The British Economy isn't doing that well at present. Since 2008 and the financial collapse, many people have lost their life savings, even their lives, but people were optimistic and thought we would see a recovery.
It has been 7 years and we're still suffering from the after-effects of the recession. Here in Britain our Government has imposed what they call 'austerity', which is just their way of saying they will cut funding to public services, force people off benefits (even disabled people!) whilst at the same time giving more money to the European Union (which we have never been allowed to have our say on) and to foreign dictators (they call it 'foreign aid, but it's not helping many out of poverty!).
There seems to be a lot of people telling us all that a free market is great, it will solve everything. The problem is, this isn't entirely accurate. We have a free market yet there are more and more people becoming unemployed as a result. A steel company has announced it will be making nearly 2,000 people redundant and 'mothballing' it's UK plant. This is due to low prices for steel, and high energy costs that make it difficult for them to run said plants. Other companies have also complained about the same and have asked the British Government to intervene, but State aid is against European Union rules (well, for us it is, not the French or Germans is seems...) so we cannot help businesses here in Britain.
Although I do agree that a free market is beneficial to many, I believe a mixed economy is better. A strong economy needs a free market along with Government intervention when required. Keynes had the right idea, and I am a strong supporter of having increased Government investment to give the economy a boost. This is easily done and doesn't, as many claim, automatically result in inflation. A Government could easily choose to purchase goods and services from many small and medium sized businesses to help increase their earnings, and if they earn enough as a result, then it can create new jobs. The benefit for the Government, in addition to having a good strong economy they can boast about, is the businesses will return most of the money to the Treasury in the form of taxes. This isn't just corporation tax (companies) or PAYE/NIC (self-employed and employed) but also as VAT related taxation. So the Government will find it's investment returned with a nice 'profit', and at the same time they have given people hope.
Tuesday, 29 September 2015
Tuesday, 21 July 2015
InstaGC and Earning in Cyberspace
Since the invention of the World Wide Web, there have been so many ways that people have made money. Some of these are scams, pyramid schemes or not even very clever frauds, but we have seen communities springing up to warn potential victims of these scams, and to redirect those people to legitimate opportunities. Personally I have been scammed before, but there's not a lot that can be done about it so I report them and just have to move on.
And it's in this spirit of moving on, and helping others to find a good opportunity to earn that I write this post. We've all seen the websites that ask you to join them and earn lots answering surveys, but what you may not realise is that some of these sites don't just have boring surveys (let's face it, surveys are boring, who really likes answering the same questions over and over?), they also reward you for watching videos (mainly just adverts) plus doing tasks such as visiting websites. Yes, you earn points for just simply clicking through to a website, sometimes it's just that simple. There are some that require some interaction but a site showing 10 naturally beautiful women (without makeup, but fully clothed) isn't exactly a chore and just requires you to click through them and occasionally enter a code. Easy.
One such site is InstaGC. You do the tasks, watch videos, answer surveys and earn points for doing all this. And the best bit is the payout. For the minimum £1 gift card (they actually let you have a gitf card for £1, something that's unheard of elsewhere, these gift cards are for various platforms, Amazon, iTunes, Playstation Network etc), you just need to have 160 points. I currently have £2 in giftcards (I like to test these things so redeemed my points) and all I have to do is use the code I received from InstaGC to use those giftcards on Amazon. It's a nice easy way to earn, the more you do the more you earn. So please have a look and if you sign up please pop back and tell me. It's nice to see that people are doing well
If you want to take a look, the link is RIGHT HERE!
Steve ;-)
And it's in this spirit of moving on, and helping others to find a good opportunity to earn that I write this post. We've all seen the websites that ask you to join them and earn lots answering surveys, but what you may not realise is that some of these sites don't just have boring surveys (let's face it, surveys are boring, who really likes answering the same questions over and over?), they also reward you for watching videos (mainly just adverts) plus doing tasks such as visiting websites. Yes, you earn points for just simply clicking through to a website, sometimes it's just that simple. There are some that require some interaction but a site showing 10 naturally beautiful women (without makeup, but fully clothed) isn't exactly a chore and just requires you to click through them and occasionally enter a code. Easy.
One such site is InstaGC. You do the tasks, watch videos, answer surveys and earn points for doing all this. And the best bit is the payout. For the minimum £1 gift card (they actually let you have a gitf card for £1, something that's unheard of elsewhere, these gift cards are for various platforms, Amazon, iTunes, Playstation Network etc), you just need to have 160 points. I currently have £2 in giftcards (I like to test these things so redeemed my points) and all I have to do is use the code I received from InstaGC to use those giftcards on Amazon. It's a nice easy way to earn, the more you do the more you earn. So please have a look and if you sign up please pop back and tell me. It's nice to see that people are doing well
If you want to take a look, the link is RIGHT HERE!
Steve ;-)
Saturday, 11 October 2008
A Decentralised Motor Industry
The motor industry needs to evolve. In Southampton, UK, Ford is considering closing the factory that produces it's Transit vans and relocating to Turkey. Many people rely on the factory for employment.
The future doesn't have to be bad for anyone made redundant though. The silver lining is that former employees of motor manufacturing companies can work together to produce their own vehicles, either own-branded or on behalf of, and funded by, another manufacturer. They have the relevant experience, after all. A small group of people in the Midlands could produce the engine, another group in Southampton could produce the shell. This is how businesses should work within the network economy.
Imagine being part of a company, owned by 30,000 people including yourself, that produces vehicles in the homes/sheds of it's employees/shareholders! Imagine building a gearbox and then sending it on to someone living in the next City to have it tested and added to a vehicle. Your parts could create a new vehicle or they could be sold to a parts retailer. Profits shared between the owners of the company, who also happen to be it's employees. The co-operative may be the perfect business for the network economy.
The future doesn't have to be bad for anyone made redundant though. The silver lining is that former employees of motor manufacturing companies can work together to produce their own vehicles, either own-branded or on behalf of, and funded by, another manufacturer. They have the relevant experience, after all. A small group of people in the Midlands could produce the engine, another group in Southampton could produce the shell. This is how businesses should work within the network economy.
Imagine being part of a company, owned by 30,000 people including yourself, that produces vehicles in the homes/sheds of it's employees/shareholders! Imagine building a gearbox and then sending it on to someone living in the next City to have it tested and added to a vehicle. Your parts could create a new vehicle or they could be sold to a parts retailer. Profits shared between the owners of the company, who also happen to be it's employees. The co-operative may be the perfect business for the network economy.
Friday, 8 August 2008
BT creates life!
British Telecommunications PLC is hoping to create the first Artifical Intelligence based network system.
The proposed system will repair itself and will enable the group to cut costs.
Sounds good!!
The proposed system will repair itself and will enable the group to cut costs.
Sounds good!!
Monday, 18 February 2008
Yahoo! says no!!
Yahoo! has said no to Microsoft after the takeover bid earlier this month. The company said that Microsoft's bid undervalued it's shares, the price of which will keep rising. AOL Time Warner has put forward a proposal for a merger of AOL and Yahoo! to keep it (Yahoo!) out of Microsoft's hands.
Yahoo! shares may be almost full-priced now, the shares won't keep rising for long and there won't be many more opportunities for people to make a profit from the shares other than from the dividends.
Yahoo! shares may be almost full-priced now, the shares won't keep rising for long and there won't be many more opportunities for people to make a profit from the shares other than from the dividends.
Lara Croft's National Treasure
SCI Entertainment, the company behind the extremely successful Lara Croft: Tomb Raider films, should produce a film that combines Tomb Raider with the National Treasure films. Both films total two in number and by creating a combined third one they become intertwined and make a double trilogy that will earn both SCI and Disney substantial revenues from the film and the inevitable games.
From a successful collaberation will come more opportunities for both companies to make more money. Shares in SCI are worth buying just because of the value of their brands, ie Lara Croft:Tomb Raider and Kane & Lynch.
From a successful collaberation will come more opportunities for both companies to make more money. Shares in SCI are worth buying just because of the value of their brands, ie Lara Croft:Tomb Raider and Kane & Lynch.
Friday, 1 February 2008
The Battle for ITV
The newspapers are all adding their pennys worth into the debate over whether Rupert Murdoch's BSB should have been allowed to keep the 17% stake in ITV or if they should have just never been allowed to go above 7%.
It seems our own Sir Richard Branson is buying up ITV shares and may be taking it over. Sir Richard is an excellent businessman who has built up one of the best known brands from nothing, he started selling records when he was 17! Definitely a great role model for budding entrepeneurs.
If Sir Richard was successful in obtaining ITV then the Virgin Group would be one of Britain's most successful media conglomerates with interests in tv, radio, broadband and publishing. To add more value to the Group I think he needs to launch a Social Networking site, he could give access to films and tv programmes to people, they could also let him know what they think of his products/services.
ITV and Virgin are good buys, buy up shares because they are going to keep rising.
It seems our own Sir Richard Branson is buying up ITV shares and may be taking it over. Sir Richard is an excellent businessman who has built up one of the best known brands from nothing, he started selling records when he was 17! Definitely a great role model for budding entrepeneurs.
If Sir Richard was successful in obtaining ITV then the Virgin Group would be one of Britain's most successful media conglomerates with interests in tv, radio, broadband and publishing. To add more value to the Group I think he needs to launch a Social Networking site, he could give access to films and tv programmes to people, they could also let him know what they think of his products/services.
ITV and Virgin are good buys, buy up shares because they are going to keep rising.
Sunday, 27 January 2008
Google looking at Malaysia for it's server farms
Google is looking at Malaysia as a possible site for the Worlds largest server farm. The company is looking at Malaysia aswell as India and Vietnam to site their servers.
Malaysia has it's own 'silicon valley' called the Multimedia Super Corridor which was launched about a decade ago and such a large investment by Google Yahoo! would be a major boost to Malaysias economy and make it a global player in the Network technologies industry.
Malaysia has it's own 'silicon valley' called the Multimedia Super Corridor which was launched about a decade ago and such a large investment by Google Yahoo! would be a major boost to Malaysias economy and make it a global player in the Network technologies industry.
Sunday, 13 January 2008
Shares of SCI drop 50% after talks collapse
SCI, the company behind the successful Lara Croft games, has seen the value of it's shares drop down 54% to 26p after it called off potential merger talks due to bids being too low.
Eidos Interactive, a subsidiary of SCI Entertainment Group PLC, produced the Lara Croft series of games and sold over a million of its Kane and Lynch games since November 2007. The shares in such a company should be acquired by everyone because, due to the 'crash' it is currently undervalued and the rights to the Lara Croft brand alone could be sold for tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions.
http://corporate.sci.co.uk/
Eidos Interactive, a subsidiary of SCI Entertainment Group PLC, produced the Lara Croft series of games and sold over a million of its Kane and Lynch games since November 2007. The shares in such a company should be acquired by everyone because, due to the 'crash' it is currently undervalued and the rights to the Lara Croft brand alone could be sold for tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions.
http://corporate.sci.co.uk/
Jeff Stewart reassures his fans
Jeff Stewart, the much loved PC Reg Hollis on The Bill, has responded to his fans following the incident of last week.
After Jeff Stewart was told his contract with The Bill will not be renewed, many of his fans have petitioned to have him returned to the show. After the response from his many fans any production company that hires him will have a great fan base immediately to build upon for their own programmes.
Maybe having PC Hollis transfer to another station because a relative is ill and he wants to be near them would be a good idea, this could then form the storyline for a new Police drama on another channel with the star as the main character.
After Jeff Stewart was told his contract with The Bill will not be renewed, many of his fans have petitioned to have him returned to the show. After the response from his many fans any production company that hires him will have a great fan base immediately to build upon for their own programmes.
Maybe having PC Hollis transfer to another station because a relative is ill and he wants to be near them would be a good idea, this could then form the storyline for a new Police drama on another channel with the star as the main character.
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Yahoo! showcases new open mobile platform
Yahoo has recently been showcasing its new service - an open mobile platform - called Yahoo! Go - that allows outside developers to add their applications to it.
The company demonstrated the new service in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the company's co-founder David Filo has said that it will be launched soon.
Yahoo! shares are an excellent buy, the company is very ambitious and the share price will continue to rise over the next year as more services and products are launched.
The company demonstrated the new service in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the company's co-founder David Filo has said that it will be launched soon.
Yahoo! shares are an excellent buy, the company is very ambitious and the share price will continue to rise over the next year as more services and products are launched.
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
The Economist publisher considering social networking site launch
The Economist Group, the UK Economics-based publishing group, may launch their own social networking site.
Having access to, and control over, a social networking site means The Economist magazine could have it's own focus groups so they'll be able to undertake market research any time they like without having to recruit people to ask questions. The value to the group of launching such a site would be increased within the first two years as other publishers try to emulate their success and fail thus pushing more people towards the site owned by The Economist group.
Having access to, and control over, a social networking site means The Economist magazine could have it's own focus groups so they'll be able to undertake market research any time they like without having to recruit people to ask questions. The value to the group of launching such a site would be increased within the first two years as other publishers try to emulate their success and fail thus pushing more people towards the site owned by The Economist group.
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
Fox sells TV stations
Twentieth Century Fox has sold eight American TV stations for $1.1bn (£555m). It is believed to be selling off non-core businesses to concentrate on it's online businesses and the Wall Street Journal which it recently acquired.
The stations were purchased by the company Oak Hill Capital.
The stations were purchased by the company Oak Hill Capital.
EMAP sells it's business magazines division
EMAP has sold it's business magazines division to a consortium comprising APAX and Guardian Media Group. The two companies acquired the business through their joint venture company Eden Bidco.
It has been reported that the companies have decided to merge their new acquisition with APAX's Incivisive Media subsidiary and GMG would own 30% of the new merged entity.
Eden Bidco purchased 41.95m shares for 931p and this was announced on Christmas Eve. The shareholders are going to have a good New Year!
It looks like the rest of the EMAP Group may be broken up soon and sold off to maximise profits with other companies buying up shares and pushing up the prices getting ready to either sell their now highly priced shares or take over the Group.
It has been reported that the companies have decided to merge their new acquisition with APAX's Incivisive Media subsidiary and GMG would own 30% of the new merged entity.
Eden Bidco purchased 41.95m shares for 931p and this was announced on Christmas Eve. The shareholders are going to have a good New Year!
It looks like the rest of the EMAP Group may be broken up soon and sold off to maximise profits with other companies buying up shares and pushing up the prices getting ready to either sell their now highly priced shares or take over the Group.
Monday, 31 December 2007
Identity verification and online gaming
When you want to cheat on an online game you usually just have to use another computer in your house but that is all changing.
I recently attempted to set up a second account at MafiaCorruption.com (MC) and got a message calling me a "bad doggy"! This was because the developers at MC have produced a system that checks your IP address and automatically prevents cheating.
They also manually verify your details if you want to add a second account. I was impressed with this as I have cheated on many games on a number of occasions and not been found out but it seems as if things will change in future and maybe MC will be the responsible site that leads the games industry into developing more sophisticated fraud prevention technology.
http://www.mafiacorruption.com/
I recently attempted to set up a second account at MafiaCorruption.com (MC) and got a message calling me a "bad doggy"! This was because the developers at MC have produced a system that checks your IP address and automatically prevents cheating.
They also manually verify your details if you want to add a second account. I was impressed with this as I have cheated on many games on a number of occasions and not been found out but it seems as if things will change in future and maybe MC will be the responsible site that leads the games industry into developing more sophisticated fraud prevention technology.
http://www.mafiacorruption.com/
MMORPG and the future
Over the last few years we have seen an explosion of online role playing games. On very well known game is TheMafiaBoss, usually shortened to TMB, and MafiaCorruption (MC). These games put you into the role of a gangster and you have to fight to protect yourself and/or your gang.
TMB has spawned a multitude of clones such as TheMafiaCrimes.com and Allmafia.com and, due to the site being created in PHP, it provides a good training ground for the programmers of tomorrow. TMB has rounds lasting 9 days and whoever ranks highest at the end of the 9 days wins, easy? Not quite. To be the highest ranking player you need a family, or a lot of physical money to buy credits so you can hire millions of du's, defensive units. You can get better protection by being part of a family and many families are part of a Union - a collection of families.
The families in the largest Unions, such as 13/Empire, use the Empire name for their families while others use names of their own choosing and just let people know they're members of a Union by writing it on their profiles.
MC is very different to TMB and it's clones. MC has everything you need right in front of you and you also have a City (Boston for newbies) to go to so you can buy weapons and hire whores! To get anywhere with MC you need points, or lots of cash. Thankfully the developers of this site have a crimes link so you can commit crimes and get cash. You can also attack other players but this takes up 50% of your energy and you have to wait for it to be replenished to attack again (you get 100% energy but it gets taken when doing things) by waiting or by using your points to purchase an energy refill.
MC also has offspring in the shape of PrisonStruggle, it is based in a prison, hence the name!, and it seems more complicated than MC. It is as enjoyable but a little bit harder to understand than MC.
M$ and the other big boys are currently eyeing up the Social Networking sites (as I mentioned in an article below) but maybe they should be looking at the Mafia games as they have a large fanbase and could potentially be turned into "crime-fantasy" social networking sites with the games at the core. I know that the developers of MC are adding new features and working very hard to make it even better for the players.
These games, I believe, are the future. They will keep adding new features, new members and will expand so much until just a few of them have the majority of Mafia-games' members.
http://www.allmafia.com/
http://www.mafiacorruption.com/
http://www.prisonstruggle.com/
http://www.themafiaboss.com/
http://www.themafiacrimes.com/
TMB has spawned a multitude of clones such as TheMafiaCrimes.com and Allmafia.com and, due to the site being created in PHP, it provides a good training ground for the programmers of tomorrow. TMB has rounds lasting 9 days and whoever ranks highest at the end of the 9 days wins, easy? Not quite. To be the highest ranking player you need a family, or a lot of physical money to buy credits so you can hire millions of du's, defensive units. You can get better protection by being part of a family and many families are part of a Union - a collection of families.
The families in the largest Unions, such as 13/Empire, use the Empire name for their families while others use names of their own choosing and just let people know they're members of a Union by writing it on their profiles.
MC is very different to TMB and it's clones. MC has everything you need right in front of you and you also have a City (Boston for newbies) to go to so you can buy weapons and hire whores! To get anywhere with MC you need points, or lots of cash. Thankfully the developers of this site have a crimes link so you can commit crimes and get cash. You can also attack other players but this takes up 50% of your energy and you have to wait for it to be replenished to attack again (you get 100% energy but it gets taken when doing things) by waiting or by using your points to purchase an energy refill.
MC also has offspring in the shape of PrisonStruggle, it is based in a prison, hence the name!, and it seems more complicated than MC. It is as enjoyable but a little bit harder to understand than MC.
M$ and the other big boys are currently eyeing up the Social Networking sites (as I mentioned in an article below) but maybe they should be looking at the Mafia games as they have a large fanbase and could potentially be turned into "crime-fantasy" social networking sites with the games at the core. I know that the developers of MC are adding new features and working very hard to make it even better for the players.
These games, I believe, are the future. They will keep adding new features, new members and will expand so much until just a few of them have the majority of Mafia-games' members.
http://www.allmafia.com/
http://www.mafiacorruption.com/
http://www.prisonstruggle.com/
http://www.themafiaboss.com/
http://www.themafiacrimes.com/
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Eastenders tops Xmas TV ratings
13.9 million viewers watched the second part of the Christmas special of Eastenders, beating Corrie's 9.6 million. It's a shame that the Christmas speech by Her Majesty The Queen only had 7.5 million viewers.
The Dr Who special was in second place with 13.8 million, only just behind Eastenders. Both programmes are examples of excellent programme making by the Beeb.
The Dr Who special was in second place with 13.8 million, only just behind Eastenders. Both programmes are examples of excellent programme making by the Beeb.
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
Google Knowledge open to all
It seems like Wikipedia will have a major competitor soon. Google is launching what it calls a "Knowledge Project", basically an Encyclopaedia.
The company plans to share income from ads with the authors of all entries, thus giving people the incentive to not only post information onto the site but to also make that information correct.
Google is expanding at such a rate that Micro$oft must be worrying about their own future online. As I have previously written, Google are producing a phone based system, well they have formed a group called the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), now consisting of 34 companies, which will act as a new platform for mobile phones and the code for this platform will be open source, meaning it will be open for modification by other programmers.
Shares in Google will continue to go up as they continue to expand. I'm just waiting for the Google Virtual World with mobile phone based controls and speech based text entry.
The company plans to share income from ads with the authors of all entries, thus giving people the incentive to not only post information onto the site but to also make that information correct.
Google is expanding at such a rate that Micro$oft must be worrying about their own future online. As I have previously written, Google are producing a phone based system, well they have formed a group called the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), now consisting of 34 companies, which will act as a new platform for mobile phones and the code for this platform will be open source, meaning it will be open for modification by other programmers.
Shares in Google will continue to go up as they continue to expand. I'm just waiting for the Google Virtual World with mobile phone based controls and speech based text entry.
Saturday, 8 December 2007
Media Giant open to offers
Emap, one of Britain's largest media Groups, says it is open to offers on it's businesses. The group, which owns the popular Max Power magazine, is selling off a number of magazines to concentrate mainly on Internet based businesses.
Emap shares are a good buy, the group will continue to grow, there's no doubt about that. The group should be working on creating it's own social/networking sites because it has the finances, it has the right people already in it's employ and it's business units are able to be utilised in the marketing process, thus giving the networking site(s) major publicity for little or no cost.
I did some research and found a site that mentions Emap 'eyeing' up networking sites but it doesn't say much so I couldn't put anything decent here!
Any EMAP networking/social site will be a success due to it's publishing businesses. Max Power readers will use the site to talk about cruises, as will readers of the other motoring titles. The Group also publishes Government newspapers and magazines which would be useful in getting politicians using such a site.
Emap shares are a good buy, the group will continue to grow, there's no doubt about that. The group should be working on creating it's own social/networking sites because it has the finances, it has the right people already in it's employ and it's business units are able to be utilised in the marketing process, thus giving the networking site(s) major publicity for little or no cost.
I did some research and found a site that mentions Emap 'eyeing' up networking sites but it doesn't say much so I couldn't put anything decent here!
Any EMAP networking/social site will be a success due to it's publishing businesses. Max Power readers will use the site to talk about cruises, as will readers of the other motoring titles. The Group also publishes Government newspapers and magazines which would be useful in getting politicians using such a site.
Hatton v Mayweather - Media companies will benefit
With all of the publicity surrounding tonights bout, the media companies covering the fight would've experienced a sharp rise in their share prices had it been a week day.
Maybe the best time for the fight to have gone ahead would've been midday in the middle of the week, so the traders and other purchasers could have made some money from this event.
Companies such as Sky, with it's pay per view programming, will gain much from tonight, not just in cash profits but also from the inevitable publicity. James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, was mentioned all over the newspapers and online news sites recently due to his 'take-over' of News Corp's UK, Asia and Europe operations and his appointment as non-executive Chairman or British Sky Broadcasting.
Maybe the best time for the fight to have gone ahead would've been midday in the middle of the week, so the traders and other purchasers could have made some money from this event.
Companies such as Sky, with it's pay per view programming, will gain much from tonight, not just in cash profits but also from the inevitable publicity. James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, was mentioned all over the newspapers and online news sites recently due to his 'take-over' of News Corp's UK, Asia and Europe operations and his appointment as non-executive Chairman or British Sky Broadcasting.
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