Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Experience a New Way to Get Your News and Save Time
I'm not a news junkie, although at one time one could say I was having spent several years as a documentary photographer. These days I find my stomach turning as I watch the many 'Barbie and Ken' newsreaders putting on airs of journalism, and so I often times miss stories of interest.
Okay, all that aside I recently read a post on www.makeusof.com about ways to enhance and energize following the news. Here are a couple of news gathering sites to tickle your fancy:
Spectra (http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/components/spectra/index.html) is presenting a whole new way of reading the news. Instead of scanning a vertical page, you flip through headlines and images to find out what story you’re most interested in reading. You can choose the channels that interest you - Sports, Technology, Politics, and the like - and then flip through that day’s MSNBC headlines with Spectra. If you only want news on a particular topic, you can search headlines by word. Clicking on a headline will take you to the full story, and you can save or share stories right from Spectra.
The Newsmap (http://marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm) is essentially a mashup of newspapers with social media. Using Google News, Newsmap aggregates stories, and presents headlines based on the number of stories reported on a given issue. The larger the headline, the more press it’s being given. If you’ve only got about 10 seconds, but want to get a sense of what’s going on in the world, Newsmap’s the way to do it. The stories are colored by topic, sized by popularity, and darkened by relevance - dark squares are older stories.
You can sort the results by category (Business, Entertainment, Nation, etc.), or by country around the world. Newsmap’s a great way to compare what the world is talking about, and to see in a simple and visual way what’s going on in your country and around the world. Watercooler preparation’s never been so easy.
So go ahead and have some fun with these sites and let me know what you discover!
Okay, all that aside I recently read a post on www.makeusof.com about ways to enhance and energize following the news. Here are a couple of news gathering sites to tickle your fancy:
Spectra (http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/components/spectra/index.html) is presenting a whole new way of reading the news. Instead of scanning a vertical page, you flip through headlines and images to find out what story you’re most interested in reading. You can choose the channels that interest you - Sports, Technology, Politics, and the like - and then flip through that day’s MSNBC headlines with Spectra. If you only want news on a particular topic, you can search headlines by word. Clicking on a headline will take you to the full story, and you can save or share stories right from Spectra.
The Newsmap (http://marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm) is essentially a mashup of newspapers with social media. Using Google News, Newsmap aggregates stories, and presents headlines based on the number of stories reported on a given issue. The larger the headline, the more press it’s being given. If you’ve only got about 10 seconds, but want to get a sense of what’s going on in the world, Newsmap’s the way to do it. The stories are colored by topic, sized by popularity, and darkened by relevance - dark squares are older stories.
You can sort the results by category (Business, Entertainment, Nation, etc.), or by country around the world. Newsmap’s a great way to compare what the world is talking about, and to see in a simple and visual way what’s going on in your country and around the world. Watercooler preparation’s never been so easy.
So go ahead and have some fun with these sites and let me know what you discover!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
I read this post and thought it important enough to share since these days everyone is working to grow their wealth 'slowly' and 'with determination'.
Avoid these Five Common Credit Card Company Tricks By Adam Pash,
Even if you've tried reading the fine print from your credit card company, it's rarely obvious what it all means. Weblog Get Rich Slowly takes pity on us, breaking down five common tricks to watch for.
The post breaks down five promises, explaining the trap set up by each promise, then detailing you can avoid it. For example:
Promise #3: “0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months!”The Trap: Two-fold. First off, it’s almost impossible these days to transfer a credit card balance without paying 3% of the balance upfront. Transfer $5000 and you’ll pay $150 before we even start talking about paying down the balance.
Second, almost all card companies take your payments and apply them first to balances with the lowest interest rate. Say you transfer $1000 to a card at 0%. The card’s interest rate on new purchases is 13.99%. This month you buy $500 worth of stuff with the card, then pay $500 when the bill comes. Do you still have a $1000 balance at 0%? No, you have a $500 balance at 0% and a $500 balance at $13.99%! Why? Because your $500 payment went toward the balance sitting at 0%, not toward the balance sitting at the 13.99%.
Your Plan: A couple of options. The easy thing to do would be to swear off credit for a bit — transfer the balance then don’t use the card until it is paid off. (You’d stilll get hit with the 3% fee, but it might be worth it if you had a high interest rate on your old card.)
If you have decent credit and a little more self control, you could get a new credit card that offers a 0% rate on purchases for 12 months, then use it while you pay off your old card’s balance. By doing so, you focus on paying off your high-interest debt while floating new purchases at 0%. If you follow my logic, this is very similar to transferring your balance at 0% but without the fee. Either way, recognize that the 0% rate doesn’t last forever and the bill eventually comes due.
Remember in these times that the old 'rules of the game' no longer apply yet there are many holdovers seeking to help you lighten your wallet...so take care!
Ron
Avoid these Five Common Credit Card Company Tricks By Adam Pash,
Even if you've tried reading the fine print from your credit card company, it's rarely obvious what it all means. Weblog Get Rich Slowly takes pity on us, breaking down five common tricks to watch for.
The post breaks down five promises, explaining the trap set up by each promise, then detailing you can avoid it. For example:
Promise #3: “0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months!”The Trap: Two-fold. First off, it’s almost impossible these days to transfer a credit card balance without paying 3% of the balance upfront. Transfer $5000 and you’ll pay $150 before we even start talking about paying down the balance.
Second, almost all card companies take your payments and apply them first to balances with the lowest interest rate. Say you transfer $1000 to a card at 0%. The card’s interest rate on new purchases is 13.99%. This month you buy $500 worth of stuff with the card, then pay $500 when the bill comes. Do you still have a $1000 balance at 0%? No, you have a $500 balance at 0% and a $500 balance at $13.99%! Why? Because your $500 payment went toward the balance sitting at 0%, not toward the balance sitting at the 13.99%.
Your Plan: A couple of options. The easy thing to do would be to swear off credit for a bit — transfer the balance then don’t use the card until it is paid off. (You’d stilll get hit with the 3% fee, but it might be worth it if you had a high interest rate on your old card.)
If you have decent credit and a little more self control, you could get a new credit card that offers a 0% rate on purchases for 12 months, then use it while you pay off your old card’s balance. By doing so, you focus on paying off your high-interest debt while floating new purchases at 0%. If you follow my logic, this is very similar to transferring your balance at 0% but without the fee. Either way, recognize that the 0% rate doesn’t last forever and the bill eventually comes due.
Remember in these times that the old 'rules of the game' no longer apply yet there are many holdovers seeking to help you lighten your wallet...so take care!
Ron
Monday, January 26, 2009
Joining the Social Media Revolution
Ok, so after attending a fabulous Social Networking seminar this past weekend I'm throwing in the towel and joining the frey. I finally 'got' what it is all about and how it will benefit both my business and personal networking objectives. Being human, isn't that what society is all about?
Any thoughts, suggestions, support or comments anyone wants to share with me....please do!
Any thoughts, suggestions, support or comments anyone wants to share with me....please do!
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