Making Money Online Forum

Blogger Andrew Trench recently presented a theory on the threshold of when Internet penetration starts to matter, writing:

Social networks have also been given plenty of credit for the revolution unfolding in Egypt.

So I went and had a look at the numbers over on www.internetworldstats.com to see what they could tell us about these two scenarios. Well, fascinatingly, both Egypt and Tunisia have seen a massive growth in internet users and internet penetration over the last 10 years.

Both have now got internet penetration of over 20% and in Tunisia's case it was as high as 34%.

While it is clearly simplistic to over-state this factor and there must be many more drivers contributing to such a rapid political uprising, it is obviously a factor as evidenced by the Egyptian regime pulling the plug on the country's internet access to try and block the rising tide of revolt.

My back-of-napkin theory is this: that a rapid increase in internet penetration in a repressive regime does play an important role as it provides an unfettered channel of communication allowing disaffected citizens to share views - and more importantly - to rapidly organise and mobilise.

If Egypt and Tunisia are valid case studies, it looks like internet penetration of around 20% is the mark.

Geopolitics & Macroeconomics adds:

Internet penetration: Social networking sites were critical to sustaining the momentum in the recent protests. The internet penetration in Egypt is 16%. In Libya, it is a meagre 5% [1]. The unrest in Libya has thus far remained concentrated in regions that are geographically distant from the seat of ‘real' power (see more on this below). The dependence of momentum on internet communication is far greater in Libya than in Egypt where protests began in Cairo itself.

Taking the conversation to Pakistan, Sabene Saigol writes, on BrandRepublic:

Perhaps one reason for this is that we're still not that used to communicating via the ‘net - maybe we need greater broadband and internet penetration. Personally I think it is more to do with culture - while Pakistani internet users are savvy to using social media to connect with friends, I feel they have not yet ‘crossed over' to seeing SM as a means for professional communications - or even wider social communications that go beyond their immediate circle. Yes, there are no doubt savvy people - both within marketing and tech circles, and outside - however, these people are likely a tiny proportion of the total number of ‘net and social media users.

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Purdue coach Matt Painter to meet with Missouri Tigers

Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter will meet with Missouri officials regarding Mizzou's vacant coaching position.

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Japan Nuke Accident Seen From Seattle - Science <b>News</b>

Clues to events at crippled plant found in traces of radiation reaching Pacific Northwest.

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Take Two: Donald Trump Releases Official Birth Certificate - The Note

Donald Trump learned the hard way this week that if you're going to call on the president to release his official birth certificate, you'd better do the same. The Note, authored by ABC News' Amy Walter and Michael Falcone, ...

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I read an interesting article this morning that suggested Apple would change its mind and put Adobe’s Flash technology on its iOS devices within a year. I don’t think that’s going to happen.

In an open letter to users, Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave several reasons why he didn’t want Flash on the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. They are: Flash isn’t open; the full web; reliability, security and performance; battery life; and touch.

Adobe began shipping Flash Player 10.1 for Mobile last June, but even Laptop magazine admitted that “Steve Jobs was right,” and that “Adobe’s offering seems like it’s too little, too late.” Granted, that report was from six months ago, but it still doesn’t bode well for the technology.

There is no doubt that Adobe is making advances with Flash on mobile devices, but I don’t believe future changes will be enough to get Apple to adopt the technology.

Jobs has been very clear that Apple supports HTML5, an open technology that is controlled by a standards committee, not one company. By building support for that technology into Webkit, Apple is ensuring that mobile Web browsers will be able to access what we’ve come to know as the “full web.”

Webkit is used by Google, Palm, Nokia and RIM, so it has a pretty solid base.

One of the arguments often bantered about when the discussion of the “full Web” comes up is video. There is no doubt that Flash made huge strides over the years in having sites like YouTube encode their videos in Flash. But that’s for the desktop.

As Jobs points out, almost all of this video is also available in H.264 format (a format Flash also supports), so it’s viewable on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

“Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video,” wrote Jobs.

You may ask why other companies adopted Flash for their mobile devices when Apple won’t. That’s easy, they are looking for something they have that Apple doesn’t. Considering how hard it is for tablet makers to compete with Apple, any perceived advantage will work.

I’m not an Adobe hater—I know quite a few people that work at Adobe and I think they’ve done some amazing things over the years. Flash for mobile devices isn’t one of them.

Chris Dawson said he gives “Apple a year until they cave [and adopt Flash]. Android tablets will just be too cool and too useful for both entertainment and enterprise applications if they don’t.”

I have been using my iPhone for years and my iPad for one year. I honestly can’t remember the last time I went to a Web site that wouldn’t load because I didn’t have Flash installed. I can load videos from YouTube and a host of other sites too, no problem.

Apple has sold more than 160 million iOS devices and there are no screaming, angry hordes of users breaking down the doors at 1 Infinite Loop demanding Flash on their devices.

In order for Apple to change its mind and adopt Flash, the technology has to be proven to be indispensable and that it will benefit its users. Apple has proven just the opposite is true.

Editor’s Note: Jim Dalrymple has been writing about Apple for more than 15 years. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple and on his Web site at The Loop.

With few surprises, techies were underwhelmed with Apple’s iPad 2 announcement, but I’m confident that consumers will be thrilled with the product. Apple already had a massive lead in the consumer tablet market it created, and these “underwhelming” upgrades should keep the company comfortably ahead. Apple has given competitors an opening by sticking to 3G, and it did not further pressure them with a lower entry price point or higher-resolution display. However, Apple has three critical advantages.

1. Brand: When consumers are thinking about tablets, they say they are buying an “iPad,” not a “tablet.” The iPad was already the category and volume leader, and the iPad 2 builds on that. In this respect, Apple actually benefits from the crowd of new tablets hitting the market. If there were only one or two strong competitors, consumers would be able to weigh the pros and cons of each offering, but with dozens and dozens of options hitting the market over the next few months, decision paralysis can set in and many consumers will throw up their hands and make the “safe” choice: the iPad.

2. iTunes: The iPad is still the only tablet on the market with a huge digital marketplace for movies, TV shows, and music. Some competitors are taking steps in this direction (e.g., Samsung’s Hub), but iTunes remains a significant competitive advantage.

3. App Store: If all you want to do is browse the Web and check e-mail, any tablet will probably suffice. However, Apple has an enormous lead in purpose-built apps. The Android ecosystem is strong and app availability should improve significantly over time, but the iPad 2 is considerably more versatile than any of its competitors right now, and it appears unlikely to lose its lead any time in the near future.

So if you are competing with Apple, what should you do? Rather than copying Apple’s products, copy its old advertising tag line and Think Different.

Apple’s brand is focused on creative types (or those who aspire to be), which is why it spends so much effort creating things like GarageBand. Competitors should target IT managers, knowledge workers, outdoorsy people, or some other group and build software and hardware combinations better suited to those use cases. Of course, this will take imagination and the ability to tie hardware, software, and services together to build unique experiences. There are some companies thinking outside the box (HTC and RIM have clearly differentiated products on their roadmaps), but for the vendors who are trying to out-Apple Apple… good luck. Here are some pointers, you’re going to need them:

• Based on Apple’s financials, it is clear that the iPad with WiFi is Apple’s volume product and 3G versions are merely gravy. Why is the competition only targeting the gravy?

• iTunes remains a significant competitive advantage for Apple – I cannot easily explain to novices how to get a movie onto the XOOM. Rivals need an “iTunes” of their own, but having one just achieves parity with Apple, so partnering is an acceptable approach. However, half measures are not enough; digital media stores must include movies (including rentals) and TV shows and music. If multiple partners are used, the tablet vendor still needs to provide a common interface and single account/billing relationship.

• Nintendo has a significant base of game developers targeting the 3DS; if you cannot muster equivalent resources (for gaming, media playback, or some other use), adding 3D to your tablet is just a gimmick.

• Apple’s rivals can compete on 4G, higher-resolution displays, or a lower price. Even speed is a potential differentiator from a technical perspective; NVIDIA has quad-core processors sampling this month, so rivals could build even faster tablets for this holiday season. However, I must still caution vendors that all of these factors are irrelevant if consumers do not want your product.

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What is your social media brand? Do you have one? Sure, many small business owners and entrepreneurs are coming around to the enormous importance of social media as a marketing, customer service, and, yes, even sales tool. But if you haven’t thought about how social media can define your brand, you are probably missing a HUGE part of what social media tools can do for your business. Here’s more…

Tools & Techniques

Creating a great brand with these blog tools. Tools that improve the look and functionality of your blog also improve your brand. A well-maintained small business blog is one of the most obvious and least expensive branding tools at the entrepreneur’s disposal even more so than social media channels like Facebook and Twitter because of how a blog can be customized to fit your needs and personality. This list of tools is a great way to start. EpicLaunch

What Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi can teach you about social media. One of the stars of the hit reality show “Jersey Shore”, “Snooki” is a perfect example of personal brand, but social media entrepreneurs could also learn much about building their own online presence from Snooki. Being yourself and using a simple, short tag to indelibly brand your identity are also great techniques in social media. One site is already trying to apply the starlets techniques in the social media space. Brand-Yourself

Tito Philips doesn’t want your comments on his blog! At least, not if they’re the wrong kind. And the wrong kind would be comments left for no other purpose than to get the blogger and his/her readers to visit your blog and perhaps comment on it in return. Why is comment trading bad? Don’t get Tito started! There are many ways to engage in social media marketing. Be sure you understand and respect some of the attitudes you may face. Blogging Bookshelf  

News & Trends

The best of the best. Want to get a look at arguably the 20 best Facebook fan pages for business on the planet? By now you should know the value of a Facebook fan page to your branding efforts. What’s also true, however, is that not all Facebook sites are created equal. If you want to take your social media marketing to the next level, have a look at this list of cream of the crop sites. Inc.com

Even churches use social media marketing! In this article on the growing market for tech services among religious organizations, we learn that many churches have also already entered into the social media space. As houses of worship, particularly huge mega-churches, expand and build congregations, it’s easy to see how social media can work as a marketing tool here as well. Is your religious organization using social media for branding? WSJ

Tips & Tricks

20 tips that will make you a Twitter star. Among the tools popular in the new digital space is Twitter. The microblogging platform can be used for business or non-business purposes and it can be the key to your small business’s success. Learn how to use Twitter like a pro and you may be surprised at the benefits your small business gains as a result. Global Copywriting

Valuable lessons in social media. Gary Vaynerchuk, author of The Thank You Economy and a successful social media entrepreneur in his own right, has many insights to share with small business leaders seeking a new way to define their brands in an age of social communications. Read some of the takeaways Vaynerchuk shares with those trying to define their businesses with social media. E-Marketing Associates

Success Stories

Doubt the power of FB to create brand for almost anyone? You won’t after you read the story of Princeton English Professor Jeff Nunokawa and “Jeffbook”, a collection of 3,221 brief literary essays on Facebook, that have created an incredible cult status for Nunokawa in the process. His motivation? Not too different from those of most marketers. Nunokawa simply started sharing where he knew his audience already spent lots of their time. The results speak for themselves. Fast Company

Increase exposure with niche social media. Blogger Mavis Nong talks about the importance of niche social media sites including social bookmarking sites as a key method of creating exposure for your online business. Mavis talks about her experience with our sister site BizSugar.com (thanks for the shout out! ) and explains how smaller more focused social sites can sometimes have a surprising impact even larger than the big guys. Attraction Marketing Online

Opportunities

Sponsors wanted for new SugarTone Sweet Business Blogging Contest. Put the power of social media to work for your brand. We’re looking for sponsors to help with a brand new blogging contest involving two of the fastest growing small business communities on the Web, BizSugar.com and Bloggertone.com. Learn more about the contest by reading the full announcement and get in touch today! BizSugar Blog

What’s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

THE QUAKE IN JAPAN, A GOOFBALL IN VENEZUELA Japanese earthquake damage is estimated at $310 billion and could be the costliest natural disaster ever. Japanese exports suffer. Kate Rogers of Fox revisits how to protect your business from catastrophe. “Small-business owners can determine if they should be seeking disaster coverage by weighing their investment in the business itself, among other factors. If the business is the sole form of income, the risk is much greater than if it is a hobby or part-time project.” Elsewhere around the world, the war industry gets a boost in Libya. And Hugo Chávez of Venezuela says capitalism may have destroyed life on Mars.

REAL ESTATE FALLS, JOBS RISE Mark Thoma says commodity prices are increasing because of world demand. A small-business owner in Georgia is trying not to pass on the cost of high gas prices. Detroit’s population declines 25 percent. Existing-home sales fall to the lowest on record. Meredith Whitney, an investment adviser, says, “Unless the government comes out with a 50-year mortgage, this market is in trouble longer term.” Gallup’s job-creation index is the highest since September 2008. Durable goods orders fall.

ANNE HATHAWAY AND WARREN BUFFETT The Fed earns $79 billion and predicts that the recovery is taking hold. Nonetheless, one of its officials warns that the United States is approaching insolvency. Meanwhile, Warren E. Buffett predicts growth but some think his company’s stock is buoyed by Anne Hathaway. Household balances sheets continue to improve. Scott Grannis says “the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey came in very strong. It hasn’t been this strong since the economic boom times of the early 1980s. It’s very difficult to ignore the mounting evidence of a strong economic recovery.” Architect billings increased slightly in February.

DEFICIT THRILLS The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is thrilled to see 64 senators calling for comprehensive deficit reduction. But Stan Collender, a budget expert, isn’t thrilled at all: “Does a letter that is so vanilla that it could have been written at any time over the past 40 years really indicate any movement on the current budget debate?” James Pethokoukis of Reuters says he thinks President Obama’s budget is wildly dangerous.

A NEW DEFINITION OF SMALL BUSINESS Timothy F. Geithner says that American small businesses need greater access to capital to spur innovation. The Small Business Administration, facing even more cuts, is for the first time in more than 25  years proposing to change the way it defines small businesses. JPMorgan Chase says it will cease its debit card rewards program because of new legislation that would restrict fees. Missouri gets $27 million in incentives for small-business growth. The Small Business Savings Account Act makes its way through Congress.

TAKING CREDIT The health care legislation celebrates its first anniversary and Ezra Klein defends it by saying, “Is it a perfect piece of legislation? Not even close. Will everything work as expected? Almost certainly not. But for all its flaws, it’s a good law. And it’s worth trying.” Many small businesses are still not taking advantage of the health care tax credit.

TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES A Google project manager pitches cloud computing: “Web-based software is much less costly for buyers than traditional software, and programmers can be so much more innovative, that it’s worthwhile for an entrepreneur to say, O.K., let’s start from scratch.” Paul Mah, an information technology expert, gives us eight reasons to upgrade to Internet Explorer 9. Firefox 4 is released. Microsoft jumps to second in video search and introduces a new PC tool for small business. Netflix suffers an outage. BlackBerry’s tablet is scheduled to arrive in April. AT&T buys T-Mobile but not for the reason you think. And boy. has computer technology come a long way in 10 years.

THE GROWING APPS MARKET Information Week reports that 38 percent of small- and medium-size businesses depend on mobile apps. Amazon introduces an Android app store, and Apple is not pleased. Minda Zetlin of Inc. asks if you should make a tablet app for your business: “The answer is likely a yes if one, your product or service is one where having tablet access could benefit customers; and two, your customers are the type who use tablets.” Just in time: a flood of royal wedding apps.

SPEAKING OF THE BIG WEDDING General Electric releases a much-needed William and Kate refrigerator. Jack Daniels introduces a new product — perhaps to help us forget the royal wedding. Danny Wong gives us three winning ideas to consider. A dating site features a new single man every day. Score plans an e-business learning Web site for small business. Small Business Television is rebranding itself and has introduced a new Web site. Small Business Opportunities magazine is doing the same. A small business introduces its first electric car. Sales of e-books have doubled. The group buying industry is projected to grow to $2.7 billion this year.

TWITTER’S TAX BREAKS Casey Hibbard explains how one company used social media to make $300,000 in a weekend. Robert Scoble discovers the future of work: “Just when we thought we figured out the new ’social enterprise’ market along comes Convofy.” Twitter shows San Francisco’s businesses how to save a bundle on taxes. A one-legged wrestler shows us how to become a national champ.

IT’S GOOD TO BE GREEN A woman in Canada gets a standing ovation for being green. The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce holds its green marketing event on Wednesday. The Clinton Global Initiative holds its university conference this week with a focus on entrepreneurship and a live webcast.

ADVICE FOR SXSW: HAND OUT PILLOWS The Global Entrepreneurship Congress meets in Shanghai this week. April 2 is International Pillow Fight Day. The South By Southwest conference: as seen from a bunch of social media video bloggers — which is yet another reason I won’t attend next year. American Airlines offers a big promo for California business travelers. John Jantsch wants to know the worst business advice you ever received. A third-base coach gives life advice.

SEARCHING FOR HELP WITH SEARCH An American Express survey finds that more than half of small-business owners say they need help with search-engine marketing. A video about why it’s not important to go viral goes viral. Dharmesh Shah shares a few low-cost advertising ideas for start-ups and cautions readers to “think of advertising not as a long-term traffic strategy but as a testing tool to improve your Web site and find out more about your ideal visitor.” An advertising blog discusses how to develop a relationship with the media. Lucy Thornton comes up with a few good marketing themes for April.

A 100-MILLION-MEMBER NETWORK LinkedIn officially reaches 100 million members. Seems like a good time to read the co-founder’s 10 rules for entrepreneurial success.

TRIED TALKING? Whitson Gordon of Lifehacker gives us his top 10 tricks for working while on the go. Example: “Whether it’s that old, dead iPod or the smartphone you’re already carrying with you, you probably have gigs of unused storage lying around waiting to be filled with portable apps, files and other digital travel necessities.” Melanie Brooks of Workawesome.com explains why she uses a leather day planner instead of a smartphone. Greg Schinkel warns against hiding behind our keyboards: “Before you hit ‘reply to all’ and send back a zinger to someone who maligned you, stop and go talk to the person.”

THIS WEEK’S AWARDS

BEST WAY TO GET YOUR CUSTOMERS TO LOVE YOU Ben Yoskovitz talks about the benefits of delighting your customers: “The rewards are immense. Loyal, rabid fans tweet shamelessly about how incredible you are, how valuable your Web application is and how successful your start-up will be.”

BEST WAY TO MARKET WITHOUT A BUDGET Shisha Dublin-Green explains how to market without a marketing budget: “Form an alliance: if you have a hair salon that’s mostly frequented by women with young children and elderly women, you can offer a service whereby you arrange to do their grocery shopping whilst they’re in the salon. You may decide to form an alliance with a local reputable grocer or delivery service to provide this for your customers. This could also be a way to reach out to new customers via your local grocer.”

BEST ADVICE FOR BOOTSTRAPPERS The Smart Bear says that the things money cannot buy are still the most valuable things: “Show proof of your ability to master the things money cannot buy — your ability to learn, change and improve.”

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION: How do you bring in customers without spending a lot? We do free webinars every month.

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group PC, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

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Small Business <b>News</b>: Social Media Brand

What is your social media brand? Do you have one? Sure, many small business owners and entreprene...

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Heavy Fire Afghanistan coming to Kinect Xbox 360 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our Xbox 360 news of Heavy Fire Afghanistan coming to Kinect.

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Money Making Websites

ICE Boss: It's Okay To Ignore The Constitution If It's To Protect Companies

from the how-nice-of-them dept

While the folks at Homeland Security keep telling me that they simply cannot speak publicly about the seizure of various domain names -- and specifically the numerous mistakes they've made that appear to clearly violate both the First Amendment and Due Process rules -- it seems they have no problem talking about the domain seizures to folks in the press who don't bother to ask tough questions.



ICE boss John Morton did an interview with Politico, where he trots out a bunch of highly questionable statements about the domain seizures, including claiming that it's all okay for them to do this because they're trying to "protect U.S. industry" rather than "regulate the internet." But that's not the role of Homeland Security or ICE. And there are limits on what ICE is actually allowed to do, and Morton's technically clueless agents seem to have ignored many of those rules.

"We don't have any interest in going after bloggers or discussion boards," he said. "We're not about what is being said by anybody. We're about making sure that the intellectual property laws of the United States, which are clear, are enforced. When somebody spends hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the next movie or a billion dollars to develop the next heart medicine, the innovation and the enterprise that went into that effort is protected as the law provides. It's that simple."

There's so much wrong in that statement that it should be grounds for dismissal. Morton is not representing what has happened, the law or the facts accurately here. He's lying to the American public (and to Politico, who appears to have failed to call him on any of it). First of all, if they don't have any interest in going after bloggers or discussion boards, why did they? Second, if the intellectual property laws of the US are "clear" -- why did ICE not use them and actually get anyone charged with infringement? Third, the laws aren't that clear -- which is why we (normally) have trials to make sure there was actual infringement. If ICE had been willing to let due process play out, it would have avoided embarrassing mistakes, like taking down 84,000 websites because a few may have had illegal content. Or seizing a blog (yes, a blog, despite what he says) that posted links to music elsewhere that was sent by the labels and artists. And, when someone spends all that money to develop something, there are plenty of business models for them to use, and they have every right to use civil laws to go after those who violate their rights. What they shouldn't have is some government agents taking down websites with no due process, seizing plenty of protected speech in the process.



Finally, for Morton to claim "it's that simple," when the law is anything but simple should get the man fired. Seriously. No one who knows anything about the law thinks it's that simple. He shouldn't be in charge of ICE if he thinks that the laws are as simple as he makes out. It's not, and either he knows it and he's lying or he doesn't know it and he's unqualified for the job. Which is it? I figure I'll send these questions to my friendly press contact at Homeland Security, and I imagine the answer will be the same: "I'll have to direct you to the Justice Department on those questions." Because actually responding to American citizens whose rights he seems to have no problem trampling is not in his job description. Helping Hollywood by violating multiple parts of the Constitution is much more fun.



Morton also seems to think there's simply no legal questions in seizing domain names:

"We can seize and forfeit them just like we seize and forfeit bank accounts, houses and vehicles that are used in other crimes," he said. "Any instrument of a crime is subject to our jurisdiction in terms of seizure and forfeit."

Again this is incorrect on a number of levels, and again raises questions about Morton's competence to hold the job he holds. You can seize property, but the case law is pretty clear on the different rules when it comes to seizing speech. And he's never responded to that at all. Because, of course, he cannot.



John Morton seems to think it's fine to be censor-in-chief and to violate multiple parts of the US Constitution, because it protects a few businesses who have failed to adapt their business models. This is a sickening display of the takeover of the American government by corporations.

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The recent $315-million acquisition of The Huffington Post and the $75-million or so spent on AOL’s Patch.com hyper-local platform aren’t the only big bets that the media company is making According to a cover story in the latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter, the one-time web portal is also putting some big money down in Tinseltown, where CEO Tim Armstrong has been signing content deals with celebrities such as former supermodel Heidi Klum, singer Queen Latifah and the musical group The Jonas Brothers. In some ways, it appears AOL’s new “content farm” ambitions are designed in part to produce content that can be wrapped around big Hollywood brands. But can this strategy produce enough financial bang to make a difference to a fading giant like AOL?

In the case of Klum and Latifah, the deals with AOL involve websites and content produced by the stars’ production companies, but AOL is going to be helping generate content — including web-based video shows — and promoting the sites through its network as well. According to The Hollywood Reporter, these types of deals involve AOL putting up between $1 million and $10 million per project (some of which comes from advertisers that the company lines up). According to Hollywood sources quoted by the magazine, those kinds of dollars look pretty good compared to what cable networks can offer.

Armstrong suggests that some of the content for these sites will be generated by other parts of AOL, including its Demand Media-style Seed.com “content farm,” whose approach was described in a leaked memo recently entitled “The AOL Way.” The AOL chief executive told the magazine that “the system that we’ve been building — which the press has taken to calling a content farm — is simply a platform,” and gave an example where Klum might decide to produce a video about making jewelry, and the AOL platform could then generate information and other content about how jewelry is made. Armstrong made it clear that he thinks content is the future of the Internet:

The first phase of the Internet was about access, and I believe AOL was the biggest player in that phase. Then the next phase has really been about the platform, so you’ve seen Apple, Google and Facebook there. But the phase after this is going to be more of the Hollywood phase, where it’s about content, creativity and really putting a human face on the Internet.

In addition to using its content farm to generate material to wrap around these celebrity sites, AOL also used its own internal research to decide which celebrities to approach. According to The Hollywood Reporter piece, the company only took its “Planet Heidi” idea to the supermodel after its algorithmically-generated “quality score” showed that Klum was influential on topics like parenting, fashion and style — all of which appeal to the female demographic that Armstrong wants to focus AOL’s content on — and after Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble had signed on.

The big question, of course, is whether this Hollywood strategy is going to produce enough revenue to make a difference for AOL, a company that is still in fairly precarious financial shape: in the final quarter of last year, for example, revenue sank by 26 percent and advertising revenue fell by almost 30 percent.

As I’ve written before, AOL is like a train running down a track that is disintegrating rapidly underneath it. That track is the dial-up access business, which still produces gigantic amounts of revenue — close to 40 percent of the company’s total — but is declining at a rapid rate. What Armstrong is trying to do is to build new businesses that have the ability to generate similar kinds of revenue, which amounts to laying new tracks quickly enough that the train doesn’t go hurtling into an abyss. The launch of Patch was one such attempt, and the acquisition of The Huffington Post was another.

The purchase of Arianna Huffington’s content-aggregation business is part of the same strategy that has taken AOL into the celebrity circus of Hollywood. One of the things the web giant has lacked on the content side is identifiable personalities, and that is clearly something the Huffington Post founder brings to the table. Huffington’s site started as a collection of blogs written by famous people from various walks of life who were drawn together by their friendships with Huffington herself, and celebrities continue to make use of the site as a personal blogging platform when they have a cause they want to push.

Huffington, who is now in charge of all AOL’s editorial content, is also in charge of the Hollywood operation. All she has to do now is turn all those celebrity websites into cold hard cash for her new boss before AOL runs out of track.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d):

• How Media Companies Can Compete Online


• What We Can Learn From the Guardian’s Open Platform


• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce

Post and thumbnail courtesy of Flickr user Zert Sonstige

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Search <b>News</b> &amp; Headlines Around the Web - March 28, 2011 #SEWatch

Here's a roundup of today's other search news and headlines from around the web, sorted by category....

Key 2008 Aide Back with Romney - FoxNews.com

Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America PAC announced Monday that his chief domestic adviser in his 2008 presidential bid has returned to join his PAC as policy director, another apparent building block for Romney's likely entry in the ...

Plutonium detected in soil at Fukushima nuke plant | Kyodo <b>News</b>

''We must control the water well so it won't ever go outside'' the complex, said Sakae Muto, vice president of TEPCO, at a news conference. TEPCO revealed the elevated radiation levels in trench water a day after it first detected them, ...

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You can do this in most types of ways, but these companies usually take advantage of multiple methods to create an ideal marketing technique online. You will be able to hire these phones write articles for you personally, post on forums and blogs, create meta data and meta descriptions, cleanup the code, add alt tags to the images plus much more.

 

It is very important that you do this because otherwise the organization you have worked so hard for could wind up losing the money. If you have an internet site you want to create, then you will also employ the expertise of a search engine optimization company, which means search engine optimization company. What this company does is actually take the best areas of your site, look into the code, create keywords and write various articles and documents to ensure that your site is placed near the top of the list for the major search engines like google.

By doing this the Search engine optimization company cannot only increase your traffic, but also ensure that your website is fully optimized for the search engine spiders that will be brought to it. These spiders are utilized to analyze your site and place it in certain positions determined on certain keywords.

 

If you want to use the Search engine optimization Vancouver then all you have to do is find the top companies. It's through these how the SEO gets done effectively and efficiently. Because of so many SEO companies to select from you have to be certain the one you're going for is reliable. You ought to be able to ask for a breakdown of what you need, and also the company should also have the ability to let you know know long they've been operating for. This will narrow down the list to reveal the top ones.

 

SEO Services Provided by Different Vancouver Web Companies

The Vancouver SEO company services are extremely good for business growth as they provide quality services. If you're planning to produce a website for the internet business, then you've come to right article when i is going to be explaining below how Search engine optimisation Vancouver company services can increase your website ranking making it popular.

Before that, you need to know what Seo is. It's not that complicated and I'm sure you will get a grasp from it reading my article. The main goal of SEO is to have increased traffic to your website and audience. It's a good decision to choose a Vancouver SEO company that specializes in this kind of work, which means that your website can be indexed by search engines like google.

There is no point in you having a website without any website ranking whatsoever as you won't have any business and profits to outlive. It is a very tough atmosphere out there because there are so many online business people just like you, who desire their share of pie. You must be aware of the fact that nearly 85% of web traffic can be got from websites.

When a user types in a keyword or keywords for which he/she wants to know in various sites, these use crawlers to obtain web-sites with the relevant content and index them based on algorithms. It's not necessary to worry about the algorithms which these websites use as that is not important.

To appear within the first page of the google listing, you will have to hire professionals and pros who can do the needful to keep your website one of the good books in these websites. These professionals can optimize your site content to ensure your website gets more traffic.

When the traffic gets high, it's a sign that you are obtaining a service that will get you more revenues. SEO Vancouver company do the following to make your site appear inside the first page of search results.

Use keywords that are popularly utilized on search engines on your website content.
Possess a website design for your website that is simple because top sites are allergic to flash and weird designs.
Submit your website to directories.
Submit your site to directory websites.
Postings on blogs and forums with back links for your websites. This is considered as an effective method of getting increased traffic to your website as numerous internet users use blogs and forums.

SEO Vancouver company also perform site diagnostics which is a significant part in online optimization as research and analysis on finding keywords is the way to start a SEO campaign. So, make sure you choose the best SEO Vancouver company.

Are you searching for more info regarding SEO Vancouver? Visit http://www.seo4vancouver.com/seo-services.asp today!

 

What to Expect Whenever Hiring a Roofers

When it comes time to correct or replace your roof, it can be a daunting job to locate someone who is qualified for the job. There are many roofing companies available, but the types who'll do a congrats for a sensible cost are not often easy to find. If you are in the market for the contractor, make use of the ideas beneath for meeting with as well as employing the right one.

Interview as well as Consultation

Most roofing contractors provide free consultations. This is especially essential, since it gives them an opportunity to evaluate what your roof needs, also it provides you with a chance to evaluate all of them. As with all of companies, trust your instincts concerning the people you allow upward onto your roof. No issue how great the contractor's status or even recommendation, he ought to begin by showing a person having a business greeting card. If the contractor arrives searching and speaking in an less than professional manner, chances are that the task he is going to perform may also be unprofessional. This is not to say that you should anticipate contractors to reach in fits. They is going to be climbing on your roofing, so the majority of will be dressed in jeans and work footwear or sneakers. If the contractor appears to be more interested in talking upon his mobile phone during your homes roof compared to he's in analyzing your own roof's requirements, that may be another indication that he's not really the main one for the job. For your legal protection, be certain that the contractor offers adequate liability insurance coverage.

Roof Evaluation

Expect that the service provider will be rising in your roof. In fact, any kind of service provider who does not want to go up on your roof to evaluate the problem should be immediately discounted. Those who're serious about their own function may either create a sketching of your roof's surface area and tag problem areas onto it because they go through their evaluation, or even they'll consider pictures or even video of the surface area while they are available online for. This is an extremely essential step, since it allows you to observe exactly what the troubles are and understand how they'll be fixed.

Estimate

The next step will be the created estimation. The service provider will take out his calculator and are available up with an itemized estimation. Some contractors goes to their vehicle or even truck as well as write down the actual proposal, while some will crisis the amounts to do the job in front of you. Once you are because of the proposal, make sure that you understand which products will be utilized, how long the job will take and when there are any additional or even concealed expenses that could occur during the repair of the roofing. The service provider should be able to answer all of these concerns effortlessly as well as forewarn you associated with a additional costs that could be sustained should the roof's integrity end up being broken inside.

Once you have obtained several created estimates from roofers, evaluate exactly what every company or even service provider would like to offer you for the cost. Do not always low cost the greatest bet, simply because occasionally the highest bid will in reality function as the service provider who the job properly. Additionally, be skeptical of prices for bids that are significantly less than other people. They might be utilizing substandard items or be untruthful concerning the chance of concealed costs. Most importantly, trust your intuition and opt for the actual service provider that enables you to feel quite comfortable about giving more than your money.

 

Seven Uyghurs Sentenced to Death

2011-03-23

Critics of the sentences say China has politicized the robberies as acts of terrorism.

 

AFP

A Uyghur man walks past armed Chinese security forces in Urumqi, July 17, 2009.

Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have ordered the executions of seven ethnic minority Uyghur men convicted of "violent" crimes, official media said on Wednesday.

 

The death sentences were handed down by the Supreme People's Court in recent days, according to state media in the regional capital, Urumqi.

 

The men were accused in connection with three separate attacks late last year in the Silk Road city of Kashgar, according to the news website Urumqi Online.

 

According to another website, the Xinjiang-based Tianshan news site, Aimaiti Tuheti, Yiming Dawuti, and unnamed "others" killed a security guard at a pedestrian mall as part of a failed Aug. 7 robbery attempt.

 

In a separate incident on Oct. 12, it said, Nuermaimaiti Aobulikasimu and 11 others broke into a house, bound and killed the couple living in it, and took their possessions.

 

It said the group also broke into the homes of two brothers, robbed them, and killed six people in a Nov. 11 attack in Kashgar.

 

The report gave no information about the victims or the schedule for the executions.

 

Three of the men were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, a sentence that is normally commuted to life imprisonment in China's judicial system.

 

They were convicted of deliberate homicide and armed robbery by the Kashgar Intermediate People's Court in the first instance.

 

'Strike hard' campaign

 

A Han Chinese resident of Urumqi surnamed Yang said a reference to "terrorism" in official news reports on the case showed that it was being politicized by the authorities, who have launched a series of "strike hard" campaigns in Xinjiang following deadly ethnic violence in July 2009.

 

"There is an implied political meaning; that they were somehow engaged in separatist activities or ethnic divisions," said Yang.

 

Exile Uyghur groups said the trials had been conducted behind closed doors, with scant opportunity for public scrutiny.

 

"The entire process against these men, from the trial through to the judgment, was opaque," said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress.

 

"There was also very little reasonable evidence to convict them on a legal basis, because all the evidence came from one side of the case," he said.

 

"We strongly condemn the Chinese government for continuing to pursue their policies of ethnic division," said Raxit.

 

"We are also strongly opposed to the death penalty in this case."

 

Earlier cases

 

Last month, the Supreme Court sentenced four Uyghurs to death for alleged involvement in an Aug. 19 bomb attack in Xinjiang’s western Aksu city.

 

The World Uyghur Congress pointed to concerns over lack of transparency in those cases too.

 

The Aksu blast left eight people dead, including two of the bombers, and 15 wounded after a man riding a three-wheeled vehicle threw explosives at a group of uniformed patrolmen. Four Uyghurs were arrested shortly after the attack.

 

State media characterized the cases as acts of terrorism and unrelated to longstanding ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the region.

 

Exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer has warned that attacks like those in Aksu will continue to occur until Beijing addresses the underlying source of tension in the region.

 

Millions of Uyghurs—a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim—populate Central Asia and Xinjiang.

 

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

 

Those frustrations erupted in July 2009 in deadly riots that left nearly 200 people dead, by the Chinese government's tally.

 

At least 26 people, mostly Uyghurs, were sentenced to death in the aftermath of the riots, many of whom have been executed, according to state media.

 

China is believed to execute more people each year than the rest of the world’s countries combined, although the government does not publish official figures.

 

Rights groups say Beijing may execute as many as several thousand prisoners annually.

 

Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

 

New training scheme

 

China on Wednesday also announced a training scheme which places ethnic minority graduates from Xinjiang in work elsewhere in China.

 

Governments of the destination cities will spend 450 million yuan (U.S.$ 69 million) for the program, while Xinjiang will spend 400 million yuan (U.S.$ 61 million), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

 

The program targets some 60,000 jobless college graduates in Xinjiang, around 80 percent of whom are from ethnic minorities, and 60 percent of whom are women.

 

However, some commentators see the move as an attempt to assimilate non-Han Chinese into mainstream Chinese culture.

 

"From the point of view of ethnic minorities, the graduate work scheme is really taking the cream of youth from the minorities and using them to 'further cultural development,'" wrote one ethnic minority user on a popular microblogging service.

 

"In fact, the culture that is being advanced is Han culture, and this group of young people will have been totally brainwashed," the microblog update said.

 

An Urumqi resident surnamed Li agreed.

 

"They have run senior high school schemes like this before during the past few years," he said.

 

"Whether it's high-schoolers or graduate training programs, these are measures that are aimed at thought control and brainwashing, and the 'Partification' of their education," he said.

 

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

 

Wikileaks and also the Uyghur

by henry upon December 20, 2010
Henryk Szadziewski, Supervisor, Uyghur Human Rights Project

Whether it were actually in doubt, info obtained by the whistleblower web site, Wikileaks, offers verified Chinese language government fears more than its ongoing charge of the region this phone calls Xinjiang, which is also known as East Turkestan. The leaked wires through U.S. diplomats demonstrate the extent that Chinese language authorities attempt to persuade government authorities worldwide to consider it's position upon issues affecting Uyghurs. The cables additionally display the United States' concerns and sights concerning the on going repressive steps in the area.

Most lighting of Chinese language federal government stress are the wires pointing in order to Chinese anger, or the specter associated with Chinese language ire, within the release of Uyghur detainees within Guantánamo to 3rd countries. A Dec 29, 2008 cable television relates how Chinese Helper Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi fulfilled with the U.Utes. Ambassador in order to China to voice Beijing's powerful opposition of release in order to any country apart from The far east, and that if the U.Utes. did indeed accede to this ask for it might "avoid harm to bilateral relationships and also to cooperation ‘in important areas'". Furthermore, the Feb 2009 cable explains the way the Chinese Ambassador in order to Kyrgyzstan, Zhang Yannian, regarded the actual feasible discharge of Uyghur Guantánamo detainees because "an unfriendly behave towards us" along with a "slap within the face". The Ough.Utes. federal government was firm within not liberating the detainees in order to The far east illustrates the extent from the politicized character from the Chinese judicial program. Legitimate issues more than terrorism are easy to understand, but in the Ough.Utes. government's observe the detainees might probably face do-it-yourself torture and delivery when they returned in order to China

Chinese language government pressure in regard to the actual Uyghur Guantánamo detainees wasn't just put on the U.Utes. government, but additionally in order to Brand new Zealand along with a number of European government authorities which were considering resettlement. Albania, Germany as well as Finland, in addition to Eu fellow member states all appear to have paid for the impact of Chinese language federal government unhappiness. In the case of Indonesia, which was at first prepared to think about two Uyghurs upon purely humanitarian grounds, Uyghur Guantánamo cases had been less preferable to other detainees due to the negative effects taking Uyghurs might have upon relations with China. A May 8, '09 cable television applies how "German Ambassador Erina Schaefer reported which Indonesia experienced knowledgeable China from the Ough.S. ask for to simply accept a few Uighur detainees held from Guantánamo coupled with already been subsequently cautioned through The far east associated with ‘a large load on bilateral relations' in the event that Germany had been to simply accept any kind of detainees".

The diplomatic cables also discuss the unrest within Urumchi, the actual regional capital, in This summer '09. The July 13, '09 cable talking about mass occurrences within The far east says:

"Ethnic riots like those who work in Xinjiang This summer 5-7 and in Tibet within March associated with 2008 differ markedly within source as well as nature through bulk occurrences, XXXXXXXXXXXX stressed to PolOff [Political Officer] on XXXXXXXXXXXX. Each present serious problems for the Party, XXXXXXXXXXXX stated, but the Party management wouldn't wait to open fireplace upon Uighurs or even Tibetans if they considered this essential to restore purchase. Bulk occurrences present a different type of risk, he explained, since the management is actually ‘afraid' to fire upon Han rioters with regard to anxiety about sparking huge public outrage that will change from the Celebration."

This is a chilling viewpoint, especially when 1 considers evidence offered in two reviews released this year through the Uyghur Individual Privileges Task (UHRP) as well as Amnesty International that fine detail eyewitness accounts of the utilization of deadly reside fire towards Uyghur protestors in This summer '09. In addition, the observation that fire would not be deployed against Han Chinese language protestors offers resonances for that different approach taken through Chinese protection forces in Urumchi in order to Han Chinese language protests within September '09. Throughout those direct orders, then Party Secretary, Wang Lequan, tackled demonstrators, who had demanded he inform them regarding government reactions in order to security concerns. An identical request to satisfy with the Party Assistant by Uyghur protesters in This summer wasn't met.

The actual wider repercussions of the unrest also noticed a short dialogue about the impact it would possess upon Iran-China relations, and on relationships with Australia after Globe Uyghur Congress President, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, talked in the National Push Membership within Canberra within July '09. In the latter situation, china government "privately warn[ed] a major Aussie financial institution which vendors the nation's Push Club to use it's influence to bar the Kadeer speech there".

The actual U . s . States' concerns about the situation within the Uyghur region also come through in the cables. In a dialogue upon policy direction within Tibet, U.S. authorities clarify that it will end up being not possible for Chinese frontrunners to consider the much softer line "if they look like doing so under international pressure". The actual cable out dated April Sixteen, 2008, one month after the episode associated with unrest within Tibetan regions, additionally relayed the observation "that household stability remains the leadership's main concern above all else, meaning there'll ‘almost surely' end up being absolutely no rest of the present difficult line on Tibet or in places such as Xinjiang." The info included in the cable television also storage sheds gentle about the severe sensitivity that china federal government sights territorial integrity, and also the feasible spill over associated with unrest from Tibet.

The chance of solutions to stress in Tibet as well as Xinjiang as a result of civil culture are discussed in a Feb 24, 08 cable television. Whilst recommending that China's economic achievement will increase it's resistance to democratic reform, the actual cable television additionally talks about exactly how Chinese language leaders begin to see the usefulness associated with "a restricted growth of municipal society, including improvements in the rule of law and a stronger part for authorized beliefs, NGOs, charities along with other stars within places which bring about social stability and don't problem Communist Celebration rule." This is a notable alternation in considering, that has observed U.Utes. authorities market the idea that Chinese financial development, and financial relations along with China brings in regards to a steadily democratic culture; nevertheless, more belief appears to be placed in the grassroots motion than one which starts from the top quantity of a Chinese language government. Nonetheless, the cable concludes that "[i]n areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang, the fear of separatism results in tighter restrictions on the growth of civil culture." This approach can be regarded as counter-productive by the official, who suggests that the U.Utes. federal government "should still express...serious issues over Beijing's individual privileges record and appeal to China's developing consciousness that greater respect for individual rights, religious independence and the guideline of law assists to advertise the very improvement as well as sociable stability that China looks for in addition to to improve China's worldwide picture." Such a technique would take substantial diplomatic abilities thinking about "China's weird concern the Usa privately promotes regime change as well as ‘separatists' within Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang".

The actual cables offer insight into the actual every day business of diplomacy that is hardly ever afforded to the general public, which is fascinating to notice the amount of function carried out behind closed doors on Uyghur issues. The significance of the actual role of the us like a keep track of of Uyghur individual rights conditions within private discussions is created obvious, and contrasts with its tactful public position. Employees of the Uyghur Human Privileges Project is well aware of pressure the Chinese government exerts on Uyghur activists; still, the details of Chinese federal government pressure on its alternatives is actually illustrative from the diploma which Chinese language officials make an effort to suppress contradictory stories. With increased facts in the future from Wikileaks, issues more than Uyghurs may not get the actual head lines, however the cables possess get rid of brand new light about the paperwork of human rights conditions in the Uyghur region.

 

Wikileaks and also the Uyghurs

by henry upon Dec Twenty, 2010
Henryk Szadziewski, Manager, Uyghur Human Rights Project

If it were actually uncertain, information acquired by the whistleblower website, Wikileaks, has confirmed Chinese language government worries more than its continued charge of the location this phone calls Xinjiang, also is known as Eastern Turkestan. The leaked out cables from U.S. diplomats demonstrate the extent that Chinese language authorities attempt to convince government authorities worldwide to adopt its stance upon problems affecting Uyghurs. The actual cables also display the actual United States' concerns and sights regarding the on going repressive steps in the region.

Most lighting of Chinese government pressure are the cables pointing in order to Chinese language frustration, or the specter associated with Chinese language ire, within the discharge of Uyghur detainees in Guantánamo to 3rd nations. The December Twenty nine, 2008 cable applies how Chinese Helper International Reverend Liu Jieyi fulfilled with the Ough.Utes. Ambassador in order to The far east to tone of voice Beijing's powerful opposition associated with release in order to any kind of country other than The far east, which when the Ough.S. do certainly accede for this ask for it would "avoid injury to bilateral relations and to cooperation ‘in important areas'". Furthermore, a February 2009 cable explains how the Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Zhang Yannian, regarded as the feasible release of Uyghur Guantánamo detainees because "an unfriendly act toward us" along with a "slap in the face". The U.Utes. federal government was company within not releasing the actual detainees in order to The far east demonstrates the actual degree of the politicized nature of the Chinese language judicial system. Genuine issues over terrorism are understandable, but in the actual Ough.S. government's view the detainees might probably face do-it-yourself torture and delivery if they returned to The far east

Chinese government stress regarding the actual Uyghur Guantánamo detainees wasn't just put on the Ough.S. federal government, but additionally in order to Brand new Zealand and a number of European governments which were thinking about resettlement. Albania, Indonesia as well as Finland, as well as Eu member states just about all appear to have borne the brunt associated with Chinese federal government disappointment. In the case of Germany, which was at first willing to think about two Uyghurs upon purely relief grounds, Uyghur Guantánamo instances had been less preferable to other detainees because of the negative effects accepting Uyghurs would have on relationships with The far east. A Might Eight, '09 cable applies how "German Ambassador Michael Schaefer reported which Indonesia experienced informed China of the Ough.Utes. ask for to accept a few Uighur detainees held at Guantánamo coupled with been consequently cautioned through The far east of ‘a heavy burden upon bilateral relations' if Indonesia had been to accept any detainees".

The diplomatic cables also discuss the actual unrest within Urumchi, the local funds, in This summer 2009. The This summer 13, 2009 cable television discussing bulk incidents in China says:

"Ethnic riots like those in Xinjiang This summer 5-7 and in Tibet within March associated with 08 differ markedly in origin and nature through bulk occurrences, XXXXXXXXXXXX emphasized in order to PolOff [Political Officer] on XXXXXXXXXXXX. Both existing severe problems for the actual Party, XXXXXXXXXXXX said, but the Celebration management would not hesitate to open fire on Uighurs or Tibetans when they considered it necessary to restore order. Bulk occurrences pose a different kind of risk, he explained, as the management is ‘afraid' to fireplace on Han rioters with regard to anxiety about sparking huge public outrage that will change against the Party."

This can be a chilling opinion, particularly when 1 considers evidence presented by 50 percent reviews launched this year through the Uyghur Individual Privileges Project (UHRP) and Amnesty International that detail eyewitness company accounts of the use of lethal reside fireplace against Uyghur protestors within This summer 2009. In addition, the declaration which fireplace wouldn't be deployed against Han Chinese language protestors offers resonances for the various approach used by Chinese language security causes in Urumchi in order to Han Chinese language protests within Sept '09. Throughout individuals protests, then Celebration Secretary, Wang Lequan, tackled protesters, that experienced demanded that he inform them about government reactions in order to security concerns. A similar ask for to meet with the Party Secretary through Uyghur protesters within This summer wasn't fulfilled.

The actual broader repercussions of the unrest also noticed a brief dialogue on the effect it might possess upon Iran-China relations, as well as on relationships along with Australia after World Uyghur Congress Leader, Microsoft. Rebiya Kadeer, spoke in the National Press Club in Canberra in July 2009. In the latter case, the Chinese federal government "privately warn[ed] a significant Australian bank which sponsors the nation's Press Membership to use its impact to block the Kadeer talk there".

The United States' concerns concerning the situation within the Uyghur area also come via in the cables. Inside a discussion upon policy path within Tibet, U.Utes. authorities clarify that it'll end up being not possible for Chinese language leaders to adopt the softer collection "if they appear like they are doing this under international pressure". The cable television out dated 04 16, 2008, one month following the episode associated with unrest within Tibetan areas, also relayed the observation "that domestic balance remains the leadership's main concern most of all, which means there will ‘almost surely' be no relaxation from the present hard line on Tibet or in locations like Xinjiang." The information contained in the cable television additionally storage sheds gentle on the severe sensitivity with which china federal government sights territorial integrity, and also the possible drip more than associated with unrest through Tibet.

The prospect of methods to stress within Tibet and Xinjiang arising from municipal culture are discussed in a February Twenty-four, 2008 cable. Whilst recommending that China's economic success increases its potential to deal with democratic reform, the actual cable television additionally talks about how Chinese leaders begin to see the usefulness associated with "a restricted growth of municipal culture, such as improvements in the guideline of regulation and a stronger role for authorized religions, NGOs, non profit organizations along with other stars in areas which bring about sociable stability and do not challenge Communist Celebration rule." This can be a significant alternation in thinking, that has observed Ough.S. officials promote the notion which Chinese language economic development, and economic relationships with The far east will bring in regards to a steadily democratic culture; however, much more faith appears to be put into a grassroots movement than one that starts from the top levels of the Chinese language federal government. Nevertheless, the actual cable television proves that "[i]n places such as Tibet and Xinjiang, the fear of separatism leads to tighter limitations on the development of municipal society." This approach is viewed as counter-productive through the recognized, who shows that the U.Utes. federal government "should still express...serious concerns more than Beijing's human privileges record as well as appeal to China's developing consciousness that higher respect with regard to human rights, religious independence and the guideline of law will serve to advertise the very improvement and social balance that The far east seeks in addition to to enhance China's international image." Such a strategy might consider substantial diplomatic skills thinking about "China's weird fear the United States privately encourages routine change as well as ‘separatists' in Taiwan, Tibet as well as Xinjiang".

The cables provide understanding of the every day company of diplomacy that's hardly ever afforded to the general public, and it is fascinating to note the amount of work done behind closed doors upon Uyghur problems. The importance of the actual part of the United States like a keep track of associated with Uyghur individual rights problems in private conversations is made obvious, and contrasts with its sensible open public stance. The staff from the Uyghur Individual Privileges Task is actually well aware of the pressure the Chinese federal government exerts on Uyghur activists; still, the details associated with Chinese government stress on it's alternatives is illustrative from the diploma which Chinese authorities attempt to control contradictory stories. With more facts in the future from Wikileaks, issues over Uyghurs might not grab the headlines, but the cables possess shed new light about the paperwork associated with human rights conditions in the Uyghur area.

 

Search Engine Optimization And Article promotion Will Place Yourself on Page One

Search engine marketing and marketing with articles are a couple of the most powerful strategies which you can use in promoting your site and get the revenue and success that you desire for your web business. Both of these everything has been around for a really while already nevertheless they still still be really effective. In fact, these have helped many people free themselves from the traditional methods for money-generating options of society.

In this article, I will be showing the ways on how it is possible to properly execute search engine optimization and marketing with articles for the betterment of one's business web site. Furthermore, I will also be discussing the various points that you have to look out for if you are using these two internet marketing strategies to market your website and acquire customers. Even though article marketing and Search engine marketing have been in existence for a long time already, you need to know that the trends and preferences concerning how they are done are continually changing, which explains why you should remain up to date with these things through the help of Seo forum sites to enable you to quickly adjust and learn how to make your strategies far better.

In the past marketing with articles to different web sites was once so simple the effects that they produce for websites really was powerful. However, everything has changed a whole lot today. Nowadays submitting the identical article to various websites is no longer a good idea because search engines have now changed to some huge extent in how they rank pages. They will no longer rank contents which are identical like they accustomed to in the past. This is one of the best samples of changes that exist in online marketing trends. This change has given birth to wide plethora of methods that web marketers are using today. Most of internet marketers now produce articles and publish them in really popular article directories and watch for targeted visitors arrive at their pages. This is perhaps that most reliable Search engine optimization strategy that can be used. Aside from being effective, this provides favorable outcomes regularly. One problem with this particular technique is the caliber of traffic you will get using this defintely won't be so good unless you do proper keyword research beforehand and use in-links. You first need for carrying on these two things before you decide to submit your posts so that you won't find yourself losing large amounts of targeted visitors. Which means that you need to practice good levels of diligence if you'd like your advertising initiatives to work.

Other than articles, you can also use operating a blog, which can be another really powerful form of online marketing strategy today because it is highly popular with the major search engines. On this technique, you can choose to produce a single blogging site that specifically targets your chosen market or else you can give rise to other blogs that are called experts in your niche.

Learn effective Vancouver search engine optimization techniques on the Vancouver SEO website.

Roofing Contractors Vancouver Washington

There are numerous things to consider when looking for the roofing contractor. Price, experience, along with referrals are a handful of the things you will probably be concerned about. Continue reading for even other great ideas.

• Finding a Roofers

Before buying roofing contractor, make sure you have a common idea of the job that you need to have done. By no means is it necessary to be a specialist. If you have the Roof Qualification, read it thoroughly to find the information regarding your current roof. If you don't have a Ceiling Certificate, reference documents agreed upon during shutting to locate your homes Inspection page. These files should provide you with everything you need to learn about your roof. Ahead of contacting a roofing contractor, you should have a list of demands and specifications to help you determine exactly who would work for your roof covering project. Make sure to write down every potential covering contractor's answers as well as check all of them against the other person. If you can find any discrepancies, be sure to be aware this and also take this into consideration when creating a final choice. There are no surefire ways to select a roofing contractor, however , if you take heed to the information provided, your chances of a successful covering project tend to be greatly increased.

One of the best means of finding a roofing contractor is by person to person. Try asking a friend or relative who's had roofer work performed, and was satisfied with the work. Get the title of the enterprise and their particular contact information. If you have no word of mouth referrals, test first hunting in the phone book and internet based. A large advertising or extravagant website just isn't necessarily a sign of the good quality of work, but can be a great tool for measuring how long and devotion they have put in their individual profession. Additionally, try locating current worksites and look at the roofing work that's done or in the process of becoming finished. If you are visually amazed, ask the property manager for the name of the roofing contractor as well as their make contact with information.

• Research

When looking for a new roofing contractors, it can be imperative to initial do your current background research. Purchasing in the phone book or on the Internet is a suitable spot to find a builder, finding essential information on these types of businesses will likely be found in many areas. Very first, check with areas like the Bbb, city, point out, and local public records, and local certification agencies. Question your roofer if they are a member of any roofer associations. These types of precautions will certainly mitigate the risks. Furthermore ask them what forms of roofing that they specialize in. Additionally ask your roofing contractor with regards to any warranties they offer on their own installed homes. Find out what safeguards they choose to use avoid injury done to other parts of the home through workers. Things such as gutters, house siding, and chimneys are near the coast proximity and so susceptible to accidental damages.

Ensure all of this facts are included in your composed contract. Check if you need a roof covering permit and/or agreement from your house owners association beforehand. These agencies will let you know that is responsible for receiving these allows and authorizations. If it is the obligation of the roofer, also have the idea included inside your contract. When it is your responsibility, get mentioned permits along with permissions collated using the estimated roof covering project and possess it evidently posted or perhaps readily available.

• Licensing and Professional references

Roofing Contractors are not necessary to be qualified in all declares. Contact community licensing businesses that govern general design contractors to get a list of requirements. Once you have attained the requirements, make a list of detailed questions to ask your current potential roofing contractor. This simple listing should instantly help you to discount the skilled from the dodgy roofing companies. Qualified building contractors should be able to very easily answer questions as well as tell you that they should do even more research before giving any definitive answer.

Even if any roofing contractor offers all essential licensing, you need to ask to determine pictures involving completed roofer jobs along with speak to happy clients. Have a list of questions handy to inquire about recent clients, such as the mother nature of the job, timeliness, and all round satisfaction. Be sure these are latest clients along with cross reference if possible. In the case of commercial roof covering, make sure that the actual roofing contractor is bonded. Examining these recommendations is another extra measure of safety to narrow down the list of potential roofing contractors.

Search engine optimization Through Article marketing

Articles could be an extremely powerful type of Search engine optimization for your company web-site. Quality written articles be capable of enhance your websites SERP and add quality to your company website. Writing informative keyword rich articles is essential in gaining new backlinks to your business website. Articles can and will be written on topics which might be unique to your business or industry. The articles can discuss a range of issues and ideas inside your industry. Articles that offer your reader which has a resource are invariably just about the most popular and many likely varieties of articles which will lead to backlinks aimed at your web.

Focus your articles on your potential readers or customers. Seo articles should address real questions that are asked by current or previous customers. Each article you're writing in your case company ought to include detailed analysis and Search engine optimization keywords which can help associate your site with the content present in your website. Focus your articles on up to 3 keywords and don't stray from their store. Consistency is very important when writing Seo articles. If you are authoring Vancouver Seo make sure your carry on and reveal information strongly related the keyword.

Give each of your Seo Articles an engaging Title which will persuade folks to read and bookmark your articles. Ideally, the articles you're posting find yourself as links off their websites that are comparable to yours. This one thing will help raise the power of each one link and can assist your SERP. Make sure to end each article with a keyword anchored link (see Easy Small enterprise Seo). This link will increase your rankings in the search engines as well as other major search engines like yahoo to the keyword connected to the link. Submit the articles to your submitted article directory and Voila! In no time, your website may be about the first page of Google.

Many thanks for reading. Can't wait to see your Search engine optimization articles!

Vancouver Seo Agency Aims For Google Places With Total Achievement

When folks type in a search term searching for a business of their local area, they are going to find that Google places and Google maps is showing listings of local businesses. It is rather eminent to allow them to be optimized and listed on this first page whenever they desire to generate business. Vancouver SEO companies have to be educated of this type for their clients.

There appears to be a lot of new Vancouver SEO companies establishing, simply because the requirement is there. Finding a search engine firm which includes the client's best interest at heart may be tedious. The amount of keywords can they optimize for? Do you know the keywords and the corresponding search volume? Do they understand how to optimize for Google places? And so forth. Search engine optimisation could be the business of landing towards the top and Maxim Edge can get you there.

"My wife and i also started our Vancouver Seo agency by accident. We now have learned with the school of hard knocks and trial and error how to utilize the web to promote any business. We began with all the website, then the competition, then of course building quality back-links to push an online site up inside rankings. It is not pushing a button and watching what are the results type of business. It requires a lot of effort, a lot of research and plenty of commitment. We give your very best for our clients and that we are very happy with a high retention rate." Randy Neale says.

For really information on Michael, a Vancouver Search engine optimization company, please visit their site today at seo4vancouver.com

The Uyghurs from East Turkestan

In the center of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the north-western part of China, the land of Xinjiang is a very least populated province whereas it covers near to a sixth with the nation's territory. Having resisted during centuries the chinese control, Xinjiang, or Old Turkistan, fell into under the Chinese Han control in 1949. From then, its population is mostly Uyghur People and Turkic - speaking System.

Islamic most importantly, the Uyghur people have a solid religious identity that, in particular, allowed them to keep a strong big difference in opposition to the Chinese enemy. Really, the Uyghur Kingdom of Mongolia knew a excellent civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.

While in their own history, the Uyghurs successively adopted Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before finally converting to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., as a result opening the way to the Islamization of the complete Central Asia.

Under the effect of the beliefs which they taken on, the Uyghurs taken successively, and at times in a competing way, a great number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own unique graphic system.

The coming of Islam was a great modification simply because it was supported by the assimilation of the Uyghur land in the enormous Turkic and Muslim Kingdom. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan slowly replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used these days.

If their writing, their language and their religion mark a real big difference with the culture of Chinese Han, Uyghur People also differ from their aspect, so characteristic of Central Asia's people. A matt skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features going out to the Mongolian, Turkish or Uzbek roots of these men and these women.

For a few years, China has integrated the proper identity of these remote people, though they represent only nine million inhabitants - a little for this particular great land. So, the Uyghurs are now part of the fifty six racial minority groups having been well-known in an official way by the People's Republic of China.

This particular law allows these people a few privileges in a land where their big difference is very often repressed. Therefore, Uyghur families escape the "single child policy" and their language is known as the second official language in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The integration of the Uyghurs and their culture in China, however, looks quite illusory. The presence of all-natural sources in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and its closeness with countries recognised as very sensitive, clearly motivated the government to accelerate the sinicization of this area. Million of Han thus came to settle in this new Chinese eldorado, monopolizing the more significant responsibility jobs.

In response to this true will to assimilate the Uyghur people into the Chinese culture, an independent party like East Turkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM) was born in the early 1990.

Saying more freedom, but mainly the acceptance of their true identity, this movement was seriously repressed by the power authorities in area Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The events of September 11, 2001, were the perfect occasion for the Chinese government to justify true reprisals: they declared the "Uyghur freedom fighters" as dangerous terrorists linked to Al Quaida because of their Muslim origins and their proximity with Pakistan and Afghanistan... However, the terrible repression which followed did not calm down the anger. The Uyghur population continues today to proudly keep up their identification and their tradition , though they become a minority on their own land.

For much more information about Uyghur people, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com

ation|Web optimization|Website seo|Seo optimization|Seo optimisation} Expert Advice - Getting Ahead Using SEO

With regards to success, one of many mot important matters is planning just after conception. Similar to in whatever else, preparation is the vital thing. Once you prepare with determination you would be able to get ahead of the competition, even just in the world of online business. Web sites today making the effort to do their utmost to get before competition for targeted keywords / phrases through meticulous planning. Seo is the foremost tool used in order to achieve your goals and fortunately, the Search engine optimisation expert advice and tips that have been discussed here will make things easier for you.

Seo is essential today

One of the primary reasons why lots of people today are trying to find Search engine optimisation expert consultancy is because it can be one of the few strategies that usually work today online. Search engine optimisation can be be extremely effective when it comes to getting a higher site ranking on search engines like yahoo, increasing the quantity of visitors on-page and increasing the level of profits and sales. Although most of the people and any good Search engine optimization expert would tell you just how it is a lengthy and complicated process, Search engine optimisation is a skill that could be learned. In case you employ the expertise of an expert or if you utilize tricks employed by experts for own sites, then it would be easier for you to understand the theory and put it to use to your web page.

Taking an SEO course

Several businessmen and internet-based website owners today are taking Seo certification from experts today as it turns out to be quite of great help for them. There are many short certification courses on Seo on the market which can educate you on the basic concepts and provide you a grip about them. These trainings are generally given by people who find themselves experts in the field. Through training, these experts share their knowledge with all the course participants, help them learn the essential approaches for better optimization of internet sites which will help these phones promote their business. These courses can teach them niche research so that they can select the best possible keyword and obtain a better chance to position higher around the search engines.

Search engine optimizing training can be very helpful

Through Search engine optimisation training you'll be able to learn several concepts and tips like placing keywords within the right place in the content of sites. Another topic that may be often tackled by such courses is linking strategy because it will also assist you to rank higher. These Seo trainings and courses might be taken either online or perhaps in the traditional format in classrooms, based on your own serious amounts of preferences. It will be possible to help your web site and enjoy better traffic and better profits while using concepts which can be taught by these courses by an search engine optimisation expert wales.

The author is fulltime Search engine optimization Expert, you can know more about him and services they supply on their website http://www.seo4vancouver.com/.