| Allton Starts Web Design Firm in Lake Saint Louis, MO
Michael Allton can still remember his first website. "It was 1997, and my mother had just formed a new non-profit organization in Norwalk, Ohio called Project Leadership. It was designed to promote leadership and community values and she wanted a website to help recruit members. I used FrontPage 97 and it was very basic, but it sparked my love for website design." Since then, Michael has come a long way. For several years, he designed websites for businesses and organizations in Ohio while with an IT Firm. Then, last year, after moving to Lake Saint Louis, he started his own design firm, Stadia Studio. "I wanted very much to get back into designing websites for small businesses," said Michael. "I've always enjoyed helping businesses grow, and having a great website is an integral part of that." Stadia Studio specializes in providing small businesses with complete web services including website design, hosting, search engine optimization and consulting.
IPOWER Joins RatePoint Partner Program
NEEDHAM, Mass. & PHOENIX --(Business Wire)-- RatePoint, the leader in providing businesses with the only comprehensive online reputation management and customer feedback platform available, and IPOWER, Inc. (www.ipower.com), a leading web-site hosting provider for small businesses, today announced a new partnership that will give IPOWER customers access to the RatePoint platform and consumer approval program.
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Adsense - The Powerful Passive Income Generator
Webmasters have a revolutionary new method of collecting income from their websites.
Whereas in the past advertising revenue was reserved for those sites with large a coming and going of visitors, now even teenagers are making a quick buck with their online hobby blogs. People place adsense on their online family photo albums, their blogs and their business sites. The minimum you would get, even with a small amount of traffic, is for adsense to pay for your hosting costs.
Adsense revolutionized the world of paid advertising; banner advertising is based on the number of visitors you attract to your site, so the number of banner impressions dictates the revenue you receive. Google Adsense is quite different; it is the number of visitors that actually click on the advertising that determine how much you earn.
Malware writers exploring Software as a Service model
The business of writing, buying, and selling malware has become increasingly commercial over the past few years, but a new report from online security firm Finjan sheds light on just how mainstream the crimeware business has gone. Earlier this month, the company discovered a small, standalone application gathering data on over 8,700 servers, including web sites from 2,500 North American companies and a handful of sites in Alexa's top 100 ranking. Potential buyers were able to log into the malicious server hosting the data-gathering service and evaluate any given web site's size and Google Page Rank to decide whether or not the site's FTP information was worth purchasing or not. The concept of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is nothing new, but this is the first time anyone has organized the purchase of FTP login credentials, with additional tools available to help a buyer confirm he's making a smart purchase.
Business Briefs: Chamber organizes annual trade show
The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the annual Business Expo on March 27 at The Classic Center. Organizers for the 2008 Business Expo have adopted the theme "Let's Make a Deal" and will provide activities throughout the day. The day will start with a networking event, Business Before Hours, and end with award presentations at 4 p.m. The awards will include the annual Small Business Person of the Year. Trade show organizers are expecting more than 100 exhibitors, said Rich Cary, the chamber's vice president of member services. Exhibition booth costs are $475 for members and $575 for non-members. For more information, visit the chamber's Web site at www.athensga.com or call (706) 549-6800. Toccoa company plans $1M expansion Combat Training Solutions, a Stephens County company that manufactures simulated explosives for the military, announced that it plans to add more than 30 jobs and invest $1 million to expand a facility in Eastanollee.
Buffett calls Dexter Shoe his worst deal ever
Rather than use cash, Buffett used Berkshire Class A stock to fund the purchase. That Berkshire stock is worth eight times more now, giving the Omaha, Nebraska-based insurance and investment company a $216 billion market value. Dexter didn't make it that long. It ended shoe production in the United States and Puerto Rico in 2001, and Berkshire folded what was left into its H.H. Brown Shoe Group unit. "What I had assessed as durable competitive advantage vanished within a few years," Buffett wrote on Friday. "By using Berkshire stock, I compounded this error hugely. That move made the cost to Berkshire shareholders not $400 million, but rather $3.5 billion. In essence, I gave away 1.6 percent of a wonderful business -- one now valued at $220 billion -- to buy a worthless business." "To date, Dexter is the worst deal that I've made," Buffett went on.
Dick Jerardi: College basketball wrap
OU won, 64-37. WILDEST GAME Creighton beat Bradley, 111-110, in two overtimes. The teams will play each other again Friday in the opening round of the MVC Tournament. Creighton now has 10 consecutive 20-win seasons. HAS THIS BEEN DONE? Davidson finished 20-0 in the Southern Conference. That has to be a record. Memphis and Cornell are the only other teams unbeaten in league play. Memphis has two regular-season league games left, Cornell three. DICK JERARDI'S TOP 15 1. Memphis (28-1): Shot well from everywhere, but did not defend for once and held on, 76-67 at Southern Mississippi. USM shot 54.2 percent against the Tigers, who had been holding teams to 37.8 percent. 2. North Carolina (27-2): Came from 18 down early in second half and survived 46 points from Boston College's Tyrese Rice to win, 90-80.
Wild Card/Vacation Day 11 of 12
Only two more shopping days until I return to the final days of the City Council campaigns. Then, we'll have fun taking apart the campaigns. Any dirt yet? Any mudslinging. You know, the good stuff. Or is everyone behaving? My wife is now looking over my shoulder -- literally -- so I have to pretend that I'm just checking ball scores. See ya in two days. Here's Wild Card ... .
E-mail still ranks as top threat to U.S. industry
This isn't malware for the masses anymore," said Jeff Green, senior vice president, McAfee Avert Labs. "Cybercrooks have become extremely deft at learning the nuances of the local regions and creating malware specific to each country. They're not skilled just at computer programming - they're skilled at psychology and linguistics too." But with the skills evident in today's cyber crooks is authentication an answer and can learning how to better manage your mail help? The answer is yes on both points, but according to McAfee's Jeff Green, "We're in a constant chess match." IT-Business Canada reported last week Friday that the Quebec provincial police force arrested 17 hackers associated with running a one million-computer botnet that caused an estimated CAN$45 million in damage.
With Signals Mixed, Stocks Score Few Gains
Bulls, however, took comfort in stocks' ability to hold above their January lows, which suggests that much of the unfolding economic torpor may be reflected in share prices. Late Friday reports suggesting a pending bailout of bond insurer Ambac Financial (ticker: ABK) helped stocks recoup the day's losses quickly and dramatically. Companies also paint a mixed picture. Brisk computer sales brightened Hewlett-Packard's (ticker: HPQ) outlook, but the increasingly dull Sharper Image (SHRP) filed for bankruptcy. Barron's warned readers against shares of the gadget merchant -- and its Ionic Breeze air purifiers -- nearly two years ago ("Gone with the Wind," May 2, 2005), when the stock fetched 13-14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week up 33, or 0.3%, to 12381. The Standard & Poor's 500 edged up 3, or 0.2%, to 1353.
Travel Deals of the Week
The inn has a 1,200-square-foot meeting space, leather chairs, audio-visual equipment, two direct-dial phone lines, and a fax machine and copy machine. The retreat starts at $575 per person per night. www.mayflowerinn.com. POLYNESIAN PARADISE Take the whole family to French Polynesia and save. Two children 11 or under fly free on Air Tahiti Nui from JFK with the purchase of two adult tickets. Fares start at $1,423 per person. Valid on flights booked by May 1. Available through May 31. You can also book a six-day Family Getaway package through Swain Tahiti Tours, including four round-trip tickets for two adults and two children 11 and under, five nights at Moorea's Hotel Les Tipaniers and a tour of the island. Package starts at $4,985. www.airtahitinui-usa.com. GOLF GETAWAY The Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau in Michigan is sponsoring a 2008 Create Your Own Golf Package.
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