Secrets to Making Money

Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today:

Hats off to Ron Conway. Angel investor Ron Conway, whose prolific portfolio has included Google and PayPal, wrote a scathing e-mail to the super angels involved in what's now being referred to as "Angelgate," and, yes, TechCrunch got a hold of it. When Michael Arrington crashed a secret meeting of angels this week and later wrote that they could be conspiring to cap startup valuations, he mentioned that "a couple of the attendees are saying they were extremely uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going." Apparently, a partner at Conway's investment firm, David Lee, was one of them. In the e-mail, Conway calls fellow investors "driven by self serving factors around ego satisfaction and 'making a buck.'" He goes on to basically kick ass and takes names ... or rather, drops names. He writes that some fellow investors' actions are "despicable" and specifically calls David McClure out for blogging about the ordeal and causing "embarrassment" for Silicon Valley. Conway also defends David Lee, saying he was "uncomfortable with both gatherings." Conway drives the point home, writing that he wants to disengage, with all the e-mail recipients. "Lets agree to disagree and not have to even engage in any idle chit chat or discussion of any sort….ever." Wow.

Ciao to unlimited data? Verizon recently announced that it expects to start charging wireless customers on the amount of Internet data they use. Robert Chang, writing for the The Wall Street Journal, notes that "the wireless industry has struggled to balance the increasing demand for data capacity with unlimited plans that limit how much revenue carriers can generate from their subscribers." In other words, corporations like Verizon are having a hard time squeezing pennies from the unlimited monthly data plans. The announcement follows Apple's decision to halt sales of unlimited data plans to new customers, and replace it with two service plans that have monthly caps. Customers who go over their limits are charged. But could Verizon be shooting itself in the foot by reducing smartphone Internet use, which could be potentially tapped for revenue streams itself?

Is Obama's small business program falling on deaf ears? The $30 billion in federal lending the president pledged yesterday was supposed to aid struggling small businesses with easier credit and other incentives to grow and hire new workers. But what if businesses don't want the money? Today the AP reports feedback from a number of small businesses and community bank that show reluctance to participate due to concerns about expansion and heightened scrutiny. "We have taken a strategic decision not to have our primary regulatory, the government, also be a partner in our bank," said William Chase Jr., CEO of Triumph Bank in Memphis. Many businesses have also frozen plans to expand since the recession in 2008, and don't intend to borrow until customers and revenues grow as well. Additional fears arise from the strings attached to TARP funding, when participating banks had to later cut dividends to shareholders and limit compensation. While the government has promised fewer regulations this time around, many still balk at the program's ability to change the rules at any time.

Five myths about Facebook. As The Social Network premieres in New York, and Facebook does damage control in Silicon Valley, David Kilpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World writes in the Washington Post about common misconceptions. Before you get too excited, remember, these are myths, not secrets. Example: "Facebook keeps changing to help sell advertising." Sure, there are tweaks over the use and display of personal data, but it's more about staying nimble than pleasing advertisers, Kilpatrick writes.

Need a job? Just text it. Fast Company reports on Assured Labor, a MIT offspring company that connects low-income job-seekers with employers over mobile SMS. The employment service, created by Harvard and Sloan School of Management students, launched in Mexico this week. Check out what the company's founder and CEO has to say here.

U.S. seeing rising discrimination complaints from Muslim employees. Even before the dispute over the planned construction of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan erupted, more and more Muslim workers were filing religious discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The New York Times reports. "Although Muslims make up less than 2 percent of the United States population," the Times writes, "they accounted for about one-quarter of the 3,386 religious discrimination claims filed with the E.E.O.C. last year." The Times says that Islamic groups expect the 2010 numbers to set a new record. Complaints range from verbal taunts from co-workers like "terrorist" and "Obama," to employers prohibiting Muslim women from wearing head scarves.

The classy way to handle rejection. On his blog, venture capitalist Fred Wilson has some advice for any young company dealing with the anger and frustration of being turned down by investors. Rather than sending an expletive-laced e-mail to the firm that turned you down, Wilson says it is better in the long run to handle the rejection with class. "You need to thank the investor for taking a look," he says. "You need to keep the relationship intact for the next time you want to raise money." Wilson admits that it isn't easy to maintain composure after being told no, but he says, "I always make myself feel better by saying to myself 'this deal is going to be huge and the best revenge will be when they are kicking themselves for saying no.'"

More from Inc. magazine:

Get this delivered to your inbox.

Follow us on Twitter.

Follow us on Tumblr.

Like us on Facebook.

The newly formed �super PAC� of abortion rights advocacy group EMILY�s List drew most of the $430,000 it raised in August from just five sources, a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance reports filed Thursday shows.

Last month, the PAC, known as Women Vote!, raised $250,000 from the Service Employees International Union and another $95,000 from four wealthy women philanthropists and investors who have been prolific political donors over the years, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis. Such contributions illustrate how relatively few people may now, in the aftermath of major federal court decisions, significantly affect the financial fortunes of certain political groups.

This $95,000 represents more than 50 percent of all non-SEIU contributions Women Vote! collected in August.

The largest individual contribution the group received in August came from New York investor Judith-Ann Corrente, who contributed $50,000.

Along with her husband, Blenheim Capital Management Chairman Willem Kooyker, Corrente is among the top 50 donors to all federal candidates, parties and committees so far this election cycle.

The other women to drop five-figure checks for the committee are as follows:

• Anne D. Taft, of Binghamton, N.Y. She contributed $25,000 and her occupation is listed as �investor� on the group�s Federal Election Commission filings


• Emily H. Fisher, a philanthropist who lives in Sheffield, Mass. She contributed $10,000 and her occupation is listed as �retired� on the group�s FEC filings


• Anne Bartley, of San Francisco. She contributed $10,000. Her occupation is listed as �investor� on the group�s FEC filings. She is married to Larry B. McNeil -- who is the director of the SEIU�s Institute for Change and who was a �Saul Alinski organizer for 25 years,� according to an official online biography
  

Bartley is also currently a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. (Full disclosure: This foundation is a funder of the Center for Responsive Politics.)

The EMILY�s List�s Women Vote! PAC was established earlier this year for the explicit purpose of making independent expenditures in hot races, for example, running advertisements overtly telling voters to support or defeat specific candidates. It is one of more than two dozen groups to register with the FEC as an �independent expenditure-only committee,� as OpenSecrets Blog has previously written about on numerous occasions.

The group has raised $1.5 million between January and August. It ended August with about $703,000 cash on hand.

It has spent $826,900 since January, including $65,800 on mailings in August touting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Robin Carnahan and opposing Republican Senate candidate Roy Blunt in Missouri.

During previous election cycles, federal rules limited how much money PACs could collect from individuals. It was illegal to collect more than $5,000 per person, per year. But recent federal legal rulings -- including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission -- have changed that.

DNC Chair on Fox <b>News</b>: They are &#39;pushing&#39; for Republicans – This <b>...</b>

President Obama is at the University of Wisconsin trying to rally the Democratic base as November elections near. In a newly published Rolling Stone interview, Obama called it "irresponsible" to paint the base as unenthusiastic.

From Poll, a Snapshot of Fox <b>News</b> Viewers - NYTimes.com

Voters who watch Fox News are more enthusiastic about the election and angrier with Washington, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

Glenn Beck vs. Fox <b>News</b>: &#39;Tension&#39; Between Beck &amp; Network

Glenn Beck appears on the cover of this weekend's New York Times Magazine in a lengthy profile written by Mark Leibovich. In the profile, Leibovich touches on tensions between Beck and Fox News, the network that catapulted him to ...

bench craft company rip off
benchcraft company scam

DNC Chair on Fox <b>News</b>: They are &#39;pushing&#39; for Republicans – This <b>...</b>

President Obama is at the University of Wisconsin trying to rally the Democratic base as November elections near. In a newly published Rolling Stone interview, Obama called it "irresponsible" to paint the base as unenthusiastic.

From Poll, a Snapshot of Fox <b>News</b> Viewers - NYTimes.com

Voters who watch Fox News are more enthusiastic about the election and angrier with Washington, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

Glenn Beck vs. Fox <b>News</b>: &#39;Tension&#39; Between Beck &amp; Network

Glenn Beck appears on the cover of this weekend's New York Times Magazine in a lengthy profile written by Mark Leibovich. In the profile, Leibovich touches on tensions between Beck and Fox News, the network that catapulted him to ...

bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off

Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today:

Hats off to Ron Conway. Angel investor Ron Conway, whose prolific portfolio has included Google and PayPal, wrote a scathing e-mail to the super angels involved in what's now being referred to as "Angelgate," and, yes, TechCrunch got a hold of it. When Michael Arrington crashed a secret meeting of angels this week and later wrote that they could be conspiring to cap startup valuations, he mentioned that "a couple of the attendees are saying they were extremely uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going." Apparently, a partner at Conway's investment firm, David Lee, was one of them. In the e-mail, Conway calls fellow investors "driven by self serving factors around ego satisfaction and 'making a buck.'" He goes on to basically kick ass and takes names ... or rather, drops names. He writes that some fellow investors' actions are "despicable" and specifically calls David McClure out for blogging about the ordeal and causing "embarrassment" for Silicon Valley. Conway also defends David Lee, saying he was "uncomfortable with both gatherings." Conway drives the point home, writing that he wants to disengage, with all the e-mail recipients. "Lets agree to disagree and not have to even engage in any idle chit chat or discussion of any sort….ever." Wow.

Ciao to unlimited data? Verizon recently announced that it expects to start charging wireless customers on the amount of Internet data they use. Robert Chang, writing for the The Wall Street Journal, notes that "the wireless industry has struggled to balance the increasing demand for data capacity with unlimited plans that limit how much revenue carriers can generate from their subscribers." In other words, corporations like Verizon are having a hard time squeezing pennies from the unlimited monthly data plans. The announcement follows Apple's decision to halt sales of unlimited data plans to new customers, and replace it with two service plans that have monthly caps. Customers who go over their limits are charged. But could Verizon be shooting itself in the foot by reducing smartphone Internet use, which could be potentially tapped for revenue streams itself?

Is Obama's small business program falling on deaf ears? The $30 billion in federal lending the president pledged yesterday was supposed to aid struggling small businesses with easier credit and other incentives to grow and hire new workers. But what if businesses don't want the money? Today the AP reports feedback from a number of small businesses and community bank that show reluctance to participate due to concerns about expansion and heightened scrutiny. "We have taken a strategic decision not to have our primary regulatory, the government, also be a partner in our bank," said William Chase Jr., CEO of Triumph Bank in Memphis. Many businesses have also frozen plans to expand since the recession in 2008, and don't intend to borrow until customers and revenues grow as well. Additional fears arise from the strings attached to TARP funding, when participating banks had to later cut dividends to shareholders and limit compensation. While the government has promised fewer regulations this time around, many still balk at the program's ability to change the rules at any time.

Five myths about Facebook. As The Social Network premieres in New York, and Facebook does damage control in Silicon Valley, David Kilpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World writes in the Washington Post about common misconceptions. Before you get too excited, remember, these are myths, not secrets. Example: "Facebook keeps changing to help sell advertising." Sure, there are tweaks over the use and display of personal data, but it's more about staying nimble than pleasing advertisers, Kilpatrick writes.

Need a job? Just text it. Fast Company reports on Assured Labor, a MIT offspring company that connects low-income job-seekers with employers over mobile SMS. The employment service, created by Harvard and Sloan School of Management students, launched in Mexico this week. Check out what the company's founder and CEO has to say here.

U.S. seeing rising discrimination complaints from Muslim employees. Even before the dispute over the planned construction of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan erupted, more and more Muslim workers were filing religious discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The New York Times reports. "Although Muslims make up less than 2 percent of the United States population," the Times writes, "they accounted for about one-quarter of the 3,386 religious discrimination claims filed with the E.E.O.C. last year." The Times says that Islamic groups expect the 2010 numbers to set a new record. Complaints range from verbal taunts from co-workers like "terrorist" and "Obama," to employers prohibiting Muslim women from wearing head scarves.

The classy way to handle rejection. On his blog, venture capitalist Fred Wilson has some advice for any young company dealing with the anger and frustration of being turned down by investors. Rather than sending an expletive-laced e-mail to the firm that turned you down, Wilson says it is better in the long run to handle the rejection with class. "You need to thank the investor for taking a look," he says. "You need to keep the relationship intact for the next time you want to raise money." Wilson admits that it isn't easy to maintain composure after being told no, but he says, "I always make myself feel better by saying to myself 'this deal is going to be huge and the best revenge will be when they are kicking themselves for saying no.'"

More from Inc. magazine:

Get this delivered to your inbox.

Follow us on Twitter.

Follow us on Tumblr.

Like us on Facebook.

The newly formed �super PAC� of abortion rights advocacy group EMILY�s List drew most of the $430,000 it raised in August from just five sources, a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance reports filed Thursday shows.

Last month, the PAC, known as Women Vote!, raised $250,000 from the Service Employees International Union and another $95,000 from four wealthy women philanthropists and investors who have been prolific political donors over the years, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis. Such contributions illustrate how relatively few people may now, in the aftermath of major federal court decisions, significantly affect the financial fortunes of certain political groups.

This $95,000 represents more than 50 percent of all non-SEIU contributions Women Vote! collected in August.

The largest individual contribution the group received in August came from New York investor Judith-Ann Corrente, who contributed $50,000.

Along with her husband, Blenheim Capital Management Chairman Willem Kooyker, Corrente is among the top 50 donors to all federal candidates, parties and committees so far this election cycle.

The other women to drop five-figure checks for the committee are as follows:

• Anne D. Taft, of Binghamton, N.Y. She contributed $25,000 and her occupation is listed as �investor� on the group�s Federal Election Commission filings


• Emily H. Fisher, a philanthropist who lives in Sheffield, Mass. She contributed $10,000 and her occupation is listed as �retired� on the group�s FEC filings


• Anne Bartley, of San Francisco. She contributed $10,000. Her occupation is listed as �investor� on the group�s FEC filings. She is married to Larry B. McNeil -- who is the director of the SEIU�s Institute for Change and who was a �Saul Alinski organizer for 25 years,� according to an official online biography
  

Bartley is also currently a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. (Full disclosure: This foundation is a funder of the Center for Responsive Politics.)

The EMILY�s List�s Women Vote! PAC was established earlier this year for the explicit purpose of making independent expenditures in hot races, for example, running advertisements overtly telling voters to support or defeat specific candidates. It is one of more than two dozen groups to register with the FEC as an �independent expenditure-only committee,� as OpenSecrets Blog has previously written about on numerous occasions.

The group has raised $1.5 million between January and August. It ended August with about $703,000 cash on hand.

It has spent $826,900 since January, including $65,800 on mailings in August touting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Robin Carnahan and opposing Republican Senate candidate Roy Blunt in Missouri.

During previous election cycles, federal rules limited how much money PACs could collect from individuals. It was illegal to collect more than $5,000 per person, per year. But recent federal legal rulings -- including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission -- have changed that.



bench craft company rip off

DNC Chair on Fox <b>News</b>: They are &#39;pushing&#39; for Republicans – This <b>...</b>

President Obama is at the University of Wisconsin trying to rally the Democratic base as November elections near. In a newly published Rolling Stone interview, Obama called it "irresponsible" to paint the base as unenthusiastic.

From Poll, a Snapshot of Fox <b>News</b> Viewers - NYTimes.com

Voters who watch Fox News are more enthusiastic about the election and angrier with Washington, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

Glenn Beck vs. Fox <b>News</b>: &#39;Tension&#39; Between Beck &amp; Network

Glenn Beck appears on the cover of this weekend's New York Times Magazine in a lengthy profile written by Mark Leibovich. In the profile, Leibovich touches on tensions between Beck and Fox News, the network that catapulted him to ...

bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off

DNC Chair on Fox <b>News</b>: They are &#39;pushing&#39; for Republicans – This <b>...</b>

President Obama is at the University of Wisconsin trying to rally the Democratic base as November elections near. In a newly published Rolling Stone interview, Obama called it "irresponsible" to paint the base as unenthusiastic.

From Poll, a Snapshot of Fox <b>News</b> Viewers - NYTimes.com

Voters who watch Fox News are more enthusiastic about the election and angrier with Washington, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

Glenn Beck vs. Fox <b>News</b>: &#39;Tension&#39; Between Beck &amp; Network

Glenn Beck appears on the cover of this weekend's New York Times Magazine in a lengthy profile written by Mark Leibovich. In the profile, Leibovich touches on tensions between Beck and Fox News, the network that catapulted him to ...

benchcraft company scam bench craft company rip off

DNC Chair on Fox <b>News</b>: They are &#39;pushing&#39; for Republicans – This <b>...</b>

President Obama is at the University of Wisconsin trying to rally the Democratic base as November elections near. In a newly published Rolling Stone interview, Obama called it "irresponsible" to paint the base as unenthusiastic.

From Poll, a Snapshot of Fox <b>News</b> Viewers - NYTimes.com

Voters who watch Fox News are more enthusiastic about the election and angrier with Washington, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

Glenn Beck vs. Fox <b>News</b>: &#39;Tension&#39; Between Beck &amp; Network

Glenn Beck appears on the cover of this weekend's New York Times Magazine in a lengthy profile written by Mark Leibovich. In the profile, Leibovich touches on tensions between Beck and Fox News, the network that catapulted him to ...

benchcraft company scam

personal finance and budgeting

• CEDIA: LG, JVC and Sony debut LCoS-based 3D front projectors
  
  



• BMW ActiveE electric car - Consumer field trials to begin next summer
  
  



• Five insider shopping tips for Gordon Gekko
  
  



• Daily Dispatch: Google NEW lists updates of all its products; Survey reveals people prefer colonoscopies to computer maintenance
  
  



• 2010 Distracted Driving Summit: What’s next for combating driver distractions?
  
  



• What's the deal with car tire pricing?
  
  



• Q&A: Short on salt
  
  



• Daily electronics deals
  
  



• 6 painless ways to cut your grocery bill
  
  



• Go green for school supplies
  
  

It's hard to beat an excel spreadsheet for quickly shifting between a granular and top-level view of your personal finance situation. Here's reader Lauren's account balance spreadsheet she made to keep track of her expenditures, past, present, and future, and itemize her budget.

Download Lauren's Budgeter (XLS)

1. Scroll to the current month.

2. Enter your current balance in the "Starting Balance" box at the top left.

3. Enter your credits and debits on the appropriate dates they will hit your account. Use positive numbers for money getting added credits, and negative numbers for when it's getting taken away.

4. The green "Total" will change to reflect your total overall balance.

Use it as is, compare it to your own, or mod to fit your own needs.

Lauren says it's "quite nifty," and also uses it as a calendar.

Here's the excel code for the totaler for those who like to look under the hood:

TODAY();_8_10)

+SUMIF(_9_10d;"

retiree big white booty

Ngmoco releases We City | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the Ngmoco releases We City. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> - Lindsay Lohan Going Back to Jail Until Oct. 22 - Celebrity <b>...</b>

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox revokes her probation for failing at least one drug test.

Artnet <b>News</b>: Gang assaults Turkish galleries. Plus, Miami <b>...</b>

ARTNET NEWS. Gang assaults Turkish galleries. Plus, Miami Sculpture Biennial, Prospect 1.5 New Orleans, more.

Ngmoco releases We City | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the Ngmoco releases We City. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> - Lindsay Lohan Going Back to Jail Until Oct. 22 - Celebrity <b>...</b>

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox revokes her probation for failing at least one drug test.

Artnet <b>News</b>: Gang assaults Turkish galleries. Plus, Miami <b>...</b>

ARTNET NEWS. Gang assaults Turkish galleries. Plus, Miami Sculpture Biennial, Prospect 1.5 New Orleans, more.

big white booty

Ngmoco releases We City | iLounge <b>News</b>

iLounge news discussing the Ngmoco releases We City. Find more Apps + Games news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

<b>News</b> - Lindsay Lohan Going Back to Jail Until Oct. 22 - Celebrity <b>...</b>

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox revokes her probation for failing at least one drug test.

Artnet <b>News</b>: Gang assaults Turkish galleries. Plus, Miami <b>...</b>

ARTNET NEWS. Gang assaults Turkish galleries. Plus, Miami Sculpture Biennial, Prospect 1.5 New Orleans, more.

personal finance

WILMINGTON, Delaware (CNN) – Christine O'Donnell's Senate campaign is pushing back hard on allegations that she misused election funds by putting them to private use. Leading the counter-offensive is Cleta Mitchell, an attorney and an expert in campaign finance law, who was just retained by the O'Donnell campaign to deal with the allegations.

In an interview with CNN, Mitchell responded to a complaint against O'Donnell filed this week by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group, known as CREW, accuses O'Donnell of spending roughly $20,000 from her failed 2008 campaign for the Senate for personal expenses.

"That is not true," Mitchell told CNN. She accused CREW and its executive director, Melanie Sloan, of libeling O'Donnell and said the campaign is considering a lawsuit against the group.

"She has committed libel per se, slander per se by calling my client names... I've looked at lots of campaign FEC (Federal Election Commission) reports. And the things she (Sloan) is saying are simply not true," Mitchell said in the interview.

Sloan has called O'Donnell "a criminal" and "a crook," in accusing the candidate of tax evasion and a host of other financial improprieties.

Central to the allegations are claims that O'Donnell used 2008 campaign money to pay rent, to buy food and gasoline and even for a bowling outing. CREW says those expenditures occurred in 2009 and early 2010 when, the group says, O'Donnell had no active campaign.

"She did have a campaign because she had gone from running in 2008 to running in 2010," Mitchell told CNN Tuesday. "She was already running... she moved from one campaign to another and frankly the campaign headquarters was in her home - that's not unusual."

For her part, Sloan denies allegations her group is politically biased and says it is acting on information provided to it by a former O'Donnell campaign official.

"We've added up what we think is over $20,000 in expenses that were improper, that were money she used - campaign funds put to personal use. But it's really hard to say, because there's been no audit of her campaign. The fact is, once you start seeing this trend … the odds are there are many more expenses that we don't know about," Sloan told CNN in an interview.

Campaign officials are upset that the CREW complaint is getting so much press.

"You see, what the problem with Melanie Sloan and FEC complaints is you get to make big headlines, with lots of allegations and two or three years later, when they're dismissed as being baseless, there's no press. And so Melanie Sloan waited until Christine O'Donnell won the Republican nomination and less than a week later files a complaint that she's obviously had for a long time, just ready to go," Mitchell said.

"Social Currency is the app that lets you shop with all your friends, whether they're down the street or across the country. Tell them what you're buying, where you're finding it, how much you're spending, and what you want. Even better-find out what your friends are buying, too," according to a press release.

The Currency site features a Social Currency leaderboard for users with the most check-ins. Social Currency users can get "offers badges like "Thrifty Spender" and "Super Shutterbug," which the site says will soon show up on users' Foursquare badges list (UPDATE: The site originally said badges would soon show up in Foursquare; it has been changed to say they will only be viewable in Social Currency. The badges look very similar to Foursquare badges).

This new app represents another A-list brand bagged by Foursquare. American Express and its partners (disclaimer: Federated Media sells ads on ReadWriteWeb) chose the Foursquare platform over Twitter or Facebook, even though both have more users and the latter offers location check-ins.

The companies were clearly interested in Foursquare's game mechanics in addition to its social network. Users "play" Social Currency with their friends and every action results in points and "unlocking" badges.

There are arguably better apps for shopping check-ins, tracking your purchases and making shopping social. But the Social Currency app is well-made, looks just like Foursquare and includes some neat features, like adding a photo of an item you "want" to a "birthday" or "Christmas" list, and being able to comment on your friends' actions. By collaborating with Foursquare, American Express took a boring effort to "extend personal finance education" and made it social and fresh.

What do you think? Would you use this app?

ca big white booty

&#39;Fox <b>News</b> Sunday&#39; to Host Kentucky Senate Debate - NYTimes.com

Jack Conway, Kentucky's attorney general and the Democratic candidate for Senate, and Rand Paul, the Republican nominee, have agreed to a live debate on "Fox News Sunday" on Oct. 3.

Diane Sawyer: ABC World <b>News</b> Goes Home: Looking for What Works in <b>...</b>

We at ABC's World News are heading out to search for innovative ideas that are helping turn the economy around. Real change is often born out of a simple act. And one ripple can lead to a powerful transformation.

Small Business <b>News</b>: An Owner&#39;s Manual

If only there were an owner's manual that came with your small business telling you what works, what doesn't and what are the best ways to move ahead in your.

&#39;Fox <b>News</b> Sunday&#39; to Host Kentucky Senate Debate - NYTimes.com

Jack Conway, Kentucky's attorney general and the Democratic candidate for Senate, and Rand Paul, the Republican nominee, have agreed to a live debate on "Fox News Sunday" on Oct. 3.

Diane Sawyer: ABC World <b>News</b> Goes Home: Looking for What Works in <b>...</b>

We at ABC's World News are heading out to search for innovative ideas that are helping turn the economy around. Real change is often born out of a simple act. And one ripple can lead to a powerful transformation.

Small Business <b>News</b>: An Owner&#39;s Manual

If only there were an owner's manual that came with your small business telling you what works, what doesn't and what are the best ways to move ahead in your.

big white booty

&#39;Fox <b>News</b> Sunday&#39; to Host Kentucky Senate Debate - NYTimes.com

Jack Conway, Kentucky's attorney general and the Democratic candidate for Senate, and Rand Paul, the Republican nominee, have agreed to a live debate on "Fox News Sunday" on Oct. 3.

Diane Sawyer: ABC World <b>News</b> Goes Home: Looking for What Works in <b>...</b>

We at ABC's World News are heading out to search for innovative ideas that are helping turn the economy around. Real change is often born out of a simple act. And one ripple can lead to a powerful transformation.

Small Business <b>News</b>: An Owner&#39;s Manual

If only there were an owner's manual that came with your small business telling you what works, what doesn't and what are the best ways to move ahead in your.

Making Money Online With

Gawker Media Community Policy

These are our sites, and we reserve the right to moderate the discussion. The basic rules are standard: An attack on authors or other commenters is unlikely to make you popular. Think before you disparage social or ethnic groups. Don't spam. Don't post pornography or copyrighted imagery. Stay on topic.

That said, the community policy of Gawker Media is forgiving. If your criticism is articulate, it will likely get through. We dole it out; we can take it. What do we mean by articulate? Support your point with argument, facts and citations. Good grammar and spelling also help.

Got questions? Need answers? See our FAQ and site-specific community guidelines.

Close

Online forums and communities present a largely untapped opportunity for making money — at least according to Dan Gill, cofounder and chief executive of Huddler.

The San Francisco startup is officially launching today. It’s one of those weird launches where the company has actually been working with customers for more than a year, and is only now getting around to telling the media that it exists. Gill said he wanted to make sure the technology was solid before doing too much to publicize it and attract competition.

Community-building software is a broad category, but Huddler approaches the market with a specific audience and mission. It’s looking for popular, product-focused forums that are built on either vBulletin or phpBB technology. Huddler contacts the owner of the site, offering to modernize the forum and bring in more money too.

Gill gave me a long list of benefits that Huddler can offer over older platforms. It gives the sites a makeover, so they look a bit less old-fashioned, not to mention more advertising-friendly. It optimizes the pages for search engines, and also makes them easier to share through Facebook Connect. And all the software is hosted online, rather than installed on someone’s computer, which means there’s less hassle for whoever’s managing the site.

Financially, there’s not much risk to the forum owner, since the software is free. Huddler is only paid by through a percentage of the increased revenue that it brings to a site. That revenue boost comes in a number of ways, Gill said — since the sites are product-focused, Huddler creates a product page with a link where visitors can buy the item in question. It also allows companies selling related products to create their own pages on the forum and engage with the community. And of course the sites can run advertising.

The transition to Huddler can be a challenging one because of the technology issues, as well as the likelihood that change will upset some forum members. Gill didn’t offer any details, but he hinted that he has seen his share of angry comments from users who didn’t like a new forum. But Huddler has become more proficient at both moving content to a new site and preparing users for the change, he said.

There are now 24 sites using Huddler, adding up to a total of 9 million unique monthly visitors. The success stories include EpicSki, which saw a 70 percent increase in natural search traffic after switching to Huddler, and DenimBlog, which doubled pageviews in two months and is now bringing in three times the amount of revenue.

Huddler raised $5.5 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates last year. For now, the company is focusing on existing forums because they’ve already got the audience, but Gill said, “There’s no reason you won’t be able to start your own Huddles in the future.”

[image via Flickr/Daniel Borman]

Next Story: Salesforce: Yes, Chatter really does improve productivity Previous Story: Otoy scores important deals for its server gaming technology

autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Ecclestone pushing for medals system

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone plans to make a fresh push to introduce his gold medal system into the sport, after suggesting that the new points system introduced this year has not improved matters.

<b>News</b> - Katy Perry&#39;s Sesame Street Segment Cut Over Her Cleavage <b>...</b>

"Katy Perry fans will still be able to view the video on You Tube," says a show rep.

Bookninja » Blog Archive » <b>News</b> roundup

News roundup. I'm in Manitoba, Canada's Minnesota, for Winnipeg's THIN AIR authors festival. So I'll be sporadically blogging from my very nicely appointed hotel room (they know how to treat the authors here, perhaps because when you ...

robert shumake

autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Ecclestone pushing for medals system

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone plans to make a fresh push to introduce his gold medal system into the sport, after suggesting that the new points system introduced this year has not improved matters.

<b>News</b> - Katy Perry&#39;s Sesame Street Segment Cut Over Her Cleavage <b>...</b>

"Katy Perry fans will still be able to view the video on You Tube," says a show rep.

Bookninja » Blog Archive » <b>News</b> roundup

News roundup. I'm in Manitoba, Canada's Minnesota, for Winnipeg's THIN AIR authors festival. So I'll be sporadically blogging from my very nicely appointed hotel room (they know how to treat the authors here, perhaps because when you ...

Gawker Media Community Policy

These are our sites, and we reserve the right to moderate the discussion. The basic rules are standard: An attack on authors or other commenters is unlikely to make you popular. Think before you disparage social or ethnic groups. Don't spam. Don't post pornography or copyrighted imagery. Stay on topic.

That said, the community policy of Gawker Media is forgiving. If your criticism is articulate, it will likely get through. We dole it out; we can take it. What do we mean by articulate? Support your point with argument, facts and citations. Good grammar and spelling also help.

Got questions? Need answers? See our FAQ and site-specific community guidelines.

Close

Online forums and communities present a largely untapped opportunity for making money — at least according to Dan Gill, cofounder and chief executive of Huddler.

The San Francisco startup is officially launching today. It’s one of those weird launches where the company has actually been working with customers for more than a year, and is only now getting around to telling the media that it exists. Gill said he wanted to make sure the technology was solid before doing too much to publicize it and attract competition.

Community-building software is a broad category, but Huddler approaches the market with a specific audience and mission. It’s looking for popular, product-focused forums that are built on either vBulletin or phpBB technology. Huddler contacts the owner of the site, offering to modernize the forum and bring in more money too.

Gill gave me a long list of benefits that Huddler can offer over older platforms. It gives the sites a makeover, so they look a bit less old-fashioned, not to mention more advertising-friendly. It optimizes the pages for search engines, and also makes them easier to share through Facebook Connect. And all the software is hosted online, rather than installed on someone’s computer, which means there’s less hassle for whoever’s managing the site.

Financially, there’s not much risk to the forum owner, since the software is free. Huddler is only paid by through a percentage of the increased revenue that it brings to a site. That revenue boost comes in a number of ways, Gill said — since the sites are product-focused, Huddler creates a product page with a link where visitors can buy the item in question. It also allows companies selling related products to create their own pages on the forum and engage with the community. And of course the sites can run advertising.

The transition to Huddler can be a challenging one because of the technology issues, as well as the likelihood that change will upset some forum members. Gill didn’t offer any details, but he hinted that he has seen his share of angry comments from users who didn’t like a new forum. But Huddler has become more proficient at both moving content to a new site and preparing users for the change, he said.

There are now 24 sites using Huddler, adding up to a total of 9 million unique monthly visitors. The success stories include EpicSki, which saw a 70 percent increase in natural search traffic after switching to Huddler, and DenimBlog, which doubled pageviews in two months and is now bringing in three times the amount of revenue.

Huddler raised $5.5 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates last year. For now, the company is focusing on existing forums because they’ve already got the audience, but Gill said, “There’s no reason you won’t be able to start your own Huddles in the future.”

[image via Flickr/Daniel Borman]

Next Story: Salesforce: Yes, Chatter really does improve productivity Previous Story: Otoy scores important deals for its server gaming technology

robert shumake

autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Ecclestone pushing for medals system

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone plans to make a fresh push to introduce his gold medal system into the sport, after suggesting that the new points system introduced this year has not improved matters.

<b>News</b> - Katy Perry&#39;s Sesame Street Segment Cut Over Her Cleavage <b>...</b>

"Katy Perry fans will still be able to view the video on You Tube," says a show rep.

Bookninja » Blog Archive » <b>News</b> roundup

News roundup. I'm in Manitoba, Canada's Minnesota, for Winnipeg's THIN AIR authors festival. So I'll be sporadically blogging from my very nicely appointed hotel room (they know how to treat the authors here, perhaps because when you ...

robert shumake

autosport.com - F1 <b>News</b>: Ecclestone pushing for medals system

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone plans to make a fresh push to introduce his gold medal system into the sport, after suggesting that the new points system introduced this year has not improved matters.

<b>News</b> - Katy Perry&#39;s Sesame Street Segment Cut Over Her Cleavage <b>...</b>

"Katy Perry fans will still be able to view the video on You Tube," says a show rep.

Bookninja » Blog Archive » <b>News</b> roundup

News roundup. I'm in Manitoba, Canada's Minnesota, for Winnipeg's THIN AIR authors festival. So I'll be sporadically blogging from my very nicely appointed hotel room (they know how to treat the authors here, perhaps because when you ...

managing your personal finance

• Free museum day is Saturday!
  
  



• DIY painting: 5 time-saving tips
  
  



• A state-by-state update on cash for appliance rebates
  
  



• Bedbugs: Don’t bring them home with you
  
  



• First Look: The iPod Nano loses its mojo
  
  



• Daily Dispatch: Yahoo looks to the chicken Coop for green innovation in new data center; VLC Video player gets approval from Apple for iPad
  
  



• New vacuum Ratings: Good airflow or a lot of hot air?
  
  



• Married couples in accord (and in the dark) about retirement spending
  
  



• 2010 Distracted Driving Summit: States address cell-phone dangers
  
  



• Daily electronics deals
  
  

A lot of people are unemployed in this country, 14.9 million as of the latest BLS release a couple of days ago, and for some of those people, this has become what is coyly referred to as ‘the entrepreneurial moment’, the ‘ah-ha’ light-bulb realization that if they don’t create a job for themselves, there will be no job, no income, no mortgage payment, no groceries, no light, no heat, no gas for the car, nuthin’. Since 2008, over 5 million jobs have been lost, many of which will never, ever come back.

Welcome to Labor Day, 2010.

Some of these ‘lost’ jobs have been outsourced overseas. Some have just been cut. Some companies are using their cash to invest in technologies which will insure that they will never have to hire these folks back, at least not with the skills that they had when they were given a cardboard box and five minutes to empty their desks and get out the front door.

If there are people out there who have or are considering building their own ‘life raft’ it would surprise absolutely no one; though for some folks, entrepreneurship is so scary, they can’t imagine anything other than hiring on to someone else’s deal, no matter how horrible it is.

Sometimes, though, you don’t have any choice. One thing to remember, is that many of the most successful entrepreneurs in this country have not invented fuel cells, high tech photovoltaic films, high speed transit, a cure for cancer (or the common cold), or the answer for peace in our time. They are cleaning houses, making pizza, fixing computers/ipods/iphones/cars/furnaces/plumbing/household electric, managing other people’s systems, giving advice, making clothing for people who are outside the common size ranges in the stores.

Not exactly operating a basement boiler room financial situation, doing crazy financial stuff, or stirring up the pot on international finance.

At its most basic, it’s local; at its most interesting, it might even be regional. But it is still person to person; it’s still me doing business with you. Face to face. My hands and brain doing stuff to help you. Some of this is amazingly low tech – some of it is almost medieval.

This week’s fascinating story comes from the New York Times about a family of knife sharpeners who have thrown a new curve on this ancient of trades by providing two sets of knives to butchers, restaurants, food services (in Yankee Stadium, for heaven’s sake), and calling on a weekly basis to pick up the used set and providing the newly sharpened set.

Anyone who does any real work in a kitchen at all knows that your most important tools are a good set of knives and a good frying and sauce pan. With those three things, you can do almost anything (and yes, I have made cookies in the bottom of a frying pan; thank you for asking), but if your knives are dull, cutting anything becomes horrible work and you can injure yourself badly. “Every week, the company visits more than 800 clients and collects more than 8,000 knives to be replaced with freshly sharpened blades. The service costs $2.50 to $3.50 per knife.

The business started servicing mainly butchers and meatpackers, in territories handed down from father to son. To preserve the business for his children, Mr. Ambrosi expanded it to restaurants and even Yankee Stadium, in some cases deviating from long-held tradition. Many cooks and chefs take personal pride in their knives and their ability to maintain them, and would hesitate to release them to anyone else’s care. But sharpening a knife takes time and skill — and not every chef has both.”

Having a skill and honing (sorry) that so that you can provide something that someone else can not (or will not) do, whether it is being an electrician, a plumber, a welder, a knife sharpener, a shoe repair shop, a hair dresser, whatever it is – can make the difference in today’s international economy between being able to make a living for your family and holding your head in your hands. One of America’s biggest mistakes as far as education is concerned (and others might just argue with me) is that we “jumped the shark” in terms of absorbing people coming out of colleges.

Since the 1980s, kids coming out of college have had fewer and lower level opportunities. Jobs which absorbed high schoolers, now require a 2 or 4 year degree; job that required a college degree started to require a masters degree; some jobs which required a college degree and some internal training, now require advanced degrees – I even know of jobs that now require a legal degree to be hired which 30 years ago required a college degree and passing a test. So much emphasis was placed on going to college – and vocational training and the trades were so downgraded and derided that any family with a kid with two brain cells to rub together would not even THINK of encouraging that kid to go into the trades, unless the family was already in the business.

We’re now at a situation where companies, which shot themselves in the foot by sending skilled jobs overseas and now want to bring them back because costs overseas have risen and/or they are tired of their intellectual property being stolen and sold to others, can’t find the skills they want. Not to put too fine a point on this – those same companies have not done any training themselves; nor are they willing to do so. They got into the habit a long time ago of pushing the investment in training off on others. The government for one.

The other, which has willingly and consistently provided training in the trades for years are the unions. Organized labor. The Great Satan of the industrial world. The guys everyone loves to hate. The organizations which, according to many employers, stand in their way of succeeding in business.

But still, the organization which has kept skills alive in this country despite outsourcing, overseas sourcing, attacks from business and government, and general antipathy from great swaths of the American population in certain parts of the country.

So. On this frankly very sad Labor Day, 2010, I’d like to thank the American Labor Movement for remembering what America and Americans do best and what we need to do on an increasing basis if we are to put people back to work – or if we are to have businesses to call our own: Do stuff with our hands.

Thanks folks. You’re not perfection, but you’re willing to invest in Americans.

Happy Labor Day

FileMaker releases FileMaker Go updates for iPhone and iPad <b>...</b>

iLounge news discussing the FileMaker releases FileMaker Go updates for iPhone and iPad. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

Wednesday <b>News</b> « The Confluence

In news related to Michelle raising more money, the GOP seems to be short of it. Gosh, other than 8 years of a failed presidency, and then attacking the popular candidates and their supporters just as the Dems are doing, I can't imagine ...

Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue heads PSN PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue heads PSN.

robert shumake

FileMaker releases FileMaker Go updates for iPhone and iPad <b>...</b>

iLounge news discussing the FileMaker releases FileMaker Go updates for iPhone and iPad. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

Wednesday <b>News</b> « The Confluence

In news related to Michelle raising more money, the GOP seems to be short of it. Gosh, other than 8 years of a failed presidency, and then attacking the popular candidates and their supporters just as the Dems are doing, I can't imagine ...

Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue heads PSN PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue heads PSN.

• Free museum day is Saturday!
  
  



• DIY painting: 5 time-saving tips
  
  



• A state-by-state update on cash for appliance rebates
  
  



• Bedbugs: Don’t bring them home with you
  
  



• First Look: The iPod Nano loses its mojo
  
  



• Daily Dispatch: Yahoo looks to the chicken Coop for green innovation in new data center; VLC Video player gets approval from Apple for iPad
  
  



• New vacuum Ratings: Good airflow or a lot of hot air?
  
  



• Married couples in accord (and in the dark) about retirement spending
  
  



• 2010 Distracted Driving Summit: States address cell-phone dangers
  
  



• Daily electronics deals
  
  

A lot of people are unemployed in this country, 14.9 million as of the latest BLS release a couple of days ago, and for some of those people, this has become what is coyly referred to as ‘the entrepreneurial moment’, the ‘ah-ha’ light-bulb realization that if they don’t create a job for themselves, there will be no job, no income, no mortgage payment, no groceries, no light, no heat, no gas for the car, nuthin’. Since 2008, over 5 million jobs have been lost, many of which will never, ever come back.

Welcome to Labor Day, 2010.

Some of these ‘lost’ jobs have been outsourced overseas. Some have just been cut. Some companies are using their cash to invest in technologies which will insure that they will never have to hire these folks back, at least not with the skills that they had when they were given a cardboard box and five minutes to empty their desks and get out the front door.

If there are people out there who have or are considering building their own ‘life raft’ it would surprise absolutely no one; though for some folks, entrepreneurship is so scary, they can’t imagine anything other than hiring on to someone else’s deal, no matter how horrible it is.

Sometimes, though, you don’t have any choice. One thing to remember, is that many of the most successful entrepreneurs in this country have not invented fuel cells, high tech photovoltaic films, high speed transit, a cure for cancer (or the common cold), or the answer for peace in our time. They are cleaning houses, making pizza, fixing computers/ipods/iphones/cars/furnaces/plumbing/household electric, managing other people’s systems, giving advice, making clothing for people who are outside the common size ranges in the stores.

Not exactly operating a basement boiler room financial situation, doing crazy financial stuff, or stirring up the pot on international finance.

At its most basic, it’s local; at its most interesting, it might even be regional. But it is still person to person; it’s still me doing business with you. Face to face. My hands and brain doing stuff to help you. Some of this is amazingly low tech – some of it is almost medieval.

This week’s fascinating story comes from the New York Times about a family of knife sharpeners who have thrown a new curve on this ancient of trades by providing two sets of knives to butchers, restaurants, food services (in Yankee Stadium, for heaven’s sake), and calling on a weekly basis to pick up the used set and providing the newly sharpened set.

Anyone who does any real work in a kitchen at all knows that your most important tools are a good set of knives and a good frying and sauce pan. With those three things, you can do almost anything (and yes, I have made cookies in the bottom of a frying pan; thank you for asking), but if your knives are dull, cutting anything becomes horrible work and you can injure yourself badly. “Every week, the company visits more than 800 clients and collects more than 8,000 knives to be replaced with freshly sharpened blades. The service costs $2.50 to $3.50 per knife.

The business started servicing mainly butchers and meatpackers, in territories handed down from father to son. To preserve the business for his children, Mr. Ambrosi expanded it to restaurants and even Yankee Stadium, in some cases deviating from long-held tradition. Many cooks and chefs take personal pride in their knives and their ability to maintain them, and would hesitate to release them to anyone else’s care. But sharpening a knife takes time and skill — and not every chef has both.”

Having a skill and honing (sorry) that so that you can provide something that someone else can not (or will not) do, whether it is being an electrician, a plumber, a welder, a knife sharpener, a shoe repair shop, a hair dresser, whatever it is – can make the difference in today’s international economy between being able to make a living for your family and holding your head in your hands. One of America’s biggest mistakes as far as education is concerned (and others might just argue with me) is that we “jumped the shark” in terms of absorbing people coming out of colleges.

Since the 1980s, kids coming out of college have had fewer and lower level opportunities. Jobs which absorbed high schoolers, now require a 2 or 4 year degree; job that required a college degree started to require a masters degree; some jobs which required a college degree and some internal training, now require advanced degrees – I even know of jobs that now require a legal degree to be hired which 30 years ago required a college degree and passing a test. So much emphasis was placed on going to college – and vocational training and the trades were so downgraded and derided that any family with a kid with two brain cells to rub together would not even THINK of encouraging that kid to go into the trades, unless the family was already in the business.

We’re now at a situation where companies, which shot themselves in the foot by sending skilled jobs overseas and now want to bring them back because costs overseas have risen and/or they are tired of their intellectual property being stolen and sold to others, can’t find the skills they want. Not to put too fine a point on this – those same companies have not done any training themselves; nor are they willing to do so. They got into the habit a long time ago of pushing the investment in training off on others. The government for one.

The other, which has willingly and consistently provided training in the trades for years are the unions. Organized labor. The Great Satan of the industrial world. The guys everyone loves to hate. The organizations which, according to many employers, stand in their way of succeeding in business.

But still, the organization which has kept skills alive in this country despite outsourcing, overseas sourcing, attacks from business and government, and general antipathy from great swaths of the American population in certain parts of the country.

So. On this frankly very sad Labor Day, 2010, I’d like to thank the American Labor Movement for remembering what America and Americans do best and what we need to do on an increasing basis if we are to put people back to work – or if we are to have businesses to call our own: Do stuff with our hands.

Thanks folks. You’re not perfection, but you’re willing to invest in Americans.

Happy Labor Day

robert shumake

FileMaker releases FileMaker Go updates for iPhone and iPad <b>...</b>

iLounge news discussing the FileMaker releases FileMaker Go updates for iPhone and iPad. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

Wednesday <b>News</b> « The Confluence

In news related to Michelle raising more money, the GOP seems to be short of it. Gosh, other than 8 years of a failed presidency, and then attacking the popular candidates and their supporters just as the Dems are doing, I can't imagine ...

Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue heads PSN PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue heads PSN.

robert shumake

FileMaker releases FileMaker Go updates for iPhone and iPad <b>...</b>

iLounge news discussing the FileMaker releases FileMaker Go updates for iPhone and iPad. Find more iPad news from leading independent iPod, iPhone, and iPad site.

Wednesday <b>News</b> « The Confluence

In news related to Michelle raising more money, the GOP seems to be short of it. Gosh, other than 8 years of a failed presidency, and then attacking the popular candidates and their supporters just as the Dems are doing, I can't imagine ...

Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue heads PSN PlayStation 3 <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>

Read our PlayStation 3 news of Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue heads PSN.

personal finance planning

When Crepes Bonaparte was first approached by the Food Network to participate in the Great Food Truck Race, in which seven acclaimed food trucks compete for the highest sales in various cities across America (and a grand prize of $50,000), Murcia jumped at the chance to compete against some of the other well-known trucks from across the country. As Murcia puts it, “It was an opportunity to test our abilities against some of the most successful food trucks out there.” Spoken like a true competitor. Of course, arriving on the first day of the competition to be greeted by famed chef Tyler Florence was no doubt an exhilarating experience for the show’s contestants. Murcia recalls, “We were a little nervous because it was a little intimidating. You know…you show up, and there’s Tyler Florence!”

Two of the six Great Food Truck Race episodes have aired to date. The first episode took Crepes Bonaparte and the competition to San Diego, California, where Murcia had his first taste of the challenges that were to come: “We were thrown into an environment of, ‘OK, you’re going to San Diego…GO!’ so it was very rushed to figure out what to do. We were planning literally as we were on our way to San Diego.” Murcia also recalls the challenges met in the second episode’s trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico: “We ran out of food like three times, so we had to keep buying more food! It’s tough to know how many people to prep for when you’re in a place where you don’t know what your sales are going to be.”

One can’t help but wonder how the dynamics were between the contestants off-camera in such a competitively-charged atmosphere while on the show. Murcia explains, “When we were selling, we were competitors. We didn’t talk at the end of the day about who had done what in terms of sales…but we’re all great friends. We all got to try each other’s food, and it was all delicious.”

Also featured on the show as a key member of team Crepes Bonaparte is Murcia’s then-fiancé Danielle. Now married, Murcia jokes, “We spend more time together as a couple than I think any other couple out there.” Despite the long hours logged side by side, the duo works very well together. Murcia explains, “I’m more the numbers, finance guy who has to do all the paychecks, HR, and permitting, and Danielle is very much our marketing and operations person. Because we work so much, it’s a great way to spend that time together.”

Of course, operating a food truck presents its own challenges, television show or not. The most challenging aspect of the business for Murcia is simply working within such a small physical space. Murcia explains, “Dealing with a small kitchen and operating a full service catering business out of here as well is the biggest challenge. We are constantly dealing with never having enough refrigerator space, and having to get creative with how to position things in the fridge and make it work.”

Challenges aside, Crepes Bonaparte has benefited from the exposure gained through the show, if not a few borderline-obsessed fans. Murcia laughs, “We do a farmer’s market in Anaheim, and one lady literally shoved her cell phone in the truck and was like, ‘I have to take a picture of you!’ I thought, ‘Whoa, that’s a first!’ When people come by the truck who have seen the show and say, ‘Oh, I’m rooting for you guys,’ it has made our work environment that much more fun.” Call it irony, but Murcia has yet to watch any of the episodes of the Great Food Truck Race. “I don’t have cable!” he confesses.

Murcia first conceptualized Crepes Bonaparte as an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California. Lacking the big dollars required to open a full fledged restaurant, Murcia first operated Crepes Bonaparte as a catering firm specializing in crepe stations, with the hope of evolving into to a restaurant in the future (catering still comprises 30% of the business). Of course, given the popularity and expansion of the food truck industry over the past few years, Murcia is content with current operations: “As of now, I plan on staying with the food truck, and just seeing it out because it’s still such a new trend. We don’t really know exactly where it’s going…we’re all learning.”

Behind the beret, Murcia is a businessman with a passion for providing customers with crepes just the way they are in France: “simple, cheap, and on-the-go.” Murcia reflects, “Every time I see a Yelp or blogger review about us, I feel like we’ve done that part right. So I think that’s the most rewarding part of the business. Even though I have these ideas of how I want my business to look in my head, the consumer gets it, and it reminds me that OK, I’m doing what I meant to do.”

Maryn Nelson Moslenko is an OC-based food blogger who writes Le Cupcakerie. The Great Food Truck Race airs Sundays at 9 on the Food Network.

I've read a lot of stores lately about "credit score enthusiasts" who want to get the perfect credit score or are obsessed with improving their score. While it's certainly better than not caring about your credit score at all, it almost never pays to get a perfect score.

Despite all the stories about the odd ways your score is being used, the reality is that once you have a good credit score, you don't need to obsess about it.

Consider this - if your score is better than 760, then Fair Isaac Corporation, the company that invested the credit score formula; says you get zero benefit from improving it. For mortgage interest rate purposes, a 761 is the same as an 850. For auto loans, the bar is even lower. If you have a score about 720, it's the same as having a perfect score of 850. Visit their site and look in the right hand column - there's a table listing FICO scores and APRs for 30-year fixed mortgages, 15-year fixed mortgages, and 36-month auto loans.

If you are planning on getting a loan in the next year or two and your score is close to the next tier, by all means try to improve it. If you aren't planning on getting a loan and you have a decent score, focus your energies on something else. I assure you that you will get a better return doing something other than obsessing about your credit score.

Jim writes about personal finance at Bargaineering.com.

Sigma releases SD1 flagship digital SLR: Digital Photography Review

Sigma releases SD1 flagship digital SLR: Photokina 2010: Sigma has announced the SD1 digital SLR, which uses a brand new 46Mp 1.5x crop Foveon X3 sensor (4800 x 3200 x 3 layers). Designed as the company's flagship camera, the SD1 has a ...

Apple Is Forking The Web » Podcasting <b>News</b>

Audio Podcasting � Corporate Podcasts � Educational Podcasts � How to Podcast � Making Money with Podcasts � Mobile Podcasting � News Podcasts � Podcast Directory Sites � Podcast Distribution � Podcast Hosting � Podcast Quickies ...

David Helfenbein: The Facebook <b>News</b> Feed and Twitter Generation

The largest misconception about Generation Y is that technology is a replacement for interpersonal dialogue. Technology is becoming more ever-present, and Gen Y is still managing to talk to one another.

robert shumake

Sigma releases SD1 flagship digital SLR: Digital Photography Review

Sigma releases SD1 flagship digital SLR: Photokina 2010: Sigma has announced the SD1 digital SLR, which uses a brand new 46Mp 1.5x crop Foveon X3 sensor (4800 x 3200 x 3 layers). Designed as the company's flagship camera, the SD1 has a ...

Apple Is Forking The Web » Podcasting <b>News</b>

Audio Podcasting � Corporate Podcasts � Educational Podcasts � How to Podcast � Making Money with Podcasts � Mobile Podcasting � News Podcasts � Podcast Directory Sites � Podcast Distribution � Podcast Hosting � Podcast Quickies ...

David Helfenbein: The Facebook <b>News</b> Feed and Twitter Generation

The largest misconception about Generation Y is that technology is a replacement for interpersonal dialogue. Technology is becoming more ever-present, and Gen Y is still managing to talk to one another.

When Crepes Bonaparte was first approached by the Food Network to participate in the Great Food Truck Race, in which seven acclaimed food trucks compete for the highest sales in various cities across America (and a grand prize of $50,000), Murcia jumped at the chance to compete against some of the other well-known trucks from across the country. As Murcia puts it, “It was an opportunity to test our abilities against some of the most successful food trucks out there.” Spoken like a true competitor. Of course, arriving on the first day of the competition to be greeted by famed chef Tyler Florence was no doubt an exhilarating experience for the show’s contestants. Murcia recalls, “We were a little nervous because it was a little intimidating. You know…you show up, and there’s Tyler Florence!”

Two of the six Great Food Truck Race episodes have aired to date. The first episode took Crepes Bonaparte and the competition to San Diego, California, where Murcia had his first taste of the challenges that were to come: “We were thrown into an environment of, ‘OK, you’re going to San Diego…GO!’ so it was very rushed to figure out what to do. We were planning literally as we were on our way to San Diego.” Murcia also recalls the challenges met in the second episode’s trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico: “We ran out of food like three times, so we had to keep buying more food! It’s tough to know how many people to prep for when you’re in a place where you don’t know what your sales are going to be.”

One can’t help but wonder how the dynamics were between the contestants off-camera in such a competitively-charged atmosphere while on the show. Murcia explains, “When we were selling, we were competitors. We didn’t talk at the end of the day about who had done what in terms of sales…but we’re all great friends. We all got to try each other’s food, and it was all delicious.”

Also featured on the show as a key member of team Crepes Bonaparte is Murcia’s then-fiancé Danielle. Now married, Murcia jokes, “We spend more time together as a couple than I think any other couple out there.” Despite the long hours logged side by side, the duo works very well together. Murcia explains, “I’m more the numbers, finance guy who has to do all the paychecks, HR, and permitting, and Danielle is very much our marketing and operations person. Because we work so much, it’s a great way to spend that time together.”

Of course, operating a food truck presents its own challenges, television show or not. The most challenging aspect of the business for Murcia is simply working within such a small physical space. Murcia explains, “Dealing with a small kitchen and operating a full service catering business out of here as well is the biggest challenge. We are constantly dealing with never having enough refrigerator space, and having to get creative with how to position things in the fridge and make it work.”

Challenges aside, Crepes Bonaparte has benefited from the exposure gained through the show, if not a few borderline-obsessed fans. Murcia laughs, “We do a farmer’s market in Anaheim, and one lady literally shoved her cell phone in the truck and was like, ‘I have to take a picture of you!’ I thought, ‘Whoa, that’s a first!’ When people come by the truck who have seen the show and say, ‘Oh, I’m rooting for you guys,’ it has made our work environment that much more fun.” Call it irony, but Murcia has yet to watch any of the episodes of the Great Food Truck Race. “I don’t have cable!” he confesses.

Murcia first conceptualized Crepes Bonaparte as an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California. Lacking the big dollars required to open a full fledged restaurant, Murcia first operated Crepes Bonaparte as a catering firm specializing in crepe stations, with the hope of evolving into to a restaurant in the future (catering still comprises 30% of the business). Of course, given the popularity and expansion of the food truck industry over the past few years, Murcia is content with current operations: “As of now, I plan on staying with the food truck, and just seeing it out because it’s still such a new trend. We don’t really know exactly where it’s going…we’re all learning.”

Behind the beret, Murcia is a businessman with a passion for providing customers with crepes just the way they are in France: “simple, cheap, and on-the-go.” Murcia reflects, “Every time I see a Yelp or blogger review about us, I feel like we’ve done that part right. So I think that’s the most rewarding part of the business. Even though I have these ideas of how I want my business to look in my head, the consumer gets it, and it reminds me that OK, I’m doing what I meant to do.”

Maryn Nelson Moslenko is an OC-based food blogger who writes Le Cupcakerie. The Great Food Truck Race airs Sundays at 9 on the Food Network.

I've read a lot of stores lately about "credit score enthusiasts" who want to get the perfect credit score or are obsessed with improving their score. While it's certainly better than not caring about your credit score at all, it almost never pays to get a perfect score.

Despite all the stories about the odd ways your score is being used, the reality is that once you have a good credit score, you don't need to obsess about it.

Consider this - if your score is better than 760, then Fair Isaac Corporation, the company that invested the credit score formula; says you get zero benefit from improving it. For mortgage interest rate purposes, a 761 is the same as an 850. For auto loans, the bar is even lower. If you have a score about 720, it's the same as having a perfect score of 850. Visit their site and look in the right hand column - there's a table listing FICO scores and APRs for 30-year fixed mortgages, 15-year fixed mortgages, and 36-month auto loans.

If you are planning on getting a loan in the next year or two and your score is close to the next tier, by all means try to improve it. If you aren't planning on getting a loan and you have a decent score, focus your energies on something else. I assure you that you will get a better return doing something other than obsessing about your credit score.

Jim writes about personal finance at Bargaineering.com.

robert shumake

Sigma releases SD1 flagship digital SLR: Digital Photography Review

Sigma releases SD1 flagship digital SLR: Photokina 2010: Sigma has announced the SD1 digital SLR, which uses a brand new 46Mp 1.5x crop Foveon X3 sensor (4800 x 3200 x 3 layers). Designed as the company's flagship camera, the SD1 has a ...

Apple Is Forking The Web » Podcasting <b>News</b>

Audio Podcasting � Corporate Podcasts � Educational Podcasts � How to Podcast � Making Money with Podcasts � Mobile Podcasting � News Podcasts � Podcast Directory Sites � Podcast Distribution � Podcast Hosting � Podcast Quickies ...

David Helfenbein: The Facebook <b>News</b> Feed and Twitter Generation

The largest misconception about Generation Y is that technology is a replacement for interpersonal dialogue. Technology is becoming more ever-present, and Gen Y is still managing to talk to one another.

robert shumake

Sigma releases SD1 flagship digital SLR: Digital Photography Review

Sigma releases SD1 flagship digital SLR: Photokina 2010: Sigma has announced the SD1 digital SLR, which uses a brand new 46Mp 1.5x crop Foveon X3 sensor (4800 x 3200 x 3 layers). Designed as the company's flagship camera, the SD1 has a ...

Apple Is Forking The Web » Podcasting <b>News</b>

Audio Podcasting � Corporate Podcasts � Educational Podcasts � How to Podcast � Making Money with Podcasts � Mobile Podcasting � News Podcasts � Podcast Directory Sites � Podcast Distribution � Podcast Hosting � Podcast Quickies ...

David Helfenbein: The Facebook <b>News</b> Feed and Twitter Generation

The largest misconception about Generation Y is that technology is a replacement for interpersonal dialogue. Technology is becoming more ever-present, and Gen Y is still managing to talk to one another.

personal finance books

I am a 25 year old college student (school, job + savings, back to school… long story) and boy do I wish I knew about all the resources available to me back then. Good for you for starting early!

Lucky for me I have 1 parent (divorced) who is so bad with money that I have been scared into financial responsibility from a young age. Was I perfect? Hahaha.. but I am doing better than 95% of my friends are right now so I guess I am doing something right?

Here is my advice:

1. GET A JOB! - 2 shifts a week is all it takes. I have friends who just graduated from college without ever having a job. Result? No work experience so nowhere will hire them. Some had problems even getting an internship! Try for customer service jobs. Employers value people skills more than flipping burgers.

2. BUDGET! - Cant teach an old dog new tricks so it is best to start young. Add up your monthly expenses such as rent/insurance/cell/gas/etc and divide by 2 or 4 (depending on weekly/bi-weekly payday). Put this money in savings and no touchy! Once you can live on that budget a certain % for an emergency fund and then % for savings. The rest is your “fun” money. As others have said: pizza, ipods, and clothes are “fun money” and NOT emergencies!

3. DEBIT, CREDIT, or CASH?

DEBIT- I am a die hard debit card user. My credit union has detailed (free) online banking. I check my online bank statement in the morning and at night and go over my spending. Think of it as an instant virtual slap in the face about your spending habits. It hurts for the best.

CASH - Some people just cant be responsible enough to respect the plastic and do better with cash. Try and keep bigger bills on you. Breaking a $5 is less mentally painful than breaking a $20. $1s are dangerous. That can of coke is “only $1″. $7 a week, $30 a month. It adds up.

CREDIT - Many say don’t get a credit card, but I disagree. If you are responsible college is a great time to build credit (unless you have some serious control issues… if that is the case, these are not the droids you are looking for…). Not building credit early is the BIGGEST regret I have. Good credit means better rates when buying a house or a car. Do your research first. Consider a student, or if you have to a secured card.

More about credit-

*Do NOT apply for a credit card on campus. It is like selling your soul for a candy bar. Every time you apply for a credit card they run a credit check, which “pings” you. Too many pings hurts your credit score. Not good. Friend did that at every kiosk that offered something free to sign up when she was 20. This was 7 years ago and her credit is still recovering! The same is true for store credit cards. Do.Not.WANT!

*Pick a required expense, such as gas or cell phone bill and put it on the credit card. Pay off the card at the end of each month. Repeat.

*Do NOT use your credit card to buy “fun money” purchases. No clothes, no ipods, no pizza. This is why you have your debit card of cash. Don’t even think about it mr.!

4. EATING/DRINKING - This is going to be the weird random one from one young person to another.(Part of this only applies to you on/after your 21st birthday!) The young person’s life revolves around being social. For a 20 something this normally involves dinner and/or drinks with friends. It is expensive! So much money can be saved if you plan ahead!

*Eating - Going out to eat is a much needed social experience but NEVER go out to eat starving! Just like you don’t go shopping when you are hungry you never want to experience the whole “eyes bigger than stomach” thing while dining out. Have a snack an hour or so before you meet friends for dinner. This will help you avoid ordering that $8 appetizer! Also, try and order things that reheat or are good cold. LEFTOVERS! Also, water is free. It is good for you! Coke is $3. Go buy yourself a 12 pack and have one when you get home.

*Drinking - Most 20 somethings drink. It is a very expensive part of our lives. It is a social event to help us forget about school and work. We like bars. Unfortunately $5 for a beer is highway robbery! NEVER go to a bar completely sober (when you are 21+ & no drinky + drivey!). Have a drink or 2 at home and then have a beer at the bar. You will save TONS. Also, bring cash to a bar. Only bring as much cash as your sober self would like to spend. Alcohol impairs judgment. Sober you will thank drunk you for not spending. Drunk you will thank sober you for being smart enough to make sure you can afford the advil to take care of that hangover the next day. It is a win win.

Put all that saved food and drink money towards something that will last.

5. BOOKS - Buy used whenever possible. Check online first because campus stores are normally a ripoff. Try and sell the books back online, even if they have released a new edition. Most student book stores on campus will only give you 1/2 of what someone online will be willing to give you!

6. CARS - Buy used and reliable, but not “cheap”. New cars lose tons of value when you drive them off the lot. Don’t buy a “cheap” used car on it’s last leg. Think Goldilocks - not too new, not too old, juuusssttt right! Save up as much money as possible. Pay for it in cash if you can. If not, save up at least 2/3 before purchasing and do your homework!

And whatever you do: AVOID parking tickets, speeding tickets, registration fines.. may as well light the money on fire! Or if you do not want it I will give it a nice home and save you the trouble.

photo: vixyao

Cooking at home is the best way to save cash, but it’s nice to go out sometimes, too. Check out Frugal Foodie every Friday for a selection of the latest coupons for casual and fancy fare.

This week: free ice cream, Champagne, coffee and dessert, buy-one-get-one-free smoothies, discounts for donations and $10 bottles of wine, among other deals.

1. Cold Stone Creamery

Visit on Sept. 30 to get a free 3oz. “Kate’s Creation” for the World’s Largest Ice Cream Social. The deal is valid from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., while supplies last. Participating locations only.

2. Jamba Juice

Use a print out coupon and buy a smoothie to get a second one of equal or lesser value free. Participating locations only. Deal good through Sept. 22.

3. New Jersey Restaurant Week

From Sept. 19-25, participating restaurants are offering one of three specials: 20% of your check, a free dessert and coffee with the purchase of an entrée, or a special $35 prixe fix three-course meal featuring “Jersey Fresh” ingredients.

4. Boston Market

Facebook fans who donate $1 to Share Our Strength will receive a print out coupon good for a free side dish of their next visit. Offer good through Sept. 25.

5. The Broiler Restaurant

The Sacramento, Calif., restaurant is celebrating 60 years in business with restaurant specials, including a $19.50 three-course menu that comes with a complimentary glass of Champagne. Other specials will be posted on the company’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

6. Center City District Restaurant Week

Philadelphia’s restaurant week runs through Sept. 17, and again Sept. 19-24. Participating restaurants will offer special three-course menus for $35, and three-course lunches for $20.

7. Lone Star Steakhouse

Save $7.50 off two entrees (except the two-for-$20 special) with a print out coupon. Participating locations only. Offer expires Sept. 26.

8. Restaurant.com

This week, coupon code “SPORK” at checkout gets you an extra 70% off already discounted gift certificates to local venues. The code expires Sept. 19. Restaurant.com usually prices $25 certificates at $10. (Spend $20 to get $50; $30 for $75, etc.) With the discount, you’ll pay just $3, $6, or $9. Each restaurant sets conditions regarding the number of diners, days and menu items a certificate can be used for, so check the fine print before you buy.

9. Taco Bueno

As part of Share Our Strength’s Dine Out fundraiser, Taco Bueno will offer coupon books for $2. Each book contains $5 in coupons for the chain. Offer good through Sept. 26.

10. Il Gatto

Every Monday, this Minneapolis restaurant offers 10 different wines for $10 per bottle, which the Star Tribune notes is less than the cost of many of the venue’s pizzas.

Frugal Foodie is a journalist based in New York City who spends her days writing about personal finance and obsessing about what she’ll have for dinner. Chat with her on Twitter through @MintFoodie.

eric seiger dermatologist how to lose weight fast penis extender

<b>News</b> - Lindsay Lohan: Failed Drug Test Report Is &quot;Nuts <b>...</b>

After it's reported that she flunked a drug test and could go back to jail, she tells Us, "I'm fine"

Denver Broncos <b>News</b> - Horse Tracks - 9/18/10 - Mile High Report

Your Daily Cup of Orange and Blue Coffee....Horse Tracks.

The Hockey <b>News</b>: Getting To Know: Getting To Know: Gordie Howe

Mr. Hockey answers questions about funny stories from his NHL career, plus his earliest hockey memories and more.