Free Making Money

Blogger Andrew Trench recently presented a theory on the threshold of when Internet penetration starts to matter, writing:

Social networks have also been given plenty of credit for the revolution unfolding in Egypt.

So I went and had a look at the numbers over on www.internetworldstats.com to see what they could tell us about these two scenarios. Well, fascinatingly, both Egypt and Tunisia have seen a massive growth in internet users and internet penetration over the last 10 years.

Both have now got internet penetration of over 20% and in Tunisia's case it was as high as 34%.

While it is clearly simplistic to over-state this factor and there must be many more drivers contributing to such a rapid political uprising, it is obviously a factor as evidenced by the Egyptian regime pulling the plug on the country's internet access to try and block the rising tide of revolt.

My back-of-napkin theory is this: that a rapid increase in internet penetration in a repressive regime does play an important role as it provides an unfettered channel of communication allowing disaffected citizens to share views - and more importantly - to rapidly organise and mobilise.

If Egypt and Tunisia are valid case studies, it looks like internet penetration of around 20% is the mark.

Geopolitics & Macroeconomics adds:

Internet penetration: Social networking sites were critical to sustaining the momentum in the recent protests. The internet penetration in Egypt is 16%. In Libya, it is a meagre 5% [1]. The unrest in Libya has thus far remained concentrated in regions that are geographically distant from the seat of ‘real' power (see more on this below). The dependence of momentum on internet communication is far greater in Libya than in Egypt where protests began in Cairo itself.

Taking the conversation to Pakistan, Sabene Saigol writes, on BrandRepublic:

Perhaps one reason for this is that we're still not that used to communicating via the ‘net - maybe we need greater broadband and internet penetration. Personally I think it is more to do with culture - while Pakistani internet users are savvy to using social media to connect with friends, I feel they have not yet ‘crossed over' to seeing SM as a means for professional communications - or even wider social communications that go beyond their immediate circle. Yes, there are no doubt savvy people - both within marketing and tech circles, and outside - however, these people are likely a tiny proportion of the total number of ‘net and social media users.

Surface Encounters

Josh Pastner of Memphis Tigers gets new 5-year deal

Memphis coach Josh Pastner receive a new five-year contract Tuesday.

Surface Encounters

This Week in Credit Cards <b>News</b>: New Rules, More ATM Fees, End of <b>...</b>

Provided by LowCards.com New Rules Promote Smarter Use of Credit Cards The new consumer watchdog agency wants to help consumers understand the credit card offer they will receive before they apply for a credit card.

Surface Encounters

Clown Charged With Raping Child in California - AOL <b>News</b>

A clown who works backyard parties and special events was charged today with multiple counts of child rape that could send him to prison for life if convicted.

Surface Encounters

I read an interesting article this morning that suggested Apple would change its mind and put Adobe’s Flash technology on its iOS devices within a year. I don’t think that’s going to happen.

In an open letter to users, Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave several reasons why he didn’t want Flash on the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. They are: Flash isn’t open; the full web; reliability, security and performance; battery life; and touch.

Adobe began shipping Flash Player 10.1 for Mobile last June, but even Laptop magazine admitted that “Steve Jobs was right,” and that “Adobe’s offering seems like it’s too little, too late.” Granted, that report was from six months ago, but it still doesn’t bode well for the technology.

There is no doubt that Adobe is making advances with Flash on mobile devices, but I don’t believe future changes will be enough to get Apple to adopt the technology.

Jobs has been very clear that Apple supports HTML5, an open technology that is controlled by a standards committee, not one company. By building support for that technology into Webkit, Apple is ensuring that mobile Web browsers will be able to access what we’ve come to know as the “full web.”

Webkit is used by Google, Palm, Nokia and RIM, so it has a pretty solid base.

One of the arguments often bantered about when the discussion of the “full Web” comes up is video. There is no doubt that Flash made huge strides over the years in having sites like YouTube encode their videos in Flash. But that’s for the desktop.

As Jobs points out, almost all of this video is also available in H.264 format (a format Flash also supports), so it’s viewable on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

“Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video,” wrote Jobs.

You may ask why other companies adopted Flash for their mobile devices when Apple won’t. That’s easy, they are looking for something they have that Apple doesn’t. Considering how hard it is for tablet makers to compete with Apple, any perceived advantage will work.

I’m not an Adobe hater—I know quite a few people that work at Adobe and I think they’ve done some amazing things over the years. Flash for mobile devices isn’t one of them.

Chris Dawson said he gives “Apple a year until they cave [and adopt Flash]. Android tablets will just be too cool and too useful for both entertainment and enterprise applications if they don’t.”

I have been using my iPhone for years and my iPad for one year. I honestly can’t remember the last time I went to a Web site that wouldn’t load because I didn’t have Flash installed. I can load videos from YouTube and a host of other sites too, no problem.

Apple has sold more than 160 million iOS devices and there are no screaming, angry hordes of users breaking down the doors at 1 Infinite Loop demanding Flash on their devices.

In order for Apple to change its mind and adopt Flash, the technology has to be proven to be indispensable and that it will benefit its users. Apple has proven just the opposite is true.

Editor’s Note: Jim Dalrymple has been writing about Apple for more than 15 years. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple and on his Web site at The Loop.

Dirty Percent

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

It’s not hard to make the case that Apple’s new in-app subscription system offers numerous benefits to users, developers, and publishers. But whatever those benefits, they stem from the mere existence of these new subscription APIs. What’s controversial is the size of Apple’s cut: 30 percent.

No one is arguing that Apple shouldn’t get some cut of in-app purchases that go through iTunes. And, if Apple were taking a substantially smaller cut, there would be substantially fewer people objecting to Apple’s rules (that subscription-based publishing apps must use the system; that they can’t link to their external sign-up web page from within the app; and that they must offer in-app subscribers the same prices available outside the app).

The reasonable arguments against Apple’s policies seem to be:

• Apple should be taking less, perhaps far less, than 30 percent.




• Apple should not require subscription-based apps to use the in-app subscription APIs. If it’s a good deal for publishers, they’ll choose to use the system on their own.




• Apple should not require price-matching from subscription offers outside the app. Publishers should be allowed to charge iOS users more money to cover Apple’s cut.




• Apple should consider business models that simply can’t afford a 70/30 revenue split.

Let’s consider these in reverse order.

Apple Should Consider Business Models That Can’t Afford a 70/30 Revenue Split

Apple doesn’t give a damn about companies with business models that can’t afford a 70/30 split. Apple’s running a competitive business; competition is cold and hard. And who exactly can’t afford a 70/30 split? Middlemen. It’s not that Apple is opposed to middlemen — it’s that Apple wants to be the middleman. It’s difficult to expect them to be sympathetic to the plights of other middlemen.

Some of these apps and services that are left out might be ones that iOS users enjoy, though. This is the leading argument for how this new policy will in fact hurt users, and, as a result, Apple itself: it’ll drive good apps off the platform. Frequently mentioned examples: Netflix and Kindle. For all we know, though, Netflix may well be fine with this policy. Apple would only get a 30 percent cut of new subscriptions that go through the Netflix iOS app, and that might be a bounty Netflix can live with in exchange for more subscribers. Keep in mind, too, that Netflix and Apple seemingly get along well enough that Netflix is built into the Apple TV system software.

Kindle, and e-book platforms in general, are a different case. For one thing, Kindle doesn’t use subscriptions. Kindle offers purchases. Presumably, given Apple’s rejection of Sony’s e-book platform app last month, Apple is going to insist on the same rules for in-app purchases through apps like Kindle as they do for in-app subscriptions. If so, something’s got to give. The “agency model” through which e-books are sold requires the bookseller to give the publisher 70 percent of the sale price. So if the publisher gets 70 and Apple gets 30, that leaves a big fat nothing for Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, or Kobo, or anyone else selling books through native iOS apps — other than iBooks, of course.

But leaving aside the revenue split, there are technical limitations as well. The existing in-app purchasing system in iOS has a technical limit of 3,500 catalog items. I.e. any single app can offer no more than 3,500 items for in-app purchase. Amazon has hundreds of thousands of Kindle titles.

Something’s got to give here. I don’t know what, but there must be more news on this front coming soon. I don’t believe Apple wants to chase competing e-book platforms off the App Store.

Apple Should Not Require Price Matching

Why not allow developers and publishers to set their own prices for in-app subscriptions? One reason: Apple wants its customers to get the best price — and, to know that they’re getting the best price whenever they buy a subscription through an app. It’s a confidence in the brand thing: with Apple’s rules, users know they’re getting the best price, they know they’ll be able to unsubscribe easily, and they know their privacy is protected.

Credit card companies insist on similar rules: retailers pay a processing fee for every credit card transaction, but the credit card companies insist that these fees not be passed on to the customer. Customers pay the same price as they would if they used cash — which encourages them to use their credit card liberally. (Going further, many charge cards offer cash back on each purchase — they can do this because the cash-back percentage refunded to the customer is less than the transaction processing fee paid by the retailer.)

So the same-price rule is good for the user, and good for Apple. But Matt Drance argues that Apple could dissipate much of this subscription controversy by waiving this rule:

The requirement that IAP content be offered “at the same price
or less than it is offered outside the app,” combined with the
70/30 split, means developers must make less money off of iOS by
definition. They can’t price their IAP content higher to offset
the commission, nor can they price their own retail content lower.

If I am interpreting this correctly, I can’t bring myself to see
it as reasonable. […] I think a great deal of this drama could
go away if Apple dropped section 11.13 while keeping section
11.14: Your prices on your store are your business; just don’t
be a jerk and advertise the difference all over ours.

And I agree with him. Yes, the same-price rule is good for users and for Apple, but waiving this rule wouldn’t be particularly bad for users or for Apple, either — and it would give publishers some freedom to experiment.

I suspect one reason Apple won’t budge is that their competitors — like Amazon — insist on best-price matching.

Apple Should Not Require Apps to Offer In-App Subscriptions

I’m sympathetic to this argument, too. “If you don’t like our terms, don’t use our subscription system.” But it has occurred to me that this entire in-app subscription debate mirrors the debate surrounding the App Store itself back in 2008 — that 30 percent was too large a cut for Apple to take, that it shouldn’t be mandatory, etc. The same way many developers wanted (and still want) a way to sell native iOS apps on their own, outside the App Store, many publishers now want a way to sell subscriptions on their own, outside the App Store.

The fact is, the App Store is an all-or-nothing affair. You play by Apple’s rules or you stick to web apps through Mobile Safari. This alternative is no different for periodical publishers than it was (and remains) for app developers in general. A lot of these demands boil down to a desire for more autonomy for native iOS app developers. Apple has never shown any interest in that.

There’s one striking difference between the subscription controversy today and the App Store controversy in 2008: with subscriptions, Apple is taking away the ability to do something that they previously allowed. There was never a supported way to install native apps for iOS before the App Store. Subscriptions sold outside the App Store, on the other hand, were allowed until last month.

Apple Should Be Taking Less, Possibly Far Less, Than 30 Percent

Another difference between the App Store itself and in-app subscriptions is that with apps, Apple hosts and serves the downloads. Apple covers the bandwidth, even for gargantuan gigabyte-or-larger 99-cent games. The OS handles installation.

With in-app subscriptions (and purchases), however, the app developer is responsible for hosting the content, and for writing the code to download, store, and manage it. So — one reasonable argument goes — given that Apple is doing less for subscription content than it does for apps (or for music and movies purchased through iTunes), Apple should take less of the money.

Taken further, the argument boils down to this: that for in-app subscriptions and purchases, Apple is serving only as a payment processer — and thus, a reasonable fee for transactions would be in the small single digits — 3, 4, maybe 5 percent, say. More or less something along the lines of what PayPal charges.

Apple, I think it’s clear, doesn’t see it this way. Apple sees the entire App Store, along with all native iOS apps, as an upscale, premium software store: owned, controlled, and managed like a physical shopping mall. Brick and mortar retailers don’t settle for a single-digit cut of retail prices; neither does the App Store.

Seth Godin argues that Apple’s 30 percent cut is too big to allow publishers to profit:

Except Apple has announced that they want to tax each subscription
made via the iPad at 30%. Yes, it’s a tax, because what it does is
dramatically decrease the incremental revenue from each
subscriber. An intelligent publisher only has two choices: raise
the price (punishing the reader and further cutting down
readership) or make it free and hope for mass (see my point above
about the infinite newsstand). When you make it free, it’s all
about the ads, and if you don’t reach tens or hundreds of
thousands of subscribers, you’ll fail.

Godin’s logic strikes me as questionable. For one thing, he freely switches between a newsstand metaphor (arguing, perhaps accurately, that the App Store is too large for publishers to gain attention from potential readers in the first place — you won’t read what you never notice) and the economics of subscriptions. But subscribers are the opposite of newsstand readers. Newsstand readers are buying a single copy, often on impulse. Subscribers are readers who are already hooked, and who know what they want. Put another way, the size of Apple’s cut of subscription revenue — whether it were higher or lower — has no bearing on the “attention at the newsstand” problem.

Second, the problem facing traditional publishers today is that circulation is falling. Newsstand sales and subscriptions are falling, under pressure from free-of-charge websites and other forms of digital content. The idea with Apple’s 70-30 revenue split is that developers and publishers can make it up in volume — that people aren’t just somewhat more willing to pay for content through iTunes than other online content stores, they are far more willing. The idea is that Apple has cracked a nut no one else1 has — they’ve created an ecosystem where hundreds of millions of people are willing to pay for digital content. Thus, potentially, publishers won’t just make more money keeping only 70 percent of subscription fees generated through iOS apps than they are now with 96 percent (or whatever they’re left with after payment processing fees) of subscription fees they’re selling on their own — they stand to make a lot more money.

I’m not guaranteeing or even predicting that it’s going to work out that way. I’m just saying that’s Apple’s proposition.

Godin’s assumption is that iOS in-app subscriptions won’t significantly increase the number of subscribers. If he’s right about that, then he’s right that Apple’s 30 percent cut will prove too expensive for publishers. But Apple’s bet is that in-app subscriptions can dramatically increase the number of subscribers. Consider the app landscape. Apple’s 30 percent cut didn’t drive the price of paid apps up — the nature of the App Store drove prices down. It’s a volume game.

The App Store itself proves that Apple might be right. Like with app sales, in-app subscriptions won’t work for every publication. But it could work for many. It really is possible to make it up in volume.

And if a 70-30 split for in-app subscription revenue doesn’t work, the price will come down. That’s how capitalism works. You choose a price and see how it goes. I’ll admit — when the App Store launched in 2008, I thought Apple’s 70-30 split was skewed too heavily in Apple’s favor. Not that it was wrong in any moral sense, but that it was wrong in a purely economic sense: that it might be more than developers would be willing to bear. Apple, clearly, has a better sense about what prices the market will bear than I (and, likely, you) do.

Competition vs. Anti-Competition

One last argument I’ve seen regarding these in-app subscription rules is that it’s further evidence of anti-competitive behavior from Apple. That makes sense only if you consider iOS to be the entire field of play. Apple, though, is competing at a higher level. They’re competing between platforms: iOS vs. Kindle/Amazon vs. Android/Google vs. Microsoft, and in some ways, vs. the free web. Why should publishers make an app rather than just a mobile web site? For happier customers and more money.

Sony has a platform for e-books. Amazon has a platform for e-books. Barnes & Noble has a platform for e-books. Apple has a platform for e-books. But Apple is the only one which allows its competitors to have apps on its devices. And Apple is the anti-competitive one? I’m no lawyer, but if the iTunes Music store hasn’t yet been deemed a monopoly with Apple selling 70+ percent of digital music players, then I doubt the App Store will be deemed a monopoly for a market where Apple has never been — and, according to market share trends, may never be — the top-selling smartphone maker, let alone own a majority of the market, let alone own more than a single-digit sliver of the phone market as a whole. As for ruthless profiteering, consider that Amazon, with their e-book publishing, originally took the fat end of a 70-30 revenue split with authors.

One question I’ve been asked by several DF readers who object to Apple’s new in-app subscription and purchasing policies goes like this: What if Microsoft did this with Windows, and, say, tried to require Apple to pay them 30 percent for every purchase made through iTunes on Windows? To that, I say: good luck with that. Microsoft couldn’t make such a change by fiat. The whole premise of Windows (and other personal computer systems) is that it is open to third-party software. Apple couldn’t just flip a switch and make Mac OS X a controlled app console system like iOS — they had to introduce the Mac App Store as an alternative to traditional software installation. If Microsoft introduced something similar to the Mac App Store for Windows, Apple would simply eschew it. If Microsoft were to mandate an iOS App Store-like total control policy for all Windows software, they’d have a revolt in their user base that would make Vista look like a success.

iOS isn’t and never was an open computer system. It’s a closed, controlled console system — more akin to Playstation or Wii or Xbox than to Mac OS X or Windows. It is, in Apple’s view, a privilege to have a native iOS app.

This is what galls some: Apple is doing this because they can, and no other company is in a position to do it. This is not a fear that in-app subscriptions will fail because Apple’s 30 percent slice is too high, but rather that in-app subscriptions will succeed despite Apple’s (in their minds) egregious profiteering. I.e. that charging what the market will bear is somehow unscrupulous. To the charge that Apple Inc. is a for-profit corporation run by staunch capitalists, I say, “Duh”.

If it works, Apple’s 30-percent take of in-app subscriptions will prove as objectionable in the long run as the App Store itself: not very.

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Preview of Final Result

 

Resources

• PT Sans Bold – FontSquirrel


• Free App Icons for Developers – WebAppers

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document that is 1200 x 1200 pixels, 72 dpi, and RGB Color. Fill the layer with white. (Ctrl+Backspace or Delete)

Step 2

Now create a rectangle for the header and fill it with a white-grey color, then use the colors on the image for the “Gradient Overlay”. Our search and logo will eventually be part of the header.

Step 3

Create a new rectangle above the previous one, with attributes as shown below. The following drop shadow effect creates a look of a 1 pixel stroke which does increase the look of that simple bar. Note: this step creates a horizontal line.

 

Step 4

Now add the “Gradient Overlay” layer style with the hex codes indicated.

Step 5

Add a white 1 pixel stroke. The following stroke of 1 pixel will divide the grey shadow effect. It’ll eventually work as a divider.

Step 6

Make one more rectangle in the middle-right zone, and fill it with white and add a 1 px stroke as indicated – it will be our search box.

Step 7

One more rectangle should be created and filled with blue. Set the inner shadow as indicated below, this will be our search button. This blue works great in combination with grey, white and light-grey. Blue will be the major contrasting color we use as we work through this template.

Step 8

Add the Gradient Overlay details to the button with the details from image.

Step 9

Add a 1 px stroke to the button with the color indicated. Take a look at the first and the final result of the button so you can see the difference all these details made.

Step 10

Now add this drop shadow effect for the text placed in the search box, using PT Sans Bold. This will be the final step in creating your search button. You may want to try other fonts, but the PT Sans Bold is really good for this small button.

Step 11

Make another fill under the header section, this will be the navigation area. Here we will place the navigation links of our template.

Step 12

Write your navigation links using a dark-grey color, then add a white “drop shadow” effect. The effect used for the navigation links is the same used for the search button.

Step 13

With 1px vertical line, make divisions between each links. The lines should be black and will really increase the beauty of the navigation area.

Step 14

Over the home section, make a fill with the blue and then add a Gradient Overlay style as indicated.

Step 15

Copy the Home link, this time color it white and add a drop shadow effect.

Step 16

Create a big, grey zone under the navigation, it should be about 30% of the layout. This will be the background for the featured area.

Step 17

Now create a big, white rectangle and add some shadow with the details shown. A big stock image, a big headline and some text with another great button will be added.

Step 18

Add a any dummy image you want to that featured area. Be sure it covers more than 80% of the area. The one I chose is from a stock website.

Step 19

Add some text to it, use the PT SANS Bold font and make the font big.

Step 20

The remaining area should be filled with grey, in it we’ll place some text. This is really a secondary area which describes the image, the services, the company itself, or whatever you’d like.

Step 21

Place some blue-colored text which will be the title of the information below. Use the details in the image for Drop Shadow style.

Step 22

Add some dummy text. This could be some important information or whatever you’d like.

Step 23

Create another grey area under the featured zone, where we will add some text and icons later. Add the details as stated on the image. Mostly, the icons will promote the services offered by the company behind the website.

Step 24

Continue by adding a Gradient Overlay style for the last rectangle we have created in the anterior steps.

Step 25

Now we are adding titles and icons, as well as some divisions. The icons can be found in the resource list at the beginning of the tutorial. Be sure to choose your icons and text thoughtfully.

Step 26

At the border of both zones, create a small circle and fill it with dark brown color. Add some inner shadow as stated on the image.

Step 27

Continue by adding a drop shadow layer style. It is another small detail, but it really makes that button zone minimalistic, nice-looking and well designed.

Step 28

To finish, add a Gradient Overlay effect.

Step 29

By using the Custom Shape Tool (U), create an arrow in both circles. Now add the details shown on the screenshot.

Step 30

Continue by adding some Color Overlay for the arrow. It should also be a blue color because otherwise, it will not fit the contrast and the colors used on the whole template.

Step 31

Add a video screenshot in the free space and place a title for it. For this template, I have used a simple screenshot of a YouTube widget.

Step 32

Add the text “Product Highlights” and “Case Studies.” Let the text under the “Product Highlights” be links so you could showcase some friends’ websites or resources you admire/promote.

Step 33

Finish it by creating another form for e-mails, place all kind of other information, and whatever you’d like.

Step 34

Don’t forget to make a relevant/small footer for our template. If you have paid attention, you should know how to create the same effect as below. 

 

All done! If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to drop a comment. I hope you enjoyed this whole tutorial!

Surface Encounters

autosport.com - NASCAR <b>News</b>: Raikkonen to compete in NASCAR

Former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen will make a surprising move to NASCAR this year, the Finn joining the series with a new team.

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Fox <b>News</b> Bureau Chief: I Thought It Was &#39;Far-Fetched&#39; When I <b>...</b>

In 2009, current Fox News DC Bureau Chief Bill Sammon admitted that he didn't really believe charges that Obama was a "socialist" when he encouraged Fox News staff to use the term. But, he claims, he soon realized it was true.

Surface Encounters

Making Money Internet

This was supposed to be an article about monetizing your life as an amateur musician. It’s become an opinion piece on my experience of Google AdSense.

Google Adsense allows you receive revenue through placing content-specific adverts on your website. The system makes Google around $8 Billion a year.

I signed up for Adsense several years ago. I had a travel blog which was general only for family and friends. If I remember correctly, my travel blog made me about £0.05 across 2 years or so.

Fast forward to 2011 and I am trying to investigate means of being a little more business-like about my hobbies (mostly music). By the end of January I had manned up and started to promote my blogs. I had created several different blogs, which were contributed to by friends and colleagues. I promoted these activities through Facebook and Twitter.

After a few weeks, I was looking at around 2,000 hits a month across all my content sources. I was feeling pretty proud of myself. My Google Adsense balance was approaching £10, and I hoped I could make around £50-100 a year. Google then disabled my account.

When your Adsense account is disabled you receive a standard email which tells you there has been "invalid activity". It directs you to a help URL. The only response you can take is to make an appeal.

Taking the matter particularly seriously, I spent some time writing the appeal which outlined my thoughts on the invalid activity. My guess is that I have violated their "don’t click on your own ads" policy when I’ve been proudly showing off my sites to friends and family. Since my IP address is logged on Blogger etc. and my clicks are less than 1% of the total hits received from countries far and wide, I assumed that they would realise my site was genuine.

Continued on the next page

The Oscars are over, but we will all be talking about the winners — and the losers — for days and weeks to come. Why? Because we love movies. We love movie stars. What’s not to love? They have the drama, the glamour, the shiny bright lights and, not to mention, fantastic amounts of money. No wonder everyone wants to be like them!

And while not everyone gets to be Angelina Jolie or even Jesse Eisenberg, we can pretend that we are living inside a movie. Today we have easy and free access to platforms that help spread the word about the movies of our lives — quickly. The Internet makes easy work of distribution.

The concept of “followers” and “subscribers” is another way of saying “audience,” and by sharing carefully crafted words, a handful of shared links and artistically snapped photos and videos, what we’re doing is essentially performing for this audience. We are all Lady Gaga — be it for one person, or a million people.

Strange? Trey Ratcliff, a celebrated photographer, author and creator of one of the top-selling iPhone apps, 100 Cameras and I, doesn’t think so, pointing to the photo slide show at the top of our Facebook page as a signpost of a society that’s making its own movie reels.

I Want My MeTV

Before I met Ratcliff, I always thought millions of us were living inside our own weird version of reality television. But reality television can be ugly and sometimes too stark. Movies are curated, edited and have a sense of polish. That is one of the main reasons why Ratcliff believes apps like his and Hisptamatic are selling briskly on the iTunes store.  “The filters can turn ordinary into extraordinary,” Ratcliff said.

To Trey’s point, many of the photos I take are actually pretty mundane, but thanks to filters, they become magical. The picture of clouds that’s as flat as a week-old bottle of Pellegrino takes on a wistful look just by adding a filter. The 8MM app can turn a clip of a boring, sleepy tech conference into a scene out of a 1970s Bollywood movie.

These tools add a certain mystique and drama to these photos and our lives, making them look more interesting, more like movies. It’s perhaps one of the main reasons why we’ve seen Facebook quickly become the greatest repository of photos — memories, if you may — on the web. “Not everyone can write, draw or paint, but everyone can press a button,” said Ratcliff.

Platforms, Platforms, Platforms

I don’t think we should be surprised at all by these developments; it’s part of the bigger cultural shift. In our 21st-century society, we all want to stand out and get attention. Narcissistic? Perhaps, but we’re living in this century and defining the ethos for the new Internet-connected age as we go along.

I’m not a philosopher, so I’ll live these heavier matters to people with a higher intelligence quotient. What I can tell you is that the technology companies that benefit from these big trends are those who provide platforms for sharing our lives.

SixApart’s MoveableType, Flickr and Blogger were early proponents of sharing, but they never really got to realize their full potential because they grew up in an era limited by relatively low broadband penetration and lack of mobility-driven computing.

Subsequent platforms — YouTube, WordPress (see disclosure) and Tumblr — have had more success, thanks to faster, cheaper broadband connections. Twitter and Facebook are the big winners of this sharing.

The emergence and growing popularity of San Francisco-based Instagr.am (over three million signees since its launch last year) is yet another sign that in the end, this cultural shift benefits the platform providers.

Next time you are thinking about building a product, evaluating a company or just wondering why early adopters are so crazy about Instagr.am or Quora, keep in mind we’re playing a role in a movie: edited, directed and starring us.

App of the day:

The Internet Wishlist. My app of the day isn’t really an app. Instead, it’s a website that’s a collective list of apps and websites the Internet people are wishing for. It will take you less than five minutes to scan this website, which collates masterful and moronic ideas all in the same place. You should follow its creator, Amrit Richmond on Twitter. (Via Laughing Squid.)

What to read on the web:

• Economist: The secret of IKEA’s success


• Boston Review/Onnesha Roychoudhri: Books after Amazon


• Organizing the bookcase animation

Disclosure: Automattic, maker of WordPress.com, is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of this blog, Giga Omni Media. I am also a venture partner at True.

bench craft company reviews

Small Business <b>News</b>: Creative Marketing Secrets

Marketing for your small business can be part art/part science. But however you would describe it, it is the key to both getting new customers and keeping the.

How To Install Managing <b>News</b> On Ubuntu | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos <b>...</b>

How To Install Managing News On Ubuntu. Managing News is an RSS/Atom based news tracker with search, republishing and mapping. This tutorial shows how to install Managing News on an Ubuntu server. ...

Out This Week – 01/04/2011 <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of Out This Week – 01/04/2011. ... Latest Videos. Shift 2 trailer gears up for launch [5] 25 March, 2011. Latest News. Shift 2: Unleashed delayed by a week [16]. Shift 2: Unleashed nets Pagani Huayra [19] ...

SEO Services Vancouver For A Better Marketing Solution

 

When you start your own website there are lots of ways you'll have to sell it off and one of the best ways is by using Search engine optimization Vancouver if you be in that area. The SEO or search engine optimization services will be the top method of getting good visitors to your website and for that reason making more sales.

 

Now, you need to know that you will not use SEO service if you are not an internet business - however, if you do not have an online presence if you are an offline business, then you'll not allow it to be very far.

 

It is a popular proven fact that if you are planning to really make it in the offline world you must have an online presence. This really is something that all people are learning hard way. Something that you should also know is the fact that it is not as simple as just setting up the website and leaving it to do its things.

 

This can be done in most types of ways, but these companies usually take advantage of multiple methods to create the perfect marketing technique online. It is possible to employ them to write articles for you, post on forums and blogs, create meta tags and meta descriptions, clean up the code, add alt tags towards the images and much more.

 

It is crucial that you do this because otherwise the company you have worked so difficult for could wind up losing all the money. If you have a website you want to produce, then you will also employ the services of an SEO company, which means seo company. What the corporation does is actually take the best areas of your site, check the code, create keywords and write various articles and documents to ensure that your site is placed near the the surface of the list for the major search engines like google.

As a result the Search engine optimization company cannot only improve your traffic, but additionally make sure that your site is fully optimized for that internet search engine spiders that will be brought to it. These spiders are utilized to analyze your website and place it in certain positions determined on certain keywords.

 

If you want to use the Search engine optimization Vancouver then all you've got to complete is find the top companies. It's through these that the SEO gets done effectively and efficiently. Because of so many SEO companies to choose from you have to be sure that the main one you're going for is reliable. You should be able to request a breakdown of what you want, and the company also needs to have the ability to let you know know long they've been operating for. This can narrow down their email list to reveal the very best ones.

 

Search engine optimization Provided by Different Vancouver Web Companies

The Vancouver SEO company services are extremely beneficial for business growth because they provide quality services. If you're planning to produce a website for the internet business, then you have come to right article when i is going to be explaining below how Search engine optimisation Vancouver company services can increase your website ranking making it popular.

Before that, you need to know what Seo is. It is not that complicated and i am sure you will get a grasp of it reading my article. The primary goal of SEO is to have increased traffic to your website and audience. It's a good decision to select a Vancouver SEO company that specializes in this kind of work, which means that your website can be listed in search engines like google.

There is no point in you having a website with no website ranking whatsoever while you won't have any business and profits to outlive. It's a very tough atmosphere available as there are so many internet business people just like you, who want their share of pie. You must be aware of the fact that nearly 85% of world-wide-web traffic could be got from web-sites.

When a user types inside a keyword or keywords for what he/she wants to know in different sites, these use crawlers to obtain web-sites with the relevant content and index them according to algorithms. You don't have to worry about the algorithms which these sites use as that is not important.

To look within the first page of the search result, you will have to hire professionals and experts who can perform the needful to keep your website one of the good books in these websites. These professionals can optimize your website content to ensure your website gets more traffic.

Once the traffic gets high, it is a sign that you are getting a service which will enable you to get more revenues. SEO Vancouver company do the next to make your website appear inside the first page of search engine results.

Use keywords that are popularly utilized on search engines in your website content.
Possess a website design for your website which is simple because top sites are allergic to flash and weird designs.
Submit your site to directories.
Submit your website to directory websites.
Postings on blogs and forums with back links for your websites. This really is regarded as an effective way to get more traffic to your website as many online users use blogs and forums.

SEO Vancouver company also perform site diagnostics which is a significant part in online optimization as research and analysis on finding keywords is the method to start a SEO campaign. So, be sure you choose the best SEO Vancouver company.

Are you looking for more info regarding SEO Vancouver? Visit http://www.seo4vancouver.com/seo-services.asp today!

 

What to anticipate When Getting a Roofing Contractors

When the time comes to repair or even substitute your homes roof, it's really a daunting job to find someone who is actually qualified for the job. There are lots of roofing contractors out there, however the types who will do a congrats for any reasonable cost aren't frequently easy to find. If you're in the marketplace for the contractor, make use of the ideas beneath for meeting with as well as hiring the right one.

Interview and Discussion

The majority of roofers provide free consultation services. This is especially important, since it gives them an opportunity to assess what your roof requirements, and it gives you a chance to assess all of them. As with all of businesses, trust your intuition about the individuals a person let up onto your roofing. No issue exactly how great the contractor's status or even suggestion, he or she ought to begin by presenting a person having a business card. If the service provider arrives searching and speaking in an less than professional manner, chances are that the task he is going to perform may also be unprofessional. This is not to express that you should anticipate contractors to arrive within fits. They will be hiking in your roof, therefore most will be dressed up in jeans and function footwear or even athletic shoes. If the service provider appears to be more interested in speaking upon their mobile phone during your homes roof compared to he's in evaluating your roof's needs, that may be another sign that he is not the one to do the job. For the legal protection, make sure that the contractor has adequate legal responsibility insurance coverage.

Roofing Assessment

Anticipate that the contractor will be rising on your roofing. In fact, any kind of contractor who does not need to go up in your roofing to judge the issue should be instantly reduced. Those who're serious about their own function will possibly make a drawing of the roof's surface and mark trouble spots on it as they undergo their own assessment, or even they will take pictures or video of the surface area while they are available online for. This is an extremely essential step, since it allows you to observe just what the problems are as well as know how they will be set.

Estimate

The next step would be the written estimation. The contractor will take out their calculator and are available up with an itemized estimation. Some contractors goes to their own truck or van as well as write down the actual suggestion, while others will crisis the actual amounts for the job prior to you. Once you're given the suggestion, ensure that you understand which items is going to be used, how long the job will take and if you will find any additional or concealed expenses that could occur throughout the repair of the roofing. The service provider will be able to solution many of these questions with ease and forewarn a person associated with a extra costs that could be sustained if the roof's integrity end up being broken inside.

Once you have obtained several created estimates from roofers, assess exactly what every organization or even contractor is willing to offer you for that cost. Do not always discount the greatest bid, simply because sometimes the highest bet will actually function as the contractor who the task properly. Additionally, be skeptical associated with bids which are not nearly as expensive others. They may be utilizing inferior items or perhaps be untruthful concerning the chance of hidden expenses. Above all, believe in instincts as well as go with the contractor who makes you feel most comfortable about giving over your hard earned money.

 

Seven Uyghurs Sentenced to Death

2011-03-23

Critics of the sentences say China has politicized the robberies as acts of terrorism.

 

AFP

A Uyghur man walks past armed Chinese security forces in Urumqi, July 17, 2009.

Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have ordered the executions of seven ethnic minority Uyghur men convicted of "violent" crimes, official media said on Wednesday.

 

The death sentences were handed down by the Supreme People's Court in recent days, according to state media in the regional capital, Urumqi.

 

The men were accused in connection with three separate attacks late last year in the Silk Road city of Kashgar, according to the news website Urumqi Online.

 

According to another website, the Xinjiang-based Tianshan news site, Aimaiti Tuheti, Yiming Dawuti, and unnamed "others" killed a security guard at a pedestrian mall as part of a failed Aug. 7 robbery attempt.

 

In a separate incident on Oct. 12, it said, Nuermaimaiti Aobulikasimu and 11 others broke into a house, bound and killed the couple living in it, and took their possessions.

 

It said the group also broke into the homes of two brothers, robbed them, and killed six people in a Nov. 11 attack in Kashgar.

 

The report gave no information about the victims or the schedule for the executions.

 

Three of the men were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, a sentence that is normally commuted to life imprisonment in China's judicial system.

 

They were convicted of deliberate homicide and armed robbery by the Kashgar Intermediate People's Court in the first instance.

 

'Strike hard' campaign

 

A Han Chinese resident of Urumqi surnamed Yang said a reference to "terrorism" in official news reports on the case showed that it was being politicized by the authorities, who have launched a series of "strike hard" campaigns in Xinjiang following deadly ethnic violence in July 2009.

 

"There is an implied political meaning; that they were somehow engaged in separatist activities or ethnic divisions," said Yang.

 

Exile Uyghur groups said the trials had been conducted behind closed doors, with scant opportunity for public scrutiny.

 

"The entire process against these men, from the trial through to the judgment, was opaque," said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress.

 

"There was also very little reasonable evidence to convict them on a legal basis, because all the evidence came from one side of the case," he said.

 

"We strongly condemn the Chinese government for continuing to pursue their policies of ethnic division," said Raxit.

 

"We are also strongly opposed to the death penalty in this case."

 

Earlier cases

 

Last month, the Supreme Court sentenced four Uyghurs to death for alleged involvement in an Aug. 19 bomb attack in Xinjiang’s western Aksu city.

 

The World Uyghur Congress pointed to concerns over lack of transparency in those cases too.

 

The Aksu blast left eight people dead, including two of the bombers, and 15 wounded after a man riding a three-wheeled vehicle threw explosives at a group of uniformed patrolmen. Four Uyghurs were arrested shortly after the attack.

 

State media characterized the cases as acts of terrorism and unrelated to longstanding ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the region.

 

Exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer has warned that attacks like those in Aksu will continue to occur until Beijing addresses the underlying source of tension in the region.

 

Millions of Uyghurs—a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim—populate Central Asia and Xinjiang.

 

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

 

Those frustrations erupted in July 2009 in deadly riots that left nearly 200 people dead, by the Chinese government's tally.

 

At least 26 people, mostly Uyghurs, were sentenced to death in the aftermath of the riots, many of whom have been executed, according to state media.

 

China is believed to execute more people each year than the rest of the world’s countries combined, although the government does not publish official figures.

 

Rights groups say Beijing may execute as many as several thousand prisoners annually.

 

Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

 

New training scheme

 

China on Wednesday also announced a training scheme which places ethnic minority graduates from Xinjiang in work elsewhere in China.

 

Governments of the destination cities will spend 450 million yuan (U.S.$ 69 million) for the program, while Xinjiang will spend 400 million yuan (U.S.$ 61 million), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

 

The program targets some 60,000 jobless college graduates in Xinjiang, around 80 percent of whom are from ethnic minorities, and 60 percent of whom are women.

 

However, some commentators see the move as an attempt to assimilate non-Han Chinese into mainstream Chinese culture.

 

"From the point of view of ethnic minorities, the graduate work scheme is really taking the cream of youth from the minorities and using them to 'further cultural development,'" wrote one ethnic minority user on a popular microblogging service.

 

"In fact, the culture that is being advanced is Han culture, and this group of young people will have been totally brainwashed," the microblog update said.

 

An Urumqi resident surnamed Li agreed.

 

"They have run senior high school schemes like this before during the past few years," he said.

 

"Whether it's high-schoolers or graduate training programs, these are measures that are aimed at thought control and brainwashing, and the 'Partification' of their education," he said.

 

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

 

Wikileaks and also the Uyghur People

by holly upon December Twenty, This year
Henryk Szadziewski, Supervisor, Uyghur Human Rights Project

Whether it were actually uncertain, info acquired through the whistleblower website, Wikileaks, offers verified Chinese language federal government worries more than its ongoing control of the region it calls Xinjiang, also is known as East Turkestan. The leaked out cables through Ough.Utes. diplomats demonstrate the actual extent that Chinese government bodies make an effort to persuade governments worldwide to consider it's position on problems affecting Uyghurs. The wires also display the actual United States' concerns and views regarding the ongoing repressive steps in the region.

Most illuminating associated with Chinese language federal government pressure would be the cables pointing in order to Chinese frustration, or even the specter of Chinese ire, within the discharge of Uyghur detainees in Guantánamo to third countries. A December 29, 08 cable applies exactly how Chinese language Assistant Foreign Reverend Liu Jieyi fulfilled using the Ough.Utes. Ambassador in order to The far east in order to voice Beijing's strong opposition associated with release in order to any kind of nation other than The far east, which if the Ough.S. did certainly accede to this ask for it might "avoid injury to bilateral relationships and also to co-operation ‘in essential areas'". In addition, the Feb '09 cable describes how the Chinese language Ambassador in order to Kyrgyzstan, Zhang Yannian, regarded the possible release of Uyghur Guantánamo detainees because "an unfavorable act towards us" and a "slap in the face". The U.S. federal government stood company in not really liberating the detainees in order to China illustrates the actual extent of the politicized character from the Chinese language judicial system. Legitimate issues more than terrorism are easy to understand, but in the actual Ough.S. government's view the detainees would most likely face do-it-yourself torture as well as execution if they returned to China

Chinese government stress regarding the actual Uyghur Guantánamo detainees wasn't just applied to the actual Ough.Utes. federal government, but also to Brand new Zealand along with a handful of Western government authorities that were considering resettlement. Albania, Indonesia as well as Finland, as well as European Union fellow member states all have the symptoms of paid for the actual impact associated with Chinese language federal government unhappiness. In the case of Indonesia, that was initially prepared to consider 2 Uyghurs on purely relief grounds, Uyghur Guantánamo instances were much less preferable to additional detainees because of the unwanted effects taking Uyghurs might have upon relationships with China. A Might Eight, '09 cable relates exactly how "German Ambassador Michael Schaefer reported which Indonesia experienced informed The far east of the U.Utes. ask for to accept a few Uighur detainees kept from Guantánamo and had already been subsequently warned by China of ‘a heavy burden upon bilateral relations' in the event that Indonesia were to accept any detainees".

The actual diplomatic wires additionally talk about the unrest in Urumchi, the regional capital, within This summer 2009. A This summer 13, '09 cable television discussing bulk occurrences within The far east states:

"Ethnic riots like those who work in Xinjiang July 5-7 as well as in Tibet within March of 08 vary markedly in origin and character through mass occurrences, XXXXXXXXXXXX stressed in order to PolOff [Political Officer] upon XXXXXXXXXXXX. Both present serious trouble for the Celebration, XXXXXXXXXXXX said, however the Celebration leadership wouldn't wait to open fire upon Uighurs or Tibetans when they considered it necessary to recover purchase. Bulk incidents present another type of risk, he said, since the management is actually ‘afraid' to fire on Han rioters for anxiety about sparking massive open public outrage that would change against the Party."

This is a chilling opinion, especially when 1 views the evidence offered by 50 percent reviews released this season through the Uyghur Human Privileges Task (UHRP) and Amnesty Worldwide that fine detail eyewitness accounts of the utilization of lethal live fireplace towards Uyghur protestors within This summer '09. Additionally, the actual declaration which fire wouldn't be deployed against Han Chinese language protestors offers resonances for the various approach taken through Chinese language security causes in Urumchi to Han Chinese protests within September '09. Throughout individuals direct orders, after that Celebration Assistant, Wang Lequan, addressed protesters, that experienced demanded that he inform them about federal government responses to security concerns. A similar ask for to satisfy using the Party Secretary through Uyghur protesters in This summer was not fulfilled.

The broader repercussions of the unrest additionally noticed a brief discussion on the effect it might have upon Iran-China relations, as well as on relations along with Australia after World Uyghur Congress President, Microsoft. Rebiya Kadeer, talked at the Nationwide Push Membership in Canberra within July '09. In the latter case, china federal government "privately warn[ed] a significant Aussie bank that vendors the National Press Club to use it's influence to bar a Kadeer speech there".

The U . s . States' issues concerning the situation within the Uyghur area are available through within the wires. In a dialogue upon plan direction in Tibet, U.Utes. authorities explain that it will be impossible with regard to Chinese frontrunners to consider the much softer collection "if they appear like they are doing so below worldwide pressure". The cable out dated 04 Sixteen, 2008, one month following the outbreak of unrest in Tibetan areas, also relayed the declaration "that household stability continues to be leadership's main concern most of all, which means there will ‘almost surely' be no rest of the current hard collection on Tibet or perhaps in places such as Xinjiang." The information included in the cable television also sheds light on the severe level of sensitivity with which the Chinese federal government sights territorial ethics, and the feasible spill more than associated with unrest through Tibet.

The chance of solutions to stress within Tibet and Xinjiang arising from municipal society are discussed inside a February 24, 08 cable television. Whilst recommending that China's financial achievement increases it's potential to deal with democratic change, the actual cable also discusses how Chinese language leaders see the effectiveness of "a restricted expansion associated with civil society, such as improvements in the guideline associated with law along with a stronger part for approved religions, NGOs, non profit organizations and other actors within areas which contribute to social balance and do not challenge Communist Party guideline." This can be a significant change in thinking, that has observed Ough.Utes. authorities market the idea which Chinese language economic development, and financial relationships with The far east brings in regards to a steadily democratic society; nevertheless, more faith appears to be put into a grassroots movement than one which starts in the top levels of the Chinese government. Nonetheless, the cable concludes that "[i]n places such as Tibet and Xinjiang, the fear associated with separatism results in tight limitations about the growth of municipal culture." This method can be regarded as counter-productive through the official, that shows that the U.Utes. federal government "should continue to express...serious concerns more than Beijing's individual privileges report and attract China's growing awareness that higher respect for individual privileges, spiritual independence and the guideline of law will serve to promote the improvement as well as social stability that The far east looks for as well as to enhance China's international image." This type of technique would consider substantial diplomatic skills thinking about "China's paranoid concern that the United States privately promotes routine alter as well as ‘separatists' within Taiwan, Tibet as well as Xinjiang".

The actual cables offer insight into the daily business of diplomacy that's rarely owned by the general public, which is interesting to notice the amount of function done behind closed doors upon Uyghur problems. The importance of the actual role of the us like a monitor associated with Uyghur individual privileges problems within private conversations is created obvious, as well as contrasts with its tactful open public stance. Employees from the Uyghur Human Rights Project is actually comfortable with pressure china federal government puts upon Uyghur activists; nevertheless, the facts of Chinese government pressure upon its counterparts is illustrative from the degree which Chinese authorities attempt to suppress contrary narratives. With more facts in the future through Wikileaks, issues more than Uyghurs may not grab the head lines, however the wires have get rid of new light on the documentation of individual rights problems in the Uyghur area.

 

Wikileaks and also the Uyghur People

by henry on December Twenty, This year
Henryk Szadziewski, Manager, Uyghur Human Rights Project

If it were actually in doubt, info acquired by the whistleblower web site, Wikileaks, has verified Chinese federal government fears more than it's continued control of the region this calls Xinjiang, which is also known as East Turkestan. The leaked wires through U.S. diplomats demonstrate the extent that Chinese government bodies attempt to convince government authorities worldwide to consider its stance upon problems affecting Uyghurs. The actual cables additionally show the actual U . s . States' issues and sights regarding the ongoing repressive measures in the region.

Most illuminating of Chinese federal government pressure are the cables pointing in order to Chinese language frustration, or the specter associated with Chinese language ire, within the release of Uyghur detainees in Guantánamo to third countries. The Dec Twenty nine, 08 cable television relates how Chinese Helper Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi fulfilled with the U.S. Ambassador to The far east in order to tone of voice Beijing's powerful opposition of launch in order to any nation other than The far east, which if the U.Utes. do indeed accede for this ask for it might "avoid injury to bilateral relationships and also to co-operation ‘in essential areas'". In addition, a Feb '09 cable television explains the way the Chinese language Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Zhang Yannian, regarded as the possible discharge of Uyghur Guantánamo detainees because "an unfriendly behave towards us" and a "slap in the face". That the Ough.Utes. government was company within not really releasing the actual detainees in order to The far east illustrates the extent of the politicized nature from the Chinese language judicial system. Genuine concerns more than terrorism are understandable, however in the actual Ough.S. government's observe the detainees would probably encounter do-it-yourself torture as well as delivery if they returned in order to China

Chinese language federal government pressure in regard to the actual Uyghur Guantánamo detainees wasn't just applied to the actual U.Utes. government, but also in order to Brand new Zealand and a handful of European government authorities which were considering resettlement. Albania, Germany as well as Finland, in addition to Eu fellow member says all appear to have paid for the impact of Chinese language federal government unhappiness. In the case of Indonesia, that was at first prepared to think about two Uyghurs upon purely relief grounds, Uyghur Guantánamo instances had been less better than other detainees because of the unwanted effects taking Uyghurs might have on relations along with The far east. The May Eight, '09 cable television relates exactly how "German Ambassador Michael Schaefer reported which Germany had informed The far east from the U.S. ask for to accept a few Uighur detainees held from Guantánamo coupled with already been consequently cautioned by China of ‘a large load on bilateral relations' if Germany had been to simply accept any detainees".

The diplomatic cables also discuss the actual unrest within Urumchi, the regional capital, in This summer '09. The This summer Thirteen, 2009 cable television talking about bulk incidents within China states:

"Ethnic riots like those who work in Xinjiang July 5-7 and in Tibet in March of 08 vary substantially in origin as well as nature through mass incidents, XXXXXXXXXXXX stressed to PolOff [Political Officer] upon XXXXXXXXXXXX. Each existing severe problems for the actual Party, XXXXXXXXXXXX stated, but the Celebration management would not hesitate to open fireplace upon Uighurs or even Tibetans when they considered it necessary to restore order. Mass occurrences pose a different type of threat, he explained, since the management is actually ‘afraid' to fire upon Han rioters for anxiety about sparking massive open public outrage that will turn from the Party."

This is a chilling viewpoint, especially when 1 views evidence presented in two reviews launched this season by the Uyghur Individual Privileges Project (UHRP) and Amnesty International that fine detail eyewitness company accounts from the use of lethal reside fireplace against Uyghur protestors within This summer '09. In addition, the observation that fireplace wouldn't be deployed against Han Chinese protestors offers resonances for the different approach used through Chinese protection causes within Urumchi in order to Han Chinese protests within September '09. During those direct orders, then Celebration Assistant, Wang Lequan, addressed demonstrators, that experienced required that he let them know regarding government responses to protection concerns. A similar ask for to meet with the Celebration Secretary by Uyghur protesters in This summer was not fulfilled.

The actual broader consequences from the unrest also saw a brief dialogue on the effect it might have upon Iran-China relationships, and on relations with Australia after Globe Uyghur Our elected representatives President, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, spoke in the Nationwide Press Club within Canberra within August '09. Within the second option case, the Chinese government "privately warn[ed] a significant Australian financial institution which vendors the National Push Club to make use of its impact to bar a Kadeer talk there".

The U . s . States' issues about the scenario within the Uyghur region are available through in the cables. In a discussion on policy path in Tibet, U.S. officials clarify that it will end up being impossible with regard to Chinese leaders to adopt the softer line "if they appear like doing so under worldwide pressure". The cable television out dated April 16, 2008, one month after the episode associated with unrest within Tibetan regions, also relayed the observation "that domestic stability continues to be leadership's top priority above all else, which means there'll ‘almost surely' end up being absolutely no rest of the current hard line on Tibet or perhaps in locations like Xinjiang." The info contained in the cable also storage sheds light on the severe level of sensitivity with which china government sights territorial ethics, and also the feasible drip more than of unrest through Tibet.

The chance associated with solutions to stress in Tibet and Xinjiang as a result of civil culture tend to be discussed inside a February Twenty-four, 2008 cable. While recommending that China's financial success will increase it's potential to deal with democratic reform, the cable television also talks about how Chinese frontrunners see the effectiveness associated with "a limited expansion associated with civil culture, such as enhancements within the guideline of regulation and a more powerful role for authorized religions, NGOs, charities along with other stars within areas that contribute to sociable balance and don't challenge Communist Celebration rule." This can be a significant change in thinking, which has seen Ough.S. authorities market the idea which Chinese economic improvement, as well as financial relationships with The far east brings in regards to a progressively democratic culture; however, more faith appears to be placed in the grassroots movement than one which starts in the best quantity of a Chinese government. Nevertheless, the cable television proves which "[i]n areas for example Tibet as well as Xinjiang, driving a car of separatism leads to tighter limitations about the development of civil culture." This approach is viewed as counter-productive through the official, who suggests that the Ough.Utes. government "should continue to express...serious concerns more than Beijing's individual rights record as well as appeal to China's developing awareness which higher regard for human privileges, spiritual freedom and also the guideline of law will serve to advertise the very development as well as social stability that China seeks as well as to enhance China's worldwide image." This type of strategy would consider considerable diplomatic abilities thinking about "China's paranoid concern that the Usa privately promotes routine alter as well as ‘separatists' in Taiwan, Tibet as well as Xinjiang".

The actual cables provide understanding of the actual daily business associated with diplomacy that is hardly ever owned by everyone, which is interesting to notice the amount of work done nowadays upon Uyghur problems. The importance of the part of the us like a keep track of of Uyghur human privileges problems within private discussions is made clear, as well as contrasts using its tactful public stance. The staff from the Uyghur Individual Rights Project is actually comfortable with the pressure the Chinese government puts on Uyghur activists; still, the details of Chinese government stress upon it's counterparts is illustrative from the diploma that Chinese officials make an effort to suppress contradictory stories. With increased facts to come through Wikileaks, concerns over Uyghurs may not grab the headlines, but the wires possess shed brand new light about the paperwork of human privileges conditions in the Uyghur area.

 

Search Engine Marketing And Marketing with articles Will Place Yourself Page 1

Seo and article promotion are two of the strongest strategies which you can use promoting your website and get the revenue and success that you desire for your online business. Both of these everything has been around for a really while already nevertheless they still still be really effective. Actually, these have helped a lot of people free themselves from the traditional ways of money-generating options of society.

In this article, I will be showing the ways on how you can properly execute seo and article promotion for the betterment of your business enterprise website. In addition, I will also be discussing different points you need to look out for when you are using these two internet marketing strategies to market your website and acquire customers. Despite the fact that article promotion and Search engine optimisation have been established for a long time already, you need to know that the trends and preferences as to how they are done are continually changing, which explains why you need to remain up to date with these items through the help of Search engine marketing forum sites to be able to quickly adjust and learn how to make your strategies far better.

In the past article marketing to different websites used to be so simple yet the effects they produce for websites really was powerful. However, everything has changed a whole lot today. Nowadays submitting the identical article to several websites is not advisable because engines like google have now changed to some huge extent in the way they rank pages. They will no longer rank contents that are identical like they accustomed to in the past. This is one of the best samples of changes that occur in web marketing trends. This change has given birth to wide plethora of methods that online marketers are using today. Nearly all of internet marketers now produce articles and submit them in really popular article directory sites and await site visitors arrive at their pages. Be thought of as that most reliable Search engine marketing strategy that can be used. Aside from being effective, and also this provides positive outcomes frequently. One problem with this strategy is the caliber of traffic that you will get out of this defintely won't be so good if you don't do proper market and keyword research beforehand and rehearse in-links. You need for attending these two things prior to deciding to submit your posts so that you won't wind up losing large amounts of targeted visitors. Because of this you have to practice good amounts of diligence if you'd like your advertising initiatives to function.

Besides articles, you can even use blogging, which can be another really powerful kind of online marketing strategy today because it is highly well-liked by the major search engines. Within this technique, you are able to choose to create a single blogging site that specifically targets your chosen market or you can contribute to other weblogs which can be labeled as experts inside your niche.

Learn effective Vancouver seo techniques in the Vancouver SEO website.

Roofing Contractors Vancouver British Columbia

There are several things to take into account when looking for a new roofing contractor. Price tag, experience, and also referrals are some of the things you'll probably be concerned about. Keep reading for even more ideas.

• Finding a Roofers

Before looking for a roofing contractor, be sure you have a common idea of the work that you need to have inked. By no means do you have to be a specialist. If you have the Roof Document, read it extensively to find the information about your present roof. Should you not have a Top Certificate, make reference to documents closed during shutting to locate your homes Inspection bed sheet. These papers should provide you with everything you need to learn about your roof. Ahead of contacting a roofing contractor, you should have a list of specifications and specifications to help you choose exactly who would work for your covering project. Make sure you write down each potential covering contractor's answers and check all of them against the other person. If you'll find any discrepancies, be sure to notice this along with take this into consideration when making a final selection. There are no straightforward ways to select a roofing contractor, however , if you take heed to the information provided, your chances of a successful roof covering project are generally greatly improved.

One of the best methods for finding a roofers is by word of mouth marketing. Try asking a friend or relative who has had roof covering work done, and has been satisfied with the task. Get the title of the business and his or her contact details. If you have no word of oral cavity referrals, try out first looking in the telephone book an internet-based. A large advertisement or expensive website is just not necessarily a sign of the high quality of work, but could be a great tool pertaining to measuring how long and determination they have put in their respected profession. Also, try locating current worksites and appearance at the roofer work that's done maybe in the process of being finished. If you are visually amazed, ask the home manager to the name from the roofing contractor and also their get in touch with information.

• Preliminary research

When looking for any roofing contractors, it can be imperative to 1st do your own background research. Costly in the yellow pages or on the web is a suitable spot to find a service provider, finding essential information on most of these businesses will likely be found in several other areas. Very first, check with spots like the Better Business Bureau, city, point out, and county public records, and also local accreditation agencies. Inquire your roofer if they are an affiliate of any roofing contractor associations. These types of precautions will certainly mitigate your risks. Additionally ask them what sorts of roofing they will specialize in. Also ask your own roofing contractor about any extended warranties they offer on their installed rooftops. Find out what measures they choose to use avoid harm done to other parts of the home simply by workers. Products such as gutters, exterior siding, and chimneys are near the coast proximity and so susceptible to unintended damages.

Make sure all of this info is included in your composed contract. Determine if you need a covering permit and/or permission from your home owners association ahead of time. These people will let you know that's responsible for obtaining these permits and authorizations. If it is the duty of the roofing contractor, also have that included in your contract. If it's your accountability, get said permits and also permissions collated with the estimated roof covering project and still have it plainly posted as well as readily available.

• Certification and Recommendations

Roofing Companies are not required to be accredited in all declares. Contact neighborhood licensing agencies that oversee general building contractors for the list of specifications. Once you have received the requirements, develop a list of in depth questions to ask the potential roofer. This simple checklist should immediately help you to get rid of the competent from the not qualified roofing contractors. Qualified companies should be able to easily answer questions as well as tell you that they need to do further research just before giving any definitive response.

Even if the roofing contractor has all needed licensing, you ought to ask to view pictures involving completed roof covering jobs and also speak to happy clients. Use a list of queries handy must recent customers, such as the dynamics of the employment, timeliness, and general satisfaction. Make certain these are current clients and cross research if possible. Regarding commercial roof covering, make sure that the particular roofing contractor will be bonded. Checking these personal references is another added measure of security to narrow down the list of potential roofer contractors.

Search engine optimization Through Article marketing

Article writing could be a very powerful kind of Search engine optimization on your company web-site. Quality written articles have the ability to transform your websites SERP and add quality in your company website. Writing informative keyword rich articles is important in gaining new backlinks for your business website. Articles can and will be written on topics which are unique in your business or industry. The articles can discuss an array of issues and ideas inside your industry. Articles that offer the reader which has a resource are always probably the most popular and many likely forms of articles that will lead to backlinks to your site.

Focus your posts in your potential readers or customers. Seo articles should address real questions which are asked by current or past customers. Each article you are writing in your case company ought to include detailed analysis and Search engine optimization keywords that can help associate your web site using the content seen in the site. Focus your posts on around 3 keywords , nor stray at their store. Consistency is vital when writing Seo articles. Should you be authoring Vancouver Search engine optimization make sure your carry on and reveal information strongly related the keyword.

Give each one of your Seo Articles an engaging Title that can persuade folks to see and bookmark your articles. Ideally, the articles you write can be as links using their company websites that are similar to yours. This alone may help raise the power of each one link all of which will assist your SERP. Ensure that you end each article having a keyword anchored link (see Easy Small Business Seo). This link will assist you to improve your rankings in Google and other major search engines like yahoo for the keyword attached to the link. Submit the articles to your submitted article directory and Voila! Before very long, your website could possibly be for the first page of Google.

Appreciate your reading. Can't wait to talk to your Search engine optimization articles!

Vancouver Seo Agency Aims For Google Places With Total Achievement

When we type in a search term searching for a business inside their local area, they are going to find that Google places and Google maps is showing listings of local businesses. It is rather eminent so they can be optimized and from this first page should they desire to generate business. Vancouver SEO companies should be educated of this type for their clients.

There appears to be a large amount of new Vancouver SEO companies starting, simply because the requirement is there. Finding an SEO firm which includes the client's best interest at heart can be tedious. What number of keywords will they optimize for? What are the keywords along with the corresponding search volume? Do they understand how to optimize for Google places? Etc. Search engine optimisation is the business of landing at the top and Maxim Edge will get you there.

"My wife and I started our Vancouver SEO company by accident. We have learned from the school of hard knocks and trial and error how to use the web to showcase any business. We began using the website, then the competition, then of course building quality back-links to push a website up within the rankings. It isn't really pushing a control button and watching what happens type of business. It will take a lot of effort, lots of research and lots of commitment. We give your very best for our clients and that we are very satisfied with a high retention rate." Randy Neale says.

For added information about Michael, a Vancouver SEO company, please visit their website today at seo4vancouver.com

Little about the Uyghurs

In the center of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the north-western part of China, the province of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is a least populated land whereas it covers close to a sixth of the nation's territory. Having resisted while in centuries the Han Chinese control, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Old Eastern Turkistan, fell under the Chinese Han control in 1949. From then, its population is primarily Uyghur People and Turkish - speaking System.

Islamic most importantly, the Uyghurs have a strong religious identification which usually, in specific, permitted them to protect a strong big difference towards the Chinese enemy. Certainly, the Uyghur Empire of Mongolia knew a brilliant civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.

During their background, the Uyghur People successively adopted Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before finally converting to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., as a result beginning the way to the Islamization of the whole Central Asia.

Under the influence of the religions which they taken on, the Uyghurs used successively, and at times in a competing way, a great number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own unique graphic system.

The entrance of Islam was a great change simply because it was followed by the assimilation of the Uyghur land in the immense Turkic and Islamic Kingdom. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan slowly replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used nowadays.

If their writing, their own language and their religion mark a real difference with the culture of Chinese Han, the Uyghurs also are different from their aspect, so characteristic of Central Asia's people. A matt skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features going out to the Mongolian, Turkish or Uzbek origins of these men and these women.

For a few years, China has included the proper identity of these remote people, though they represent only nine million people - a little for this specific huge country. So, the Uyghurs are now part of the fifty six ethnic minority groups having been known in an official way by China.

This particular law allows these people a few privileges in a land exactly where their difference is very often repressed. Therefore, Uyghur families escape the "single child policy" and their language is accepted as the second official language in Xinjiang.

The integration of the Uyghur people and their culture in China, however, looks really illusory. The presence of all-natural sources in Xinjiang, and its proximity with countries recognised as sensitive, strongly urged the government to accelerate the sinicization of this area. Million of Han thus came to settle in this new Chinese eldorado, monopolizing the larger responsibility work opportunities.

In reaction to this true will to assimilate the Uyghurs into the Chinese culture, an independent party like East Turkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM) was born in the early 1990.

Asserting more flexibility, but primarily the recognition of their true identity, this movement was seriously repressed by the power authorities in area Xinjiang.

The events of September 11, 2001, were the perfect occasion for the Chinese government to justify true reprisals: they declared the "Uyghur freedom fighters" as dangerous terrorists linked to Al Quaida because of their Muslim origins and their proximity with Pakistan and Afghanistan... However, the terrible repression which followed did not calm down the anger. The Uyghur peoples population continues today to proudly keep their identification and their traditions , though they become a minority on their own land.

To get more information about Uyghur people, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com

ation|Web optimization|Website seo|Seo optimization|Seo optimisation} Expert consultancy - Getting Ahead Using SEO

In relation to success, among the mot significant things is planning far ahead of time. Just as in anything else, preparation is the vital thing. When you prepare with determination you'd be able to get in front of the competition, even the world of web business. Websites these days want to do their finest to get in advance of competition for their targeted key words through careful planning. Search engine optimisation is the greatest tool that you can use in order to achieve your goals and fortunately, the Search engine optimisation expert advice and tips that were discussed here can make things easier for you.

Seo is critical today

One of the main reasons why thousands of people today are trying to find Seo expert consultancy is because it's one of the few strategies that often work today online. Seo can be extremely effective in terms of getting a higher site ranking on search engines, increasing the number of visitors on-site and helping the level of profits and sales. Although most people and a bit of good Search engine optimization expert would let you know that it is a lengthy and complicated process, Search engine optimization is often a skill which can be learned. In the event you employ the expertise of an expert or if you utilize tricks employed by experts because of their own sites, then it would be easier for you to understand the thought and put it on to your website.

Taking an SEO course

Several businessmen and online website owners today take Search engine optimization certification from experts today as it turns out to be quite helpful for them. There are several short certification courses on Website seo on the market today which can educate you on the basic concepts and still provide you a grip on the subject. These trainings are generally given by people who find themselves experts inside field. Through training, these experts share their knowledge using the course participants, guide them the essential methods for better optimization of websites which will help them to promote their business. These courses can educate them niche research so that they would be able to select the greatest keyword and get a better chance to position higher about the search engines.

Website seo training could be very helpful

Through Seo training it will be possible to learn several concepts and tips like placing keywords inside right devote the content of web sites. Another topic that's often tackled by such courses is linking strategy mainly because it will also enable you to rank higher. These Search engine optimization trainings and courses might be taken either online or even in the traditional format in classrooms, according to your own some time to preferences. It is possible to help your website and enjoy better traffic and higher profits with the concepts which might be taught by these courses by a welsh search engine optimisation expert.

The author is fulltime Seo Expert, you can know more about him and services they offer on their website http://www.seo4vancouver.com/.