Business, economic development - the unofficial Chamber of Commerce

There are a multitude of ways an individual or company can utilize the Internet for earning revenue. Many of which require developing your own web site, attracting traffic, processing payments and other tasks required for generating revenue. One method does not require any of these and just may be the perfect method for making money online.

The method I am referring to is trading foreign currency, also known as forex. Other acronyms include 4X and FX.

I don’t want to be misunderstood. Trading forex is not easy if you are unfamiliar with it. There are many things to learn before you trade real money. How do foreign currency prices work, how to choose the right broker, how does the daily news affect prices, what do technical indicators (price charts) tell you about price movement, proper money management and other information must be learned.

The good news is that there is a wealth of information that can be found on the Internet regarding forex. You can learn the basics first, then advance to more difficult concepts simply by researching the Internet at your own pace.

After learning the information you need regarding forex, you will need to then begin developing a trading strategy. You can develop your own strategy based on what you learned, or you can use a strategy developed by another trader. But be very careful, there are many unscrupulous people trying to promote strategies that may simply not work. Once again, do your research before purchasing any trading strategies.

Once you have decided on a trading strategy, be sure you test and re-test the strategy before using real money. That’s one of the many great benefits of trading forex is that you get to test your strategies with fake money (demo account) before committing any real money. Nearly all forex brokers offer a free demo account in exchange for your e-mail address that utilizes the same procedures as a real account.

Most people that think about making money online generally relate to having an online business where you sell products or services. The reason I chose to include trading forex in the ‘make money online’ category is because everything you need to learn can be found on the Internet, communication with forex brokers is done via the Internet, currency prices are served over the Internet, and trade execution is performed using your broker’s software interface over your Internet connection.

Because there are no sales to make, no traffic to generate, and no payments to process makes trading forex, in my opinion, the perfect method to make money online.

Kevin Moon offers information on trading forex including strategies, money management and other tips. He is currently offering a free download — How To Turn $300 into $30,000 in 6 Months — to all visitors to his web site, http://www.tornadoforex.com.

Someone I know wants to move into another job in the same company. It is not a management job. It’s a job as an assistant safety coordinator.

She knows very little about company safety practices at any business. She is ready to learn.

The first task she needs to do for herself is to find out why she wants to advocate and prepare herself for a different job. Without a goal directed toward a different job, and specifically directed towards this one, her energy and focus will be superficial. It is important that she write out reasons to make this shift. They do not have to be lengthy or academic. Clear, direct reasons for getting a different job, and one where she has no experience, are the bedrock of making a serious job change.

Next, does she have transferable skills for the change in jobs? Can she do the work? What does an assistant safety officer do? She needs to “interview” her business safety officer to find out what her/his job is really like. Diplomacy is necessary in interviewing someone in their job when the interviewer is an employee at the same business. Telling the safety officer that you are a learner only is a good way to make that person feel comfortable in sharing information.

It is wise to make this clear in establishing a trusting relationship for both employees. Making a proposal to the safety officer is a good idea; a proposal about what the other person can offer the safety officer. It can be a mutually helpful relationship over time.

(to be continued)

Marilyn J. Tellez, M.A., Certified Job & Career Transition Coach;

web: www.doitnowcareers.info
email: marilyn@doitnowcareers.info

What is a Blog? In simple terms, a Blog is a website journal. Blogging has been around for many years, but has recently seen a huge surge in popularity. The main reason I see in the new trend of Blog marketing is the ease of use and the plethora of free services available to host and maintain your Blog.

Blog Marketing has become the newest trend in terms of Internet Marketing. What most people don’t realize is that creating a Blog is completely free and with a lot of the services out there it doesn’t take a technical genius to figure out how to create a blog and maintain it. I recommend Google’s Blogger.com due to the easy setup and fast ranking on Google’s search engine. The way that you benefit from your Blog is by having people visit the Blog and in turn they will go to your actual website which should be based on the same subject. Another form of Real Estate marketing via a Blog is to actually place your listings on your Blog with photos. This would be an easy extra you could offer your customers.

Why do Blogs work so well? Not all Blog services work like Blogger, the Blogger service was purchased by Google, which as of 2006 is the largest and most widely used search engine in the world. Due to the fact that Blogger is owned by Google, it seems to really help with getting your Blog seen by the masses and showing up much faster in search engines. Traditional methods of getting your information seen via a website could take months, doing a quality Blog can get you to the top in weeks if not days depending on the subject matter and popularity. Next I’m going to go over in detail how to make your Blog work for you.

Naming your Blog is a very important piece of the puzzle. When I create a new Blog I always make sure to use the term “Real Estate” or “Realtor” in the Blog name as well as the title. For example if you are focusing on Tampa Real Estate, a great name for your Blog would be tampa-real-estate, if that is not available, adding in other keywords is a great alternative. I would try tampa-real-estate-homes, don’t spend too much time on this, you could have a very successful Blog even with a name that has no correlation to your subject matter. What you will notice when creating an account is that a lot of the most common names have already been taken, so it is very important to start blogging as soon as possible.

Putting information into your Blog is the next step. This is the most important element of your Blog. A single Blog entry can be a short as a sentence and as long as 50 pages. I always recommend keeping a single entry to around a paragraph or two. If your entry is too long, most people viewing it wont get thru the whole entry, so keep it short and to the point. I always try to update my Blogs on a daily basis to keep it fresh and to get people in the habit of visiting my Blog often.

If you follow these few easy steps, you should have no problem getting visitors to your Real Estate Website in no time. Don’t forget to place your Website in every Blog entry you create, this will help visitors find your real website which in turn, could turn into a high quality lead.

Copyright 2006 Phaedra Hubbard. You may republish this article in its entirety, only if you leave the author’s note & website hyperlinks intact.

Phaedra Hubbard is a Realtor that specializes in Tampa Bay Real Estate as well as Clearwater Real Estate. If you need to sell your home or buy a home please visit our website http://www.myfloridahomestore.com, we offer a free Comparative Market Analysis as well as free MLS Home Search.

Testing diodes is different from testing a resistor because you need a skill to do it. If you do not know or wrongly test a diode you will be unable to repair the equipment. A bad diode you think it is good. This will definitely waste your precious time.

A rectifier diode can fail in one of the four ways. It can become:

-Open
-Shorted
-Leaky
-Breakdown when in full operating voltage

An analog multimeter or digital multimeter can be used to check
for all the first three conditions except the last one where the
diode breakdown in full operating voltage. From my of experienced
in the electronic repairing line, i found that checking diode using analog
multimeter is more accurate than using a digital multimeter. I could explain
to you why i preferred analog meter. I do not know about you because i really
came across quite a number of diodes where it checked ok using digital multimeter
but failed when test with analog meter.

The first step on how to test a diode is to remove one of the diode lead. You can’t
always be certain if a diode is good or bad if you perform in-circuit test, because
of back circuits through other components. To be absolutely sure, you will need to
lift, or disconnect, one diode lead from the circuit to avoid back circuits.
Unless you are very sure about the board you are checking. Sometimes i do found bad
diodes when checking it on board. Your experienced will tell you when to check a diode
on-board or off-board. If you are new to electronic repair, i highly recommend that
you check a diode with a lead removed from the board.

I will set my analog meter to x1 ohms to check for current diode leakage reverse and
forward testing. Connecting the black probe of your meter to the cathode and red probe
to the anode, the diode is reverse biased and should look like an open reading. Connecting
the red probe of your meter to the cathode and black probe to the anode, the diode is forward biased and the meter should read some value of resistance. If you have two readings then most probably the diode is shorted or leaky and you should replace it. If you don’t get any reading either forward or reverse bias, the diode is considered open.

The real problem when checking a diode using the diode test function of a digital meter is that an open or leaky diode, the meter sometimes reads ok(0.6). This is due to digital meter diode test output voltage (which you can measure the output test probe using another meter) is around 500mv to 2v. An analog meter set to x1 ohms have output about 3V(remember the two 1.5V battery you installed in the meter!). The 3V voltage is enough to show you the accurate reading of a diode when under test.

Even if you have a good reading at x1 ohms doesn’t mean that the diode is good . You
now have to set your meter to x10K to test the diode again. The output voltage of
x10k ohms is about 12V(remember the 9v battery in your meter-1.5v+1.5v+9v=12v). Again
the diode under test should show only one reading. This is exception to Schottky diode
where it have two readings but not shorted reading. If the meter showed one reading then
the diode under test is good. If it has two readings then most probably the diode is either
shorted or leaky. The digital meter can’t test it because the output from the meter is only
500mv to 2V.

If a diode breakdown when under full operating voltage, there is no way to testing diode (unless you have a very expensive diode checker which specially designed to locate this type of problem).Substituting with a known good diode is often the only way to prove that an intermittent diode is causing a particular problem. Sometimes an intermittent diode could be locate using a coolant spray.

Caution: Be certain that power is removed from any circuit before performing any of the following diode checks, otherwise meter or circuit damage could result.

Conclusion-In order to correctly test diode function you need to set the analog meter
to x1 ohms and x10K ohms range.

Jestine Yong is a electronic repairer and a writer. For more electronic repair information please visit his website at
http://www.noahtec.com/electronic-repair-articles.htm

My father taught me a good life lesson. You get what you pay for.

I’m sure you can get a resume for cheap. I know without doubt that it’s possible to write your own resume and get a great job with it.

In the end, though, there’s no substitute for good help. And that costs some money.

Why pay more for a best-of-breed professional resume and cover letter writer? Because you want a best-of-breed job. You can try to pay less, but you won’t get best-of-breed.

You’re likely to pay several hundred dollars (and it could be anywhere from $150 to $900) for a best-of-breed professional resume and cover letter writer. That cost buys you time. Time is money. The math is a no-brainer.

If you had a job that paid you $4,500 gross every month in salary, and you contribute 5% to your 401(k), you’re losing a little more than $0.34 every minute you’re unemployed. Just pennies, right? Wake up! You’re job search costs you $3,442.50 per month. You got that kind of money?

A professional can shortcut your search time by days, weeks, or months. In some cases, you can job offers within hours of distributing your resume online. If you start getting a nice paycheck even five days…one workweek…sooner than you would have without professional help, you more than pay for the most expensive professional resume writer I’ve seen online in quite a while.

Let that sink in. Five days. Can you do that by yourself? I rather doubt it, no matter how good you are. Professionals can move fast, without compromising quality.

I’ve heard the protests about cost before. They boil down to three:

1. I don’t have the money, you don’t want to spend the money, you don’t think it’s worth the money.
2. I don’t want to spend the money.
3. I don’t think it’s worth the money.

If you don’t have the money to spend, you don’t have a job that pays you well enough. Is waiting around going to get you a better one?

If you don’t want to spend the money, or you don’t think it’s worth the money, you’re missing the point. The superior job you can get when you use professional help will pay you back! And then some.

Copyright (c) by Roy Miller

Roy Miller created http://www.Job-Search-Guidepost.com.

Would you like a “secret weapon” to crush your job search competition? Subscribe to Roy’s free newsletter and get a free report that shows YOU can win the job of your dreams in record time. Visit here to subscribe and claim your free copy: http://www.Job-Search-Guidepost.com.

Would you like never to need a resume again? Visit Roy’s new site http://www.resale-money-machine.com to find out how.

Roy will link to you if you publish this article! Publish with no changes (keep the bio box at the bottom) at your site or in your newsletter. Then email Roy here to let him know where you’re publishing: Editors@Job-Search-Guidepost.com. You’ll get a link at http://www.Job-Search-Guidepost.com, and maybe an ad in Roy’s weekly newsletter.

Now that everyone has conformed to Living Your Brand on the Web, Part 1, it’s time to add a couple of tweaks that will further reinforce your brand.

Tweak #1: Your Signature File

A signature file is the simple text that, once activated is attached to your email automatically. It is the simplest and the most effective way to get a message across. Some are funny, some are serious and some consider another point of view, but in any case, any professional should use one and keep it updated.

Every signature file should include complete contact information so customers can contact you in their time. A signature can also include a tag line that reinforces your company’s brand. Consider the following two options:

Good Signature File:
Mark Wilson
President, Wilson Widgets
876-555-1234
mark@wilsonwidgets.com
www.wilsonwidgets.com

Better Signature File:
Mark Wilson
Wilson Widgets
“We’ve Got Your Widgets Right Here”
876-555-1234
888-555-9876 toll free
876-555-4321 fax
www.wilsonwidgets.com
Office Hours: M-F 7a-7p

One step further, allowing employees to add a personal message of their own, and it makes for fun reading.

Tweak #2: Subject Line Words of the Email

There are only 40-60 letters to grab the attention of a perspective reader, so choose wisely. Get to the point and give a synopsis of what the email is about. Short, clean and simple is the rule of thumb here. Don’t use words like Free, Fun, Pictures, Warning, or even non-alphanumeric’s (*%&#@) that could be confused with spam. Simply state the message and allow the reader to read on.

The purpose of this is to get as many eyes as possible on your company’s message and brand.

Glenn Geiger is the Director of Interactive Services for Pixallure Design LLC, http://www.pixallure.com. Glenn has worked in Web site design, development, systems administration and management since 1987, including work for DynCorp, Accent Software, GlobalKey, Inc., and Digital Equipment Corp.

This article may be freely distributed as long as the author’s bio is included with an active link to http://www.Pixallure.com.

PS3 games have been long awaited by its fans. With the expected release of the PlayStation 3 console in November, 2006 approaching fast, gamers are enthusiastic about the new experience it offers. Sadly though, the new experience comes together with the PS3 games itself and not the game console that offers backward compatibility. Ergo, it is the new format of the games that is much awaited and not the actual player.

Just what does the new format of the PS3 games offer? Well due to its being written on Blue-Ray Discs, the gaming experience would be parallel to HDTV in terms of its quality. This is because of the ability of the disc to store 10x as much data as the DVD. Having the ability to store more data, it means that programmers are able to incorporate more features that would enable it to deliver high picture and interactive quality.

Given that, how much quality do we really need to enjoy a game? Gamers in the early 90s were satisfied with the picture and gaming quality of the popular Pacman game from Nintendo, the level at which people of today are satisfied with the quality of their gaming experience has always been in accord with the developments in technology. PS3 games would expectedly offer picture quality that is unmatched by any of its competitors.

After PS3 games, then what? Well, one would think that developments in the next decade would definitely grow at an exponential rate. It would not be unreasonable to expect that developers would come up with some gaming console that would enable its users to literally be in the game. Considering that virtual games are now present, continued research on the technology would probably yield devices that can be hook to our nervous system, and would function somewhat like holograms. It is, I guess, only our human imagination that truly limits what we can come up with in the next couple of decades.

So what are the potential problems that could arise from this advancement in gaming technology aside the declining academic performance of children? While PS3 games would definitely give out optimum performance, another aspect that grows in accordance to developments in technology is the cost.

The production of the game console, which is actually more than just a gaming console, as well as the PS3 games would most probably be only affordable for the high-end consumers. That is, during the first two years of production. Fortunately, the prices always go down after a couple of years. That is the only time when children, as well as adults in the lower ranks of society are able to enjoy a magnificent gaming experience. I guess that’s how things really work in this society.

Oh well. But nevertheless, PS3 games and all the others that will come soon will always be appreciated by the consumers. They would not really manufacture these things had there been no demand for it, won’t they? So enough with the ranting about its costs. PS3 games and others will remain and will continue to develop. So long as the technology is available, people will always find ways to apply them to whatever they could think of.

Many of my small business clients ask me: “What is a blog and do I need one?” As a marketing consultant and business coach, I too had to address those questions in my own business.

A blog is a form of online journal that business owners use to develop customer relationships and establish credibility. Blog authors write and post relevant content frequently – daily, every couple of days or weekly.

After publishing an ezine for some time, I decided to give up my monthly ezine for a blog. Of course I could do both — for the more points of contact with my target the better. But for now, I’ll share my top seven reasons why I choose to blog over a monthly ezine:

Interactivity: Blogging puts the humanity in technology. Readers can leave comments and respond to each other. Adding video and audio to a blog also significantly enrich the learning experience, allowing for various learning styles. Ezines on the other hand, are fairly static.

Convenience & Ease: I can communicate with my audience quickly and efficiently without the elaborate set-up and content requirements of an HTML ezine.

Inexpensive: Lots of blogs are free. For example www.blogger.com. I like Typepad at www.typepad.com. For a minimal charge of $4.95 per month, I get a professional looking blog with upgraded features. Compare with a professional ezine/contact management program costing $19 per month.

Increases Visibility: Search engine spiders love blogs for the simple reason that they constantly seek new content. Frequent postings are crucial for success. As a result, bloggers gain increased Web presence and higher search engine rankings. For example, Google, Yahoo and others often index blog entries within days of posting as opposed to waiting weeks for ezine postings.

Content Management: When I set up this blog I created keyword-based categories for the topics that I’ll write about in the future. Each time I post, I select which category my post applies to and voila! My posts are catalogued by category and date. This feature is essential fodder for future e-books and other informational products. Try content management with your ezine articles on your website – things can get unwieldy fast.

Clearly, blogging is an essential addition to my marketing toolbox. It’s also effective for any service-based entrepreneur who needs to build client relationships and increase visibility.

Copyright © 2005

Lena Claxton is a small business coach & marketing consultant, committed to helping self-employed professionals reach their highest potential. She’s author of the e-book “Small Business Boosts.” Download your free copy at http://www.ontrakmarketing.com and receive a subscription to the “Ontrak Business Blog.”

Publishing Guidelines: You may publish my article in your
newsletter, on your website or in your print publication
provided you include the resource box at the end. Notification
would be appreciated but is not required.

Where is our largest technological plan?

By J.C.Melo The period, more or less one year before September
11. The White House Technology Advisor worked in the mankind
largest plan until now, to install a fantastic communications
and IT network of 100 Mb/s in 100 million houses in the next 10
years. A plan bigger than the Kennedy’s plan to place a man in
the Moon in 10 years.

The plan was being developed with a lot of priorities, 470
companies had already petitioned to participate and/or to
invest, they discussed the more suitable communications protocol
among the existent ones - as the H.323 - and the new ones, etc.
The forecast was to announce it until the end of 2002.

That plan had very big goals, among which I can remember:

01. e-Surgery 02. e-Physician 03. e-Education (all levels) 04.
e-Training (for companies) 05. e-Business (B2B, B2C, C2B, and by
voice) 06. Iterative TV 07. e-Movies 08. e-Security (Federal,
State, Country, homes) 09. e-Elections 10. TV telephony 11.
e-Police 12. e-Government (all between the government and the
Citizens) 13. e-Theater 14. e-Conferences 15. e-Libraries 16.
e-Sciences 17. e-Polls 18. e-Management 19. TeleCommuter (home
work) 20. All IT processing and storage through distant data
centers 21. An estimated 1,000,000 new companies

and more e-Xs that you can imagine.

In every moment that I thought of this plan, I lamented two
things: first, to be 73-years old and probably cannot
accompanies him in the next 30 years, and second, the dozens of
technological ideas that I could suggest.

And then the September 11 happened, the main national priority
moved to security matters, the investments - government and
privates - moved to another directions and the people worried
more about the moment than with the future.

But in order to survive, without the smallest doubt we need this
technological plan in order to maintain the world technological
hegemony of the United States in the next 30-40 years and as a
result, our world economic hegemony. And as you realize, I am
talking about our children and grandsons future.

Now we are choosing a new President but any that comes to be the
chosen, again that plan must have a very high priority, and for
its greatness and for its long duration naturally he doesn’t
depend on a specific Party or a specific government.

Now we have a lot of communication products and services -
mobiles and its thousand of applications, digital TV, etc - and
a lot of IT applications and services - CRM Customer
Relationship Management with sophisticated voice and
bidirectional Call Centers, ERP Enterprise Resources Planning,
Voice over IP Voip, BI Business Intelligence, Data Mining, AI
Artificial Intelligence, GSI, the wide Internet and its thousand
of applications, etc - but all those are small embryos of what
is possible to do.

What we need to do?

As the plan is natural and technologically possible and in its
largest portion depends more on the private initiatives and less
on the government, my suggestion is the creation of a
nonpolitical Foundation to fight for this plan in the White
House, the Congress, the media, the society, the industries, the
colleges, etc., and naturally to integrate all those sides.

I have the freedom of initiatives in my blood and for me nothing
is more powerful than a very true entrepreneur. After all, those
entrepreneurs created the successful United States, therefore we
need only to repeat the recipe. For ever.

Good news for those of us that lead hectic lives with busy, busy
schedules. New studies have shown that smaller doses of exercise
done throughout the day can actually be more beneficial. The key
appears to be to elevate our heart rate at each session.

Our maximum heart rate can be calculated by multiplying our age
by .7 and subtracting it from 208. A rate of sixty percent of
the maximum heart rate will produce the beneficial effects of
exercising while reducing the risk of injury. Always make sure
that a warm up and cool down are incorporated into your session.

If taking a fifteen minute exercise break on the treadmill, have
the first fifteen minutes be your warm up. Walk slowly on the
treadmill until you feel your muscles warm and slowly increase
your pace. For the next five minutes continue to increase your
speed until you are walking at sixty percent of your maximum
heart rate. The last five minutes, reduce your speed until you
are once again walking slowly.

At work, you can use this technique while climbing the stairs.
Whatever distance you are traveling, start slowly for one third
of the distance. Increase your pace until you are breaking a
light sweat. Finally, finish the last third of your climb at a
slow pace.

Be creative. Think of the different activities which are part of
your daily schedule. Try and incorporate this philosophy into
your lifestyle. It only takes a difference of one hundred
calories a day to lose ten pounds a year. As always, check with
your doctor before attempting any radical changes in exercise.