Secrets to Making Money

I see you can't read between the lines. Typical of the left.



Lets start with this:

Get the feeling you focused too much on witches and boogy men races that were out of reach and not on the races that matter?

The mind trick worked all to well on the left. From the POTUS on down to the sycophants in the loyal lapdog media to this lowly forum. We ran a noise maker in DE for a "safe" dem seat and you spent political capital and energy mainly to expose the "nut" but left more deserving candidates laying by the wayside in tight races. Hollywood could not have scripted your demise in less than two short years any better than it played out.



Maybe I should have put that statement first...that would help you wrap your noodle around the rest better. I do so want to see the blame game tonight. Who gets thrown under the bus? Barry. Doubt it. He deserves it though. I'll be watching PBS because they're not as good at hiding their disappointment and you get a real "feel" for how the opposition thinks.



But hey. Be proud. Be loud. After all, you're a democrat. It's suited you so well these last two years!

As you all know, that mashed-up bag of gas with pancake make-up on it Keith Olbermann has been “suspended indefinitely” by MSNBC for making and failing to disclose political contributions to three Democrats — including open-borders Democrat Rep. Raul Grijalva, whom he hosted on the same day he forked over a donation.

Unlike Fox News (pay attention, Media Matters Soros-bots), NBC ethics guidelines (yes, they do have them) bar their employees from making political contributions. (FNC’s real-world, pro-free speech rules allow donations as long “as long as the activity does not interfere with or impair the performance of the employee’s duties for the Company.”)

Politico got the scoop on Olbermann’s donations to Grijalva, AZ Democrat Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and failed Kentucky Democrat Senate candidate Jack Conway by sifting through FEC records.

Bill Kristol is rallying conservatives to support Olbermann.

MSNBC’s suspension of Keith Olbermann is ludicrous. First, he donated money to candidates he liked. He didn’t take money, or favors, in a way that influenced his reporting. Second, he’s not a reporter. It’s an opinion show. If Olbermann wants to put his money where his mouth is, more power to him.Republicans of the world, show you believe in the free expression of opinion! Tell the crony corporatists at NBC—keep Keith!

Pardon my MSNBC-like incivility, but are you freaking kidding me? Hoping Kristol’s tongue is firmly planted in cheek, but plenty of people are taking him seriously.

Olbermann railed against FNC in August for its corporate donations while whitewashing NBC/GE’s:

On the August 17 edition of ‘Countdown,’ host Keith Olbermann used the donations to do the only thing he’s capable of doing: criticizing Fox News.

“We now have another million reasons why Fox News is the Republican news channel, correct?” Olbermann asked Media Matters president Eric Burns.

Olbermann said that GE, MSNBC’s parent company, donated an equal amount of money to both the DGA and RGA. He didn’t mention, however, that according to OpenSecrets.org, in 2008, 100 percent of MSNBC Cable’s donations went to Democrats and 99 percent of NBC’s donations went to Democrats.

Additionally, so far in 2010, 100 percent of ABC News’s donations have gone to Democrats and CBS Corporation’s PAC has contributed $51,000 to Democrats in 2010.

The Media Research Center previously noted News Corp.’s donations favored Democrats and that other outlets critical of the donation, such as Viacom’s Comedy Central, have all given substantial money to Democrats, yet there is no outrage over their political contributions.

Olbermann’s sanctimony and hypocrisy only compound his core failure to disclose the donations before Election Day — especially during the show in which he hosted one of the beneficiaries of that cash.

Here is the full transcript of the Olbermann/Grijalva interview on Oct. 28, the day Olbermann donated the maximum to Grijalva’s re-election bid:

Title: MSNBC “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” – Transcript

Date: 10/28/2010

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. RAUL GRIJALVA (D), ARIZONA: Good to talk to you, my friend.

OLBERMANN: Is there anything you can tell us about the relationship between these private prisons and the lawmakers who supported this monstrosity of a bill?

GRIJELVA: It is a wonderful I told you so moment. But, at the same time, we”ve been battered for the six months for our opposition to 1070, not just myself but others. And we don”t know how much they”ve contributed to these independent expenditure campaigns, the private prison industry.

But you used the word citizens. It”s disgusting, cynical and disgusting that they were bragging about there”s going to be more women and children detained, so therefore this is a market for us.

And the fact of the matter is Russell Pearce and Jan Brewer made a decision to put this law in effect. It had had nothing to do with border security. It had nothing to do with the security of the state. It had to do with the profit line.

And, you know, I”m glad that NPR did this. I”m glad “In These Times” did that. Finally, it”s catching some attention. But it comes at the end of a campaign when many of us have been battered for six months because of our opposition to 1070.

It is–you used the word cynical. It is past cynical. It is using

a very tough situation in the state of Arizona when it comes to immigration

using it to make a profit and using people, when we should be talking about how you we”re going to reform this law. It”s unbelievable.

OLBERMANN: It”s almost extraordinary to believe that once we got past the original phony reason for it, which was security at the border, when obviously it didn”t pertain to that whatsoever, that the real reason behind that was well, this is to intimidate people of Hispanic descent. Well, it turns out there”s an even more base, cynical reason behind it.

Am I wrong about this? When they talk about making money, it”s not–they”re not talking about people who are going to be in jail because they”ve been convicted of anything. This would be making money off people who are held and then found to have violated no laws, correct? They make money whether something”s guilty or innocent, correct?

GRIJALVA: It”s filling beds and spaces, period. It”s about detention. It”s about building private prisons, filling them, taking a profit from the federal government, and with that profit continuing to expand the bottom line. The advisers for Jan Brewer are part of this. The people that wrote the law for Russell Pearce of part of this. They”re all going to make millions of dollars off of this.

What expense? The division in Arizona, the division across this country. They get to go blithely walk away with their money, leaving behind the kind of social mess they”ve left all over this country. It is for me one of the most corrupt political acts. Because you use people. You use the emotions involved and you make a profit.

OLBERMANN: I can”t insure your house for fire, because legally that would give me a motivation for wanting to see your house catch fire. I mean, the idea of private prisons–suddenly, we see the flaw in that idea, too, that if they”re private prisons run for profit, there”s going to be a motive to put people in prison who don”t belong there.

GRIJALVA: That and the private prison industry here in Arizona has a wonderful test case. Murderers escaped from a private public. They haven”t escaped from a public prison. That”s Jan Brewer”s agenda. That is the extreme right”s agenda here.

I think–I hope people–I think people in Arizona are now seeing through the cloud and realizing that this is not just about immigration. This is not just about border security. There”s an insidious reason we”re involved in this really tough, tough issue. That is that somebody is making money off of it.

OLBERMANN: Lastly, any idea why the governor is going to San Francisco?

GRIJALVA: Well, she hasn”t debated. She wants to avoid the questions that are pressing about her relationship to this private prison industry and why they wrote the law. The people on her staff that are running her campaign and her chief of staff, I”m assuming that she wants to avoid those questions.

OLBERMANN: Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona, it”s always a pleasure and an education. I”m sorry it”s always about something like this. Thanks for your time.

GRIJALVA: Thank you.

Olby’s defenders say it’s wrong to punish opinion journalists for supporting candidates and causes.

But:

1) MSNBC has always promoted and allowed Olbermann to preen as an award-winning journalist and broadcaster of Edward R. Murrow’s caliber — above the fray and superior to the rest of us in the print/broadcast media who are open and honest about our political and ideological biases.

2) Whatever NBC’s guidelines may be, it was the basic journalistic failure of the Murrow wanna-be to disclose the donation on the night he hosted one of his cash recipients that seals his fate and undermines whatever iota of credibility his station has left.

Good night and good riddance.

***

Flashback 2007:

HOW many times over the years have we seen mainstream media elites get on their high horse about their unbending commitment to objectivity?

Wear ribbons after the 9/11 attacks? Heavens, no, the news poobahs swooned. Stacey Woelfel, news director at KOMU-TV in Columbia, Mo., directed his staff to “leave the ribbons at home” to show viewers “that in no way are we influenced by the government in informing the public.”

Display the flag during wartime? Heavens, no, cried the dinosaur networks. ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider told The Washington Post: “Especially in a time of national crisis, the most patriotic thing journalists can do is to remain as objective as possible . . . We cannot signal how we feel about a cause, even a justified and just cause, through some sort of outward symbol.”

And dole out political cash while on the job? Heavens, n-oh, wait a minute. That unbending commitment to neutrality is really nothing but a Wetzel’s pretzel.

Despite all the past protestations about the need to avoid outward signs of partiality, we now learn that journalists in America’s top newsrooms overwhelmingly donate to Democrat causes and candidates (shocker!) – and that they’ve been giving despite clear prohibitions and conflicts of interest.

MSNBC.com’s Bill Dedman found 144 journalists who’d made political donations to candidates, parties and causes from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign. Nine out of 10 – 125 in total – gave to Democrats and liberal groups; only 17 gave to Republicans, while two gave to both parties. The donors include war correspondents who gave while embedded or on the war beat, The New York Times’ ethics columnist and several news anchors who crusaded and signed petitions against the war.

Adding insult to self-injury, every single one of these donors – who work in an industry that crusades for openness, disclosure, and transparency – failed to inform their viewers, readers and bosses of their political activities.

So much for “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

***

Flashback: Rejoice: Voters eject MSNBC host-to-be Alan Grayson in Fla.

Flashback: The old “coconut” smear: Another MSNBC white liberal bigmouth with race issues

Flashback: MSNBC’s Larry “O’Scary” O’Donnell melts down again

Flashback: White liberal MSNBC TV host can’t stop talking about president’s skin color

Flashback: MSNBC Clown who called me “big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick” says Scott Brown hates women

Flashback: The indelible whiteness of MSNBC

Related: MSNBC’s on-air political fundraising.



***

Ok, poll time:

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(CNN) -- Five big name Republicans have two things in common- they are all considering runs for president and are each employed by Fox News. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker ...

Soap <b>News</b>: CBS Renews &#39;Young and the Restless&#39; and More

Soaps are dying? Not yet. morning, CBS gave 'The Young and the Restless' a three-year renewal! Also this week, a fan favorite who was supposedly.

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Consumers bewildered by a rash of resetting rates on loans and various outstanding credit lines now have the same tools banks have to aggregate all their debt in one place, after free online personal finance tool Credit Sesame launched a beta version today to help users get a complete financial snapshot all in one place.

Previously only available to banks or brokers, Credit Sesame uses an in-house loan analytics engine to help users instantly view their credit and debt in one place, while monitoring and tracking often baffling financial information like their credit score, home value and debt-to-income ratio simultaneously.

The news that they can now take their finances fully into their own hands is part of a continuing trend of consumers sick of commercial banks pushing their own complementary loan products on them — or who may just be sick of their bank or broker all together.

Under the company’s system, users are first asked to register their portfolios using the same security technology and encryption methods as banks and financial institutions use, and then Credit Sesame automatically retrieves users’ relevant data like debt, credit, and mortgages so that they don’t have to enter their information manually.

They can then fiddle with Credit Sesame’s tools to set personal goal parameters; see and apply for a wide variety of loans that may fit their restructuring needs; and even create a “what if” scenario that allows them to view multiple scenarios for potential savings or loans based on changes to a user’s financial situation such as a divorce or a job loss.

By using complex algorithms and portfolio “depth” testing, the new beta site will now create 5,000 scenarios with thousands of lending products to help each user find the three best pre-qualified solutions—saving an average user hundreds of dollars a month as they streamline their finances via the web ecosphere.

“We find homeowners as much as $600 a month in savings through restructuring, refinancing and new pre-qualified low-interest loan offers,” said Adrian Nazari, CEO and founder of Credit Sesame. “That’s $7,200 of yearly savings. If that money was put toward debt repayment, imagine how much faster that loan would be paid off and how much money would be saved. The opportunities are out there.”

Since launching to private testers in September, Credit Sesame currently manages $250 million in loans and has generated more than $18 million in lifetime savings for its users.

Once registered, the site will continue delivering a free monthly credit score and instant alerts when more optimal savings opportunities become available.

Next Story: Hulu Plus officially launches at $7.99 a month, now on Roku boxes Previous Story: The many definitions of a VC’s no – Part Two

Recently I wrote that the deficit-cutting projects and media campaigns sponsored by billionaire Pete Peterson all "focus on the same narrow band of options" that "reflect far-right positions," but nevertheless are usually described in the media as "moderate" and "bipartisan."

I received a response from an official at the Peterson Foundation. Out of courtesy, I will not name the person or quote their email in full. The official said that my statement was "patently untrue" and a "mischaracterization." Some of their other statements can be found below, along with my observations about them. My reply to the Foundation then follows:

Foundation: "We strongly believe that Social Security must be preserved and protected. One of the goals of the Foundation is to ensure that this vital program is strong, solvent and secure for future generations, particularly America's most vulnerable populations ... "

Peterson-funded projects have consistently given the impression that Social Security is contributing to the deficit (which it is prohibited by law from doing); that its long-term shortfall must be met primarily by benefit cuts, and only secondarily by revenues; and that it is acceptable to increase tax payments for the wealthy so gradually that it will take forty years for the payroll tax to cover the same percentage of wealth it covered more than twenty years ago.

To be fair, Peterson-funded proposals have recently included modest benefit increases for the lowest-income recipients.

Foundation: "Mr. Peterson's personal views include the need to increase benefits for the poorest Americans receiving Social Security and reduce benefits for the well-off. He has suggested that progressive benefit reforms such as progressive wage indexing, affluence testing and increasing the payroll tax cap be considered."

"Reducing benefits for the well-off" sounds reasonable - until you realize that this billionaire's definition of the "well off" includes people who earned an average of $43,000 per year during their work life. A 20-year-old who earned that average through their work life would see a 17% cut in benefits from one Peterson-backed proposal, and would see a 30% cut if they earned an average of $69,000. Under the Simpson-Bowles plan, even workers who made as little as $20,000 average would see benefit cuts starting in 2040.

As for the truly wealthy who receive Social Security benefits, the problem is that there aren't enough of them to make a difference. Remember, retirement benefits only go up to a certain amount. It sounds reasonable to say that billionaires shouldn't receive a Social Security check (although they've paid for the benefit, too). But when you calculate the number of wealthy people that would be excluded under any reasonable plan, there aren't that many of them. When you add in all the time and expense of identifying them and tracking them (How would that be done? Cross-reference IRS returns and check their bank and real estate holdings?), studies have concluded you'd spend more to find them that you would save by cutting their benefits.

Foundation: "Mr. Peterson and the Foundation have also repeatedly stated that we must consider all viable solutions from across the political spectrum if we hope to meaningfully address our fiscal challenges. As part of this process, the Foundation believes that it will be imperative that wealthier Americans contribute significantly to help stabilize our nation's finances, secure the social safety net and provide critically needed resources for education, research & development and infrastructure."

Nevertheless, a recent Peterson-backed proposal (Rivlin/Domenici) would cut both Social Security benefits and Medicare spending, which would disproportionately harm seniors who are not wealthy. The same plan would also sharply lower the top marginal tax rate, from 35% to 27%, making up the difference with a highly regressive sales tax of 6.5% and percentage limits for tax deductions that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

That is a "right-wing" plan by any measure. It's certainly not a plan in which "wealthier Americans contribute significantly to help stabilize our nation's finances."

My response to the Foundation follows:

____________________

Dear X:

Despite your suggestion that my characterization of Mr. Peterson's views is misleading, it seems to me that the consistent themes behind every organization, study, and communications campaign Mr. Peterson has funded have been:

• An overemphasis on balancing the budget in a time of economic crisis, when stimulus is urgently needed;


• A failure to note the critical role the banking sector has played in creating today's deficits;


• The mistaken notion that the country cannot continue to provide the current level of Social Security benefits;


• A refusal to propose lifting the payroll tax cap to 100%, as polls show the public (including most Republicans) would prefer;


• A refusal to consider returning to the marginal tax rates which were applied to high incomes in recent decades;


• Proposals which would delay the process of returning the payroll to its 1980's-era level, when it covered 90% of all income as intended by the Greenspan Commission. (No liberal, that Alan Greenspan!) Some proposals funded by Mr. Peterson would delay this re-stabilization by as much as a half a century;


• Social Security proposals that give greater weight to benefit cuts than to tax increases;


• Communication campaigns designed to fuel the misconception that Social Security contributes to the general deficit; and,


• A desire to convince the public that levels of debt considered manageable in other nations pose a grave threat here.

I agree that long-term deficits are a grave and even critical problem. But these long-term debts are fueled almost exclusively by the truly staggering increases in health care costs that have been projected. Yet the projects funded by Mr. Peterson are notable for their lack of emphasis on health management programs that could contain these costs, as has been accomplished in other developed nations.

I respect Mr. Peterson's accomplishments, which have given him the ability to promote his opinions in many different ways. But these opinions, however legitimate, are normally considered right-wing. The attempt to characterize these conservative views as "bipartisan" has been very successful from a marketing point of view, but has no basis in fact as far as I can see.

Thank you for writing, and best regards -

Richard Eskow

PS: I saw that Mr. Peterson signed the Millionaire's Pledge. That's admirable, and I thank him for it.

_____________________

Note: I have not yet received a reply.

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Here is a look at real-estate news in today's WSJ:

Swords &amp; Soldiers dated for PC PC <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our PC news of Swords & Soldiers dated for PC.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks 11/27/10 - Mile High Report

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

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Consumers bewildered by a rash of resetting rates on loans and various outstanding credit lines now have the same tools banks have to aggregate all their debt in one place, after free online personal finance tool Credit Sesame launched a beta version today to help users get a complete financial snapshot all in one place.

Previously only available to banks or brokers, Credit Sesame uses an in-house loan analytics engine to help users instantly view their credit and debt in one place, while monitoring and tracking often baffling financial information like their credit score, home value and debt-to-income ratio simultaneously.

The news that they can now take their finances fully into their own hands is part of a continuing trend of consumers sick of commercial banks pushing their own complementary loan products on them — or who may just be sick of their bank or broker all together.

Under the company’s system, users are first asked to register their portfolios using the same security technology and encryption methods as banks and financial institutions use, and then Credit Sesame automatically retrieves users’ relevant data like debt, credit, and mortgages so that they don’t have to enter their information manually.

They can then fiddle with Credit Sesame’s tools to set personal goal parameters; see and apply for a wide variety of loans that may fit their restructuring needs; and even create a “what if” scenario that allows them to view multiple scenarios for potential savings or loans based on changes to a user’s financial situation such as a divorce or a job loss.

By using complex algorithms and portfolio “depth” testing, the new beta site will now create 5,000 scenarios with thousands of lending products to help each user find the three best pre-qualified solutions—saving an average user hundreds of dollars a month as they streamline their finances via the web ecosphere.

“We find homeowners as much as $600 a month in savings through restructuring, refinancing and new pre-qualified low-interest loan offers,” said Adrian Nazari, CEO and founder of Credit Sesame. “That’s $7,200 of yearly savings. If that money was put toward debt repayment, imagine how much faster that loan would be paid off and how much money would be saved. The opportunities are out there.”

Since launching to private testers in September, Credit Sesame currently manages $250 million in loans and has generated more than $18 million in lifetime savings for its users.

Once registered, the site will continue delivering a free monthly credit score and instant alerts when more optimal savings opportunities become available.

Next Story: Hulu Plus officially launches at $7.99 a month, now on Roku boxes Previous Story: The many definitions of a VC’s no – Part Two

Recently I wrote that the deficit-cutting projects and media campaigns sponsored by billionaire Pete Peterson all "focus on the same narrow band of options" that "reflect far-right positions," but nevertheless are usually described in the media as "moderate" and "bipartisan."

I received a response from an official at the Peterson Foundation. Out of courtesy, I will not name the person or quote their email in full. The official said that my statement was "patently untrue" and a "mischaracterization." Some of their other statements can be found below, along with my observations about them. My reply to the Foundation then follows:

Foundation: "We strongly believe that Social Security must be preserved and protected. One of the goals of the Foundation is to ensure that this vital program is strong, solvent and secure for future generations, particularly America's most vulnerable populations ... "

Peterson-funded projects have consistently given the impression that Social Security is contributing to the deficit (which it is prohibited by law from doing); that its long-term shortfall must be met primarily by benefit cuts, and only secondarily by revenues; and that it is acceptable to increase tax payments for the wealthy so gradually that it will take forty years for the payroll tax to cover the same percentage of wealth it covered more than twenty years ago.

To be fair, Peterson-funded proposals have recently included modest benefit increases for the lowest-income recipients.

Foundation: "Mr. Peterson's personal views include the need to increase benefits for the poorest Americans receiving Social Security and reduce benefits for the well-off. He has suggested that progressive benefit reforms such as progressive wage indexing, affluence testing and increasing the payroll tax cap be considered."

"Reducing benefits for the well-off" sounds reasonable - until you realize that this billionaire's definition of the "well off" includes people who earned an average of $43,000 per year during their work life. A 20-year-old who earned that average through their work life would see a 17% cut in benefits from one Peterson-backed proposal, and would see a 30% cut if they earned an average of $69,000. Under the Simpson-Bowles plan, even workers who made as little as $20,000 average would see benefit cuts starting in 2040.

As for the truly wealthy who receive Social Security benefits, the problem is that there aren't enough of them to make a difference. Remember, retirement benefits only go up to a certain amount. It sounds reasonable to say that billionaires shouldn't receive a Social Security check (although they've paid for the benefit, too). But when you calculate the number of wealthy people that would be excluded under any reasonable plan, there aren't that many of them. When you add in all the time and expense of identifying them and tracking them (How would that be done? Cross-reference IRS returns and check their bank and real estate holdings?), studies have concluded you'd spend more to find them that you would save by cutting their benefits.

Foundation: "Mr. Peterson and the Foundation have also repeatedly stated that we must consider all viable solutions from across the political spectrum if we hope to meaningfully address our fiscal challenges. As part of this process, the Foundation believes that it will be imperative that wealthier Americans contribute significantly to help stabilize our nation's finances, secure the social safety net and provide critically needed resources for education, research & development and infrastructure."

Nevertheless, a recent Peterson-backed proposal (Rivlin/Domenici) would cut both Social Security benefits and Medicare spending, which would disproportionately harm seniors who are not wealthy. The same plan would also sharply lower the top marginal tax rate, from 35% to 27%, making up the difference with a highly regressive sales tax of 6.5% and percentage limits for tax deductions that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

That is a "right-wing" plan by any measure. It's certainly not a plan in which "wealthier Americans contribute significantly to help stabilize our nation's finances."

My response to the Foundation follows:

____________________

Dear X:

Despite your suggestion that my characterization of Mr. Peterson's views is misleading, it seems to me that the consistent themes behind every organization, study, and communications campaign Mr. Peterson has funded have been:

• An overemphasis on balancing the budget in a time of economic crisis, when stimulus is urgently needed;


• A failure to note the critical role the banking sector has played in creating today's deficits;


• The mistaken notion that the country cannot continue to provide the current level of Social Security benefits;


• A refusal to propose lifting the payroll tax cap to 100%, as polls show the public (including most Republicans) would prefer;


• A refusal to consider returning to the marginal tax rates which were applied to high incomes in recent decades;


• Proposals which would delay the process of returning the payroll to its 1980's-era level, when it covered 90% of all income as intended by the Greenspan Commission. (No liberal, that Alan Greenspan!) Some proposals funded by Mr. Peterson would delay this re-stabilization by as much as a half a century;


• Social Security proposals that give greater weight to benefit cuts than to tax increases;


• Communication campaigns designed to fuel the misconception that Social Security contributes to the general deficit; and,


• A desire to convince the public that levels of debt considered manageable in other nations pose a grave threat here.

I agree that long-term deficits are a grave and even critical problem. But these long-term debts are fueled almost exclusively by the truly staggering increases in health care costs that have been projected. Yet the projects funded by Mr. Peterson are notable for their lack of emphasis on health management programs that could contain these costs, as has been accomplished in other developed nations.

I respect Mr. Peterson's accomplishments, which have given him the ability to promote his opinions in many different ways. But these opinions, however legitimate, are normally considered right-wing. The attempt to characterize these conservative views as "bipartisan" has been very successful from a marketing point of view, but has no basis in fact as far as I can see.

Thank you for writing, and best regards -

Richard Eskow

PS: I saw that Mr. Peterson signed the Millionaire's Pledge. That's admirable, and I thank him for it.

_____________________

Note: I have not yet received a reply.

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Real Estate <b>News</b>: Home Mortgage Rates Stabilize - Developments - WSJ

Here is a look at real-estate news in today's WSJ:

Swords &amp; Soldiers dated for PC PC <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our PC news of Swords & Soldiers dated for PC.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks 11/27/10 - Mile High Report

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

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Real Estate <b>News</b>: Home Mortgage Rates Stabilize - Developments - WSJ

Here is a look at real-estate news in today's WSJ:

Swords &amp; Soldiers dated for PC PC <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our PC news of Swords & Soldiers dated for PC.

Denver Broncos <b>News</b>: Horse Tracks 11/27/10 - Mile High Report

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

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Participants in a study were far more likely to “remember” a fictional news event when a headline was accompanied by a tangentially relevant photograph.

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The Dallas Cowboys get some veterans back in practice, and Dez Bryant is a violent man.

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Everybody has questions when going into or running a business...everybody. If you have some burning inqueries you'd like to get answered, read our small.

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Participants in a study were far more likely to “remember” a fictional news event when a headline was accompanied by a tangentially relevant photograph.

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bench craft company rip off

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bench craft company rip off

bench craft company rip off

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Participants in a study were far more likely to “remember” a fictional news event when a headline was accompanied by a tangentially relevant photograph.

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The Dallas Cowboys get some veterans back in practice, and Dez Bryant is a violent man.

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bench craft company rip off

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Participants in a study were far more likely to “remember” a fictional news event when a headline was accompanied by a tangentially relevant photograph.

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The Dallas Cowboys get some veterans back in practice, and Dez Bryant is a violent man.

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autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Rosberg: Pirellis won&#39;t help Mercedes

Nico Rosberg doubts the new Pirelli tyres will do anything to ease the difficulties Mercedes suffered with front-tyre grip on the 2010 Bridgestones, after the Formula 1 teams tried the 2011 rubber for the first time in Abu Dhabi today.

<b>News</b> Corp developing a tablet-exclusive publication

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bench craft company rip off

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<b>News</b> Corp developing a tablet-exclusive publication

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Read our PC news of Good Old Games to sell The Witcher 2.

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The second part of The Daily Beast's interview with Fox News president Roger Ailes is out today, and Ailes' encore doesn't disappoint. He responded harshly to Jon Stewart's pervasive criticism of cable news and had some tough, ...

eric seiger

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp developing a tablet-exclusive publication

News Corp Logo Reuters is reporting that News Corp, the world's third-largest media conglomerate, has confirmed they will be releasing a news publication developed specifically for tablet computers like the iPad. "It's a tablet-only ...

Good Old Games to sell The Witcher 2 PC <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our PC news of Good Old Games to sell The Witcher 2.

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The second part of The Daily Beast's interview with Fox News president Roger Ailes is out today, and Ailes' encore doesn't disappoint. He responded harshly to Jon Stewart's pervasive criticism of cable news and had some tough, ...

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp developing a tablet-exclusive publication

News Corp Logo Reuters is reporting that News Corp, the world's third-largest media conglomerate, has confirmed they will be releasing a news publication developed specifically for tablet computers like the iPad. "It's a tablet-only ...

Good Old Games to sell The Witcher 2 PC <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our PC news of Good Old Games to sell The Witcher 2.

Fox <b>News</b> President: Jon Stewart Is Crazy And NPR Is Run By Nazis <b>...</b>

The second part of The Daily Beast's interview with Fox News president Roger Ailes is out today, and Ailes' encore doesn't disappoint. He responded harshly to Jon Stewart's pervasive criticism of cable news and had some tough, ...

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp developing a tablet-exclusive publication

News Corp Logo Reuters is reporting that News Corp, the world's third-largest media conglomerate, has confirmed they will be releasing a news publication developed specifically for tablet computers like the iPad. "It's a tablet-only ...

Good Old Games to sell The Witcher 2 PC <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our PC news of Good Old Games to sell The Witcher 2.

Fox <b>News</b> President: Jon Stewart Is Crazy And NPR Is Run By Nazis <b>...</b>

The second part of The Daily Beast's interview with Fox News president Roger Ailes is out today, and Ailes' encore doesn't disappoint. He responded harshly to Jon Stewart's pervasive criticism of cable news and had some tough, ...

eric seiger
eric seiger

eric seiger
eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp developing a tablet-exclusive publication

News Corp Logo Reuters is reporting that News Corp, the world's third-largest media conglomerate, has confirmed they will be releasing a news publication developed specifically for tablet computers like the iPad. "It's a tablet-only ...

Good Old Games to sell The Witcher 2 PC <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our PC news of Good Old Games to sell The Witcher 2.

Fox <b>News</b> President: Jon Stewart Is Crazy And NPR Is Run By Nazis <b>...</b>

The second part of The Daily Beast's interview with Fox News president Roger Ailes is out today, and Ailes' encore doesn't disappoint. He responded harshly to Jon Stewart's pervasive criticism of cable news and had some tough, ...

how to budget personal finances

In the digital age, nobody likes carrying a lot of cash around – I know I don’t, anyway. This can be especially frustrating when you go to keep track of your expenses, who you owe money to, who you lent some to and just where it all goes over the month.

As always, there are a lot of apps out there to help you do various things with your money. There are apps to figure out how to manage your money, oversee expenses, send money to people, keep track of who owes you, and more.

In this article, I’ll show you some of the applications you can take advantage of to do everything I’ve mentioned here, leaving you free to pick and choose the apps that will make your life easier.

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How to Manage Your Money

I’m beginning to learn just how difficult managing your expenses can be. For the most part, I use my debit card tied to my checking account to make purchases. I use it at the grocery store, when I go out to lunch with my coworkers and on the weekend when I’m out exploring the city.

At the end of the month, my bank statement looks pretty ridiculous. All of these small transactions make it difficult to sift through. I still know what everything is, but if I wanted to see where I could be saving some money I wouldn’t know the first place to look.

Sounds like you? Even if it doesn’t, you could still reap the benefits of visually being able to manage your money. These apps make the process a lot easier.

Mint

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Mint has been on our radar since back in 2007 when Karl wrote about it. Plain and simple, if there is one app I want you to keep in mind it’s this one.

Mint is a free personal finance application that can help you compare your bank accounts, credit cards, CDs, brokerage and 401(k) to the best products out there. It offers a visual representation of your finances and is very easy to set up. Use it to manage your budget, get credit card advice and understand investing.

Here’s a great video showcasing an overview of Mint’s features:

For some helpful tips on how to use Mint, check out Bakari’s article on How To Use Mint To Manage Your Budget & Spendings Online.

Thrive

Thrive (directory app) is also a great application if you’re looking for a simple way to keep track of your spending. With Thrive, you get an overall Financial Health score, which is one number that shows you how financially fit you are. It also shows you scores in other areas and offers you advice on how to make improvements.

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Thrive breaks down your spending for you and shows you where you can save. Compare your current budget to last month’s, as well as view a six month average and target budgets to follow.

Texthog

Looking for an even simpler way to track expenses? Texthog (directory app) lets you easily store, organize and access your receipts, expense reports and more via text message, the web, your email, iPhone and even Twitter.

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A Texthog free account gives one user the ability to track expenses, view unlimited reports and get budget/bill reminders. Take a photo of your receipts and utilize tags and categories to keep track of everything.

To check out Texthog on your iPhone, you can find the application on iTunes.

Venmo

Speaking of text messages, have you heard of Venmo? Venmo (directory app) is a nice little app that lets you pay and charge friends with your phone. Send and receive secure payments by linking your card to your account. This allows you to settle small loans you give/get by eliminating paper transactions for small amounts of money.

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To use Venmo, all you do is create an account. You can then send and receive money to other accounts simply by using text commands in SMS. Accept a “trust” request from your friends and make transactions without having to authorize them by texting a 3 digit code.

This is a pretty solid application that I have been using a lot lately with my friends/coworkers. It’s great for when a bunch of you are out to lunch and not everyone has cash on them. “I’ll just put it on my card and Venmo you all afterwards.”

Owe Me Cash

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Owe Me Cash is a nice app I found recently that is also very easy to use. If someone owes you money, you just sign into Owe Me Cash with your Twitter, Facebook, OpenID, or regular account and tell the app about the debt. The app will send automatic reminders to those that owe you money by phone, text and email, so you can get paid!

This app is more fun than serious, but it doubles as an easy way to keep track of who owes you what. Let the app bug your friends to pay you so you don’t have to do it yourself – it’s a win-win.

Conclusion

With these applications, your finances will never look better. Say goodbye to paper money and change.

What do you think of these money-managing applications? Will you be using any of them?

Image Credit: marema

Hapa is fast becoming the norm, the days of backlash are long over, at least in Cali, and certainly in the LBC where i am from. Though from our embarrassment of a museum, LBMofA, you would never know. The Paramount/Artesia/Long Beach area is known as the most integrated in the country, and swirl kids like mine and many others are very common from many different ethnic backgrounds and cultures. Mine is white and black, he dates a blonde Columbian. My adopted is black with an Irish grandpa and mexican/white girlfriend in medical school, though you would never know except by his last name. Know kids who are Samoan/black, Philipino/Mexican. Black/Mexican, Mexican/PuertoRican, Cambodian/Indian, white and everyone else, Philipino/white like my cousins daughter. And of course we have that mutt Obama guy.

Sports have done the most to integrate our country, from Korean/Black like a SuperBowl MVP, to more mixed kids at our Poly HS, the most NFL players of any in history at going on 60, like Marcedes Lewis at Jacksonville Jaguars little brother and sister when mom married a white guy, she used to babysit for me. Landry Fields, Pac Ten scholar athlete of the year at Stanford now a starter for the Knicks grew up with us and also a swirl like my boy. Lots of swirl kids like Jason Kidd, Tony Parker, Jordan Farmar, the Lopex twins are never given a second glance.

The arts are way behind in this, as few have kids from being too selfish , and not very open to true world culture anyway, it is completely white again. With a few token Asian girls thrown in. only the rich and foolish can afford the useless art degrees, other ethnicities have better sense. Also, if not for the number of head NFL coaches in rustbelt cities a few years ago, Obama never would ahve won. It took white racists to see hardworking, responsible, intelligent black men to get over their prejudices. Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and more have help slowly open the land to diversity, far more than the arts.

Its time to get back to early modernism, where all cultures had something to add, instead of the academic white bread nutritionless lily whiteness of today. Where did it go wrong? The Academies were resurrected from their deserved grave, time to storm the Bastilles of art, and free it for us all.

art collegia delenda est

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Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

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News publishers and readers both benefit when journalists get proper credit for their work. That can be difficult, with news spreading so quickly and many websites syndicating articles to others. That's why we're experimenting with two ...

alpine payment systems scam

Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

One of the biggest challenges Google News faces is one that seems navel-gazingly philosophical, but is in fact completely practical: how to determine authorship. In the glut of information on the web, much of it is, if not completely ...

Pharmaceutical <b>News</b> Roundup: Human Genome&#39;s Lupus Drug, Merck&#39;s <b>...</b>

Here's a roundup of some of Wednesday's major pharmaceutical news: An FDA panel gave Human Genome Sciences a boost with a thumbs-up for its lupus drug, Benlysta; Merck's experimental heart drug appears to work well without side effects; ...

Google <b>News</b> Blog: Credit where credit is due

News publishers and readers both benefit when journalists get proper credit for their work. That can be difficult, with news spreading so quickly and many websites syndicating articles to others. That's why we're experimenting with two ...

Affiliate Making Money

When you think of social shopping, you likely envision the group buying phenomenon made popular by Groupon and LivingSocial. But there are dozens of other services out there that offer a social experience for consumers looking for products and services. We’ve compiled a list of five social shopping services that you’ve never heard of, so you can get a taste of the variety of ways you can buy online.

DoTogether

The DoTogether Mall is integrated into Facebook, making it easy for consumers to purchase products and services without having to visit third-party sites. After installing the Mall on your Facebook account, you can browse thousands of products in dozens of categories. And the great thing about this social shopping experience is that you can invite your Facebook friends in on the action, getting their opinion of that blouse or laptop you’re considering buying.

Snatter

Snatter’s premise is simple: find an offer, post your status, get a discount. They leverage people’s existing social networks to spread the word about the products, services and deals they offer, while giving consumers who share via Twitter or Facebook a discount in return. The discounts aren’t necessarily as deep as group buying social shopping sites, but they include things like 10% off home decor, $5 off orders of $25 or more of baby toys, and 15% off organic bamboo t-shirts.

myShopanion

myShopanion is a mobile app for the iPhone that offers social features to brick-and-mortar shopping. Users who are out and about can scan barcodes or perform keyword searches to find out what others are saying about that particular product. They can also use the app to connect with their friends across social networks and get real-time advice. And lastly, shoppers can use the app to compare prices of the product they are considering purchasing, to find the best deal out there.

Stuffpit

Stuffpit incentivizes social shopping by offering consumers money for recommending products to their friends. Consumers can add their favorite products or deals to Stuffpit, and then recommend them via an affiliate link on their social networks. Earning commission for sharing online deals is a great way to make social shopping both fun and lucrative, and although Stuffpit isn’t the only service to offer this feature, it is a successful model.

DealRadar

DealRadar is a group buying aggregator. It combs through dozens of daily deal and group buying sites and compiles all the deals in one place. This is useful if you find yourself spending half an hour every morning flipping from bookmarked daily deals site to daily deals site to find something that piques your interest. The Toronto offerings on DealRadar, for instance, includes 18 separate sites with the deals categorized into “Beauty & Spas”, “Food & Drink”, “Fitness & Nutrition” and more.

I live in North Carolina. It’s a pretty state. You get a taste of the winter months but you don’t get a lot of winter weather per se. Sure the summers are hot but that’s what air conditioning is for. Overall, it’s a great place to live and raise a family.

That is except for the state government and their attempts to collect taxes on online purchases made from Amazon. They have already pushed Amazon far enough that the online retailing giant ended its affiliate programs with North Carolina residents in 2009 thus depriving residents of the chance to bring money into the state that would be spent in the state and would give some ailing jobless folks a chance at survival. Nice move!

Apparently, Big Brother is alive and well in the Tar Heel state as well since the state government has been trying to get detailed purchase information from Amazon which would include names and addresses of those making purchases from 2003 to 2010. Fortunately, a federal judge has called the state on its draconian efforts and handed them a major setback in federal court yesterday. cnet reports:

In a victory for the free speech and privacy rights of Amazon.com customers, a federal judge ruled today that the company would not have to turn over detailed records on nearly 50 million purchases to North Carolina tax collectors.

The state had demanded sensitive information including names and addresses of North Carolina customers–and information about exactly what they had purchased between 2003 and 2010.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Washington state said that request went too far and “runs afoul of the First Amendment.” She granted Amazon summary judgment.

The Tar Heel State’s tax collectors have “no legitimate need” for details about the literary, music, and film habits of so many Amazon customers,” Pechman wrote. “In spite of this, (North Carolina) refuses to give up the detailed information about Amazon’s customers’ purchases, while at the same time requesting the identities of the customers and, arguably, detailed records of their purchases, including the expressive content.”

With privacy victories coming too few and far between these days at least we can feel like someone is paying attention and not letting the government run rough shod over privacy while squashing commerce in the process.

I suspect that the state feels they have good reasons for doing what they are doing. They will say that the taxes they want to collect will help the state. Pardon my cynicism, but if the affiliate money that was once coming onto the hands of the residents were turned back on that would REALLY help the state.

At the heart of this ruling though is privacy.

In addition, the ACLU intervened in the lawsuit asking for an even broader injunction against the tax collectors. They wanted Amazon to be prohibited from disclosing customer purchases without a subpoena, which the court did not grant.

In general, as Amazon stressed in its lawsuit, purchases of books, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and other media enjoy special privacy protections.

So what is the North Carolina government trying to do here? At the core, it’s trying to collect taxes from both Amazon and its citizens because of online purchases. In the process, it is killing an avenue for commerce in the state and appearing as if it wants more data on its residents in a time when that is not considered such a good thing. I don’t get it.

In the end the state is only hurting itself though because as people learn about these attempts they will maybe stop short of saying they will set up a business in the Tar Heel state for fear of too much government intrusion. Sadly, no one wins in that scenario.

What’s your take on the idea of taxing online purchases? It’s an old story but one that will likely get more attention in these days of scarce money. Have you been impacted by rulings like this in any other states? What’s worse, more taxes or invasion of privacy to collect them?

Social Media Monitoring in Just 60-Seconds. Guaranteed!

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New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Great Dolly <b>News</b>! | PerezHilton.com

Yes! We´re totes excited for this! Dolly Parton made the official announcement on her website today that she is planning not only a brand new album full of brand new music, but a worldwide...

Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

One of the biggest challenges Google News faces is one that seems navel-gazingly philosophical, but is in fact completely practical: how to determine authorship. In the glut of information on the web, much of it is, if not completely ...

bench craft company scam

When you think of social shopping, you likely envision the group buying phenomenon made popular by Groupon and LivingSocial. But there are dozens of other services out there that offer a social experience for consumers looking for products and services. We’ve compiled a list of five social shopping services that you’ve never heard of, so you can get a taste of the variety of ways you can buy online.

DoTogether

The DoTogether Mall is integrated into Facebook, making it easy for consumers to purchase products and services without having to visit third-party sites. After installing the Mall on your Facebook account, you can browse thousands of products in dozens of categories. And the great thing about this social shopping experience is that you can invite your Facebook friends in on the action, getting their opinion of that blouse or laptop you’re considering buying.

Snatter

Snatter’s premise is simple: find an offer, post your status, get a discount. They leverage people’s existing social networks to spread the word about the products, services and deals they offer, while giving consumers who share via Twitter or Facebook a discount in return. The discounts aren’t necessarily as deep as group buying social shopping sites, but they include things like 10% off home decor, $5 off orders of $25 or more of baby toys, and 15% off organic bamboo t-shirts.

myShopanion

myShopanion is a mobile app for the iPhone that offers social features to brick-and-mortar shopping. Users who are out and about can scan barcodes or perform keyword searches to find out what others are saying about that particular product. They can also use the app to connect with their friends across social networks and get real-time advice. And lastly, shoppers can use the app to compare prices of the product they are considering purchasing, to find the best deal out there.

Stuffpit

Stuffpit incentivizes social shopping by offering consumers money for recommending products to their friends. Consumers can add their favorite products or deals to Stuffpit, and then recommend them via an affiliate link on their social networks. Earning commission for sharing online deals is a great way to make social shopping both fun and lucrative, and although Stuffpit isn’t the only service to offer this feature, it is a successful model.

DealRadar

DealRadar is a group buying aggregator. It combs through dozens of daily deal and group buying sites and compiles all the deals in one place. This is useful if you find yourself spending half an hour every morning flipping from bookmarked daily deals site to daily deals site to find something that piques your interest. The Toronto offerings on DealRadar, for instance, includes 18 separate sites with the deals categorized into “Beauty & Spas”, “Food & Drink”, “Fitness & Nutrition” and more.

I live in North Carolina. It’s a pretty state. You get a taste of the winter months but you don’t get a lot of winter weather per se. Sure the summers are hot but that’s what air conditioning is for. Overall, it’s a great place to live and raise a family.

That is except for the state government and their attempts to collect taxes on online purchases made from Amazon. They have already pushed Amazon far enough that the online retailing giant ended its affiliate programs with North Carolina residents in 2009 thus depriving residents of the chance to bring money into the state that would be spent in the state and would give some ailing jobless folks a chance at survival. Nice move!

Apparently, Big Brother is alive and well in the Tar Heel state as well since the state government has been trying to get detailed purchase information from Amazon which would include names and addresses of those making purchases from 2003 to 2010. Fortunately, a federal judge has called the state on its draconian efforts and handed them a major setback in federal court yesterday. cnet reports:

In a victory for the free speech and privacy rights of Amazon.com customers, a federal judge ruled today that the company would not have to turn over detailed records on nearly 50 million purchases to North Carolina tax collectors.

The state had demanded sensitive information including names and addresses of North Carolina customers–and information about exactly what they had purchased between 2003 and 2010.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Washington state said that request went too far and “runs afoul of the First Amendment.” She granted Amazon summary judgment.

The Tar Heel State’s tax collectors have “no legitimate need” for details about the literary, music, and film habits of so many Amazon customers,” Pechman wrote. “In spite of this, (North Carolina) refuses to give up the detailed information about Amazon’s customers’ purchases, while at the same time requesting the identities of the customers and, arguably, detailed records of their purchases, including the expressive content.”

With privacy victories coming too few and far between these days at least we can feel like someone is paying attention and not letting the government run rough shod over privacy while squashing commerce in the process.

I suspect that the state feels they have good reasons for doing what they are doing. They will say that the taxes they want to collect will help the state. Pardon my cynicism, but if the affiliate money that was once coming onto the hands of the residents were turned back on that would REALLY help the state.

At the heart of this ruling though is privacy.

In addition, the ACLU intervened in the lawsuit asking for an even broader injunction against the tax collectors. They wanted Amazon to be prohibited from disclosing customer purchases without a subpoena, which the court did not grant.

In general, as Amazon stressed in its lawsuit, purchases of books, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and other media enjoy special privacy protections.

So what is the North Carolina government trying to do here? At the core, it’s trying to collect taxes from both Amazon and its citizens because of online purchases. In the process, it is killing an avenue for commerce in the state and appearing as if it wants more data on its residents in a time when that is not considered such a good thing. I don’t get it.

In the end the state is only hurting itself though because as people learn about these attempts they will maybe stop short of saying they will set up a business in the Tar Heel state for fear of too much government intrusion. Sadly, no one wins in that scenario.

What’s your take on the idea of taxing online purchases? It’s an old story but one that will likely get more attention in these days of scarce money. Have you been impacted by rulings like this in any other states? What’s worse, more taxes or invasion of privacy to collect them?

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New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Great Dolly <b>News</b>! | PerezHilton.com

Yes! We´re totes excited for this! Dolly Parton made the official announcement on her website today that she is planning not only a brand new album full of brand new music, but a worldwide...

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New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Great Dolly <b>News</b>! | PerezHilton.com

Yes! We´re totes excited for this! Dolly Parton made the official announcement on her website today that she is planning not only a brand new album full of brand new music, but a worldwide...

Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

One of the biggest challenges Google News faces is one that seems navel-gazingly philosophical, but is in fact completely practical: how to determine authorship. In the glut of information on the web, much of it is, if not completely ...

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When you think of social shopping, you likely envision the group buying phenomenon made popular by Groupon and LivingSocial. But there are dozens of other services out there that offer a social experience for consumers looking for products and services. We’ve compiled a list of five social shopping services that you’ve never heard of, so you can get a taste of the variety of ways you can buy online.

DoTogether

The DoTogether Mall is integrated into Facebook, making it easy for consumers to purchase products and services without having to visit third-party sites. After installing the Mall on your Facebook account, you can browse thousands of products in dozens of categories. And the great thing about this social shopping experience is that you can invite your Facebook friends in on the action, getting their opinion of that blouse or laptop you’re considering buying.

Snatter

Snatter’s premise is simple: find an offer, post your status, get a discount. They leverage people’s existing social networks to spread the word about the products, services and deals they offer, while giving consumers who share via Twitter or Facebook a discount in return. The discounts aren’t necessarily as deep as group buying social shopping sites, but they include things like 10% off home decor, $5 off orders of $25 or more of baby toys, and 15% off organic bamboo t-shirts.

myShopanion

myShopanion is a mobile app for the iPhone that offers social features to brick-and-mortar shopping. Users who are out and about can scan barcodes or perform keyword searches to find out what others are saying about that particular product. They can also use the app to connect with their friends across social networks and get real-time advice. And lastly, shoppers can use the app to compare prices of the product they are considering purchasing, to find the best deal out there.

Stuffpit

Stuffpit incentivizes social shopping by offering consumers money for recommending products to their friends. Consumers can add their favorite products or deals to Stuffpit, and then recommend them via an affiliate link on their social networks. Earning commission for sharing online deals is a great way to make social shopping both fun and lucrative, and although Stuffpit isn’t the only service to offer this feature, it is a successful model.

DealRadar

DealRadar is a group buying aggregator. It combs through dozens of daily deal and group buying sites and compiles all the deals in one place. This is useful if you find yourself spending half an hour every morning flipping from bookmarked daily deals site to daily deals site to find something that piques your interest. The Toronto offerings on DealRadar, for instance, includes 18 separate sites with the deals categorized into “Beauty & Spas”, “Food & Drink”, “Fitness & Nutrition” and more.

I live in North Carolina. It’s a pretty state. You get a taste of the winter months but you don’t get a lot of winter weather per se. Sure the summers are hot but that’s what air conditioning is for. Overall, it’s a great place to live and raise a family.

That is except for the state government and their attempts to collect taxes on online purchases made from Amazon. They have already pushed Amazon far enough that the online retailing giant ended its affiliate programs with North Carolina residents in 2009 thus depriving residents of the chance to bring money into the state that would be spent in the state and would give some ailing jobless folks a chance at survival. Nice move!

Apparently, Big Brother is alive and well in the Tar Heel state as well since the state government has been trying to get detailed purchase information from Amazon which would include names and addresses of those making purchases from 2003 to 2010. Fortunately, a federal judge has called the state on its draconian efforts and handed them a major setback in federal court yesterday. cnet reports:

In a victory for the free speech and privacy rights of Amazon.com customers, a federal judge ruled today that the company would not have to turn over detailed records on nearly 50 million purchases to North Carolina tax collectors.

The state had demanded sensitive information including names and addresses of North Carolina customers–and information about exactly what they had purchased between 2003 and 2010.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Washington state said that request went too far and “runs afoul of the First Amendment.” She granted Amazon summary judgment.

The Tar Heel State’s tax collectors have “no legitimate need” for details about the literary, music, and film habits of so many Amazon customers,” Pechman wrote. “In spite of this, (North Carolina) refuses to give up the detailed information about Amazon’s customers’ purchases, while at the same time requesting the identities of the customers and, arguably, detailed records of their purchases, including the expressive content.”

With privacy victories coming too few and far between these days at least we can feel like someone is paying attention and not letting the government run rough shod over privacy while squashing commerce in the process.

I suspect that the state feels they have good reasons for doing what they are doing. They will say that the taxes they want to collect will help the state. Pardon my cynicism, but if the affiliate money that was once coming onto the hands of the residents were turned back on that would REALLY help the state.

At the heart of this ruling though is privacy.

In addition, the ACLU intervened in the lawsuit asking for an even broader injunction against the tax collectors. They wanted Amazon to be prohibited from disclosing customer purchases without a subpoena, which the court did not grant.

In general, as Amazon stressed in its lawsuit, purchases of books, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and other media enjoy special privacy protections.

So what is the North Carolina government trying to do here? At the core, it’s trying to collect taxes from both Amazon and its citizens because of online purchases. In the process, it is killing an avenue for commerce in the state and appearing as if it wants more data on its residents in a time when that is not considered such a good thing. I don’t get it.

In the end the state is only hurting itself though because as people learn about these attempts they will maybe stop short of saying they will set up a business in the Tar Heel state for fear of too much government intrusion. Sadly, no one wins in that scenario.

What’s your take on the idea of taxing online purchases? It’s an old story but one that will likely get more attention in these days of scarce money. Have you been impacted by rulings like this in any other states? What’s worse, more taxes or invasion of privacy to collect them?

Social Media Monitoring in Just 60-Seconds. Guaranteed!

bench craft company scam

benchcraft company scam

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Great Dolly <b>News</b>! | PerezHilton.com

Yes! We´re totes excited for this! Dolly Parton made the official announcement on her website today that she is planning not only a brand new album full of brand new music, but a worldwide...

Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

One of the biggest challenges Google News faces is one that seems navel-gazingly philosophical, but is in fact completely practical: how to determine authorship. In the glut of information on the web, much of it is, if not completely ...

bench craft company scam

benchcraft company scam

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Great Dolly <b>News</b>! | PerezHilton.com

Yes! We´re totes excited for this! Dolly Parton made the official announcement on her website today that she is planning not only a brand new album full of brand new music, but a worldwide...

Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

One of the biggest challenges Google News faces is one that seems navel-gazingly philosophical, but is in fact completely practical: how to determine authorship. In the glut of information on the web, much of it is, if not completely ...

bench craft company scam

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Great Dolly <b>News</b>! | PerezHilton.com

Yes! We´re totes excited for this! Dolly Parton made the official announcement on her website today that she is planning not only a brand new album full of brand new music, but a worldwide...

Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

One of the biggest challenges Google News faces is one that seems navel-gazingly philosophical, but is in fact completely practical: how to determine authorship. In the glut of information on the web, much of it is, if not completely ...

benchcraft company scam

New Yorker&#39;s Music Critic Moves to <b>News</b> Corp.&#39;s Daily - NYTimes.com

Sasha Frere-Jones, a music critic at The New Yorker, will become the culture editor of The Daily, News Corporation's so-called iPad newspaper which is currently in development.

Great Dolly <b>News</b>! | PerezHilton.com

Yes! We´re totes excited for this! Dolly Parton made the official announcement on her website today that she is planning not only a brand new album full of brand new music, but a worldwide...

Google <b>News</b> experiments with metatags for publishers to give <b>...</b>

One of the biggest challenges Google News faces is one that seems navel-gazingly philosophical, but is in fact completely practical: how to determine authorship. In the glut of information on the web, much of it is, if not completely ...

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