About Me 0116: January 2011

Monday, January 24, 2011

Making Money Software

Method 2: Use Cell Phone Spy Software

Cell phone spyware generally supported by all type of smartphone such as iPhone 4, Blackberry series, Android, Symbian OS and Nokia N series. You just need to get the the phone’s identification number in the battery compartment and key into the cell phone spy software in order to activate and start working. Once installed, cell phone spyware work secretly behind the scene by uploading phone activities such as text messages, photos, videos, incoming/outgoing call history log and stealth GPS coordinate to locate where associated with google map to track phone user real time location.

Within certain interval, those cell phones information will uploaded to the SSL remote server for storage. In order to access the data, you just simply login to the spyware vendor website with account detail.

Recommended high end monitoring software – SpyBubble with included above mentioned advantage together additional spy features such as tapping cell phone call ( live call interception) where allow you to listen what actually they are saying in the conversation and recover deleted text messages. With SpyBubble in place, your spouse got nothing to hide, with solid evidence in your hand, the only way to get out is to admit their false.

Don’t be fool by your spouse cheating you behind your back, they will leave you for their lover and you will be the last one to know. Don’t let your spouse treat you as a crown and continue abusing you emotionally and spiritually. You deserve to know the truth and don’t deserve the pain and anguish of living in the dark!

Related Articles:

1. How To Recover Accidentally Deleted Cell Phone Text Messages

2. SpyBubble Reviews – Spy Cell Phone Apps For iPhone

3. Best Top 3 Spy Cell Phone Tools Revealed – Spy Cell Phone Products

4. How To Tap A Cell Phone With Spy Phone Software

5. How To Spy With Your Cell Phone

If you interested to make money online by writing articles, come and join me together in Triond now!

Editor’s note: The following guest post is written by Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, which is currently the No. 5 app in the Mac App Store. It also didn’t hurt that the app has been prominently featured by Apple.

We just finished our first week on the Mac App Store and it might have been the most important week in Evernote’s history. Here’s how it went and what we learned:

1. Meritocracy is sweet

I remember one of the first computer articles that I ever read (maybe it was in Byte Magazine in the early 80s while I was in junior high). It had a little survey aimed at my fellow nerds. “Do you buy software for your computer?”, was the first question. The choices were, “A) Yes, frequently. B) Yes, sometimes. and C) Rarely, I prefer to write my own.” The fact that C was a viable choice pretty much sums up the early euphoria of the consumer software industry. You just had to make something great and the rest would follow. That was a long time ago.

The following twenty or thirty years brought us monopolies and barriers to entry and this happy state of affairs became a dim memory. Then came the mobile app explosion.

Over the past year, about 70% of Evernote’s new users came from mobile app stores, mostly iOS and Android. This led us to the understandable conclusion that mobile was the crucial thing that made a platform attractive to independent developers. Last week made us realize that the reality is a little bit more nuanced. It isn’t mobile that’s overwhelmingly important, it’s the app store. Until a week ago, all the good app stores just happened to be on mobile devices, but someone with a shiny new Macbook is just as eager to get the best apps as someone with a shiny new iPhone.

A platform without a well-formed app store presents a huge challenge to developers. To succeed on such a platform, the developer has to spend as much time and money on channels, logistics, partnerships and advertising as on actually making a great product. Once an app store takes hold, the software market on a platform starts moving towards a meritocracy. This is imperfect, of course, but focusing on building a great product is the best strategy for succeeding on an app store. This is a huge boon for software nerds of all types, and has resulted in the explosion of mobile apps and services in the past two years. It’s about time that desktops joined the party.

2. Desktop software is viable again

It took a few weeks of non-trivial effort to get our existing Mac application ready for the app store. There’s never a convenient time to take a few weeks out of a busy development schedule, and December is as inconvenient as it gets, but Apple’s developer relations folks were helpful and the approval process itself worked reasonably well once we’d worked out the kinks.

The results speak for themselves. About 320,000 people downloaded Evernote in the first week of the Mac App Store. Of this number, about 120,000 had never used Evernote before, and created new accounts. This represents more than 50% of all the new Evernote accounts created last week. The Mac platform—which used to be in fourth place for new user registrations behind iOS, Android and Windows—has now jumped to first.

It’s obvious in hindsight, but the presence of a well-formed app store is the single most important factor for the viability of a platform for third party developers. If you want to take this a step further and say that a robust third-party software market is the most important factor for the success of the platform overall, well…

I hope Windows gets a good app store soon.

3. Multi-platform users are the best kind

Not only is the Mac App Store getting us new users, it’s making our existing users more valuable. Neat, but how?

So 320,000 people downloaded Evernote in the first week and 120,000 of them became new users. What happened to the rest? Well, about 80,000 people were either switching their Mac client from our direct-download version to the app store version or had simply downloaded the app and didn’t complete registration. Another 100,000 people were existing users who had previously used Evernote from other platforms (mostly the iPhone) and added the Mac version for the first time.

This is both interesting and important. Interesting because the vast majority of these people must have (1) already had Macs, and (2) known about our Mac version from previous interactions with Evernote but hadn’t bothered to install it until the Mac App Store appeared. Important because people who use Evernote from multiple devices are much more likely to stick around and to eventually pay for the premium version. This makes intuitive sense and the data is clear: in a Freemium model, people choose to pay for what they love and the more devices they use Evernote from, the more likely they are to fall in love with it.

The Mac App Store effect works the other way as well: many of the new users who first found us on the Mac App Store went on to also download Evernote on their mobile devices. Our iTunes downloads for iOS devices were up by 54% during the same week that the Mac App Store came out and that’s without any new versions or noticeable change in iOS app visibility.

4. A strike against lowest common denominator

If Evernote’s desktop clients were written in Adobe AIR, I’d be worried right now. The immediate popularity of the Mac App Store, and the iPhone App Store before it, reinforces my belief that in a world of infinite software choice, people gravitate towards the products with the best overall user experience. It’s very hard for something developed in a cross-platform, lowest-common-denominator technology to provide as nice an experience as a similar native app.

As the CEO of a software company, I wish this weren’t true. I’d love to build one version of our App that could work everywhere. Instead, we develop separate native versions for Windows, Mac, Desktop Web, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, HP WebOS and (coming soon) Windows Phone 7. We do it because the results are better and, frankly, that’s all-important. We could probably save 70% of our development budget by switching to a single, cross-platform client, but we would probably lose 80% of our users. And we’d be shut out of most app stores and go back to worrying about distribution.

Does this mean that web apps are doomed? Not at all, but the most successful web apps will be the ones that emphasize unique benefits—sharing, communications, integrations—that are better implemented on the web than in native code. This is the main design goal for the next version of the Evernote web client, by the way.

Lost among all the gloomy economic news of the past few years is the fact that there’s never been a better time to be in software. Sure, the emergence and inevitable dominance of app stores will permanently disrupt existing industry practices—I’m glad we’re not in the business of preventing people from making copies of bits, shipping shrink-wrapped boxes or charging people for periodic upgrades—but a company like Evernote simply could not have attained a fraction of our current momentum even three years ago. App stores, cloud services, cross-platform users and Freemium economics made it all possible. The download numbers are certain to decline a bit as the excitement of the first week finds a sustainable steady-state, but the launch of the Mac App Store will have a major, and permanent, positive impact on developers.

It was worth the wait.

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A tetralogy of science news

Four more picks from the latest science news by David Bradley Tales of the unexpected: a night with Tim ...

Probably Bad News: Lawsuit FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny ...

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

Polson Kanneth reports: Daniel Hernandez Jr., one of the heroes of the mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., two weeks ago, tells ABC News that he will be sitting, along with his father, Daniel Hernandez Sr., with Michelle Obama at the.

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A tetralogy of science news

Four more picks from the latest science news by David Bradley Tales of the unexpected: a night with Tim ...

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

Four more picks from the latest science news by David Bradley Tales of the unexpected: a night with Tim ...

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

Four more picks from the latest science news by David Bradley Tales of the unexpected: a night with Tim ...

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

Four more picks from the latest science news by David Bradley Tales of the unexpected: a night with Tim ...

Probably Bad News: Lawsuit FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny ...

epic fail photos - Probably Bad News: Lawsuit FAIL.

Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

Four more picks from the latest science news by David Bradley Tales of the unexpected: a night with Tim ...

Probably Bad News: Lawsuit FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny ...

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

Four more picks from the latest science news by David Bradley Tales of the unexpected: a night with Tim ...

Probably Bad News: Lawsuit FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny ...

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

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Probably Bad News: Lawsuit FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny ...

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

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A tetralogy of science news

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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A tetralogy of science news

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Probably Bad News: Lawsuit FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny ...

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Tucson Hero to Sit With Michelle Obama at State of the Union on ...

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

People Making Money Online

In the same Good Morning America interview in which he said that Jared Lee Loughner "wasn't on the left, he wasn't on the right," former Loughner friend Zach Osler mentioned a documentary film called Zeitgeist, which he says heavily influenced the alleged Tucson gunman.

Osler, who George Stephanopoulos described as perhaps "Loughner's last close friend," said, "I really think that this Zeitgeist documentary had a profound impact upon Jared Loughner's mindset, and how he viewed the world that he lives in."

And though by Osler's account he and Loughner stopped hanging out two years ago, and there's no way of knowing what Loughner thinks of the documentaries today, there are a few resonances between the film and the online videos attributed to Loughner.

Zeitgeist: The Movie, produced in 2007 by a man named Peter Joseph, is actually the first film in what's now a trilogy. A sequel, Zeitgeist: Addendum, came out in 2008, and a third film, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, was scheduled to be released over the weekend. Together, they form the foundation for The Zeitgeist Movement, which, according to the movement's website, "works globally to spread information about a new social system called a Resource Based Economy." The website claims 420,000 people have registered as part of the movement, and says "estimates" put the number of online views of the original Zeitgeist: The Movie at over 100 million. (In March 2009, The New York Times reported on a "Z-Day" event in New York City.)

The first film (which you can watch in its entirety here) "debunks" myths and "exposes" conspiracies about religion, monetary policy, wars and 9/11. The film features a nameless narrator, and combines graphics, news footage and trippy animations with words from famous thinkers, stand up comedians and public officials, topping it all off with commentary from various conspiracy theorists. Among other things, the movie critiques the central bank model, controlled by the "ruthless banking interests," which it says leads inexorably to debt.

"The end result of this system is essentially slavery," the narrator says. "For it is technically impossible for a government and thus the public to ever come out of this self-generating debt."

Getting rid of the gold standard, according to the film, was a way to rob the public of wealth, and lock it into a system controlled by an elite few.

"The only thing that gives our money value is the public faith and how much of it is in circulation," the narrator says. "Therefore, the power to regulate the money supply is also the power to regulate its value, which is also the power to manipulate and control entire economies."

In online videos attributed to him, Loughner shows an obsession with "currency" that echoes the arguments from Zeitgeist. He spoke of "mind control" and government control. One video, titled "Introduction: Jared Loughner," was concerned with the creation of "new currency."

"No! I won't pay debt with a currency that's not backed by gold and silver!" Loughner wrote. "No! I won't trust in God!"

[TPM SLIDESHOW: TPM Retraces Shooting Suspect's Steps]

In another video, titled "hello," Loughner writes, "the current government officials are in power for their currency, but I'm informing you for your new currency!"

After Osler mentioned his movie to the press, Peter Joseph issued a statement criticizing the media for making any connection between the massacre that occurred in Tucson and his film.

It has come to my attention that various mainstream news organizations are beginning to run an association between my 2007 performance piece/film, "Zeitgeist: The Movie" and the tragic murders conducted by an extremely troubled young man in Tucson, Arizona. They are also slowly beginning to bleed the obvious line between my 2007 documentary work, my film series as a whole and The Zeitgeist Movement, which I am the founder. Frankly, I find this isolating, growing association tremendously irresponsible on the part of ABC, NBC and their affiliates - further reflecting the disingenuous nature of the America Media Establishment today.

Make no mistake: The Social System is to blame for the rampage of Jared
Loughner - not some famous online documentary which is known as the most viewed documentary of all time in internet history. Are the other 200 million people who have seen the film also preparing for murder sprees? I think not.

California’s SB 1411, which adds a layer of criminal and civil penalties for certain online impersonations, goes into effect starting today. The consequences include a fine of up to $1,000, and/ or up to a year in jail. So don’t go and do something crazy like impersonate Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Facebook. There may be consequences.

The full text and a summary of the bill are below. There’s a good overview and analysis of it as well, on ZDNet. The state has created a new crime, and a new section is being added to the penal code.

There has to be intent to harm, intimidate, threaten, or defraud another person – not necessarily the person you are impersonating. Free speech issues, including satire and parody, aren’t addressed in the text of the bill. The courts will likely sort it out. Hopefully without my direct participation.

SB 1411, Simitian. Impersonation: Internet.

Existing law makes it a crime to falsely impersonate another in

either his or her private or official capacity, as specified.

Existing law also makes it a crime to knowingly access and, without

permission, alter, damage, delete, destroy, or otherwise use any

data, computer, computer system, or computer network in order to

devise or execute any scheme or artifice to defraud, deceive, or

extort, or wrongfully control or obtain money, property, or data. For

a violation thereof, in addition to specified criminal penalties,

existing law authorizes an aggrieved party to bring a civil action

against the violator, as specified.

This bill would provide that any person who knowingly and without

consent credibly impersonates another actual person through or on an

Internet Web site or by other electronic means, as specified, for

purposes of harming, intimidating, threatening, or defrauding another

person is guilty of a misdemeanor. The bill would, in addition to

the specified criminal penalties, authorize a person who suffers

damage or loss to bring a civil action against any person who

violates that provision, as specified. Because the bill would create

a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local

agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the

state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that

reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this

act for a specified reason.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Section 528.5 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

528.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person

who knowingly and without consent credibly impersonates another

actual person through or on an Internet Web site or by other

electronic means for purposes of harming, intimidating, threatening,

or defrauding another person is guilty of a public offense punishable

pursuant to subdivision (d).

(b) For purposes of this section, an impersonation is credible if

another person would reasonably believe, or did reasonably believe,

that the defendant was or is the person who was impersonated.

(c) For purposes of this section, “electronic means” shall include

opening an e-mail account or an account or profile on a social

networking Internet Web site in another person’s name.

(d) A violation of subdivision (a) is punishable by a fine not

exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in a

county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and

imprisonment.

(e) In addition to any other civil remedy available, a person who

suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of subdivision (a)

may bring a civil action against the violator for compensatory

damages and injunctive relief or other equitable relief pursuant to

paragraphs (1), (2), (4), and (5) of subdivision (e) and subdivision

(g) of Section 502.

(f) This section shall not preclude prosecution under any other

law.

SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to

Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because

the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school

district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or

infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty

for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the

Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the

meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California

Constitution.

Source:http://removeripoffreports.net/

Iranian men to be stoned to death over gay sex - Pink News

Two young men who filmed themselves having sex have been sentenced to death by stoning in Iran. The film was discovered on the mobile phones of Ayub and Mosleh, 20 and 21 years old, by agents of the Iranian regime in the Kurdistan city ...

Casting News: Anne Hathaway to Guest on 'Glee,' Marissa Jaret ...

Anne Hathaway must've made a good impression on 'Glee' creator Ryan Murphy at the Golden Globes this weekend, because he's already confirmed she will.

Major earthquake strikes southwestern Pakistan – This Just In ...

[Updated at 4:47 p.m. ET] An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 struck Wednesday morning in a remote area of southwestern Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The earthquake occurred at 1:23 a.m. (3:23 p.m. ...

Friday, January 14, 2011

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The main areas of law which are still eligible for public funding are Criminal, the Tenant part of Landlord & Tenant and Family/Matrimonial. Some criminal matters may be means tested and may require a contribution towards the legal advice costs but legal aid is available for most people facing criminal prosecution.
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The situation with Aid for family/matrimonial matters is somewhat different and the rules are beyond the scope of this article. Broadly speaking if a litigant is on benefits then they won't have to make a contribution toward their legal costs and it will all be funded by Legal Aid. If they are not on benefits and earning a wage they may have to make a contribution towards the cost of their legal work. It happens that very few people who are not on benefits fall in to the category where all their costs would be publicly funded.

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Talk with your local branch banks. Credit unions are another great route to take and you should explore membership with a credit union to have more options open to you. The small, local branches are often more inclined to work with someone who has credit challenges. There is something special about the small-town effect when it comes to your relationship with the bankers.

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Harvard Undergrads Launch Newsle To Find News About Your Friends ...

Social news has many flavors. Twitter and Facebook function as social news feeds with your friends pushing out stories they find interesting. But what about news about your friends or other people you care about? Two Harvard sophomores ...

Wind warning expires - Chicago Breaking News

A wind warning for northern Illinois expired this evening after two days of high winds, with gusts today topping 50 mph through much of northern Illinois and northern Indiana. The warning was in effect today until 7 p.m., according to ...

Maine Gov. Tells NAACP To "Kiss My Butt" Over MLK Celebration ...

Maine's governor is telling critics to kiss my butt over his decision not to attend the state NAACP's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations this weekend.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Making Money

A report to be released from Goldman Sachs today will not only disclose some details about how the secretive firm operates and plans to change their operations in the future — as required by the Business Standards Committee established by CEO Lloyd Blankfein in response to the SEC lawsuit against the them — it "will disclose more about how it makes money," according to Bloomberg News. Of course, it will likely contain only a little bit of information to this effect, seeing as it is only 63 pages, most of which will likely be self-justifying defenses of their existing business model, and because Goldman doesn't give anything away that easily, especially not to "mollify their critics," per the Journal. If you really want to find out how Goldman makes money, you're going to have to look closely.

First, you're going to have to identify and decipher the secret code hidden within the paper, which will lead you to a map located underneath the floorboards of an out-of-the-way cabin, which will lead you to a musty castle in the basement of which sits a nervous owl with a capsule on its foot. The capsule, if you are lucky enough to soothe the owl long enough to remove it, will contain a password to a trap door, which, will lead you to an old but powerful woman who will ask you a series of questions, such as: "If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?" After that, you must pass through an area of extreme heat, an area of extreme cold, and swim 40 lengths through a pool full of Mischievously Tickling Goldfish. Only then you will find the secret, which will be some variation of the fact that the company buys stuff cheap and sells it for more money.

Michael Buckner/Getty Images

Khloe Kardashian: Is She Making A Play As the No. 1 Kardashian?

As Lamar Odom and his wife, Khloe Kardashian, get set to begin filming their reality show, Khloe & Lamar, one cannot help but realize how much screen time Khloe has.

With her third E! show on tap, and a publicized marriage with a World Champion basketball star in Lamar, is Khloe becoming the No.1 Kardashian the right way?

Whether you know her or not, you have all heard of sister Kim, for one reason or another, but sister Khloe seems to be giving her a run for her money nowadays.

Kim was romantically linked to Saints Super Bowl Champion Reggie Bush, but unfortunately, things did not work out.

While Kim is now reportedly linked to Kris Humphries of the New Jersey Nets, he holds nothing on Lamar.

The Kardashians continue to creep onto your television screen and it seems it will not stop.

With Khloe & Lamar due out around the NBA Playoffs, Khloe may take the reins as the top Kardashian with the help of the Lakers' forward.

Most recent updates:

Rex Ryan: Blasting Off Only The Way Rex Can

Steve Buckley: Paving The Way For Others?

Buckeyes: What Is Next For Jim Tressel's Ohio State Buckeyes?

View all updates

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Visualize This: Where the public gets its news

Perhaps the label should be something like “Percentage of respondents.” (The folks who collected the data allowed respondents to cite two “main” sources of news, which confused me.) I'll make the change. Thanks! ...

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Monday, January 10, 2011

Making Money Marketing

Thanks God we are done with celebrating and can start working! Here’s one essential checklist for you to start:

1. Acknowledge Your Biggest Fans

Do you have fans that re-tweet your posts, email your articles to friends, and send new business your way? What have you done for them? Have you at least taken the time to thank them?

You should always monitor your brand, your website link and your own name (I use SocialMention). Every time someone says something nice about you, you should thank them. If you can do something else in return, by all means do.

2. Understand the Golden Rule of Blogging

Most blogs don’t appeal to the audience they’re writing for. The writing may be good, but the topics aren’t. Let’s say you sell furniture. Your blog shouldn’t be about your specials, the new employee you hired or about your vacation to Hawaii. Your blog should be about furniture.

Always ask yourself this question: who am I writing for? What kind of content do they want? It doesn’t matter if you don’t offer all the services you write about. For example, I own an Internet marketing agency and my audience is business owners. But, I don’t only write about online marketing; I write about topics that are of interest to business owners, such as lowering costs, motivating employees and off-line marketing.

Find out what your audience wants and give it to them.

3. Use Decoy Offers

Have you ever wondered why some stores sell an item for $100 and in the price tags says “Was $200″? It makes the current price look a lot better. Some people might think $100 is a lot of money for that item, but hey, it was $200, so you’re getting a great deal, right? Well, believe it or not, it works. This is because everything is either a great deal or an awful deal based on what you compare it with.

Psychologists call this “the principle of contrast.” How can you use this to your benefit? My favorite way is to present two or more offers. One will be your current offer and then you’ll add some decoy offers. The decoy offers will be really bad deals, but they’ll make your main offer look great. For example, you can sell one can of your product at $19 and three cans at $25 with free shipping and feature this last offer as the weekly special. Try it; it works like a charm and there’s nothing unethical about it. You’ll keep your main offer and all you’re doing is making it look better by adding some not-so-attractive offers.

4. Write Your Marketing Copy First and Develop Your Product Around It

I’ve found this tactic to be extremely effective. Instead of creating a product and then writing the marketing message, I like writing the copy first because by trying to sell it with words, I get a much better understanding of what the audience really wants and I can give them that product or service.

5. People Buy from People, Not Companies

Your customers might have known your company first, but they bought from you because they liked you or the salesperson they dealt with. This is especially true in B2B. The takeaway here is: do a good job explaining how your company can help your clients but do an even better job connecting with your prospects at a personal level.

Amazon is officially taking the wraps off its long-awaited Amazon App Store for Android, with the formal launch of a developer program. The Amazon store — which won’t arrive until sometime later this year — is aimed at creating a high-quality destination for Android app buyers and will give Android users a trusted place to pick up apps.

As I wrote last year, what Amazon is doing has a lot of potential, because it addresses some major shortcomings of Google’s own Android Market, which appears on almost all Android devices. Android Market, with some 200,000 apps, doesn’t suffer from lack of quantity, but it hasn’t been a huge money-maker for app developers because it’s rather simple, provides too few discovery tools and categories, has had little marketing and requires that purchases go through Google Checkout, a system that many users don’t seem to want to use.

While Google has addressed some of the concerns with recent improvements to Android Market, there’s still a lot Amazon can provide to both users and developers. I think serious developers will definitely look at the Amazon App Store as a way to sell their apps. It does bring some confusion to consumers, having to consider multiple application stores, but Amazon’s approach and its reputation as an online retailer should make it a popular destination for both consumers and developers. Here are the details of the program, some of which have been reported before:

Amazon will take a 30-percent cut of the sale price, the same as Google and Apple. There’s a $99 developer fee that Amazon is waiving for the first year. Developers must set a list price, but Amazon will be able to discount the app on its own. Developers will get at least 20 percent of the list price on discounted apps. This could get tricky if Amazon starts undercutting the price of an app already listed on Android Market, but Amazon officials told TechCrunch they’re looking to make money for developers and price flexibility can be helpful for that. This won’t be an issue if developers ultimately make more money selling through Amazon, but we’ll have to see.

The Amazon App Store will be built into Amazon.com and will also be accessible from mobile devices through the Amazon app. It’s not quite clear how the installation process will work, which could be an important point. Amazon is reportedly in talks with manufacturers to get the App Store pre-installed, but until then, users will have to go into their settings to allow app installations from “unknown sources.” App purchases and installations will need to be dead simple for this to work well.

At launch, the Amazon App Store will work on Android 1.6 devices and higher and will only be available in the U.S. initially. This will need to expand quickly for developers to take advantage of the big opportunity overseas.

Developers will be able to submit an unlimited number of images and up to five videos showing how the app works. Amazon will use the videos on its products page. This should be good for developers to better showcase their apps, and videos especially could convince some consumers that an app is worth buying. The fact that users will be able to browse from their PC is also a plus. Google has promised an online storefront for Android Market but we still haven’t seen it yet.

Developers who want to apply DRM must use Amazon’s system. Amazon will test all apps for functionality and to ensure they meet content guidelines, which forbid things like pornography, illegal content, offensive material and intellectual property violations. According to some reports, Amazon is looking to take a more liberal stance than Apple, so it should allow more satire. This review process could also weed out some of the junk apps and blatant copycats in Android Market, making for a more refined buying experience. There may be fewer options for consumers, but they may feel more confident about putting down money for an app.

Amazon will help market the apps and will apply its recommendation engine for apps, so consumers will be able to get recommendations on apps based on previous purchases. This is a big part of value proposition for Amazon. They know how to sell, and many consumers obviously have a good relationship with them. Android App Store has a new “similar to” feature to recommend apps, but Amazon will be able to draw on more of a user’s overall purchase history to help create more precise recommendations.

App purchases will happen through a consumer’s Amazon account, so existing users won’t have to enter credit-card information, and developers will be able to add their own payment system, presumably for in-app purchases. This is also a big win for developers. Google Checkout, the main way for buying apps on Android Market, doesn’t have that much penetration among consumers, so first-time app buyers are forced to enter in credit card information from their handset. Having an existing financial relationship with consumers gives Amazon the ability to do one-click purchases and gives consumers some of the ease they see in iTunes purchases.

We still have to see the Amazon App Store for Android in action and how many developers actually support it, but it sounds like this should be a positive addition for consumers and developers. Android Market is still getting better, but for now, Amazon’s app store is showing there’s a need for more choice in the marketplace.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):

Why RIM’s Future (Unfortunately) Hinges on BlackBerry OS 6

Will Killer Apps Affect Which Handsets Consumers Buy?

How Carriers Can Crack the App Discoverability Nut

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Friday, January 7, 2011

Making Money Program

Some will look at Stanford junior Andrew Luck's decision to stay in school with awe and appreciation.

They will say that Luck doesn't care about money, that he loves his college experience and values his education.

That may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that he's making the wrong decision.

There are just too many things that could go wrong for the 21-year-old if he stays in school.

The most obvious argument against forgoing the draft is that Luck could get hurt. It may sound like a doomsday scenario, but every year an expected high pick drops out of the first round due to injury, costing him millions.

Another critical factor in Luck's decision is the looming rookie wage scale. Whenever NFL players and owners reach a new labor agreement, you can bet that a rookie salary cap will be a part of it. If it doesn't kick in until 2012, the guaranteed money would drop from the asinine $50 million Sam Bradford got this year to somewhere around $15 million. (And Luck isn't even guaranteed to be the top pick come 2012.)

But even (or especially) if it took effect immediately, Luck and other rookies will need to put in service time as soon as possible, in order to get to that first big free agent contract. Either way, the delay will cost him.

You've also got to wonder if Jim Harbaugh leaves, as everyone expects, will Stanford even be good next year? Luck's stock will never be higher than it is now, and the uncertainty revolving around Stanford's football program should have made him uneasy about how his senior season will go.

Remember, Jake Locker made the same decision as Luck last year when he was expected to be a top pick. He had a horrible 2010 and the decision cost him millions.

Say what you will about Luck's admirable values, but the reality is that he's making a dumb decision. Luck can always go back to get his degree, so kissing goodbye to potentially $35 million or more and gambling on his future for another year at college is stupid, no matter which way you slice it.

Bookmark the Sports Page >

Kevin Drum is a friend, so my concerns are not in dealing with some Third Way type of Democrat who is enabling conservatives as they undermine the American people and the left, but I think he's just not recognizing what we're truly dealing with when we discuss Social Security and what conservatives want to do with it. Digby wrote a post called "Good Liberal", about Gene Sperling, who is one of the leading voices out there demanding we fix Social Security.

I'll take Brad Delong's word for it that Gene Sperling really is a liberal and concur that in Woodward's book "The Agenda" he is portrayed as being the most liberal of the economic advisors.

But this worries me:

Both Summers and Sperling said there would not be consensus in today's session about how to fix the program. They also said the public was more receptive to the government making hard decisions necessary to keep SS from running out of money in the long run, because Americans are anxious about their private retirement savings and the value of their houses.

Sperling said: "I think there may be a lot more openness than we thought in the past for people to have an honest discussion about the shared sacrifice necessary to have Social Security solvency. That this would be a sure thing they could count on, and they could count on for the next 50 to 75 years."

At the end, Sperling also tried to cut through disagreement over whether the program was in a state of crisis. "I really hate the whole argument about, is this a crisis or is this not a crisis? Why do we not want to preempt a crisis. Why do we not want to do something early? It is a shame on our political system that there has never been entitlement reform without a gun to our head. . .Wouldn't it be a tremendous confidence-building thing to act early and smart?"

I know I've posted that too often and regular readers are sick of it. But it's terribly important, I think, to understand that the rationale for liberals in this thing is that they are doing a good thing for the program, taking it "off the table" for the next 50 years and "making it sound." Now, I don't know if they really believe it, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that in the current environment whatever changes they come up with will come at the expense of the elderly because there will be no deal that requires tax hikes...read on

Kevin Drum responded by saying that it couldn't hurt to try and fix Social Security now even if conservatives are operating in bad faith. First quoting Digby, he notes that Duncan is of the same view -- but he's not:

Atrios agrees:

I don't know why some liberals think that there is some deal, good or bad, which can somehow take the Social Security issue off the table until the end of time. As Ben Bernanke said, that's where the money is and they'll be trying to steal it in perpetuity. Cutting granny's benefits a bit won't change that.

I just don't think this is true. It's possible that Republicans will never agree to a Social Security deal that increases taxes, but keep in mind that Republicans are mainly obsessed with taxes on the wealthy. A small increase in payroll taxes and/or an increase in the payroll tax cap wouldn't affect the millionaire class much and might get a fair amount of GOP support. In any case, the only way to find out is to try. If they won't do the deal, then they won't do the deal.

What Kevin seems to miss is that with the media power shifted so strongly in their favor, conservatives have made reflexive anti-taxation an even more pronounced plank in their platform than ever. There is no common sense attached to the conservative movement, only party building. They will never agree to any kind of tax hike, at least for the foreseeable future, so there's just a certain naivete in thinking that they would ever consider the types of small fixes that would indeed help Social Security that Kevin discusses. It's all about cutting spending, cutting regulations and cutting taxes, period. It's why we don't trust the push by the media for President Obama to become more bipartisan than he already has.

Remember, no one liked the tax deal more than the Beltway Villagers who are calling for Obama, not Republicans, to be the big compromisers.

And it's up to us to protect Social Security from any cut in services, since the Beltway media believe that working-class Americans should "eat their spinach" and share the pain of the national debt and willingly accept cuts to their benefits if they are "serious people". Wall Street should meanwhile continue on their path, gaming the system for unlimited profits at our expense.

President Obama told us that he was for raising the payroll tax cap, which would be a prudent way to collect more funds to Social Security without cutting benefits to a program that is not in any serious danger now or in the next decade, but when he included a payroll tax holiday it raised all of our eyes. Republican leaders are saying that they don't plan on trying to extend that tax holiday, but I don't really believe them. Either way, they will call the end of the holiday a tax increase and will run on that.

Lindsay Graham has already exposed himself as a lunatic by telling David Gregory that we should cut Social Security benefits if Obama wants the debt ceiling raised.

GRAHAM: Well to not raise the debt ceiling could be a default of the United States on bond and treasury obligations. That would be very bad for the position of the United States in the world at large but this is an opportunity to make sure that government is changing its spending ways.

I will not vote for the debt ceiling increase until I see a plan in place that will deal with our long term debt obligations starting with Social Security, a real bipartisan effort to make sure that Social Security stays solvent, adjusting the age, looking at means tests for benefits. On the spending side I'm not going to vote for a debt ceiling increase unless we go back to 2008 spending levels, cutting discretionary spending...

GREGORY: Let me stop you right there Senator. That's a big condition just on Social Security alone. Do you think Republicans are prepared to follow you in two things you said; raise the retirement age and means test benefits for older Americans?

GRAHAM: I would suggest that if we're serious about taking America in a new direction and you're not putting entitlement reform on the table, you've missed a great opportunity to change the course of America's future. And the last election was about change, change that really will make us something other than Greece. I think Pat Toomey, Rand Paul and the other candidates that are new to the Congress that said during the campaign, everything's on the table when it comes to making America fiscally sound. Let's see if we can find bipartisan reforms in Social Security before we raise the debt limit.

Hint, hint, Kevin. The debt ceiling was always pretty much an automated function of our government. Now Republicans are using it as a weapon. President Obama needs to stand firm against this type of hostage taking and let the GOP do what they threaten or else Social Security will be jeopardized as well as every other program that benefits the working class families across America.

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