Earth!” logo on the homepage makes the first option more appealing than the last two.

Of course, it remains to be seen how much the site will accomplish.  Still, it’s an admirable effort on the part of some powerful groups to fight disease, child mortality, and all the other results of global poverty.

Back when Bono was the young and defiant face of U2, minus the sunglasses and stubble of today, it was easy to look at him and think the band would change the world. As the band ascended on the global stage, it has been Bono who has been most visible in trying to enable those changes.

Besides the meetings with global leaders, and the establishment of the ONE campaign to make poverty history, Bono has spoken extensively with the media about the efforts he supports. Now he has offered his name to the Yahoo Answers audience, and asked them a question:

“What can we do to make poverty history?”

Yahoo Answers has featured other notable people in its Ask the Planet promotion. Before Bono’s question appeared today, eminent physicist Dr. Stephen Hawking asked “How can the human race survive the next hundred years?”

That question has drawn 15,895 answers to date. Suggestions like colonizing other planets, a theory espoused by Dr. Hawking himself, found their way to Yahoo Answers.

While there probably is not a single answer that by itself offers the solution to the problem, parts of various answers may be helpful in constructing an overarching approach to surviving the next century. That may also hold true for Bono’s question on poverty.

Yahoo Answers does for modern web users what Usenet did long before Tim Berners-Lee conceived of the World Wide Web. It provides a forum, in a rich graphical format, for people to post questions and sift through answers to find the best response.

Like Usenet, posting a question does not always attract the best answers it can. That’s part of public participation; everyone has a different take on a subject, and some are more useful than others.

For a little while, Yahoo Answers may have a little impact on the way its users think about social issues. That has to be a good thing.

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

Some tickets to the red-hot London Live 8 concert were offered as prizes for a text lottery. The winners, however, displayed true American entrepreneurial spirit and immediately placed the tickets for sale on eBay.

Over two million text messages were sent by people hoping to win the prized tickets.

Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof expressed his displeasure in a statement. “I am sick with this. What eBay are doing is profiteering on the backs of the impoverished. The people who are selling it are wretches. But far worse is the corporate culture which capitalizes on people’s misery.”

The Live 8 concert in London, scheduled for July 2nd, will see performers like U2, REM, Coldplay, and in a surprise, a reunited Pink Floyd, take the stage to heighten awareness of poverty in Africa.

Four other concerts will take place that day as well, in advance of the G8 economic meeting in Scotland scheduled for July.

In an attempt to mollify Mr. Geldof, eBay offered to donate 1 pound (about $1.80) per pair of tickets sold but was rejected by the singer. Pairs of tickets offered on eBay were going for hundreds of pounds. But it appears some people are placing bogus bids of millions of pounds in an effort to disrupt some of those auctions.

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

First, a comparison to building an offline, bricks-and-mortar business, just for perspective. If you’re young, you might educate yourself in your field, go to work for someone else, and build your experience, reputation and equity. Then you could take out a business start-up loan, rent a storefront, buy all the necessary equipment, tools, furniture and merchandise, buy advertising — and wait years to work your way out of debt and make a profit.

If you aren’t young, have a family and all the expenses and debts that go with that,and are not making enough money working for someone else to get ahead, you don’t have the same options. Night school, years of part-time education and training, with your creditors hounding you every step of the way…sound familiar?

So you turn on your computer and wonder…wish…that one of those promises of quick riches could be true for you. I wouldn’t go there if I were you.

Here are some first steps to getting started as an internet entrepreneur:

1. Honest self-assessment: There are certain qualities necessary to being self-employed. If you can honestly say that you are self-disciplined, self-motivated, determined, self-confident, patient, persevering and maybe even a bit stubborn, you have what it takes.

2. Research: You need to spend some time researching the company, the products, and the people already working the business. Is the company solid and dependable, are the company executives accessible and responsive, are the products of high desirability and quality, and maybe most importantly, is there experienced, successful, and friendly team support?

3. Support: Surround yourself with cheerleaders, mentors, knowledge, and inspiration, both on- and offline. Your family, the company, and others who have succeeded where you are treading for the first time, should all be available to you. You should never feel that you’re all alone.

4. Infrastructure: Decide what you need: computer,printer, fax, phone; whatever your chosen business requires. Create an office space that suits your lifestyle and work needs. A corner of the living room can function well if you can work while the kids are at school or if their noise doesn’t bother you, but evening work may require a separate room. Don’t put your office in the bedroom if you work evenings and your spouse goes to bed early. You need your family’s support, not their animosity!

5. Realism: It’s tempting to try a business that makes promises it can’t keep. Many tell you that one person or a few make thousands of dollars a week and so can you. None of them will point out that maybe you will be one of thousands who quit before they make a cent. “Put money in your pocket today!” Yes, but will any go in tomorrow?

Accept the fact that any business worth its salt can take time. Maybe you can begin making money in a couple months, or maybe a year. You have to be able to maintain life as you know it for however long it takes. Understand that it won’t be a steady climb to the top from where you are today; the path will go up and down.

6. Selling someone else’s product or your own: Obviously, the big money is in selling your own product. Selling for another company is a great way to get your feet wet in internet commerce, however. At first you may feel like you’re floundering in an unfathomable sea of information, but at some point will come the knowledge that you’re “getting it.” Working for a good company will leave you knowing that you have what it takes to do it on your own, if you choose.

7. Business plan: This keeps you focused, helps you develop goals, strategies and work plans; and aids in evaluating your results. It can include contingency plans, and is never written in stone. As you learn and your business develops, the plan will evolve too.

Now that you’ve got the road map…take that first step! Your future begins today!

Glenn Beach is a poet, writer and home business entrepreneur in Nova Scotia, Canada. Free newsletter, more articles, and business start-up info at: http://www.work-at-home-business-opportunity-canada.com