There are two kinds of cookies: first party (which is set by the website you are on – and example of this is the Google Analytics cookies) and third party (set by another website when you visit a site – for example banner ad servers).

By default most browsers allow 1st party cookies but not 3rd party cookies, although this is not always the case.

Having read about the EU Cookie Directive you might want to change your own browser settings to stop accepting cookies.

Here’s how to do this in some of the leading PC browsers.

Google Chrome

• In the top right of the browser near the address bar click on the wrench icon
• This brings up a menu from which you can select “settings”
• Click the ‘Under the Bonnet’ option on the left hand menu
• Click the content settings button on the top of the Privacy section.
• To enable cookies: select ‘Allow local data to be set’ option
• To disable cookies: select ‘Block sites from setting any data’ option

• There are more settings in Chrome about Cookies more information can be found from Google here:http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95647

Mozilla Firefox

• Click on ‘Tools’ at the browser menu and select ‘Options’
• Select the Privacy panel
• To enable cookies: Check ‘Accept cookies for sites’
• To disable cookies: Uncheck at ‘Accept cookies for sites’

• Firefox offers a number of different settings for Cookie Management and Mozilla have published information about this here: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Enabling%20and%20disabling%20cookies

Microsoft Internet Explorer

• Select Tools at the top of your browser window which appears as a gear symbol and choose ‘Internet Options’ from the drop down menu
• Select the Privacy tab from the Internet Options Window
• To enable cookies: Set the slider to ‘Medium’ or below
• To disable cookies: Move the slider to the top to block all cookies

• Internet Explorer allows you to change how cookies are enabled. For more information on other cookie settings offered in Internet Explorer, refer to the following page from Microsoft:http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-vista/Block-or-allow-cookies

Safari on a PC

• Click on the gear logo in the menu bar and choose the ‘Preferences’ from the drop down menu
• From the Preferences window select Privacy
• To enable cookies: In the ‘Block Cookies’ section select From Thuird Paries and advertisers’ This allows 1st party cookies to be set.
• To disable cookies: In the ‘Block Cookies’ section tick the ‘Never’ radio box

• Note there are various levels of cookie enablement and disablement in Safari. For more information on other cookie settings offered in Safari, refer to the following page from Apple: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Safari/3.0/en/9277.html

If you have a browser not listed above please use either the browser Help function or do a Google search for “blocking cookies in XX browser”.

The Information Commissioner (the UK’s guardian of citizens’ privacy) did implement the law but gave a 12 month grace period so that websites would have time to comply. That grace period ends on 26th May 2012, and most websites still haven’t even heard of the law, let alone thought about how to become compliant.

The Information Commissioner (IC) has been extremely helpful and consultative over the past year and has expressed a desire to be understanding and sympathetic to website owners, who face an onerous task.

What the Directive says and what the IC says

The law is designed to protect users from having cookies stored on their computer unless they expressly consent. This means you cannot serve ANY cookies – not even a Google Analytics one – if they do not click something or tick a box to say they are happy to accept cookies. The IC has implemented this method on www.ico.gov.uk using a box at the top of the site, which is persistent on all pages until you tick the box to agree to cookies.

Once you tick the box, conset is given and the website starts serving cookies. Consent need not be obtained again. It’s worth noting that consent is per computer/device – not per person, despite what the law implying it is to protect personal privacy.

The IC, Christopher Graham, has given guidance to website owners that accepts how difficult it is to just turn off cookies. The IC guidance says this, “The Information Commissioner does however recognise that currently many websites set cookies as soon as a user accesses the site. This makes it difficult to obtain consent before the cookie is set. Wherever possible the setting of cookies should be delayed until users have had the opportunity to understand what cookies are being used and make their choice. Where this is not possible at present websites should be able to demonstrate that they are doing as much as possible to reduce the amount of time before the user receives information about cookies and is provided with options. A key point here is ensuring that the information you provide is not just clear and comprehensive but also readily available.”

Keep calm and carry on serving cookies

In recent days, internet professionals have been pointing to the implementation by FT.com, which has also been adopted by a number of other websites. What they do is serve a pop-up message on all their pages giving you the opportunity to read about their cookies. The pop-up only stops appearing on the site when you click the “close” link, which also acts as you giving consent. (See note at the end of this article.)

The beauty of this method is that it tells the user how to disable cookies using the browser’s built in tools and doesn’t require the website owner to do all kinds of jiggery pokery in the back end. Not truly compliant with the letter of the law, but it is compliant with the IC’s interpretation of the spirit of the law. In his blog post of 13th December 2011, Christopher Graham advised, “Two general questions that might help in this regard might be, ‘is my website doing anything that my users don’t know about?’ and ‘am I confident that I am giving them appropriate options?’”

If the EU bureaucrats had actually been proper internet users instead of bureaucrats, they would probably have realised that the Directive and its expectation of websites turning off cookies was nigh on impossible anyway. After all, you might be able to work out how to turn off your own cookies, but what about third party cookies from Facebook, Twitter, ad networks and any number of external companies whose widgets you may be serving into your website?

The most logical way to give users control over cookies is to tell them how to manage cookies in their browser.

How to switch off cookies the easy way

The IC clearly intends for websites to go to the “off by default” option at some point in future, when this is technically feasible, so if you want to explore that option now, how can you do it?

You should note that if you block all cookies served from your website, including Google Analytics, it will suddenly look like you have no traffic. The ICO website reportedly “lost” 90% of its traffic in Analytics reports once it turned cookies off. That means only 10% of visitors, theoretically, opted in.

Have a look at the Cookie Law website, where there is advice and help for running a cookie audit. Also, Civic UK has created a pretty smart piece of code that will make it easy for you to plug in a cookie consent module which sits in the bottom corner of your website.

It has to be said, though, that you still have some technical hoops to jump through if you are using a custom CMS but users of WordPress, Magento and other content management systems will find the Civic UK tool very useful indeed.

FT note: As I write this article, the FT.com solution is working on www.ft.com but it is not appearing on sub-domains such as markets.ft.com or video.ft.com. However you implement your policy, remember all sub-domains need to be included.

Last year, Citigroup made the announcement that it would sell Universal Music Group for over four billion dollars.  Many people were surprised at the announcement, and disapproved of the ultimate size of the already large company.  The artists themselves might seem to disapprove the most.

The main objection is in regard to new music.  When dealing with such a huge entity, critics say, it becomes next to impossible for new, independent music to have a chance.  However, as others note, many of these groups have self-publishing avenues, and there seems to be an ever-increasing audience for the smallest of small bands with the online elements on the rise in the music world.

The expenditures on such a large scale come as a bit of a surprise to anyone casually following the world of new media, where large publishers push legislation under the pretense that they’re business has been struggling to to online piracy. Such claims are not exactly in line with a company potentially spending 4 billion in back catalog acquisition.

The recent actions in Europe may actually be a sign that the huge companies have less power, and that there isn’t the risk of monopoly that there once was in the music world.  It remains to be seen how much this sort of merger will affect the climate of the music recording and publishing arenas.

This week, we’re presenting a less cerebral but no less controversial breakdown: “Cat People vs. Dog People.” To non-pet owners, the distinction between these two camps is slight. Both come to work covered in hair, festoon their cubicles with custom framed pet pics and dump Scruffy and Fuzzball on you when they go on extended vacation. But once you look past these similarities, you’ll find many pet-specific characteristics.

For many, pets are chosen based primarily on space and lifestyle considerations. Cats are much more amenable to apartments and small spaces, while dogs—especially big dogs—need room to roam. Young professionals living downtown are thus more likely to be cat owners, while families living out in the suburbs are more inclined to own large, playful dogs like golden retrievers or German shepherds.

But there are also clear personality differences between the species that, in turn, attract different types of owners (or guardians, to use a more pet-centric locution).

Both in the wild and at home, cats are solitary creatures most active at dawn and dusk. During the day, cats often seem indifferent to your presence. While cats enjoy playing with their owners or with other cats, their interest is often limited. Cats are aloof creatures who enjoy their personal space and dislike orders. Many will look at you with condescending pity if you command them to “sit” or “lie down.”

“If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man,” Mark Twain famously wrote, “but it would deteriorate the cat.”

Many—but certainly not all—cat owners are predisposed to solitary, intellectual pursuits that require a minimal amount of human interaction. At work, cat owners may prefer closed-door offices and minimal interruptions. Famous cat lovers include Raymond Chandler, Albert Einstein and Sir Winston Churchill.

Dogs, like their wild canine ancestors, are sociable pack animals. Without daily walks, hour-long stick throwing-and-retrieving sessions and ample belly-rubbing, dogs will become surly, morose and prone to dig out your flower bed. Still, there is always a quiet dignity about dogs and an admirable sense of loyalty, which is why they are often referred to as “man’s best friend.”

“The dog is a gentleman,” wrote Twain. “I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.”

Many dog owners are social individuals who value time spent amongst their friends and peers. At work, they may prefer open office spaces with plenty of room for interaction and group projects. On the weekend, they may escape the confines of the city for the wild open spaces of the country. Dog people are often described as jocular, engaging and outgoing, and not at all opposed to being scratched behind the ear. Famous dog owners include Sir Isaac Newton, Robert Plant and President John Kennedy.

Do you know any other traits specific to dog or cat owners, respectively? Do those tendencies carry over into the workplace? Do you think cat people and dog people go on different vacations? Would you mind coming by and feeding Rusty and Mr. Whiskers while we’re away in Bermuda?

That’s not to say that you can’t find some lucrative positions in the workplace, even if you haven’t graduated from college. There are actually several that pay a pretty nice salary. If you’re curious to know what some of them are, here are five that, should you opt not to go to college (or go to college right now), they will still provide you with a fulfilling professional career.

Executive Assistant

Although technically, you do not need a four-year degree to be an executive assistant, it is recommended that you get an associate’s degree in order to work in upper-level management. Either way, you do need to be knowledgeable when it comes to bookkeeping, accounting, project management and research, along with being an excellent communicator and writer. You also need to have a flexible disposition while being articulate and concise. Payment for this job averages somewhere around $29,000.

Web Developer

What would the world be like without the Internet? That’s a question that we’ll probably never have to seriously explore because we see evidence of the fact that cyberspace is a place that we’re all dependent upon on a daily basis. Therefore, it’s understandable that web developers would be high constantly in demand. To be one, you don’t need a college degree, but you do need to be heavily-versed in “computer languages” like CSS, JavaScript, HTML, SQL and various aspects of server side technologies. If all of this sounds foreign to you, then you can understand why taking some computer classes would be of utmost importance. But once you’re studied in this area, you can earn a salary of about $43,000.

Paralegal Assistant

Does the field of law interest you, but you don’t exactly want to be a lawyer? Why not try your hand at being a paralegal assistant? Although their assignments are pretty vast, the bottom line is that they provide the support that attorneys need by way of gathering information for court and helping them prepare for hearings and trials by reading and documenting articles depositions and motions. You don’t need a degree, but you do need to be certified through the American Alliance of Paralegals or a similar qualified association. The average starting salary for a paralegal is $29,000.

Insurance Agent

One of the main skills that you need for this position is to be a good sales person. However, that’s not to trivialize what an insurance agent does. Whether it’s life, home, car or health, they provide us all with the kind of coverage that we need to protect ourselves in the case of an unfortunate situation. A level college education in the areas of business or economics tends to be preferred, but it’s not a requirement when it comes to applying for a position. Either way, be aware of the fact that you will need to pre-licensed and pass a state examination before you can become certified. You can make around $26,000 for starters.

Dental Hygienist

If you’ve always dreamed of working alongside a dentist, this is the perfect kind of career path for you. Dental hygienists do everything from collecting information on patients, to assisting with examining and cleaning teeth, to making molds and taking X-rays. It’s preferred that you have (at least) an associate’s degree, but people have been known to be hired with a high school diploma and a copy of their college entrance exam scores. You will need to pass a test given by the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination along with a state clinical exam. The hard work pays off, though. $45,000 is the average salary for someone in this profession.

Why? Millennial Branding founder Dan Schawbel states it this way:  “Gen Y looks for more flexibility…they want to have access to social networks.  Fortune 500 companies don’t usually allow this flexibility…Companies need to allow Gen-Yers to operate entrepreneurially within the corporation by giving them control over their time, activities, and budgets as much as possible.”

Unlike past warnings of the financial death of the Fortune 500, the Millennial Branding forecast relates to its demographic death.  If a body blow is delivered to the Fortune 500 by Gen Y over the next decade, it will represent less a failure of financial prowess than a refusal to adapt to new definitions of progress and success emerging from this huge generation.  Given these budding young workers will comprise as much as 75% of the US workforce by 2025, organizations must heed their new views of progress or risk losing vital fuel for innovation and collaboration engines so crucial to staying competitive.

By consciously focusing on the implications and expanded learning offered by Gen Y’s definition of progress, companies within and beyond the Fortune 500 can recalibrate to drive innovation more effectively and magnetize more Gen Y-ers to their ranks.

Gen Y Holds New Definitions of Progress

Remember this famous car slogan from the late 1980s?  “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile, this is the new generation of Olds.” That ad ran in an era dominated by the Baby Boom generation, a time when progress was largely equated with advances in new technology.

But today, “new” technology is the norm.  “New” is always happening.  Thanks to the innovation engines at Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, advances in technology show up multiple times a year rather than just once every 12 months.  Rather than occasionally bursting onto the living room television, “new” is thrust daily onto our laptop screens and smart phones.  Today for Gen Y, progress is equated with relevance and the ability of a product or service to connect in meaningful ways with daily life.

In their book The Progress Principle, Harvard Business School professors Theresa  Amabile and Stephen Kramer reveal results from studies linking Gen Y’s sense of progress to inner purpose and shared meaning.  For Gen Y, progress goes beyond the seemingly straightforward pathways to financial gain or career success that propelled their Baby Boomer parents.

Gen Y seeks participation in collaborative activity that involves sweeps of people including – but also lying beyond – those co-habiting their office space.  Greg Cox, president of the third largest office for Dale Carnegie’s global leadership training programs, notes that Gen Y recognizes “the future will not be based on individuals but on extraordinary combinations of people.”

Here are three principles Amabile and Kramer recommend for organizations seeking to engage Gen Y’s need for progress while also contributing to a sense of shared momentum in other cohorts as well:

1.  Consciously develop a climate of progress:  If you are a team leader, a consultant, or simply heading up a collaborative initiative in your workspace, develop a progress center that captures stories and insights about what is going right.  These can either be accounts of actual experiences physically posted in your work area or made available online via wikis, an intranet, or other internal communication vehicles.  Amabile and Kramer encourage frequent postings which consistently balance transparency and authenticity.

2.  Define what progress means to your team:  While working on a recent project for a mid-size manufacturing company, the CEO revealed to me that a specially selected work team he headed made a lot more progress when he was absent from the team than when he was present on it.  Noticing that members clammed up or became very nervous when he challenged their viewpoints, the CEO ultimately refocused the team around progress goals that weren’t simply time oriented.  That’s smart.  Amabile and Kramer emphasize the need to ensure your team’s definition of progress isn’t solely revolving around factors linked to money and time.  Definitions also need to embrace experiential learning, purpose, and the broader meaning behind the team’s shared efforts.

3.  Experimentation connects to progress: Gen Y links progress to adapting, creating, and experimenting rather than to a “let’s wait and see how things turn out” attitude. Their desire is to be forward leaning and proactive.  Solicit suggestions for experiments from the Gen Y members of your team.  Take on board their ideas about situations in which new digitally driven approaches to market research or product development can replace – or complement – more traditional approaches.  Ensure they have access to social networking tools which connect them to the world beyond your office.  Amabile and Kramer suggest that when  Gen Y-ers are encouraged to engage in experiments, it yields positive impact on their sense of progress.  Even small wins which result from new learning through experimentation outweigh many other workplace rewards.

Many of the beliefs about progress now emerging from Gen Y have roots in Thomas Edison’s own revolutionary notions of innovation, collaboration, and competitiveness.  Part of Edison’s ability to motivate the collaboration teams which spearheaded his innovation success rested on linking experimentation to a learning continuum.  The culture of Edison’s Menlo Park and West Orange laboratories viewed experimentation as the lifeblood of progress itself.

Edison said, “The only way to keep ahead of the procession is to experiment.  If you don’t, the other fellow will. When there’s no experimenting there’s no progress.  Stop experimenting and you go backward.”

Whether the Fortune 500 can transform its Industrial Age mantle and take on new form in the Innovation Age remains to be seen.  But heeding Gen Y’s expansive definition of progress can help the workforce in any organization reshape itself to drive greater collaboration and innovation competitiveness now.

When faced with real issues in life astrology is only the last resort to many people. Yet for millions around the world, it is what gives hope and support to carry on from day to day. Astrology doesn’t stand on firm grounds when questioned based on logic and hard scientific principles, but thanks to modern computing software, subjectivity of astrology pundits at least is removed.

It is quite easy for anyone to be an astrologer these days. All you need to do is to download and install a free piece ofsoftware written by Narasimha Rao, an ex software engineer from PictureTel Corporation and feed some basic information like a place, date and time of birth of a person in to it. If you have some basic understanding of the tenants of Vedic Astrology, it could really add to the fun.

So pondering on the question of the birth of Barack Obama, which has been a matter of controversy in the past and which is recently resurrected, it was intriguing to see what the software will produce. The personal details of celebrities were always difficult to obtain, but thanks to the controversy, the long form birth certificate President Obama was published and is available on the US President’s website for anyone interested. According to this document also available here he was born in Honolulu on the 4th of august 1961 at 7.24 PM., which is the basic data used to give it a whirl for the fun of it.

A lot of what the software output is really for the expert astrologer but there is also some plain English which states the qualities and positions in life the person will achieve.

Code for America is a project that will streamline government and detoxify the flow of daily life in our country.

Code for America is a San Francisco based non-profit organization that attempts to improve and revitalize government through the use of technology. The founder and Executive Director of Code for America is Jennifer Pahlka. In 2012 Pahlka gave a TED talk about how city governments can run more efficiently and more affordably with the use of apps to connect citizens to problems that need solved.

Through Code for America, Pahlka and her organization match technology geniuses with cities where they work for a year trying to solve problems in that city through the use of technology. For example, Boston created an app in which citizens can adopt fire hydrants. The citizen who adopts the fire hydrant is responsible for making certain that snow isn’t piled around the fire hydrant making it more accessible to firefighters during inclement weather. In return, the “adopter” gets to name the fire hydrant. If the “adopter” doesn’t keep the fire hydrant clear of snow, it is placed for adoption again and another citizen will have an opportunity to adopt it with the same responsibilities to keep snow from piling up. Citizens adopting fire hydrants helps give city snow crews more time to work on other issues; it makes it easier for firemen to do their jobs safely and effectively, and it helps keep homes, businesses, and other structures safer.

Honolulu was able to take the same app that Boston uses for fire hydrants to ensure that early-warning-systems for tsunamis are in working order. Batteries are often stolen from these warning systems, but by having citizens adopt them and check on them, there is more of a deterrent from stealing the batteries, and if they are stolen, they can be replaced in a timely manner to help protect citizens. Chicago has, likewise, used the app to have citizens focus on keeping snow off of sidewalks making them safer and allowing city crews to work on other problems.

Code for America is trying to make government permissionless, open, and generative. Rather than complain about how government isn’t doing the work for the people; people are doing the work for the people. Pahlka calls Code for America a Peace Corp for geeks. These elite programmers find solutions to problems in a much more efficient and more cost-effective manner because they are not limited by the structures of government. For example, programmers in Boston spent two months helping parents determine what school to send their children to, whereas the same app could have taken two years and cost millions of dollars to achieve the same outcome.

Palkha also points out how the internet allows people to work together and solve problems together. Because an entire generation has been raised with social media, problems with government and getting things done are not being solved with voices, but they are being solved with their hands as people use apps and media to see what needs to be done, then they are doing it.  It’s an exciting time to be young and innovative—whether you’re involved in computer sciences or engineering, your skills are needed to optimize and recreate a more efficient America that is more pleasant to live in. Industrial engineers—some of whom focus on optimizing workflows or traffic flows—can use apps to find out what problems are confronting their town or city, and sometimes they can take information gleaned from these apps and programs to assign their staff so they are working on the most important issues. In Boston, there is a program that allows citizens to communicate and solve problems in real time, rather than using the resources of time and money resources needed within the city to solve the problems. When citizens can easily and safely solve problems, industrial engineers can ensure that the manpower of their employees is being used in the most resourceful and economical way.

As Palkha stated, “We are not going to fix government until we fix citizenship.” Code for America is making that possible all across the United States without being encumbered by government problems by using their hands and not just their voices.

Universities don’t just attract top talent based on their academic or athletic programs. Students want a holistic and comprehensive environment that delivers not only top academic and athletic offerings but also memorable social experiences. In the case of the University of Connecticut, while the basketball program may attract many top students, the rural setting may cause students to feel isolated and homesick. To continue attracting top students, Connecticut recruiters will have to develop answers for students who may be turned off by country living.

As an ERE.net article points out, recruiters who think they have an anecdotal grasp on today’s student population may have to rethink their strategies. Today’s student population is much more diverse, not only in terms of ethnic background but also in terms of age. The new approach to recruiting involves tactics that are similar to business marketing. For instance, universities have to know what elements of the school are attractive to recruits and which elements of the school are turnoffs. To succeed, universities have to develop research-tested answers to potential turnoffs if they intend to recruit top talent to their schools.

Designing and pre-testing branding and recruitment messages will guarantee that the target student takes the desired action. When the message has been tested, recruiters must then to use market data to evaluate its effectiveness. Recruiters don’t work in a vacuum; other organizations are trying to tap the very students that they want for their own programs. Recruiters have to ask both the students who stayed and the students who left to identify the factors that helped them to make their decisions.

The UConn women’s basketball team will survive; they’ve recruited three of the top 10 high school players in the country for their 2012 team. However, the team would have a roster of even higher quality if they had succeeded in their marketing efforts. Instead of recruiting the way that they always have, universities need to invest in marketing analytics and research. Otherwise, recruiters like those from UConn will continue to lose top talent to colleges that understand modern marketing.

The new report looks at a number of measures taken by each state focused on accidental injury prevention. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ranked accidental injury as the fifth biggest cause of death, so clearly this is an important issue to address. According to Jeff Levi, the executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, it comes down to supporting proven strategies for injury prevention. Following steps supported by science and backed by state legislation, millions of Americans can avoid injuries and keep themselves and their families from harm.

When it comes to the report’s rankings on prevention, California and New York scored a nine out of ten. For the states that are falling behind, it’s pretty easy to understand what the problems are. Currently 29 states don’t require children to wear bicycle helmets, while 31 states allow motorcyclists to forgo helmets as well. Eighteen states either don’t have or don’t enforce seatbelt laws, and 34 states and the District of Columbia don’t require drunk drivers’ vehicles to be fitted with ignition interlocks.

Changing those policies will certainly impact the current levels of accidental injury and death. But outside of these obvious changes, states should also consider policies that could minimize injuries due to fires, falls and assaults. Currently included in the state rankings are policies that support safety in sports, anti-violence initiatives and programs that monitor prescription drug use.

Outside of New York and California, several other states distinguished themselves with a strong safety record and rankings of eight out of ten on the report. Oregon, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Maryland and Washington all fell within that range. On the other end of the scale were Ohio and Montana, which came in dead last with rankings of two out of ten. These aren’t just arbitrary numbers on a report, but reflect actual lives saved or lost. Consider two states at the top and bottom of the rankings. Montana experiences an accidental injury rate of 86.5 people per 100,000 individuals in the state, while New York’s rate is only 37.1 per 100,000. The average across the country for deaths due to injury is 57.9 per 100,000.

Overall, a great deal of progress is being made, but the issue is by no means conquered. Accidental injury is still the number one cause of death in children, and there isn’t one single issue that is the root cause. Domestic violence plays a role, as does drivers texting while at the wheel. With such a variety of reasons behind the deaths, residents of states like Georgia, that fall in the middle of the pack, may have the need for an Atlanta injury lawyer during some point in their lives. But while states should be held accountable for keeping their residents safe, it will always be up to the individual to meet their legislative bodies more than half way.

Online education has increased its presence from nonentity in the 1980s to a visible part of everyday life. Now everything from supplemental online certifications to online graduate degrees are available. For-profit programs, such as University of Phoenix, DeVry University, Everest University, and Kaplan University advertise heavily to recruit students to their programs, and conventional universities are increasingly relying on Internet-based tools to offer courses that are either entirely or partially online. However, as education moves further in this direction, many look at the transformation taking place and wonder whether or not this is a good thing.

One of the obvious advantages of an online university education is the matter of scalability. A university designed to host 30,000 students can never enroll more than that without investing in an expansion. An online university, however, faces relatively little additional structural cost when its numbers grow. This scalability makes online education very attractive to those who want to lower education costs and make education available to everyone. However, by making education more readily available, online methodologies create new problems. Like most of its competitors, University of Phoenix, the world’s largest online university (and one of the world’s largest universities in terms of enrollment) sets a very low qualification bar for enrollment. To enroll, students only need a high school diploma or GED, which makes many question the real value of an online degree.

Another related problem results from the fact that many online universities are not properly accredited. They can offer courses, issue grades and diplomas, but when they do not abide by the standards commonly accepted by governments, businesses, and other educational institutions, their degrees mean very little.

This perceived lack of value has led to a mixed and hesitant receptiveness to online programs among established universities. While program developers acknowledge the benefits of online education, they also fear that diving head-first into the online movement will lower the reputation of their programs. Despite this hesitance, however, conventional universities for the most part are moving forward with the adoption of online tools. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with its CourseWare and subsequent MITx ventures, is making the content of its courses available to the entire world for free. Initially, the viewing of these online course materials did not result in a credential for students. However, for the sake of propagating knowledge and protecting the value of its conventional programs, MIT is making plans to offer separate credentials based on its free online courses.

Many established universities have become willing to offer associate’s degrees and bachelor’s degrees for completion of online courses but refuse to issue advanced degrees without old fashioned, brick-and-mortar classrooms. This is due to a perception that lower-level degrees tend to require more “book learning”—which is conducive to online education platforms—while upper-level degrees tend to require more “hands-on learning.” Projects, discussion, and research become the focus of graduate-level coursework, which cannot be properly conducted online.

Proponents of online education feel that conventional universities offer this boundary in the attempt to stay relevant and control quality. However, as long as employers feel that MBAs and PhDs from conventional universities have more value than their online counterparts, these programs will still face an uphill battle towards gaining a foothold on being a part of the academic status quo. Thus, online educational opportunities may not reach advanced-level programs, but they do enable higher education to reach more people than ever before. Even if online degrees are not given the same recognition, they have increased the accessibility of education. By having this access to education, America will foster the growth of a more educated populace.

How did the Complainant attempt to prove that the two domains belonged to the same registrant? By pointing to the Facebook page of “Shawn Lloyd,” which lists both of the domains in question, and by showing that the two domains resolve to similar content. This evidence was a bit thin for the National Arbitration Forum Panelist, however, and she was forced to dismiss the Complaint over one domain name, TheHot100Radio.com.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for some time know that the UDRP does not allow for evidentiary discovery or cross-examination of witnesses. If you need more facts to develop your case the better (but more time-consuming and expensive) choice is to file a claim in federal court under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) where you can request your opponent’s documents and depose and cross-examine its witnesses. If you’re going to pursue the UDRP to save time and money, you’d better have a solid case from the start.

In the Prometheus Global Media case, the Complainant did the best it could with the facts it had available, but it just wasn’t enough to convince the Panelist that the owner of the two domains were really the same person. Despite the websites looking similar and both domains being listed on someone’s Facebook page, the actual WHOIS records for the domains list different owners, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, creation dates, and registrars. Even a look at the WHOIS history shows no further similarity than two different towns in the Canadian province of Ontario. Even though these towns are a mere half-hour drive from one another, this simply is not enough to satisfy paragraph 3(c) of the UDRP which says that a “complaint may relate to more than one domain name, provided that the domain names are registered by the same domain name holder.”

In the end, this will likely be nothing more than a speed bump in the complainant’s drive to reclaim these 2 domains since the cost of filing two UDRP cases is still far less expensive and time-consuming than that of filing just one ACPA claim. I expect we’ll see a decision on the second domain in another few months and my money’s on another win for the complainant.

Charles Bankhead’s article, Economics at Heart of Drug Shortages, in MedPage Today quoted two other industry experts.  Here’s what they said “The main cause of drug shortages is economic,” wrote Mandy L. Gatesman, PharmD, of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and Thomas J. Smith, MD, of Johns Hopkins. “If manufacturers don’t make enough profit, they won’t make generic drugs.”

This is a classic example of where the race to ‘free’ is taking us.  When sellers focus their customers’ attention on price and customers respond by pressuring sellers for lower and lower prices, you end up with shortages like those outlined above.

Unfortunately that’s a mild precursor of what’s to come.  In today’s global economy and easy access to anything you want online, we’re going to find opportunists who will fill the gap.  These folks aren’t going to care about health and safety.  Nor do they care about the regulations that exist to protect your health.

Their production processes won’t be as sterile as those of the manufacturers we’ve come to know and trust.  They’re also more likely to use some variation of the primary component of the drug you’ve been taking.  Fillers, which add nothing to the effectiveness of the drug, will become a more significant component of the drug to keep costs down.

This is just one example of the world we’re creating for ourselves.   As sellers we have to take the lead and retrain customers to appreciate the value we provide.  Better yet we need to quantify that value for them so that they can see what a bargain our offerings are, even at premium prices.

We, as sellers, also need to say ‘No‘ to customers who demand lower prices.  That’s what the generic drug companies are doing now.  Too bad they didn’t make that tack before it reached this stage.

As consumers, we need to be aware of the risks of low prices.  Not just in regards to our safety, as in the case of drugs, but in terms of the enjoyment our purchases should afford us

If we continue this race to ‘free’ we’re going to create misery for ourselves and others and we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.

What will you do for your small business during National Small Business Week?

National Small Business Week is a week dedicated to empowering small businesses worldwide. May 20-26, business owners will be able to attend conferences, events, and seminars in Washington D.C. conducted by inspirational leaders.

Some of the special guests include Marie Johns Deputy Administrator of the US Small Business Administration, Charles Bolden Administrator for NASA, Alex Fong Senior Director of Microsoft, Brian Moran from Wall Street Journal, and many more.

Since not everyone is going to be lucky enough to attend the National Small Business Week festivities in D.C., that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate in our own way. Why not take some time this week and think about the areas in which your business might need a little inspiration? It’s easy to get so busy dealing with day-to-day operations that you forget how important it is to stay current with the latest marketing techniques and industry changes.

Do you need to invest in mobile marketing to tap into the mobile consumer? Do you need to set up and regularly manage social media accounts? Is it time you tried out a new-to-you technology like QR codes? Or do you simply need to take more time to read industry blogs to stay on top of your game?

Bryan Laurienti, co-owner of BBB Systems, suggests, “Taking the time to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy that hits all elements will help your business to continue to grow.”

Networking with other small businesses is another great strategy for not only getting new customers but finding a mentor. Perhaps another small business owner excels in an area you don’t (and vice versa). Learn from each other, support each other, and you just may find that your business grows so much that next year you’ll be invited to speak at National Small Business Week!

Tell us: What is your best tip for small business owners?

Everybody has there own interpretation of the law – and their own opinion as to how it should be dealt with, however, I feel it’s often best to take a moderate view on these things. That way we can derive an approach that achieves the best possible (sensible) practice, without going over-board.

The situation has been further complicated by reports from various sources (including the Wall Street Journal) that ICO are not planning heavy handed enforcement. Coupled with the revelation in the media that the UK Government is going to miss the ‘deadline’, I know what you’re thinking:

Why should I bother to do anything?

Based on some of the conversations I’ve had with people recently, you might be using some more colourful language!

In short, although ICO are unlikely to walk around slapping people with fines – and as can be deduced, enforcement is going to be tricky due to the sheer amount of websites in existence – the most likely circumstances under which someone could find themselves in hot water will arise if a complain regarding the (mis)use of sensitive information is made against them.

In this case I believe it’s possible that ICO could include non-compliance with the ‘Cookie Law’ (aka The Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations or PECR) as a factor when dealing with the complaint. The best practice – and only advisable route – remains to comply with the legislation as best as is possible.

However, at the same time, I – like you – am reluctant to advocate spending a significant amount of time or resources on doing so; compared to other elements of data protection and privacy, there are more important things to do – like making sure your email newsletter is fully above board!

It was this line of thought that lead my colleague Chris at 2nd floor to come up with CookieCuttr – his jQuery Cookie Law compliance plugin, which offers a nice easy solution to prompt visitors for their permission to store cookies (and to tie into your own code so that you can prevent cookies being set). We worked together to build a WordPress plugin for CookieCuttr to make it even easier to get up and running.

You can learn more about CookieCuttr here: http://cookiecuttr.com

Ultimately, the most important thing to remember is that as a business (or website) owner, you’re the one who is liable at the end of the day. If you’re worried, or unsure, take professional advice – don’t rely completely on other people’s opinions!

Teachers Pay Teachers was founded by former New York City public school teacher Paul Edelman in 2006 with the goal of connecting veteran teachers to those just starting out so that teachers with a knack for planning could pass along their lessons to those looking for a little help. Of course, it’s not all altruistic. Those who are providing their hard work for others to use will get compensation through a system that the website calls “Free Market Merit Pay”. In other words, those who want to spend their free time creating stellar lesson plans can sell them, while those that are struggling to engage students can purchase the lesson plans that others have already penned. According to Teachers Pay Teachers, everybody benefits from this system, most of all the students.

Of course, sellers on the site get cash compensation, and some more than others. One such party, a kindergarten teacher from Georgia, has reportedly earned an astonishing $700,000. Deana Jump, the teacher in question, boasts about 12,000 followers. And she isn’t alone in earning a supplemental income from this site. There are approximately 10,000 members who are actively engaged in creating and posting lesson plans. While some offer these helpful teaching tools for free, about 6,000 members post them for a fee, usually $5-$10 each. With hundreds of thousands of members on the purchasing end of that equation, there are plenty of customers. And Edelman estimates that they have generated approximately $7 million in revenue to date (of which the site gets a cut).

Teachers may post and purchase lesson plans for grades K-12 for a variety of subjects, but the most popular seem to be English and language arts. Also near the top of the list for purchases are math, science, social studies, and arts. And there are several specialty subjects like business, technology, computer science, health, P.E., and special education (amongst others), but these have far fewer postings than the core subjects (and probably fewer buyers, as well).

While sellers are allowed to set their own prices, many keep them on the low side. And the nice thing for teachers that purchase lesson plans is that they may be reimbursed by their school district (or else they could try to claim the expense on their taxes). Plus, a new feature allows schools to purchase plans on a massive scale for use by their entire institution. You don’t need an accounting degree online to see that this business model has the potential to benefit everyone involved, from teachers to students to the entire educational system.

Yup, some of the “hype” you’ve been hearing is actually true…

Let me explain….

Several months ago, the FBI caught some bad guys that were distributing some “malware” (virus) that infected computers. This malware reset the DNS of the computer to use the bad guys DNS server… so that the bad guys could make the infected folks see lots of spam, porn, popups, ads and other stuff.

The infected computer (Mac or PC) still had internet – but it was being altered by this malware.

The FBI arrested these bad guys and stopped the spread of the malware…. but the the question became of what to do with the servers that were being used.

It was decided to keep these servers online for a while, to give the infected folks time to learn about the possible infection, and get cleaned up.

Because when these servers get turned off… the lack of DNS will mean that they can no longer get to the internet (until they are fixed).

Some of these systems HAVE been fixed and will be just fine. Some haven’t!

However, the court order (and funding) that keeps these infected servers online expires on July 9th… and any remaining infected computers will stop being able to get online on that date.

The media makes it sound like this is a high percentage of computers – but it’s not. But it still might affect someone you know (in particular, your not-very-web-savvy friends/family).

We, as a community, have until July 9th to ensure that the community that depends on us … is able to GET to us!

The FBI’s official doc is here if you feel the need to slog through it (if you are techy).

Generally speaking online “antivirus” type software is dangerous and to be avoided… but the FBI has actually put up a online site to teach people how to identify and remove for this pesky thing.

Visit http://www.dcwg.org/ to find out how to both scan for and fix the DNSChange infection (if you’re infected).

I know my community here and it’s actually unlikely that your personal system is infected. It however is likely that the system of your friends, family, neighbors and others less savvy is what needs scanned. (Check yours for good measure though, kk?)

Any system that *IS* infected, post-cleanup, really needs a deep scan with a current antivirus, a current malware scanner and to have all of it’s Operating System (Windows/OS) files updated… as the DNSChanger stopped updates from working and blocked most scanners.

Beyond sharing this post… (which I appreciate you doing)… you can help your own site visitors identify if they are infected by turning on the Visitor DNSChanger Detector app on CloudFlare. (This is assuming you are using Cloudflare.com with your site, like I am.) Any infected visitors coming to your site will be alerted about their vulnerability and given information on how they can fix it.

Computer repair shops in your area will be able to help you fix this if it seems too much for you to do yourself.

(That means that when Aunt Barb, from three states away, calls you and tells you her computer won’t get online… you send her to the computer shop to get it fixed.)

This is the kind of stuff that your friends, family, colleagues and yes… even your list… need to know about before the date arrives.

Please feel free to ask questions below, although most of what you need to know is available on http://www.dcwg.org/

Please help me spread the word over the next 2-3 weeks so we help reach as many people as possible.

As always, your also welcome to republish this article (or send it straight to your list) as long as you link it to me and credit me, capiche?

PS: Generally speaking, online antivirus/malware scanners are in fact infected applications trying to hack you. The tools provided by dcwg.org are a very rare exception. I hesitate to suggest using any online scanner but this particular one is safe and important. If it comes from anywhere else… don’t touch it!

In terms of drinking water quality, we are a lucky country. The water in most of America usually runs clear.

Here’s a riddle: What are three things most of the world can’t do?

According to Water.org, the answer, unfortunately, is that most of the world cannot take a hot shower, drink a clean glass of water or flush away last night’s dinner.

But Mad Men is set in the 1960s…surely water quality has improved in the last 50 years!

Let’s examine some numbers:

Sub-Saharan Africa is the slowest of the world’s regions to improve sanitation; only 31 percent of residents had access to improved sanitation in 2006.

The UN estimates that the amount of wastewater produced annually is about six times more than the amount of water that exists in every river in the world.

In Asia, 1.8 billion people live without improved water sanitation.

But this isn’t a problem solely for underdeveloped countries:

In France, tests of drinking water concluded that three million people were drinking water that did not meet the World Health Organization’s standards for clean water. And what is most shocking of all is that today 884 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water – that’s awfully close to one billion.

And although things are certainly better here in the U.S., where drinking water and wastewater are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies, infrastructure challenges cause quality and reliability issues. Increased main breaks and unchecked leaks in water and wastewater systems are wreaking havoc in many communities, and – according to several water industry reports, including the American Society of Civil Engineers’Failure to Act – this is anticipated to worsen if additional investments are not made into the nation’s systems.

As one of North America’s largest publicly traded water service providers, American Water is responsible for the quality of the water that is delivered to our customers’ homes, and we take that responsibility seriously. We invest $800 million to $1 billion annually into system improvements to ensure that our customers continue to receive the high-quality, reliable water services they have come to expect. We work hard to attest that the water we provide customers meets federal and state safety standards, and our nationally renowned researchers in fact help the EPA develop its standards and regulations. When it comes to complying with strict federal regulations for delivering clean, quality drinking water, we’ve consistently scored among the highest of all water companies.

We are so fortunate to have clean water. Perhaps in a future episode of Mad Men, when the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce office reaches the mid 1970s and the passage by Congress of the Safe Drinking Water Act, we will see Don taking his aspirin with a clearer glass of water. For almost one billion people worldwide, that will not happen today.

If you’re not familiar with Universitas 21, basically they are a global network of colleges and universities (24, to be exact) with an agenda of providing policy makers with facts, statistics and other relevant information as it directly relates to the particular strengths and weaknesses of their education system. At the same time, their aim is to also give prospective college students in other countries more detailed data about the schools that they are considering attending in other parts of the world.

According to their latest findings, when it comes to the countries that provide the best in higher education, the United States ranked first. It was followed by Sweden, Canada, Finland and Denmark. On the other hand, when it came to the government providing the funding for students to attend college, the U.S. did not rank highly at all. The three top schools were Finland, Norway and then Denmark. In relationship to the amount of energy that’s specifically placed on Research and Development, Denmark and Sweden came out on top, while countries with the highest amount of workers with a college education include Russia, Canada, Israel, then the United States and the Ukraine. In the category of the countries that have the highest participation rates when it comes to higher education, the United States and Canada ranked fourth and fifth. In the category of the amount of international students that contribute the most to the overall student population, the United States was third; unfortunately, it ranked in the bottom twenty-five percent when it came to research collaboration with other countries.
In reading all of the report (one that they plan on publishing annually), you’ll see why it is both relevant and needed. Traditionally, reports on colleges and universities provide you with information on particular schools within a particular country, but not (usually) on a country’s overall educational system. Thanks to Universitas 21, a student now has more insight into what schools, in general, have to offer in basically every part of the world.

Say, for instance, you want to know more about masters programs in counseling. A report like this will help to you make a more thorough choice in the college or university that you should go to because you’re able to read about more than a school’s amount of graduates within the program or even its level of excellence in the field. You’re also be able to read about the country’s investment in government policy and research, it’s level of diversity and international interaction and a host of other things.

How great that before you go to a school to learn, you can now do more research on what (and how) it will teach you beforehand. And isn’t that what a good education is supposed to be all about? Definitely.

The Sizzle: Facebook IPO. The Fri-Up: Cannes. The Sauce: The Greeks.

The Sizzle:

• Facebook IPO: The big winners
• Met Police to extract phone data
• Groupon stock spike probed
• Samsung Galaxy S III pre-orders exceed 9m
• AI uprising: humans will be outsourced, not obliterated

The Fri-Up: The Cannes Film Festival 2012

For the last couple of days we’ve watched the world’s biggest film stars and celebrities hop on and off yachts and strut up and down the red carpet at Cannes.

But is the festival chat all about dresses, parties and Cristal, or is it about the art of film making and awarding the directors and stars behind the masterpieces? It is no secret that the red carpet at Cannes is now one of the most important commercial fashion opportunities on the world calendar and that, in recent years, Cannes has become almost as significant to fashion as to film.

So what are mere mortals talking about and is this big designer advertising slot working for designers? In this week’s Friday# we see what social media says.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the highest profile tweeters surrounding the film festival and see who’s tweeting at Cannes. Fig 1: The Cannes Film Festival 2012

• iamdiddy
• peoplemag
• EvaLongoria
• HuffingtonPost
• RealTonyRocha
• AnnCurry
• VogueParis
• MichaelKors
• lonelyplanet
• Dior

Our top ten is very fashion and celebrity heavy, but the world of film is strangely absent. Our list features the biggest influencers in music, media (including social media) and fashion. Eva Longoria is the only person in the line-up with acting credentials, but she is not at Cannes to promote a film this year and has been lauded across the media and social networks for her fashion choices rather than her services to cinematography. Aside from those there and their commentators, what is the general public’s take? For this we can take a look at the wordcloud.

Fig 2. Cannes Film Festival wordcloud

Although the red carpet features heavily in discussion across social networks, it is the films that shine out above the designers. Looking more closely at mentions surrounding John Paul Gaultier, who does feature in the cloud, people are actually talking about him as a guest rather than for his creations.

The conclusion? Moonrise Kingdom and Wes Anderson steal the Brandwatch Palme D’or for 2012.

The Sauce

Something for the weekend:

• Rebecca Black’s relations hit YouTube
• Republicans deliberately stalling Obama
• Greeks apologise with huge horse

Hope you enjoyed the Friday#, have a great weekend.

Very carefully, as it turns out. They pored over data that stretched back more than a decade in order to analyze statistics and spot patterns. What they found is that a person who holds a bachelor’s degree (or higher) will have a life expectancy that is nine years longer, on average, than someone who never attains a diploma. In truth, this isn’t too surprising. A higher education nearly always leads to prospects for jobs that pay more, offer benefits, and are less stressful (at least physically). Many office jobs require a bachelor’s degree for consideration, which relegates a large portion of those with only a high school level of education to working at menial labor occupations (minimum wage work) that are physically challenging and generally unfulfilling. In many ways this is a recipe for disaster in terms of health.

Monetary compensation and insurance benefits also play a role. Those who have higher-paying jobs can likely afford better food options, membership at a gym, and other extras that lead to better health. Most will enjoy jobs with set schedules (no swing shifts, no weekend hours) that allow them to arrange for leisure time with the family and regular sleep habits (great for reducing stress and preserving good health). And of course, insurance benefits provide for preventive care, or regular checkups with doctors and dentists, in addition to emergency care, should it be necessary. There’s no reason to let health problems go unattended when you have the insurance to reduce the financial burden associated with care.

But that’s not all. People who receive a higher education seem to make healthier life choices on the whole. According to the CDC study, 2010 statistics showed that smoking amongst adults age 25 to 64 occurred in 31% of those with no college education, 24% of those with some college, and only 9% of those who graduated with a bachelor’s degree. And in households where the head of house had a bachelor’s or higher, 11% of boys and 7% of girls were found to suffer from obesity, as opposed to more than double those numbers (24% of boys and 22% of girls) in homes where the head of household had only a high school education.

So if you’re looking for a reason to sign up for MBA online programs, you just found it. Perhaps it’s the access to healthcare, or maybe it has to do with starting life on the right path and continuing to make good choices for life; whatever causes educated people to be healthier, everyone could stand to drink some of that water. And apparently you’ll find it at any institution of higher learning.

As it turns out, 80% to 90% of the energy used in water treatment and delivery is in the “delivery” side of the equation. The heart of our industry, then, lies in moving water from the source to the tap. And with each gallon of water weighing about 8 lbs., we’re doing some heavy lifting.  Where gravity can be harnessed for the job, the impact is lessened. In many communities, this isn’t an option, however.

In California, a mind boggling 19% of all energy use in the state goes towards the treatment and delivery of water (versus between 3% and 4% of all annual energy use in the U.S. as a whole). The reason the figure is so much higher in certain states such as California, is that water often must be pumped long distances from source to consumer.

The replacement of aging pumps, then, and the development of newer, more energy efficient pumps, must be a part of the national dialog on our aging infrastructure.

A subgroup is now emerging that shows how Gen Yers are some of the hardest hit by the current economy. These are the ones who, after graduating college, are finding themselves returning home to live with their parents. They’re known to marketers as Boomerangers because, well, they keep on coming back. And there are a lot of them.

But exactly how many are there? That’s the startling part. Today’s tough job market — close to 15% unemployment for ages 20-24 — means a full 85% of college seniors planned to move back home after graduating in May 2010.* Just four years prior that number was only 67%. Analysis of 2010 Census Bureau data reveals that the share of adults living in multi-generation family households has increased in the last five years and is the highest it has been since the 1950s.

A little time at “Hotel Mom” gives these Gen Yers that much-needed chance to start saving — while getting three squares a day and maybe even a bit of spending money on the side. Most do have future plans of moving out, however 78% of Boomerangers say they currently don’t have enough money to lead the kind of life they want.

On the flipside, this trend is taking a hit on parents’ wallets. On average, parents spend an additional $5,800 a year when a child returns home post-graduation, and 42% of those Boomerangers pay no rent. That same number of parents — 42% — admit that the presence of an adult child in their home has an adverse effect on their own finances.

Marketers need to be mindful of how this new living situation affects a household’s purchase decisions.   For example, boomerangers and their parents often make joint decisions for their home. Long-term decisions revolving around home utilities, maintenance, and repairs remain primarily within the parents’ responsibilities. While Boomerangers often decide on their personal bedroom furnishings, cell phone service provider, health insurance, and car/transportation. Parents and Boomerangers, together, make decisions on groceries, toiletries, and communal home furnishings. Not surprisingly, Boomerangers show strong involvement in their household technological purchase decisions, especially for television and Internet services.

As a result, the following are three recommended tips on how to market to boomerangers and their parents moving forward:

1. Multi-generational Messaging

Since households now often consist of adult children and their parents, messaging must take into account that there are two generations of decision makers, a unique dynamic. They both influence each other so its important not to discount the millennials’ power just because they don’t have their own digs.

2. Quality takes on a greater importance

Because millennials are influenced by their parents/housemates they tend to value quality sooner than the generations before them. Case in point; brands like Mercedes-Benz stand to win big with certified pre-owned vehicles, matching quality with affordability.

3. Home sweet home

One big trend in recent years gets right to the core of the millennial who finds themselves once again in their old bedroom—marketing to their nostalgia. Big brands are doing it and Boomerangers are eating it up. MTV has re-launched many of the 90’s programming faves (Beavis and Butt-head for example), citing that this decade has now become the “good old days” for Gen Y-ers. And even Barney is making a comeback. “The kids of yesterday are looking for positive and fun reinforcement right now. Barney was the first friend they connected to,” says Stacey Reiner, vice president of licensing for HIT Entertainment Global Brands. Sales are already “doing well,” and restocking requests are coming from retailers daily, she says. “Everyone knows Barney. He makes them feel good.”

Sources:

Pew Research Center, The Boomerang Generation

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/14/pf/boomerang_kids_move_home/index.htm

http://www.prosumer-report.com/blog/2012/03/the-folks-are-all-right/#more-8820

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/story/2011-10-24/90s-nostalgia/50898514/1

The Parents Television Counsel has spoken at length against Howard Stern being involved in the kid-friendly talent competition. Though they’ve asked several times that he not be allowed to appear, the network isn’t budging, so they’ve turned their attention to the advertisers. Advertising wins the day on network television, so they figure that if they can impact the broadcaster’s financial bottom line, whatever creativity Stern brings to the show won’t be enough to save his job. So they’ve put Pizza Hut firmly in the crosshairs, demanding that the delivery chain pull their family-focused ads from broadcasts of “America’s Got Talent”. If Pizza Hut refuses to heed their request, the Parents Television Counsel has vowed to boycott their stores.

To this point, Pizza Hut is sticking by Howard Stern. They came out with an official statement, declaring that they would not pull their ads from the show. They described their goals of excellence and quality as far as the advertising and other public communications they undertake, but also that they want those ads to reach the widest, broadest possible audience. The subtext there is that “America’s Got Talent” brings that audience to the table, so it will probably take more than a proposed boycott to get them to drop that opportunity. They did apologize for whatever impact the connection with Stern may cause, but suggested they understand that their ads may not positively impact each and every person who comes into contact with their presentation.

It’s clear that Pizza Hut and the other show advertisers had an idea that there would be some sort of response to Stern’s inclusion as a judge on “America’s Got Talent”. When his involvement was first announced there were more than a few grumblings. The interesting aspect of all of this is that it remains to be seen if Stern will do anything on the show to elicit such hatred. He may be a shock jock, but that is while on his radio show, with that format in place. Stern declared he has watched every season of the talent show, so he knows what he’s walking in to. He’s also a professional, and wouldn’t screw up a cushy network gig just to push people’s buttons. In the end, these parents’ groups may be more affected than their kids will ever be. With Stern safely on satellite radio, many of the kids may not even know who he is, or have never heard his show. He’s just a judge, after all, and the performances are the center of attention on “America’s Got Talent”. It might be a better move for worried parents to send their kids to the kitchen to call for Pizza Hut’s pizza delivery during the first judge comment section of the show, and decide for themselves if there’s anything to worry about.

Pressures are especially strong on companies that manufacture technology. In May 2012, electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony Corporation announced a $5.7 billion loss during the previous fiscal year, a record for the company and its fourth straight year of net financial loss. This massive financial loss is based on years of large-scale poor decisions, such as Sony’s 1995 purchase of Columbia Pictures and the company’s inability to compete in the TV manufacturing industry.

Sony reports that it will begin turning profits by March 2013, but the company is looking into firing 10,000 workers to do so. Although this may save the business, it isn’t building a healthy company that can keep more people gainfully employed. One way mega-conglomerates like Sony Corporation maintain their international brand presence is by employing thousands upon thousands of workers worldwide. Reducing those numbers may improve profits but hurt the brand.

In America, small business are becoming healthier. In some cases, it’s thanks online colleges and universities that are working hard to keep their students ahead of the curve. A press release printed by the Albany Times Union reports a $25,000 scholarship awarded by the online school Ashworth College to students enrolled in the school’s online small business management program. Programs such as these not only require students to be technologically savvy but provides the small business skills necessary to build a healthy company.

Institutions of higher education have traditionally been a bastion for small businesses, and many traditional brick-and-mortar organizations offer community support that online programs cannot. A May 2012 story printed by Austin, Texas, news outlet Statesman.com reports the groundbreaking of a 93,000 square-foot College of Business building being constructed by the University of Southern Mississippi. The $30 million project will double the size of the current facilities for the school’s business college.

Going back to school can help business professionals do their homework and build more efficient businesses today. Getting an education that includes ample access to cutting edge technologies will start a student on the right path to understanding how today’s technology can help create smarter businesses.