iTechSpeak :::...

Gee. I wish I could be in on the ground floor of the next technology tsunami. Shoot. I missed that opportunity. Bugsy Segal looked out in the desert and saw opportunity that became Las Vegas. Thomas Edison found over 900+ ways not to make a light bulb, until his patience and persistence paid off. Sitting at his desk as an ordinary office worker, Rod Colon's extraordinary vision with millions of people leveraging human social networking to self empower the masses for success, has impacted many lives globally. William H. (Bill) Gates III worked in a garage to develop a piece of software that changed the fortunes and lives of every person on earth.

Microsoft's surface computing technology will revolutionize the way people live and work. Surface computing will do what the telephone did for communication and what television did for engaging the masses. Everyday input devices are history, with their selfish way of taking up precious desk space. Any mechanical object that moves will eventually break. No more computer mouse, keyboard, scanner, credit card readers etc.. Which means there is a money savings on replacements or repairs. The main input devices for surface computing are our fingers and our imagination.

Based on how surface computing works with proven technology components, it has a serious potential to create opportunities for teachers, product designers, lawyers, test engineers, building superintendents, business administrators, doctors, product managers, restaurant/office workers, program managers, travelers, software engineers, taxi drivers, people who entertain at home, recruiters, sales/marketing persons, hotel workers and many other professions.

Wake up software developers who think your skills are tight. Now is the time to get hot with developing applications for surface computing. And you too entrepreneurs that call yourself visionaries. Pick up the phone and call your investor angels that you brag about to friends, as being available in your trusted network.

Investors are not off the hook either. Is your investment portfolio complete by including surface computing? Let's talk if you're interested in exploring the potential.

Are you an Entrepreneur considering another profit center? No one is suggesting you delineate away from your core profit centers. Consider putting together a consortium of investors and/or distributors that "want in" on a sure bet. Laugh, if you will. Then those with the "show me" mindset can cry later when the surface computing market successfully saturates.

Microsoft Surface - Exclusive Review


Microsoft Surface at the Rio in Las Vegas

by Bruce Newman

Affiliate marketing is usually defined as the reward for each customer brought to a target website; in short, an Internet-based marketing method of driving traffic to a particular site. To clarify this further, let’s say I’m an affiliate for a website that sells pet products. For each customer who I bring to that website, I will receive some reward – usually money. (This may also require that they purchase at least one item.)

Is it worth my while?
The answer is both yes and no. It depends on the terms of the affiliate agreement and the amount of effort you are willing to expend. If it was so easy for these companies to just bring in business, they wouldn’t need an affiliate program. However, every company knows that generating new business is hard; it’s expensive, time consuming, exhausting and a slow process. They have calculated that it helps to have an unpaid (or minimally paid) sales force providing them with leads (and customers). The question for you to determine is, “Are the rewards worth my effort?”.

What is required from me?
Sometimes being an affiliate can initially be very easy and profitable. If you have a network of friends with a need for the affiliate product or service that you represent – such as pet supplies, you can easily make a few dollars. But what happens then? What is required for you to continue to provide new customers? And, how will you do it? These are questions you must be able to answer before becoming an affiliate of any program.

How much money can I make?
You can make a lot of money as an affiliate, particularly if you are an affiliate member for several websites and have an effective operating strategy. Having a solid networking tree is also quite helpful. Unfortunately, few affiliates fall into this category. Some affiliates enjoy a solid secondary income stream. However, most affiliates make little to no money, usually because of a lack of effort or difficulties with the company they are an affiliate for. We will discuss this further in another article.

Why become an affiliate?
Being an affiliate can supply you with a secondary source of income. Even if you are employed in a job, an affiliate income can make a significant difference in your total income. Possibly, as you continue to refine your strategies and affiliate agreements, it can even become a primary source of income. In any case, it requires work on your part. Just remember, money won’t come rolling in once you sign up as an affiliate without your effort.

Next week, we will discuss how to select an affiliate program(s) from the many programs currently available.

Bruce Newman is a long-term ETP Network member and Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC which matches the specific software products and services needs of companies to rated outstanding consultants who can meet those needs. It has an extensive and well-supported affiliate program that offers up to $225 for each company that registered by an affiliate which signs a contract with one of its referred consultants. Additional product and service information is available at: http://www.prodinst.com

Video Affiliate Marketing Part 1

Are you ready for this? Now you can thumb your nose at all suppliers of oil around the world. No more reliance on Mobil Oil, Exxon, Citgo, Hess, British Petroleum (BP), Venezuela, Middle East, OPEC or any other oil cartels. Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. As a fuel, it is a biofuel alternative to gasoline, and is widely used in cars in Brazil. Because it is easy to manufacture and process, and can be made from very common materials such as sugar cane, it is steadily becoming a promising alternative to gasoline throughout much of the world.

How about having your own gas pump in your own back yard or driveway? Does fuel at around $1.00 a gallon sound good? And the U.S. Treasury Department actually provides a free permit to allow small property owners to make up to 10,000 gallons of their own fuel.

Drum roll please . . . Efuel100 is taking orders for 2008 4th quarter deliveries of the first home ethanol micro fueling system. Efuel100 is also offering money making opportunities for people to become dealers or investors. The EFuel100 Microfueler apparently works by mixing table sugar with ethanol yeast mix. The MicroFueler has a distillation-only mode, which allows the consumer to convert discarded beer, wine or distilled drinks into ethanol. Any combination of discarded alcohol can be poured directly into the MicroFueler fermentation tank to be converted into ethanol.

Beyond the prospectus, do your homework before investing in any emerging technology. I will, because what Efuel100 is offering provides 3 exciting opportunities. I want in.

Make Your Own Ethanol At Home with the Efuel 100 MicroFueler


More Efuel100 Videos

With the Internet, social networks have provided powerful platforms for business networking, making million dollar deals and accelerating your professional career into fast forward. Social networks can also be very scary places that produce unwanted devastating results that impact our everyday lives. Be proactive about protecting your business reputation, your children and your family. Spend a little time learning safety tips for being on MySpace and Facebook.

By now you may have read John Markoff's article in the yesterday's New York Times "Larger Prey Are Targets of Phishing". Over 2,000 executives received phony, but very official looking, subpoenas to appear in court. From the email they were fooled into thinking they could download a copy of the subpoena. Instead different variants of keylogger programs were installed on each computer. Keylogger programs intercept personal or sensitive corporate information typed on the computer keyboard.

John goes on to explain "The tactic of aiming at the rich and powerful with an online scam is referred to by computer security experts as whaling. The term is a play on phishing, an approach that usually involves tricking e-mail users — in this case the big fish — into divulging personal information like credit card numbers. Phishing attacks that are directed at a particular person, rather than blasted out to millions, are also known as spear phishing."

When are these phishing and whaling horror stories going to end? Never, but there proactive steps people can take. Consider making a small investment in an excellent keylogger prevention program called GuardedID by Strikeforce Technologies. Think of it as buying insurance to protect your sensitive information and prevent identity theft.

GuardedID provides a preemptive approach to protecting your information. GuardedID works by encrypting each and every keystroke the instant that you type it. It then delivers those encrypted keystrokes directly to the browser through its own Patent Pending secure channel, circumventing all the hooks keyloggers use to steal data. This prevents any chance for key loggers to intercept the users information over the keyboard. Read more . . .

Outside of MySpace, YouTube, Linkedin, Bebo, social networks and blogs are also being used by schools, stock traders, non-profit organizations, event planning companies and professional/trade associations.

There is a list you can scroll down to view more videos. Enjoy!!

What does Subscribe mean? has been previously covered in 2 articles posted on iTechSpeak; "RSS is a Double Edge Sword" and "Make Jobs or Clients Come to You using a RSS Reader".

Installing a RSS reader saves you much time by making information and business opportunities come to you. RSS epitomizes working smarter, not harder.

Video: RSS in Plain English by Common Craft

Virtual Worlds Review describes a virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. Virtual worlds are also called "digital worlds," "simulated worlds" and "MMOG's." There are many different types of virtual worlds, however there are six features all of them have in common: 1. Shared Space: the world allows many users to participate at once. 2. Graphical User Interface: the world depicts space visually, ranging in style from 2D "cartoon" imagery to more immersive 3D environments. 3. Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time. 4. Interactivity: the world allows users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content. 5. Persistence: the world's existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in. 6. Socialization / Community: the world allows and encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc. Read more . . .


Virtual Worlds Review Directory lists quite a few different types of virtual worlds to live by such categories as:

• Children
  
• Technocrats
• Free Access
• Tweens
• Virtual World Newbies
• 20 & 30 somethings
• Graphic Artists
• Trend setter Ages 40+

Some of the popular virtual worlds are Second Life, There, The Sims Online. The media has been giving an extraordinary amount of coverage to Second Life. There have been reports of a young lady making $1million dollars selling real estate within this virtual world.

There was another story in the Wlall Street journal that asked the question "Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?". This is a bizzare question, because this man has a wife in real life, but has married and is playing house with his virtual wife in second Life. He has never met the actual woman in real life playing his virtual wife. He is maintaining his virtual marriage in

Since the U. S. Congress ordered the switch to digital television, regular TV is going away on Februaury 17, 2009. After this deadline, anyone who wishes to continue watching TV with the basic "rabbit ear" antenna that comes with the TV, must purchase a digital converter box. This box costs between $50 - $70.

To offset the cost the U. S. National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) is providing a FREE $40 coupon to offset the cost of purchasing the digital TV converter. The limit is 2 coupons per household. Click here to apply for your FREE analog to digital converter box coupon online. Another option is calling 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009).

The digital converter box will not be available for purchase until February or March 2008. If you apply for the free converter coupon(s) now, NTIA will send you the coupon at the time when the digital converter boxes are actually in retail outlets. The coupon is good for 90 days from date of issue.

A Reuters article "Strong start for TV converter box program for TV viewers" provides a list of retailers where the coupon can be redeemed towards the digital converter box.

Thousands of hours of invention tweaking, by Thomas Edison and 125 years later, the U.S. Clean Energy Act of 2007 makes the incandescent light bulb go away in 2012. This bill was introduced by the U.S. House of Representatives and pass by the U.S. Senate in June of 2007.

In 2012 the 1st phase is for 100 watt and 75 watt incandescent light bulbs to be banned. By 2014 the 60 watt and 40 watt incandescent light bulbs will be banned.

The smart way is to start replacing each incandescent bulb, as they each go out, with a flourescent bulb. Click here for information on "How to Choose Energy Star Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs"

This new trend creates an awesome opportunity for money making fund raisers. Check out Light Bulbs America for details. Through their program you make approximately 40% profit on each fluorescent light bulb sold.

Check out the Energy Star web site to see if there are cash back rebates in your U.S. state for purchasing Energy Star approved compact fluorescent light bulbs.

ENERGY STAR Qualified CFL facts:

The telephone has been and always be the best "high tech high touch" way of developing human relationship rapport. So how can a person effectively communicate using Email? Instant messaging? or the Telephone?

The Finishing Academy and Microsoft teamed up to develop "The Business and Communications Etiquette Guide". Mark Deakin, Unified Communications Manager, Microsoft said: “Our research and anecdotal evidence suggests that Instant Messaging is now rife amongst information workers, yet often people are using it poorly. Combined with the widespread misuse of email and an increasing aversion to the phone, it seems there is confusion over when to use which method of communication. The technology is there to help people communicate and collaborate better, and done right it can be a real boon.” Read more . . .

Carl Tyler also provides an excellent technology communication etiquette article slide show published on Forbes.

Circuit City has been kind enough to provide an excellent public service announcement on their web site. The Congress has now passed legislation requiring all conventional "analog" TV broadcasting to stop on February 17, 2009. After that date, your local television broadcasters will be making only "DTV" broadcasts. If received via an antenna these broadcasts will require different TV tuners. Read more . . .

As of March 1, 2007, all new TVs must include digital tuners.

The bad news is TVs manufactured before 1998 will no longer receive TV broadcasts, if only an antenna is being used to receive free (advertiser sponsored) TV shows. A digital converter will have to be purchased and attached to these older television sets.

The good news is Congress has allocated funds for households, with pre 1998 televisions, to apply for a $40 coupon. With a maximum of two (2) $40 coupons per household, the coupon can used towards the purchase of a digital converter.

The details of the digital converter coupon program will be announced later in 2007. Click here to keep up with the latest on transition to digital TV transmissions February 17, 2009.

Time is our most valuable commodity. If we don't place a value on our time, then people won't value it either. Over time we each gain a certain amount of expertise, which we usually give away for free. Then there are clients or customers who call on a whim for information, which benefits them or the profits of their company. After the call, we scratch our heads trying to figure out how we can recoup the time we lost by not charging for telephone time.

Wouldn't be nice, if we could charge for the time we spend on the telephone to provide useful information to people? How about being able to charge for exclusive vidcast, podcast, or eBooks, separate from the free ones we give away? How about charging people for valuable information you send in an email?

Adding a button to a web site or blog adds credibility.

"Success is where preparation and opportunity meet." -Bobby Unser

Think fast. What famous stadium is pictured in this satellite photo? I took this picture from my desk in Manhattan using Google's latest toy called "Google Earth". After downloading the free software, you type in a street address any where in the world. Voila, Google Earth allows you to look through the lenses of a satellite camera, taking you right to the top of the building. Imagine a satellite miles above earth providing a clear crisp photo of a building, like you're right next to it.

We are surrounded by opportunities with sound bytes of what's to come in the satellite business. It's in its infancy. Now is the time to prepare.

Heck, even people with blogs or web sites can cash in by becoming affiliates. Decent commissions are paid for new satellite radio subscribers bloggers recommend from their site.

Did you come up with Yankee Stadium in the satellite photo above?
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Before you watch or get involved with FiOS TV, I recommend you put your seat belt on. This technology is the Autobahn of lightening fast broadband services.

Wikipedia seems to provide the most accurate definition as "FiOS (Fiber Optic Services, though the carrier denies this is the source of the acronym in published news stories) is a fiber to the premises (FTTP) telecommunications service offered in the United States by Verizon."

According I4U News, outstanding user reviews indicate FiOS TV is delivering, as promised.

Before those of us who are savvy technology professionals get all dreamy eyed about the employment or consulting opportunities for this new technology, do your homework. Run your career like a business and perform "due diligence". Research the market. Verizon appears to be the only FiOS TV player. Check with the The Fiber Optic Association for referrals to certified training schools.

You will have to crawl (learn standard cabling technology) before you learn how to run (learn fiber optic technology).

For any Spanish speaking IT professionals in New York City, I know a school in the area that provides Free fiber optic classes only in Spanish, if they are a member of LISTA.
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SAVVY INTRAPRENEUR: Innovative Fund Raising Approach Using Technologylinks

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This past Friday I attended a post holiday party at a bleeding edge telecommunication cable studio. They gave a tour of their technology readiness for the coming sunami of Internet Protocol TV subscribers.

IPTV uses a two-way digital broadcast signal, sent through a switched telephone or cable network by way of a broadband connection. A set-top box is programmed with software to handle viewer requests to access a plethora media sources, with high speed delivery.

According to a new Light Reading Insider report, “IPTV: Where the Money Is,” technology vendors, and especially the likes of Alcatel (NYSE: ALA - message board; Paris: CGEP:PA), stand to make a killing.

There are significant drivers forcing telecom operators to adopt those defensive strategies, most notably the increasingly intense competition they're facing from ISPs and cable and satellite operators. As a result, the IPTV market is set to explode in the coming five years and beyond, finds the report.

By 2010, IPTV will have captured 65 million subscribers worldwide, predominantly in North America, Europe, and Asia. To deploy the systems needed to deliver those services, carriers will spend a total $21 billion in the 2005 to 2010 timeframe. Read more . . .

Stay on top of IPTV Developments:

IPTV News.net

Your IPTV and TV Over Internet News Resource

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CSI in a box by ZDNet's Roland Piquepaille -- Reconstructing human faces from skulls found by the police is nothing new, and it has already being done with computers. But this was a long process. Now, a Canadian startup company, HumanCore has developed a new human anatomy software to do the job in about 30 minutes and which also will be used by the clothing industry.

Predictions for 2006 abound on the voice over internet protocol (VOIP) market. The 3 burning questions enquiring minds want answered are:

1. What is VOIP and how does it work?
2. What types of predictions have been made?
3. These predictions are important to me, Why? - WIIFM?


1. If you've never heard of VoIP, get ready to change the way you think about long-distance phone calls. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a method for taking analog audio signals, like the kind you hear when you talk on the phone, and turning them into digital data that can be transmitted over the Internet.

How is this useful? VoIP can turn a standard Internet connection into a way to place free phone calls. The practical upshot of this is that by using some of the free VoIP software that is available to make Internet phone calls, you are bypassing the phone company (and its charges) entirely. Read more . . .

3. What's in it for me?

Consumers
According to a Consumer Reports article, . . . "VOIP can be a great way to cut phone bills, increase talk time, and add useful new services. Consumer Reports urges consumers to keep a corded phone (requiring no power) and a landline plan for emergencies. Consumers who spend more than $60 for local and long-distance service may save money with VoIP".

With the dizzying options, like your recent switch from modem dial up to broadband (i.e. cable or dsl) or that famous "triple play", it is highly recommended you hire a technology professional for assistance with installing VOIP home/business telephone service. In considering the cost of hiring a VOIP consultant, remember price vs. cost. The price you pay for doing it yourself may appear as a savings. But what will it cost you [in time and money], if your VOIP installation is not done properly or certain computer hardware or software is not set properly? It may cost more to hire a consultant to resolve VOIP problems, afterwards.

which brings us to . . .

Technology Professionals
Quit whining about outsourcing and create a new income profit center with VOIP skills. Educate consumers on their VOIP telephone options. Help consumers implement VOIP service. Act as the VOIP QA manager to double check carrier VOIP home installations. The consulting market is wide open for helping businesses implement VOIP. Be creative. Learn who the players are and their VOIP product offerings. Register for a VOIP webinar. A quick Internet search will provide a plethora of Free VOIP training, white papers etc.

Investors
As you are probably already ahead [of consumers and IT professionals] in identifying opportunities in the VOIP arena, very little needs to be said. Maybe you want to read just one more report. VoIP: Spending and Trends, a new report from eMarketer, examines the rapidly developing IP telephony market and the impact its growth will have on businesses, consumers and the entire communications industry.
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