Five Solid Locations for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and ...

As 2013 dawns, and the wheels of business and investment begin to turn at full speed, companies will be looking in earnest at high-value locations to plant foreign direct investment roots. One growing sector, which touches many different industries, as varied as IT or financial services and call-centre customer care to more hands-off SaaS, cloud-computing and server-farm solutions, is the business services industry.

Many very different business functions fall under this umbrella, making it difficult to give the sector a proper name that encompasses everything that the sector actually offers. That said, it is safe to include business process outsourcing, customer service, ICT services, tech services, managed services and subsectors within these broad fields.

Odds-On BPO and Managed Services Favourites: Five Winning Investment Locations 2013

Forward-looking business investment locations have all placed considerable effort into promoting themselves as ideal places to set up and relocate BPO and managed services companies. Most countries and cities have put strategies and tactics in motion to attract companies from across the spectrum of the managed services sector.

Some locations, though, stand out as offering a potential return-on-investment beyond the basics as well as greater value for money.

Iceland

Iceland?offers a tech-savvy, highly educated population in an advanced society ? offering exceptional advantages to potential investors. Whether seeking human capital and knowledge in ICT and software development outsourcing or the power of machines in cloud computing and server farms,Iceland?has everything. Technical skills, institutional and corporate support, an advanced infrastructure and affordable, abundant, renewable energy for power-intensive operations ? it is all available here.

Malta

Thanks to a highly skilled, multilingual workforce coupled with low labour costs, favourable taxation schemes and regulatory environment,?Maltaenjoys a positive reputation as an ICT and offshoring hub. Although it has already been discovered as a notable nearshore offshoring powerhouse,Malta?s?benefits remain intact and compelling for potential investors.?Malta?is a part of the EU and is fully aligned with EU law but has weathered the economic storm that has hit the rest of the eurozone and maintained a high standard of living that is available at lower costs (both to businesses seeking to invest and to residents) than in other European Unioncountries.

Spain

With the global economic crisis hitting?Spain?particularly hard, the time to invest in?Spain?has never been better. A depth of IT and finance talent is available in unprecedented numbers, and the costs of doing business are lower because?Spain?is highly motivated to attract new business to inject the economy with welcome new blood.?Spain?also has extensive ties with?South America, which is booming in a variety of sectors and industries and can offer numerous connections for potential investors in the entire Spanish-speaking world.?Spain?has a depth of expertise in finance that is unparalleled in?Europe, particularly for the costs of doing business in the?Spain?of the future.

Ireland

Ireland?has long enjoyed a reputation as the go-to outsourcing and IT location in?Europe. While the economic downturn has hit?Ireland?hard, and many of the IT workers who flocked to?Ireland?during its boom times have departed,?Ireland?remains a solid, if unexpected, given the circumstances, choice for IT outsourcing and BPO solutions.?Ireland?s?IT reputation is well-deserved, and it has the infrastructure, training, facilities ? and bright, available, uniquely skilled workforce required ? available now more than ever.

Egypt

Assuming that the political climate shows sustained stability,?Egypt?is an emerging star in both ICT services and outsourcing. Having one of the more diverse economies in the entire MENA region, and being the most populous country in?Africa?and the?Middle East,?Egypt?has a well-educated, multilingual and skilled pool of labour eager for work. Likewise, while?Cairo?is highly praised for its strengths,?Egypt?has worked to develop its IT infrastructure and commercial real estate in locations outside the capital. A prime example is the Polaris Parks project in 6^th of October City, one of?Egypt?s?flagship ?future cities?. Polaris is home to?Egypt?s?Smart Village technology park, one of?Egypt?s?clear pushes toward attracting future large-scale investment in the BPO and managed services sector.

Source:http://www.sys-con.com/node/2498962

Source: http://www.theoutsourceblog.com/2013/01/five-solid-locations-for-business-process-outsourcing-bpo-and-managed-service-fdi-in-2013/

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What's your desert island dish? ? My Custard Pie

Desert Island Discs.? If that phrase does not immediately conjure up whimsical music backed by the sound of breaking waves and seagulls, let me explain?? The eponymous series on BBC Radio 4 has been running for 70 years in 2012.? Guests are interviewed and asked to choose the eight ?discs? that they would take with them if stranded on a desert island.

The selection of music and sounds that mean most to the guests is revealing and seems to act as a launch pad for many probing questions and expos?s of character.? A recent episode with the sprinter Michael Johnson showed a strength of character and focus of almost super-human proportions; I was close to tears listening to Emma Thompson recount the emotional struggle of getting through her divorce, describing her Father in such tender words and playing a piece that had been composed specially for their house in Scotland.? The programme does not just focus on traditional ?celebrities? either.? From scientists, to charity activists, playwrights, entrepreneurs to politicians ? there is rarely a disappointing interview.

The atrocious circumstances of the flight from Nazi Germany gave a clue to the dark nature of Jan Pienowski?s illustrations, while Dawn French went from tears (reminiscing about her Mother?s death) to laughter (her choice of Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman?s Kinky Boots).? Names associated with food and drink range from Nico Landenis, to Clement Freud, Fay Maschler and Anna del Conte. The latter spoke of serving up horse meat to unsuspecting house guests during the war.? In line with her belief that her countrymen eschew novelty, ?Italians want the same food made only better and better?, her desert island dish would be pasta with a good tomato sauce. Clarissa Dickson-Wright had no doubt that she would eat well on her island as she would hunt wild pig for making into wontons and forage for wild raspberries.

Over the last year and a bit I have asked some interesting people in the food world, including food bloggers, writers, authors and chefs, the following: ?If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one three course meal (plus a bottle of something if desired), what would it be? ?? It would be a sort of last meal on earth before a diet of coconuts and fish for ever more (or until you were rescued).

In no particular order, here are the replies:

Caroline Mili Artiss ? successful video food blogger and TV chef (she also says she?s a custard fanatic too).

For my starters it would have to be scallops.. any which way really. ?I just LOVE scallops, I could eat ten in one go. ?Pan seared and wrapped in prosciutto.

Main course ? A Chinese meal that I couldn?t bear to live without. ?It consists of three different types of meat (this is possibly the reason I chose it) and it is something that you can order from any good Chinese restaurant, ?the ones with the rows of duck and other meats hanging in the windows. ?This dish is almost like a staple Chinese meal and one that I have grown up on. ?It?s simplicity is what I love most about it as it let?s the flavors speak for themselves. ?It?s a plate with a big heap of plain steamed rice, topped with a few slices of roast duck, Char sui pork which is slowly cooked with a sweet marinade normally using five spice and honey, and siu youk pork. ?Siu Youk uses the belly of pork and it?s roasted until it is very crispy on the top with plenty of salt. ?There is also some plain steamed green vegetables like kai lan, a crunchy chinese broccoli and all this is topped with a drizzle of sweet soy sauce.

Dessert has to be a lemon meringue pie. ?To die for. ?Must be my ultimate favorite sweet treat. ?The tangy lemons with sweet meringues and crumbly pastry crust, who could resist?

I think from my selection you can tell I?m East meets West not only in the kitchen but in my DNA too.

Vanessa Kimbell ? author of the cook book Prepped who describes herself as a food loving, sour dough adoring, baking mad foodie.

Starters Chinese Duck Canapes, Pork balls with caraway and Cardamon and basil ice-cream for pudding

Chinese Duck Canapes, Pork balls with caraway and Cardamon and basil ice-cream ? image by Vanessa Kimbell

Jeanne Horak-Druiff ? award-winning ?food, wine & travel blogger of Cook Sister

A starter of either seared foie gras and apple chutney; or MOUNDS of Jamon Iberico de Bellota; a main of a giant Caesar salad topped with the best quality salmon fillet available, very lightly seared; and for dessert, cherries Jubilee.? To wash it all down?? A bottle of pink Champagne like Graham Beck Brut Rose

Antonio Carluccio ? Italian cookery writer and chef

Deeba Rajpal? ? Passionate About Baking food blogger is an understatement; she also write an online baking blog for the Times of India, one of India?s largest newspapers

My?choice of?desert island dishes would be:

Indian Chicken Mince Kebabs?& Ricotta & Cream Cheese Chili Poppers

Chicken & Roasted Bell Pepper Juliennes {pot pies}, Sauteed French Beans, Potato-Mushroom Crouquttes ?? served with?a cold pasta salad

Stone Fruit Crumbles with unsweetened low fat cream ?. plus a bottle of Chardonnay { or maybe chilled beer}

Stone fruit crumbles from Passionate about Baking

Helen Graves ? of Food Stories who blogs mainly about food and drink in Peckham, London (and a lot of pork recipes), sent me an email full of laughter, literally?.

I think for my starter I would have an absolutely MASSIVE plate of Jamon Iberico, the best money can buy and a glass of Manzanilla. No a bottle actually. Then I think I might have pulled pork with Boston baked beans as that?s my favourite meal in recent memory. I am tempted to say a MASSIVE bowl of pasta though because I do love it. I would have anchovy, chilli, brocolli and garlic pasta with plenty of white wine and parsley. Breadcrumbs for the top please, fried in the oil from the anchovy jar.

For dessert?it would have to be ice cream as I?m a serious addict. Salted caramel perhaps. Can I have some cheese too? I want some cheese. A trolley of cheese actually and some bread and crackers to go with it. And some grapes.

Then I would like a double fernet branca.

I think that?s it. I better stop before I change my mind!

P.S. Actually no forget the pasta. I want the pulled pork and baked beans! Ha ha ha ha.

Porridge lady eating a pear

Anna Louise Batchelor aka Porridge Lady ? Food Writer, blogger for the Soil Association, sustainable food advisor, radio reporter & presenter, cook and freestyle Porridge Maker who has been an award winner at the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Awards.

Whilst away I have been thinking on this and below is my ?Desert Island Dish?. It is a very autumnal menu but I guess my fave dishes are real hearty comfort foods. After the harvest the foods in the South East of England are bountiful and delicious and it?s a great time to be hungry!

Starters; I don?t tend to eat a lot of starters but I would choose a little wholemeal sour dough bread lightly toasted with walnuts from my neighbour?s garden. Served with slices of with apples and pears from my local orchard? ? Cross Lanes Fruit Farm.

Main course ? Toad in the hole with peas and home-made ketchup. I make my own sausages from meats reared on a local biodynamic farm and recently the lamb has been superb making very tasty sausages.

Pudding ? Oatmeal spotted dick with home-made custard. This is the dish that I won the speciality section of the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championships with and so it?s a dish close to my heart.

To drink ? I drink very little alcohol but when I do I love perry which I buy from Olivers Cider and Perry company one of the few real Perry makers left in the country.

Oatmeal Spotted Dick ? image by Porridge Lady

Claire Sutton ? Who makes me homesick and hungry at the same time on Things We Make where she and her husband Ed blog and photograph (beautifully) the?things they make. Lots of common ground between her choices and mine.

Griddled Chicken Skewers with peanut satay sauce

Local Roast Rib of beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, horseradish sauce, proper gravy and fresh perfectly cooked vegetables

Raspberry Pavlova with extra thick cream

A bottle of Fleurie (I don?t know much about wine, but I know I have had this and it was nice!)

Claire?s Desert Island Dinner ? image copyright Things We Make

Joan Nova -? of Foodalogue who is a food blogger, recipe developer, cooking challenge enthusiast, wine imbiber, casual communicator, social media dabbler, photography enthusiast, tireless traveller.

Soooo hard to choose. I wanted to honor comfort foods from my Spanish-Italian heritage plus what I?ve learned from my travels and my penchant for things Latin American and Asian?not to mention recent discoveries as a blogger which have taught me to appreciate farm-to-table, clean, unprocessed, uncomplicated food preparations.

It was very hard to leave a seafood salad (Italian or ceviche) or some other fish dish behind. Wish it was 4 courses!!

The only thing I was totally sure about was the wine!!

First Course: Caponata Pasta (anchovy-based with eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, herbs, nuts, raisins, garlic, nuts and chili flakes) tossed with pasta and fresh boccocini.

Entr?e: Grilled chorizo, broccoli rabe (rapini) and toasted ciabatta bread with a savory white bean spread.

Dessert: I don?t have a particularly sweet tooth, so I?d opt for twice-baked Italian biscotti with nuts and fruit. I find them irresistible. Maybe I?d take a scoop of deep chocolate gelato or Italian lemon ice or a Vin Santo to dunk that cookie!

Wine: Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina. No question.

asparagus and goats? cheese pasta from Ren Behan of Fabulicious Food

Ren Behan ? freelance writer and blogger behind Fabulicious Food who likes to cook using fresh, seasonal ingredients, enjoys baking and is often influenced by the hearty, Eastern European food?of her childhood.

For a starter I would go for Baked Aubergine/Eggplant ?Iman Bayaldi? topped with yoghurt,?fresh herbs?and diced, grilled?halloumi cheese. A Turkish recipe I believe, where the eggplant is baked and with onion, garlic and tomatoes. I haven?t made it yet but once ate it?at my favourite restaurant so I can?t wait to give it a go.

For a main course I would have to go with home made pasta, kept really simple. I love seasonal food and local produce so my recipe with asparagus and goats? cheese would do nicely!

For dessert it would have to be a hot chocolate fondant pudding with a gooey centre and a scoop of Cornish clotted cream.

Wine ? my favourite is the Viognier grape.

Diana Henry ? award-winning food writer, author, cook and presenter

?and if you listened to the end of the recording, the answer was ?bread and cheese?.

Samantha Wood aka Foodiva ? who writes impartial, intelligent restaurant reviews and foodie features about the U.A.E. and other countries.

OK here are mine. Must admit I struggled with the starter, there are so many for me. Yours is a great one too, I can eat pretty much anything with a runny egg, and I do love asparagus.

Starter; Pan-fried foie gras served with toasted brioche

Main course; Fillet steak cooked rare topped with Cafe De Paris butter, mustard mash potato and green beans with garlic

Dessert; Tarte Tatin served straight out of the pan (has to be the original dish with apple) with vanilla or clotted cream ice-cream ? followed by a cheese platter with most definitely Stilton included!

Tipple; Dom Perignon ros? for all courses

Giorgio Locatelli ? Award-winning Italian chef with restaurants in London and Dubai

Sheila Dillon from the BBC Food Programme mentioned taking watercress sandwiches which made me wish for a stream on the island where I could harvest some wild watercress.

And what would I choose?

I?d start with local asparagus, in season, from the Vale of Evesham with a poached egg on top (maybe Hollandaise too) and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Roast organic free-range pork would be my main course, with crispy roast potatoes, roast parsnips, Savoy cabbage, runner beans, apple sauce, gravy and lots of crackling. I?d be on my own on the desert island so no-one could complain about the crunching. Pudding would be blackberry and apple pie (the blackberries picked from the hedgerows) with home-made custard. Not the best food match, but I?d sip and savour a bottle of 1996 Chateau Palmer bringing back memories of friends who I drank this with.

Thank you to everyone who has participated. There are so many people left to include so I love to hear your choices in the comments section. This could be part one?.who would you like to ask about their desert island dish?

As to why it?s taken me so long to write up, this post is something I?m printing out as my New Year?s resolution! Strike a chord? Happy New Year everyone ? and a massive thanks to everyone who stopped by in 2012.

Source: http://mycustardpie.com/2013/01/01/whats-your-desert-island-dish/

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Credit Management: How Did Your Books Look Last Year? This Year?

On January 2, 2013 ?By Scott Wolfe Jr

We?ve now turned the page into the year 2013. How well did your company?s credit management plans mitigate your risk and allow you to take on the necessary about of business?

Just one year ago many sat at their desks to review the prior year?s financial successes and failures, lamenting at any lost money and celebrating any small steps towards higher margins.?The same event is happening around the country this morning, as we look back at the 2012 calendar year and think about how to make our businesses better in the coming year.

Why Good Credit Management Is Essential In The Construction Industry

One of our nation?s oldest and largest industries ? the construction industry ? is particularly vulnerable to poor credit planning.

The chart on the left shows some debt-ratios separated by industry. Building material supply companies are running with a 48%+ debt ratio at any given time, which means nearly half of the company?s assets are provided via debt.

The trend of high debt continues across different segments of the construction industry. Homebuilders, for example, have a 50.7% debt ratio. ?Compare this to other industries (like the restaurant,?apparel?or e-commerce industries), and you can see that debt is a much bigger challenge for those in construction.

We addressed the debt ratio issue and how to control the excessive risk in a post from last year: ?High Debt Ratios In Building Supply Industry Means High Risk ? Can You Control The Risk?

What does this debt ratio issue mean in a nutshell? ?It means that material suppliers are always owed a lot of money. ?And who owes suppliers this money? ?Construction companies.

Failure rates of businesses after a 5 year period by industry sector, showing that after 5 years only 36.4% of construction businesses survive. Data compiled from the Census Bureau?s Business Dynamics Statistics by Scott Shane for Small Business Trends.

Unfortunately for the industry, construction companies fail more often than any other type of business in the United States. ?Take a look at the chart to the left here. ?As you can see, only 36.4% of construction businesses stay in business after a 5 year period. This exceeds every other industry sector.We spoke about this issue in another post from last year: Mechanics Lien Importance Highlighted By Contractor Failure Rates.

This is a?recipe?for disaster.

Building material suppliers extend credit more often than most other industries, and they are extending credit to companies that fail more often than most other industries. Managing and mitigating this credit risk is critically important.

What Bad Credit Decisions Mean To Your Business

How toxic is a bad credit decision to your business? ?I?m glad you asked.

In more bad news for the material supply and construction industry, it seems that these firms have extraordinarily slim profit margins.

The cost of bad debt in the construction industry. Since building material supply companies have an average 1.25% net profit margin, a tiny amount of bad debt ($12,500) sets the company far back in needed revenue to make up for the loss ($1m). Data from Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine.

Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine pegged the net profit margin for the Building Material and Supplies Dealers industry at just 1.25%. ?This is incredibly slim. ?The chart on the left here illustrates just how slim these margins are. ?If you think about it terms of real money, if a building material supplier writes off just $12,500 in bad debt for the 2012 calendar year, that means they will need $1,000,000 in revenue to make up for the loss.

In other words, if you?ve written off $12,500 from 2012, you may need $1,000,000 in revenue before you break even.

These numbers may help you realize that credit decisions, credit management and credit policies present a huge challenge. A single bad credit decision can easily amass an uncollectable account of $12,500. With such low margins, it?s almost impossible to make up the loss. ?What can you do?

How To Implement An Immaculate Credit Policy And Make More Money

Now you understand that the construction industry is vulnerable to debt and bad credit decisions. What now? How do you solve that problem and continue to do business without bleeding money? ?How do you stop the losses and actually increase the profit margin without the simple ?more revenue? solution?

The solution is buried in assembling great credit tools and great credit policies for your company. ?The solution is in credit management.

1. Review (or Create) Your Credit Policy.

The start of the new year is a great time for you to sit down and review (or create) your company?s credit policy. Your credit policy should take the following into account:

• Concrete methods to separate those who can and cannot get credit
• Concrete factors to guide the credit manager in determining who must give additional security (personal guaranty, joint checks, etc.)
• When and how lien rights will be used to secure accounts (see: Lien Policy)
• How long are your credit terms?
• What is done when a payment is not made?
• What is done when an account goes into default?

2. Incorporate Lien and Bond Claim Protections Into Your Credit Plans.

The lien and bond claim laws exist all around the country for the precise reason of helping a high risk industry (construction) deal with credit problems. ?If you?re not utilizing these laws you are simply ignoring the one thing out there to help your company deal with its credit challenges.

If you are not using the mechanics lien and bond claim laws to protect your accounts, you?re making a very very bad decision for your company. ?There are no and?s, if?s or but?s about this one.

The lien and bond claim laws exist all around the country for the precise reason of helping a high risk industry (construction) deal with credit problems. ?If you?re not utilizing these laws you are simply ignoring the one thing out there to help your company deal with its credit challenges.

3. Stick To Your Guns

All the planning and policy writing in the world is useless if you don?t execute. ?I can?t count how many supply companies I?ve consulted with over the years who have fantastic credit policies and procedures but simply don?t execute them. ?They make too many exceptions, they get lazy about lien compliance, etc. etc.

Commit yourself in 2013 to not only having a great credit and collections policy, but also to execute it.

Related articles

Tags: Accounts Receivable, Accounts Receivable Management, Bad Debt, Bloomberg Businessweek, Credit Management, Credit Planning, Credit Policy, Credit Risk, Debt Ratio, Featured, Lien Policy, Material Suppliers? / ? Leave a comment

About the Author: Scott Wolfe Jr

Self-proclaimed "Mechanics Lien and Preliminary Notice Guru," Scott is the founder of Zlien, a nationwide mechanics lien and preliminary notice filing service. He is also the founding author of Zlien's Lien Blog, authoring over 800 articles and writing over 300,000 words about mechanics lien laws since its inception in 2007. Scott is also the founder of Wolfe Law Group, a construction law firm that practices along the West Coast and in Louisiana. He lives in New Orleans, LA, where he was born and raised.

Source: http://www.zlien.com/blog/credit-management-2013/

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A ?Ripping? Fine New Year | Renee Hobbs at the Media Education Lab

I?ll be ripping clips from Gnomeo and Juliet to help K-12 teachers teach media literacy.

My New Year?s Resolution: In 2013, I?ll be ?ripping? DVDs to make clip compilations for media literacy. And I?ll be encouraging K-12 teachers, school librarians, and technology educators to do the same.

Why? Because finally, as of October 26, 2012, the U.S. Copyright Office, as part of the DMCA 1201 rulemaking process, has declared that K-12 teachers can legally bypass copy-protected software on DVDs and online streaming media to make short clips.

How did this happen? As a copyright education activist, I participated in two rounds of rulemaking proceedings in 2009 and 2012 concerning the anticircumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which is the law that exempts YouTube and other ISPs from liability from copyright claims and criminalizes the circumvention of digital rights management (DRM) software that protects DVDs from being copied. I was in good company among other copyright education activists including Peter DeCherney, Martine Rife, Spiro Bolos, and the ALA?s Jonathan Band. Professors Victoria Phillips and Peter Jaszi supported my work through the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic at Washington College of Law at American University.

Every three years, citizens can protest if they believe their fair use rights have been compromised by the current law; the Copyright Office pores over the petitions, weighs the pros and cons, and then offers recommendations to the Librarian of Congress, who ultimately grants or denies the exemptions.

In 2009, we were successful in expanding the law so that college professors and film/media students can legally ?rip? DVDs for fair use purposes. In 2012, we were successful in expanding the law to include the right of teachers in kindergarten through twelfth grade!

Here?s the fine print: ?The person engaging in the circumvention must believe and have reasonable grounds for believing that the circumvention is necessary to achieve the desired criticism or comment, and where the circumvention is undertaken solely in order to make use of short portions of the motion pictures for the purpose of criticism or comment in the following instances: (i) In noncommercial videos; (ii) in documentary films; (iii) in nonfiction multimedia ebooks offering film analysis; and (iv) for educational purposes by college and university faculty, college and university students, and kindergarten through twelfth grade educators.? You can read the text of the Copyright Office decision here.

Why it matters. By asserting that K-12 educators have the right to circumvent encryption to make fair use of copy-protected DVDs and online digital media for teaching and learning, the law begins to move beyond the needs of large-scale content owners to include the rights of educators and students.

But if K-12 educators don?t take advantage of their new legal rights, has the law really changed? This new provision of the law is definitely a ?use it or lose it? situation ? if we can?t demonstrate the need for the special exemption in 2015, we may lose it. So, my friends, get ?ripping.? Unleash your creativity to create new kinds of educational materials with film DVDs. To help you learn how, here?s a ?how to? lesson on using the free software Handbrake to rip on a MAC and here?s how to do it on a PC. And please, inspire your colleagues by posting your own plans for ?ripping? in the comment space below.

First things first. You might wonder why I?ve set my sights on ?ripping? clips from Gnomeo and Juliet (2011, dir: Kelly Asbury). Of course, there?s the wonderful opportunity to hear my favorite classic Elton John songs (like ?Your Song,? for example). But the film has so many possibilities for exploring literary concepts like adaptation and intertextuality and for discussing the concept of nostalgia as it shapes the production of films for child audiences.

Among the gems in this film is the infomercial for the Terrafirminator, the ?un-neccesarily powerful? lawnmower that?s ?a weapon of grass destruction,? so intimidating that ?your lawn will be afraid to grow!?

After viewing the commercial, the gnomes use a laptop to order this high-tech lawnmower.

It?s a classic example of those Saturday-morning high-pressure sales pitches we see on TV.? And even very young children will recognize the now-familiar trope of slow-motion ninja fighting when it occurs in the timeless conflict between the red gnomes and the blue gnomes. I can imagine playing the ?Spot the Reference Humor? game, where students clap their hands when they recognize an example, using this activity to discuss the complex interpretations viewers make as part of the film viewing experience. Of course, older students will enjoy the chance to discuss how and why the Shakespeare tragedy is bizarrely altered to create the happy ending required for a children?s film.

Now that the U.S. Copyright Office has permitted K-12 educators to ?rip? videos for media literacy education, we can celebrate! Happy New Year 2013!

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Tags: 1201, activism, ALA, copyright, DMCA, DVD, education, Elton John, fair use, film, Gnomeo and Juliet, Handbrake, Jonathan Band, Martine Rife, Peter DeCherney, Peter Jaszi, ripping, Spiro Bolos, Victoria Phillips

Source: http://mediaedlab.com/2013/01/01/a-ripping-fine-new-year/

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Charity Engine Alleges Facebook Click Fraud - Business Insider

Julia DeBoer

Mark McAndrew

?

Charity Engine, a U.K. cloud computing startup that donates a portion of its revenues to non-profit causes, has called Facebook a "scam" that is "allowing click-fraud on a massive scale" and has vowed not to use the social network any more.

The company has had a longtime beef with Facebook over the way the social network allows ? or doesn't allow ? a company with an official Facebook Page to talk to its followers and fans.

Facebook uses an algorithm known as Edgerank, which restricts any given Page post so that only about 15 percent of a Page's fans actually get to see it. Only if the post gets a high level of engagement from fans will all followers see it; otherwise Facebook requires that Page owners pay to promote posts. The intention is to reduce boring spam posts from companies and to force companies to only post material that is genuinely interesting to users.

Charity Engine CEO Mark McAndrew told BI recently that Facebook prevented the company, through messages or posts, from informing its followers that it was officially launching with a $20,000 prize for one of its users.?He also told Read Write Social that he declined to pay a $4,500 promoted post fee that would have allowed him to reach most of his fans. Essentially, his complaint is that Facebook encouraged his company to build a fanbase on Facebook and then changed its rules in the latter half of 2012 in such a way that it prevented him from reaching his own fans unless he paid to do so.

A source at?Facebook defended the company's policy to RWS:

If a brand is continually putting up low-quality content that no one is engaging with, that content is going to be optimized out of the Newsfeed.

In a post on Dec. 24, however, Charity Engine said:

Hi folks,?

Just to let you know: we won't be using Facebook any more.?

Facebook is allowing click-fraud on a massive scale, letting millions of fake profiles join millions of fan pages and charging those page owners for every fake click of their FB adverts.?

They won't let pages contact or even view their own fans (really!), so nobody knows how many fakes they really have - except Facebook, and they're not telling. They won't allow an independent audit of their advert system either. It's a huge scam.?

You can follow us at our website www.charityengine.com or on Google+ (link below).?

Cheers folks!

The "click-fraud" allegation is new. As evidence, McAndrew sent us a sample of his most recent Facebook fans, which he claims are "riddled with blatant fakes - some are less than a day old and yet they've already liked hundreds, even thousands of random pages."

Facebook has had an historic problem with fake users and fake "likes." There are persistent reports of fake likes coming from the accounts of deceased friends. The system has had flaws in it in the past that have inflated the number of likes on a page.

It's currently deleting fake user accounts. It also has an automated "Integrity System" for deleting bogus likes. And in August, Facebook began a purge of fake accounts and the likes they generated.

Facebook declined comment. Here's Charity Engine's post:

?

?

Disclosure: The author owns Facebook stock.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/charity-engine-alleges-facebook-click-fraud-2012-12

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Professional Property Management and Maintenance | Celeste Bright

Owning real estate can be a lucrative and memorable venture as you monitor the development and success of your investment over time. This can also be a very stressful process with money to collect, tenants to find, and areas to update and maintain. If you own a property but also have other responsibilities and projects, you probably don?t have the time to properly manage your investment. Look to hire a responsible property management and maintenance company to help correct this problem. Property managers can help in the process of finding tenants, receiving rent, and communicating with the residents of the property. We always work diligently to be the source of the finest property maintenance services you can find anywhere. We know that unique forms of real estate require unique procedures and we can think outside of the box. Call us today for a great solution to your property maintenance questions.Property Manager Utah

Rental Management

Source: http://celestebright.com/professional-property-management-and-maintenance-2/

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