Researchers develop tool to combat Internet auction fraud

Russian Skittles Commercial

PITTSBURGH - Carnegie Mellon University researchers are using an old adage to develop anti-fraud software for Internet auction sites like eBay: It's not what you know, it's who you know.

Sites like eBay rely on users to warn others if they have a bad experience with a seller by rating their transactions. But the CMU researchers said savvy fraudsters get around that by conducting transactions with friends or even themselves, using alternate user names to give themselves high satisfaction ratings - so unsuspecting customers will still try to buy from them.

The CMU software looks for patterns of users who have repeated transactions with one another, and alerts other users that there is a higher probability of having a fraudulent transaction with them.

Read more on mercurynews.com.

The A,B,Si's of Hispanic MarketingSquandering Free Time
Helicopter saw

MySpace Marketing Tips, Tricks, and Hints

How To Profit from Google's Not-So-Secret Formula

I run MySpace.com marketing campaigns on a daily basis and wanted share some real-world experiences and tips. I'll start with an embarrassing story.

Worst Meeting Ever

I was working on a marketing campaign with a client, and he was interested in getting his company on MySpace and using it as part of his marketing mix. We were both sitting down at his computer as I gave him a general tour of the site and showed him the basic ropes about how everything works. He commented that his 16 year-old daughter was on MySpace but he had never seen her MySpace page.

On MySpace you can search for people as long as you know their first and last name. So I put in a search for his daughter, and about five girls from across the US came up. At the bottom of the five results was a picture of a girl in a revealing Halloween costume. We both kind of laughed at it, and I made the regrettable comment, "Gee, I hope that's not your daughter".

Well…you guessed it. It was. This led to most deafening silence in a meeting I have ever witnessed. This CEO/Dad realized his daughter was into things he didn't know she was into. I couldn't wait to get out of that meeting. The point is that your daughters are on MySpace, your nieces, your neighbors...

Spam 2.0

Let me whet your appetite a little bit and show you why I love MySpace. It has been called "Spam 2.0" because MySpace has engineered a Web site that under the guise of building a personal Web page can gather an array of personal details.

Its users give large amounts of personal details about themselves, and they do it willingly. When you go to MySpace, click on "browse," then on "advanced." You will find that you can browse people using an assortment of demographic categories: single, married, divorced, ethnicity, religion, body type, income, education, sexual orientation, drinker, smoker, and more. You can also whittle down your search to a certain radius of a ZIP code.

I like to tell my clients that if you a looking for a five-foot-tall divorced mom with a drinking problem within five miles of your house, you can! I say that tongue and cheek, but the way you can zero in on your target market is amazing. That was originally why I got into MySpace marketing.

Welcome to MySpace

It's completely free to put up a Web page on MySpace. Just fill out some quick information and you have your own page and access to 50+ million members. The first step is to fill out your personal information. Next you need to design your page to look how you want it.

Finally, start building your friend list. There are many ways to do this. The most obvious is to buy advertising. That is discussed below. The next best thing is squeezing every ounce of creative juice from your brain to come up with, as Seth Godin puts it, that "Purple Cow." Just to get you started I have included an idea near the end of this article that has done amazingly well on MySpace.

In the meantime, we'll dive into the many things I've learned on MySpace.

Advertising on MySpace

I like advertising on MySpace. Its customer service is helpful and quick to respond. MySpace sells advertising mainly through banner impressions, not clicks. The costs vary, but it's in the area of $5 per 1,000 impressions. Depending on which sales rep you talk to, the minimum buy for an advertising campaign is $5,000 to $10,000.

Remember those different ways you can search for people? When you buy banner ad space on MySpace, you can target your banners so they show up only to the exact demographic you want. This includes all those specific demographics like religion, body type, sexual orientation, etc. This way, all your allotted banner impressions don't go to waste on people who would never buy your product.

If you are advertising your local business on MySpace, make sure you include your city name on the banner. Your returns will be a lot higher, because people don't expect to see their own city name on an international Web site, and they will click just out of curiosity.

B2Bs, Stay Out of MySpace

I had the utmost privilege to run a marketing campaign on MySpace for one of the most important companies I have ever worked with... my own. As I look back on the campaign it did nothing more than fail miserably, and I'm going to tell you why.

If you have a B2B business, then the best I can do is save you some time and wasted effort. My company is a B2B business. I went into the campaign with a lot of caution because I knew that MySpace was saturated with a younger demographic. However, I knew that there was also a good amount of older people as well.

So I set out on my guerilla MySpace campaign. The plan was to hit is as hard as possible for two months. Instantly, I started getting visits to my Web site; I started getting messages on my MySpace inbox; I even started getting phone calls and other positive responses from people inquiring about our services, like asking for quotes, requesting print samples, etc.

In fact, I started getting more responses than I expected. I thought everything was going well until the first month went by. I realized that no one was buying.

We have done many other advertising campaigns using direct mail, AdWords, and other techniques. So we already knew what constituted a good ratio of people who contact us vs. how many sales we eventually make. We are always tweaking the system to improve this ratio. So our system wasn't to blame for the lack of sales conversions.

With MySpace, the ratios were way off. We we're getting a lot of "looky-loos," a lot of people looking around and asking questions, but not many of them were buying. After the two months, my partner and I came together to review the campaign. The data merely confirmed that a lot of interest was generated, but very few sales.

We determined that B2B advertising on MySpace was the ultimate in interruption marketing. We were able to interrupt a lot of people who really weren't looking for our product. Our time was wasted not only on running the campaign but also in the lead-conversion stage of fielding phone calls and emails.

My company won't be back on MySpace.

The Must-Have Checklist for Your MySpace Page

Here's a checklist to make sure that your MySpace page is optimized to generate leads for you. They all center around one huge rule: You must bring the business conversation away from MySpace. As long as you are on MySpace, you have to play by its members' rules.

[ ] The first thing you must have is a form to get your visitors email addresses. You will increase your sign-up five-fold if you give them some sort of incentive to give their email address. Promote this by posting bulletins.

[ ] Syndication code. MySpace users are Web savvy. They know how to edit basic html and add it to their MySpace page. You want to have a pre-made banner ad with a link to your Web site and supply the html code so that if one of your MySpace friends wants to post your ad on his/her page, doing so is very easy.

[ ] There must be an obvious link to your Web site.

[ ] A reason to come back. Have fun on that one.

Here's a link to a MySpace page that is doing it right.

Random Wisdom

Here's a little wisdom so you don't have to learn the hard way:

1. The most important advice I can give you is to never send unsolicited messages to other MySpace users. Not only are they ineffective because MySpace users are some of the most spam-immune people on the planet, but most will flag your message as spam. It only takes a couple of these before your account will either be deleted or its functionality severely limited. All your previous work goes down the drain.
   
   
2. Stay away from corporate-speak on your page. Talk like you're talking to a friend, not like a business.
   
   
3. Adobe Flash works great as eye-candy, but MySpace has limited a lot of the action script, such as being able to click links. Tell your Web developer that all "Get" functions do not work. He will know what that means.
   
   
4. Your MySpace page needs to look clean and must be very easy to read. You can make your own layouts, or use pre-made ones at a lot of Web sites, such as MySpaceSupport. (not affiliated with MySpace.com)
   
   
5. You have the option to disable html in your comments. I do this on all my accounts because people not only spam with lots of advertisements but also place huge images on your page that take a long time to load.
   
   
6. Post bulletins consistently. On average, only about 20% will see the bulletin you've posted. So, if you have time, post at least one bulletin a day about your product. Also, make sure that you delete your previous bulletin.
   
   
7. One quick way to add friends is to start sending out friend requests to people. Use the browse function to narrow in on whom you want. On average, one-third will accept your request. You can do this manually, but make sure not to do more than 200 a day. The CAPTCHA codes will probably make you want to quit sooner than that. A discouraged way of adding friends is using Robot Software.

To Bot or Not to Bot

Since the use of robot software to promote and spam on MySpace is so prevalent, it is necessary to touch on this important issue. The first thing you need to know is that using robot software on MySpace violates its terms of service (TOS). If you get caught using robot software, MySpace will disable some of your account privileges, delete your account altogether, or—if you are really being malicious—take you to court.

My advice is this: The heyday of using software on MySpace ended about a year ago. Since then, MySpace has hired a lot of staff to find users who spam, and it has placed some major limitations in the code of the Web site.

The point is that using robots on MySpace is an exercise in futility. MySpace is proactively fighting against robot use and is clearly winning. Some people will spend the money to buy a robot, and two days later the software is obsolete due to code changes from MySpace.

My advice: Don't use robots. Use your creativity to find better ways to drive traffic to your MySpace page. Don't be lazy!

A Sample Campaign You Can Try

This idea has worked many times, but don't use it until your page is set up and you have collected a good base of friends. There isn't room in this article to go too deeply into the details, so you will have to figure those out yourself.

Using the "code syndication" method mentioned in the "Must-Have Checklist," above, create some sort of banner ad. Make it nice and large, around 400 x 500 pixels. Your Web developer will know what that means. The banner ad should advertise your product and have a link to your Web site and a link so that the viewers can enter a contest as well. This is what makes the idea go viral and really work. Then hold a contest and offer something of value that MySpace users would really want (stay away from common online prizes like iPods).

For this contest, all people have to do to enter is post your pre-made banner on their MySpace pages, then send you an email with a link to those pages. The more people who post your online flyer, the more who enter the contest, and the more people who will see your banner ad and view your Web site.

One small client we worked with did this for a music concert and saw his unique Web site visitors go from 200 to 9,000 a day. Needless to say, that client was thrilled. The concert was extremely successful.

Conclusion

I hope this article was helpful Treat MySpace just like any other marketing campaign: Test the waters, experiment, and have fun!

See sources.

Rolling Stone : MagazineComedy club, bogatqri 2
76 Smart Tech Solutions (part III)

JetPens - Incredible Student Startup That Brings In $1000 For Every $20 Spent On AdWords

Jamie Foxx-Ghetto Ho(stand up comedy)

http://www.jetpens.com

As students at Stanford University, Lily Kim, Shu Lindsey, and Adrian Mak had trouble finding the precision pens they liked to use, the Japanese-made ultrathin ones with tips half the width of the average ballpoint.

They started importing their own in 2004 and turned their passion into a business, pooling $9,000 in savings to launch JetPens. They built a customer base by e-mailing fellow students and contacting artists they found on the Web.

JetPens now sells 10,000 pens and other items every month. Among its best-sellers are a pen with a tip fine enough to write on a grain of rice, novelty erasers (some that look like packs of gum or pieces of sushi, another designed to never run out of corners), and the "popcorn" pen, with ink that puffs up on the page, a favorite with scrapbook fanatics.

Thanks to some clever tricks for keeping costs to an absolute minimum, the founders say they'll turn their first profit this year.

MARKETING

The monthly marketing budget at JetPens is just $20, all for Google ads, which bring in about $1,000 in sales. The company's well-designed site also puts it at the top of Google's search results for "japanese pens."

INVENTORY

JetPens did fine without a warehouse. "Adrian's got $40,000 worth of pens in his bedroom," Kim says. The company is outgrowing the bedroom storage plan, however, so the owners are starting to look for space.

[Via Business 2.0]

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Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) And SEO

Get everyone to the wedding on time with Wedding Mapper

Indexing has always been considered a highly targeted science. Enter a search query into Google search and the pages that are displayed are generally optimized towards that exact word or term. However, in their continual battle to server the most relevant but most natural pages with genuinely useful information Google has injected latent semantic indexing (LSI) into its algorithms.

What Is LSI?

LSI is a unique indexing method that potentially takes Google search one step closer to becoming human in its way of thinking. If we were to manually search through web pages to find information related to a given search term we would be likely to generate our own results based on the theme of the site, rather than whether a word exists or doesn't exist on the page.

Why Search Engines Might Adopt Latent Semantic Indexing

The extremely rigid form of "keyword indexing" also meant that black hat SEO techniques were easier to implement. Search engines could be manipulated into ranking a site highly by using set formula. Originally, cramming a page with a particular keyword or set of keywords meant a site would rank highly for that search term. The proceeding set of algorithms ensured that your link profile played more of an important part than your keyword density. Reciprocal linking soon followed once again making it possible to manipulate the search engine spiders by exchanging links with tens, hundreds, or thousands of websites.

Reciprocal linking was soon beaten as Google and to a lesser extent Yahoo and MSN gave less credence to a reciprocal link as they did to a one-way inbound link. Latent Semantic Indexing is another, particularly powerful, method to try and make their result pages appear more natural with natural pages filled with natural content.

The Effects

The introduction of LSI has seen some dramatic changes in the search engine result pages already. Sites that had previously performed well because of an impressive link profile based on a single keyword have found their pages slip in the rankings. Other pages with a more diverse portfolio of inbound links are taking the lead with search terms for which they had not previously performed.

SEO is far from dead because of LSI, in fact if anything, it has probably increased the need for professional white-hat SEO on your website. The field of SEO, though, has almost certainly changed. Website content copywriting for Google's benefit is not merely made up of keyword density and keyword placement as it once was and link-building techniques will need to change to incorporate LSI algorithms but it can be done.

Writing Content For LSI

If optimizing solely for Google then a web page can, theoretically, be naturally written and naturally worded. When we write we instinctively include the appropriate keyword in our text. In order to avoid repetition (or keyword optimization, as it was once called) we would often alter some instances of these keywords for other words with the same or very similar meaning. We naturally include the plural or singular form of a keyword as well as different tenses and a number of different stems of that keyword. In the eyes of LSI algorithms this is all good news.

Looking At Your Link Profile

A link profile should no longer consist of thousands of links with the same anchor text (that of your primary keyword). There's no reason to panic if you already have this kind of profile. Instead you should look at relevant and similar terms and improve your link profile by gaining links using these as your anchor text.

What It Offers Web Searchers

From the point of view of web searchers, LSI offers some distinct advantages over its earlier form of indexing. For example, LSI recognizes that the word "engine" in "search engine optimization" is not related to searches for terms like "steam engine" or "locomotive engine" and is instead related to Internet marketing topics. In theory, LSI results give a much more accurate page of results as well as providing a broader range of pages still geared towards a particular topic.

Where Google Leads, Others Generally Follow

It is widely acknowledged that Google is the search engine at the forefront of latent semantic indexing. On the whole they try to generate results pages that are literally filled with genuine, useful results and LSI certainly provides another string in their bow. Yahoo and MSN, for now, seem more than happy to go along with keyword specific indexing although Yahoo are known to look at singular and plural keyword variations as well as keyword stemming when judging keyword density.

The Effect On Your Website

How it affects the individual Webmaster is dependent on how they go about promoting their site already. If the pages are filled with natural content including keywords and keyword alternatives, and the link profile is similarly diversified for a number of related keywords then the fact is it won't change very much. However, if all of your efforts have been concentrated, either on-page or off-page, with a single keyword then it's time to readdress the balance.

---

About the Author: Matt Jackson is a homepage content author for WebWiseWords. WebWiseWords specializes in natural web content writing that appeals to search engine spiders and to human visitors.

Filling a natural nicheDating Over 50 As A Marketing Niche
Is Web 2.0 A Bubble?

For Love and Money

Hiring Your First Employees

In the old days--anywhere from centuries ago to even the 1980s--the word "entrepreneur" often conjured up images of money-grubbing men like railroad barons, bankers or the famed character Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. Nowadays, however, we know better. Entrepreneurs are like everyone else. We have hopes, dreams, mortgages and responsibilities, too.

Some entrepreneurs are even hopeless romantics. While they want to be rich like anyone else, romance is also on their minds. Their mission is to bring people together, and year round, their offices look like the inside of a Valentine's Day card.

Get in the mood for romance--and prepare to blush a little--as we honor 10 entrepreneurs who have full wallets and full hearts.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Joshua Levs, 34
Name of Business: MagicProposals.com
What the business does: Helps bachelors come up with the most magical marriage proposal possible
Founded: August 2006
Location: Atlanta
Employees: 0, but he has numerous contractors with whom he works, including videographers and editors who capture the proposals on film

There's something about this business: Levs was a reporter before he began MagicProposals, and he'd had his fill of covering bad news. "Bombings, terrorism, war, Katrina, political divisiveness. They're important stories, but they do eat away at your soul," he says. "Doing this is soul-restoring work. It's about the best in people." Of course, this begs the question: Has anyone turned down one of these magical proposals? "No," says Levs, "but I did have one guy who started to work with me, and we met and started planning. Then he and his girlfriend broke up. He talked to me about how difficult and painful it was." Levs concedes that someday, a "no" is almost inevitable, but until then, he's going to keep helping create magical moments for couples. "Love is life's greatest experience, the reason to live," says Levs, who, yes, is happily married.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Alexi Faucher, 47
Name of Business: Seduction and Spice
What the business does: Caters romantic dinners
Founded: 2003, though it wasn't a full-time business until last year
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Employees: 0, but she occasionally uses contractors

There's something about this business: Faucher's business is still in the startup phase, but with projections of $70,000 by the end of this year, she's making a living--and racking up a lifetime of interesting memories. She has catered meals in the back of a limousine for a surprise birthday, as well as in someone's hot tub and another person's hammock. The best part of the business, though, is knowing that she's helping create memories for her clients. "After the stage is set, I take one last look to make sure everything's as perfect as it can be," says Faucher, who then generally disappears, since after all--John Ritter's classic sitcom excepted--two is company, but three's a crowd.

The hardest thing about running her business isn't setting the mood or the table; it's marketing. Faucher has to convince couples that romantic dinners aren't just for Valentine's Day or a birthday or anniversary. Sometimes, "just because" is a good enough reason to give that special someone a romantic dinner.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneurs: Nicole Matthias, 28, and Catherine Nutt, 37
Name of Business: BadFun.com
What the business does: Sells romantic and slightly naughty gift baskets. Their tag line is, "It's fun to be bad."
Founded: 2005
Location: Hoboken, New Jersey
Employees: 3

There's something about this business: Given that BadFun is projected to hit $1.2 million in revenue before the year is up, there's no question that there's revenue to be found in selling items like the "On Fire Seduction Basket," which comes with edible underwear, sex position manuals and other unmentionables one normally doesn't find in a business article. And then there are the other gift collections like the Ultimate Bondage Basket and Advanced Submission Basket. Still, Matthias notes, "There is absolutely no nudity or potentially offensive content on BadFun.com, which is what sets our shopping experience apart from other sites." She says that their store allows "women and couples to purchase relationship enhancers in a tasteful, mainstream environment."

While the revenue stream is surely nice, Matthias says that one of the most satisfying aspects of owning the company is "when our customers follow up with us and let us know that BadFun helped them to bring the spark back into their relationship."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Jani Zubkovs, 51
Name of Business: Bonnie's Gang (named after his wife … awww)
What the business does: Sells the trademarked Tonight's the Night "love kit"
Founded: 1996
Location: Long Island, New York
Employees: 0; Zubkovs outsources everything

There's something about this business: Eleven years ago, Zubkovs began selling his "love kit," which consists of aspirin, a shot glass, a moist towelette, love gel, a candle and a condom. So far, he's sold more than 100,000 units of the product. And since then, Zubkovs has expanded into publishing, writing Tonight's the Night … No More Excuses and other books with titles that we'll just leave to the imagination. Zubkovs also is a speaker and a sex workshop facilitator. Interesting.

So we asked how he responds when, say, his conservative Aunt Esther asks him about his job. "Many of my relatives, especially the older ones, think I don't work," says an amused Zubkovs. "Even my mom used to say to me, ‘What do you do all day? Sleep?'" He admits, "Sometimes I tell people I work in Home Depot. It's a lot easier."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Amy Graybeal, 25
Name of Business: Magic of Romance Inc.
What the business does: Arranges romantic travel for couples
Founded: 2005
Location: Atlanta
Employees: 1

There's something about this business: Graybeal's business began as an assignment at Georgia Tech in 2004. An overachiever, she turned the full-fledged business plan into an actual business. Now the growing startup tailors each client's trip to his or her own tastes and interests, much like a luxury travel concierge. For instance, if you want to waltz the night away at a Viennese ball, be serenaded in a gondola in Venice, or have a romantic evening out in Atlanta or Albany, Graybeal and her executive director will plan and plot every detail.

"I'll have to tell my husband about that," is the comment Graybeal most often hears from prospective female clients. So far, only one planned trip hit a snag that "no amount of romance could fix. The client ended up catching the stomach flu," says Graybeal, who had a room waiting for the couple in Las Vegas decorated with rose petals and candles, among other surprises. But there was a happy ending; the couple was able to postpone the trip until they were both healthy.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway, 50
Name of Business: WeddingGoddess.com
What the business does: Romance coaching and wedding preparation/officiating. Brockway also has written numerous books, including Wedding Goddess: A Divine Guide to Transforming Wedding Stress into Wedding Bliss
Founded: 1999
Location: New York City
Employees: 0, unless we count a part-time cyber assistant

There's something about this business: "Since I specialize in marrying couples of different faiths and cultural backgrounds, I feel like a cheerleader for love," Brockway says. "People who are meant to be together are not always from the same religion or culture. I celebrate the common denominator between them--love--and try to help them blend their families and traditions as they blend their lives."

Brockway, who says it's "very happy work," has married hundreds of couples, each with "such unique and amazing stories." She adds that weddings between people of different faiths and cultural backgrounds are touching and often healing for the couples and their families. One of the most memorable weddings for her was marrying a Hindu groom and a Jewish bride in a ceremony that she had written for them that included many rituals from both faiths. "Both of their moms were so religious and so concerned about the marriage," Brockway recalls. "However, when they witnessed the ceremony, they realized the two faiths had many similarities and that this couple had found a way to blend their faiths, their lives, their families."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Kathy M. Newbern, 51, and J.S. Fletcher, 56
Name of Business: YourNovel.com
What the business does: Writes romance books, starring you, the paying customer, as the intrepid hero or heroine
Founded: 1992
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Employees: One office manager, who works full-time during their busy seasons and part-time during the down times

There's something about this business: Once upon a time, or more precisely, 15 years ago, Newbern was on a panel at a public relations conference, and the ice-breaker question was, "What would people be surprised to find out about you?" She answered that she had written a yet-to-be published romance novel. Later, at the PR luncheon with her then-boyfriend, Fletcher, accompanying her, Newbern was wistfully asked by a woman at the table, "Wouldn't it be great to read about yourself in one of those romance novels?" Driving home, Fletcher and Newbern looked at each other and said, "You know, we could do that." And they did. Now you can order 21 different books from them.

Customers submit personal details about their lives--everything from occupations, pet names, perfume and so on--and for anywhere from $50 to $120, depending on whether you want a hardcover or paperback, or a photo of you and your beloved on the cover, you and yours can star in a romance novel. Meanwhile, Fletcher and Newbern--whose books are written under the pseudonym, Fletcher Newbern--have been living happily ever after since starting their business. Fletcher has been working on YourNovel.com full-time since 1992, and Newbern has since 2001. And they've long since married. "Writing about love with the one I love and promoting love to the world--what better job descriptions could you ask for?" Newbern says.

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Mary Loomis-Shrier, 40
Name of Business: Trashy.com
What the business does: Sells lingerie, shoes, hosiery and alluring costumes
Founded: 1997
Location: Los Angeles
Employees: 50, including employees from the company she runs with her husband, Trashy Lingerie

There's something about this business: Surprisingly, Loomis-Shrier's business has nothing to do with sanitation issues, unless you count the fact that what some think is trashy may be another's treasure. Her husband, Mitch Shrier, began Trashy Lingerie in 1974. Eighteen years later, Mitch met Mary, who quickly had ideas for a sister company: Trashy.com. Eventually, the couple married and had a son, and as their small family unit expanded, so did their business.

Mary created Trashy Girls five years ago, which is the entertainment side of their company. "I hire models to do television appearances for us, host massive parties all over the country," she says. "I have my own channel on broadband and cable networks. There is no limit to what you can do with a brand image." But as glamorous or as trashy as her brand's image may seem, Mary concedes that she has plenty in common with other enterprising entrepreneurs: "Beautiful clothes, beautiful models, photo shoots--it's all sexy. But where the real work takes place is downtown L.A. in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse with hand sewers and pattern makers and bolts of fabric, people pulling from bins, and paperwork up to the ceiling, [all] to make sure the customer gets their lingerie on time and is looking great."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Delmond R. Newton, 33
Name of Business: Fever Beverage International
What the business does: Sells an all-natural libido stimulation beverage and is in the process of marketing the product at nightclubs and other hotspots across the country
Founded: 2006
Location: West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania
Employees: 9

There's something about this business: Just as an apple once fell on another Newton's head and inspired him to come up with the concept of gravity, Delmond Newton had his epiphany when considering all of the energy drinks on the market. What if, he thought, there was a drink to enhance one's sexual energy? Pretty soon, he was contacting an herbalist and looking into creating a beverage and a company around it. Newton relishes his new life. "We live for challenges," he says. "Because we are pioneering a new category, everyone tells us it won't work, and we are constantly proving them wrong." And, of course, we had to ask what Newton tells his friends and family when they ask him about his new business. "Everyone wants to enhance their sex life, but when grandmom asks me," admits Newton, "I just tell her I have a fun company."

Romantic-Minded Entrepreneur: Andrea Miller, 35
Name of Business: Tango
What the business does: Produces a magazine all about romance. Tango's subtitle is, "Smart talk about love."
Founded: 2006
Location: New York City
Employees: 10 full-time; 15 part-timers

There's something about this business: Miller was reading a book about relationships called Soulmates with her now-fiance, Sanjay Bhatnagar, when she suddenly had a realization. "This type of smart, practical relationship content would be invaluable to other young, educated professionals," she says. "I knew that creating a multimedia brand, which catered to women who were seeking to build a life with someone--something like Sex and the City meets Oprah--we could become the premier media brand for women 25 to 45." Whether that happens or not, Miller is having the time of her life being immersed in love and relationship issues, and you have to like the title of her magazine. She admits she's always pleased when people she meets suddenly "get" the name. After all, this is a magazine about love, and it takes two to tango.

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4 Hot Inventing Trends

Sarah Silverman-This Is What I Do(stand-up comedy)

Like any activity, the process of inventing and launching products is subject to changes and trends. In this column, I’ll talk about the latest trends in the inventing world, and in addition to my own perspective, I've got information to share with you from two other highly successful inventors whose opinions I respect. Peter Russo is the founder and CEO of New Approach Development LLC and has hundreds of inventions to his credit. Stephen Key is one of the first people whose advice I sought when I started my company four years ago. He's the founder of both Stephen Key Designs and www.inventright.com, affiliated with www.inventorsalliance.org, and has seen hundreds of millions of units of his inventions sold.

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Bangla Funny Natok Loov [Comedy]---Part 1

Somewhere on Vancouver Island, a young inventor is working on a device to help people with hand tremors write more clearly.

Another is dreaming up a contraption to measure the speed of sports projectiles.

And still another young inventor is developing a listening device which will pick up faint voices in noisy rooms.

These are some of the creations which have been entered in the University of Victoria’s Innovation and Development Corporation’s (IDC) first invention contest.

“We’ve had quite a few entries but we’re hoping for more, especially from Vancouver Island high school students,” said IDC business development officer Adam Cowley.

The deadline for the contest, sponsored by Telus, is Jan. 31. It’s open to all students at Vancouver Island high schools and student, faculty and staff at UVic, Camosun College, Royal Roads University, Malaspina University College and North Island College. Contestants are eligible for $20,000 worth of prizes for best invention, best software concept, best food and beverage idea, best sports concept and best high school invention. There is also a people’s choice award.

Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of judges with experience in technology evaluation and product development. The prize winners will be announced at a ceremony on Feb. 28. Prizes for high school students include a voucher for a semester of tuition at Camosun College.

The competition is being held to encourage inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their creative ideas into commercial realities.

Organizers are hoping to turn the IDC invention competition into an annual event, with more participants and more chances to win cash and prizes.

For information go to www.idcinvention.com.
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We are often asked, and frequently see the question come up in various discussion groups, Which is the best tool for closing more sales and connecting with the right people online? Is it blogging, interacting with millions of bloggers sharing their business knowledge, industry commentary, and occasional pictures of their cat? Or one of the many business networks, such as openBC or Ecademy, which offer group interaction and private messaging as well as searchable profiles? Or LinkedIn, the trusted referral system that has attracted some five million professionals?

Asking which of these is "better" is like asking which is better: a hammer, a wrench, or a screwdriver? They are all tools, and best suited to particular tasks. A wrench can be used as a hammer in a pinch, and a hammer can force a screw into a two-by-four, but it's a lot harder and riskier. A master craftsman has a full toolbox, and unless your job is to drive nails all day, you'll be far more effective if you know the right tool to use for the task at hand.

Blogging is a way of building visibility, demonstrating your expertise, and engaging with people interested in the same topics as you. One of its greatest advantages is that it is completely open -- no membership required! Anyone on the Web can potentially find you in a search engine or a link from another blog, learn more about you, and contact you if you share some common interests or they want to learn more about your products or services. On the downside, while blogs are searchable by topic, it's very difficult to search for people in a structured way, e.g., former co-workers at a particular company, people in a certain industry in a certain city, or even people with a particular skill set.

Online communities offer a group interaction space (or multiple spaces) in conjunction with searchable, customizable personal profiles. They represent a convergence of identity (think personal Web pages), community (membership in self-organizing groups), and communication (discussion forums and private messaging). They offering varying degrees of open interaction, depending on the site and the preferences of the user, but only minimal interaction with non-members. The ability to easily learn more about a person and connect with them individually to follow up on the group interaction is compelling. One of the downsides is that they can be a little too enjoyable, and many people find themselves spending too much time in these sites when they should be focused on other aspects of their business. We are firm believers in closing more deals, not just in chatting with more people.

LinkedIn was primarily designed as a tool to help you leverage your existing network to meet specific people for a specific purpose. People are using it for more general-purpose networking, but communicating with specific people is the task for which it is optimized. There is no group interaction per se. LinkedIn also offers minimal ability to communicate within the platform, and the system encourages people to connect for a specific purpose, not just randomly or out of curiosity. These are major reasons why the site has created an attractive platform for senior executives, hiring managers, entrepreneurs, and other extremely busy people. They can leverage and be of service to their existing contacts with a minimal time investment and not a lot of unfocused interaction.

In our book, The Virtual Handshake, we introduce the Seven Keys to a Powerful Network, a framework for assessing your personal network and aligning your activities with your objectives. Comparing these tools in terms of the Seven Keys shows how each can serve your relationship-building activities in its own way:

Key	Blogging	LinkedIn	Online Networks
Character	Demonstrated over time through how you speak of others, what you write about ethical issues, etc.	Demonstrated by some endorsements.	Demonstrated strongly by your public interaction with others, your willingness to be of service, etc.
Competence	Demonstrated through in-depth writing about your topics of expertise.	Demonstrated minimally by endorsements, though multiple endorsements add up.	Demonstrated through writing about your topics of expertise, often in response to specific questions.
Relevance	Attract and connect with people interested in the same topics as you.	Ability to focus tightly on meeting people for specific purposes, and hopefully attract like-minded people.	Ability to focus on meeting people for specific purposes and to connect with like-minded individuals in a group setting.
Strength	Strengthen relationships through sustained dialog with readers and other bloggers on your topic.	Strengthen relationships by being of service, making referrals and endorsements.	Strengthen relationships through sustained public and private dialog with other members.
Information	Great source of information about someone's expertise and interest. Minimal information about relationships, contact info, etc.	Great source of information about your immediate contacts. Unique source of information about the relationships in your second and third degree.	Great source of information about your immediate contacts, though profiles are often fairly static compared to blogs. Information about relationships varies greatly by site and personal practices.
Number	Tremendous tool for building the number of people you know - probably the best (short of major media coverage).	Can be used to build large networks, but not optimized for it, as each connection requires manual intervention, and there is no way to engage people within the system.	Group interacting supports connecting with a large number of people, though the potential pool is limited to members of the site.
Diversity	Not really a tool for building diversity, except that you will often attract readers who have the opposite view on your topic as you, e.g., conservative and liberal political bloggers read each others' blogs and comment on them.	Excellent tool for purposefully finding diverse contacts, e.g., experts in a field you're considering moving into, a country you're planning to visit, etc.	Build diversity through group interaction. For example, a group focused on a particular business interest will likely include people of different political and religious affiliations.

So it's impossible to say that one or the other is best overall, and difficult to say that any one is best even for one person. Really, each is best suited for certain tasks. Because most people's business needs are many and diverse, and we're never certain what those needs may be in the future, the master salesperson, like the master carpenter, keeps a full toolbox and knows both which tool to use for the job and how to use it most effectively.

Go to source.
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