Archive for February, 2010
What is Google Buzz?
GOOGLE BUZZ
Google announced some changes to Google Buzz late Thursday that show it has belatedly recognized the backlash over privacy concerns with the new service.
Early users of Google Buzz have found the settings very complicated, especially the ones that pertain to privacy. In a blog post Thursday, Google said it built privacy controls into Google Buzz from Day 1 but acknowledged the most strident criticism–that Google made if difficult to make one’s list of followers private–in tweaking the set-up process for the new social-networking service.
“… we heard from people that the checkbox for choosing not to display this information was too hard to find, and based on this feedback, we’ve changed the notice to make it very clear,” the company said on its Gmail blog. “We will roll these changes out to all Gmail users later today.”
Google will now ask Buzz users “How do you want to be seen to others?” when they log into the service for the first time. The default option will be “Show the list of the people I’m following and the list of people following me on my public profile,” but that box can be unchecked and the option is much easier to find than the convoluted process that was required to hide that list prior to the update.
As noted earlier, Google has also made it easier to block people from following their Buzz updates, which it confirmed in Thursday’s announcement. It has also tweaked the list of those following a user to distinguish between Buzz users who have created public Google Profiles and those who haven’t, which was one of the problems with the earlier method for blocking people: Buzz users could only block people with public Google Profiles. As a result, people without Google Profiles who were automatically added to your Google Buzz followers will not appear in the public list of those followers, should you choose to make that list public.
The privacy backlash certainly hurt the perception of Google and Google Buzz during the first week of the service. Those already skeptical of Google’s insatiable thirst for data and its attitudes toward privacy could not help but see Google’s decisions on the controls for Buzz profiles as a way of tricking people into generating public content.
And users who otherwise did like the service, and didn’t have a problem putting their thoughts out to the public, were nonetheless taken aback that Google assumed that the most frequent people emailed from their Gmail accounts would be the same people with whom those users would want to share Buzz updates. Not to mention the fact that the setting could easily expose sensitive data to the outside world before the Web page to change the setting could be found.
Google has not yet added Google Buzz to its Privacy Dashboard, which could go a long way toward satisfying some privacy concerns by making it very clear where and how Buzz information is being shared with Google and the public. A Google representative said the company planned to make that addition at some point, but couldn’t share a timetable.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom.Late Night comedians
LATE NIGHT
David Letterman: “They got a lot of snow in Washington, DC. And the city came to the biggest standstill…they’ve had since the Democrats got the supermajority.”
Jay Leno: “Hey, be glad you’re not back East. Huge snowstorms. … I don’t think Washington has seen a snow job like this since that last stimulus package.”
Jay Leno: “It was so cold, Nancy Pelosi had to sit in her driveway for ten minutes defrosting her eyeballs.”
Jay Leno: “And with all this snow, President Obama told all non-essential White House employees they didn’t have to come in. Well, actually, just Joe Biden.”
Jimmy Fallon: “President Obama just held his first monthly bipartisan meeting, and said that working together on jobs would be a good place to start. You know where else would have been a good place to start? A year ago.”
Top 12 Reasons Why Businesses Fail
- 82% Poor cash flow management skills/poor understanding of cash flow.
- 79% Starting out with too little money
- 78% Lack of a well-developed business plan, including insufficient research on the business before starting it.
- 77% Not pricing properly – failure to include all necessary items when setting prices.
- 73% Being overly optimistic about achievable sales, money required and about what needs to be done to be successful.
- 70% Not recognizing, or ignoring, what they don’t do well and not seeking help from those who do.
- 64% Minimizing the importance of promoting the business properly.
- 63% Insufficient relevant and applicable business experience.
- 58% Inability to delegate properly – micro-managing work given to others or over delegating and abdicating important management responsibilities.
- 56% Hiring the wrong people – clones of themselves and not people with complimentary skills, or hiring friends and relatives.
- 55% Not understanding who your competition is or ignoring competition.
- 47% Too much focus and reliance on one customer/client. Bad Location.
Top Ten College Scholarships For Nursing Majors
FREE Money
As America’s population continues to age and demand for sophisticated medicine grows, the medical field is expected to expand accordingly. This is good news for the student who is pursuing a nursing degree, particularly for those planning to become a Registered Nurse or Nurse Practitioner.
College costs for nursing majors continues to increase sharply as most medical centers require that job candidates have completed a bachelor degree program with some giving added weight to nurses who have completed schooling through the master’s level. Unlike many other students, nursing majors have additional costs to cover including lab fees, uniforms and related program expenses.
While some students choose to start their education at a community college, many nursing majors prefer to begin and end their studies at the same university. To help students pay for their education, the following top college scholarships are geared toward enabling future nurses to reach their goals:
1. CHANCES Scholarship Program – Designed for students choosing a career in pediatric nursing, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHANCES) is currently accepting scholarship applications for the 2010-2011 academic year until May 1, 2010. Applicants must have a GPA of 3.0 or better and have already been accepted into a nursing school. Recipients will receive tuition equivalent assistance for $16,000 per academic year, for up to two years. In exchange for the award, scholars will be committed to work as a Registered Nurse for CHANCES for 18 months for each academic year of support received.
2. Clinique Nursing Scholarship – Skin care specialist Clinique generously supports the nursing profession through its comprehensive nursing scholarship program. Demonstrable financial need and a GPA of at least 3.5 are needed in order to qualify.
3. C. R. Bard Foundation Nursing Scholarship – As one of the largest suppliers of healthcare products and services, C.R. Bard awards $2500 scholarships to qualifying students each academic year.
4. Elks National Foundation – Awarding as many as 500 college scholarships annually, the Elks National foundation dispenses awards ranging from $1000 to $15,000. Open to high school seniors, applications are accepted beginning in September and are due by March 1st. Applicants compete against other students to determine their prize and award.
5. ENA Foundation Scholarship Program – ENA Foundation scholarships are intended for currently licensed nurses (RN, LPN, or LVN) who are pursuing their undergraduate, graduate or doctoral degrees.
6. Genesis Health Services Gala Nursing Scholarship – B.S.N. students who attend school in the Quad City area of Iowa can apply for scholarships from Genesis Health Services. Information is posted to their website in mid-January with applications due by early March.
7. March of Dimes – Designed to assist students who are already Registered Nurses (RN), the March of Dimes awards several $5000 scholarships annually to those RNs enrolled in graduate programs of maternal-child nursing. Applications are accepted in the fall and are due by the following January 15th with awards announced in May.
8. National Student Nurses Association (FNSNA) – For undergraduate students, the application for scholarships administered by (FNSNA) is now available for the upcoming academic year. Scores of recipients are named each year with more than $150,000 awarded in some years.
9. The Eight and Forty Lung and Respiratory Disease Nursing Scholarship Fund – For current Registered Nurses seeking advanced preparation leading to supervisory, administrative or teaching opportunities. This American Legion scholarship opportunity award is worth $3000 each.
10. U.S. Air Force ROTC Nursing Scholarships – The United States Air Force awards nursing scholarships in exchange for national service. Candidates must be a sophomore or junior, majoring in Nursing at an NLN or CCNE accredited college or university. Recipients can have up to $18,000 in college costs and $900 in textbooks covered annually.
Many of the listed scholarship programs update their information in the fall or early winter for the upcoming academic year. Visit each site to learn when awards are announced and how much money recipients received in order to gauge current scholarship trends.
Source: grants, scholarships
The Role of Accountants & Your Small Business
PRUDENT ACCOUNTANTS
By Getachew Teklu
In the American business landscape and more powerful and accessible information technology has changed the role and importance of the small business accountant.
Why do you need an accountant? Some small businesses deal with a bookkeeper – someone to do the tedious task of recording financial information and cranking that data into the necessary formats, like Profit and Loss statements and tax forms.
But a good small business accountant does much more than just record transactions and passively generates documents-they actively analyze, interpret and convert that data into actionable business intelligence.
Based on where you want to do with your business, they should able to tell you how to get there. If your accountant is just showing you the financial tracks of where you have been, you’ve made a bad choice and you’re missing out on a great opportunity to receive good business advice.
To be sure, today’s small business accountant offers more than crunched numbers. They will be your primary resource for:
- Tax Planning. Beyond simply preparing tax forms, an accountants involved in business planning throughout the year. They should be able to regularly tell the business so it functions with peak tax efficiency.
- Business Consulting. A good accountant should be able to help your business grow. Talented small business accountants function as a trusted general business consultant, assessing business problems and offering specific solutions. They offer advice on internal controls, risk management, lease versus buy decisions, inventory strategy, pricing, and even marketing. In short, an accounting professional who really understands your business from the inside out should be a trusted business advisor who is highly motivated to see you succeed.
- Personal Finance Advice. A good small business accountant understands that your personal finances are integrable linked to your business finances. They view the two holistically and offer advice on both fronts. For example, while serving as your small business accountant, they might offer retirement planning advice and estate planning advice that is ancillary to your small business activities but that will ultimately leave you in a stronger financial position.
- Technology Know-How. Computing technology has dramatically improved small business capabilities as powerful business software is no longer only for corporations and the Internet provides a level of access to knowledge, customers and suppliers hardly dreamed of even ten years ago. A good accountant must — must! — Absolutely be proficient in applying the fantastic and inexpensive information technology that turns business data into strategic intelligence. They need to be very familiar with leading small business management software packages from leading vendors like MYOB, Intuit and Peachtree.
- Networking. While the strength of an accountant is still what they know, a mark of a successful pro is also who they know. Your accountant should be a good source of referrals as they should now precisely each of their clients’ strengths and needs. Need to get a loan for your small business? Your accountant maybe able to introduce you to the right banker.
Questions to Ask Your Prospective Accountant in Twin cities area visit: Prudent Accountants, Inc. 1935 County road B2 West, Suite 50, Roseville, MN 55113 or visit www.prudentaccountants.com or Call Rai M. Mahboob at 612-605-3178
Toyota- The End of Loyal customers
TOYOTA
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp will recall around 436,000 hybrid cars worldwide, including the 2010 Prius model, according to a document obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.
Toyota formally issued a recall filing of 223,068 cars in Japan across four hybrid models — the newest Prius model, the Prius PHV (plug-in hybrid), the SAI and the Lexus HS250h.
Of those, 199,666 are the Prius, Japan’s top-selling car in 2009 and the world’s most popular hybrid model.
Outside Japan, Toyota will recall about 213,000 hybrid cars, including about 150,000 in North America, the document, which has not been made public, showed.
Japan’s transport ministry said Toyota President Akio Toyoda would meet with Minister Seiji Maehara at 5:30 p.m. (0830 GMT), when he is expected to apologize for a series of recalls spanning the globe.
(Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo)
Which of my Income Taxable?
Which income taxable?
While most income you receive is generally considered taxable, there are some situations when certain types of income are partially taxed or not taxed at all.
To ensure taxpayers are familiar with the difference between taxable and non-taxable income, the Internal Revenue Service offers these common examples of items that are not included in your income:
- Adoption Expense Reimbursements for qualifying expenses
- Child support payments
- Gifts, bequests and inheritances
- Workers’ compensation benefits
- Meals and Lodging for the convenience of your employer
- Compensatory Damages awarded for physical injury or physical sickness
- Welfare Benefits
- Cash Rebates from a dealer or manufacturer
Some income may be taxable under certain circumstances, but not taxable in other situations. Examples of items that may or may not be included in your income are:
- Life Insurance If you surrender a life insurance policy for cash, you must include in income any proceeds that are more than the cost of the life insurance policy. Life insurance proceeds, which were paid to you because of the insured person’s death, are not taxable unless the policy was turned over to you for a price.
- Scholarship or Fellowship Grant If you are a candidate for a degree, you can exclude amounts you receive as a qualified scholarship or fellowship. Amounts used for room and board do not qualify.
Non-cash Income Taxable income may be in a form other than cash. One example of this is bartering, which is an exchange of property or services. The fair market value of goods and services exchanged is fully taxable and must be included as income on Form 1040 of both parties.
All other items—including income such as wages, salaries and tips—must be included in your income unless it is specifically excluded by law
Source: IRS
The Latest From Late Night Comedians
LATE-NIGHT
Jay Leno: “And for the second time since he became president, Barack Obama has slammed Las Vegas by saying, ‘You don’t blow bunch of cash in Vegas.’ Hey, the way government is spending money, I’d rather take the odds in Vegas. Wouldn’t you? At least…you might win something!”
Jay Leno: “Scientists in Australia announced that within five years they will be able to successfully carry out pig-to-human lung transplants. People could be part human, part pig. We have that already. I think it’s called John Edwards.”
Jimmy Fallon: “President Obama was busy holding two fundraisers in DC last night. During one of his speeches, Obama told the crowd, ‘We can’t be afraid of the future.’ … Most Americans agree with him, mainly because they are so busy being afraid of the present.”
Jimmy Fallon: “It’s tough out there. Even the Obama store in Washington, DC, is closing. That’s where they sell t-shirts, hats, and calendars with Obama’s face on them. You can tell they’re Obama calendars. They only go up to 2012.”
Microsoft has launched Windows Vista in Amharic
AMHARIC
US software giant Microsoft has launched Windows Vista in Amharic, the first operating system in the national language of Ethiopia, the official news agency said Saturday.
“Launching the Amharic version software is a major step forward for Amharic to be a language of technology,” Director of the Ethiopian ICT Development Agency, Debretsion Gebremichael was quoted as saying by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).
He said 40 scholars from the Addis Ababa University had taken part in the translation of the software and added that plans were being drafted for translation into some of the nation’s other languages.
“Ethiopia as a country of over 80 million people, has its own language and alphabet, and it is Microsoft?s desire to let this huge country use its Amharic service pack,” ENA quoted Microsoft’s Africa boss Cheick Modibo Diarra as saying.
Source ENA
The Credit CARD Act of 2009 into law May 22, 2009
By Getachew Teklu
The new normal
President Obama signed the Credit CARD Act of 2009 into law May 22, 2009, following passage days earlier in the Senate and the House. (Read the act.)
What will the credit card law mean for cardholders? Millions of credit card users will avoid retroactive interest rate increases on existing card balances and have more time to pay their monthly bills, greater advance notice of changes in credit card terms and the right to opt out of significant changes in terms on their accounts. That will take the surprise out of “gotcha” fine print and give consumers time to shop around for better deals if they don’t like the new terms. The requirements are being phased in. The first batch took effect Aug. 20, 2009, and the majority of provisions start Feb. 22, 2010, while some begin in August and December 2010. Once in effect, the law will also fundamentally change the way credit card issuers market, bill and advertise credit cards.
Here are the highlights of the credit card law:
Limited interest rate hikes: Interest rate hikes on existing balances would be allowed only under limited conditions, such as when a promotional rate ends, there is a variable rate or if the cardholder makes a late payment. Interest rates on new transactions can increase only after the first year. Significant changes in terms on accounts cannot occur without 45 days’ advance notice of the change.
Limited universal default: “Universal default,” the practice of raising interest rates on customers based on their payment records with other unrelated credit issuers (such as utility companies and other creditors), would end for existing credit card balances. Card issuers would still be allowed to use universal default on if they give at least 45 days’ advance notice of the change.
The right to opt out: Consumers now have the right to opt out of — or reject — certain significant changes in terms on their accounts. Opting out means cardholders agree to close their accounts and pay off the balance under the old terms. They have at least five years to pay the balance.
Limited credit to young adults: Credit card issuers will be banned from issuing credit cards to anyone under 21; unless they have adult co-signers on the accounts or can show proof they have enough income to repay the card debt. Credit card companies must stay at least 1,000 feet from college campuses if they are offering free pizza or other gifts to entice students to apply for credit cards.
More time to pay monthly bills: Under the credit card law, issuers would have to give card account holders “a reasonable amount of time” to make payments on monthly bills. That means payments would be due at least 21 days after they are mailed or delivered. Consumers have complained about due dates that change without notice or are moved up, giving them less time to pay their bills and increasing the likelihood of late fees.
Clearer due dates and times: Credit card issuers would no longer be able to set early morning or other arbitrary deadlines for payments. Cut-off times set before 5 p.m. on the payment due dates would be illegal under the new credit card law. Payments due at those times or on weekends, holidays or when the card issuer is closed for business will not be subject to late fees.
Highest interest balances paid first: When consumers have accounts that carry different interest rates for different types of purchases (i.e., cash advances, regular purchases, balance transfers or ATM withdrawals), payments in excess of the minimum amount due must go to balances with higher interest rates first. Current industry practice is to apply all amounts over the minimum monthly payments to the lowest-interest balances first — thus extending the time it takes to pay off higher-interest rate balances.
Limits on over-limit fees: Consumers must “opt in” to over-limit fees. Those who opt out would have their transactions rejected if they exceed their credit limits, thus avoiding over-limit fees. Fees charged for going over the limit must be reasonable.
No more double-cycle billing: Finance charges on outstanding credit card balances would be computed based on purchases made in the current cycle rather than going back to the previous billing cycle to calculate interest charges. So-called two-cycle or double-cycle billing hurts consumers who pay off their balances; because they are hit with finance charges from the previous cycle even though they have paid the bill in full.
Sub prime credit cards for people with bad credit: People who get sub prime credit cards and are charged account-opening fees that eat up their available balances would get some relief under the new credit card law. These upfront fees cannot exceed 25 percent of the available credit limit in the first year of the card. Instead of charging high upfront fees, some issuers are considering high interest rates on these high credit risk accounts.
Minimum payments: Credit card issuers must disclose to cardholders the consequences of making only minimum payments each month, namely how long it would take to pay off the entire balance if users only made the minimum monthly payment. Issuers must also provide information on how much users must pay each month if they want to pay off their balances in 36 months, including the amount of interest.
Law doesn’t cover everything
Consumers should take note: Although the reforms are the most dramatic changes in credit card laws in decades, they do not protect card users from everything. Issuers can still raise interest rates on future card purchases and there is no cap on how high interest rates can go. Business and corporate credit cards also are not covered by the protections in the CARD Act. If credit card accounts are based on variable APRs (as the majority now are), interest rates can increase as the prime rate goes up. Credit card companies can also continue to close accounts and slash credit limits abruptly, without giving cardholders advance warning. Many banks are already finding ways around the law and launching new fees not specifically banned by the credit card reform law.
