About Me 0100: January 2011

Monday, January 24, 2011

foreclosure statistics

...statistics show that despite Countrywide's representations, a much higher percentage of borrowers did not occupy the mortgaged properties:

...Overall, 18.3% of the loans sampled had recalculated LTV ratios of more than 10% higher than was claimed in the offering materials, and 6% of the loans sampled had recalculated LTV ratios of more than 25% higher than what was claimed in the offering circular. This overvaluation affected numerous statistics in the Offering Materials...For instance, the Offerings each made representations about the percent
of loans that had LTVs higher than 90% provide the lender little value
cushion to protect against borrower default and loss upon foreclosure.
However, the AVM indicates that a much higher percentage of the loans
had LTVs higher than 90%.

The Offerings uniformly represented that none of the Mortgage Loans that collateralized the Certificates had LTV ratios greater than 100 percent, meaning that the size of the loan is greater than the value of the property. (aka: being "underwater") Loans with over 100% LTV afford the lender no equity cushion and leave the lender with inadequate collateral from the outset of a loan. Allstate's analysis has found that, despite Countrywide's representations, a substantial number of Mortgage Loans had LTVs greater than 100%, as follows:

Allstate has also analyzed the weighted average LTV of the Mortgage Loans in each pool and has found that the weighted average LTV was also overstated, because of the overstatement of individual Mortgage Loans within the pools.

All these lies, and much, much more, can be found detailed in the filing below. At the risk of cheeiness, this is just a sampling of the sampling. And it demonstrates as all those who purchased loans from CFC/BofA that were repped to be in order, will find, following sampling or loan by loan analysis, that Brian Moynihan's bank committed acts of fraud after fraud, putting not only itself, but its underwriter counsel at risk time again. In fact, if there was anything remotely close to a working legal system in the US, what happened to Lehman's Repo 105 auditor, E&Y, should promptly befall every single underwriter's counsel which is jointly liable in representing that the data set forth by the underwriter is correct. But just as importantly, it means that of the hundreds of hundreds billions in loans sold by BofA to hapless dimwits, arguably the bulk of it is now subject to putbacks, and is of far worse quality than previously expected. It also means that the GSEs: those infinite receptacles of mortgage biohazard, are lying consistently when representing the state of their own books, which are likely orders of magnitude worse than the monthly status reports will indicate.

This is just starting to get interesting.

The full Allstate filing which is a must read for everyone is presented below.

Two years ago today, Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States. Are you better off today than you were two years ago?

Numbers don't lie, and here are the data on the impact he has had on the lives of Americans:

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

Polson Kanneth reports: Daniel Hernandez Jr., one of the heroes of the mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., two weeks ago, tells ABC News that he will be sitting, along with his father, Daniel Hernandez Sr., with Michelle Obama at the.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/24 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning Chiefs fans. Another super thin day for Kansas City Chiefs news. There are quite a few hits on the Hali & Berry to Pro Bowl story, but they are all basically the same info. Here are your two stories... Enjoy.

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iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot | iLounge News

iLounge news discussing the Apple airs new 'two is better than one' iPhone spot. Find more iPhone news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Making Money Quickly

The inflation rate in China is approaching double-digit levels (annualized basis). In Europe, the rate is rapidly exceeding the targets set by the central banks, and in the United States, the Federal Reserve continues to effectively print money while the government goes about its trillion-dollar annual deficit spending spree. Since 2008, the U.S. monetary base (basic measure of money circulating in the economy) has increased over 200% from $800 billion to $2.1 trillion. This is unprecedented and is one of the underlying causes of inflation, but more importantly, as the unavoidable inflation picks up in the United States, it could well be a catalyst for hyper-inflation reminiscent of the 1970s.

(Yes, I really want to start using the word ‘pivot’ in more headlines in 2011 – it’s one of my New Year resolutions).

ZapTunes.com is a gigantic scam. They used to trick people into believing they could sign up for the service – handing over their credit card details in the process – and instantly gain access to an online music catalog of more than 8 million DRM-free songs they could legally download. For $25 a month.

Of course, the ‘startup’ was quickly and diligently called out for being a devious fraud, by TorrentFreak for one. Of course, it wasn’t so hard to identify ZapTunes as a huge scam – they were stupid enough to claim they’d signed a licensing deal that enabled it to offer music from The Beatles (this was way before Apple got to that point).

Anyway, they announced their shutdown just months after launching, to no one’s surprise but undoubtedly not after taking some gullible people’s money.

In their own press release, they stated that “from the very first day of its launch, ZapTunes had been struggling against numerous DMCA complaints and lawsuits that were brought against it by a handful of label companies”.

This morning, however, the fraudulent company announced its return, this time billing itself as a social music discovery network. They will stop offering free music downloads, and all existing subscriptions are to be canceled as soon as the new website is launched.

Although ZapTunes mentions how it has struggled to “get to a point of profit” to date, the company says it has attracted 25,000 subscribers to its free music download service, which, again, sets those users back $25 per month.

I sincerely hope that, too, is a lie, and far fewer people got tricked by these fraudsters.

The reason for this post is simple: I want as many people as possible to land on this blog post or the ones I linked to above when doing a search for ZapTunes, in the hopes of making them realize they should stay far, far away from it.

Source:http://removeripoffreports.net/

Movie News Quick Hits: First 'Spider-Man' Action Shots and More ...

Darth Vader's other son from another mother [via GeekTyrant]-- A simple post on the official Tumblr for Rian Johnson's time travel movie 'Looper'

Pitchfork: The Strokes Confirm Release Date for New Record

TwentyFourBit points out that the Strokes' bassist Nikolai Fraiture has confirmed a recently speculated rumor concerning the release date of ...

Major earthquake strikes southwestern Pakistan – This Just In ...

[Updated at 4:47 p.m. ET] An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 struck Wednesday morning in a remote area of southwestern Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The earthquake occurred at 1:23 a.m. (3:23 p.m. ...

Friday, January 14, 2011

Free rental agreement forms online

Similarly, if part of the argument was over a bank account, Legal Aid will want repaying if there is a successful outcome with a value over £5,000. Let me give you a scenario. A couple are getting divorced and they are arguing over who owns the £50,000 in a bank account. The funded party claims that 50% of the money is theirs and the non-funded party is claiming that all the money belongs to them. The matter goes to court and the court decides that the money should be split 50/50 and awards £25,000 to the funded person. The bill for arguing litigation was £10,000.

Free rental agreement forms on line cheap

The board would want £10,000 of the £25,000.00 that was awarded leaving the legal aided person with only £15,000 out of the £25,000. Ouch! With regards to the exemption, if the amount that was being argued over was £10,000 and the award was 50/50 then half of £10,000.00 being argued over (assuming 50/50) is £5,000.00. There is a £5,000.00 exemption ring fenced and therefore the board would get nothing.

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Make sure to pay ALL future fills and obligations online. This is an obvious one of course, but it is so very important to keep things completely clean at all points forward.

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There are several other specific and little-known steps that can accelerate your success with getting the right kind of mortgage and can help you avoid a bad credit mortgage--make sure to keep reading and researching.

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The Write Stuff For Test Anxiety - Science News

Students score higher after jotting down worries before a big exam.

Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service. Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch. The delay is supposed to give Apple ...

Great news: Elected officials know less about the Constitution ...

So claims the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, which just concluded a five-year study on the American public's knowledge of its foundational legal document. The bad news: the general public gets an F, with just a 54% average on the ...

Thursday, January 13, 2011

personal financeonline personal finance

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Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

President Obama's dramatic news at last night's memorial service in Tucson that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' has just minutes before opened her left eye for the first time since the shooting has created some confusion in light of news from ...

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

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Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

Bad News, About Virgin Mi-Fi and Verizon Upgrades - NYTimes.com

Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

Giffords' Eye Opening News - Political Punch

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Apple, News Corp. Delay "Daily" iPad Newspaper | Peter Kafka ...

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Two announcements this week. Two big bummers. Two good things gone.

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Monday, January 10, 2011

Making Money Through

The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives has begun the process of repealing the Healthcare law. Some have argued that, because the Senate may not repeal it as well, and the President will likely veto it, the House’s repeal is purely “symbolic.”

Just as the reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House, on Wednesday, was symbolic of a “return to constitutionalism,” as Charles Krauthammer writes, the repeal of the Healthcare law in the House will be symbolic not just of the fact that Republicans have heard the will of the American people, but also that they fully understand that the new law is, only superficially, a jumbled and thoughtless mess of rules about how healthcare should be delivered and paid for in this country. In reality, the Healthcare law is a liberal power grab that is gradually permitting the federal government to control more of our lives, making more people dependent upon the government and continuing the culture of dependency among minority groups who, up until now, have mostly voted liberals into power. The symbolism of the repeal will ring loud and clear.

Liberal Democrats will be launching a big campaign over the next few days, doing what they always accuse Republicans and conservatives of doing- “fear-mongering.” They will be telling their constituents that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the repeal of the Healthcare law will increase debt, that Republicans don’t want people with pre-existing conditions to have access to health insurance, and that Republicans want to defund Medicare, new chairman of the House Budget Committee, Congressman Paul Ryan, has set out why these claims are wrong.

However, one of the features of the new Healthcare law, already in effect, is the extension of healthcare coverage to adult children (up until 26 years old), a hallmark of the true intention of this law- to make more people dependent, while it raises premiums on private health insurers who need more money to meet this new requirement.

For those who do not have adult children in the 21 to 26 age range, would it surprise you to know that these adult “children,” who are now covered, are not required to even live with their parents to remain on their plans, and that they may even be married and still be covered under their parents’ health plans?

Through the new Healthcare law, liberal Democrats have gradually introduced the concept that adult children should remain dependent on their parents, and when their parents are not around, perhaps the government can take over in that parental role? Of course, this new rule comes at a time when the economic decline made it difficult for young adults to obtain jobs. This is how the gradual creep of dependency begins: introduce a law which creates dependency on the government at a time of crisis, so that uninformed Americans will see it as a caring and positive intervention to help them in their time of need. This is how every entitlement legislation begins, and why none has ever been totally eradicated thus far, mainly because people have come to expect these benefits.

One of the newly elected members of Congress who understands well the liberals’ drive to make more Americans dependent on the government is Colonel Allen West of Florida. Congressman West will be serving in the Congressional Black Caucus and hopes to represent conservative philosophical ideas such as the importance of individual responsibility, creativity, and entrepreneurship.

In addition, as a result of the left’s encouragement of this culture of dependency, those who are truly in need will no longer have to seek voluntary assistance from neighbors and communities. Conversely, neighbors and communities will not be encouraged to voluntarily reach out to others because the knowledge that the government will provide for their friends’ needs may cause them to think twice. As such, dependency on the government creates more distance, and less connectivity, among members of a community.

At this point in time, any resistance to repealing the Healthcare law, and replacing it with commonsense legislation that reflects free market principles, will be almost entirely about continuing the culture of dependency, a hallmark of liberalism, that has taken over this country. We can be sure that liberals from the previous Congress will try hard to keep this culture in place. Their ability to remain powerful depends on it.

What made this project so successful? After all, there are other iPod Nano projects. And it's a wristwatch, which even with the addition of a Nano, might not be the coolest or most necessary of accessories.

Bryce Roberts, the Managing Director of O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, points to some reasons he's identified that contributed to the success of the Lunatik/TikTok fundraising endeavor. These lessons that can be seen in other successful Kickstarter projects (such as Diaspora), but they're also applicable in many ways to more "traditional" funding efforts.

Tell a personal story

The Lunatik/TikTok "pitch" wasn't a bulleted list of qualifications or clients. Rather, the members of the team "told personal stories that created a connection to the project that had nothing to do with their professional pedigree." While this sort of storytelling doesn't boost their professional credentials, Roberts argues, it does give the entrepreneurs a certain personal authority and helps to connect them to funders and potential funders in a different way.

Roberts argues that the best fundraising pitches always emphasize this personal aspect. "It's a given," he writes, "that if I chose to invest in you I believe I can make money, but there are the intangibles around personality, perspectives, and life experiences that will make a potential funder more likely to want to believe you."

Tell the product's story

If you watch the TikTok video (below), you'll see the product is featured throughout. This demonstrates what the product can do - and that it can do what the startup promises. The video also demonstrates the larger potential of the product. These might be "small, nice little features" that some investors would dismiss. But with the crowdfunding model, the right storytelling around this seems crucial. "The difference between a nano strapped to a wristband and a premium quality, highly designed, customizable piece of wearable technology is simply a matter of how you tell the story."

But even when you aren't using a site like Kickstarter to raise money, it's crucial that your product be front-and-center in your presentations.

Give rewards and issue progress reports

Investors, by definition, invest in order to make a financial return. Nonetheless, argues Roberts, you should offer more than simply the promise of "making money." These sorts of non-financial rewards can be personal and personalized. By design, Kickstarter tells its users, "the best way to inspire support is to offer people great rewards. Everyone loves limited editions, one-of-a-kinds, and fun experiences (parties, screenings, balloon rides!). Spend some time brainstorming your rewards and people will respond. No one needs another coffee mug."

And as your project and your company are constantly evolving, it's good to keep investors and potential investors up-to-date on your progress. In the case of TikTok, the creators even filmed themselves in China when they traveled to the factory where the watch kits were being made. But the same could be said for all funding relationships; keep your investors apprised of "how you're making progress and how your story is continuing to unfold in a big and important way."

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

Fashion Industry News, Designers, Runway Shows, Style Advice. Send Tips � Advertise � About Us � Network � Above the Law � AltTransport � Breaking Media � Fashionista. Search for: Home � Fashion Shows ... Posted in: News ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

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Top news stories in China 2010

A Sinica podcast and lists from the Chinese media and Internet of the top news stories of 2010, year of the Tiger.

Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks 1/10/11 - Mile High Report

Your daily cup of Orange and Blue Coffee .. Horse Tracks.

Grading the Spring 2011 Campaigns, Part 1 – Fashionista: Fashion ...

Friday, January 7, 2011

why internet marketing

Douglas Rushkoff is the author of Life Inc: How Corporatism Conquered the World and How We Can Take It Back, out this week in paperback from RandomHouse, as well as Program or Be Programmed from ORBooks. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Social media is everywhere, and it is finally accepted as much as, well, as much as the class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet itself. Sadly, though, in reaching this level of ubiquity, we have ended up surrendering the real promise of this medium.

I fought for so many years to convince people that the Net was a social medium in the first place. Until recently, everybody seemed to believe that “content is king,” and that all this messy socializing between people was of little value. It was all about getting people onto a sticky website so they’d make purchases. Their conversations and innermost thoughts were once considered utterly un-monetizable.

But thanks to Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter, YouTubeclass="blippr-nobr">YouTube and Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook, social media has arrived as a justifiable expense for businesses looking to do whatever it is that’s intended to replace advertising. And as a result, people who should know better -– many of us who have some understanding of how social media actually works –- are busy working for companies who want to turn this social landscape back into a marketplace.

This isn’t about pointing fingers or laying blame. It’s about stopping ourselves before it is too late. We still have a chance for social media to generate the biggest change in how culture and commerce operate since the invention of the printing press. But it will require that we recognize what is so special about it, how it disrupts the status quo, and why it’d be such a shame to give all this up without a fight.

A Historic Opportunity

The most disruptive feature of social media is that it allows us to connect with one another relatively directly. (Even Facebook’s architecture of central servers is completely unnecessary for social networking to occur, as new tools like Diaspora are quickly demonstrating.) The direct connection via media –- for socializing, or even for commerce — has been controlled by both governments and businesses for the past 600 years. That’s right: This is our best opportunity in six centuries to connect with our peers via technology without the oversight of powerful interests.

After the fall of the Roman Republic, Europeans spent close to a thousand years living under the awful oppression of feudalism. There were lords who owned all the land and peasants who worked on it.

Nothing much happened until merchants started traveling around and spreading the innovations from one area to another. People became good at particular crafts and started selling things to one another, developing little marketplaces that slowly grew in size. Towns developed their own currencies based on grain and other commodities, and people started to get rich.

They had liberated themselves from absolute dependence on the landowners and created a peer-to-peer economy. They got healthy, bigger than at any time in history until the 1980s, and they worked less than four days a week. As a result of the rise of this new “bourgeoisie,” the lords had less power and money. They decided to crash this new economy.

Local moneys were declared illegal; people had to borrow “coin of the realm” from the central treasury. And if that wasn’t enough, local business was also stifled. Instead of working for themselves, people had to become “employees” of one of the king’s officially sanctioned monopolies — what we would today consider “corporations.” People got poor, conditions got worse, the plague broke out … you know the rest. We call it the Renaissance, but it was really the end of a peer-to-peer culture and economy that has never been matched. Until now.

The Potential for True Peer-to-Peer Culture

Illustration by Leland Purvis from Program or be Programmed.

With the web — and more specifically, with social media — we have the chance to engage with one another in the ways that could restore a P2P society in which people create and exchange value directly with one another. Instead of depending on corporations for jobs, goods, and even investment, we can work for and with one another. Instead of relating indirectly through centrally constructed mythologies and brands (you’re a fan of Nike, too?!) we can relate directly with one another.

The real possibilities of social media, however, are quickly devolving to the limited applications of social marketing. In the past 20 years, I watched open source get reduced to the corporate-friendly concept of “crowd sourcing,” and my own concept of “viral media” get watered down to “viral marketing.” I refuse to watch the social promise of interactive media get redefined by those hoping to make a fast buck off our Facebook friendships. Not without a fight.

Instead of connecting to one another, we are increasingly connected to and friended by the same old brands and institutions that the Internet once stood a chance of upending. And worst of all, we the people are getting into the act, learning to sell our friends to the highest bidder. Whether it’s a Zynga game inviting us to turn over our address books for points, or an advertiser offering us a chance to win a prize for “friending” them publicly, we are now in the business of marketing our friendships to those who hope to exploit the bonds we have created with others. In doing so, we reduce the real value of those bonds, as well as the entire potential for peer-to-peer connection.

Conclusion

The real opportunity of social networking looks a lot more like Burning Man and WikiLeaksclass="blippr-nobr">Wikileaks than it does like P&G’s word-of-mouth campaign or whatever Twitter is hatching in its new analytics lab.

We are building the social organism together. That’s all the Internet has been doing from the beginning. But it seems as soon as we develop a new tool or strand of connectivity, it is hijacked by business, robbed of its power, and then replaced by mechanisms that connect us to things, rather than people.

Will social networking finally accomplish the Internet’s real goal? We have yet to see. But in the meantime, how we use it — and what we think it to be — will go a long way toward determining its fate.

More Social Media Resources from Mashable:

- 95+ Predictions for the Web in 2011/> - 6 Predictions for Social Networks in 2011/> - 4 Predictions for the Future of Politics and Social Media/> - 10 More Creative Uses of the New Facebook Profile [PICS]/> - Reddit Political Action Committee: We’re Not Happy With the New Net Neutrality Rules

For more Social Media coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Social Mediaclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Social Media channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for Android, iPhone and iPad

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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Moms Making Money

On December 8th, Raghav Gupta, CEO of GeoTerrestrial, Inc., launched a free, geo-social mobile app that allows groups, large or small, private or public, to interact, explore, and share real-time information (photos, links, tips, etc.), all using the same map. Think: Harry Potter's Marauder's Map, if everyone you knew had one.

Perhaps it was all those years Mr. Gupta spent creating algorithms to make eBay more people-friendly, only to come to terms with the realization that it's not about people, it's about making money. Perhaps it's the nature of a mathematician to question the make-up of the universe and our place in it. Whatever the reason, when Gupta walked away from his job at eBay, he spent the next two years focusing on helping people find themselves--and the things they care most about--without having to rely on stores or other venues the way FourSquare does to provide locational context.

"The venue-based check-in services are only a sliver of what is possible in the geo-social space," says Gupta. "We worked with our thousands of beta users to create a platform that gives anyone the freedom to simply and easily build very personalized groups limited only by their imaginations. Very soon, the platform will also let group owners monetize their networks."

Riffing on recent mapping advances such as geocoding and GPS tracking, this public/private, location-based networking holds all the potential that can be poured into it by its users. New users create either public or private groups and utilize these to build unique, personalized maps with the help of others within their groups.

Private maps may be the most interesting of the app's inventions. For example, a private group might include several friends meeting up at the Half Moon Bay, CA Pumpkin Festival. As these friends approach the group's designated meeting spot at a local cafe, they find that two of their buddies have been waylaid, nearby. The missing duo suddenly post for their friends the location and photo of a pub they want to share with everyone. By following the movements of the two, missing friends' dots on the map in real-time, and passing in-app chat messages (without incurring SMS charges!), the rest of the group catch up with their pioneering friends and the day's fun begins. In fact, the female staff at all of the pubs in town are so cute, the lone bachelor of the bunch sets up a GeoAlert so he'll be notified every time he comes within a specified distance of any beer vendor. And the rest of his friends can set a GeoAlert on him, so they'll be able to grab him if he strays too far from the group.

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The movie, Race to Nowhere, has brought new attention to education and student motivation. I hope that this film inspires dialogue about what school could become.

As Seth Godin says in his 2010 book, Linchpin, Are you Indispensible?, the sign outside school could read, “We teach people to take initiative and become remarkable artists, to question the status quo and to interact with transparency. And our graduates understand that consumption is not the answer to social problems.”

I want to work at a school like that! What child does not want to go to a school as Godin describes: “What they should teach in school: Only two things: 1. Solve interesting problems. 2. Lead.”

Kierkegaard once said, “We create ourselves by our choices.” Our children and our students are making choices based on our examples.

In Terry McMillan's 2010 sequel to Waiting to Exhale called Getting to Happy, 15 ½-year-old Sparrow tells her mom, “Most of the kids at my school get their meds from their parents’ and grandparents’ medicine cabinet."

We are aware that some children are doing homework until late in the night and taking pills to stay up. How big of a problem is it? Another character, 14-year-old Taylor says, “I looked in your side table and I saw your little pharmacy ....all of [my mom’s] scripts were on display in the medicine cabinet. This is where most of my friends get their stash to sell at school for spending money.”

Jason McDonald, an instructional designer, and academic researcher states that "for high school and college there is evidence that the race we've entered our kids in is damaging them in important ways."   For college student information, he recommends reading My Freshman Year, the report of an anthropologist who went "native" as a college freshman and recorded her experiences.

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