Onvab

New Digital Marketing & Advertising Innovative Ideas: Concept Videos

onvab — Sat, 19 May 2012 10:26:41 PDT

While all of us include most popular methods like Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search & Display Advertising, E-mail marketing, Social Media Marketing…. etc. into our digital marketing strategy, this post gives fresh perspective with some new digital marketing innovations and advertising ideas worth trying for your business. This post will be updated with new digital marketing innovations and advertising ideas so you can come back for more.

Concept Videos

Google’s Project Glass Concept Video Example:

iPad 3 Concept Video example:

Concept videos can give you constructive criticism before the product release.
Concept videos gauge as well as build interest
Concept videos builds the your brand, giving it a “cutting edge” or “cool!” perception

Concept Videos for startups ?

A concept video is a great idea for a start up when two conditions are met:

You can keep costs down
You want feedback from focus group

Tips & suggestions on building your concept video:

Involve the viewers: Google Glasses concept video shows you exactly what the product could do for you by putting the viewer into the lead role of the video.
Highlight the benefits of the features: Show potential users how its features will make the life of the user better.
Isolate the new features (in case you already have a version of the product in market and people already know current features)
Tell a story so that potential users can relate to your product benefits
Create a mechanism to capture leads which allows someone to join a list of updates on the product development

Facebook IPO Facts, Statistics, Share Valuation

onvab — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:39:24 PDT

Facebook’s stock began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the first time as investors were finally able to put a dollar value on the company that turned online social networking into a global cultural phenomenon.

The movement of Facebook IPO Share prices on the first day of trading:

The stock opened at 11:32 a.m. at $42.05 but soon dipped to $38.01.
By noon, stock prices were up again at $40.40, a 6 percent increase.
After all the hype, Facebook’s first day as a public company ended where it began. Its stock closed at $38.23, up 23 cents, after pricing Thursday night at $38 per share.

Interesting Facts on the Facebook IPO:

The closing price means Facebook is worth about $105 billion, more than Amazon.com, McDonalds and storied Silicon Valley icons Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.
By the end of the first day, more than 500 million shares had been traded
Facebook Stocks never hit the double-digit jump on the first day that many Facebook-watchers had expected.
Facebook offered nearly 20 percent of its available stock in the IPO, so there was enough to meet demand. In comparison, Google offered just 7.2 percent of its stock when it went public in 2004 and rose 18 percent on day one.
Facebook’s 28-year-old CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, smiled as he rang the opening bell from Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California
On Thursday, Facebook and the investment bankers settled on a price of $38 per share. The company and its early investors raised $16 billion in the offering, which valued Facebook at $104 billion. That makes Facebook the most valuable U.S. company to ever go public.
Facebook is one of the few profitable Internet companies to go public recently. It had net income of $205 million in the first three months of 2012, on revenue of $1.06 billion. In all of 2011, it earned $1 billion, up from $606 million a year earlier. That’s a far cry from 2007, when it posted a net loss of $138 million and revenue of $153 million. The company makes most of its money from advertising. It also takes a cut from the money people spend on virtual items in Facebook games such as “FarmVille.”
Facebook’s public debut marks a new milestone in the history of the Internet. In 1995, Netscape Communications’ IPO gave people their first chance to invest in a company whose graphical Web browser made the Internet more engaging and easier to navigate.
It took Google’s IPO in 2004 to prove that an Internet company with a disruptive idea could be profitable. In the process, the Internet search leader is forcing other industries to adapt to a new order where people have come to expect to be able to find just about anything they want by entering a few words into a box on any device with an Internet connection.
Since it went public in 2004, Google has spent $10.2 billion buying nearly 200 other companies. Those figures don’t include Google’s still-pending $12.5 billion acquisition of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which is still awaiting regulatory approval in China.
Zuckerberg’s biggest deal so far came when he agreed to buy Instagram, a maker of a popular mobile app for photos, for $1 billion. Because most of the deal is being paid for in stock, Instagram is already getting richer. Based on the $38 price for Facebook’s stock, Instagram is in line to receive nearly $1.2 billion.

World’s Most Powerful Celebrities: Full List

onvab — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:01:36 PDT

Forbes list of Word’s most Powerful Celebrities is a 100-strong list which ranks stars based on a combination of earnings, press coverage and internet presence. According to the recently released list of World’s Most Powerful Celebrities by Forbes:

With $US52 million ($52.47 million) in earnings over the last 12 months and a massive amount of fame, Jennifer Lopez lands at number one on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list for the first time. Up from 50th place last year, her role on the singing contest American Idol is said to have would have contributed greatly to her “power” but it seems the star feels has too much on her plate.
Television presenter Oprah Winfrey stood second on the list of most powerful celebrities. Winfrey was still the most lucrative star, earning $US165 million, although that was well below her $US290 million haul last year.
Justin Bieber stood third
Singer Rihanna stood fourth
Lady Gaga stood atcame in at number five. She was toppled from her number one position last year.

Overall, the earnings power of the top 100 dropped in 2012 to $US4.4 billion from $US4.5 billion.

Forbes World’s Most Powerful Celebrities Full list via:

Rank	Name	Pay	Money Rank	TV/Radio Rank	Press Rank	Web Rank	Social Rank
1	Jennifer Lopez	$52 M	30	10	22	13	19
2	Oprah Winfrey	$165 M	1	1	13	19	18
3	Justin Bieber	$55 M	24	4	9	9	3
4	Rihanna	$53 M	27	23	11	5	2
5	Lady Gaga	$52 M	30	3	1	8	1
6	Britney Spears	$58 M	20	26	34	15	11
7	Kim Kardashian	$18 M	77	5	35	6	16
8	Katy Perry	$45 M	36	21	18	7	4
9	Tom Cruise	$75 M	13	22	26	32	42
10	Steven Spielberg	$130 M	3	38	10	46	80
11	Taylor Swift	$57 M	22	17	42	14	7
12	Tiger Woods	$58 M	20	6	4	25	45
13	Angelina Jolie	$20 M	75	18	16	3	83
14	Donald Trump	$63 M	17	2	29	35	62
15	LeBron James	$53 M	27	7	15	23	22
16	Beyonce Knowles	$40 M	43	9	12	12	9
17	Elton John	$80 M	11	29	32	48	58
18	Simon Cowell	$90 M	9	19	28	84	79
19	Rush Limbaugh	$69 M	15	12	56	31	66
20	Tyler Perry	$105 M	6	51	73	64	30
21	Paul McCartney	$57 M	22	34	25	2	52
22	Jennifer Aniston	$11 M	93	28	41	17	94
23	Glenn Beck	$80 M	11	43	77	58	53
24	Adele	$35 M	53	16	5	20	12
25	Bon Jovi	$60 M	18	62	51	55	17
26	Dr. Dre	$110 M	5	88	82	28	40
27	Kobe Bryant	$50 M	33	32	27	27	26
28	Brad Pitt	$25 M	70	11	8	4	94
29	Ryan Seacrest	$59 M	19	33	74	71	34
30	Howard Stern	$95 M	7	52	87	69	67
31	Roger Federer	$52 M	30	41	2	68	28
32	David Beckham	$46 M	35	44	17	26	6
33	Manny Pacquiao	$67 M	16	47	53	73	51
34	Ellen DeGeneres	$53 M	27	30	48	60	23
35	Michael Bay	$160 M	2	79	68	74	91
36	George Lucas	$90 M	9	70	57	75	94
37	James Patterson	$94 M	8	97	75	90	49
38	Jay-Z	$38 M	48	24	31	16	20
39	Jerry Bruckheimer	$115 M	4	91	90	96	82
40	Peyton Manning	$42 M	41	8	24	57	94
41	David Letterman	$45 M	36	13	46	45	78
42	Sean “Diddy” Combs	$45 M	36	60	67	22	36
43	Kristen Stewart	$34 M	55	61	50	21	63
44	Cristiano Ronaldo	$42 M	41	93	7	38	5
45	Kanye West	$35 M	53	53	40	10	31
46	Leonardo Dicaprio	$37 M	49	49	39	42	38
47	Rafael Nadal	$33 M	58	14	3	54	25
48	Phil Mickelson	$48 M	34	42	33	87	88
49	Toby Keith	$55 M	24	71	86	85	54
50	Lionel Messi	$39 M	46	87	6	40	10
51	Ashton Kutcher	$24 M	72	56	38	18	15
52	Floyd Mayweather	$40 M	43	35	62	77	46
53	Kenny Chesney	$44 M	40	48	80	79	37
54	Dick Wolf	$70 M	14	100	99	100	94
55	Sandra Bullock	$25 M	70	54	64	56	89
56	Johnny Depp	$30 M	62	31	21	1	85
57	Adam Sandler	$37 M	49	57	59	70	13
58	Will Smith	$30 M	62	37	52	43	14
59	Cameron Diaz	$34 M	56	46	47	37	94
60	Tom Brady	$27 M	64	15	14	61	61
61	Gisele Bundchen	$45 M	36	77	88	53	64
62	Mark Burnett	$55 M	24	90	95	99	92
63	Alex Rodriguez	$34 M	56	36	30	65	71
64	Jerry Seinfeld	$40 M	43	58	81	86	69
65	Tom Hanks	$26 M	67	20	36	66	44
66	Stephen King	$39 M	46	81	55	59	76
67	Taylor Lautner	$26 M	66	67	58	36	21
68	Brad Paisley	$32 M	61	39	79	80	41
69	Lil Wayne	$27 M	64	75	63	10	8
70	Dwayne Johnson	$36 M	51	84	72	83	29
71	Maria Sharapova	$26 M	67	59	20	76	33
72	Ben Stiller	$33 M	58	73	65	81	43
73	Khloe Kardashian Odom	$11 M	93	63	92	24	27
74	Seth MacFarlane	$36 M	51	92	94	92	55
75	Charlize Theron	$18 M	77	65	61	34	75
76	Sofia Vergara	$19 M	76	71	100	41	56
77	Serena Williams	$13 M	90	40	19	63	47
78	Alec Baldwin	$15 M	85	27	60	44	70
79	Janet Evanovich	$33 M	58	95	91	97	72
80	Julia Roberts	$16 M	84	45	43	49	77
81	Eva Longoria	$15 M	85	65	69	29	39
82	John Grisham	$26 M	67	89	78	91	48
83	Meryl Streep	$12 M	91	25	23	66	94
84	Tiesto	$23 M	73	98	89	62	24
85	J.K. Rowling	$17 M	83	67	44	50	68
86	Sarah Jessica Parker	$15 M	85	69	49	51	73
87	Li Na	$18 M	77	74	37	94	87
88	Hugh Laurie	$18 M	77	83	70	82	57
89	Reese Witherspoon	$9 M	96	50	54	30	84
90	Jeff Dunham	$22 M	74	96	97	88	32
91	Larry The Cable Guy	$18 M	77	78	82	93	65
92	Skrillex	$15 M	85	98	85	33	35
93	Tina Fey	$11 M	93	54	66	72	81
94	Kate Moss	$9 M	96	86	45	39	74
95	Ray Romano	$18 M	77	85	93	98	93
96	Zooey Deschanel	$9 M	96	80	71	52	50
97	Bethenny Frankel	$12 M	91	82	98	78	60
98	Tim Allen	$14 M	89	76	84	95	86
99	Melissa McCarthy	$6 M	100	64	76	89	90
100	Adriana Lima	$7 M	99	94	96	47	59

Greek Economic Tragedy: Facts, Updates, Global Economic Impact

onvab — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:57:44 PDT

Greek Tragedy may turn into a global economic crisis. Below are facts, updates and all the impacts of this economic crisis globally

A detailed video on the Greek Tragedy Facts & Global Economic Impact

Background of the Greek Economic Tragedy: What is happening in Greece ?

The country is drowning in debt and its economy is shrinking dramatically.
Politicians elected this month have failed to strike an alliance to form a government, so new elections will be held in June.
With no functioning government, Greece may fail to meet budgetary commitments – a trigger for it to be thrown out of the eurozone.

Impact of the Greece Leaving Eurozone on Greece: What will happen ?

It would need its own currency and likely reinstate the drachma.
The Greeks would see an immense fall in the value of their assets in global terms as the currency would depreciate rapidly.

Impact of the Greek Tragedy on Europe: What does it mean for Europe?

Investors around the globe will almost certainly switch their attention to fellow eurozone bailout countries Portugal and Ireland while Spain and Italy would also come under renewed pressure.
Greece’s exit may “stop the rot”, it may also mark the beginning of a collapse of the currency union.

Greek Tragedy Global Impact: How it effects the world ?

Global markets have become a hostage to developments in the eurozone and this means another lengthy period of volatility.
This will hurt China’s growth prospects and send commodity prices down further, hitting the local share market – and by extension, superannuation funds.

More Details on the Greek Tragedy: Where it all started:

In the recent general elections, the Greeks ousted the two parties that ruled them for the last 40 years and elected a coalition of left parties that rejects such austerity measures as cuts in wages, salaries, pensions and welfare projects, the privatization of national assets and unachievable debt repayments — measures that have pauperized Greece. Sadly, the political parties have failed to form a government and Greece is heading towards another election in June
The Socialist Party led by G. Papandreou, which came to power in 2009, exposed the hypocrisy of its predecessor that had lied about the fiscal condition to gain and retain Euro membership. In May 2010, the new government managed to obtain a rescue aid worth 110 billion euros from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union in lieu of austerity conditions. Greece, which was already in mild recession, landed in a deeper one, with falling household income and consumption, less private investment (because business foresaw fall in demand) and little public investment as most of the aid was spent in debt repayments as dictated by the lenders. This worsened Greece’s debt position which is fixed, and national income and tax revenue fell. The result is there for all to see — 16.5 per cent of the bank deposits withdrawn in 2011, economy contracting by 15 per cent since the beginning of the recession, unemployment at a record 22 per cent, real wages down by a quarter since 2010 and youth joblessness at above 50 per cent.
Eurozone being a single currency union within the free trade area EU, Greece can’t devalue to regain competitiveness or put up trade barriers against stronger Euro economies that are its major trade partners. So, over time, Greece has accumulated a huge trade deficit while its trade partners piled up surplus. Thus, Greece has to borrow at exorbitant rates to repay its loans. It is, of course, baffling as to why the IMF and EU are hell-bent on imposing such conditions that are harming the economy unless we understand that it is not Greece that is being rescued but the European and American banks that had lent recklessly to Greece because they had been saddled with excess cash.
Since the euro nations are at various levels of development and productivity without tax and spend transfers, underpinned with a conservative central bank that cannot act as the lender of the last resort, the Eurozone has long been a disaster waiting to happen. It is unlikely to survive in its present form. For its architects, the euro was to be the catalyst for the deeper integration that they felt was essential for European companies to compete on a global scale. And they found the post-September 2008 crisis as a godsend to create a fiscal union and an economic government that they had long dreamt of. Greece is being pushed into a ‘death spiral’, which would eventually oust it from the euro club. The same fate awaits Portugal, Ireland and, possibly, Spain.

Brain Teasers & Puzzles With Answers & Analysis

onvab — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:08:14 PDT

Below are 10 brain teaser puzzles to test your mental ability. The answers to these brain teasers and puzzles are given below along with an analysis of these:

Johnny’s mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child’s name?
A clerk at a butcher shop stands five feet ten inches tall and wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?
Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?
How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?
What word in the English language is always spelled incorrectly?
Billie was born on December 28th, yet her birthday always falls in the summer. How is this possible?
In British Columbia you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not?
If you were running a race and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?
Which is correct to say, “The yolk of the egg is white” or “The yolk of the egg are white?”
A farmer has five haystacks in one field and four haystacks in another. How many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in one field?

Answers

1. Johnny.
2. Meat.
3. Mt. Everest. It just wasn’t discovered yet.
4. There is no dirt in a hole.
5. Incorrectly (except when it is spelled incorrecktly).
6. Billie lives in the southern hemisphere.
7. You can’t take a picture with a wooden leg. You need a camera (or iPad or cell phone) to take a picture.
8. You would be in 2nd place. You passed the person in second place, not first.
9. Neither. Egg yolks are yellow.
10. One. If he combines all his haystacks, they all become one big stack.

An Analysis of the above brain teasers and puzzles

The above brain teasers and puzzles illustrate several brain idiosyncrasies that affect how we make decisions in the world.
We have a very strong tendency to see what we want to see and what we expect to see.
When we only see what we want or expect to see, we miss competitive threats because our brain tells us a threat couldn’t possibly come from that direction. We miss opportunities because we only see what has worked in the past rather than what could be. And we miss major market shifts and changes in customer needs that seem obvious in hindsight but are easily overlooked when focusing on what we already know.
Our brain doesn’t like information gaps, so we tend to jump at the first answer/solution that looks good rather than take the time to examine all the data. This is especially true in a world where we receive more information every day than we have time to assimilate.
Our brains love to see patterns and make connections. This trait serves us well in many ways as we move through the world. But the brain doesn’t always get it right. For example, how did you answer question #1 (be honest)? For most people, the first word that pops into their head is “June,” because the brain quickly spots the April/May/June pattern. Upon re-reading the question and analyzing the data, the answer “Johnny” becomes obvious. And what about the man with the wooden leg? Your answer depends on how you interpret “with.” Does it refer to the man with the wooden leg or to the camera? A bit of a trick question, but it clearly illustrates how the language we use shapes the way we look at the world. Perhaps the best example of how we miss things is the egg yolk question. Everybody knows egg yolks are yellow. But the question’s phrasing puts our attention on selecting the correct verb, so we overlook an obvious piece of data and an even more obvious answer.

Digital Marketing & Advertising Trends & Statistics: Google Vs. Facebook

onvab — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:24:14 PDT

According to recent statistics released by WordStream, a search marketing management company:

Facebook is a much less effective ad medium than Google.
Facebook has less reach, and its individual ads are less effective, than old fashioned web advertising
The average click-through rate for an ad on the internet generally is just 0.1 percent. At Facebook, it’s even lower: 0.051 percent. Google’s CTR is 0.4 percent.
Total Reach for Facebook is 51% of all internet users and Google: 90% of all internet users
Q1 2012 Revenues for Facebook were $1.06 billion, down 6.5 percent year on year and down 32 percent sequentially. For Google it was $2.9 billion, up 1 percent year on year and up 0.7 percent sequentially.
Targeting options on Facebook: Education, Workplace, Likes, Location, Demographics On Google: Interest, Keywords, Remarketing, Location, Demographics, Formats
Facebook advertising options: standard display ad, Sponsored Stories, Google advertising options: Text ads, image ads, video text overlay ads, mobile web game ads

Mobile Phones Sales & Usage Trends & Statistics

onvab — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:39:17 PDT

According to a recent report by Gartner:

First time since the second quarter of 2009, the mobile phone market declined: Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached 419.1 million units in the first quarter of 2012, a 2 per cent decline from the first quarter of 2011.
Samsung became the world’s top mobile handset vendor: during the quarter, displacing Nokia which had held the No. 1 spot since 1998. Samsung’s mobile phone sales reached 86.6 million units (see Table 1), a 25.9 percent increase from last year. Samsung took back the world’s No. 1 smartphone position from Apple, selling 38 million smartphones worldwide. In addition, Samsung’s Android-based smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2012 represented more than 40 percent of Android-based smartphone sales worldwide; no other vendors achieved more than a 10 percent share of the market.

Table 1
Worldwide Mobile Device Sales to End Users by Vendor in 1Q12 (Thousands of Units)

Company	1Q12 Units	1Q12 Market Share (%)	1Q11 Units	1Q11 Market Share (%)
Samsung	86,567.6	20.7	68,782.0	16.1
Nokia	83,162.5	19.8	107,556.1	25.1
Apple	33,120.5	7.9	16,883.2	3.9
ZTE	17,439.3	4.2	10,788.7	2.5
LG	14,720.4	3.5	23,997.2	5.6
Huawei Device	10,796.1	2.6	7,002.9	1.6
Research in Motion	9,939.3	2.4	13,004.0	3.0
Motorola	8,368.2	2.0	8,789.7	2.1
Sony Mobile Communications	7,898.4	1.9	7,919.4	1.9
HTC	7,703.4	1.8	9,313.5	2.2
Others	139,392.6	33.3	153,809.0	35.9
Total	419,108.3	100.0	427,845.7	100.0

Source: Gartner (May 2012)

Smartphone sales trends & statistics: Sales of smartphones continued to drive mobile device market growth, reaching 144.4 million units in the first quarter of 2012, up 44.7 percent year-over-year. This quarter also saw the top two smartphone vendors, Apple and Samsung, raising their combined share to 49.3 percent, up from 29.3 percent in the first quarter of 2011, and widening their lead over Nokia – which saw its smartphone market share drop to 9.2 percent.
Nokia sales trends & statistics: Nokia’s mobile handset sales reached 83.2 million units, a 22.7 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2011.
Apple iPhone Sales: Driven by the continued success of the iPhone 4S, Apple’s sales grew 96.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012 as the new model expanded into new markets and carriers. Sales in China were particularly strong this quarter. With more than 5 million units, China became the second-largest market for Apple after the U.S. On top of the sales through official carriers’ channels, there was an increase in trans-shipments from Hong Kong where volume has been growing over the past few quarters to reach a sell-in of more than 3 million units.
BlackBerry Sales Trends & Statistics: RIM sold 9.9 million mobile handsets in the first quarter of 2012, with its global share declining to 2.4 percent as competition increased in its international market strongholds.
Smartphone OS Market Trends: In the smartphone OS market, Android accounted for more than half of all smartphone sales (56.1 percent) in the first quarter of 2012 (see Table 2).

Table 2
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 1Q12 (Thousands of Units)

Operating System	1Q12 Units	1Q12 Market Share (%)	1Q11 Units	1Q11 Market Share (%)
Android	81,067.4	56.1	36,350.1	36.4
iOS	33,120.5	22.9	16,883.2	16.9
Symbian	12,466.9	8.6	27,598.5	27.7
Research In Motion	9,939.3	6.9	13,004.0	13.0
Bada	3,842.2	2.7	1,862.2	1.9
Microsoft	2,712.5	1.9	2,582.1	2.6
Others	1,242.9	0.9	1,495.0	1.5
Total	144,391.7	100.0	99,775.0	100.0

Source: Gartner (May 2012)

[Via]

Democratic Business Practices: Real Company Cases

onvab — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:37:09 PDT

Below are some real cases where businesses have truly empowered their employees through innovative democratic workplace practices & initiatives

Achievers is a social recognition and rewards platform. The company practices the democratic principle of accountability by having a huge “Master Plan Board” in the office with each person’s name by the task for which they are responsible. The Master Plan is for their fiscal year and is developed based on feedback from employees, clients and the entire senior leadership team.
Location: Toronto, Canada
Industry: Software

Chaordix is the global standard in crowdsourced market intelligence. The company practices the democratic principle of dialogue and listening by using their crowdsourcing technology internally as well as externally.
Location: Alberta, Canada.
Industry: Internet

Dreamhost provides customizable and affordable web hosting services.The company practices the democratic principle of decentralization by having no formal CEO. Instead, they have decentralized responsibility into a ten-person management board. A set of voting procedures has been developed to handle decision-making among the group and each senior manager is responsible for their area of the company and their part of the plan developed by the group.
Location: Brea, CA
Industry: Internet

Dyn (pronounced ‘dine’) is an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) leader with over 14 million users. The company practices the democratic principle of individual and collective by soliciting ideas from their employees through an internal version of Pinterest before moving into their new 25,000 square foot facility. In the last year since fine tuning their democratic management, the company has increased annual revenue from $10 million to $17 million, opened offices on the West Coast and in Europe, and more than doubled their employee count.
Location: Manchester, NH
Industry: Internet

HCL Technologies is a $3 billion IT company with over 90,000 employees and operations in over 25 countries globally. The company practices the democratic principle of individual and collective by inviting any employee at any time to create an electronic “ticket” to flag anything they think requires action in the company. It can be, “I have a problem with my bonus,” or” ‘My seat is not working,” or “My boss stinks.” The ticket is routed to a manager for resolution, but the ticket can only be “closed” by the employees themselves.
Location: Noida, India
Industry: Computer Services

Integritive is a web design and web development company. The company practices the democratic principle of purpose plus vision by having a weekly management team huddle and reading through their purpose, vision and values statements. Whenever someone can recite all three from memory they are applauded.
Location: Asheville, NC
Industry: Internet

Menlo Innovations is a software development company with a vision to end human suffering as it relates to technology. The company practices the democratic principle of reflection and evaluation by allowing employees to request their own “peer review” sessions. Their peers determine if an employee advances or not or gets a raise. They also have a large sign that reads, “Make Mistakes Faster”, reminding employees to be bold and to not have fear of making mistakes.
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Industry: Software

Mojo Interactive provides user-friendly Internet technologies that connect people. The company practices the democratic principle of integrity through every employee upholding the “Mojo Principles and Promises” agreement. They apply the pledge to their management team, employees, partners and even vendors.
Location: Orlando, FL
Industry: Internet

Nearsoft is a product software development service. The company practices the democratic principle of a accountability through their use of a 360-degree review system to gather information and give feedback to their self-managed client teams. The decision of what to do with this information is up to the team.
Location: San Jose, CA
Industry: Software

Podio is an online work platform trusted by thousands of teams, companies and organizations worldwide. The company practices the democratic principle of decentralization through their Podio tool, which gives individuals the power to get their work done the way they want to, without it being prescribed by other people or limited by technology tools.
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Industry: Software

Productivity Associates
Location: San Diego, CA

Productivity Associates, provides contact center outsourcing. The company practices the democratic principle of purpose plus vision by constantly striving towards their vision, which is posted in their lobby. They do this through daily interactions on a business level, with the clients they support, and outside vendors.
Industry: Computer Associates

Quick Left is a software development consultancy, specializing in web development and design. The company practices the democratic principle of accountability by having everyone manage their own projects. Developers converse directly with clients through project leads, code reviews and weekly check-ins.
Location: Boulder, CO
Industry: Software

Rypple is a real-time performance feedback software system used by hundreds of companies globally. The company practices the democratic principle of reflection and evaluation through their Rypple tool, which enables real-time performance feedback to employees.
Location: Toronto, Canada
Industry: Internet

SAYS is a technology company with a growing community of over 300,000 Malaysian social media users. The company practices the democratic principle of choice through “Level-Ups”, where job descriptions of an individual are co-written with team members. Team members can also ‘swap’ roles to ‘test it out’. This has resulted in micro-innovations within existing roles and the discovery of new individual
Location: Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Industry: Internet

TakingITGlobal is the world’s largest online community of youth interested in global issues and creating positive change. TakingITGlobal practices the democratic principle of purpose plus vision through a recently completed intensive and inclusive strategic planning process, which redefined the organization’s direction and purpose.
Location: Toronto, Canada
Industry: Internet

Complete List of World’s Top 100 Billionaires

onvab — Sun, 13 May 2012 08:32:37 PDT

What is the Forbes List of World’s List of World’s Billionaires all about ?

Forbes began the pursuit of the world’s billionaires list 25 years ago.
More than 50 reporters in 16 countries worked on compiling the list of world’s billionaires this year, valuing individuals’ public holdings, private companies, real estate, yachts, art and cash.
Net worths were locked in using stock prices and exchange rates from Feb. 14.

Some Interesting and noticeable trends about the Forbes List of World’s Billionaires List – 2012

By the number of billionaires: This year’s list of World’s Top Billionaires lists 1,226 billionaires, an all-time high.
By the net worth of various billionaires: The combined net worth of the group stands at $4.6 trillion in 2012, 2% higher than previous year, with average worth of a billionaire in the 2012 list being $3.7 billion.
By the countries / geographical spread: The billionaires in this list come from 58 different countries. U.S: 425 (12 more than last year), Russia: 96 (last year 101), mainland China: 95 (last year 115), BRIC nations have 26 fewer ten-figure fortunes from an year ago (only Brazil adding on previous year)
The Ups & Downs: Almost as many list members lost wealth (441) as those who gained it (460). Only 180 held steady. Innovation, a rebounding Dow and vibrant IPO markets helped mint 128 new names like Glencore’s Ivan Glasenberg (No. 125) and Tesla’s Elon Musk (No. 634). Slumping commodities and Asian markets knocked 117 out of the ranks. Another 12 members from the 2011 list passed away, including buyout titan Teddy Forstmann and Apple’s Steve Jobs (wife Laurene Powell Jobs takes his spot). There was a net increase of 16 billionaires, up from 2010 in 2011.

Below is the complete list of World’s top billionaires.

Rank	Name	Net Worth	Age	Company / Industry	Country of Citizenship
1	Carlos Slim Helu & family	$69 B	72	telecom	Mexico
2	Bill Gates	$61 B	56	Microsoft	United States
3	Warren Buffett	$44 B	81	Berkshire Hathaway	United States
4	Bernard Arnault	$41 B	63	LVMH	France
5	Amancio Ortega	$37.5 B	75	Zara	Spain
6	Larry Ellison	$36 B	67	Oracle	United States
7	Eike Batista	$30 B	55	mining, oil	Brazil
8	Stefan Persson	$26 B	64	H&M	Sweden
9	Li Ka-shing	$25.5 B	83	diversified	Hong Kong
10	Karl Albrecht	$25.4 B	92	Aldi	Germany
11	Christy Walton & family	$25.3 B	57	Wal-Mart	United States
12	Charles Koch	$25 B	76	diversified	United States
12	David Koch	$25 B	71	diversified	United States
14	Sheldon Adelson	$24.9 B	78	casinos	United States
15	Liliane Bettencourt	$24 B	89	L’Oreal	France
16	Jim Walton	$23.7 B	64	Wal-Mart	United States
17	Alice Walton	$23.3 B	62	Wal-Mart	United States
18	S. Robson Walton	$23.1 B	68	Wal-Mart	United States
19	Mukesh Ambani	$22.3 B	54	petrochemicals, oil & gas	India
20	Michael Bloomberg	$22 B	70	Bloomberg LP	United States
21	Lakshmi Mittal	$20.7 B	61	steel	India
22	George Soros	$20 B	81	hedge funds	United States
23	Michele Ferrero & family	$19 B	85	chocolates	Italy
24	Sergey Brin	$18.7 B	38	Google	United States
24	Larry Page	$18.7 B	39	Google	United States
26	Jeff Bezos	$18.4 B	48	Amazon.com	United States
27	Thomas & Raymond Kwok & family	$18.3 B	0	real estate	Hong Kong
28	Alisher Usmanov	$18.1 B	58	steel, telecom, investments	Russia
29	Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud	$18 B	57	investments	Saudi Arabia
29	Lee Shau Kee	$18 B	84	diversified	Hong Kong
29	Georgina Rinehart	$18 B	58	Mining	Australia
32	Berthold & Theo Jr. Albrecht	$17.8 B	0	Aldi, Trader Joe’s	Germany
32	Iris Fontbona & family	$17.8 B	69	mining	Chile
34	Michael Otto & family	$17.6 B	68	retail, real estate	Germany
35	David Thomson & family	$17.5 B	54	media	Canada
35	Mark Zuckerberg	$17.5 B	27	Facebook	United States
37	Ricardo Salinas Pliego & family	$17.4 B	56	retail, media	Mexico
38	Alberto Bailleres Gonzalez & family	$16.5 B	80	mining	Mexico
39	Rinat Akhmetov	$16 B	45	steel, coal	Ukraine
39	Cheng Yu-tung	$16 B	86	diversified	Hong Kong
41	Michael Dell	$15.9 B	47	Dell	United States
41	Vladimir Lisin	$15.9 B	55	steel, transport	Russia
41	Azim Premji	$15.9 B	66	software	India
44	Steve Ballmer	$15.7 B	56	Microsoft	United States
45	Alexei Mordashov	$15.3 B	46	steel, investments	Russia
46	Vladimir Potanin	$14.5 B	51	metals	Russia
47	Phil Knight	$14.4 B	74	Nike	United States
48	Paul Allen	$14.2 B	59	Microsoft, investments	United States
48	German Larrea Mota Velasco & family	$14.2 B	58	mining	Mexico
50	Carl Icahn	$14 B	76	leveraged buyouts	United States
50	Birgit Rausing & family	$14 B	88	packaging	Sweden
52	Forrest Mars Jr	$13.8 B	80	candy	United States
52	Jacqueline Mars	$13.8 B	72	candy	United States
52	John Mars	$13.8 B	75	candy	United States
52	Joseph Safra	$13.8 B	73	banking	Brazil
56	Vagit Alekperov	$13.5 B	61	Lukoil	Russia
57	Mikhail Fridman	$13.4 B	47	oil, banking, telecom	Russia
58	Mikhail Prokhorov	$13.2 B	46	investments	Russia
59	Susanne Klatten	$13 B	49	BMW, pharmaceuticals	Germany
59	Francois Pinault & family	$13 B	75	retail	France
61	Mohammed Al Amoudi	$12.5 B	67	oil, diversified	Saudi Arabia
61	Anne Cox Chambers	$12.5 B	92	media	United States
61	John Paulson	$12.5 B	56	hedge funds	United States
64	Robert Kuok	$12.4 B	88	diversified	Malaysia
64	Luis Carlos Sarmiento	$12.4 B	79	banking	Colombia
64	Viktor Vekselberg	$12.4 B	54	oil, metals	Russia
67	Antonio Ermirio de Moraes & family	$12.2 B	83	diversified	Brazil
68	Roman Abramovich	$12.1 B	45	steel, investments	Russia
69	Donald Bren	$12 B	79	real estate	United States
69	Jorge Paulo Lemann	$12 B	72	beer	Brazil
69	Ronald Perelman	$12 B	69	leveraged buyouts	United States
72	Len Blavatnik	$11.9 B	54	diversified	United States
72	Leonid Mikhelson	$11.9 B	56	gas, chemicals	Russia
74	Leonardo Del Vecchio	$11.5 B	76	eyewear	Italy
75	John Fredriksen	$11.3 B	67	shipping	Cyprus
76	Aliko Dangote	$11.2 B	54	sugar, flour, cement	Nigeria
76	Stefan Quandt	$11.2 B	45	BMW	Germany
78	Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor & family	$11 B	60	real estate	United Kingdom
78	Harold Hamm	$11 B	66	oil & gas	United States
80	Savitri Jindal & family	$10.9 B	62	steel	India
81	Andrey Melnichenko	$10.8 B	40	coal, fertilizers	Russia
82	James Simons	$10.7 B	73	hedge funds	United States
83	Ernesto Bertarelli & family	$10.6 B	46	biotech, investments	Switzerland
84	Jack Taylor & family	$10.4 B	89	Enterprise Rent-A-Car	United States
85	Abigail Johnson	$10.3 B	50	Fidelity	United States
86	Robin Li	$10.2 B	43	Technology	China
86	Eliodoro, Bernardo & Patricia Matte	$10.2 B	0	paper	Chile
88	Ray Dalio	$10 B	62	hedge funds	United States
88	George Kaiser	$10 B	69	oil & gas, banking	United States
88	Johanna Quandt	$10 B	85	BMW	Germany
88	Hans Rausing	$10 B	86	packaging	Sweden
88	Tadashi Yanai & family	$10 B	63	retail	Japan
93	Serge Dassault & family	$9.9 B	86	aviation	France
93	Ananda Krishnan	$9.9 B	73	telecoms	Malaysia
95	Klaus-Michael Kuhne	$9.8 B	74	shipping	Germany
96	Pallonji Mistry	$9.7 B	82	construction	Ireland
97	Alejandro Santo Domingo Davila	$9.5 B	35	beer	Colombia
98	Horst Paulmann & family	$9.3 B	77	retail	Chile
99	Gennady Timchenko	$9.1 B	59	oil & gas	Russia
100	Laurene Powell Jobs & family	$9 B	48	Apple, Disney	United State

Indian Parliament Facts, Statistics, Important Historical Events & Timeline

onvab — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:07:51 PDT

Below are some interesting facts and statistics about the Indian Parliament

First chairman of Rajya Sabha – S Radhakrishnan.
First Speaker of Lok Sabha – GV Mavalankar.
First Lok Sabha meeting was on May 13, 1952.
First Lok Sabha held 677 sittings for about 3,784 hours.
Around 48.8 per cent of time of first Lok Sabha was used for legislative business.
Percentage of graduates has increased from 58 per cent in 1952 to 79 per cent in 2009 (includes post-graduate and doctoral degrees).
Women constitute 11 per cent of members in the 15th Lok Sabha. In comparison, only 5 per cent of MPs in the first Lok Sabha were women.
In the first Lok Sabha, there was no MP over the age of 70. This number has risen to 7 per cent in the current Lok Sabha.
The first Lok Sabha passed an average of 72 bills each year. This has decreased to 40 in the 15th Lok Sabha.
Parliament passed 118 bills in 1976. This was the highest number of bills passed by Parliament in a single year.
The lowest number of bills was passed in 2004 when only 18 bills were passed by Parliament.
Lok Sabha met for an average 127 days in the 1950s and Rajya Sabha for 93 days. This has decreased to 73 days for both houses in 2011.

More Historical Facts about the Indian Parliament House

Indian Parliament house was originally known as Council House
Indian Parliaments was planned initially as a part of Rashtrapati Bhavan
In 1919, under Montague-Chelmsford reforms, it was designed as Indian parliament
Indian Parliament was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker
Various designs were initially planned – from triangular to a Roman colosseum-like . This paved way for its present circular design
The Parliament house has more than 200 pillars and is 500-foot in diameter
Foundation stone of the Parliament house was laid on February 12, 1921 by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria
It is spread over six acres
Its height is 36 metres in height
It took 6 years to build the Indian Parliament house
Lok Sabha chamber has a floor area of 446 sqm
Black marble used in columns of chambers of the two houses came from Gaya
White-hued marble lining walls of Library Hall from Makrana
Teak and other wooden material for doors came from Assam and Burma
Rosewood brought from South India

Some Important Events in the History of Indian Parliament on the Timeline

1955 – Protection of Civil Rights (Anti-Untouchability) Act major step to make caste discrimination against Dalits a punishable act
Dec 16, 1971 – PM Indira Gandhi informed Parliament about surrender of Pakistan Army in Bangladesh. “Dacca is the free capital of a free country”, she said
Indo-Soviet Treaty, 1971 - Vital to Indian interests during Bangladesh liberation. In 1973, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev addressed Parliament
Simla pact July 3, 1972 - Indian Parliament formally ratified agreement on August 10, 1973, making pact bedrock of negotiations with Pakistan
Anti-defection law in 1985 – During Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as PM, this was the first law, even though not perfect, aimed at curbing horse trading
1988 – Passage of legislation to lower voting age to 18
Feb 22, 1994 – Parliament unanimously adopted resolution saying Pakistan must vacate areas of J&K and resolved all attempts to interfere in India’s internal affairs will be met resolutely
1991-96 – Shivraj Patil’s tenure as Speaker. Televising of parliamentary proceedings began during this time
1999 – Advent of coalition politics after BJP won a slender majority with AIADMK support
2005 – Passage of the Right to Information Act in June this year. This proved to a game changer for governance
2009 – Right to Education passed by Parliament in August, makes primary education a universal right

Some Infamous Events in the History of Indian Parliament on the Timeline

1948 – A scandal in purchase of jeeps for the Army led to a furore in Parliament
1950s – Haridas Mundhra scandal: A stock market fiddle in forged shares by Kolkata industrialist-speculator Mundhra led to the resignation of finance minister T T Krishnamachari
1969 – Indira Gandhi’s support to V V Giri as independent presidential candidate led to defeat of Congress’s official nominee N Sanjeeva Reddy. This split Congress
1971 – Someone identified as Rustom Nagarwala called SBI’s Parliament Street branch. Chief cashier V P Malhotra heard the “voice of PM Indira Gandhi” instructing him to withdraw Rs 60 lakh and give it to a “Bangladeshi”. Opposition created a furore
Nov 18, 1977 – LS expelled Indira from House for breaching parliamentary privilege.
On Dec 19, 1978, Parliament rescinded motion by a resolution
1986 – President Zail Singh withheld assent to Postal Bill. This showed if ties between the PM and Rashtrapati Bhawan soured, legislation could be delayed
Nov 7, 1990 – For the first time, a trust motion was defeated resulting in the fall of V P Singh’s government
Dec 13, 2001 – Terrorists target Parliament. Attack foiled, but eight people were killed

2005 – A sting led to expulsion of 11 MPs in cash for questions scandal. SC upheld decision to expel 10 RS members and one LS member
July 22, 2008 – Three BJP members produced two bags of cash in LS to claim an attempt had been made to bribe them over a trust motion moved by the UPA