I grew up as the biggest Tim Burton nut around. I worshiped his Batman pictures and they turned me into the Bat-fanatic I am today. For most of my life, the original Batman was my all-time favorite film. I adored Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice as much as any other like-minded film nerd. I saw Ed Wood, his career-peak, on opening night and took it personally when Mars Attacks! flopped. But, with not a little sadness, I must admit I'm not the least bit excited about Alice in Wonderland. Oh, I'll see it in IMAX 3D, and hopefully the film will be better than it looks (word of mouth is all over the map). Part of it is the advertising campaign, which seems to be mixing inexplicable Lord of the Rings type adventure with Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter mugging like Mike Myer's The Cat in the Hat. Frankly, this is the first Tim Burton film that just doesn't look all that interesting to me. But I think that I realize that part of the problem is the realization that Tim Burton is basically going to spend the rest of his career doing 'Tim Burton's version of… (insert famous property)'. One of the most original visual artists in the business now seems content to piggyback on the genius of others.

Big Fish may have been adapted from a novel, but it at least felt original and dealt with themes outside of the whole 'outsider struggling to fit in' bit. It was jolting to see a Tim Burton movie that was actually set on planet Earth, it was refreshing to see Burton working with a cast outside of his usual talent pool, and the final ten minutes or so made me bawl like a newborn. Sweeney Todd was pretty great, but he had been wanting to make that for at least fifteen years (to be fair, it turned out much better than Scorsese's Gangs of New York). It just seems that after the scare of the twin financial flops (Ed Wood and Mars Attacks!) combined with the daggers hurled at him over Batman Returns, that Burton decided to not venture too far outside his safe zone and the safe zone of conventional Hollywood franchise pictures. I would argue that his comeback picture, Sleepy Hollow, was very much the 'ultimate Tim Burton movie' (for better or worse) and that nearly everything after that just felt like a retread in one form or another.

I've liked, if not loved, most of Burton's post-Sleepy Hollow output. I liked The Corpse Bride, as it's actually better written than The Nightmare Before Christmas. While it's still Burton's worst film, I still dig the 'f-you' ending of Planet of the Apes. I more or less enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish, and I appreciated his new themes involving children truly getting to know their fathers before its too late. Sweeney Todd was a relatively faithful adaptation of a classic musical, which is all it needed to be (although the apolitical Burton stripped most of the social content regarding classicism from the text). But Burton probably knows that there isn't all that much that he can do to surprise us at this point. We know that his films will likely deal with an outcast struggling to fit in inside a world gone mad, and perhaps with lingering father issues. Over the last 20 years, the visual style of Burton's filmography have become so consistently aped as to render his own work borderline cliche. Tim Burton has gone from Hollywood's darkest mainstream maverick to the guy who parents can trust to gently scare their kids without truly unsettling them.

On the other hand, he's married with two kids and seems reasonably content. It's tough to maintain your rep as king of the outcast geeks when you're 50-years old, one of Hollywood's few marquee directors, and have achieved a sense of domestic bliss in the bargain (personally, I can't wait for the irony of Burton's kids growing up and starting to dress 'goth'). It's hard to be an outsider in a system that has given your work such success and acceptance that it has received its own exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art. Still, a little creative downturn may be a small price to pay for personal bliss. As I mentioned when discussing Jim Carrey's Yes Man back in December 2008, a slight neutering of the trademark impulses is a fair trade for a once-tortured entertainer actually being happy. So here's to his continued happiness. Let us just hope that Tim Burton dares to step out of his personal sandbox just a few more times before he retires.

Media giant Viacom Inc.'s fourth-quarter operating income surged because of cost-cutting and because longtime earnings laggard Paramount Pictures turned a tidy profit.

Results for the quarter ended Dec. 31 were buoyed by the over-the-moon box-office results of "Paranormal Activity" and strong home-video sales of Paramount's summer tent-pole hits "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Star Trek."  Profits increased $214 million for the filmed entertainment division.

"This is the highest profitability the film studio has generated in seven years," Viacom Chief Financial Officer Thomas Dooley said Thursday in an early-morning conference call with Wall Street analysts.

Viacom also said it had bought back the DreamWorks SKG film library from investor George Soros for $400 million.

Overall, the company generated earnings of $694 million, or $1.14 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2009.  That compared with $173 million, or 28 cents per share, for the previous year. The increase was fueled, in large part, because of a charge of $454 million in December 2008 because of massive layoffs.

The results beat the estimates by analysts. 

Revenue at Viacom dipped 3% to $4.1 billion for the quarter, reflecting continued weakness in the television advertising market. Viacom owns MTV, VH-1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and BET.

Viacom's "Rock Band" video-game franchise continued to produce sour notes. "It certainly was a challenging year in 2009," Viacom Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman said of the game's performance. 

The company's movie channel start-up, Epix, has experienced some good news recently with two major cable operators, Cox and Charter Communications, agreeing to distribute the channel later this spring. "As we ramp up the distribution, revenues will start coming in," Dauman said. He said the channel, a joint venture with Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, should break even next year.  

– Meg James

I grew up as the biggest Tim Burton nut around. I worshiped his Batman pictures and they turned me into the Bat-fanatic I am today. For most of my life, the original Batman was my all-time favorite film. I adored Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice as much as any other like-minded film nerd. I saw Ed Wood, his career-peak, on opening night and took it personally when Mars Attacks! flopped. But, with not a little sadness, I must admit I'm not the least bit excited about Alice in Wonderland. Oh, I'll see it in IMAX 3D, and hopefully the film will be better than it looks (word of mouth is all over the map). Part of it is the advertising campaign, which seems to be mixing inexplicable Lord of the Rings type adventure with Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter mugging like Mike Myer's The Cat in the Hat. Frankly, this is the first Tim Burton film that just doesn't look all that interesting to me. But I think that I realize that part of the problem is the realization that Tim Burton is basically going to spend the rest of his career doing 'Tim Burton's version of… (insert famous property)'. One of the most original visual artists in the business now seems content to piggyback on the genius of others.

Big Fish may have been adapted from a novel, but it at least felt original and dealt with themes outside of the whole 'outsider struggling to fit in' bit. It was jolting to see a Tim Burton movie that was actually set on planet Earth, it was refreshing to see Burton working with a cast outside of his usual talent pool, and the final ten minutes or so made me bawl like a newborn. Sweeney Todd was pretty great, but he had been wanting to make that for at least fifteen years (to be fair, it turned out much better than Scorsese's Gangs of New York). It just seems that after the scare of the twin financial flops (Ed Wood and Mars Attacks!) combined with the daggers hurled at him over Batman Returns, that Burton decided to not venture too far outside his safe zone and the safe zone of conventional Hollywood franchise pictures. I would argue that his comeback picture, Sleepy Hollow, was very much the 'ultimate Tim Burton movie' (for better or worse) and that nearly everything after that just felt like a retread in one form or another.

I've liked, if not loved, most of Burton's post-Sleepy Hollow output. I liked The Corpse Bride, as it's actually better written than The Nightmare Before Christmas. While it's still Burton's worst film, I still dig the 'f-you' ending of Planet of the Apes. I more or less enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish, and I appreciated his new themes involving children truly getting to know their fathers before its too late. Sweeney Todd was a relatively faithful adaptation of a classic musical, which is all it needed to be (although the apolitical Burton stripped most of the social content regarding classicism from the text). But Burton probably knows that there isn't all that much that he can do to surprise us at this point. We know that his films will likely deal with an outcast struggling to fit in inside a world gone mad, and perhaps with lingering father issues. Over the last 20 years, the visual style of Burton's filmography have become so consistently aped as to render his own work borderline cliche. Tim Burton has gone from Hollywood's darkest mainstream maverick to the guy who parents can trust to gently scare their kids without truly unsettling them.

On the other hand, he's married with two kids and seems reasonably content. It's tough to maintain your rep as king of the outcast geeks when you're 50-years old, one of Hollywood's few marquee directors, and have achieved a sense of domestic bliss in the bargain (personally, I can't wait for the irony of Burton's kids growing up and starting to dress 'goth'). It's hard to be an outsider in a system that has given your work such success and acceptance that it has received its own exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art. Still, a little creative downturn may be a small price to pay for personal bliss. As I mentioned when discussing Jim Carrey's Yes Man back in December 2008, a slight neutering of the trademark impulses is a fair trade for a once-tortured entertainer actually being happy. So here's to his continued happiness. Let us just hope that Tim Burton dares to step out of his personal sandbox just a few more times before he retires.

Media giant Viacom Inc.'s fourth-quarter operating income surged because of cost-cutting and because longtime earnings laggard Paramount Pictures turned a tidy profit.

Results for the quarter ended Dec. 31 were buoyed by the over-the-moon box-office results of "Paranormal Activity" and strong home-video sales of Paramount's summer tent-pole hits "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Star Trek."  Profits increased $214 million for the filmed entertainment division.

"This is the highest profitability the film studio has generated in seven years," Viacom Chief Financial Officer Thomas Dooley said Thursday in an early-morning conference call with Wall Street analysts.

Viacom also said it had bought back the DreamWorks SKG film library from investor George Soros for $400 million.

Overall, the company generated earnings of $694 million, or $1.14 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2009.  That compared with $173 million, or 28 cents per share, for the previous year. The increase was fueled, in large part, because of a charge of $454 million in December 2008 because of massive layoffs.

The results beat the estimates by analysts. 

Revenue at Viacom dipped 3% to $4.1 billion for the quarter, reflecting continued weakness in the television advertising market. Viacom owns MTV, VH-1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and BET.

Viacom's "Rock Band" video-game franchise continued to produce sour notes. "It certainly was a challenging year in 2009," Viacom Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman said of the game's performance. 

The company's movie channel start-up, Epix, has experienced some good news recently with two major cable operators, Cox and Charter Communications, agreeing to distribute the channel later this spring. "As we ramp up the distribution, revenues will start coming in," Dauman said. He said the channel, a joint venture with Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, should break even next year.  

– Meg James

existing franchises for sale , franchises for sale

Valve updates Portal end sequence <b>News</b> | PC | Eurogamer

Read our Valve updates Portal end sequence <b>News</b> for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

AMERICAblog <b>News</b>: Exposing the lies of Orrin Hatch and his fellow <b>…</b>

<b>News</b> and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

<b>News</b> Ticker: My Chemical Romance, Diane von Furstenberg, Record <b>…</b>

Up to the minute breaking <b>news</b> from the world of music, from the editors of Rolling Stone.

Mark Suster is a Partner at GRP Partners, a Venture Capital firm in Los Angeles. He blogs at Both Sides of the Table and can be found on Twitter at @msuster.

I’m often asked by entrepreneurs and business owners whether it is worth blogging, and if so, what they should blog about. On the first question, the answer is obvious to me — you must blog as an entrepreneur.

In this post I’ll cover why you need to blog, how to determine what to blog about, and finding your blog’s voice.

Why You Must Blog

I believe that blogging in your business is vital to creating a public personae and making your company more accessible. In an era where companies like Zappos have differentiated themselves based on service, it is important to be public and accessible.

My industry of venture capital, for example, has been shrouded in secrecy for 30 years, making the process of raising funds opaque for most entrepreneurs. When I started my first company in 1999, there were almost no public sources of venture capital fund raising information. Years later I discovered the blog of VC Brad Feld, then later VentureHacks, and Fred Wilson’s technology & VC blog, each of which clarified and demystified the venture capital process.

So when I started blogging, I mainly viewed it as “earned media,” or a chance to let entrepreneurs get to know me by sharing my thoughts online with complete transparency; a concept that is repeatable for any business.

In less than a year I’ve attracted a large monthly following of readers who come to my blog to discuss how to build startups, how to raise money, and to get my thoughts on technology markets. By publicly sharing my thoughts, I’ve been able to engage in online discussions with people all over the world, and though it was an unintended consequence, my deal flow has gone up dramatically. In other words, blogging can be a valuable networking tool and help the bottom line.

What Should You Blog About?

Start by defining the audience with whom you want to have a relationship. Presumably they are your customers, partners, suppliers and your broader industry as a whole. You should think about what kind of information they would find valuable. You should also try to talk about something that is differentiated from what other blogs in your field cover, even if your approach is just slightly different or new.

Make sure the topic is something that you’ll have a passion for writing about on a regular basis. If you’re not going to keep up with your blog, you shouldn’t start one in the first place. It’s a commitment, believe me. If you pick a topic that relates to your customers, but you’re not that passionate about it, then you may have a bigger problem on your hands!

The Right and Wrong Way to Blog

Let me give some examples of the right and wrong approach to blogging.

Right: I always liked the Mint.com blog. Even in the early days when they were relatively unknown, they blogged about personal finance. They talked about how to manage credit and balance your bank account — obvious topics for a startup focused on managing personal money. They were able to take a leadership role in talking about managing your money in a way that supported their brand and created a community around their product.

Wrong: A friend of mine has a company in the personal finance space also. His blog was all about how to run a startup and raise venture capital. He was outrageous, brash and crass in his style, and I told him so. I said, “Your goal isn’t to be the cool kid in the venture capital circles. Your job is to build a great company and you’ll be a hero in entrepreneurial circles as a result of your success. Speak to your customers — that is what a blog is for.”

Finding Your Blog’s Voice

So you know you need to blog, and you’re convinced you ought to write about something you’re passionate about and that speaks to your customers. How can you create something that people will want to come and read every day?

1. Be authentic

The thing that kills most blogs, in my view, is when you can tell that the writer is just going through the motions. You need to find a “voice” that is authentically yours. People will get used to your style and your style will become your signature.

2. Be transparent

The “old school” way of getting media attention was to submit press releases. These were artificially crafted documents that were filled with glowing reviews of your company. In short, they felt fake. The best way to establish your voice is to be transparent.

Be willing to talk like a human being. Be willing to show feelings and a point of view. Let your inner self come out rather than your “inner bullet point.” Don’t use too much lingo. Don’t feel like your prose has to sound like it was crafted by a university professor. Just speak!

3. Get inside your readers’ minds

I give this advice often and in many scenarios, including public speaking. When people speak to many audiences, they sometimes get into a canned routine. They give the same presentation no matter which crowd they’re addressing. The key is that each time you present, you need to think about who is in the audience and what they want to hear. The same is true for blogging.

On my blog, my audience is made of startup entrepreneurs and probably other VCs. When I write I try to be mindful of who these people are, the knowledge I assume they have, and what I believe they want to know.

4. Solicit feedback

I ask people what they want to read about. I regularly ask for feedback on what I’m writing. When people give me good suggestions, I try to cover those topics.

When community members write awesome comments, I’ll sometimes write a post about what they said to highlight them and their contributions. In my opinion, the best way to build an audience over time is to engage with them and to highlight those that really contribute positively to you.

5. Don’t be offensive or take big public risks

I sometimes read blogs that get extreme. I read a blog once that jokingly suggested “offering your angels cocaine if that would get them to invest.” It was intended to be funny. It wasn’t. And comments like this run the risk of offending people. This was a blog about personal finance, and I found the comment totally irresponsible and at odds with the brand image the blogger was trying to project.

I read a blog yesterday where the author was trying to make fun of a negative comment he got on his product. The blogger highlighted him and called him “retarded,” which I, and I’m sure many others, find offensive. There’s no upside to this type of comment, but there’s a big downside. My esteem for him went down.

Further, unless your company revolves around taking stands on controversial issues, it’s best to leave your political commentary at home. Statements like these stand to upset or anger half of your potential customers no matter what side you take.

6. Have fun

This may be obvious, but if writing a blog becomes a chore for you it will show. Try to make your writing fun and it will be easier to stick to. It will also reflect in your voice.

Happy blogging!

More blogging resources from Mashable:

- 14 Fantastic Free WordPress Themes
- HOW TO: Build a More Beautiful Blog
- How the Resort Industry is Using Social Media
- Why Brands are Becoming Media
- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence
- How Social Media Helps One Small Business Connect with Fans

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, johnnyscriv

[Image Credit: Kristina B]

Mark Suster is a Partner at GRP Partners, a Venture Capital firm in Los Angeles. He blogs at Both Sides of the Table and can be found on Twitter at @msuster.

I’m often asked by entrepreneurs and business owners whether it is worth blogging, and if so, what they should blog about. On the first question, the answer is obvious to me — you must blog as an entrepreneur.

In this post I’ll cover why you need to blog, how to determine what to blog about, and finding your blog’s voice.

Why You Must Blog

I believe that blogging in your business is vital to creating a public personae and making your company more accessible. In an era where companies like Zappos have differentiated themselves based on service, it is important to be public and accessible.

My industry of venture capital, for example, has been shrouded in secrecy for 30 years, making the process of raising funds opaque for most entrepreneurs. When I started my first company in 1999, there were almost no public sources of venture capital fund raising information. Years later I discovered the blog of VC Brad Feld, then later VentureHacks, and Fred Wilson’s technology & VC blog, each of which clarified and demystified the venture capital process.

So when I started blogging, I mainly viewed it as “earned media,” or a chance to let entrepreneurs get to know me by sharing my thoughts online with complete transparency; a concept that is repeatable for any business.

In less than a year I’ve attracted a large monthly following of readers who come to my blog to discuss how to build startups, how to raise money, and to get my thoughts on technology markets. By publicly sharing my thoughts, I’ve been able to engage in online discussions with people all over the world, and though it was an unintended consequence, my deal flow has gone up dramatically. In other words, blogging can be a valuable networking tool and help the bottom line.

What Should You Blog About?

Start by defining the audience with whom you want to have a relationship. Presumably they are your customers, partners, suppliers and your broader industry as a whole. You should think about what kind of information they would find valuable. You should also try to talk about something that is differentiated from what other blogs in your field cover, even if your approach is just slightly different or new.

Make sure the topic is something that you’ll have a passion for writing about on a regular basis. If you’re not going to keep up with your blog, you shouldn’t start one in the first place. It’s a commitment, believe me. If you pick a topic that relates to your customers, but you’re not that passionate about it, then you may have a bigger problem on your hands!

The Right and Wrong Way to Blog

Let me give some examples of the right and wrong approach to blogging.

Right: I always liked the Mint.com blog. Even in the early days when they were relatively unknown, they blogged about personal finance. They talked about how to manage credit and balance your bank account — obvious topics for a startup focused on managing personal money. They were able to take a leadership role in talking about managing your money in a way that supported their brand and created a community around their product.

Wrong: A friend of mine has a company in the personal finance space also. His blog was all about how to run a startup and raise venture capital. He was outrageous, brash and crass in his style, and I told him so. I said, “Your goal isn’t to be the cool kid in the venture capital circles. Your job is to build a great company and you’ll be a hero in entrepreneurial circles as a result of your success. Speak to your customers — that is what a blog is for.”

Finding Your Blog’s Voice

So you know you need to blog, and you’re convinced you ought to write about something you’re passionate about and that speaks to your customers. How can you create something that people will want to come and read every day?

1. Be authentic

The thing that kills most blogs, in my view, is when you can tell that the writer is just going through the motions. You need to find a “voice” that is authentically yours. People will get used to your style and your style will become your signature.

2. Be transparent

The “old school” way of getting media attention was to submit press releases. These were artificially crafted documents that were filled with glowing reviews of your company. In short, they felt fake. The best way to establish your voice is to be transparent.

Be willing to talk like a human being. Be willing to show feelings and a point of view. Let your inner self come out rather than your “inner bullet point.” Don’t use too much lingo. Don’t feel like your prose has to sound like it was crafted by a university professor. Just speak!

3. Get inside your readers’ minds

I give this advice often and in many scenarios, including public speaking. When people speak to many audiences, they sometimes get into a canned routine. They give the same presentation no matter which crowd they’re addressing. The key is that each time you present, you need to think about who is in the audience and what they want to hear. The same is true for blogging.

On my blog, my audience is made of startup entrepreneurs and probably other VCs. When I write I try to be mindful of who these people are, the knowledge I assume they have, and what I believe they want to know.

4. Solicit feedback

I ask people what they want to read about. I regularly ask for feedback on what I’m writing. When people give me good suggestions, I try to cover those topics.

When community members write awesome comments, I’ll sometimes write a post about what they said to highlight them and their contributions. In my opinion, the best way to build an audience over time is to engage with them and to highlight those that really contribute positively to you.

5. Don’t be offensive or take big public risks

I sometimes read blogs that get extreme. I read a blog once that jokingly suggested “offering your angels cocaine if that would get them to invest.” It was intended to be funny. It wasn’t. And comments like this run the risk of offending people. This was a blog about personal finance, and I found the comment totally irresponsible and at odds with the brand image the blogger was trying to project.

I read a blog yesterday where the author was trying to make fun of a negative comment he got on his product. The blogger highlighted him and called him “retarded,” which I, and I’m sure many others, find offensive. There’s no upside to this type of comment, but there’s a big downside. My esteem for him went down.

Further, unless your company revolves around taking stands on controversial issues, it’s best to leave your political commentary at home. Statements like these stand to upset or anger half of your potential customers no matter what side you take.

6. Have fun

This may be obvious, but if writing a blog becomes a chore for you it will show. Try to make your writing fun and it will be easier to stick to. It will also reflect in your voice.

Happy blogging!

More blogging resources from Mashable:

- 14 Fantastic Free WordPress Themes
- HOW TO: Build a More Beautiful Blog
- How the Resort Industry is Using Social Media
- Why Brands are Becoming Media
- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence
- How Social Media Helps One Small Business Connect with Fans

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, johnnyscriv

[Image Credit: Kristina B]

http://removeripoffreports.net

The Federal Government is stepping in as the private sector has shed more than $1.5 trillion of mortgage assets in the past two years. Figure 3.2 illustrates this active downsizing by the private sector and the reduction in its exposure as well as some of the accompanying decrease in values due to foreclosures. In short, between net mortgage lending and existing mortgage management, the Federal Government now completely dominates the housing mortgage market, with the taxpayer shouldering the risk that had once been borne by the private sector.

The most comprehensive chart highlighting why the Fed is the new New Century:

The collapse of the GSEs:

A summary of all the artifical home price increase programs set up by the government:

59 Qualified Financial Institutions have missed one or more dividend payments on the TARP's CPP program.

HAMP trial programs started since program inception: 902,620; number permanent mortgage mods completed: 66,465.

A summary of all the PPIP managers:

• AllianceBernstein L.P. is a publicly traded investment management firm that offers research and diversified investment services to institutional clients, individuals and private clients in major markets around the world. It has $496 billion in assets under management and employs more than 500 investment professionals in more than 20 countries.
• Angelo, Gordon & Co. is a privately held registered investment advisor focused on alternative investing. The firm was founded in 1988 and currently manages, with its affiliates, approximately $21 billion in assets. Angelo, Gordon & Co. is partnering with GE Capital Real Estate for the purposes of PPIP asset management.
• BlackRock Inc. is a publicly traded asset management firm and provides global investment management, risk management, and advisory services to institutional,  intermediary, and individual investors around the world. The firm has $3.2 trillion in assets under management and employs more than 8,500 professionals in 24 countries.
• Invesco Ltd. is a publicly traded global investment management company. The firm provides investment solutions for retail, institutional, and high net worth clients around the world. With $417 billion in assets under management, Invesco Ltd. employs approximately 4,900 individuals in 20 countries; the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IVZ.
• Marathon Asset Management LP is a private alternative investment and asset management company. Marathon’s core businesses include hedge funds, structured finance, emerging markets, and real estate. Founded in 1998, the firm has more than $11 billion in assets under management and 140 professionalsworldwide with headquarters in New York City and investment offices in London and Singapore.
• Oaktree Capital Management L.P. is an investment management firm specializing in less efficient markets and alternative investments. Founded in 1995, Oaktree Capital Management has $67.4 billion in assets under management. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles and has more than 500 employees in 10 countries.
• RLJ Western Asset Management LP is a newly created, minority-owned entity that is 49% owned by Western Asset Management, the fixed-income affiliate of Legg Mason, Inc. and 51% owned by The RLJ Companies, the portfolio holding company owned by Robert L. Johnson. Western Asset Management is a global investment firm, and The RLJ Companies include private equity real estate funds, a private equity mid-sized buyout fund, and a bank, Urban Trust Bank.
• TCW Group Inc. is a private asset management firm, headquartered in Los Angeles, offering individual and institutional investors a range of U.S. equity and U.S. fixed income alternatives, as well as international investment strategies. As of September 30, 2009, TCW had approximately $108 billion in assets under management. TCW’s management has an average of 23 years of industry experience and the firm’s portfolio managers have approximately 11 years of tenure with TCW. On January 4, 2010, TCW withdrew as a manager in PPIP. Treasury has entered into a winding-up and liquidation agreement with TCW.
• Wellington Management Company LLP is a private partnership investment advisory firm headquartered in Boston. Wellington Management has more than $506 billion in assets under management and serves as an investment advisor to more than 1,600 institutions located in more than 40 countries.

Full report:

 

There are several ways to look at the next presidential election in 2012, especially since the current and new president, Barack Obama, appears unuusually vulnerable to being limited to one term.

This early vulnerability, after only about one year in office, could, following the 2010 mid-term elections this year, provoke an intraparty challenge to the president, as happened in 1980 when then-Senator Ted Kennedy took on incumbent President Jimmy Carter. Kennedy ultimately failed in that effort, but a politically wounded Carter went on to defeat by Ronald Reagan in the November election that followed.

Although it would take a huge wave reversal this year in the congressional elections, the Republicans might take control of one or both houses of Congress as early as this year.

All of this remains speculative, at this point, since so many events and conditions can intervene in an eight-month and thirty-two month interval. Political fortunes rarely go very long in a straight line either up or down.

But if all this predictive caution isn’t enough, I suggest that an even much longer period of time may be in order for political and policy planning for candidates and their political parties if they are not only to win the next political cycles, but govern successfully as well.

Barack Obama has been a political phenomenon. In 2008, the odds-on favorite to win the Democratic nomination was Hillary Clinton, then a U.S. senator from New York.

But it was the novice US.senator from Illinois, Mr. Obama, who survived a long, closely fought battle up to the Democratic convention, and then went on to defeat Republican nominee John McCain in November. Although the latter was in the end a decisive victory for the first black U.S. president, it should not be forgotten that following their own convention and just before the mortgage banking crisis, the McCain-Palin ticket had pulled ahead in the race. The financial meltdown effectively ended the presidential race, but without it, it is not dispositively clear who wins.

In any event, Barack Obama did win, and did have a reasonably good idea for some time before election day that he would become the next president. While there is some evidence that Mr. Obama and his advisers, and certainly Democratic congressional leaders, had some idea of “what” they wanted to do if they won, there is now little evidence that any of them, especially in the executive branch, had thought out “how” they would accomplish their goals.

The “what” of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid political team has turned out to be a radical series of public policies which are mostly quite unpopular with U.S. voters. Even with huge majorities in both houses of Congress, they have been unable to pass very much legislation. In an historically brief time, in fact, they have squandered their decisive 2006 and 2008 victories, and appear he…

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http://removeripoffreports.net

Mac owners still have deal with a lack of proper Mac compatible versions of many popular programs, although the situation is improving. For the past few years this shortfall has included personal finance software such as Intuit's Quicken, an issue that has finally been addressed with the release of Quicken Essentials for Mac.

This new version of Quicken for Apple owners is the first version of Quicken software which has been written from the ground up for OSX, partially thanks to Intuit's purchase of Mint.com last year.

Notable improvements over the last version of Quicken for Mac (from 2007) include:

• New Mac-like user interface
• Connects to 12,000 banks and financial institutions
• Better categorization using an algorithm similar to Mint.com
• Conversion software to help you bring your data from earlier Mac versions and Windows versions of Quicken or MS Moneyeds.

While some users will be excited to have a new version of Quicken for Mac, tech pundit Walter Mossberg wasn't too hot on the new version for its lack of features that come standard in Windows versions such as Bill Pay, TurboTax integration and the ability to view or edit transactions in investment accounts.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has the best description of Quicken Essentials for Mac's lack of power features, calling it the “iPhoto for your finances” and suggesting alternatives for users who need more advanced tools.

These are notable omissions for individuals looking for a rounded and robust personal finance tool, but as Intuit points out, this version of Quicken Essentials for Mac is just that; the essential personal finance tools.
.

Tea partiers will be the first to tell you that they don’t intend to
start a third party. They’re angry with Washington and with the
behavior of both parties, but the way toward the nation’s salvation is
to hold current leaders more accountable, not sending new ones to fill
the ranks of Congress. “We just don’t have enough time to do that,”
says Joyce Smith, a retiree from Ellijay, Ga.

Since the movement’s first-ever convention started in Nashville on
Thursday, the pursuit for reporters has simply been to figure out the
force of the movement and how formidable its voice will be in November.
Partiers are uniformly against public spending and expansion of
government, but it’s harder to figure out what exactly they’re for.
Campaigning on “throwing the bums out” might help win an election, but
it’s not a governing strategy. And until now, one of the movement’s
biggest snags has been its inability to articulate concrete changes it
would make to Washington and the federal government.

Until I met a man named Fred Everett, a tea-party patriot from Marietta, Ga. Cognizant of the movement’s lack of a concrete platform, he wrote one. He brought 500 copies to distribute to delegates as a proposed vision for the movement. It’s broken into two parts: fiscal reform and election reform—social programs aren’t included—and the idea is to get candidates to sign it as a pledge before they get tea-party support.

Under fiscal reform, Everett proposes curtailing all earmarks (“regardless of the importance of the legislation”) and balancing the budget by, as he says, sunsetting each and every federal program and “matching federal expenditures with federal revenues.” No exception, although one tiny caveat: no raising taxes. And on that note, he’d like to restructure the tax code to sharply reduce personal and corporate tax rates without shifting the income-tax burden from one income bracket to another. The result, he says, will “grow our national economic pie, create jobs, and increase federal tax revenues.”

Shifting to election reform, Everett thinks it’s unfair that incumbents have the upper hand to finance campaigns with taxpayer money when events coincide with their public duties. He thinks challengers should also get a weekly, federally funded town-hall meeting during the two months before each election. Once elected, lawmakers should be subject to term limits: eight years in the House and 12 years in the Senate. (Some tea partiers tell me the numbers should be higher, others say lower.) And last, to end gerrymandering, all House districts should be redrawn by an independent commission based on “democratic principles.”

Even though Everett’s contract offers some reasoned ideas, it’s a valid question whether candidates would sign on to something still so broad. But if they want tea-party support, they might have to. At yesterday’s press conference, convention organizer Judson Phillips laid down the gauntlet: “The tea party doesn’t endorse candidates; candidates endorse the tea party.”

http://removeripoffreports.net

Would "The View" be better in the afternoon?

That's what the folks at Walt Disney Co.'s ABC are wondering. With Oprah Winfrey leaving daytime television in September 2011 to focus on OWN, the cable network she is partnering on with Discovery Communications, there's a lot of jockeying for her position going on in television-land.

Winfrey's show is syndicated, meaning that it is not tied to a network and instead is sold to individual television stations across the country. But her show is carried on ABC's big-market TV stations, including WABC in New York, KABC in Los Angeles and WLS in Chicago and lots of ABC affiliates across the country. In other words, it is ABC, its stations and affiliates that are most concerned about filling the void that will be created by Winfrey's exit.

While there has been a lot of attention surrounding Ellen DeGeneres and whether her distributor Warner Bros. would try to move her show to ABC stations in big cities (it currently plays on NBC stations in the top markets, including KNBC in  Los Angeles) when Winfrey hits the road, another scenario making the rounds has ABC trying to move "The View" into Winfrey's time slots.

This would be incredibly complex for myriad reasons. First of all, "The View," which airs in the morning, is a network show, meaning it is only carried on ABC stations. If ABC wanted to move "The View" to the afternoon in Winfrey's time slots as a network show, it would need to persuade its TV stations to give back an hour of time that they currently control.

That would be a hard sell. When a local station carries a syndicated show such as Winfrey or DeGeneres, it gets more commercial inventory (about 10 minutes) to sell than it would with a network show (about two minutes). If ABC did want to move "The View," it probably would have to give up more advertising time to its stations to seal a deal. On top of that, not every station carries Winfrey in the afternoon. In Chicago,
she airs at 9 a.m.

Another option, although less likely, would be for ABC would be to swap "The View" with "General Hospital," which typically airs at 3 p.m. on most of its stations. The risk there is that "General Hospital" has been running in the afternoon forever and a move to late mornings could severely hurt the show, which is one of the few remaining soap operas.

I grew up as the biggest Tim Burton nut around. I worshiped his Batman pictures and they turned me into the Bat-fanatic I am today. For most of my life, the original Batman was my all-time favorite film. I adored Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice as much as any other like-minded film nerd. I saw Ed Wood, his career-peak, on opening night and took it personally when Mars Attacks! flopped. But, with not a little sadness, I must admit I'm not the least bit excited about Alice in Wonderland. Oh, I'll see it in IMAX 3D, and hopefully the film will be better than it looks (word of mouth is all over the map). Part of it is the advertising campaign, which seems to be mixing inexplicable Lord of the Rings type adventure with Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter mugging like Mike Myer's The Cat in the Hat. Frankly, this is the first Tim Burton film that just doesn't look all that interesting to me. But I think that I realize that part of the problem is the realization that Tim Burton is basically going to spend the rest of his career doing 'Tim Burton's version of… (insert famous property)'. One of the most original visual artists in the business now seems content to piggyback on the genius of others.

Big Fish may have been adapted from a novel, but it at least felt original and dealt with themes outside of the whole 'outsider struggling to fit in' bit. It was jolting to see a Tim Burton movie that was actually set on planet Earth, it was refreshing to see Burton working with a cast outside of his usual talent pool, and the final ten minutes or so made me bawl like a newborn. Sweeney Todd was pretty great, but he had been wanting to make that for at least fifteen years (to be fair, it turned out much better than Scorsese's Gangs of New York). It just seems that after the scare of the twin financial flops (Ed Wood and Mars Attacks!) combined with the daggers hurled at him over Batman Returns, that Burton decided to not venture too far outside his safe zone and the safe zone of conventional Hollywood franchise pictures. I would argue that his comeback picture, Sleepy Hollow, was very much the 'ultimate Tim Burton movie' (for better or worse) and that nearly everything after that just felt like a retread in one form or another.

I've liked, if not loved, most of Burton's post-Sleepy Hollow output. I liked The Corpse Bride, as it's actually better written than The Nightmare Before Christmas. While it's still Burton's worst film, I still dig the 'f-you' ending of Planet of the Apes. I more or less enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish, and I appreciated his new themes involving children truly getting to know their fathers before its too late. Sweeney Todd was a relatively faithful adaptation of a classic musical, which is all it needed to be (although the apolitical Burton stripped most of the social content regarding classicism from the text). But Burton probably knows that there isn't all that much that he can do to surprise us at this point. We know that his films will likely deal with an outcast struggling to fit in inside a world gone mad, and perhaps with lingering father issues. Over the last 20 years, the visual style of Burton's filmography have become so consistently aped as to render his own work borderline cliche. Tim Burton has gone from Hollywood's darkest mainstream maverick to the guy who parents can trust to gently scare their kids without truly unsettling them.

On the other hand, he's married with two kids and seems reasonably content. It's tough to maintain your rep as king of the outcast geeks when you're 50-years old, one of Hollywood's few marquee directors, and have achieved a sense of domestic bliss in the bargain (personally, I can't wait for the irony of Burton's kids growing up and starting to dress 'goth'). It's hard to be an outsider in a system that has given your work such success and acceptance that it has received its own exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art. Still, a little creative downturn may be a small price to pay for personal bliss. As I mentioned when discussing Jim Carrey's Yes Man back in December 2008, a slight neutering of the trademark impulses is a fair trade for a once-tortured entertainer actually being happy. So here's to his continued happiness. Let us just hope that Tim Burton dares to step out of his personal sandbox just a few more times before he retires.

Ever thought of buying into a low cost franchise? The idea of working for yourself, and being your own boss will certainly appeal to most, and in these days of lay-offs and unemployment, more and more are turning to franchise opportunities to start their own business, without having to begin from scratch. Traditional opportunities like Subway or Starbucks can be expensive and likely saturated in every neighborhood so is it time to look for a lesser known, low cost franchise opportunity? A simple internet search will show up thousands of potentials, but there may be more than straightforward cost to consider.

Many franchise information websites are set up solely to promote one, or a range of franchises, with the effect that the full picture can become distorted, and the downsides ignored and negated. The website may make the opportunity look like the road to riches, but will now show the problems that current franchise owners are experiencing, or clearly show the number of franchise's that have closed.

You will also need to decide from the start if you wish to work longer hours than you did as an employee. One thing all small business owners in America agree on is that there is no clocking out at 5pm. If you cannot work long hard hours, then you need to ensure any franchise opportunity offers enough profits to pay a business manager. Unfortunately most low cost franchise programs require your hard work and time to be viable.

Salary is another important factor that you must consider when researching a low cost franchise. Unlike the regular workplace, you are now the last to be paid. Suppliers, Utilities, Staff and taxes all require payment before you do, or your business will fail. Can you see yourself working longer hours, for no guarantee of salary, and the uncertainty of a fluctuating income every month? This may well continue well into your fifth year in business, if you survive that long.

Advertising your franchise is something you can expect from well known brands, such as Subway or Starbucks. Owners of these businesses can reasonably expect a positive outcome from national advertising campaigns at a local level. This may not be the case for a low cost franchise opportunity, and you may find yourself committing substantial resources to advertising you business, even if this was not made clear at the outset.

This is only a small sample of problems that regularly affect smaller franchise owners. Investigate any low cost franchise opportunity fully. Compare what you get with your selected program to what you get from the larger companies. Ensure there is support and development available to you, and most of all, do not expect an easy time. Be prepared to put in extra effort, and you can succeed.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchising

Would "The View" be better in the afternoon?

That's what the folks at Walt Disney Co.'s ABC are wondering. With Oprah Winfrey leaving daytime television in September 2011 to focus on OWN, the cable network she is partnering on with Discovery Communications, there's a lot of jockeying for her position going on in television-land.

Winfrey's show is syndicated, meaning that it is not tied to a network and instead is sold to individual television stations across the country. But her show is carried on ABC's big-market TV stations, including WABC in New York, KABC in Los Angeles and WLS in Chicago and lots of ABC affiliates across the country. In other words, it is ABC, its stations and affiliates that are most concerned about filling the void that will be created by Winfrey's exit.

While there has been a lot of attention surrounding Ellen DeGeneres and whether her distributor Warner Bros. would try to move her show to ABC stations in big cities (it currently plays on NBC stations in the top markets, including KNBC in  Los Angeles) when Winfrey hits the road, another scenario making the rounds has ABC trying to move "The View" into Winfrey's time slots.

This would be incredibly complex for myriad reasons. First of all, "The View," which airs in the morning, is a network show, meaning it is only carried on ABC stations. If ABC wanted to move "The View" to the afternoon in Winfrey's time slots as a network show, it would need to persuade its TV stations to give back an hour of time that they currently control.

That would be a hard sell. When a local station carries a syndicated show such as Winfrey or DeGeneres, it gets more commercial inventory (about 10 minutes) to sell than it would with a network show (about two minutes). If ABC did want to move "The View," it probably would have to give up more advertising time to its stations to seal a deal. On top of that, not every station carries Winfrey in the afternoon. In Chicago,
she airs at 9 a.m.

Another option, although less likely, would be for ABC would be to swap "The View" with "General Hospital," which typically airs at 3 p.m. on most of its stations. The risk there is that "General Hospital" has been running in the afternoon forever and a move to late mornings could severely hurt the show, which is one of the few remaining soap operas.

I grew up as the biggest Tim Burton nut around. I worshiped his Batman pictures and they turned me into the Bat-fanatic I am today. For most of my life, the original Batman was my all-time favorite film. I adored Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice as much as any other like-minded film nerd. I saw Ed Wood, his career-peak, on opening night and took it personally when Mars Attacks! flopped. But, with not a little sadness, I must admit I'm not the least bit excited about Alice in Wonderland. Oh, I'll see it in IMAX 3D, and hopefully the film will be better than it looks (word of mouth is all over the map). Part of it is the advertising campaign, which seems to be mixing inexplicable Lord of the Rings type adventure with Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter mugging like Mike Myer's The Cat in the Hat. Frankly, this is the first Tim Burton film that just doesn't look all that interesting to me. But I think that I realize that part of the problem is the realization that Tim Burton is basically going to spend the rest of his career doing 'Tim Burton's version of… (insert famous property)'. One of the most original visual artists in the business now seems content to piggyback on the genius of others.

Big Fish may have been adapted from a novel, but it at least felt original and dealt with themes outside of the whole 'outsider struggling to fit in' bit. It was jolting to see a Tim Burton movie that was actually set on planet Earth, it was refreshing to see Burton working with a cast outside of his usual talent pool, and the final ten minutes or so made me bawl like a newborn. Sweeney Todd was pretty great, but he had been wanting to make that for at least fifteen years (to be fair, it turned out much better than Scorsese's Gangs of New York). It just seems that after the scare of the twin financial flops (Ed Wood and Mars Attacks!) combined with the daggers hurled at him over Batman Returns, that Burton decided to not venture too far outside his safe zone and the safe zone of conventional Hollywood franchise pictures. I would argue that his comeback picture, Sleepy Hollow, was very much the 'ultimate Tim Burton movie' (for better or worse) and that nearly everything after that just felt like a retread in one form or another.

I've liked, if not loved, most of Burton's post-Sleepy Hollow output. I liked The Corpse Bride, as it's actually better written than The Nightmare Before Christmas. While it's still Burton's worst film, I still dig the 'f-you' ending of Planet of the Apes. I more or less enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish, and I appreciated his new themes involving children truly getting to know their fathers before its too late. Sweeney Todd was a relatively faithful adaptation of a classic musical, which is all it needed to be (although the apolitical Burton stripped most of the social content regarding classicism from the text). But Burton probably knows that there isn't all that much that he can do to surprise us at this point. We know that his films will likely deal with an outcast struggling to fit in inside a world gone mad, and perhaps with lingering father issues. Over the last 20 years, the visual style of Burton's filmography have become so consistently aped as to render his own work borderline cliche. Tim Burton has gone from Hollywood's darkest mainstream maverick to the guy who parents can trust to gently scare their kids without truly unsettling them.

On the other hand, he's married with two kids and seems reasonably content. It's tough to maintain your rep as king of the outcast geeks when you're 50-years old, one of Hollywood's few marquee directors, and have achieved a sense of domestic bliss in the bargain (personally, I can't wait for the irony of Burton's kids growing up and starting to dress 'goth'). It's hard to be an outsider in a system that has given your work such success and acceptance that it has received its own exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art. Still, a little creative downturn may be a small price to pay for personal bliss. As I mentioned when discussing Jim Carrey's Yes Man back in December 2008, a slight neutering of the trademark impulses is a fair trade for a once-tortured entertainer actually being happy. So here's to his continued happiness. Let us just hope that Tim Burton dares to step out of his personal sandbox just a few more times before he retires.

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Dallas Lawrence is Chair of the Social and Digital Media Practice at Levick Strategic Communications, the nation’s top crisis communications firm. He blogs on emerging digital media trends and best practices for social media engagement on Bulletproof Blog. Connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence.

Social networks have truly come of age in the last year. No longer viewed as lonely outposts for youthful college slackers, the reach of these platforms has grown exponentially. Today, more than two-thirds of the world’s Internet users visit the social networking sites that reel in billions of eyeballs every 24 hours.

Yet, despite the staggering growth of social networking, determining how to monetize social media platforms remains a tough code to crack for even the savviest of companies. As such, identifying new revenue models will be instrumental in kicking off the next cycle of the social networking phenomenon in 2010.

If Anyone Can Do It, Facebook Can

Facebook, social networking’s acknowledged leader, has surpassed every platform on the market today, corralling more than 350 million unique users globally. If any social network is poised to design a winning formula for successful revenue streams in 2010, it’s Facebook. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has set an aggressive agenda for the company, publically stating that he “expects social networks to become as essential as web browsers and operating systems,” and he has set the lofty — yet entirely realistic — goal of 1 billion users worldwide.

In the less than five years since it expanded beyond scholastic audiences, Facebook has not only grabbed the lion’s share of users, it has engaged them like no other platform on the Internet. The average Facebook user visits the site at least once a day and spends an astounding 55 minutes engaging friends and family –- statistics that another Zucker (Jeff) would probably kill for over at NBC.

While translating such popularity into dollars and cents isn’t easy –- especially in an industry whose users have grown accustomed to getting something for nothing –- Facebook could potentially provide a monetization template that would revolutionize social networking as we know it.

The Next Level of Advertising Revenue

Advertising has traditionally provided the simplest means of generating revenue. PricewaterhouseCoopers reported in October that Internet advertising revenues totaled $10.9 billion for the first half of 2009. It’s been estimated that Facebook alone took in $435 million of that total. But for a site with nearly half a billion users, a quarter of which spend more time within the network than watching television, these numbers represent just the beginning potential.

First, Facebook needs to admit to itself that it is in the business of selling ads. By better managing its advertising network, intelligently expanding its marketing options, and developing workable social ads that leverage the branding power of friends and connections, Facebook can begin to capture its rightful share of online ad revenues. The final piece is to increase awareness and understanding of Facebook ads among corporate decision makers.

For example, every executive in America today understands the value of purchasing Google ads –- and that didn’t happen by accident. Google understood that what caused it to dominate online search wasn’t going to ultimately position the company as a global corporate powerhouse valued at nearly $200 billion. Google’s aggressive marketing, communications, and lobbying shops have worked to ensure every ad buyer, political campaign, marketing executive, and public relations flack knows the value of the service and has direct and easy access to account executives who explain the much worshiped “ROI” Google ads provide.

Today, Facebook stands on the precipice Google inhabited just before it became a top money-maker. By taking a page from the Google playbook, and aggressively marketing — and explaining — its power to influence buying decisions, Facebook ads could become as essential to 21st Century marketing as the yellow pages were in the 20th Century.

E-Commerce – Stop Sending Customers Away

The launch of Facebook as a true e-commerce site holds immense potential as a business solution and could forever change the way we shop. Online purchases through the first three quarters of 2009 totaled $98.3 billion according to the Department of Commerce. For the majority of companies selling products online who are also engaged on Facebook, opening Facebook fully to direct e-commerce transactions will dramatically change how businesses advertise and how consumers buy goods online.

Consumers and companies would flock to a Facebook storefront for one simple reason: We do everything else there. Imagine an integrated, one-click solution whereby your friends see your recent purchases (because you were incentivized by the brand to share your information) in their feed and are able to simply point, click, and purchase the same item.

With a few adjustments, companies can make timely offers of birthday gifts for friends, travel arrangements for event items, or the latest music from favorite artists –- and make the sale without forcing the user to leave Facebook or put in new login information.

Rather than driving their 350 million users away from the platform to “close the deal” with retailers and purchase the item on an external platform, Facebook could benefit financially by charging companies a percentage of sales, a fixed rate to have a storefront, or from increased advertising opportunities.

Premium Subscription Options

Finally, whether users like it or not, Facebook will do itself a long term disservice if it does not consider premium subscription options. Users (whether they are corporations or teenagers) are amenable to paying for even the simplest features and functionality, as evidenced by the success of Facebook gifts.

Nothing good in life is free. It’s a stark, mature reality that Facebook (and its users) need to face in 2010. By leveraging economies of scale, Facebook can churn a sizable profit without alienating users. Would you pay one dollar a month to share higher-resolution photos or upload higher-quality or longer videos? Last month, 2.5 billion photos were uploaded to Facebook. Even if only a quarter of the site’s active users opted for premium options, this one change would generate more than $1 billion in annual revenues.

Improving advertising, developing an e-commerce platform, and adding subscription services will not only generate the revenue necessary to make the transition from highly adopted to highly profitable, it will open revenue streams — as Google did before — for the next generation of digital developments.

More business resources from Mashable:

- Social Media Marketing: How Pepsi Got It Right
- 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Avoid Social Media Panic
- HOW TO: Take Advantage of Social Media in Your E-mail Marketing
- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy
- 18 Online Productivity Tools for Your Business

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, peterspiro

Jesse has a credit card that he doesn't use, but keeps open to help his credit score. Citibank has foiled his brilliant plan by adding a $60 annual fee. He can avoid the fee by charging at least $2,400 on the card each year.

We knew banks were going to start doing this. Citibank sent me a letter yesterday from the future (letter was dated February 13th) informing me that they are going to start charging a $60 annual fee on my Citi card starting April 1st. They will waive the fee if I spend more than $2400 in a 12 month period.

I've got an excellent history with Citibank but hardly ever use the card anymore except to keep it open for credit history purposes. I guess my only options are to pay the $60 fee for a dormant card or cancel the account.

The text of the letter is as follows:

February 13,2010

For your Citi Card ending in: XXXX

We're writing to let you know about an important change we're making to your account. Effective April 1, 2010, an annual fee of $60 is being added.

The reason we are making this change is to maintain the quality of our service amid the rising cost of doing business. However, because we value you as a customer, we wanted to give you an opportunity to have the annual fee credited back to your account.

Here's how it works. Each year, we'll credit the $60 fee back to your account once you have made $2,400 in purchases during that year. That comes to an average of $200 in spending a month, an amount you can reach by using your card for purchases you already make, like gas, groceries, cell phone plans or your cable bill.

As always, you have the right to opt out of this change and close your account. Please read the Notice of Change in Terms and Right to opt Out beginning on the back of this letter so you are fully aware of all your account changes. If you have questions, call 1-866-915-9425.

Sincerely,

Ken Stork
Citibank (South Dakota), N.A.

Easy enough if you put regular expenses on your credit card and pay it off every month, but not everyone is interested in doing that. So what are your other options?

Some card issuers (including Citibank) can be persuaded to waive annual fees in special circumstances, and it may be worth giving Citibank a call to see if they will do that for you. However, it's hard to make a case for why Citibank should want to keep you as a customer with a dormant card that earns them no money in either transaction fees or interest.

RELATED: Help! My Credit Card Is Adding An Annual Fee!
AmEx/Citibank Nullify Annual Fee For Laid Off Customer
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Children's first teachers are parents. The majority of parents feel it is necessary for children to know the alphabet by the time they enroll in school. Why? To better prepare kids for the challenges they will face in school. In short, to make children's lives easier. An equally important, yet often ignored lesson, is the value of money. Parents frequently complain, “My child thinks money grows on trees!” If parents allow that thought process, children will assume a constant source of money is available.

Parents need to take a pro-active roll in teaching children money management lessons. Learning positive spending and saving habits as a youngster will better prepare your child for financial challenges later in life. Educating children about money is the single most important thing parents can do which will make adult life less stressful. Financial struggles continue to top the list of stresses for adults. Like the basics of ABC's, teaching money management skills will prepare children for financial responsibility in adulthood.

Where to start poses the biggest problem for parents. Many adults do not feel themselves capable of teaching money management, simply because they lack confidence about their own financial situation. Rather than stare at the roadblock, parents should evaluate this question: What is money? Contemplating the question will allow parents to travel the path for their children. The answer? Money empowers people. Money allows people to make decisions. Money helps people feel safe and secure. Understanding how to use money will empower a child to grow into a fiscally responsible adult. The idea of empowering their children will help parents follow through on a very difficult lesson.

Start early. Talk to your toddler about money. Children are introduced to money early in life. A study at Texas A&M University shows children begin asking for specific things at 2 years old. Depending on the child, counting starts between 2 and 4 years. By the time a child reaches 4, he knows he must have money to pay for what he wants in a store. As children reach kindergarten, they learn to distinguish between coins and bills.

Talking to children about money encourages children to think about money as well as consider the things they want. A great learning tool for younger children is using regular shopping trips to encourage choices. For example, when making a trip to the grocery store, visit the cereal aisle first and allow the child to pick one box of cereal. Let her carry it, and look at the box if she wishes. As you continue shopping, if she requests another item, explain to her that she has to choose between the two. Empower her to make the decision. Allow her that choice. Stick to the plan, and take her to put the cereal back. Empowering kids to make choices involving money will make her realize the value of money over time. Making choices will also allow her to examine her wants and needs. If a child goes without her favorite cereal for a week, television advertising targeted at young children will remind her of the cereal she left at the store.

Use Allowance Wisely. Allowance is a great tool for parents and children. From the age of 5 or 6, children who receive a regular allowance learn the value of money if rules are followed. The purpose of an allowance is to teach children money management. Many parents mistakenly tie chores to the allowance, with the idea that children need to know, when they don't work, the result is they won't get paid. This lesson will be learned later, when the child gets a job outside the home. This common error doesn't properly evaluate the purpose of chores. Why do children have chores? Is it to get paid? Or is it to contribute to a smoothly running household? When children fail to perform expected chores, consider a punishment that reflects give and take in the household, such as no TV or telephone, rather than losing the opportunity to learn money management skills.

Give allowance in smaller bills. Encourage saving by giving allowance in $1 bills. Suggest setting aside $1 of allowance in a piggy bank for a special purchase. Children should be encouraged to make spending and saving choices. If a child wants a video game that costs $50, help him break down the math on a simple savings plan. The math is probably something he could figure out on his own, but he will need guidance to formulate his goal into a tangible reality. In making allowance work, do not undermine his efforts on a goal. This means do not go buy the game for him, or if he fails to achieve his savings goals, do not buy it for him anyway. Children need to learn the consequences of money. If he follows through, great! But resist the temptation to reward him with extra money for other items since he is saving. By sticking to the plan, parents will reinforce what he is learning. From this experience, he learns sacrifices are necessary when choosing purchases. If he failed to follow through, maybe he decided he didn't want the game that much after all. What did he learn from this experience? His wants will change over time, and he doesn't need everything he wants.

Discuss Family Money. Several financial experts recommend including older children in family financial discussions to introduce the realities involved in cost of living expenses. Many parents are uncomfortable with this suggestion. An alternative activity that divulges less information and still addresses cost of living issues is to include the kids in creating a family budget for an upcoming family vacation. Discuss the total amount of money allotted for the trip. Initially, children will probably be impressed with the large number. Present hotel choices as well as campground cabins. Include varying price ranges so the kids have a visual of money leaving the budget for where they will be sleeping. Consider menu prices at different restaurants in the destination area. The children will see another chunk of money being removed for food. Next, discuss travel arrangements. Will the family fly or drive? Price both options, and discuss the pros and cons of both scenarios. As a decision is reached, kids are watching another large chunk of money disappearing from the vacation pile. After the cost of living essentials are handled, let the kids be involved in the fun choices. Do not shield them from what they don't get to do. If a desired attraction can't be fit into the budget, invite the kids to revise the budget in order to free up the needed funds. The lesson involves making choices, and appreciating what they do have instead of yearning for what they don't have.

A life long skill, money management begins with comprehending the differences in wants, needs and wishes. Children will need to understand and use money for the rest of their lives. By encouraging choices, continuing allowances, and discussing budgets, parents will empower their children. Introducing smart money concepts in childhood prepares kids for the adult world of financial responsibility.

WH: Some Critics 'Serving the Goals of al Qaeda'* - Political Punch

In an oped in USA Today, John Brennan — Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism — responds to critics of the Obama administration's counterterrorism policies by …

Dampier out against Denver; Martin not playing for Nuggets <b>…</b>

Dallas Mavericks Blog - Dallasnews.com's Dallas Mavericks coverage includes the latest <b>news</b>, notes, commentary, analysis, blogs, e-mail newsletters, photos and videos of the Mavericks.

NBC's Todd: Fox <b>News</b> Trying To 'Undermine' MSM | NewsBusters.org

Now that the public has genuine choices in <b>news</b> programing, they have begun abandoning NBC and other MSm outlets, and turning on Fox <b>News</b>. And the inheritors of the sinking ships — like Todd — not only can't figure out why, …

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WH: Some Critics 'Serving the Goals of al Qaeda'* - Political Punch

In an oped in USA Today, John Brennan — Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism — responds to critics of the Obama administration's counterterrorism policies by …

Dampier out against Denver; Martin not playing for Nuggets <b>…</b>

Dallas Mavericks Blog - Dallasnews.com's Dallas Mavericks coverage includes the latest <b>news</b>, notes, commentary, analysis, blogs, e-mail newsletters, photos and videos of the Mavericks.

NBC's Todd: Fox <b>News</b> Trying To 'Undermine' MSM | NewsBusters.org

Now that the public has genuine choices in <b>news</b> programing, they have begun abandoning NBC and other MSm outlets, and turning on Fox <b>News</b>. And the inheritors of the sinking ships — like Todd — not only can't figure out why, …

WH: Some Critics 'Serving the Goals of al Qaeda'* - Political Punch

In an oped in USA Today, John Brennan — Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism — responds to critics of the Obama administration's counterterrorism policies by …

Dampier out against Denver; Martin not playing for Nuggets <b>…</b>

Dallas Mavericks Blog - Dallasnews.com's Dallas Mavericks coverage includes the latest <b>news</b>, notes, commentary, analysis, blogs, e-mail newsletters, photos and videos of the Mavericks.

NBC's Todd: Fox <b>News</b> Trying To 'Undermine' MSM | NewsBusters.org

Now that the public has genuine choices in <b>news</b> programing, they have begun abandoning NBC and other MSm outlets, and turning on Fox <b>News</b>. And the inheritors of the sinking ships — like Todd — not only can't figure out why, …

Are You Tracking Your Budget, Cash Flow, and Net Worth? [Dumb Little Man] “Tracking your net worth on some sort of regular schedule is a must for anyone serious about decreasing debt and increasing wealth.”

11 moves to supercharge your finances [Smart Spending] “11 steps you can take to easily improve your finances in the coming year.”

The Damage of Card Rewards [NY Times] “It’s possible that the poor pay subsidies to finance the rewards of the affluent.”

How Poker Can Make You a Better Investor “Learn to avoid emotional traps by playing a little Texas hold ’em.”

The Future of Plastic: 5 Credit Trends for 2010 [Smart Money] “If 2009 was the year of hammering out credit-card reform, 2010 will be the year consumers feel the effects of those changes.”

— FREE MONEY FINANCE

Are You Tracking Your Budget, Cash Flow, and Net Worth? [Dumb Little Man] “Tracking your net worth on some sort of regular schedule is a must for anyone serious about decreasing debt and increasing wealth.”

11 moves to supercharge your finances [Smart Spending] “11 steps you can take to easily improve your finances in the coming year.”

The Damage of Card Rewards [NY Times] “It’s possible that the poor pay subsidies to finance the rewards of the affluent.”

How Poker Can Make You a Better Investor “Learn to avoid emotional traps by playing a little Texas hold ’em.”

The Future of Plastic: 5 Credit Trends for 2010 [Smart Money] “If 2009 was the year of hammering out credit-card reform, 2010 will be the year consumers feel the effects of those changes.”

— FREE MONEY FINANCE

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MSNBC's David Shuster became a fan of Fox <b>News</b>' late-night comedy/<b>news</b> hybrid Red Eye just in time for its three-year anniversary. And it's coming at a time when the 3amET show is seeing big ratings in the A25-54 demographic - even …

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This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Tom’s Planner

Quick Pitch: Tom’s Planner allows you to create and share Gantt Charts online with drag-and-drop simplicity.

Genius Idea: Project management software is useful for everyone — from the giant software development company trying to make a launch date to a bride planning her wedding. Still, it’s often expensive and complicated. Desktop software Microsoft Project is deep and feature-rich, but it’s mired in abstraction and user-unfriendliness. That’s what Tom of Tom’s Planner would argue, anyway, and that’s why he put together an easy-to-use web app for making Gantt charts.

Tom’s Planner is attractive because it actually makes a multi-colored, horizontal time chart the primary interface for project management rather than an extra something you can print or look at on the side. You can make modifications on the fly; right-click to create a new period in your project plan, then select a color, and you’ve already gotten started. You can drag and drop periods around the chart easily — impressive for a web app. Compare that to Microsoft Project’s daunting vertical tree view and you can see the appeal.

You don’t have to forsake Project completely, though; Tom’s Planner can export Project files. You can also share your chart with other people by publishing it to www.tomsplanner.com/shared/name-of-your-schedule. If your project is of the sensitive variety, you can password-lock it.

Tom claims that the app has grown from 240 users to just shy of 14,000 in two months. It’s used by businesses managing their teams and resources, but it’s also used by “individuals planning their weddings, thanksgiving dinners, vegetable gardens or home construction projects,” Tom says. These users are enjoying a free beta testing period, but the product will cost money after the beta period ends.

Tom’s Planner has had a promising start thanks to its user-friendliness, and we’re eager to see how it does in the future, especially once it begins to monetize.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHPPHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

DIANE SAWYER, HOST: And now, Americans mad as heck at big American banks and the ones particularly raising credit card fees while making profits. Earlier this week, David Muir took on this issue, and tonight, he's back with a grassroots movement crying enough.

Stop the tape!

The Huffington Post is a well-funded website that received a $5 million initial investment in 2006 from the venture capital firm SoftBank Capital. Calling anything it does grassroots is absurd! But I digress: 

DAVID MUIR: It was Monday, our report on banks raising rates on credit cards before those new rules protecting consumers can take effect and we heard from you. One viewer e-mailed, "We bail them out and they raise rates. Priceless…" But many of you took it a step further — "Fight the power," wrote one. Another writes, "My secret, very simple, a credit card from a credit union." And it turns out thousands of Americans are doing the same thing, trading their banks on Wall Street for the ones on Main Street.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: And I'm here at Bank of America to close my account.

MUIR: This woman even documented the move on YouTube after her credit card rate jumped 27%.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Basically just closed out both of my accounts, gave me some money, and now I'm on my way. Weird.

MUIR: The Huffington Post website is urging its readers to move your money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE FROM "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE")

ERNIE THE CABBIE: Don't look now, but there's something going on over that at the bank, George.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUIR: Even posting a film with clips of Jimmy Stewart's iconic small-town banker George Bailey. Arianna Huffington told me, put in your zip code and they'll find you a hometown bank.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: The response has been dramatic. Over half of the zip codes in the country have already been searched.

MUIR: 81% of the banks that failed last year were these smaller community banks.

Correct, thereby making this campaign rather absurd!

HUFFINGTON: The only banks that come up when you put in your zip code are solvent secure banks.

MUIR: Arianna, you know that a lot of people are going to look at this and say you are encouraging a run on the bank.

Exactly, David. So why didn't you and your bosses realize the hypocrisy in making such a statement in a report that made your concerns moot?

HUFFINGTON: I'm convinced that when the big banks see real competition from the community banks and credit unions, they will change their behavior.

This would have been a nice time for Muir to say that such change could come after an organized run on these banks forced more financial insolvencies, layoffs, and further damage to an already teetering economy.

Unfortunately, this was lost on Muir and his producers who instead continued promoting the campaign:

MUIR: In fact, there's a fast-growing Facebook group dedicated to this. April Schiller switched. "How amazing," she writes "to actually talk to humans who remember me." So we went to find her at her new hometown bank.

APRIL SCHILLER: I received thank yous, I got a hand-signed Christmas card from them which I was really impressed with. It was great.

SAWYER: So David, how many people are we talking about?

MUIR: Take the Facebook page in particular, the group dedicated to moving your money. It started just a week and a half ago. Tonight it's more than 8,000 members. And you'll remember the American Bankers Association talked to us earlier this week saying, "If you don't like the rising rates, you can vote with your feet, go to a competitor." Tonight, proof that some customers, very angry customers, are doing just that.

SAWYER: Some of the grassroots heard from out there. Thank you, David.

With ten percent unemployment, and America's banks struggling to get back on their feet, ABC should be ashamed of itself for reporting on this campaign by Huffington and her ilk.

I guess these people won't be happy until everyone in the United States is out of work thereby requiring government assistance to stay alive. 

How truly sad. 

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.

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This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Tom’s Planner

Quick Pitch: Tom’s Planner allows you to create and share Gantt Charts online with drag-and-drop simplicity.

Genius Idea: Project management software is useful for everyone — from the giant software development company trying to make a launch date to a bride planning her wedding. Still, it’s often expensive and complicated. Desktop software Microsoft Project is deep and feature-rich, but it’s mired in abstraction and user-unfriendliness. That’s what Tom of Tom’s Planner would argue, anyway, and that’s why he put together an easy-to-use web app for making Gantt charts.

Tom’s Planner is attractive because it actually makes a multi-colored, horizontal time chart the primary interface for project management rather than an extra something you can print or look at on the side. You can make modifications on the fly; right-click to create a new period in your project plan, then select a color, and you’ve already gotten started. You can drag and drop periods around the chart easily — impressive for a web app. Compare that to Microsoft Project’s daunting vertical tree view and you can see the appeal.

You don’t have to forsake Project completely, though; Tom’s Planner can export Project files. You can also share your chart with other people by publishing it to www.tomsplanner.com/shared/name-of-your-schedule. If your project is of the sensitive variety, you can password-lock it.

Tom claims that the app has grown from 240 users to just shy of 14,000 in two months. It’s used by businesses managing their teams and resources, but it’s also used by “individuals planning their weddings, thanksgiving dinners, vegetable gardens or home construction projects,” Tom says. These users are enjoying a free beta testing period, but the product will cost money after the beta period ends.

Tom’s Planner has had a promising start thanks to its user-friendliness, and we’re eager to see how it does in the future, especially once it begins to monetize.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHPPHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

DIANE SAWYER, HOST: And now, Americans mad as heck at big American banks and the ones particularly raising credit card fees while making profits. Earlier this week, David Muir took on this issue, and tonight, he's back with a grassroots movement crying enough.

Stop the tape!

The Huffington Post is a well-funded website that received a $5 million initial investment in 2006 from the venture capital firm SoftBank Capital. Calling anything it does grassroots is absurd! But I digress: 

DAVID MUIR: It was Monday, our report on banks raising rates on credit cards before those new rules protecting consumers can take effect and we heard from you. One viewer e-mailed, "We bail them out and they raise rates. Priceless…" But many of you took it a step further — "Fight the power," wrote one. Another writes, "My secret, very simple, a credit card from a credit union." And it turns out thousands of Americans are doing the same thing, trading their banks on Wall Street for the ones on Main Street.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: And I'm here at Bank of America to close my account.

MUIR: This woman even documented the move on YouTube after her credit card rate jumped 27%.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Basically just closed out both of my accounts, gave me some money, and now I'm on my way. Weird.

MUIR: The Huffington Post website is urging its readers to move your money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE FROM "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE")

ERNIE THE CABBIE: Don't look now, but there's something going on over that at the bank, George.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUIR: Even posting a film with clips of Jimmy Stewart's iconic small-town banker George Bailey. Arianna Huffington told me, put in your zip code and they'll find you a hometown bank.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: The response has been dramatic. Over half of the zip codes in the country have already been searched.

MUIR: 81% of the banks that failed last year were these smaller community banks.

Correct, thereby making this campaign rather absurd!

HUFFINGTON: The only banks that come up when you put in your zip code are solvent secure banks.

MUIR: Arianna, you know that a lot of people are going to look at this and say you are encouraging a run on the bank.

Exactly, David. So why didn't you and your bosses realize the hypocrisy in making such a statement in a report that made your concerns moot?

HUFFINGTON: I'm convinced that when the big banks see real competition from the community banks and credit unions, they will change their behavior.

This would have been a nice time for Muir to say that such change could come after an organized run on these banks forced more financial insolvencies, layoffs, and further damage to an already teetering economy.

Unfortunately, this was lost on Muir and his producers who instead continued promoting the campaign:

MUIR: In fact, there's a fast-growing Facebook group dedicated to this. April Schiller switched. "How amazing," she writes "to actually talk to humans who remember me." So we went to find her at her new hometown bank.

APRIL SCHILLER: I received thank yous, I got a hand-signed Christmas card from them which I was really impressed with. It was great.

SAWYER: So David, how many people are we talking about?

MUIR: Take the Facebook page in particular, the group dedicated to moving your money. It started just a week and a half ago. Tonight it's more than 8,000 members. And you'll remember the American Bankers Association talked to us earlier this week saying, "If you don't like the rising rates, you can vote with your feet, go to a competitor." Tonight, proof that some customers, very angry customers, are doing just that.

SAWYER: Some of the grassroots heard from out there. Thank you, David.

With ten percent unemployment, and America's banks struggling to get back on their feet, ABC should be ashamed of itself for reporting on this campaign by Huffington and her ilk.

I guess these people won't be happy until everyone in the United States is out of work thereby requiring government assistance to stay alive. 

How truly sad. 

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.

Sports Media Blog | Sports <b>News</b> | <b>News</b> for Dallas, Texas | Dallas <b>…</b>

Krulewitz said <b>news</b> of a lawsuit filed in Fort Lauderdale alleging a rape in 2007 simply expedited the situation. Irvin's also had was falling ratings. Ben & Skin start today. Irvin's other employer, NFL Network, told me earlier this …

<b>News</b> Ticker: Michael Jackson, Thom Yorke, Pitchfork Festival <b>…</b>

Up to the minute breaking <b>news</b> from the world of music, from the editors of Rolling Stone.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Great <b>news</b>: Fiorina's campaign promising <b>…</b>

Great <b>news</b>: Fiorina's campaign promising ads even freaky deakier than “demon sheep”

http://www.shumakerelays.com/

Comments

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1. You should also check out http://www.FiLife.com. FiLife is a personal finance question and answer platform that is now the #4 personal finance site on the web according to Comscore (December 2009). Users can come to the site and ask questions and get expert answers in a few hours.

   Posted by: EK |
   January 14, 2010 5:45 AM

2. I second that FiLife nomination. I've asked several questions there on a variety of topics and my questions usually get answered by somebody right away. Plus, tax season is coming up, and it's going to be good to have a place to ask those pesky tax questions!

   Posted by: Barclay |
   January 14, 2010 7:26 AM

3. Its still early days for these services yet, and whilst options like Xero might be good for professional type businesses, for anyone who carries / needs to account for stock they are not yet suitable. But as they build an eco-system of integrations around them then will become suitable for a wider range of businesses.

   Core accounting doesn't really change, (tax rates etc change but the basics stay the same), so we've been able to use the same desktop accounting software, bought for around £300, for the past 5 years. Which make the SAAS providers very expensive by comparison. As they build more features and more data integrations then that cost may become justified.

   Posted by: Robert |
   January 14, 2010 9:24 AM

4. Small business accounting doesn't have to be complex…or scary. And that's what the web (internet DNA) can bring to small businesses…'De-scarey' accounting into simple, easy to understand workflows.

   Surprised that with all the mentioned of Intuit, there isn't one of QuickBooks Online? For small businesses who want that anywhere/anytime access (and majority will in a short time!) QuickBooks Online is a big player.

   We're bringing that Internet DNA (and the decades of trusted accounting knowledge) to how small businesses think about and run their books. Pretty exciting stuff there.

   Kristen
   QuickBooks Online Product Manager

   Posted by: Kristen Berman |
   January 14, 2010 9:45 AM

5. Doesn't First Round Capital have an interesting portfolio company that competes directly with Xero? Might be worth a mention… I forget the name.

   Posted by: Andrew Parker |
   January 14, 2010 9:59 AM

6. For personal finances, I use Mint.com - very useful feedback via emails in terms of where my money is going, and where I stand at the end of every month.

   Posted by: Ceyda |
   January 14, 2010 12:23 PM

7. I would love to try Mint but they weren't operating in the UK the last time I checked.

   I've used Wesabe for a while, but the whole download/upload approach was too much for my low frustration tolerance. I blame being spoilt by API's for this

   Posted by: Ray Scott |
   January 14, 2010 12:25 PM

8. I use Quickbooks (for Windows) for business. While a solution like Xero would be an ideal, most SMB focused Accounting firms still recommend and rely on Quickbooks. I think I will be introducing my accountant to Xero.

   On the personal side, Mint is great, but lacks certain features that are necessary for some people. I use Quicken (for Windows) in order to track checks and attach images. Once Mint/QOE introduces a feature set similar to the desktop version, the switch will be a no-brainer.

    Posted by: Bryan Radtke |
   January 14, 2010 12:36 PM

9. I use FreeAgent (http://www.freeagentcentral.com) for my small business. For UK based companies it's particularly fantastic as it “knows” about UK tax and VAT rules but for pretty much anyone it is beautifully designed and works a treat. First thing I signed up for when starting the business, don't regret it for a second.

    Posted by: Ed Moore |
   January 14, 2010 12:38 PM

10. Xero is missing Payroll functionality for the UK, although integration is available with two external providers at additional cost.

    FreeAgent Central has it's own payroll functionality included within the Limited Company service plan (£25 per month plus VAT).

    Neither FreeAgent or Xero can manage stock which is a major limitation currently.

    Posted by: James |
    January 14, 2010 6:19 PM

11. I'm not clear about why nobody's created a 3rd party service that can actually perform transactions. Mint.com, etc. make it easy to watch what's happening with your money and set budget goals, etc. but don't actually help you allocate your money. I've long wanted an online method to automatically manage balances across multiple accounts (e.g. different accounts intended for different spending categories, or just automating savings better). Banks have their own tools for doing recurring transactions but as far as I've seen they are all limited to a fixed-amount transaction and are restricted to single-future-date or fixed-interval-recurring scheduling. Why not allow a percentage of each paycheck to be transferred to savings whenever it clears? Or set up rules like pay down credit card balances before transferring to savings.

    Is there some technical (doubtful) or legal reason why this type of account management isn't available?

    Posted by: Brandon |
    January 17, 2010 9:15 PM

12. Saasu.com is interesting too, it is richer than xero (e.g salary processing, inventory) so a hybrid online ERP and accounting.

    Blippy.com is new and also unusual, used for sharing credit card transactions on twitter, only a matter of time before some accounting software integrates that feed from all employees with hash tags for expense categories

    Cheers, Pete.

     Posted by: Peter J Cooper |
    January 18, 2010 2:44 PM

13. For SME accounting, there is also an interesting development for taking book-keeping and making the numbers useful through benchmarking. By capturing the data within book-keeping, animalizing it, analyzing and producing reports - benchmarking allows SMEs to see how their business ticks and how competitive they are in their market sector.

    FreshBooks is offering it, and there are specialists such as MyCake.org which is a front end API linked to online software such as KashFlow.

    Hannah
    MyCake.org

    Posted by: Hannah Knowles |
    January 29, 2010 2:31 AM

14. Quickbooks is what I use but have been following Mint and realized that a lot of persons how it in high esteem.

    Posted by: FinanciallySmart |
    January 30, 2010 8:43 AM

15. One thing that's worth considering is that remote desktop and remote application technology is bringing traditional desktop applications to the web. This means that Sage and Quickbooks, the market leaders here in the UK can be accessed anywhere with the speed and familiarity of desktop software.
    The costs are higher but the benefits are significant and it can be a difficult and often unsuccessful process moving from sage to a web based system, data migration, user training etc. In my experience a remote desktop solution is often the best route for an extablished business.
    Having said this if I were starting a business up I'd certainly use a web-based app, QuickBooks online if or when it's available in the UK.

    Posted by: Dan Hancock |
    January 31, 2010 1:09 AM

Dallas Lawrence is Chair of the Social and Digital Media Practice at Levick Strategic Communications, the nation’s top crisis communications firm. He blogs on emerging digital media trends and best practices for social media engagement on Bulletproof Blog. Connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence.

Social networks have truly come of age in the last year. No longer viewed as lonely outposts for youthful college slackers, the reach of these platforms has grown exponentially. Today, more than two-thirds of the world’s Internet users visit the social networking sites that reel in billions of eyeballs every 24 hours.

Yet, despite the staggering growth of social networking, determining how to monetize social media platforms remains a tough code to crack for even the savviest of companies. As such, identifying new revenue models will be instrumental in kicking off the next cycle of the social networking phenomenon in 2010.

If Anyone Can Do It, Facebook Can


FacebookFacebook, social networking’s acknowledged leader, has surpassed every platform on the market today, corralling more than 350 million unique users globally. If any social network is poised to design a winning formula for successful revenue streams in 2010, it’s Facebook. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has set an aggressive agenda for the company, publically stating that he “expects social networks to become as essential as web browsers and operating systems,” and he has set the lofty — yet entirely realistic — goal of 1 billion users worldwide.

In the less than five years since it expanded beyond scholastic audiences, Facebook has not only grabbed the lion’s share of users, it has engaged them like no other platform on the Internet. The average Facebook user visits the site at least once a day and spends an astounding 55 minutes engaging friends and family –- statistics that another Zucker (Jeff) would probably kill for over at NBC.

While translating such popularity into dollars and cents isn’t easy –- especially in an industry whose users have grown accustomed to getting something for nothing –- Facebook could potentially provide a monetization template that would revolutionize social networking as we know it.

The Next Level of Advertising Revenue


Advertising has traditionally provided the simplest means of generating revenue. PricewaterhouseCoopers reported in October that Internet advertising revenues totaled $10.9 billion for the first half of 2009. It’s been estimated that Facebook alone took in $435 million of that total. But for a site with nearly half a billion users, a quarter of which spend more time within the network than watching television, these numbers represent just the beginning potential.

First, Facebook needs to admit to itself that it is in the business of selling ads. By better managing its advertising network, intelligently expanding its marketing options, and developing workable social ads that leverage the branding power of friends and connections, Facebook can begin to capture its rightful share of online ad revenues. The final piece is to increase awareness and understanding of Facebook ads among corporate decision makers.

For example, every executive in America today understands the value of purchasing GoogleGoogle ads –- and that didn’t happen by accident. Google understood that what caused it to dominate online search wasn’t going to ultimately position the company as a global corporate powerhouse valued at nearly $200 billion. Google’s aggressive marketing, communications, and lobbying shops have worked to ensure every ad buyer, political campaign, marketing executive, and public relations flack knows the value of the service and has direct and easy access to account executives who explain the much worshiped “ROI” Google ads provide.

Today, Facebook stands on the precipice Google inhabited just before it became a top money-maker. By taking a page from the Google playbook, and aggressively marketing — and explaining — its power to influence buying decisions, Facebook ads could become as essential to 21st Century marketing as the yellow pages were in the 20th Century.

E-Commerce – Stop Sending Customers Away


The launch of Facebook as a true e-commerce site holds immense potential as a business solution and could forever change the way we shop. Online purchases through the first three quarters of 2009 totaled $98.3 billion according to the Department of Commerce. For the majority of companies selling products online who are also engaged on Facebook, opening Facebook fully to direct e-commerce transactions will dramatically change how businesses advertise and how consumers buy goods online.

Consumers and companies would flock to a Facebook storefront for one simple reason: We do everything else there. Imagine an integrated, one-click solution whereby your friends see your recent purchases (because you were incentivized by the brand to share your information) in their feed and are able to simply point, click, and purchase the same item.

With a few adjustments, companies can make timely offers of birthday gifts for friends, travel arrangements for event items, or the latest music from favorite artists –- and make the sale without forcing the user to leave Facebook or put in new login information.

Rather than driving their 350 million users away from the platform to “close the deal” with retailers and purchase the item on an external platform, Facebook could benefit financially by charging companies a percentage of sales, a fixed rate to have a storefront, or from increased advertising opportunities.

Premium Subscription Options


Finally, whether users like it or not, Facebook will do itself a long term disservice if it does not consider premium subscription options. Users (whether they are corporations or teenagers) are amenable to paying for even the simplest features and functionality, as evidenced by the success of Facebook gifts.

Nothing good in life is free. It’s a stark, mature reality that Facebook (and its users) need to face in 2010. By leveraging economies of scale, Facebook can churn a sizable profit without alienating users. Would you pay one dollar a month to share higher-resolution photos or upload higher-quality or longer videos? Last month, 2.5 billion photos were uploaded to Facebook. Even if only a quarter of the site’s active users opted for premium options, this one change would generate more than $1 billion in annual revenues.

Improving advertising, developing an e-commerce platform, and adding subscription services will not only generate the revenue necessary to make the transition from highly adopted to highly profitable, it will open revenue streams — as Google did before — for the next generation of digital developments.

More business resources from Mashable:


- Social Media Marketing: How Pepsi Got It Right
- 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Avoid Social Media Panic
- HOW TO: Take Advantage of Social Media in Your E-mail Marketing
- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy
- 18 Online Productivity Tools for Your Business

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, peterspiro

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1. You should also check out http://www.FiLife.com. FiLife is a personal finance question and answer platform that is now the #4 personal finance site on the web according to Comscore (December 2009). Users can come to the site and ask questions and get expert answers in a few hours.

   Posted by: EK |
   January 14, 2010 5:45 AM

2. I second that FiLife nomination. I've asked several questions there on a variety of topics and my questions usually get answered by somebody right away. Plus, tax season is coming up, and it's going to be good to have a place to ask those pesky tax questions!

   Posted by: Barclay |
   January 14, 2010 7:26 AM

3. Its still early days for these services yet, and whilst options like Xero might be good for professional type businesses, for anyone who carries / needs to account for stock they are not yet suitable. But as they build an eco-system of integrations around them then will become suitable for a wider range of businesses.

   Core accounting doesn't really change, (tax rates etc change but the basics stay the same), so we've been able to use the same desktop accounting software, bought for around £300, for the past 5 years. Which make the SAAS providers very expensive by comparison. As they build more features and more data integrations then that cost may become justified.

   Posted by: Robert |
   January 14, 2010 9:24 AM

4. Small business accounting doesn't have to be complex…or scary. And that's what the web (internet DNA) can bring to small businesses…'De-scarey' accounting into simple, easy to understand workflows.

   Surprised that with all the mentioned of Intuit, there isn't one of QuickBooks Online? For small businesses who want that anywhere/anytime access (and majority will in a short time!) QuickBooks Online is a big player.

   We're bringing that Internet DNA (and the decades of trusted accounting knowledge) to how small businesses think about and run their books. Pretty exciting stuff there.

   Kristen
   QuickBooks Online Product Manager

   Posted by: Kristen Berman |
   January 14, 2010 9:45 AM

5. Doesn't First Round Capital have an interesting portfolio company that competes directly with Xero? Might be worth a mention… I forget the name.

   Posted by: Andrew Parker |
   January 14, 2010 9:59 AM

6. For personal finances, I use Mint.com - very useful feedback via emails in terms of where my money is going, and where I stand at the end of every month.

   Posted by: Ceyda |
   January 14, 2010 12:23 PM

7. I would love to try Mint but they weren't operating in the UK the last time I checked.

   I've used Wesabe for a while, but the whole download/upload approach was too much for my low frustration tolerance. I blame being spoilt by API's for this

   Posted by: Ray Scott |
   January 14, 2010 12:25 PM

8. I use Quickbooks (for Windows) for business. While a solution like Xero would be an ideal, most SMB focused Accounting firms still recommend and rely on Quickbooks. I think I will be introducing my accountant to Xero.

   On the personal side, Mint is great, but lacks certain features that are necessary for some people. I use Quicken (for Windows) in order to track checks and attach images. Once Mint/QOE introduces a feature set similar to the desktop version, the switch will be a no-brainer.

    Posted by: Bryan Radtke |
   January 14, 2010 12:36 PM

9. I use FreeAgent (http://www.freeagentcentral.com) for my small business. For UK based companies it's particularly fantastic as it “knows” about UK tax and VAT rules but for pretty much anyone it is beautifully designed and works a treat. First thing I signed up for when starting the business, don't regret it for a second.

    Posted by: Ed Moore |
   January 14, 2010 12:38 PM

10. Xero is missing Payroll functionality for the UK, although integration is available with two external providers at additional cost.

    FreeAgent Central has it's own payroll functionality included within the Limited Company service plan (£25 per month plus VAT).

    Neither FreeAgent or Xero can manage stock which is a major limitation currently.

    Posted by: James |
    January 14, 2010 6:19 PM

11. I'm not clear about why nobody's created a 3rd party service that can actually perform transactions. Mint.com, etc. make it easy to watch what's happening with your money and set budget goals, etc. but don't actually help you allocate your money. I've long wanted an online method to automatically manage balances across multiple accounts (e.g. different accounts intended for different spending categories, or just automating savings better). Banks have their own tools for doing recurring transactions but as far as I've seen they are all limited to a fixed-amount transaction and are restricted to single-future-date or fixed-interval-recurring scheduling. Why not allow a percentage of each paycheck to be transferred to savings whenever it clears? Or set up rules like pay down credit card balances before transferring to savings.

    Is there some technical (doubtful) or legal reason why this type of account management isn't available?

    Posted by: Brandon |
    January 17, 2010 9:15 PM

12. Saasu.com is interesting too, it is richer than xero (e.g salary processing, inventory) so a hybrid online ERP and accounting.

    Blippy.com is new and also unusual, used for sharing credit card transactions on twitter, only a matter of time before some accounting software integrates that feed from all employees with hash tags for expense categories

    Cheers, Pete.

     Posted by: Peter J Cooper |
    January 18, 2010 2:44 PM

13. For SME accounting, there is also an interesting development for taking book-keeping and making the numbers useful through benchmarking. By capturing the data within book-keeping, animalizing it, analyzing and producing reports - benchmarking allows SMEs to see how their business ticks and how competitive they are in their market sector.

    FreshBooks is offering it, and there are specialists such as MyCake.org which is a front end API linked to online software such as KashFlow.

    Hannah
    MyCake.org

    Posted by: Hannah Knowles |
    January 29, 2010 2:31 AM

14. Quickbooks is what I use but have been following Mint and realized that a lot of persons how it in high esteem.

    Posted by: FinanciallySmart |
    January 30, 2010 8:43 AM

15. One thing that's worth considering is that remote desktop and remote application technology is bringing traditional desktop applications to the web. This means that Sage and Quickbooks, the market leaders here in the UK can be accessed anywhere with the speed and familiarity of desktop software.
    The costs are higher but the benefits are significant and it can be a difficult and often unsuccessful process moving from sage to a web based system, data migration, user training etc. In my experience a remote desktop solution is often the best route for an extablished business.
    Having said this if I were starting a business up I'd certainly use a web-based app, QuickBooks online if or when it's available in the UK.

    Posted by: Dan Hancock |
    January 31, 2010 1:09 AM

Dallas Lawrence is Chair of the Social and Digital Media Practice at Levick Strategic Communications, the nation’s top crisis communications firm. He blogs on emerging digital media trends and best practices for social media engagement on Bulletproof Blog. Connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence.

Social networks have truly come of age in the last year. No longer viewed as lonely outposts for youthful college slackers, the reach of these platforms has grown exponentially. Today, more than two-thirds of the world’s Internet users visit the social networking sites that reel in billions of eyeballs every 24 hours.

Yet, despite the staggering growth of social networking, determining how to monetize social media platforms remains a tough code to crack for even the savviest of companies. As such, identifying new revenue models will be instrumental in kicking off the next cycle of the social networking phenomenon in 2010.

If Anyone Can Do It, Facebook Can


FacebookFacebook, social networking’s acknowledged leader, has surpassed every platform on the market today, corralling more than 350 million unique users globally. If any social network is poised to design a winning formula for successful revenue streams in 2010, it’s Facebook. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has set an aggressive agenda for the company, publically stating that he “expects social networks to become as essential as web browsers and operating systems,” and he has set the lofty — yet entirely realistic — goal of 1 billion users worldwide.

In the less than five years since it expanded beyond scholastic audiences, Facebook has not only grabbed the lion’s share of users, it has engaged them like no other platform on the Internet. The average Facebook user visits the site at least once a day and spends an astounding 55 minutes engaging friends and family –- statistics that another Zucker (Jeff) would probably kill for over at NBC.

While translating such popularity into dollars and cents isn’t easy –- especially in an industry whose users have grown accustomed to getting something for nothing –- Facebook could potentially provide a monetization template that would revolutionize social networking as we know it.

The Next Level of Advertising Revenue


Advertising has traditionally provided the simplest means of generating revenue. PricewaterhouseCoopers reported in October that Internet advertising revenues totaled $10.9 billion for the first half of 2009. It’s been estimated that Facebook alone took in $435 million of that total. But for a site with nearly half a billion users, a quarter of which spend more time within the network than watching television, these numbers represent just the beginning potential.

First, Facebook needs to admit to itself that it is in the business of selling ads. By better managing its advertising network, intelligently expanding its marketing options, and developing workable social ads that leverage the branding power of friends and connections, Facebook can begin to capture its rightful share of online ad revenues. The final piece is to increase awareness and understanding of Facebook ads among corporate decision makers.

For example, every executive in America today understands the value of purchasing GoogleGoogle ads –- and that didn’t happen by accident. Google understood that what caused it to dominate online search wasn’t going to ultimately position the company as a global corporate powerhouse valued at nearly $200 billion. Google’s aggressive marketing, communications, and lobbying shops have worked to ensure every ad buyer, political campaign, marketing executive, and public relations flack knows the value of the service and has direct and easy access to account executives who explain the much worshiped “ROI” Google ads provide.

Today, Facebook stands on the precipice Google inhabited just before it became a top money-maker. By taking a page from the Google playbook, and aggressively marketing — and explaining — its power to influence buying decisions, Facebook ads could become as essential to 21st Century marketing as the yellow pages were in the 20th Century.

E-Commerce – Stop Sending Customers Away


The launch of Facebook as a true e-commerce site holds immense potential as a business solution and could forever change the way we shop. Online purchases through the first three quarters of 2009 totaled $98.3 billion according to the Department of Commerce. For the majority of companies selling products online who are also engaged on Facebook, opening Facebook fully to direct e-commerce transactions will dramatically change how businesses advertise and how consumers buy goods online.

Consumers and companies would flock to a Facebook storefront for one simple reason: We do everything else there. Imagine an integrated, one-click solution whereby your friends see your recent purchases (because you were incentivized by the brand to share your information) in their feed and are able to simply point, click, and purchase the same item.

With a few adjustments, companies can make timely offers of birthday gifts for friends, travel arrangements for event items, or the latest music from favorite artists –- and make the sale without forcing the user to leave Facebook or put in new login information.

Rather than driving their 350 million users away from the platform to “close the deal” with retailers and purchase the item on an external platform, Facebook could benefit financially by charging companies a percentage of sales, a fixed rate to have a storefront, or from increased advertising opportunities.

Premium Subscription Options


Finally, whether users like it or not, Facebook will do itself a long term disservice if it does not consider premium subscription options. Users (whether they are corporations or teenagers) are amenable to paying for even the simplest features and functionality, as evidenced by the success of Facebook gifts.

Nothing good in life is free. It’s a stark, mature reality that Facebook (and its users) need to face in 2010. By leveraging economies of scale, Facebook can churn a sizable profit without alienating users. Would you pay one dollar a month to share higher-resolution photos or upload higher-quality or longer videos? Last month, 2.5 billion photos were uploaded to Facebook. Even if only a quarter of the site’s active users opted for premium options, this one change would generate more than $1 billion in annual revenues.

Improving advertising, developing an e-commerce platform, and adding subscription services will not only generate the revenue necessary to make the transition from highly adopted to highly profitable, it will open revenue streams — as Google did before — for the next generation of digital developments.

More business resources from Mashable:


- Social Media Marketing: How Pepsi Got It Right
- 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Avoid Social Media Panic
- HOW TO: Take Advantage of Social Media in Your E-mail Marketing
- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy
- 18 Online Productivity Tools for Your Business

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, peterspiro



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