Internet world science

Wakatobi Resort in Ecotourism Resort Awarded the Best in the World

2012-04-01T08:57:00.000+07:00

WARN Earth Day on March 31, 2012, CNNgo travel sites list hotels and inns throughout the world's best ecotourism. Amazingly, Wakatobi Dive Resort in Wakatobi, Indonesia, also included in the list.

The resort is in South Sulawesi was called as a resort with one of the best diving sites around the world, which also continues to focus on issues of marine conservation and community development. "Wakatobi Dive Resort to help the environment around it, preventing the surrounding coral reefs damaged," said Justin Francis, founder responsibletravel, tourist sites are also able to assess how this resort hotel on the list of world's best ecotourism.

"The resort employs 150 local people and creating a program Collaborative Community Based Reef Management, which is made of coral reef sanctuary," said Justin again.

Surrounding villages also receive financial incentives to improve their infrastructure. Other contributions from this resort is for educational and strengthen local support to protect the precious marine life in the region. Currently, the conservation program to protect more than 22 miles of coral reefs in the region.

Any guests staying at this resort can explore an underwater paradise Wakatobi is located just a few minutes from the resort so it did not take long to get there. Also in this resort are rented boat rentals, as well as diving equipment. There are also spa facilities to pamper yourself after a weary dive in the sea.

source at : okezone.com

The Vanishing Painting Leonardo da Vinci Answered

2012-04-01T08:48:00.000+07:00

MILAN - After more than 30 years of searching for mural painting of Leonardo da Vinci's long lost, Maurizio Seracini found evidence that the legendary mural was hidden in the wall where he painted in 1503.

Some time ago, Seracini and his colleagues report that they have found chemical evidence that the painting titled The Battle of Anghiari work of da Vinci, was behind a mural younger.

The Battle of Anghiari a mural depicting the work of da Vinci battle between Milan and the Italian League-led Republic of Florence, in the field in 1440 Aghiari ago.

Mural is in the Palazzo Vecchio's Hall of the 500 (Florence town hall), then in 1563 lost and art historians argue that the work was destroyed when Giorgio Vasari's hall remodel. Vasari to paint six murals along the walls of the new hall from east to west.

Proclaimed Live Science, Friday (03/16/2012), a new mural was made by Vasari did not destroy it. An evidence reveals that da Vinci's mural covered only by a mural titled The Battle of Marciano work of Vasari.

To see the mural behind Vasari's work, researchers led by investigators Seracini entering the camera through the six-point, by choosing a position that will not break Vasari painting.

"Although we are still in the early stages of research and there is still much to be done to solve this mystery, evidence has shown that we are not misplaced," said Seracini which is the Founding Director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology at the University of California San Diego.

Support the hypothesis of the location of da Vinci painting, Seracini and his group reported four evidence. First, one of which successfully obtained a sample containing a black material that has a chemical composition similar to the black pigment on the painting of Mona Lisa and St. Petersburg. John the Baptist.

Second, fragments of red material found estimated that consists of organic matter associated with varnish. Third, through the high definition image obtained by surveillance cameras, investigators found a cream-colored material on the original wall, and they can only be made with a paint brush.

Finally, the researchers confirmed the spaces left between the brick wall where the mural work of Vasari, the wall behind him. It has also been found in an earlier study using a radar scanner. (FMH)
source at: okezone.com

To Keep Customers, Brick-And-Mortar Stores Look To Smartphones

2012-04-01T08:35:00.001+07:00

Best Buy must live in fear of shoppers like Ave Lising. He and a group of friends walk through the Stanford mall in Palo Alto, Calif., their cellphones clutched in their hands.

Lising visited the electronics retailer recently, shopping for a video game.

"I went to Best Buy [and] looked at the price," Lising says. "I was like, 'Ehh — I'm sure I can find this cheaper online.' "

So he whipped out his smartphone and scanned the barcode, found it cheaper and ... no sale for Best Buy.

There's a word for that kind of in-store comparison shopping: "showrooming."

Bryan Wargo, co-founder of a startup called Nearbuy Systems, says everyone in retail "knows they're being showroomed. But they don't know by who, for what products, when it's happening [or] what kind of consumer does that."

A mobile shopping revolution is under way, and brick-and-mortar retailers are worried.

Consumers using smartphones and tablets are changing the way stores market, set prices and track customer tastes — leaving mobile technologies poised to roil the $4 trillion U.S. retail industry.

Learning More About Brick-and-Mortar Shoppers

When you shop online, marketers are following your every click. But when you walk into a store they know almost nothing about you.

That detailed information about in-store shoppers is exactly what retailers want.

Nearbuy Systems/YouTube A screen shot from a Nearbuy Systems demo video shows how the company's technology can help retailers track where consumers are in a store.

Wargo's company is using mobile technology to try to give it to merchants. Inside a drafty warehouse in Menlo Park, less than a mile from Facebook's sprawling new headquarters, Nearbuy has created a mockup of a big-box retail store.

There are fake shelves — the floor is laid out in a grid with blue masking tape — and there's a network of security cameras overhead. But instead of tracking real customers around the space, they're tracking a group of little robots.

The robots spend hours cruising around, towing cardboard cutouts of a Stormtrooper and Boba Fett from Star Wars, both holding iPhones.

Wargo and Nearbuy co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Marc Jamtgaard are using their technology to track the Stormtroopers — or real people — to within a couple feet of where they're standing.

"It's tracking my iPhone right now, so it is using Wi-Fi, which gives us about 10 meters of accuracy," Jamtgaard says. And because Wi-Fi is often imprecise, "we are augmenting that with the video surveillance system that is in this warehouse," Jamtgaard says.

"Our challenge was, take what we already have, and most stores have — Wi-Fi and ... video for security and things — and mix those two signals together to create something that is more accurate," Wargo says.

Technology

Following Digital Breadcrumbs To 'Big Data' Gold

All Tech Considered

Few Consumers Are Cracking The QR Code

Retailers could use this technology to build apps to guide customers through their store aisles to specific products, or even deliver discounts and coupons based on where people are standing in any particular store.

"The vision everyone has for this technology is that you walk in front of the soda. And then Coke and Pepsi in the background are going to bid up to see who can send you that coupon," Wargo says.

This kind of technology could also let stores know if you are on your phone checking prices — or even buying something from a competitor.

In other words, it could give those retailers who are being showroomed a fighting chance to win back your business before you walk out.

In short, it could save you money.

But, as Wargo says, "people need to opt-in. People need agree to be tracked or provide location-based services, or else we're not going to do it."

A Fine Line Between Convenience And 'Creepy'

These kinds of technologies "are really walking a fine line," says Julie Ask, a mobile marketing guru at Forrester Research.

Ask says most new mobile shopping apps are making more or less the same bargain with their customers, trying to strike a balance between using the information they're collecting "in a way ... that makes me smile and say, 'Yeah, you know, I'm having a better day; I like this,' — versus something that seems creepy, as if I am being watched or followed," she says.

And when companies get this trade-off right, she says, consumers love it. She's totally comfortable, for example, scanning her prescriptions into a mobile app created by Walgreens. "It's about refilling a prescription in less than 20 seconds," she says.

Back at the Stanford mall, Lising and his friends agree. They like the idea of the Fandango app that tracks users everywhere they go, to tell them nearby movies that will start within an hour. "That would be helpful for sure," they say.

Like Lising, most customers are comfortable giving up all sorts of sensitive information if they feel like it is being used to help them — and if they believe it's not going to be abused.

So right now, brick-and-mortar stores are trying to figure out ways to get all of us to share more and more personal details through our mobile devices as we shop.

source at: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/03/27/149463201/to-keep-customers-brick-and-mortar-stores-look-to-smartphones

online marketing strategy

2011-04-18T12:31:00.000+07:00

s aligned with and draws guidelines from the >> online brand strategy.

The online marketing strategy starts when a web site is being planned and requires constant monitoring of the web site when launched. Management of the site to generate Return Of Investment (ROI) is necessary. The most important part is to put the user central of all your activities.

Knowledge required to handle online marketing strategy professionally

A well thought through online marketing strategy demands thorough understanding of the internet. It requires knowledge of the rules of search engines, restrictions, possibilities and costs of the technical aspects and understanding of programming possibilities of web site development. How to deal with a web site based on a >> Content Management System (CMS) for example is of high importance, because it demands a professional approach. It also requires to know about branding as well as being able to evaluate the >> User Tracking and Web Analytics results. A CMS can cause a web site to loose rapidly on quality after a successful launch because images are not properly resized simply because the knowledge is missing and rules of formatting the content properly are ignored.

Applying marketing strategy online

The achievement having a web site that is truly successful is based on the proper online marketing, lots of continuous technical improvement, evaluation of stats and a solid support for your users and customers.

After the launch of a web site it must be managed. This reads: monitored and constantly improved and adjusted to the market needs and user demands. Continuous improvement, within the web sites' >> brand strategy, in combination with online advertisement is applied.

Search engine optimization based on >> real-time insights into your users' behavior also used to measure the response of online campaigns and the feel good factor of how they experience the site are the most powerful tools a successful online marketer has, to apply the marketing strategy effectively.

We offer you our support

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Visual Orange analyzes the results of campaigns

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internet branding - online corporate brand image

2011-04-18T12:18:00.000+07:00

We offer firms the development of web applications true to the corporate brand image and branding for the Internet. Visual Orange covers all required activities, to target successfully the global audience and to conduct business worldwide on the web. The >> branding services we offer, consider all your major fields of brand communication, when taking you online.

How to conduct branding on the Internet and online marketing properly and how to avoid pitfalls, is presented throughout the site. Visual Orange proved to be a source of information for students, studying marketing and practicing marketers, this is why we took our site one step further, re-structured the Visual Orange web site and re-designed it, to provide the content people were attracted to and which supports them most. Our field of expertise is the Internet and specifically internet branding applied during development and web site design for small and medium sized companies.

Each person that plans to have a web site to present the company loyal to the corporate brand image online and is interested in how to get the most out of a site that the business can benefit from it, is now able to access detailed information about what is required and what needs to be done. Misconceptions rule when the online presence is on focus. Going online means work there is no system which makes money for you without proper investment or maintenance and online marketing.

What is really important and how-to protect a brand online is a controversial theme and when browsing the internet and looking at web sites be it small firms or be it large enterprises, we can see that online branding must be also a confusing one. We hope that we can contribute through sharing knowledge and that you might benefit from it. How to push the site into >> top positions of search engines takes much effort, time and is mostly costly. The internet is a market place and advertisement and promotion is necessary to make a web site profitable. There is no other way or your visitor numbers will stay below expectations.

Branding is focused on creating customer loyalty

All communication channels have to be true to the brands image and have to be aligned with the perspectives of the company and its business goals and additionally cover the needs, wants and expectations of your clients, to be successful.

Corporate branding is the all encompassing parameter of your business and is composed of many elements that are related, yet distinctly different. Branding serves one purpose:

to evoke positive responses of the target group (I like it)

to generate customer loyalty (my brand)

to expand the number of loyal clients

to present the brand consistent throughout all available media channels.

Your >> corporate web site design, presenting you globally, is just as important as the printed material of your firm, in the form of catalogs and brochures or the presentation internally on the intranet. The interior design of your office/store is not less important than the packaging of your products. All this presents and projects your brand image and as such, you will be memorized, classified and recognized by the public, your partners/affiliates and your clientele.

We focus on the establishment of the brand online and by creating an additional value to the brand portfolio. A web site is a corporate asset and can achieve great value if >> web site management is properly executed and >> online marketing strategy is handled with knowledge of the technical aspects of the Internet. Satisfying users' needs, expectations and wants must be given absolute priority.

Seo tutorial

2011-04-18T12:06:00.001+07:00

We have listed some of the most important things and recommendations which are necessary to know when doing SEO for your website.

Meta Name Guidelines
To understand the guidelines of the meta name tags is most important for optimization of your website. Meta names play a major roll to rank well in search engines. The content and title tag is the most important factor when optimizing your website. We try to cover all these different requirements, which is because of its diversity not easy...
» Meta Name Guidelines

Title Tag
The title in the head of your code is the most important element of your website. This is the place, where to put your keywords or search terms. You enter those keywords the users will use, to find your kind of business or services, when searching the web. Also keep in mind that the title is displayed in the left top bar of the browser window and is visible to your visitors...
» Title Tag

Description Tag
The description tag is one of the meta data. This tag has no effect on the ranking of your site in search engines. The search engine will read the description tag of the website and display it under the listing. It's recommended to use descriptive description about the services or products you provide to make the user click on your listing in the search results...
» Description Tag

Keyword Tag
In this section we will talk about the keyword meta tag that you insert into the head of your HTML code. How important is this tag? Most of the consultants in the SEO world say, that it has no impact on ranking results. The cause of this is that many people misused this tag in the past to spam search engines with a large amount of keywords and stuffing them excessively...
» Keyword Tag

All Meta Tags
If you would like to know what kind of neta tags are available you're at the right address. SEO-WATCH is up to date and well informed about what is new and what is old on the Internet. Here we will list only the most important tags which you should have inside your HTML code, this will tell the search engines how to handle your website...
» All Meta Tags

Robots Meta Tags
What are robot meta tags and how do they look like and how can you use it? Webmasters and search engine optimization companies make standard use of this meta tag. The tags help you to tell search engines which pages they should index and which ones not. You can place them were you want in your meta data section...
» Robots Meta Tags

Google Commands
These special commands can help you when doing search engine optimization in Google. Typically these commands modify the search results in some way or even tell Google to do a totally different type of search, for example "link:" is a special Google command, and the query will only show websites that will link to your site...
» Google Commands

Create a Mailform
Below we have listed an example how to create a mailform for your website. You can use it for your contact or any other page you require. It's a really basic one for free which requires 4 files only, easy setup and install...????
» Create a Mailform

source of...?????

Download Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended v12.0

2011-04-17T01:16:00.000+07:00

Download Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended v12.0. Adobe® Photoshop® CS5 Extended software is the ultimate solution for advanced digital imaging, delivering all the editing and compositing capabilities of Photoshop CS5 plus breakthrough tools that let you create and edit 3D and motion-based content.

DESIGN AMAZING IMAGES

Keep pushing creative boundaries with world-class 2D and 3D design. Use powerful new selection, painting, and warping capabilities to create standout images.

Make your web pages pop

Get just the right look for each client’s site. Easily select intricate image elements for placing in layout. Create 3D artwork for logos and buttons.

Enhance 3D for video

Create and enhance 3D and motion-based content and prepare still images and text for all your projects. Work fast with cross-platform 64-bit support, and create stunning HDR images for video backdrops.

CREATE RICH INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES

Design cutting-edge looks for interactive web content and experiences. Create 3D artwork, warped graphics, and realistic painting effects for all your projects.

Homepage:

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshopextended/

INSTALL NOTES:

1) Install as trial

2) Disable the phone-home by one of two methods:

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3) Use our keymaker to generate a serial

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Sony Playstation3 uptodate 2011 new

2011-04-17T01:02:00.000+07:00

for those who like to play playstation, there is now the latest model and style with a display picture and sound quality

Slimmer and lighter than ever, the PS3 120GB system comes with free access to the PlayStation Network, built-in Wi-Fi, Blu-ray Disc player and hard disk drive storage for games, music, videos and photos.

It Only Does EverythingTM

Boasting blistering processing speeds and eye-popping graphics, the PlayStation3 will change the way you think about gaming. In addition to an ever-growing catalog of games, the PS3 features the Cell Broadband Engine, integrated Blu-ray Disc player and 120GB hard disk drive to deliver the ultimate high-definition entertainment experience.

Your Favorite Movies Just Got Better

More than a gaming system, the PS3 delivers a whole new world of entertainment. A built-in Blu-ray Disc player lets you watch movies in stunning Full HD 1080p resolution with theater-quality sound. It also upscales your DVDs to near HD quality with DVD upscaling1 and with BD-Live2 technology, you can download bonus content, games, trailers and more.

Surf the Web

Thanks to built-in Wi-Fi, the entire web is at your disposal. You can set up a wired or wireless internet connection3 and download games, movies, TV shows and more straight to your PlayStation3 system via PlayStation Network or at the PlayStation Store. Hook up a USB-certified or Bluetooth-enabled keyboard and mouse to make browsing even easier.

Free PlayStation Network Membership

Take your gaming to a new level with your free PlayStation Network account4. Connect with other players and partake in online multiplayer games, enter tournaments, and create and share content with other PlayStation Network users. Plus, you can keep track of what games your friends are playing with Friend’s List.

All-in-One Media Center

Share your music, photos and videos with friends and family from one convenient location. Designed to support all major codecs, you can play virtually any digital file as well as Blu-ray Disc movies, DVDs, CDs, or connect a compatible USB device5 to the PS3 system’s hard drive and enjoy your photos, videos and music anytime you like.

Entertainment Beyond Games

More than an high-definition gaming system, the PS3 lets you rip music to the hard disk drive, import, store and display photos from any digital camera or memory unit, as well as upload digital videos. You can also play your existing library of DVDs, CDs and any new Blu-ray Disc formatted movies.

Welcome to the Future of Compatibility

Experience total entertainment on the road as well as at home with Remote Play. Use your PlayStation Portable (PSP) to access your PS3 system via a wireless internet connection4 and enjoy all the music, videos and pictures stored on your PlayStation3. Plus, the PSP system can even fire up your PS3 system remotely from stand-by mode with Remote Start.

Product Specifications :

CPU :

* Cell Broadband Engine

I/O :

* USB 2.0 X 2

GPU :

* RSX

Power Consumption :

* Approximately 250 watts

Weight :

* Approximately 7.055 lbs (3.2 kg)

Hard Drive :

* 2.5′ Serial ATA (120GB)

Outputs :

* HDMI : HDMI out – (x1 / HDMI)

* Analog : AV MULTI OUT x 1

* Digital audio : DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

* Blu-ray/DVD/CD DRIVE “read only”

Dimensions :

Approximately 11.42? (W) x 2.56? (H) x 11.42? (D) (290mm ? 65mm ? 290mm)

Memory :

* 256MB XDR Main RAM

* 256MB GDDR3 VRAM

Supported Video Resolutions :

* 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p (24p/60p)

Communication :

* Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T IEEE 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi :

* Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

* Wireless Controller Bluetooth (up to 7)

source of,,,,http://radenbeletz.com

Info 2011

2011-04-17T00:40:00.000+07:00

May 16-18, 2011, Tel Aviv Hilton , Israel

We are delighted to invite you to participate at INFO 2011, our 26th Annual

Conference & Exhibition, to be held on May 16-18, 2011 at the Hilton Hotel, Tel Aviv.

The Leading Israeli Event for Search and Discovery Solutions, Social Networking, e Resourse Management, Digital Libraries, ePublishing Solutions, Knowledge & Information Management.

The INFO Annual Conference & Exhibition is the largest event of its kind in Israel.

Organized by Teldan Information Systems, which has led the information industry in Israel for over 30 years, the Teldan INFO Conferences have been the most prestigious and professional events of the Library & Information community in Israel for over two decades.

The INFO 2011 Annual Conference & Exhibition is the major event in the information community in Israel. This year, the conference will address topics such as: Search and Discovery Solutions, the world of Social Networking, Information on Mobile Platforms, Business, Scientific and Technological Information, ePublishing Solutions, Competitive Intelligence, Knowledge Management .

Founded and organized by Teldan, the conference now celebrates its 26th Anniversary.

Traditionally, INFO conferences have been the largest professional meeting of all involved in information: information specialists, librarians, researchers and academics, business intelligence and content managers, marketing managers, strategic and business development managers, information systems managers, project managers, managers and executives in organizations in various sectors: academic, industrial, commercial, government, medicine and law.

The INFO 2011 week offers a wide variety of unique and innovative seminars, exposing participants to new products, technologies and tools, and using the best lecturers from Israel and abroad issues of information, mobile platforms, content management, databases and digital projects.

The conference will also host a professional exhibition, showcasing the latest developments in the industry. On display at the Israel INFO 2011 Exhibition will be publishers and aggregators, electronic publishing, databases and vendors, information retrieval systems, e-Journals books management systems, library and information center, technologies business and financial Information, electronic document delivery, electronic commerce (eCommerce), Web 2.0, 3.0, social networking platforms, new media solutions, SEO - search engine optimization, knowledge management, business and competitive intelligence and mobile platforms.

The INFO 2011 program will include seminars, workshops and presentations and will be built around the following themes: content management - ECM/CMS/MOSS, semantic Web, Web 2.0 and 3.0, search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo, AOL, BING, Twitter, YouTube) and information retrieval, SEO and internet PR, Library 2.0, Info 2.0, Libraries, Information Centers - the Next Generation, Information Professionals: Driving the Social Network, Disaster Response and Social Networking - Earthquake in Haiti Reviewed, Internet Marketing: "Meet us on Twitter", Is Facebook for Kids?, mobile platforms, information tools in action, Viral Marketing and SEO, Workplace 2.0: Networking and Optimizing Enterprise Resources, Digital PR, Reputation Management and Crisis Communications, eBooks and eJournals Update, Web 2011- Current Development, NextGen information services, Knowledge Management update, Enterprise Search, Who Runs the Internet?, Competitive Intelligence, Business Information and Business Intelligence, digital archive update, Medical KM applications, digital books and electronic readers, Libraries, Museums and Archives - under the same roof, Librarians as Agents of Change and more.

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Briptu Norman Kamaru

2011-04-15T09:51:00.000+07:00

10 companies with the most untaxed foreign income

2011-04-15T01:17:00.000+07:00

1. General Electric

Untaxed foreign profit: $94 billion

Perhaps it's not surprising that General Electric, known for aggressively minimizing its tax bill, by far tops the list.The multinational conglomerate operates in nearly every corner of the world, whether it's supplying technology to hospitals in Malaysia, medical imaging equipment to England, or water systems in Ghana. It sells its products and services in more than 100 countries.A recent story in The New York Timesclaimed that GE paid nothing in federal income tax last year despite its $5.2 billion in domestic profits. It sparked a new debate over corporate tax reform, even though the company later told Fortune that it expects a small tax liability for 2010.

2. Pfizer

Untaxed foreign profit: $48.2 billion

The health care industry keeps more profits overseas than any other industry, according to Ciesielski. Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, is among a number of large American companies pushing for a one-year tax holiday on foreign earnings. Along with companies like Apple, Cisco, and Duke Energy, Pfizer is lobbying for a temporary break on the regular corporate tax in order to repatriate its profits and invest more domestically.

Pfizer develops and markets a wide variety of prescription drugs and is best known for its blockbusters like Lipitor and Celebrex. It has grown mostly by acquiring other large pharma companies, including Warner-Lambert, Pharmacia, and Wyeth.

3. Merck

Untaxed foreign profit: $40.4 billion

Merck operates in more than 140 countries, delivering prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and other pharmaceutical products to consumers and health care facilities around the globe.

While the pharmaceutical giant has kept large sums of its earnings overseas in order to avoid U.S. taxes, it has also found ways to bring some of it back without paying the full tax. According to Bloomberg, Merck brought more than $9 billion from abroad in 2008 without paying any U.S. tax to help finance its acquisition of Schering-Plough. Tax consultants have made a mint advising companies on loopholes to the repatriation tax over the years.

4. Johnson & Johnson
Untaxed foreign profit: $37 billion
The world's sixth-largest consumer health company has dozens of subsidiaries operating in 60 countries. J&J has had its troubles over the years, but it's still best known for some of the most common products found in any bathroom cabinet, from Tylenol to Neutrogena to Band-Aid. It also sells medical devices to hospitals and develops prescription drugs treating everything from cancer to infectious diseases.
Although it hasn't always been an easy ride for J&J shareholders, the company has rewarded them with 48 consecutive years of dividend increases.

5. Exxon Mobil
Untaxed foreign profit: $35 billion
Despite the economic downturn, Exxon Mobil invested a record $32.2 billion in energy projects in the U.S. and around the world in 2010. The oil giant anticipates global energy demand will increase by 35% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels -- which is why it plans to invest more than $125 billion over the next five years in new projects.
As with any oil conglomerate, Exxon does most of its business on international soil. More than 80% of the company's 2009 earnings came from outside the U.S.

6. Citigroup
Untaxed foreign profit: $32.1 billion
Few banks are as global as Citigroup. The company has more than 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. It's the top credit card issuer in the Asia Pacific, it maintains a physical presence in 55 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and it operates nearly 2,600 retail bank branches and point of sales in Latin America.
Citigroup has faced more criticism than most multinationals over its U.S. tax rate ever since it received a $45 billion bailout from the government during the financial crisis. Since then, however, Citigroup has divested many businesses and announced plans to focus on its international footprint. Taxpayers, meanwhile, made a profit on the Citi bailout, even though they won't likely see much more from the company's tax returns.

7. Cisco Systems
Untaxed foreign profit: $31.6 billion
Cisco is leading the effort to convince Congress to pass a tax holiday for repatriated income. The company's CEO, John Chambers, co-authored an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal arguing for it, and he recently told 60 Minutes that the company had nearly $40 billion overseas that would be brought back to the U.S. if the corporate tax rate were lower.
In fact, 50% of Cisco's sales are outside the U.S. and that's only going to grow -- IDC estimates that 71% of total information and communications technology spending will be outside the United States by 2014.

8. IBM
Untaxed foreign profit: $31.1 billion
The technology giant's expertise spans 17 industries across more than 170 countries. It's headquartered in Armonk, NY, but you can find its products and services in far-flung corners of the world, from Johannesburg to Tokyo.

Like many multinationals, IBM has capitalized in recent years on the fast pace of growth in large emerging markets, such as India, China, Brazil and Russia. And under CEO Sam Palmisano's leadership, international expansion -- especially into smaller emerging markets -- has been a priority. Palmisano spends his time traveling the world promoting IBM's "Smarter Planet" initiative, a program to use technology to address social problems such as access to health care or traffic congestion. The company was #12 on Fortune's World's Most Admired list this year.

9. Procter & Gamble
Untaxed foreign profit: $30 billion
From Tide detergent to Crest toothpaste, Procter & Gamble brands are a part of consumers' lives in 180 countries. Approximately 127,000 employees work in about 80 countries worldwide helping the company to expand in foreign markets, which account for 58% of its sales.

Last year, Fortune traveled to Chinawith P&G to find out how the company manages to sell $2 products in places where people earn $2 a day. "Our innovation strategy is not just diluting the top-tier product for the lower-end consumer," says Robert McDonald, P&G's CEO and chairman. "You have to discretely innovate for every one of those consumers on that economic curve, and if you don't do that, you'll fail."

10. Microsoft
Untaxed foreign profit: $29.5 billion
The world's largest software company has been criticized for taking advantage of tax loopholes in some of the markets where it operates. Microsoft shifted its income to Ireland, then the Netherlands, then to Bermuda -- tax strategies known as the Double Irish and the Dutch Sandwich, which are completely legal.

Like Apple, Microsoft is known for maintaining a war chest of cash on its balance sheet -- but many investors may not know that much of it won't ever be spent back in the U.S. As of the end of 2009, the company had $29.5 billion in earnings invested indefinitely offshore.

source of....http://money.cnn.com

How to Buy a Private Island

2011-04-14T23:59:00.000+07:00

The process of buying a private island is similar to that of buying a house, only the cost is much greater. When considering a house, you check for the general condition, the foundations, if it has rising dampness, and if there are termites present. Buying an island is similar, but there are far more things to consider, and in most cases, the buyer of an island has no experience on which to base his or her judgment apart from an emotional attachment. Considering the amount of money that you have to spend to buy a private island, it's critical that you are aware of the following issues.

Step 1

Set your price. It’s stating the obvious to say that the bigger your budget, the better an island you can afford, but some people have very unrealistic expectations of what they can afford. It’s better to spend as much as possible to buy the island, even to the extent of waiting until you have funds for development. Saving money in the short term will generally get you a poorer quality island and once you have bought the island and developed, there is no changing your mind. It's better to have a more attractive island than purchasing a poorer quality island just to save money.

Step 2

Choose your location. The location of an island is one of the most crucial factors in most people’s decision to purchase. It’s very important that you strongly consider this when purchasing. You're not just buying an island, you're buying its surroundings. There should be a village nearby where one can get supplies and an airport close at hand, for instance. In other words, what makes an island feasible is the infrastructure that is available to it. Some islands are close to villages which is good because you can obtain staff and supplies, but on the other hand, it then lacks privacy. Again, islands that are remote offer complete privacy, yet at the expense of accessibility. An island that is in the middle of the ocean usually has no view, and islands that are located in bays have both shelter and nice views. Also, remote islands that are less sheltered are more prone to bad weather and rough seas.

Step 3

Make sure there's a reliable water supply. You'll find water is the most important element of living on an island, and the second largest factor affecting the choice of an island. In general, the smaller the island, the less water. This applies in reverse, except if the island is rocky (even large rocky islands have problems producing water). Every island has some variety of options to obtaining fresh water. Look for a ground water table high enough to dig a well. If a well already exists, have it inspected to ensure it's dependable. This can be done by pumping the well dry and seeing how many minutes it takes to fill again. The amount of water that you'll be able to get from a well determined by using this method will give you a figure called cubic meters or cubic feet of water. However, poor water supply isn’t as big a factor in the tropics, because a good rain water cistern can supply enough water over the dry season saved up from the monsoon season and the occasional shower.

The tank can be topped up from the well, thus stopping the well from running dry and damaging the water table of the island. Check the annual rainfalls. The estimated amount of water needed annually for part-time island living is 30,000 to 100,000 gallons, which for full-time living will require about forty inches of annual rainfall. Technology has also come to the rescue and state-of-the-day desalination plants suitable for a normal house are now as cheap as $20,000. It should be noted the fresh water creates what is called the “Lens Effect". This means that a low sandy island just a few feet above sea level can have a water table which can be 3-4 times the height of the island because the fresh water forces the salt water out and creates a lens-shaped aquifer under the island. Another factor to consider is that if your island is close enough to a water source on the mainland or another larger island, you can run a PVC several kilometers as long as the water between is not too deep.

Step 4

Choose one with a desirable climate. Islands can be divided into three climactic types: Temperate, Mediterranean and Tropical. In general, tropical islands are located between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer - this encompasses what is termed the tropics. Mediterranean islands can be deemed to be those that may fall in areas where there are high temperatures but low rainfall, this is typified by islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary islands, Bermuda, Bahamas etc. Temperate islands are basically those that are in an area where it is generally cold such as northern Europe, Canada and northern USA. You should consider carefully what type of climate you prefer. Each has its pros and cons and while many people love the tropics, some find the heat and humidity oppressive. One person may find temperate islands to be his or her idea of hell, but some people love the change of seasons and the variety that produces. Obviously, Mediterranean climate produces the best balance of heat without the high rainfall and humidity of the tropics. Always be aware that the first day you visit an island may not be the typical weather that the island experiences on a day-to-day basis. The weather could be particularly uncommon in regards to the fact that it may be exceptionally beautiful, or exceptionally bad. You should ask local people, especially fishermen are very knowledgeable about the weather, the typical seasons and weather patterns for the island and surrounding area. Islands in the ocean are prone to flooding, storms, drought, seasonal tidal variations and strong currents. Islands located in lakes are the least prone to problems because they have no tides or large storms, but can be prone to seasonal variations in water level if the lakes are dammed. Islands that are located in rivers are obviously prone to flooding and droughts. Talk to the local authorities and ask them for the highest and lowest recorded levels for the river. Good anecdotal evidence can be gathered by talking to local people as well. Islands are located in bays and estuaries with shallow bottoms are prone to tidal variations, and access to these islands may be very difficult at low tide. Offshore islands also experience the usual tidal patterns, and are the most prone to dangerous weather.

Step 5

Check its accessibility.Accessibility is a prime factor in your choice of an island and directly depends on how much discomfort and traveling time you are willing to put up with. It also depends on how much experience you have with boats, and how comfortable you are with the ocean because the only way to get to an island is by boat. Travel time by boat is also affected by many factors such as what type of boat, its engine, and of course the seasonal weather conditions. You must take into account that no matter how sheltered an island may be, you must still put up with rough seas. If you are the kind of person who wants less traveling, you will find that the closer an island is to an established town, the more expensive it generally is.

Step 6
Determine how you will develop the island. The style of development you plan for the island is very important when choosing what type of island to buy.

Small Islands. For instance, if you only want a small holiday house, then an island between 1-5 hectares (2.5 – 12 acres) should be sufficient.

• Medium Islands: If you want a larger house and maybe some additional cottages for friends to visit, an island 5-10 hectares (12 – 24 acres) is best.

Large Islands:If you are planning a small scale resort, then an island of at least 10-15 hectares (24 – 37 acres) should be the minimum. If you are planning a large scale resort, then an island of 15-20 hectares (37 – to 48 acres) should be considered the minimum, and you will need a minimum of at least 6-10 hectares (14-24 acres) of flat land for building. The type of construction and how remote the island is will also affect the price that it costs to develop. In general you can expect to pay 30% more for development on an island than for a similar development on the mainland. The cost of building is higher because all materials and workers must be transported to the island.

Step 7

Note its anchorage.Anchorage is the island's firmness and stability to the ground. Select an island with good anchorage, because without this, it may be almost impossible to land on the island. Or, even worse, you may be stuck on the island and not be able to get off. A good anchorage should be sheltered from the prevailing winds, have a sandy bottom for good holding, and have a deep water access to the beach, without rocks or coral. If you aren’t experienced with boats, ask the captain that takes you to the island if he considers the island to have a good anchorage. Nearly all islands have some form of anchorage, but the quality varies dramatically. A good island should have a good gently sloping sandy beach with good access through the coral, and shelter from the prevailing winds. However, a mooring buoy and a tender can solve this problem. The ideal island should have both shelter and good spot to land a boat. So it's important to see the island at high and low tides.

Step 8

Note its topography.Islands vary from the perfectly flat Caribbean style island to the rocky cliffs and mountainous types. If you have a preference, it's important that you tell brokers you contact of the type of island you want. Most islands aren’t flat, and on what are called continental islands (the drowned tops of hills) there is only a small area of flat land. In general, the area of flat land on a continental island is approximately 10-12% of the island and this must be taken into consideration when planning your development.

Step 9

Find out about its beaches:Find out where the beaches are. In most islands the beach comprises only a portion of the island. It very rare to get islands with 360 degree sand. This means that where the beach is located is important. Firstly, the beach is generally on the opposite side of the prevailing winds, offering a sheltered anchorage. Most people prefer that island also have a western facing beach so that they can watch the sunset. But if this isn’t available, there may be hill or headland which offers a nice place to watch the sunset. While a western facing beach is ideal, sunsets only last for 30 minutes a day, and this should not be a deterrent when considering an island. The quality of the sand is another major consideration that most people dream of. Sand quality depends on two things, the degree of fineness and whiteness. The fineness of the sand is more important than color. Fine brown sand may be preferable to coarse white sand - it's not as nice to look at, but is nicer underfoot, and it's one of the joys of living on an island to walk barefoot along the beach at sunset and sunrise looking for shells. Another important factor you must consider is whether the beach is shallow or steeply dropping off and if it is rocky or sandy. Obviously the ideal beach is fine sand which drops off into deeper water ideal for swimming and snorkeling. If you have a preference that’s important you should inform your broker so they can take that into consideration.

Step 10

Analyze the existing infrastructure. An island with buildings on it will usually need an on-site caretaker, who will water the plants and keep the houses clean. Building infrastructure on an island can also be more costly than on the mainland as all supplies and workmen must be transported by boat. Many islands are virgin islands - they are completely natural, untouched and without infrastructure whatsoever. In that case, there's nothing to consider apart from the potential of the island. But if the island has existing infrastructure such as a resort or residence, then a detailed survey of the quality of those infrastructures should be undertaken before purchase. If you are buying an island with existing infrastructure, make sure that the buildings have all necessary government permits, and possibly take along an architect or building surveyor to give an independent assessment of the value and quality of the buildings, and any damage or repairs that may be necessary.

Step 11

Employ caretakers.

A good caretaker is the single most important thing you can do to protect such a large investment. Since an island is isolated, it is hard to protect while you are not there, and whether it is a short visit away, or you only visit the island seasonally, a caretaker provides much need protection. Most high-end island owners employ full-time caretakers (there's even a newsletter called Caretaker Gazette), while others pay local fishermen to keep an eye on things. Islands in the highly trafficked Caribbean are more susceptible to crime than those in entirely out-of-the-way locations, especially if they have a trespasser-friendly airstrip. Apart from securing the property against unwanted visitors and squatters, the caretaker can look after buildings and equipment, making sure they're all in good order and condition. This is especially important in the tropics where the monsoon can cause severe damage to buildings in a very short period if maintenance is not kept up regularly. While you are there, the caretaker can also act as gardener, handyman and obtain deliveries for you from town. Generally it's wise to employ a couple.

Step 12

Observe its utilities:

A prime consideration when purchasing an island is communications. An island is separated from the mainland, and thus communication is highly important; both for safety, and emergency situations, as well as just ordinary day-to-day living. It's extremely rare for an individual island to have regular utilities such as town water, electricity, telephone lines or even television reception. In the majority of instances, you'll have to be self-sufficient as far as water and electricity go, so that should be factored into your development costs. However, the island may have television reception, or access to a cellular telephone signal. Having access to a cellular network means that communication is cheap and readily available. In some instances, the cellular network can be used to access the Internet. It's a good idea when examining potential islands to take a cellphone, small radio, and hand-held TV set to see what signal is available. But even poor signal from a cellular network can be boosted by the use of an extension antenna. Telephone, Television, internet and radio are all relatively cheaply available nowadays using satellite technology. So don't worry if services are not available from the mainland.

Step 13

Never ignore the land tenure:

Determine your rights of ownership. In many countries ownership of an island only extends as far as the high tide mark, with the beaches below that belonging to the government. In general, this means that you own the island, but cannot develop below the high tide mark and the beaches may therefore not be yours. When buying islands in foreign countries, you should engage an attorney to do a full check of the island's documentation. At the time of inspection, find out who is living in the island, and if they have a legal right to be there. Squatters can be a problem, and great care should be exercised that they are not present before the deal is concluded.

How to Invest in a Business

2011-04-14T23:01:00.000+07:00

It takes money to make money. Once you have a little bit of capital, you can do the wise thing and invest it in a business to try and make your money grow. The challenges, unfortunately, are as large as the rewards, and investing usually isn’t as easy as simply writing a check. In order to make a wise investment in a business, you need to invest more than just your money. After all, you’re becoming a part-owner in the business. Here’s how to invest in a business and, hopefully, make money.

Instructions

Consider supply and demand. Does the company produce a product or provide a service that people will need? If it’s a regional business, is there enough of a market for what the business is selling? Be honest with yourself; it’s easy to get wrapped up when it comes to a big opportunity.

Finish your research by looking into the future. Representatives of the business in which you’re interested will provide you with all kinds of projections; what they expect the company to make over the next few years. Do these make sense? They’re using educated guesses to predict future revenues. A lot can go wrong and a lot of things can change, so decide if the company’s representatives are providing enough room for error.

Consult an investment professional. If you’re investing in a large, public business, you can speak with a broker to confirm or refute your suspicions about the business. The broker can also serve as the middleman between you and the business in which you’re investing.

Deal directly with the officers of the business. This can be a lot of fun, especially if you’re getting in on the ground floor of a new company. It’s exciting; knowing you’re a part of a new venture that could change the world. (Or at least provide a nice cushion or pay your child’s tuition.) Dealing with the owners of an established business is a different kind of fun, as some of the risk is reduced.

Purchase stocks to invest in a business. While you’ll have less influence on day-to-day operations, you’ll still own a little part of it. There are different kinds of stocks, too. Some allow you to vote on big decisions at stockholder meetings, and some do not. Consider which stocks will pay the highest dividends, giving you an additional source of income.

SOURCE OF^^^^^^^^http://www.ehow.com

Google Ranking cannot come from Cheating

2011-04-09T00:43:00.000+07:00

The previous paragraph, let me do a website to promote the client has done, the need to let me put my article on the deletion of the contents of his, and finally asked the reason, I almost fainted. He thought that the Google ranking is a method of cheating in network marketing. In the recent period, as in all Chinese search engine, type “google ranking”, I an inside page of the website appear in search results after the first day, asked related services to more and more people in these friends in, there are still many people think that Google ranking means the need to cheat. In fact, this is a wrong key, and here I explain in detail and Google ranking.

The origin of Google ranking services In the network marketing, search engine ranking is a very important and effective method. Because it can be to a great website traffic, and these flows are relatively high-quality traffic. Therefore, in a foreign country, before the beginning of the Internet soon will have a fever of such services, and also produced a number of sites related to optimization, search engine ranking software. At the same time, Google’s rapid development so that the top Google rankings in search engines account for an increasingly important position. Home about Google rankings only last year, the beginning, because the market had not been aware that the prices are very low. But from the beginning of this year, the service started up in China. So many network marketing scholars began to study Google, many enterprises began to provide such services. However, because Google’s algorithm has been a secret, and changing, so currently can provide the service with regular personal studio company. Probably only dozens. Google ranking techniques to introduce policy At present, both at home and abroad in the study of SEO ranking factors Google is said to have more than 300 kinds. But to grasp the most basic of which is nothing but a few. At present, as long as you can for your site to do a good job in the following areas, then ranked in Google’s ranking should be taken for granted. Include: 1. Content to do a good job. This is the premise of natural attractive content, be able to retain people, popular Well, of course, concerned about the search engine you. 2. Good site structure optimization. Web site structure should be optimized so that Google and other search engines easily search on OK. Details on the details later. 3. A good page optimization. Page optimization, including optimizing the page layout, page layout language processing, image optimization, etc., more details, Web site optimization is not a panacea, it is just to make your pages easier to just let Google search. General and can not be optimized through the web site can be the key word so that any Google search results in front of. For example: A sale of cosmetics, no matter how the site can not be optimized in Google type “movies” of the search results in front of the word. Therefore, cheating is not a means of optimizing web pages, Google ranking is not to optimize a single page. 4. Tags Optimization. It is easier to help search engines understand your web pages, search engines now is not so simple before, or frankly well. To design more reasonable, there are some skills. 5. External links. More than the establishment of an external connection to the Google ranking more effective. If you are able to establish in a short time a number of external connections, only show you the Link to do a good strategy, it is not cheating. Link But how to do so more effectively, and this is the issue of a number of techniques. Of course, cheating is not the same. 6. PR value. It is a cumulative process. 7. Flow. As we all know, traffic on the Google ranking is very important, if the site in the period to the rapid growth of traffic, very helpful on the Google rankings, but what does Google rank? Or for traffic, so traffic on the cheating is not so easy

Good Titles for SEO

2011-04-09T00:37:00.000+07:00

Just to make sure, titles are the content in between the tags and they appear in the blue bar at the top of your browser window. They are also the text in the links that appear in Search Engine Result Pages (SERP's). So needless to say that titles are very important in SEO. They are in fact the first thing a visitor sees, even before visiting your website.
Just having your company name in the titles of all the pages is not a good thing. Just think of it, how often do you find results in Google that show just the company name? Hardly ever, that's right!
So the question arises: "What to put in the title tags of my website?"
A strange as it may seem, it's actually very important to really think about what to put in the title tags of every individual page in your website. This is not something to think lightly about. If you do this right, you can gain a lot of new business.
Here are some simple rules to follow when writing titles for your pages:
Every page has to have a unique title
The title needs to be descriptive of the content of the page in a very literal sense
Try to keep titles relatively short, no more than 80 characters. Ideally around 60
Titles need to be attractive to visitors
Many SEO consultants will tell you to put keywords in the title, and although that's 100% correct, I don't want to say it like that. Thinking in terms of keywords has the risk you forget about your visitors and end up creating keyword filled pages without much coherence.
Make sure that the title is attractive. This means it needs to attend the most likely need of a visitor interested in that page. For example, in stead of just writing "Automatic garage doors", go for something like: "Automatic Garage Doors – Convenient and Safe".
Notice the capitalization of the first letter of each word and the added "feel good" text. (The "feel good" text also needs to be attended in content of your page of course.)
Very important, every page has to have a unique title. Don't be lazy on this! Success in SEO starts with Titles and it's a real sales tool.

source of,,,,http://secret4seo.blogspot.com

11 Things Every Successful Website Needs

2011-04-09T00:20:00.000+07:00

So you've put together a spectacular website, and you're ready to go live on the Internet for the whole world to see. Not so fast there Bucky. In case you didn't know, there are a few essential requirements that every site needs to include in order to be successful.
Let's review, shall we:
1) Privacy Policy/Disclaimer: Now, I'm not a Lawyer and don't claim to be one, but these two documents should be standard issue for every site you have. People want to know how you're going to use their personal information, and a "privacy policy" does just that.
In today's litigious society you'll also need to include a disclaimer/terms of use page. This protects you and spells out to your visitors what they're agreeing to by using your website. If you don't know where to start in generating these documents, you'll find plenty of help online.
DMA Privacy Policy Generator
OECD Privacy Statement Generator
Google Adsense & other Ad Networks Privacy Policy Generator
Privacy Policy Generator
Free Site Disclaimer
This is not legal advice, and if you need help in this department, consult with a local attorney.
2) Contact Us Information: I can't tell you how many sites I've been to that fail to include a way to contact the owner. If you can't include a phone number, at the very least have an email address or a "contact us" form. By providing this information, you'll make your visitors feel more comfortable knowing there's a way to reach you should the need arise.
If you need a form and don't know how to create your own, try one of these free form services.
Bravenet
Freedback
Email Me
3) Search Box/Site Map: If your site is rather large, you'll also want to include a way to search, or have what is called a "site map". There are many ways to add a search function to your site, the easiest being to useGoogle's free service at- http://www.google.com/sitesearch/
or try PicoSearch.
A site map sounds technical, but it's just one web page that contains links to every page of your site, usually broken down by category. Here are some resources to help.
FreeFind
4) Google Analytics/Tracking System: Once your site is up and running you'll want to keep your eye on traffic.
Who's visiting your website, what pages are the most popular, where is the traffic coming from. All of these questions and more can be answered by using a good analytics program.
There are several ways to add a thorough tracking system to your site, but the easiest and one that won't cost you a dime is Google AnalyticsOnce registered, you can add as many sites as you like all under one user ID and password. You'll be given some code to copy and paste on your pages. Simple, easy, and you're done.
5) Newsletter Sign Up/RSS Feed: There's an old saying that people won't buy from you the very first time they come to your website, so you need a way to stay in touch with them to bring them back again and again. By offering a newsletter, also known as an ezine, you'll be building a list of possible prospects which is invaluable to any site owner.
You'll find a multitude of free and low cost newsletter services online. It's up to you, depending on your needs and what you can afford. If you don't want to pay anything, my favorite free services are:

FreeAutoBot
Yahoo Groups
You can also offer an RSS feed for your newsletter, or updates to your blog or site. This makes it easy for others to keep up with your most recent posts. The best service for this is...
FeedBurner
6) Consistent Navigation: This might sound like a no brainer, but many folks get it wrong. No matter what type of menu system you decide upon, make sure it stays the same across the board on all pages of your site.
Your job is to guide your visitors through your website, making sure they always know where they are and how to get to where they need to go.
For more see:
Eye on Web
Web Page Mistakes
7) Search Engine Optimized Copy: At first glance you might not think this is so important, but trust me it is. You want your pages to rank well with the search engines and there are a few steps you can take to ensure this happens.
Each page of your website should be optimized for 2, or at the most 3 keywords/phrases. Weave the keywords into your titles and into the body of each page. You can also include them in your image titles, alt tags, even in the names you give your pages. Look at each page individually and decide what it's about, then optimize accordingly.
For help see:
MarketLeap
CopyBlogger
8) Social Media Share Button: With the popularity of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, you'd be foolish not to include an easy way for your content to be shared with others.
You'll find many free services that will give you the code you need to instantly add a "share button" to your web pages so that visitors can instantly share them with their friends.
To generate your own buttons see:
AddThis
TwitThis
9) Meta Tags: Some may tell you that meta tags are dead. Don't listen. Meta tags should be included in your HTML code at the top of every page. Many search engines will read them to pull a description to include in their search results.
Again, each page should be optimized separately and have a unique title, keywords, and description tags.
For help see:
AddMe Meta Tag Tool

10) Copyright Notice: Sounds simple but forgotten by many. All pages should include a copyright notice. If you don't want to have to update it manually every year, find a simple Javascript that will automatically do it for you. You'll find one such script at:
Uncle Jims
11) Trust Seals/Testimonials: I grouped these two items together as they both instil trust and confidence in your visitors. Remember, when someone comes to your website, they don't know who you are and if you're selling something, they may not feel comfortable giving out their credit card information. To help them feel more "warm and fuzzy", include trust seals for any organizations you belong to:
For example:
iCop
BBB
Honest E Online
Also, if you have testimonials from happy customers, or ezine subscribers, weave them into your site copy. People always love to hear that others have had a happy experience with your products/services. Make sure you get permission first from the testimonial writers before placing them on your website.
So there you have it -my short list of what every site needs to succeed online. Now that you're armed with this information, get out the magnifying glasses and take a close look at your own website to see what may be missing.
It's not hard to create a website, but for one that stands out head and shoulders above the rest, you need to include these important elements. When you launch your next site you want it to be successful, not average. So what are you waiting for? You've got a lot of work to do, so get busy.

source of...http://secret4seo.blogspot.com/

Johnson Says There's No 'Magic' to Business Success

2011-03-29T21:32:00.000+07:00

The basketball legend-turned-entrepreneur answers Inc. Twitter followers' and Facebook fans' questions about life on and off the court.

When you hear the name Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr., the first thing that comes to mind is basketball. Yes Johnson is a former point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers with five NBA championships, three MVP awards, and an Olympic gold medal. But the basketball hall of famer is also a philanthropist and savvy businessman.

After retiring from the NBA in 1996, he focused his attention on the Magic Johnson Foundation and Magic Johnson Enterprises (MJE), which includes a portfolio of funds to finance revitalization projects in underserved communities. He is notorious in business for having owned over 70 franchises of Starbucks and the only franchisee to own a 50 percent share. Although he recently sold his Starbucks in 2010, as well as his share of the Lakers, his name and brand is still associated with AMC Magic Johnson Theaters and 24 Hour Fitness Magic Sport centers. Johnson recently became chairman of VIBE Holdings, a multi-cultural media company that includes Vibe magazine, Uptown magazine and Soul Train brands. He is also leading the charge in bringing a football team back to Los Angeles.

Taking a break from March Madness, Johnson talked to Inc.com's Tiffany Black about managing multiple businesses, the keys to a great comeback, advice for start-ups and minority businesses, and his love of music.

In one of your Dove Men's Care commericals that started running during the NCAA tournament, you talked about how the statement "I can't" motivates you. How do you motivate others?

I tell people to look at me and understand that everybody first told me that I couldn't be a 6-foot, 9-inch point guard and I proved them wrong. Then they told me I couldn't be a businessman and make money in urban America and I proved them wrong. And they thought I couldn't win all these championships and I proved them wrong there as well. I motivate others by making sure that they understand to go after their dreams and don't let anyone tell you, you can't. If you are motivated enough and put the work in that you can achieve anything in life that you set your mind too.

You also talk about the importance of a team when it comes to winning. How can those concepts be applied for some of our readers who are one-man start-ups?

They may be a one man operation in terms of them starting their own business, but at some point they will have a team of people. When you are a successful business person, you are only as good as your team. No one can do every deal alone. I make sure that I have people who want to win, who are about winning, who are competitors, and that understand the brand and how to grow the brand. Other entrepreneurs should define what winning is to them and then tell their management team or their company what they expect and what he or she wants to see happen—and that everybody has to work as one. In most of the corporations I know that's what happens.

You have multiple businesses and you are the personality or spokesperson for so many of them, how do you manage it all?

Again, it's putting together a great executive team and great people who work to manage the businesses. That's No. 1. No. 2, I do very few deals. I turn down more deals than I actually do. They have to be the right deals. They have to be the right corporations. Like this campaign I'm doing with Dove, I was already using the product before they called me. So this was a no-brainer for me to use Dove Men + Care products because I was using the body wash and the deodarant already. That made it easier for me to go ahead and do the campaign because I was already excited about the products.

Why did you sell your franchises of Starbucks?

People didn't understand I had a contract with them to sell at that time. So it wasn't that I did it randomly. It was an agreed upon exit at that particular time. I had a great, great time with Howard Schultz and Starbucks. We made a lot of money. We put a lot of people to work. And I want to thank Howard Schultz for that opportunity. But it was an exit that was already agreed upon.

Drew Lawrence from Facebook and @AaronMazor from Twitter asked about how your bid to bring the NFL back to LA is coming along given the current NFL lockout.

We are still working on it but we have to wait until the labor agreement is finalized by the players and the owners. So we are at a standstill, on the outside looking in, just as everyone else is to see when they reach an agreement. Nothing can happen until that happens. But I'm excited, very excited about the possibility. LA deserves a team. And everybody that lives here in Los Angeles is very, very excited about the NFL coming back to Los Angeles. It will be a great day if it happens. We already cheer for all the other teams. It's a shame that on Sundays now we gotta go to sports bars and peoples homes and cheer for somebody else, not a team of our own.

Paul Shively, one of Inc.'s Facebook fans, asked what are the key factors to a great business comeback because you came back big time?

I think reinventing myself was really key for me. I have reinvented myself several times. I'm a guy who really understands who I am and what I want to accomplish. I think the comeback is just about staying the course and then also never getting down. Because a lot of people, when they fall down, they stay down. I'm a guy who gets right back up and says, 'Okay, there is more I can do. There is more that I can achieve and I'm gonna go after it.' And then you gotta have a plan. What's your plan to comeback? You probably have to work harder than you have ever worked in your life to come back. Just look at Donald Trump, who was down and managed a come back—look at him now! So there's a lot of people who have been down, but they came back and they came back strong because they had a plan. And because they didn't let their prior situation keep them down.

What advice do you have for minorites who have a passion for something and want to start their own business?

We have got to, first of all, start owning our own businesses. It's what makes Harlem go or Chicago go or any community go. It's not enough to be passionate about it—the No. 1 thing you have to do is research to make sure there is a business there. No. 2, make sure there is demand for what you are going to have your business in. I was able to build my company because demand was already there. You also have to understand the competition and what they are doing. Make sure that you don't have a 'good' staff or a 'good' management team, but a great one. I would encourage all minorities to start their own business. Especially because we have so many talented young people out here today. It's really crucial for the growth of our communities. And when we own our own business then that dollar touches a lot of hands in our community because that money stays in Harlem, for example, instead of somebody owning a business and taking it out of Harlem. That's why it's importantto keep it in your neighborhood because you can give people jobs in your commuity. It also sends a great message to young people that they can dream to one day own their own businesses in their community as well.

Is there an opportunity for small business owners to utilize the Magic Workforce Solutions?

Yes, small business owners and small businesses [use the program for staffing]. They tell us what they are looking for and we train the people to do that job. We also manage those people on site if they need us to do that. It's worked out very well for us. It's in seven or eight states including Ohio, Texas, Georgia, and Michigan. It's a business that we look forward to growing. Any businesses interested can go to the website to contact us.

I live in Harlem, New York and we have a Magic Johnson theater. Any chance you will open a 24 Hour Fitness Magic Sport center in Harlem?

I would love to do that. As you know I love Harlem. What I love is that the people are so great and they really support your businesses. Harlem is definitely one place that I hope to expand because of the theater and Starbucks that I built there. We have a community empowerment center there. So yes, Harlem is a place that I will be looking to do a lot of business.

You already have movie theaters. Have you ever considered owning a movie studio or distribution company like Tyler Perry? John Riddick, through Facebook, noted that minorities have so few outlets for our films.

Great question. First I congratulate and salute Tyler, he's doing a great job. Would I think about it? Of course, I've been thinking about it. But right now as you know and I know the studios are cutting back on producing movies. They are not doing as many movies as they used to do. I'm doing my research and homework but I don't know if I will ever get in to it or not. If I do, hopefully the timing will be right. But if I don't, we have Tyler. I agree that we need more because we need more minority-based movies. Tyler does a wonderful job but the problem is he may give us two movies a year and we need more than that. Minorities are underserved when it comes to family entertainment and movies.

Continuing with entertainment, you're now involved with Vibe Holdings LLC. I told my Mom and she was so excited that you might bring Soul Train back. What are your plans with Vibe and Soul Train, in particular?

Tell your Mom that's a great question and tell her yes we are working to bring Soul Train back. That's No. 1 because we all grew up and learned how to dance every Saturday morning watching Soul Train. And that's not just people of all colors. I have had people of all colors approach me about this and it's really amazing. I didn't really know until I bought it how people love Soul Train. Then when you think about the library, it is truly amazing the content that we have. And we have already talked to a lot of companies who want to license the content and the library and we are going to start that soon. When you think about over 300,000 photos and I wouldn't tell you how many shows, it's unbelievable. Soul Train has a really unique and special library. And then Vibe has always been for the young people. I'm excited about Vibe as well, and Uptown is for the wealthy and affluent African Americans. My company is going to start buying other companies as well so this is just the beginning.

Here's a question from Kirsten Peck and Mark Myrick from the Inc. Facebook page. They love your New York Times Bestseller 32 Ways to be a Champion in Business. They want to know when are you going to do a book tour?

I will probably go back out pretty soon. Maybe in the fall or so. We have to look at it because after the NCAA Tournament then of course is the NBA Playoffs and then you never want to do a summer tour for a book or anything. So it would probably have to be in the fall.

@MusickEd asked from Twitter if you ever played an instrument or if you could play an instrument what would it be?

No, I haven't played an instrument. And I think it would be the bass because that's how you dance, to the bass. I'm the biggest music lover in the world. I mean I have seen everybody. I went on tour with Michael Jackson and the Jacksons four or five times. You name them, I've seen them and probably a hundred times too. So when you think about Magic Johnson and the thing that relaxes me or gets me going or gets me on that dance floor, it is just some good music. I still love to dance even though I can't do it as long as I used too. But that's one thing I'm really passionate about, good music.

source of-----http://www.inc.com

Tips for Foreign Business Travel

2011-03-29T21:26:00.000+07:00

Preparing for international travel is unlike planning a business trip within one's own country. While you're usually fussing over details such as your flight itinerary, what to pack and scheduling meetings for a typical business trip, international travel may also require research for immersion into a culture with proper etiquette and protocols associated with the host country. With the recent political disorder in countries like Libya and natural disasters in Japan, travel overseas also requires certain safeguards to protect yourself during a time of crisis, says Jason Kaufman, senior manager, service innovation, MacNair Travel Management/American Express, in Alexandria, Virginia.

There are some basic guidelines such as preparing proper documents two or three months before your departure, especially if visas and updated passports are needed (for instance an old photo may not cut it). Some countries may not require visas for tourists but may require them for business travelers. Of course, depending on the country you are visiting, you will want to consult a physician about necessary vaccinations.

For US Travelers, a great resource is the US Department of State, says Kaufman, especially if something goes wrong in a foreign country and you need a quick evacuation. The State Department provides country specific information and issues travel warnings for long-term conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable as well as travel alerts that apply to temporary problems.

"In general, you want to make sure that you have the ability to get in touch with someone who can assist you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," says Kaufman. This may be your travel management company. "In a crisis situation you want to have as much information as possible to make an informed decision."

When the earthquake occurred in Japan, travelers couldn't get back into their rooms to access pertinent documents, says Donna Thomas, owner of New Zealand Travel, in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. "The big lesson learned: When you go to dinner or a meeting, take your passport, don't leave it back in your hotel room. Carry contact information for your embassy with you at all times. Keep a fully charged cell phone on you," she explains.

Besides personal safety, you also will want to prepare for your foreign business encounters. After all, you want to get maximum value for the time that is spent abroad. This means you have to be open to different values, behaviors and ways of doing business. Lack of familiarity with the business practices and social customs of another country can weaken your position or prevent you from accomplishing your goals.

Without a doubt there is nothing like a face-to-face meeting with a client or customer. But even the most minor mistakes can cost you time, money and opportunity. Here are seven tips to help you make the necessary adjustments for a business trip abroad.

1. Prepare a well-planned itinerary.

A well thought out itinerary should reflect what your company hopes to accomplish. Think about your goals and relative priorities. For instance, you will want to have two or three appointments confirmed well in advance and spaced comfortably throughout the day. This will be more productive and enjoyable than a crowded agenda that forces you to rush from one meeting to the next. Your schedule should be flexible enough to allow for unexpected problems such as transportation delays and/or opportunities such as an unplanned luncheon invitation.

Kaufman suggests leaving a copy of your itinerary with trusted colleagues, family members or close friends so that they know where you are supposed to be at all times. Also provide a family member or spouse with copies of your passport, medical insurance card, and other pertinent information. In addition, leave an emergency contact list with your travel planner.

2. Seek information on the culture.

Invest some time in learning about the history, culture and customs of the countries to be visited, says Thomas. Attend cross-cultural seminars or training. Read books about that country. Brush up on the differences in negotiating styles, attitudes towards punctuality, gift-giving customs, and the proper use of names and titles (understand the importance of rank and know who the decision makers are when conducting business).

Take the Japanese, for instance, who consider it rude to be late for a business meeting but acceptable for a social occasion. In Latin countries, being late for a business meeting is more tolerable. In the Middle East it is commonplace to engage in small talk before conducting business. The French and the British have different views about discussing business during meals, Thomas says. "Do you talk about business during dinner or do you wait until after you have eaten your meal? The slightest things can really offend people," she says.

Dig Deeper: 5 Tips for Getting Through the Airport Fast

3. Learn protocol and etiquette practices.

Study the general protocol and etiquette of the country or countries you're visiting. Understanding in advance how to greet your counterparts and manage appointments will be most helpful. Check normal work days and business hours. In the Middle East, for example, the workweek is Saturday to Thursday. It is not uncommon in many countries for lunch to last two to four hours. Also take into account foreign holidays. Business manners, religious customs, dietary practices, humor and acceptable dress vary widely from country to country.

Misunderstandings over gestures and body language can cause you more than embarrassment but can lead to business complications, says Thomas. For instance, the okay sign (thumb and index fingers forming a circle with the other fingers pointing upward) is commonly used in the US. But it means zero in France and Thomas says it is a vulgar gesture in Brazil and the Philippines (like giving the middle finger is here in the States). She recommends finding a local person from the host country whom you can openly talk to and learn about customs. Or a good travel planner will know the ins and outs of the country.

SOURCE OF........http://www.inc.com

Inside the $41 Million Investment in Color

2011-03-29T21:19:00.000+07:00

A startup named Color has raised $41 million of capital.

This news has obsessed the tech world and beyond for the past 48 hours, with the majority of the peanut gallery huffing and snorting about how it's obviously ridiculous and a clear sign of a bubble.

Here's what most of these instapundits fail to understand:

There are two basic strategies in raising capital -- "lean startup" and "fat startup"-- and Color is intelligently pursuing the latter.

Most digital startups in recent years have pursued the "lean startup" strategy: They raise a small seed round, then a bigger Series A round, then a bigger Series B round, and so on. With lean startups, investors only put up new money if the business is going well, and entrepreneurs generally give up less equity in each round. With "fat startups," in contrast, companies raise a big first round and really stomp on the gas, without having to worry about raising more money for years (if ever). Importantly, neither of these strategies is "right." They both work (or fail, as the case may be). Which strategy one chooses is usually dependent on the specific opportunity, the entrepreneur, and the investors. For a company with an opportunity as big as Color's in a highly competitive sector with several well-funded companies, with an experienced entrepreneur, and with deep-pocketed investors willing to roll the dice, the "fat startup" strategy makes a lot of sense.

The $41 million is almost certainly preferred stock, not common stock.

This is a hugely important point that almost everyone misses. With preferred stock, Color's investors will get the first $41 million from any sale of the company, and probably a lot more (if there's any "participation" feature baked in). The investors will get this money before Color's team gets a dime. And, unless Color spends every penny of this cash, Color's business does NOT need to be worth more than $41 million for its investors to get their money back (see the next point).

Color now has $41 million in the bank, which means it's already worth at least $41 million to any buyer -- TODAY.

This is another huge point that everyone seems to miss. Color now has a huge, liquid asset on its books: $41 million in cash. If the company fired everyone today, never developed anything, and closed its office, it would be worth $41 million to an acquirer. Now, of course, Color is eventually going to spend a lot of that money developing a product, which may or may not turn out to be worth anything. But the cash it has left will still be cash. So say, in a year or two, Color has developed a moderately successful product and team that might be worth $20 million to someone. If Color still has $21 million of the cash left, its investors will break even (because a buyer will buy the team and product for $20 and the cash for $21 million. The only way Color's investors will lose money is if the product and team end up being worth LESS than the cash spent to develop them. This could easily happen--it often does--but that can be said about any startup investment.

$41 million in cash provides Color with enormous flexibility and a major competitive advantage.

Let us say hypothetically that Color's first idea and product sucks. The company will probably figure this out relatively quickly (six months?). It will have learned a lot by then, however, and it will still have, say, $38 million in the bank. $38 million is a lot of money to "pivot" with. And Color is run by smart people, so they'll presumably pivot into something related. And they'll keep on pivoting until they find something that works.

This big a financing will scare the bejeezus out of everyone else in the sector, and it will deter future competitors and investors in other companies from entering the business.

Color just raised a LOT of money. That is a fact that is going to make entrepreneurs and investors who are thinking of betting on similar ideas take a deep breath before they place their bets. Color's first version of its product may blow, but that doesn't mean the second one will. And with this amount of cash on its books, Color will probably have the second version out before a would-be competitor even gets its deal-documents signed.

This is a potentially huge opportunity that will likely be worth many billions if it works out.

Color's founders are not thinking small here. They're laying out a vision for a massive global enterprise. If they can successfully execute on that vision, $41 million is going to seem like chump change. Could they fail? Of course they could fail. Every startup could fail. That goes with the territory. Color's investors understand the risks, and they build their portfolios to account for it. If Color fails, its investors will shrug and move on. If it works out, they'll look like they got it for a song.

In the grand scheme, $41 million is chump change.

Digital industry folks have a very skewed vision of the the world of financings, in part because they generally build, invest in, or work for companies that require extraordinarily little capital to succeed. Most other infrastructure or hard-technology businesses, in contrast, require hundreds of millions or billions of capital to build. Think of wireless companies, satellite companies, biotech companies, energy companies, cable companies, telephone companies, transportation companies--these companies raise hundreds of millions of dollars before breakfast, with no one even batting an eye. And when they don't work out, their investors often lose everything (or close). So digital instapundits raving about the ludicrousness of a $41 million startup investment should keep in mind that, in the grand scheme, $41 million is still chicken feed.

BOTTOM LINE: Color's financing is a big bet on an idea that could turn out to be, well, big. If the idea works, $41 million will seem like nothing (imagine investing $41 million in Facebook or Twitter or Zynga 7 years ago--chump change). It will also be a big asset in the company's ability to achieve its vision. And, contrary to public perception, Color's investors actually have a lot of downside protection, including diversified portfolios. So, as is often the case, most of the huffing and snorting instapundits have no idea what they're talking about.

########################source of.....http://www.inc.com

Holiday Shuffle: How to successfully navigate holidays at your small business

2011-03-29T21:13:00.000+07:00

This time of year, a small business owner may be forgiven for thinking that his or her company has entered a weeks-long holiday gauntlet. Starting even before Thanksgiving, the calendar marks the arrival of seemingly incessant, often overlapping, and sometimes conflicting religious and cultural holidays, among them Eid al-Adha, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Epiphany, Ashura, and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, as well as the traditional and Chinese New Year’s celebrations. For still growing companies, the tightly packed nature of the holiday period can be an especially stressful and challenging time, one that often turns into a delicate balancing act between respecting the rights of individual employees and ensuring the continued success of you, the employer.

Special circumstances for small businesses

“What we’re going through what I call the ‘December dilemma,’” explains Dr. Georgette Bennett, president of the Tanenbaum Center on Interreligious Understanding. “It’s the time of year where it’s very easy to make a lot of employees feel excluded or like second-class citizens.” And though one might think that smaller companies are less susceptible to being buffeted by these workplace holiday issues, Bennett believes that just isn’t the case anymore.

“Today, I think it is actually more important for small businesses to understand how to deal with religious holidays in the workplace than it is for large

corporations,” says Bennett. A Fortune 500 company, after all, typically staffs a vast human resources department that is fully versed in the legal and ethical issues involving religious holidays in the workplace. Small businesses, on the other hand, often have little more than a full-time office manager or company holiday policy, if that.

“In addition, in a large corporation, there are usually enough co-religionists where employees won’t feel as left out or isolated,” she adds. “But people have a much more intimate relationship within a small company, so if someone feels excluded there because of how they’re treated when it comes to religion or culture, it’s going to have a much greater impact.”

Know your employees

This growing awareness of religious and cultural diversity in the workplace represents a sea change from 35 years ago. Back then, an overwhelming majority of the U.S.-born workforce—more than 95 percent—was Christian. Even a large majority of the foreign-born workers immigrating to the U.S. at that time came from Europe, a traditionally Christian region. Today, however, things are noticeably different. The recent influx of immigrant workers from Latin America, Asia, and Africa means U.S. businesses are now much more likely to have employees of differing religious and cultural backgrounds. And though roughly 80 percent of the U.S. population still identifies itself as Christian, the 20 percent who are not still translates into 60 million people.

Similarly, it’s a good idea for a small business to get a sense of its own internal demographics before building any kind of religious holiday policy. “This is a delicate task,” Bennett acknowledges, “since discrimination laws prevent asking job candidates about their religion and even long-time employees might be uncomfortable answering such a question.” A good, alternative involves asking both potential and current employees days and times they would and would not be available to work in the coming months. Another tack might involve an anonymous worker survey gauging employee interest in time off for various religious holidays. “Once you have a sense of this, there are a whole bunch of steps you can take that are effective,” explains Bennett.

Know the law

However, when considering these steps, it’s important to also understand the legal restrictions involved. “If you are a private employer, your responsibilities to your employees are different than in public institutions,” says workplace discrimination attorney Sara Rapport of the Rhode Island-based law firm Little, Medeiros, Kinder, Bulman, and Whitney. Private companies are not constrained by the First Amendment, she notes, so private employers are not legally obliged to abide by a “general equivalence” rule when it comes to things like religious and cultural-themed parties, office decorations, or holidays.

Nonetheless, Rapport stresses that all U.S. companies are still bound by anti-discrimination laws. As a result, private employers do have to accommodate employee requests for time off to celebrate religious holidays unless it poses an “undue hardship” on their business. What qualifies as a religious holiday will vary from one employee to another, but what isn’t up for debate, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is the legitimacy of a religion or sincerity of an employee’s beliefs.

As for what constitutes a hardship, that too will differ from company to company, Rapport acknowledges, but a few common sense questions usually lead to a quick answer. “I feel safe in saying that, even for small employers, if you don’t give someone one day off to celebrate Yom Kippur, for example, you could find yourself in big trouble,” she says. More extensive, long-term requests, however, like, say, a requested month-long absence for Ramadan, would probably be justifiably denied by the employer, she adds.

The goal, most experts agree, is to treat all employees equitably (including the ones who might end up covering for an absent employee), weighing individual requests against the impact upon the whole of the company. “Neither the employee’s nor the employer’s needs are irrelevant,” Rapport points out, “but there needs to be a back and forth.”

Options, options

In the end, perhaps the best way to accommodate various religious holidays is to provide employees with more options. According to Bennett, granting floating holidays, allowing holiday swapping between workers, or setting up flexible work hours all represent good tools worthy of adopting into a formal company policy. But she points out that perhaps the best way to resolve religious holiday issues at work is to simply add a few generic “personal days” to each employee’s work benefit. “This is a very good solution,” notes Bennett, “because it doesn’t discriminate against anybody, including those nonbelievers in your company, who wouldn’t be taking any religious holidays anyway.”

Tips for accommodating religious holidays in your small business

• Flexible scheduling (staggered work hours or longer, make-up shifts)

• Holiday swapping (employees of different religions pair up to cover each other’s absences)

• Floating holidays (allotting employees a few additional paid days off each year beyond normal vacation days to use on religious holidays of their choosing)

• Personal days (similar to granting floating holidays but more flexible for employees)

• Unpaid leave (solution of last resort, if not managed carefully, can end up punishing employees who don’t celebrate more widely recognized holidays)

–Daniel Kinder, Andrew Ullucci (Rhode Island Employment Law Letter) and Dr. Georgette Bennett (Tanenbaum Center on Interreligious Understanding)

Questions a small business owner should ask to determine whether an accommodation for an employee’s religious holiday would represent an undue hardship on the company

• What is the cost? (To protect yourself and your business from legal action, it’s a good idea to document why any rejected accommodation would have been prohibitively expensive.)

• What kind of disruption will it create? (How will a requested absence affect your business’s productivity, customer relationships, and overall morale?)

• Will it violate a collective bargaining agreement or breach a contract? (If the answer is yes, the employer has little recourse but to deny accommodation.)

• Does it infringe upon other employees’ religious freedoms? (Again, if it will, the accommodation should be denied or renegotiated.)

• Will it jeopardize the safety of other employees? (If the accommodated employee’s absence will result in an understaffed job site or too many untrained employees and substantially increase workplace risk or violate OSHA safety regulations, it should be refused.)

source of.....http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com

Tax Savvy in 2011: Knowing the new tax rules for this year can help maximize your cash flow

2011-03-29T21:07:00.000+07:00

Tax law changes that get overlooked the year they first take effect often end up costing a small business not only money but strategic opportunities as well. To avoid this fate and keep your cash flow robust, it’s a good idea to brush up on the already approved tax law changes for 2011 going forward. So here’s a rundown of the new tax provisions and how they could affect you in the coming year.

Section 179 Expensing and Bonus Depreciation: For 2011, the increased Section 179 expensing rules continue at the same generous levels as those set in 2010. So for business property purchased this year, owners can expense up to $500,000 per item with an annual Section 179 investment limit of $2 million. As is typically the case, the item must have been purchased or placed into service during this calendar year in order to be eligible for a 2011 tax write-off. In addition, for qualifying investments purchased or put into service between Sept. 8, 2010 and the end of 2011, businesses can now write off 100% of the item or equipment’s depreciation in the first year. There is no income limit on this write-off, but to qualify the equipment purchased must be new and the taxpayer must be the user of the asset.

TAKEAWAY for 2011: This extension of last year’s Section 179 expensing levels, coupled with the increased bonus depreciation allowance, provides small business owners with the ability to potentially write off million-dollar investments and shelter their business from onerous tax charges come tax time next spring. If your business has been waiting for the right time to undertake a large capital improvement project or purchase, these 2011 tax circumstances offer a particularly ripe climate for making a bold move, especially since the bonus first-year depreciation level is set to return to 50% in 2012. For more details on just how much your business can write off or deduct this tax year using Section 179 expensing and bonus depreciation, use this online calculator.

Startup Expenses: The increased deductible amount of $10,000 in annual startup expenses continues at the same level in 2011, as does the cap of $60,000, after which the total deductible amount decreases on a dollar-for-dollar basis

TAKEAWAY for 2011: Budding entrepreneurs can now deduct twice as much in startup expenses as they did just two years ago, making the tax environment a bit more forgiving for new endeavors. While this larger deductible obviously isn’t a reason to launch a new business, it’s a worthwhile benefit to consider when calculating a potential startup’s financial picture.

Mileage, Business Travel, and Transit Commuter Deductions: The standard business mileage deduction increases from 50 cents in 2010 to 51 cents per mile in 2011. Use of a vehicle for a deductible move and for Health Reimbursement Accounts rises from 16.5 cents to 19 cents a mile. Also, business-related parking costs and tolls remain deductible expenses, as do taxi, shuttle bus, and rental car expenses related to your business. And note that last year, the monthly contribution limit for sheltering income used to pay for public transit passes gained parity with parking. For 2011, the same $230 a month contribution caps instituted last year still apply. As was the case before, employers receive a tax deduction for participating in the program.

TAKEAWAY for 2011: Before 2010, the tax-free contribution rate for public transit passes was barely more than $100, so many American workers who commute to work via bus, train, or subway may not have bothered with taking advantage of this tax break. But now that the monthly contribution is nearly twice what it was in 2009 (and much closer to covering the entire cost of a monthly bus pass or commuter train ticket in many parts of the country), it’s worth reacquainting your public transit-using employees with this tax benefit, one that could save both them and your business up to $1,000 per enrolled employee in 2011. For a primer on how it works and how employees can enroll, check out this Transit Commuter Benefit brochure.

Payroll Taxes: Starting this year, the partial credit that employers received for payroll taxes has expired. Also keep in mind that while the Social Security tax rate paid by employees drops from 6.2% to 4.2% of taxable income (up to $106,800), employers are still required to pay the full 6.2% rate on employee wages. Self-employed individuals, who normally pay the full 12.4%, enjoy the same 2.0-percentage point decrease, meaning they must only pay 10.4% in Social Security taxes on income in 2011.

TAKEAWAY for 2011: It’s important to remember that this 2.0% decrease in Social Security taxes effectively translates into a 2.0% pay raise—thanks to the federal government—for your employees. (For an employee making the maximum taxable amount for Social Security, this equates to an annual raise of $2,136. For those making close to the median American household income, which hovers around $50,000 a year, this means an extra $1,000.) While employees whose superior performance merits a raise should get their due, small business owners watching every penny might be wise to factor in this payroll tax windfall when handing out raises this year. But also realize that the employee portion of the Social Security tax is set to revert back to its previous rate in 2012 and, thus, may require entrepreneurs to give even higher-than-expected raises next year to prevent their employees from experiencing a small pay cut.

Health Care Tax Credit: Provisions of the Affordable Care Act that passed in early 2010 continue in 2011, so qualifying small businesses are once again eligible for a tax credit for up to 35 percent of their premium payments made during the year. To qualify, a business must pay at least 50% of the health care premiums for its employees, have fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees, and pay an average annual salary of less than $50,000.

TAKEAWAY for 2011: According to a recent Forbes article, early indications are that this 35% tax credit is finally making health care premiums affordable enough that thousands of small businesses are now signing up their employees into care plans. If you’ve held off running the numbers for your own business, it might pay to do so this year. For more on the eligibility rules and to view some sample business scenarios along with their corresponding tax credit eligibility, click on this IRS fact sheet. To calculate your individual small business’s potential tax credits, check out the IRS’s online worksheet.

Health Savings Account (HSA) Deductions: For the 2010 tax year, employer contribution limits for an employee’s Health Savings Account (HSA) increased incrementally and those levels—$3,050 for individuals and $6,150 for families—will remain the same for 2011. To qualify, the employer’s high deductible health plan (HDHP) has to have an annual deductible of at least $1,200 for individuals or $2,400 for families and limit annual out-of-pocket expenses to no more than $5,950 for individuals and $11,900 for families.

TAKEAWAY for 2011: If your business already offers an HDHP option for your employees, you’ll likely see little change this year. Nevertheless, because of the newly implemented health care tax credit (see previous item), you may want to shop around for alternative plans to see if you can save your business more money while also lowering your employee’s potential annual out-of-pocket expenses.

For more details and important tax-related dates in 2011, like the deadlines for estimated quarterly payments, click on the IRS’s online tax calendar for small business.

source of......http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com

Which CRM Software is Right for Your Small Business

2011-03-29T21:02:00.000+07:00

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) remains a topic that is heavily analyzed and debated among business consultants and academics. In the 1990s CRM became a buzzword in business management, spawning a legion of CRM experts and software applications meant to automate the CRM process for companies. CRM specialists have defined the entire sales process as critical to maintaining customer loyalty and satisfaction.

There is a wide variety of CRM software applications available to help companies collect, analyze, and manage data about their customers. Choosing the right one for your business is critical. Unfortunately, the variety of CRM software applications, designed to work with virtually any sized business, can bewilder even the most savvy small business owner. As a result, working with a CRM consultant to select the software that best fits your business’s structure and needs is often a good idea, particularly since most CRM software is meant to supplement a CRM strategy that has already been properly designed to fit your business.

The following is a selection of some of the more popular CRM software applications:

ACT! (Pro: $229.99; Premium: $459.99) Produced by Sage Software, ACT! platforms have been a constant companion for many salespeople for two decades. The software provides comprehensive scheduling of telephone calls, meetings, and correspondence, as well as archiving of all details of the sales transaction. The 2011 edition of the program integrates easily with Microsoft Office, synchronizes with Outlook for easy exchange of data and use, and now includes a remotely accessible Mobile Live function that lets your sales staff tap into it while they’re out on the road. The more affordable Pro version is probably sufficient for small businesses with 10 or fewer users, but if your company has a need greater than that, you’re better off with the more scalable Premium platform. There are also additional ACT! CRM versions tailored specifically for real estate and financial professionals ($299.99 each). Click here for more on ACT! products and to test-drive a complimentary, 30-day trial.

Goldmine (Enterprise, Premium, and Corporate prices only available by quote). FrontRange’s Goldmine is a reliable CRM and activity tracking application that permits team-based forecasting, mass mailing, and project collaboration. Similar in some ways to Sage Software’s ACT! platform, Goldmine products allow for integration through various mobile devices and provide a variety of forecasting, lead management, marketing, synchronization, and contact management options. Its entry-level offering, formerly known as Standard and priced at $275 per user, is now called Enterprise and is quoted individually, depending upon each client’s unique needs. For larger or rapidly growing companies looking to do more than just passively monitor customers and track data, Goldmine’s Premium edition offers more features to satisfy those needs. The most extensive Goldmine platform, called Corporate, which in the past was priced at roughly double the Standard tier, combines both Enterprise and Premium functionalities and adds several other features as well, among them web service support. Click here to see a Goldmine product comparison chart and find contact information for a price quote.

Infusionsoft CRM (Basic: $199/month; Deluxe: $299/month; Pro: $499/month) Infusionsoft’s web-based software offers a robust, integrated approach to all areas of sales and marketing beyond simple contact management. The software, part downloaded and part run from Infusionsoft’s servers, permits management of individual sales, the creation of sales times, and the distribution of leads and sales opportunities to team members. The software combines and meshes sales and marketing efforts and allows tracking of online and off line orders and sales. The software pricing scales upward based on the number of users and contacts, with the Pro version accommodating 10 separate users and 100,000 contacts. Beyond those limits, Infusion offers an individually quoted Enterprise system. To learn more about the different versions, including a 15-day trial edition, and compare pricing, click here.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (Pricing and versions TBD) Though a Dynamics 4.0 version is currently available, a newer version of Microsoft’s CRM software will be arriving in late January. And take note, to entice current CRM users to switch over to Microsoft’s new 2011 platform, the company is offering up to $200 in incentives to some qualified customers. All the specifics about the new platform were not yet known at the time of writing, but a beta version that has been circulating since September offers several clues. For example, the next generation CRM platform will include cloud-based as well as on-premises versions and Microsoft promises its new software will integrate into more of its products than ever before while allowing for increased user personalization. Pricing is still to be determined as well. As a general guide, however, you could look at the costs of the Dynamics 4.0 versions, which have one-time costs of roughly $1,000 for a full-use license and run from $2,100 to $2,600 to $5,200 for the Professional, Workgroup, and Enterprise server editions, respectively. For more on the launch of Microsoft’s new CRM software, click here.

NetSuite CRM+ ($129 per user, per month). Another more comprehensive, web-based CRM system, NetSuite CRM+ offers a broader view of all sales and customer management related activities to authorized employees, including complete purchase histories for all customers, territory tracking and assignment, commission tracking for salespeople, deal expiration notification, lead generation and follow-up, and enhanced sales forecasting. NetSuite’s CRM+ platform also includes remote smartphone access as well as robust back-office functionality, letting a small business owner track inventory, order fulfillment, and accounts receivable. To read more about CRM+ details or schedule an online product demo, click here.

Prophet 5.0 (Personal: $199.95; Advance: $349.95; Premium: $499.95). Designed to work seamlessly with Microsoft’s popular Outlook mail program, Avidian Technologies’ Prophet line of CRM products eliminates the need to switch between separate contact databases and other applications since all CRM functions are nested within Outlook. According to Avidian, its 5.0 versions of the Personal, Advance and Premium releases are more designed for individuals, but because they offer a wide variety of features, including sales and quote management dashboards, an instant, customizable quote generator, and an array of new project-tracking reports, many smaller business owners will find this product tier capable of handling their CRM needs. For businesses with larger sales teams and more complicated reporting needs, however, Avidian also offers Professional and Enterprise versions (price quoted per user) of its Prophet CRM software. To compare editions and try a complimentary 15-day trial, go to the Avidian website.

Salesforce Sales Cloud 2 (Five different editions with pricing that ranges from $5 to $250 per user, per month). Salesforce’s CRM products are tiered to fit the customer relationship needs of everything from a one-person startup to a multinational corporation. Beyond Sales Cloud 2’s many contact management tools and customer relationship tracking features is another functionality of particular note: a new “Chatter” feature, which functions as a kind of internal social networking tool for businesses, letting employees quickly and easily collaborate on projects in real time. Its popularity has already skyrocketed among Salesforce’s larger customers, like Dell, Sony, Amazon.com, and Yahoo, and has the company planning many add-ons to enhance its ability in helping companies to coordinate better and sell more. To understand the differences in Sales Cloud 2 tier capability, pricing, and scope, check out this comparison of Salesforce CRM versions.

......source of: http://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com

Interview With Jake Tapper of ABC's This Week

2011-03-28T22:23:00.000+07:00

Interview

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Secretary of State

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

Washington, DC

QUESTION: And joining me now in their first interview since the attacks on Libya began, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Madam and Mr. Secretary, thanks so much for joining us.

I’ll start with you, Secretary Gates. The mission is a no-fly zone and civilian protection, but does not include removing Qadhafi from power, even though regime change is stated U.S. policy. So why not have, as part of the mission, regime change, removing Qadhafi from power?

SECRETARY GATES: Well, first of all, I think you don’t want ever to set a set of goals or a mission – military mission where you can’t be confident of accomplishing your objectives. And as we have seen in the past, regime change is a very complicated business. It sometimes takes a long time. Sometimes it can happen very fast, but it was never part of the military mission.

QUESTION: NATO has assumed command and control for the no-fly zone, or is this weekend, but not yet for the civilian protection. When do we anticipate that happening?

SECRETARY GATES: I think Hillary’s been more engaged with that diplomacy than I have.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we hope, Jake, that NATO, which is making the military planning for the civilian protection mission, will meet in the next few days, make a decision, which we expect to be positive, to include that mission, and then just as the arms embargo and the no-fly zone has been transitioned to NATO command and control, the civilian protection mission will as well.

QUESTION: What do you say to the people in Ivory Coast or Syria who say, “Where’s our no-fly zone? We’re being killed by our government too.”

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, there’s not an aircraft – there’s not an air force being used. There is not the same level of force. The situation is significantly different enough that the world has not come together. However, in Ivory Coast, we have a UN peacekeeping force which we are supporting. We’re beginning to see the world coalesce around the very obvious fact that Mr. Gbagbo no longer is president. Mr. Ouattara is the president.

So each of these situations is different, but in Libya, when a leader says spare nothing, show no mercy and calls out air force attacks on his own people, that crosses a line that people in the world had decided they could not tolerate.

QUESTION: When do we know that the mission is done? The no-fly zone has succeeded, civilian protection has stopped. When do you – when --

SECRETARY GATES: I would say, for all practical purposes, the implementation of the no-fly zone is complete. Now it will need to be sustained, but it can be sustained with a lot less effort than what it took to set it up. As I indicated in my testimony on the Hill, you don’t establish a no-fly zone by just declaring it. You go in and suppress the air defenses, and that mission is largely complete.

I think we have made a lot of progress on the humanitarian side and his ability to move armor, to move toward a Benghazi or a place like that has pretty well been eliminated. Now we’ll have to keep our eye on it because he still has ground forces at his beck and call. But the reality is they’re under a lot of pressure. Their logistics – there are some signs that they’re moving back to the west away from Ajdabiyah and other places.

So I think that we have prevented the large-scale slaughter that was beginning to take place, has taken place in some places. And so I think that we are at a point where the establishment of the no-fly zone and the protection of cities from the kind of wholesale military assault that we have seen, certainly in the east, has been accomplished and now we can move to sustainment.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Jake, I would just add two points to what Secretary Gates said. The United States Senate called for a no-fly zone in a resolution that it passed, I think, on March the 1st, and that mission is on the brink of having been accomplished. And there was a lot of congressional support to do something.

There is no perfect option when one is looking at a situation like this. I think that the President ordered the best available option. The United States worked with the international community to make sure that there was authorization to do what we have helped to accomplish.

But what is quite remarkable here is that NATO assuming the responsibility for the entire mission means that the United States will move to a supporting role. Just as our allies are helping us in Afghanistan where we bear the disproportionate amount of the sacrifice and the cost, we are supporting a mission through NATO that was very much initiated by European requests joined by Arab requests.

I think this is a watershed moment in international decision making. We learned a lot in the 1990s. We saw what happened in Rwanda. It took a long time in the Balkans, in Kosovo to deal with a tyrant. But I think – and what has happened since March 1st – and we’re not even done with the month – demonstrates really remarkable leadership.

SECRETARY GATES: I would just add one other thing, in sort of a concrete manifestation where we are in this, and that is we and the Department of Defense are already beginning to do our planning in terms of beginning to draw down resources, first from support of the no-fly zone and then from the humanitarian mission. Now that may not start in the next day or two, but I certainly expect it to in the very near future.

QUESTION: Well, and I wanted to follow on that. How long are we going to be there in that support role?

SECRETARY GATES: Well, I think the – as I say, we will begin diminishing the level of our engagement, the level of resources we have involved in this, but as long as there is a no-fly zone and we have some unique capabilities to bring to bear – for example, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, some tanking ability – we will continue to have a presence. But a lot of these – a lot of the forces that we will have available other than the ISR – are forces that are already assigned to Europe or have been assigned to Italy or are at sea in the Mediterranean.

QUESTION: I’ve heard NATO say that this – that they anticipate – that some NATO officials say this could be three months, but people in the Pentagon think it could be far longer than that. Do you think we’ll be gone by the end of the year? Will the mission be over by the end of the year?

SECRETARY GATES: I don’t think anybody knows the answer to that.

QUESTION: Do you think Libya posed an actual or imminent threat to the United States?

SECRETARY GATES: No, no. It was not a vital national interest to the United States, but it was an interest and it was an interest for all of the reasons Secretary Clinton talked about – the engagement of the Arabs, the engagement of the Europeans, the general humanitarian question that was at stake. There was another piece of this, though, that certainly was a consideration. You’ve had revolutions on both the east and the west of Libya. They’re fragile.

QUESTION: Egypt and Tunisia.

SECRETARY GATES: Egypt and Tunisia. So you had a potentially significantly destabilizing event taking place in Libya that put at risk, potentially, the revolutions in both Tunisia and Egypt. And that was another consideration I think we took into account.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Jake, but --

QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, how does –

SECRETARY CLINTON: Jake, I just want to add too, because I know that there’s been a lot of questions, and those questions deserve to be asked and answered. The President is going to address the nation on Monday night.

Imagine we were sitting here and Benghazi had been overrun, a city of 700,000 people, and tens of thousands of people had been slaughtered, hundreds of thousands had fled and, as Bob said, either with nowhere to go or overwhelming Egypt while it’s in its own difficult transition, and we were sitting here. The cries would be, “Why did the United States not do anything? Why – how could you stand by when France and the United Kingdom and other Europeans and the Arab League and your Arab partners were saying you’ve got to do something?” So every decision that we make is going to have plusses and minuses.

QUESTION: You heard the Secretary of Defense say that Libya did not pose an actual or imminent threat to the nation, and bearing in mind what you just said, I’m still wondering how the Administration reconciles the attack without congressional approval with then-candidate Obama saying in 2007 the President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation and, as a senator, you yourself in 2007 said this about President Bush.

SENATOR CLINTON: If the administration believes that any – any use of force against Iran is necessary, the president must come to Congress to seek that authority.

QUESTION: Why not go to Congress?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we would welcome congressional support, but I don’t think that this kind of internationally authorized intervention where we are one of a number of countries participating to enforce a humanitarian mission is the kind of unilateral action that either I or President Obama were speaking of several years ago. I think that this had a limited timeframe, a very clearly defined mission, which we are in the process of fulfilling.

QUESTION: I want to get to a couple other topics before you guys go, and one of them is in Yemen. President Saleh, a crucial ally in counterterrorism, seems quite on his way out. Secretary Gates, you said this week we have not done any post-Saleh planning. How dangerous is a post-Saleh world, a post-Saleh Yemen, to the United States?

SECRETARY GATES: Well, I think it is a real concern, because the most active and, at this point, perhaps the most aggressive branch of al-Qaida – al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula – operates out of Yemen. And we have had a lot of counterterrorism cooperation from President Saleh and Yemeni security services. So if that government collapses or is replaced by one that is dramatically more weak, then I think we’ll face some additional challenges out of Yemen. There’s no question about it. It’s a real problem.

QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, on Pakistan, Pakistan has been trying to block U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the FATA region, it continues to work with terrorists to attack India, it held a U.S. diplomat in its prisons for several weeks, as I don’t need to tell you. Has this relationship gotten worse in the last six months, U.S.-Pakistan?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Jake, it’s a very challenging relationship because there have been some problems. We were very appreciative of getting our diplomat out of Pakistan, and that took cooperation by the Government of Pakistan. We have cooperated very closely together in going after terrorists who pose a threat to both us and to the Pakistanis themselves. But it’s a very difficult relationship because Pakistan is in a hard position trying to figure out how it’s going to contend with its own internal extremist threat. But I think on the other hand, we’ve also developed good lines of communication, good opportunities for cooperation, but it’s something we have to work on every day.

QUESTION: And finally, we’ve talked a bit about the end of this operation, how it ends. I’m wondering if you can envision the United States supporting a plan where Qadhafi is exiled. Would the U.S. be willing to support safe haven, immunity from prosecution, and access to funds as a way to end this conflict?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Jake, we are nowhere near that kind of negotiation. I’ll be going to London on Tuesday for a conference that the British Government is hosting. There will be a number of countries, not only those participating in the enforcement of the resolution, but also those who are pursuing political and other interventions. And the United Nations has a special envoy who will also be actively working with Qadhafi and those around him.

We have sent a clear message that it is time for him to transition out of power. The African Union has now called for a democratic transition. We think that there will be developments along that line in the weeks and months ahead, but I can’t, sitting here today, predict to you exactly how it’s going to play out. But we believe that Libya will have a better shot in the future if he departs and leaves power.

QUESTION: All right. Secretary Clinton, Secretary Gates, thank you so much for joining us.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you.

source of....http://www.state.gov

AP IMPACT: Nuclear Plant Downplayed Tsunami Risk

2011-03-28T02:43:00.000+07:00

In planning their defense against a killer tsunami, the people running Japan's now-hobbled nuclear power plant dismissed important scientific evidence and all but disregarded 3,000 years of geological history, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The misplaced confidence displayed by Tokyo Electric Power Co. was prompted by a series of overly optimistic assumptions that concluded the Earth couldn't possibly release the level of fury it did two weeks ago, pushing the six-reactor Fukushima Dai-ichi complex to the brink of multiple meltdowns.

Instead of the reactors staying dry, as contemplated under the power company's worst-case scenario, the plant was overrun by a torrent of water much higher and stronger than the utility argued could occur, according to an AP analysis of records, documents and statements from researchers, the utility and the Japan's national nuclear safety agency.

And while TEPCO and government officials have said no one could have anticipated such a massive tsunami, there is ample evidence that such waves have struck the northeast coast of Japan before — and that it could happen again along the culprit fault line, which runs roughly north to south, offshore, about 220 miles (350 kilometers) east of the plant.

TEPCO officials say they had a good system for projecting tsunamis. They declined to provide more detailed explanations, saying they were focused on the ongoing nuclear crisis.

What is clear: TEPCO officials discounted important readings from a network of GPS units that showed that the two tectonic plates that create the fault were strongly "coupled," or stuck together, thus storing up extra stress along a line hundreds of miles long. The greater the distance and stickiness of such coupling, experts say, the higher the stress buildup — pressure that can be violently released in an earthquake.

That evidence, published in scientific journals starting a decade ago, represented the kind of telltale characteristics of a fault being able to produce the truly overwhelming quake — and therefore tsunami — that it did.

On top of that, TEPCO modeled the worst-case tsunami using its own computer program instead of an internationally accepted prediction method.

It matters how Japanese calculate risk. In short, they rely heavily on what has happened to figure out what might happen, even if the probability is extremely low. If the view of what has happened isn't accurate, the risk assessment can be faulty.

That approach led to TEPCO's disregard of much of Japan's tsunami history.

In postulating the maximum-sized earthquake and tsunami that the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex might face, TEPCO's engineers decided not to factor in quakes earlier than 1896. That meant the experts excluded a major quake that occurred more than 1,000 years ago — a tremor followed by a powerful tsunami that hit many of the same locations as the recent disaster.

A TEPCO reassessment presented only four months ago concluded that tsunami-driven water would push no higher than 18 feet (5.7 meters) once it hit the shore at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex. The reactors sit up a small bluff, between 14 and 23 feet (4.3 and 6.3 meters) above TEPCO's projected high-water mark, according to a presentation at a November seismic safety conference in Japan by TEPCO civil engineer Makoto Takao.

"We assessed and confirmed the safety of the nuclear plants," Takao asserted.

However, the wall of water that thundered ashore two weeks ago reached about 27 feet (8.2 meters) above TEPCO's prediction. The flooding disabled backup power generators, located in basements or on first floors, imperiling the nuclear reactors and their nearby spent fuel pools.

———

The story leading up to the Tsunami of 2011 goes back many, many years — several millennia, in fact.

The Jogan tsunami of 869 displayed striking similarities to the events in and around the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors. The importance of that disaster, experts told the AP, is that the most accurate planning for worst-case scenarios is to study the largest events over the longest period of time. In other words, use the most data possible.

The evidence shows that plant operators should have known of the dangers — or, if they did know, disregarded them.

As early as 2001, a group of scientists published a paper documenting the Jogan tsunami. They estimated waves of nearly 26 feet (8 meters) at Soma, about 25 miles north of the plant. North of there, they concluded that a surge from the sea swept sand more than 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) inland across the Sendai plain. The latest tsunami pushed water at least about 1 1/2 miles (2 kilometers) inland.

The scientists also found two additional layers of sand and concluded that two additional "gigantic tsunamis" had hit the region during the past 3,000 years, both presumably comparable to Jogan. Carbon dating couldn't pinpoint exactly when the other two hit, but the study's authors put the range of those layers of sand at between 140 B.C. and A.D. 150, and between 670 B.C. and 910 B.C.

In a 2007 paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Pure and Applied Geophysics, two TEPCO employees and three outside researchers explained their approach to assessing the tsunami threat to Japan's nuclear reactors, all 54 of which sit near the sea or ocean.

To ensure the safety of Japan's coastal power plants, they recommended that facilities be designed to withstand the highest tsunami "at the site among all historical and possible future tsunamis that can be estimated," based on local seismic characteristics.

But the authors went on to write that tsunami records before 1896 could be less reliable because of "misreading, misrecording and the low technology available for the measurement itself." The TEPCO employees and their colleagues concluded, "Records that appear unreliable should be excluded."

Two years later, in 2009, another set of researchers concluded that the Jogan tsunami had reached 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) inland at Namie, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) north of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.

The warning from the 2001 report about the 3,000-year history would prove to be most telling: "The recurrence interval for a large-scale tsunami is 800 to 1,100 years. More than 1,100 years have passed since the Jogan tsunami, and, given the reoccurrence interval, the possibility of a large tsunami striking the Sendai plain is high."

The fault involved in the Fukushima Dai-ichi tsunami is part of what is known as a subduction zone. In subduction zones, one tectonic plate dives under another. When the fault ruptures, the sea floor snaps upward, pushing up the water above it and potentially creating a tsunami. Subduction zones are common around Japan and throughout the Pacific Ocean region.

TEPCO's latest calculations were started after a magnitude-8.8 subduction zone earthquake off the coast of Chile in February 2010.

In such zones over the past 50 years, earthquakes of magnitude 9.0 or greater have occurred in Alaska, Chile and Indonesia. All produced large tsunamis.

When two plates are locked across a large area of a subduction zone, the potential for a giant earthquake increases. And those are the exact characteristics of where the most recent quake occurred.

TEPCO "absolutely should have known better," said Dr. Costas Synolakis, a leading American expert on tsunami modeling and an engineering professor at the University of Southern California. "Common sense," he said, should have produced a larger predicted maximum water level at the plant.

TEPCO's tsunami modelers did not judge that, in a worst-case scenario, the strong subduction and coupling conditions present off the coast of Fukushima Dai-ichi could produce the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that occurred. Instead, it figured the maximum at 8.6 magnitude, meaning the March 11 quake was four times as powerful as the presumed maximum.

Shogo Fukuda, a TEPCO spokesman, said that 8.6 was the maximum magnitude entered into the TEPCO internal computer modeling for Fukushima Dai-ichi.Another TEPCO spokesman, Motoyasu Tamaki, used a new buzzword, "sotegai," or "outside our imagination," to describe what actually occurred.

U.S. tsunami experts said that one reason the estimates for Fukushima Dai-ichi were so low was the way Japan calculates risk. Because of the island nation's long history of killer waves, Japanese experts often will look at what has happened — then project forward what is likely to happen again.

Under longstanding U.S. standards that are gaining popularity around the world, risk assessments typically scheme up a worst-case scenario based on what could happen, then design a facility like a nuclear power plant to withstand such a collection of conditions — factoring in just about everything short of an extremely unlikely cataclysm, like a large meteor hitting the ocean and creating a massive wave that kills hundreds of thousands.

In the early 1990s, Harry Yeh, now a tsunami expert and engineering professor at Oregon State University, was helping assess potential threats to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on the central California coast in the United States. During that exercise, he said, researchers considered a worst-case scenario involving a significantly larger earthquake than had ever been recorded there.

And then a tsunami was added. And in that Diablo Canyon model, the quake hit during a monster storm that was already pushing onto the shore higher waves than had ever been measured at the site.

In contrast, when TEPCO calculated its high-water mark at 18 feet (5.7 meters), the anticipated maximum earthquake was in the same range as others recorded off the coast of Fukushima Dai-ichi — and the only assumption about the water level was that the tsunami arrived at high tide.

Which, as is abundantly clear now, could not have been more wrong.

source of..............http://abcnews.go.com

U.S. Tomahawk Cruise Missiles Hit Targets in Libya

2011-03-28T02:27:00.000+07:00

More than 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles struck over 20 targets inside Libya today in the opening phase of an international military operation the Pentagon said was aimed at stopping attacks led by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and enforcing a U.N.-backed no-fly zone. President Obama, speaking from Brazil shortly after he authorized the missile attacks, said they were part of a "limited military action" to protect the Libyan people.

"I want the American people to know that the use of force is not our first choice and it's not a choice I make lightly," Obama said. "But we cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy."

The first air strikes, in what is being called Operation Odyssey Dawn, were launched from a mix of U.S. surface ships and one British submarine in the Mediterranean Sea at 2 p.m. ET, Vice Adm. William E. Gortney told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

They targeted Libyan air defense missile sites, early warning radar and key communications facilities around Tripoli, Misratah, and Surt, but no areas east of that or near Benghazi. Because of darkness over Libya, Gortney said it was too early to determine the strikes' effectiveness.

Gortney said no U.S. troops were on the ground in Libya and that no U.S. aircraft participated in the initial attacks.

Libyan television reported that 48 people were killed and more than 150 wounded in the barrage, but there was no independent confirmation of the numbers.

Earlier today, as pro-Gadhafi forces battled towards the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, 20 French warplanes flew over the region in a show of force. And one jet fired on and destroyed an unidentified Libyan military vehicle, French Defense officials said.

At one point a fighter jet resembling a Libyan MiG 27 was shot down over the city, according to news reports from inside Libya.

Meanwhile, world leaders met in Paris to discuss the nature and scope of the international military intervention to make Gadhafi respect a U.N. Security Council resolution that authorized "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians.

"We have every reason to fear that left unchecked, Gadhafi would commit unspeakable atrocities," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters following the meeting in Paris. "Further delay will only put more civilians at risk. So let me be very clear on the position of the United States: We will support an international coalition as it takes all necessary measures to enforce" the U.N. resolution.

But Pentagon officials cautioned that despite the initial military actions, an enforced no-fly zone over Libya was not yet in effect and will take time to establish.

"At this point we are creating the conditions to be able to set up a no fly zone, and once we have established and confirmed that the conditions are right then we will move forward into one of the next phases of the campaign," Gortney told reporters.

No U.S. aircraft will be involved in air strikes over Libya tonight, he said. "Our mission right now is to shape the battle space in such a way that our partners may take the lead in…execution."

As the campaign evolves, officials said, U.S. support aircraft would provide airborne surveillance, refueling and radar-jamming capabilities, and several F-16s may participate in patrols over no-fly zones above Tripoli and Benghazi.

Gadhafi Defiant

In an audio statement broadcast on Libyan state TV, Gadhafi called the attacks a "crusade" against the Libyan people and called on Arab countries and African allies to come to his government's aid.

"We ask others to stand by us," he said, according to a translation of his remarks heard on Al Jazeera. "We must now open the weapons depot and arms to all Libyans."

Gadhafi warned the international coalition Friday not to interfere in Libyan affairs, calling the U.N. resolution "invalid" and appealing directly to world leaders, including President Obama, in a letter.

"Libya is not yours. Libya is for the Libyans," he said in the letter. "If you had found them taking over American cities with armed force, tell me what you would do."

Libya Action Follows Failed Diplomacy

Military action in Libya follows weeks of intensive, international diplomatic pressure on Gadhafi to cease the violence and pull back from rebel-held cities.

The Security Council approved a resolution late Thursday authorizing the international community to take "all necessary measures," short of sending in ground troops, to protect civilians in Libya, and to impose a no-fly zone. The resolution does not authorize taking out Gadhafi or regime change.

"The [U.N.] resolution that passed lays out very clear conditions that must be met," Obama said Friday.

"These terms are not subject to negotiation. If Gadhafi does not comply with the resolution, the international community will impose consequences and the resolution will be enforced through military action," he said.

Exactly what role the U.S. military would play in enforcement of the resolution remains unclear.

"We will support an international coalition as it takes all necessary measures to enforce the terms of resolution 1973," Secretary of State Clinton said today in Paris.

But Clinton declined to detail U.S. responsibilities in a supporting an attack, other than to say that the United States would offer "unique capabilities." She emphasized that the United States will not deploy ground troops in Libya.

During a meeting with a bipartisan group of members of Congress Friday, Obama said he expects active U.S. involvement in any military action would last just "days, not weeks," sources told ABC News.

Decision to Use Force Came Tuesday

Sources told ABC News that Obama's decision to support the use of force came Tuesday, following several days of internal administration deliberations and the realization that diplomatic efforts to stop the brutality of Gadhafi's regime weren't working.

Presented with intelligence about the push of the Gadhafi regime to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the president told his national security team, "What we're doing isn't stopping him."

Some in his administration, such as Clinton, had been pushing for stronger action, but it wasn't until Tuesday, administration sources tell ABC News, that the president became convinced sanctions and the threat of a no-fly zone wouldn't be enough.

"We are not going to use force to go beyond a well-defined goal, specifically the protection of civilians in Libya," Obama said Friday.

While the United States has been leading the charge behind the scenes, officials say, the administration deferred public action to the State Department and the United Nations in an effort to emphasize that the mission reflects a broad, international coalition, including support from Arab allies.World Preparing for Military Action Against Libya

Gadhafi's son, Saif, told ABC News via a phone interview that the U.N. resolution is a "big mistake" and that if the United States wants to help, they should in fact help the government.

"We want to live in peace, so we want even Americans to help us get rid of the remnants of those people and to have a peaceful country, more democratic," he said. "If you want to help us, help us to, you know, to be democracy, more freedom, peaceful, not to threaten us with air strikes. We will not be afraid. Come on!"

U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norman Schwartz said Thursday it could take upwards of a week to fully establish a no-fly zone and that public comments by some that it could be done in a few days are "overly optimistic."

He acknowledged there are limited Air Force assets because most of them are in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially transport aircraft.

Last week, Department of National Intelligence director James Clapper said the Libyan air force was large in raw numbers, but only a small number of aircraft were actually flying.

A Pentagon analysis of Libya's air capabilities shows the overall readiness of Libyan aircraft is poor by Western standards and most aircraft are now dated or obsolete in terms of avionics or upgrades. Eighty percent of the air force is judged to be "non-operational and "overhaul and combat repair capability is also limited."

source of.....http://abcnews.go.com