Sailors, start your engines.

As if Alinghi is really afraid of losing to BMW Oracle, once again they change the rules, their excuse, their boat is too big to be handled manually…  Built one you can handle, what is the next move, auxiliary engines if the wind dies?

The Alinghi syndicate is taking the America’s Cup further than it has been taken by the Kiwis with their interpretation of the rules.  It’s time that the America’s Cup committee sits down again and puts a stop to the joke and starts setting the rules or at least limits the defender’s ability to change them at their whim or the Cup itself will be a joke.

In a departure from nautical tradition, a New York judge ruled Thursday that it is OK for the giant multihulls that will sail for the America’s Cup next year to use engines to trim sails and move water ballast.

The ruling by Justice Shirley Kornreich of the New York State Supreme Court is a victory for two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland in a convoluted, two-year court fight with challenger BMW Oracle Racing of San Francisco.

The two bitter rivals will meet in a best-of-3 showdown in February in what could be the most spectacular racing in the 158-year history of the America’s Cup. The space age-looking yachts can sail 2 to 2 1/2 times the speed of the wind.

The latest court spat started earlier this month when Alinghi launched its 90-foot catamaran that included what’s been described as a snowmobile engine on its aft beam. The engine is part of a hydraulic system that powers the winches that trim the gigantic sails, as well as moves water ballast from one hull to the other.

BMW Oracle Racing then asked Kornreich to hold Alinghi in contempt unless it follows the Racing Rules of Sailing without alterations. The Americans said the Swiss claimed the right to change the rules for the match at any time without mutual consent.

Kornreich ruled that she found nothing in the Deed of Gift, the 1887 document that loosely governs the America’s Cup, to prohibit the engine.

“A blatant example of a design feature that would violate the Deed is an engine used to propel the boat; the Deed permits only vessels ‘propelled by sails,’ ” the justice wrote. “The Deed does not, however, contain any restrictions on ballast or design features regarding trimming the sails. These features are therefore permitted because they are not prohibited by the language of the Deed.”

The ruling was “a clear and unequivocal vindication of the position we presented,” said Barry Ostrager, a New York lawyer who has represented Alinghi’s backing yacht club, Societe Nautique de Geneve, during the legal tiff.

BMW Oracle Racing officials said Kornreich’s ruling makes it clear that Racing Rules of Sailing 49-52 will not apply to either side during the rare one-on-one showdown, including the rules banning the use of non-manual power and moving water ballast.

Otherwise, the Americans weren’t pleased.

“Without racing rules 49-54, SNG is breaking with the long-standing history and tradition in yacht racing that prohibited the use of non-manual power,” BMW Oracle Racing said in a statement. “For the first time in the Cup’s history, engines will be permitted to trim the sails, and computers can be used to control and steer the yachts.

“This, we believe, is a sad day for the America’s Cup. While we are pleased with the design-rule certainty, we are disappointed that the Court has said that SNG can change the other racing rules at any time up to the start of the Match. We do not believe this is what the Deed says, nor what the donors intended, and are currently reviewing our options in this regard.”

BMW Oracle Racing uses crewmen called grinders to turn the winches that trim the sails on its monster trimaran that’s being tested in San Diego. Syndicate spokesman Tom Ehman said last month that the design team has probably been studying adding an engine since finding out that the Swiss have one.

The Swiss said it was clear Kornreich understands the defender’s advantages under the Deed of Gift.

Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth said earlier this month that other classes of racing boats use hydraulic power to trim sails, and that the size of the Cup multihulls made it a “no-brainer.”

“We’re moving things hydraulically,” Butterworth told The Associated Press on July 20. “The loads on this boat are just horrendous. A, it’s difficult to gear up for something like that, and B, I think it’s safer to have that system, where you don’t have so many people cluttering the whole boat, and it makes life a little bit safer for the guys that are sailing the boat.”

BMW Oracle Racing is believed to be building a new boat that will be the one that faces the Swiss.

Kornreich also ruled that there is nothing “untoward” in a secret agreement between Alinghi and the International Sailing Federation. Kornreich ordered the Swiss to give a copy to the Americans.

She scheduled a hearing for Aug. 10 regarding Alinghi’s demand that BMW Oracle Racing turn over a measurement certificate for its trimaran. Each side will have six hours to present its case.

The Swiss plan to name a venue for the February races by next Thursday. They are considering ports in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Italy, as well as Valencia, Spain.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news;_ylt=At4fO61Zd3JlLfpaSKduyjdAyMIF?slug=ap-americascup&prov=ap&type=lgns

Lucrative fees gained even in foreclosure

Not motivated to modify: Data on delinquencies reinforce the notion that servicers are inclined to let problem loans float in purgatory – neither taking control of houses and selling them, nor modifying loans to give homeowners a break.

Delinquencies increase: From June 2008 to June 2009, the number of U.S. mortgages 90 days or more delinquent soared from 1.8 million to nearly 3 million, according to the realty research company First American Core Logic. During that period, the number of loans that resulted in the bank taking ownership of the home declined to 245,000 from 333,000.

This week, the Obama administration summoned mortgage company executives to Washington to demand they move faster to lower payments for homeowners sliding toward foreclosure. Treasury officials called on the companies to hire and train more people quickly to field applications for relief.

But industry insiders and legal experts said the limited capacity of mortgage companies isn't the primary factor impeding the government's $75 billion program to prevent foreclosures. Instead, they said many mortgage companies are reluctant to give strapped homeowners a break, because the companies collect lucrative fees on delinquent loans.

Even when borrowers stop paying, mortgage companies that service the loans collect fees out of the proceeds when homes are sold in foreclosure. The longer borrowers remain delinquent, the greater the opportunities for these mortgage companies to extract revenue – fees for insurance, appraisals, title searches and legal services.

“It frustrates me when I see the government looking to the servicer for the solution, because it will never ever happen,” said Margery Golant, a Florida lawyer who defends homeowners against foreclosure and who worked as deputy counsel for a major mortgage company, Ocwen Financial. “I don't think they're motivated to do modifications at all. They keep hitting the loan all the way through for junk fees. It's a license to do whatever they want.”

Rich Miller, a governance project manager at Countrywide Financial and Bank of America before he left in January, said Bank of America had been reluctant to modify loans, which hurts the bottom line. The company has been waiting and hoping the economy will improve and delinquent customers will resume making payments, he said.

“That's the short-term strategy,” said Miller, who oversaw training programs at Countrywide, which was bought by Bank of America, and now works as an industry consultant.

Bank of America disputed that characterization. “To think that somehow or other we would jeopardize investor relationships and customer relationships for the very small incremental income we would receive by delaying seems ludicrous,” said Robert V. James, the bank's senior vice president for mortgage operations. “It's not the right thing to do.”

Mortgage companies, some of which are affiliated with the nation's largest banks, are paid to manage pools of loans owned by investors. Under their contracts, the companies typically collect a percentage of the value of the loans they service. They extract their share regardless of whether borrowers are current on their payments. Indeed, their percentage often increases on delinquent loans.

Legal experts said the opportunities for additional revenue in delinquency are considerable, confronting mortgage companies with a conflict between their financial interest in harvesting fees and their responsibility to collect as much as they can for investors who own most mortgages.

“The rules by which servicers are reimbursed for expenses may provide a perverse incentive to foreclose rather than modify,” concluded a recent paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Under the Obama administration's foreclosure program, a servicer that modifies a loan for a homeowner collects $1,000 from the government, followed by $1,000 a year for each of the next three years.

A senior Treasury adviser, Seth Wheeler, said these payments amount to “meaningful incentives to servicers to help overcome the challenges and competing demands they face in considering and completing loan modifications.” He added mortgage companies “are contractually obligated to the terms of this program, which require them to offer modifications to qualified borrowers.”

But experts said the administration's incentives are often outweighed by the benefits of collecting fees from delinquency, and then more fees through the sale of homes in foreclosure.

“If they do a loan modification, they get a few shekels from the government,” said David Dickey, who formerly headed a national mortgage sales team at Countrywide and Bank of America, leaving in March to start a mortgage advisory firm, National Home Loan Advocates. By contrast, he said, the road to foreclosure, especially if it's prolonged, is lined with fees. “There's all sorts of things behind the scenes,” he said.

When borrowers begin to fall behind, mortgage companies typically collect late fees reaching 6 percent of the monthly payments.

“For many subprime servicers, late fees alone constitute a significant fraction of their total income and profit,” said Diane E. Thompson, a lawyer for the National Consumer Law Center, in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee this month. “Servicers thus have an incentive to push homeowners into late payments and keep them there: If the loan pays late, the servicer is more likely to profit.”

She cited Ocwen Financial, which reported that nearly 12 percent of its income in 2007 came from fees charged to borrowers.

As a home slides toward foreclosure, mortgage companies pay for many services required to take control of the property and resell it. They typically funnel orders for title searches, insurance policies, appraisals and legal filings to companies they own or share revenue with.

Ocwen established its title company, Premium Title Services, in part to keep more of the revenue flowing from foreclosures, said Golant, who was involved in starting the venture.

“It was hugely profitable,” she said. “Premium Title would charge for the title when it got transferred to Ocwen, then charge again when it got transferred to the new buyer, and then sell title insurance. It was easy money.”

Mortgage companies not only gain this extra business through their subsidiaries, but also collect reimbursement for the payments when the houses are sold.

The investors who own bad mortgages accept whatever is left. Investors typically don't notice how much they relinquish to the servicers, because fees are embedded in complex sales.

“It's under the radar,” Golant said.

Ultimately, the benefits of delinquency erode incentives for mortgage companies to dispose of troubled loans quickly, experts say, allowing distressed houses to decay and fall in value – a fact of little interest to the servicer.

“At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what the house sells for, because they don't take that loss,” said Golant. “Meanwhile, they are collecting all these fees.”

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/30/1n30mortgage00056-lenders-not-eager-help-fix-mortg/?uniontrib

 

 

Security experts have uncovered flaws in Apple Inc's iPhone that they said hackers can exploit to take control of the popular device, using the tactic for identity theft and other crimes.

Users need to be warned that their iPhones are not entirely secure and Apple should try to repair the vulnerability as soon as possible, they said at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, one of the world's top forums for exchanging information on computer security threats.

"It's scary. I don't want people taking over my iPhone," Charlie Miller, a security analyst with consulting firm Independent Security Evaluators, said in an interview.

Miller and Collin Mulliner, a Ph.D. student at the Technical University of Berlin, also discovered a method that allow hackers to easily knock a victim's iPhone off a carrier's network.

It prevents users from making calls, accessing the Internet and exchanging text messages, they added.

They said the information they presented at Black Hat will give criminals enough information to develop software to break into iPhones within about two weeks.

They said they warned Apple of the flaw in the middle of July, but that the company has yet to fix it.

"Apple's credibility and reputation could get hurt if they don't respond. Positive buzz is good; negative buzz is much more harmful," said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research.

About 4,000 security professionals were in attendance, including some who are really hackers. While experts ferret out software flaws to fix them and protect users, hackers use the same information to devise pranks or commit crimes.

The researchers showed the audience how to break into iPhones by sending computer code via the phone's SMS system. Mobile phones use SMS to send and receive text messages along with software upgrades. They said that the phone's users cannot detect that it is receiving the malicious code.

It is not illegal to disclose ways to hack into computer systems, though it is against the law to use it to break into them.

When asked why they would hand over such information to criminals, security experts said they felt it was necessary to alert the public that iPhones were just as vulnerable to attack as personal computers.

"If we don't talk about it, somebody is going to do it silently. The bad guys are going to do it no matter what," Mulliner said.

They have successfully tested the hacks on iPhones running on networks of four carriers in Germany along with AT&T Inc in the United States. They said they believed the methods will work with iPhone carriers around the world.

The two said they used a similar method to break into phones running on Google Inc's Android operating system. Google patched the flaw after they notified the company of the vulnerability.

Apple officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_iphone_security

Why business owners should be taking advantage of social networking sites as a business tool.

Recently-released research from the blog UberCEO.com found that curiously-absent from the users of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and blog sites were Fortune's 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs.

Only two had Twitter accounts, and 81 percent did not have a personal Facebook page.

Last year, we did a similar poll among the 2008 Inc. 500 CEOs. According to our survey, 31 percent of our business owners maintained a blog or presence on a social network.

We went back to a few of the CEOs on our list to ask them why they found SNS useful.

Michael Biggerstaff, CEO of Nxtbook Media, said of his blog last year, "Our clients love it, and lots of people in our industry pay attention to it."

He has since joined the ranks of Twitterers and gained 481 followers since his first tweet in early August of 2008, probably because he doesn't use it to shamelessly promote his company.

"We have a Nxtbook account that our marketing director uses for that, minus the shameless of course," Biggerstaff jokes. "I decided that [my account] would be more of a personal nature, observations about life or things about the company, cool things we do and awards we win. I will also tweet information from conferences that I feel is important or interesting for our staff primarily and then for the rest of my followers secondarily."

Brian Marr of design firm Wexley School for Girls said his blog's readership had spiked by 347 percent last year. Now with 409 Twitter followers, Marr extends his face of the brand through his profile, @bmarr, and uses it to advertise open staff positions and to search for photo shoot models.

"Customers crave engagement and dialogue with the brands they love, and Twitter is one of the ways you can help establish that," Marr said. "The key is remembering that you're walking into one big dinner party - if you start shilling products instead of engaging with people you might not find any seats at the table."

http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2009/07/sns.html

urfing the internet comes with its hassles - like those advertisements that pop up all the time.
Many try to catch you eye with trial offers. But in the case of one diet supplement - its deal could have you losing a lot more than just a little weight, as CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports in conjunction with Business Week
You've probably seen the ads. They're the latest miracle supplements - acai berry, resveratrol, colon-cleansers - all promising to make you feel better, look better, live better, with news reports that seem to back up the claims.
(For more, read Business Week's report, Resveratrol: The Hard Sell on Anti-Aging.)
"My wife thought it would help with the weight," said John Lawless, a scam victim. "We're open to trying things - nutritional supplements, things like that."
Lawless says the news reports helped sway him and the price was right: 99 cents for a trial offer of resveratrol ultra.
But instead of one bottle, he was sent three, at a price of 99 cents for the first one and more than $87 for each of the other two.
When he called the company, he was told that the trial offer automatically turned into a monthly subscription after 15 days. It was all, the company said, in the fine print.
"Must be very fine print," said Lawless, who said he felt he had been scammed, "to put it mildly."
"The scam is once they have the credit card number they proceed from shipping and handling to monthly orders and billing you month after month," said Mike Galvin of the Better Business Bureau.
Galvin has received more than 3,000 similar complaints so far this year. "It's one complaint after another," he said.
And for each one, he says, there are many more customers who don't even bother to register a complaint. The company behind the resveratrol ads, FWM Labs, has an "F" rating.
"An F is a flag, an F is a failure. An F is the lowest grade that you can possibly have and that should be a sign to the public not to deal with that company," Galvin said.
The problem is customers don't know who they're dealing with. The company has dozens of Web sites but none of them are registered to FWM. Internet security expert Alex Stamos says it's not how a reputable company would operate.
"I'm guessing it's a very important part of their business model to stay ahead of the customer complaints and stay ahead of people being able to figure out who they are," Stamos said.
It took CBS News a while, but we finally tracked down FWM at a warehouse in Hollywood, Fla. where dozens of workers were processing, packing and shipping out pills as fast as the labels would print.
"We have a customer service center," said Brian Weiss, FWM's 29-year-old CEO. "If we have complaints we contact the customer immediately."
But we spoke to dozens of customers who found it next to impossible to get through to FWM. Many vented their frustrations on online forums like complaintsboard.com, calling FWM's business a "fraud" and a "rip-off." A Google search for "FWM" turns up page after page of such complaints.
"We've sold to million and a half customers since November," Weiss said. "So in the overall picture, the number of complaints seems high, but it's low when compared to the number of orders we've shipped out."
In fact, FWM is one of the most complained-about companies in the nation. The Florida Attorney General is investigating the company and the Federal Trade Commission is looking into the marketing tactic they - and companies like them - use. News organizations including CBS have tried to get FWM and others to stop misusing their reports to sell products.
As for John Lawless, he returned all three bottles of resveratrol ultra unopened. A phone representative told him he'd receive a full refund for the bottles.
FWM did send him a refund - for a single bottle.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/28/eveningnews/main5193515.shtml

 
Watch CBS Videos Online

LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and blogging are much better tools for finding jobs that speak to your passions than job boards and corporate Web sites

If you rely on job boards or corporate Web sites for your job search, you'll find yourself unemployed for a very long time. Instead, look to your networks, both in real life and in the virtual world. A recent Jobvite survey reflects this evolution in recruitment, noting that 72% of companies plan to invest more in recruiting through social networks. By using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as your own blog, you have more outlets to communicate your personal brand and find a job faster than the competition. Here's a look at how you can best use these tools.

LinkedIn: The most obvious social network for corporate recruiting is LinkedIn, with more than 40 million professional member profiles across all industries. There are literally thousands of recruiters searching for passive talent—those who are employed and not actively seeking a new position—as well as job seekers who are leveraging the network to find available positions. Rick Mahn, a passive candidate, landed his current position as a social media strategist at Land O'Lakes when his LinkedIn profile came to the attention of a corporate recruiter, who reached out to him through their mutual contacts. Chad Levitt, an active job seeker and college graduate, landed his current job as a sales associate for EMC without even submitting his résumé. "I cut the virtual line and found the recruiter I needed for the job I wanted," says Levitt.

Before you attempt to use LinkedIn for a job search, be sure to construct a flawless profile that will impress recruiters. The most important section of your profile is your "professional headline." This will automatically be your last or current job unless you change it. Use this headline to position yourself for the job you want, using keywords, not the job you have. For example, instead of putting "Sr. Auditor for Ernst & Young," you could say "Internal Auditor for Fortune 100 Companies."

Also, obtain your unique LinkedIn URL, so that it appears as http://linkedin.com/in/yourfullname. To do this, go to your profile, click "edit," and then next to where it says "public profile," click "edit" again. At the top you'll want to click "edit" one more time next to "your public profile URL," and then type in your full name, without spaces, and click "set address." If that unique URL is already taken, try using a period between your first and last names or use your middle initial. Then make sure you complete your entire profile, get recommendations, join groups both locally and globally, and make sure you always keep your profile information up to date.

Blogging: What do you do when you're trying to stand out from the hundreds of millions of unemployed Chinese graduates and the thousands of Chinese-speaking foreign job seekers? You blog! Joel Backaler did just that when he started blogging on TheChinaObserver.com, and his blog was eventually linked to by The Wall Street Journal on several occasions. That visibility helped him secure his latest full-time job—within four months. The blog showcased Joel's credibility as a China specialist and was leveraged as a conversation-starter during job interviews. "My blog allowed me to demonstrate my knowledge and understanding of the Chinese marketplace, which separated me from my peers and helped me land a job," explains Backaler, who currently does Asia-Pacific business development for Frontier Strategy Group.

Recruiters can gain a better understanding of an individual based on a blog, compared to a résumé that has the same boring standard fields, such as experience and education. With one click, hiring managers can identify an applicant's voice, thoughts, and feelings, as well as how he or she may fit into an organization's culture and the specific role that needs to be filled. To be a successful blogger, passion, hard work, integrity, and the ability to take criticism are required.

Twitter: The service has proven its worth as a communication device, support center for businesses, and as a news source, but what about for jobs? For starters, you can post your résumé on Twitter using twtjobs.com, or you can search for jobs by going to twitterjobsearch.com. Billy Goodnick, a garden writer on Twitter, was followed by the Web editor of Fine Gardening magazine after he developed a loyal Twitter following. Goodnick was then invited to guest blog for the magazine and eventually received a job as a contributor. The moral of the story is that you never know who is going to discover you on social networks and what opportunities might arise just from participating.

Twitter, unlike most social networks, has a lot of restrictions, not just the 140-character limit for messages, but for your bio area, where you can have only your name, your location, a very brief bio, and a single link. This is why I encourage you to go to twitbacks.com and create a custom background, which can include more of your information to paint a stronger portrait of your personal brand. In addition, you should focus your tweets on your expertise instead of randomly tweeting about anything that comes to your mind, so you can become the go-to source for information on that topic. You should also follow people in your field, especially those employed at companies you want to work for.

Facebook: With 250 million users, Facebook is the largest social network and is home to both corporate recruiters and headhunters, who tend to use it more for background checks than for recruiting. In fact, Careerbuilder.com reports that one in five recruiters uses Facebook for candidate background checks. So you better hide those party pictures and set privacy settings before your résumé is tossed in the "don't hire" pile.

Although you may feel that you can protect certain aspects of your profile with privacy settings, be forewarned that Facebook has your data and sells it to other companies. Be sure to get your custom URL by going to facebook.com/usernames and selecting facebook.com/yourfullname if it's still available. Also, you can add your LinkedIn profile using an application and input your previous work experience and interests.

On Facebook, status updates can be a job-seeking tool. Henry Mackintosh found this out after posting a Facebook status message saying he was unemployed. he received three e-mails in two hours and eventually became a marketing manager at WorkDigital Ltd. "The genius behind the status update is that it is a way of networking old contacts without harassing them," says Mackintosh.

In your job search, social media is the great equalizer. It allows you to connect directly with hiring managers who work for companies you have genuine interest in instead of applying mindlessly through job boards. By being both proactive and reactive on social networks, you're able to be recruited based on your passion, while having access to people who can actually hire you—or at least forward your résumé. As the résumé becomes less and less relevant, you can count on the Web to exploit what you're capable of and help bring your dreams to life!

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jul2009/ca20090728_587107.htm?chan=careers_managing+index+page_top+stories

These prints are the result of the collaboration between yours truly and Kevin Patterson

    

Social media has made customer service more important than ever Dave Carroll, a Canadian musician who created a hit song of complains against United Airlines which he posted on YouTube.

In the spring of 2008, Carroll is traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and his $3500 Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. He discovered that it was severely damaged.

Carroll then sought to have the airline reimburse him but United refused to compensate him.

"The guitar had now been repaired for $1200 to a state that it plays well but has lost much of what made it special," Carroll wrote on his personal website. "At that moment it occurred to me that I had been fighting a losing battle all this time and that fighting over this at all was a waste of time. The system is designed to frustrate affected customers into giving up their claims and United is very good at it. However I realized then that as a songwriter and traveling musician I wasn’t without options."

In reply to the United Airlines, Carol promised that he would be writing three songs including videos about United Airlines and his experience in the whole matter and upload it in YouTube.

Carroll goal is "to get one million hits in one year" to date it has over 3.9 Million views.

The song titled 'United Break Guitars' which is now available online in YouTube steered bad PR causes United Airlines’ stock price to plunge by 10 per cent, costing shareholders $180 million.

Incidentally, the price would have bought Carroll more than 51,000 replacement guitars.

"United has demonstrated they know how to keep their airline in the forefront of their customer’s minds and I wanted this project to expand upon that satirically."Carroll wrote "I’ve been done “being angry” for quite some time and, if anything, I should thank United. They’ve given me a creative outlet that has brought people together from around the world."

Social Media has become a powerful especially in terms of a reputation management tool and influencing public opinion giving chance to unhappy customer the power to share their story with millions of people online.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20090724/youtube-complain-song-cost-united-airlines-180-million.htm

Just slapping a brand on a product doesn't work unless the brand meets certain criteria—like authenticity, says Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Recent efforts to put a brand on Nigeria to attract tourists remind me of how easy it is slap a label on something and hope that its uglier characteristics will go away. Long before the phrase "lipstick on a pig" became an election issue, I had warned of the dangers of putting "lipstick on a bulldog"—that is, making superficial cosmetic change in organizations rather than looking at the real underlying problems. The problem with putting lipstick on a bulldog is that it is hard to wrestle the bulldog to the ground long enough to do it and then doesn't change the nature of the beast.

(Just so that no one accuses me of being unfair to Nigeria and its new tourism brand image, let me say that crime-ridden, corrupt, oil-rich, poverty-ridden sub-Saharan nations—and I'm not saying Nigeria is one—can be charming spots for calm, peaceful vacations.)

Brands are wonderful assets when they capture the essence of a product, service, or event succinctly, meaningfully, and with endurance over time. Consumer product companies have brand guardians to protect those conceptual assets. But when branding becomes a fad, it can reduce communication.

Political labels often resemble lipstick on a bulldog—cheery phrases trying to put a face full of makeup on something that requires deeper scrutiny and deeper change. Politicians float laws called defense of marriage intended to keep people from marrying, or use income security slogans for anti-tax bills when people would have less security without certain government programs. Enormous sums are sunk into branding campaigns for countries ("Cool Britannia"), states, and cities (Providence, Rhode Island, paid Midwestern marketers to come up with its "brand" as a creativity center).

(And just so that no one accuses me of being unfair to chief marketing officers, advertising agencies, or public information officials, let me say that sloganeering is an art, and inventing product jingles is one of my favorite games for long car rides with kids.)

George Orwell, the renowned British author of anti-fascist works, warned of the evils of lipstick-clad bulldogs that co-opt words and distort their meaning. In his book 1984, the war department was called "The Ministry of Peace," the watchdogs called "Big Brother," to make them sound protective rather than oppressive. Orwell was particularly outraged by euphemisms promoting mindless acceptance of atrocities. In his essay, "Politics and the English Language," he warned that since the label democracy is felt to be positive, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy and prefer not to have the term pinned down to any one meaning. He wrote: "Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different... The great enemy of clear language is insincerity."

Branding should start with an authenticity test. This is especially important in our overloaded digital world, which rewards breezy slogans. One-minute elevator pitches convey the essence of a business plan, people tweet in 140 characters, and PowerPoint-speak is a new language (all headlines, no verbs). These can be excellent tools to capture attention. But if labeling becomes a way to hide the truth rather than invite dialogue, then we could slide into Alice in Wonderland's topsy-turvy world where no words mean what them seem to. Consider this wisdom from Tweedledee and Tweedeldum. "'I know what you're thinking about,' said Tweedledum; 'but it isn't so, nohow.' 'Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, 'if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'"

Did you get that? I didn't. Lewis Carroll, like Orwell, was parodying politicians and other crafters of empty euphemisms. He wasn't intending to make sense.

Whether country branding or personal branding, the search for slogans is a trendy quest. I am simply making a plea for authenticity. Before reaching for the lipstick or using the catchphrase, first make sure that the underlying reality can sustain the claims.

Happy vacationing in Nigeria.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/kanter/2009/07/the-downsides-of-branding.html

 

The federal government is poised to pump billions into clean energy projects that could create as many as 1.5 million new green jobs

By Prashant Gopal

When Alden Zeitz started the Wind Energy Program at Iowa Lakes Community College five years ago, 15 students enrolled.

This year, 102 students enrolled in the two-year training program for wind turbine technicians, including some students who abandoned another career for the economic promise of green technology. The wind energy industry hasn't been immune to the recession, but students are counting on the federal government's injection of $80 billion in clean energy projects to change that.

Stimulus for Green Energy

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 is a stimulus package that includes money for solar farms, wind turbines, electrical grid updates, mass transit, and the weatherizing and retrofitting of buildings. Besides its environmental benefits, the spending is expected to produce much needed jobs—about 1 million to 1.5 million of them, according to estimates by some environmental groups.

"We've had a slow year because of the global economy," Zeitz says. "But our industry is poised to recover quickly."

The clean energy economy accounted for about 770,000 jobs in 2007, according to a recent study from the Pew Charitable Trusts. But job boards might soon be populated with openings for environmental engineers, construction managers, hydrologists, architects, and interior designers with green building training, as well as for directors of environmentally focused nonprofit groups.

Best-Paying Green Jobs

Not all of these jobs will pay top salaries. Many of the new green-collar jobs will be taken by blue-collar construction workers. BusinessWeek teamed up with PayScale.com to determine the highest-paid green jobs. Wind turbine technicians, who earn a median pay of $53,600, ranked 12th on our list of 21 jobs. Environmental engineering managers, who typically earn $103,200, topped the list.

You won't necessarily need a science degree to land a green job. Environmental companies will need secretaries, administrators, and public relations specialists. And construction companies will need workers to install energy-efficient boilers, windows, and insulation.

"We project that about a million jobs will come out of the stimulus investment," says Phil Angelides, chairman of the San Francisco-based Apollo Alliance, a coalition of labor, business, and environmental groups that advocates for clean energy.

A Green Recovery?

"It's inevitable, as the money really starts to flow into infrastructure programs, particularly green projects, there will be job growth here over the next year," says John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement company based in Chicago.

The Obama Administration is looking to health care and green jobs to help drive the job recovery. According to the Pew study, green jobs grew by 9.1% from 1998 to 2007, nearly two and a half times faster than the overall job market. And the growth will likely accelerate because of growing consumer demand, venture capital infusions, and government reforms, the report concluded.

In a July 15 column in The Seattle Times, Van Jones, special advisor for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, identified some green projects getting stimulus funding, starting with a $5 billion investment to make America's homes more energy-efficient. Among the other projects: $44 million to extend light rail from Seattle's downtown to the University of Washington, energy-efficient renovations to four public housing high-rises in Minneapolis, and hundreds of millions of dollars of investments in clean energy generation and conservation at veterans hospitals.

Incentives for Growth

William Bogart, economics professor and dean of academic affairs at York College of Pennsylvania, is skeptical of the plan. He doesn't doubt that it will create jobs, but he's concerned that it isn't an efficient way to spend money and that government's decisions on which companies get funding could be influenced by politics, especially since the definition of a "green job" is subjective.

"If what you're concerned about is carbon emissions, then you should tax carbon," Bogart says. "When the relative price of oil and coal compared to hydro, wind, and nuclear goes up, it makes noncarbon energy more appealing. Economically, it's the same effect…but you're doing it in a way that preserves flexibility and individual opportunity."

Robert Pollin, an economist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who is consulting with the Energy Dept. on the implementation of the green jobs plan, said much of the $80 billion is made up of loan guarantees and other incentives to encourage private investments, rather than direct government spending. The incentives are designed to attract private investment, which could add up to as much as $180 billion, Pollin estimates.

"If you look at the stimulus program, it's the first time serious money has been put behind the idea that investing in the environment is good for jobs," Pollin says. "Only a couple of years ago, the dominant idea was that protecting the environment was bad for jobs."

Going Where the Wind Blows

Kristjon Luetgers, 24, a wind turbine technician who graduated from the Iowa Lakes Community College program two years ago, is optimistic about his future. He's trying to convince friends to follow his lead.

Luetgers travels around North America fixing wind turbines for Vestas (VWS.CO), a Danish wind power systems company. Currently based in Alberta, Canada, he earns about $60,000 a year with overtime, and he loves working outside.

"I've been on the road for two years, and I love it," Luetgers said. "It's a very progressive industry. Not only the fact that you're helping the environment, but we technologically advance each year. It is a very good industry to be in even in a slow economy."

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jul2009/ca20090721_381476.htm?chan=careers_managing+index+page_top+stories

Our special report looks at innovative ways businesses can turn the troubled economy to their advantage

By Reena Jana

Necessity may be the mother of invention. But could a recession be the mother of innovation? After all, many of the world's enduring, multibillion-dollar corporations, from Disney (DIS) to Microsoft (MSFT), were founded during economic downturns. Generally speaking, operating costs tend to be cheaper in a recession. Talent is easier to find because of widespread layoffs. And competition is usually less fierce because, frankly, many players are taken out of the game.

Recessions can also help executives figure out how to improve products, services, and processes internally and for customers. Ideally, the creative thinking that's needed to weather the storm of an economic downturn can lead to new markets and revenue streams. "Innovation originates from challenges," says Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, a Noida (India)-based global IT services company.

HCL recently partnered with Xerox (XRX) to provide tech support for corporate customers using Xerox systems meant to reduce the amount of wasted paper. The systems themselves were inspired by the dual challenges of helping to save the environment and the need to slash office expenses during the downturn.

Inventing cost-effective and time-saving processes becomes a priority in a downturn, and it's an area of interest for companies and organizations in a variety of fields, from high tech to health care. "In a recession, you can innovate to be more efficient," says John Kao, author of the book Innovation Nation and the head of Deloitte's Institute for Large Scale Innovation.

Lessons to Be Learned

Sure, there have been some signs lately that the economy might be picking up—Apple's (AAPL) quarterly profits jumped 15%, for instance. But a recent survey by consulting firm Bain & Co. found that 60% of 1,430 global executives polled expect the current recession to last through 2010.

And smart companies will continue to apply the innovation lessons learned during today's tough times even when things pick up. The innovative processes, products, and services that hatch now can help executives understand how to curb costs or take risks on fresh ideas when the economy rebounds.

In this special report, we look at the current recession through a variety of lenses to help you rethink how to approach innovation tactics even as R&D budgets have been slashed. We talked to executives who are finding inventive ways of keeping employees motivated and creative even when morale is low. We look into the benefits of outsourcing innovation in areas ranging from industrial design to corporate strategy. And, to prove there's light at the end of the tunnel, we offer a historical slide show of inventive corporations that were formed during previous recessions.

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2009/id20090722_943951.htm?chan=innovation_special+report+--+innovation+in+a+recession_research+parks

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevancy even less.”

— General Eric Shinseki, 2003

 

The best time to learn a foreign language: Between birth and age 7. Missed that window?

New research is showing just how children's brains can become bilingual so easily, findings that scientists hope eventually could help the rest of us learn a new language a bit easier.

"We think the magic that kids apply to this learning situation, some of the principles, can be imported into learning programs for adults," says Dr. Patricia Kuhl of the University of Washington, who is part of an international team now trying to turn those lessons into more teachable technology.

Each language uses a unique set of sounds. Scientists now know babies are born with the ability to distinguish all of them, but that ability starts weakening even before they start talking, by the first birthday.

Kuhl offers an example: Japanese doesn't distinguish between the "L" and "R" sounds of English — "rake" and "lake" would sound the same. Her team proved that a 7-month-old in Tokyo and a 7-month-old in Seattle respond equally well to those different sounds. But by 11 months, the Japanese infant had lost a lot of that ability.

Time out — how do you test a baby? By tracking eye gaze. Make a fun toy appear on one side or the other whenever there's a particular sound. The baby quickly learns to look on that side whenever he or she hears a brand-new but similar sound. Noninvasive brain scans document how the brain is processing and imprinting language.

Mastering your dominant language gets in the way of learning a second, less familiar one, Kuhl's research suggests. The brain tunes out sounds that don't fit.

"You're building a brain architecture that's a perfect fit for Japanese or English or French," whatever is native, Kuhl explains — or, if you're a lucky baby, a brain with two sets of neural circuits dedicated to two languages.

It's remarkable that babies being raised bilingual — by simply speaking to them in two languages — can learn both in the time it takes most babies to learn one. On average, monolingual and bilingual babies start talking around age 1 and can say about 50 words by 18 months.

Italian researchers wondered why there wasn't a delay, and reported this month in the journal Science that being bilingual seems to make the brain more flexible.

The researchers tested 44 12-month-olds to see how they recognized three-syllable patterns — nonsense words, just to test sound learning. Sure enough, gaze-tracking showed the bilingual babies learned two kinds of patterns at the same time — like lo-ba-lo or lo-lo-ba — while the one-language babies learned only one, concluded Agnes Melinda Kovacs of Italy's International School for Advanced Studies.

While new language learning is easiest by age 7, the ability markedly declines after puberty.

"We're seeing the brain as more plastic and ready to create new circuits before than after puberty," Kuhl says. As an adult, "it's a totally different process. You won't learn it in the same way. You won't become (as good as) a native speaker."

Yet a soon-to-be-released survey from the Center for Applied Linguistics, a nonprofit organization that researches language issues, shows U.S. elementary schools cut back on foreign language instruction over the last decade. About a quarter of public elementary schools were teaching foreign languages in 1997, but just 15 percent last year, say preliminary results posted on the center's Web site.

What might help people who missed their childhood window? Baby brains need personal interaction to soak in a new language — TV or CDs alone don't work. So researchers are improving the technology that adults tend to use for language learning, to make it more social and possibly tap brain circuitry that tots would use.

Recall that Japanese "L" and "R" difficulty? Kuhl and scientists at Tokyo Denki University and the University of Minnesota helped develop a computer language program that pictures people speaking in "motherese," the slow exaggeration of sounds that parents use with babies.

Japanese college students who'd had little exposure to spoken English underwent 12 sessions listening to exaggerated "Ls" and "Rs" while watching the computerized instructor's face pronounce English words. Brain scans — a hair dryer-looking device called MEG, for magnetoencephalography — that measure millisecond-by-millisecond activity showed the students could better distinguish between those alien English sounds. And they pronounced them better, too, the team reported in the journal NeuroImage.

"It's our very first, preliminary crude attempt but the gains were phenomenal," says Kuhl.

But she'd rather see parents follow biology and expose youngsters early. If you speak a second language, speak it at home. Or find a play group or caregiver where your child can hear another language regularly.

"You'll be surprised," Kuhl says. "They do seem to pick it up like sponges."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_med_healthbeat_bilingual_tots

 

Twitter 'followers' sometimes a marketing tool

Some marketing services ‘give’ users followers to pimp their online posses

Lisa Cunningham hoped bigger numbers might mean bigger business.

"I’m new to social media and only have 400 or so followers," says the 47-year-old writer/editor from Tampa, Fla. "I thought it would be great to get 1,000 or whatever, just to market my writing business."

Apparently, even in the world of microblogging, size matters, at least when it comes to the size of those Twitter "followers" lists. But while many people spend days, weeks or months increasing their followers tweet by charming tweet, others have opted for what appears to be a quick and easy shortcut.

You’ve heard of oversized codpieces and padded bras? Welcome to the era of the inflated online posse.

Over the last few months, a handful of free or low-fee bulk followers services — many with the words "follow" or “"tweet" in their name — have popped up online, each touting the ability to increase a client’s followers count by hundreds of people a day.

New users can appear instantly popular and businesses can, as one service puts it, "transform (their) Twitter account into an unstoppable viral traffic machine."

Who would want to fluff up their account with a bunch of "fake" followers?

Shel Israel, author of the forthcoming book "Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods," says individual users — particularly people new to Twitter — may decide to pad their online posse in order to look more popular.

But most of the customers who opt for these services are people who "are used to traditional mass marketing techniques such as TV advertisements or direct mail.

"It works almost exactly like a bulk-mail list service where you buy a list of addresses,
he says. "These people see Twitter and realize it’s something new and they think, 'I have customers there, I need to get in.' But if they just open an account, they’ll start with no followers and they want to shortcut it."

Unfortunately, as often happens with shortcuts, there can be some unexpected twists and turns.

One door opens, another one slams shut
"I just followed a link and put in my Twitter name and password and it had different people’s pictures and said, 'Follow this person or follow that person' and I clicked on them," says Cunningham, describing the "free follow" service she joined several weeks ago. "It was easy, just like four steps."

Shortly afterwards, though, she realized the free service was starting to "cost" her.

"They started sending out these tweets that said 'Get 400 followers a day' under my name," she says. "A woman who was following me finally contacted me and said 'I like your tweets but these messages are getting annoying.' People started unfollowing me because of the automated tweets."

Cunningham admits she didn’t go over the terms of the agreement "with a fine-toothed comb" which explains why she missed the section that clearly delineates, "We may use your account to promote our services."

But even after changing her Twitter password to sidestep the handful of "auto-tweets" that went out under her name each day singing the service’s praises, she says she's still disappointed the service co-opted her account and refused to answer repeated e-mails asking to be dropped.

“If they had told me this would be going out 14 times a day, I wouldn’t have signed up,” she says. “It’s nice that I have some new followers but it’s making people hate me or something. They don’t understand why I’m promoting these people.”

Justin Germino, 31, a Web site security specialist from Casa Grande, Ariz., says he, too, signed up for one of the services, primarily as a way to gain information for his technology-based blog, Dragonblogger.com.

Like Cunningham, the bulk followers' service began sending out promotional tweets in his name and he began receiving direct messages from his "real" followers, asking what was up.

"I was losing more followers than I was gaining and I noticed that people who were following me on these chains were low quality, like adult Web sites," he says. "If you just want numbers you might not care, but if you want quality followers, people who will retweet or read your articles, you’re not going to find valuable followers on these chain sites."

According to experts, quality followers may not be the point when it comes to certain aficionados of the padded posse, such as Internet marketers.

"Their end goal is not the fake followers themselves," says Mina Sirkin, an estate planning lawyer from Woodland Hills, Calif., who has a blog about marketing and the law.

"Their end goal is to attract real people by showing they have a lot of followers," she said. "After they attract the real people, they try to present them with offers and products, such as how to make a seven-figure income or pull your business out of the recession."

Author Israel, who also blogs about social media, says spammers also purchase followers' lists, hoping people will "auto-follow" back and unintentionally open themselves up to direct messages designed to glean personal information.

"They’ll send messages that say 'I can’t believe they sent me a free computer just by sending a little information!' " says Israel. "And that information will be your user name and password or your mother’s maiden name. Because it’s a direct message, it seems like you’re getting this from someone you know and trust. It increases your susceptibility to being swindled."

There are ways to avoid these kinds of Twitter troubles, though, including Israel's cardinal rule: "Don’t automatically follow everyone who follows you," he says. "That’s probably the most important single message."

Israel also advises Twitter users to avoid following anyone whose tweets smack of pornography, anyone with a user name composed of random letters and numbers (those are likely computer-generated names) or anyone who has several tweets that are all the same, especially if it’s a marketing-type message. Also highly suspect: accounts that have "62,000 followers and no posts," he said.

Quality, not quantity
Figuring out who to follow — and who you can trust — can be confusing, though, especially when many of the bulk followers services have names that sound as if they’re associated with Twitter.

"I thought there was some kind of affiliation because they had Twitter in their name," says Michelle Griffith, 48, a media relations executive from Tampa, Fla., who signed up for a "get more followers" service as a way to promote her fiance’s new children’s book. "There was Twitter in the name and they copied the logo and the Twitter branding. It was misleading."

Representatives of Twitter did not respond to questions about bulk follower sites, but Twitter’s “Spam Watch” page has had repeated warnings about the sites.

On May 27, Twitter posted "Don’t believe the hype & sign up for 'get followers fast!' programs. They can be scams that steal your username and password!"

On June 6, Twitter said that "Giving out your username and password to a 3rd party site promising you more followers: not a good idea! Please be safe!" And on June 16, there was this tip: "If you give out your username and pw (password) to a site claiming to get you more followers, updates often get sent out on your account."

Bloggers, such as Germino, have also posted warnings about "pyramid sites" or "trains," as they’ve come to be known although there are those who readily defend the sites.

"Some people have contacted me and said it’s gotten them 3,000 or 4,000 followers," he says. "If all you care about is the number, these sites will work for you."

For people like Cunningham, though, big numbers just aren’t all that they’re cracked up to be.

"Now that I’ve read some things about it, I think it’s better to get quality people following you rather than quantity," she says. "But if you have any questions, you can just Twitter about it. That’s the best advice."

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31837862/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

 

Social Networks have already transformed the way we do business.

Social Networking is not new but social networks gave it a totally new dimension, amplified the effects exponentially.

Too long have companies hidden behind their websites. they used to have email addresses, phone numbers, ways to contact them, but they realized really quickly that ... Customers were using them and they did not like the feedback....It did not fit or match their own perceptions.

What did they do? They removed contact information from their websites or just ignored the feedback.

Things have changed, Social Networks have put the power back into customers hand, like it or not Social Networks gave them a voice and a loud one that is.

You can ignore them, they won't ignore you as we have seen issues going viral on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and other networks.

You can learn to use Social Medias to to create raving fans or you will become a textbook example of what not to do.... The choice is yours

If you're applying for a loan to purchase a primary or secondary home, or planning to refinance, you should be aware of a little-publicized new set of federal consumer-protection rules that take effect July 30.

Among other key changes, the new Federal Reserve guidelines require lenders to provide you initial disclosures of your mortgage costs within three business days of your loan application. If you don't get them, you can pull the plug.

The rule also prohibits lenders from collecting any fees – except a reasonable charge for checking your credit – until you've been given the loan-cost disclosures. This means no more out-of-pocket upfront application charges until you've received the truth-in-lending disclosures and an annual percentage rate (APR) calculation of those loan costs.

Since many mortgage brokers and lenders traditionally have collected fees covering appraisal, credit and various other charges at the time of application – sometimes amounting to hundreds of dollars – this will be a significant change in procedure for the lending industry.

The rule also prohibits quickie closings on loans by requiring a seven-day waiting period after applicants are handed their early disclosures or the disclosures are mailed. You'll now have up to a week to think about the transaction, and decide whether it's right for you. Final truth-in-lending disclosures are due three business days before closing.

Here's an even more sweeping change for applications on or after July 30: The new Fed rules require lenders to deliver a copy of the real estate appraisal to you three business days before the scheduled closing on the loan.

In the past, even though federal regulations guaranteed that consumers could request and obtain a copy of the appraisal, lenders and home buyers frequently ignored that right. In fact, many consumers had no knowledge of this right because no one in the home purchase, financing or settlement process told them about it.

Now, the timing of the loan closing itself – which is the financial ballgame for loan officers, realty agents, title and escrow officials – will be dependent upon your receipt of the appraisal in advance. The exception here will be that the three-day rule can be waived if you don't think receiving the appraisal is necessary.

Another significant change under the new rules: If the APR on the early truth-in-lending disclosure increases by more than one-eighth of a percentage point (0.125), the lender will now be required to “redisclose” – provide you a corrected version and allow you an additional seven business days to consider the transaction before settlement.

What might cause the APR to increase following the initial, early disclosure? Lots of things: Say you left your initial rate on the loan to float with the market, but rates increase. You'll need to get an amended truth-in-lending disclosure. Or say the lender got inaccurate estimates of costs from third-party participants in the transaction, such as the settlement or escrow company. Or say that unexpected, 11th-hour junk fees materialize.

All these events – which have been frequent sources of consumer complaints this decade – could force the lender to redisclose loan costs and set back timing for the settlement.

What are some of the likely repercussions of the Fed's new mandates? Number one, the traditional approach of aiming in advance for a date-certain settlement target for home loan transactions almost certainly will be affected. Actual closing dates will be more closely tied to lenders' and settlement agents' accurate estimates and their ability to deliver disclosures and appraisals by the required dates. For example, if appraisers are backlogged and can't produce valuation reports quickly enough, settlements will have to be postponed.

Second, the purposes of the rules are to afford consumers better access to, and more time to consider, key elements of what are major financial transactions for most people. There might be fewer instances of last-minute closing-date surprises on fees, where buyers are slammed with hundreds of dollars of charges they'd never expected. But nobody can say that for sure.

Finally, the rules may well trigger new waves of litigation if lenders and their business partners are not scrupulous in their compliance. There is an active and aggressive segment of the legal profession that specializes in going after banks and mortgage companies for truth-in-lending violations. Don't be surprised if you hear of lawsuits seeking cancellation of mortgage deals because timing deadlines were not met, appraisals not received.

As David Berenbaum, executive vice president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, put it in an e-mail comment: “Consumer advocates will closely monitor” compliance with the new Fed regulations, and the lending industry can expect “civil litigation against bad actors.”

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/19/1h19harneym18742-new-rules-protect-borrowers-take-/?uniontrib