European Commission to investigate anti-competitive allegations against Google

Author:  |  Category: Uncategorized

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The European Union’s executive body, the European Commission, has started investigating web search giant Google over anti-trust allegations by price comparison service Foundem and French legal services website ejustice.fr. At stake are allegations that Google’s AdWords results are manipulated to prioritise certain advertisers.

The complainants allege price comparison sites receive a lower ‘quality score’, thus being knocked out of fully automated, unpaid-for results; or, being required to pay more for advertising through the search giant’s AdWords program. Google rejects Foundem’s allegations, arguing the majority of content on price comparison sites is duplicated from other sites, asserting Foundem “duplicates 79% of its website content from other sites, thus adding no value.” The company line is, “[w]e have consistently informed webmasters that our algorithms disadvantage duplicate sites”.

The European Commission has a history of carrying out anti-trust investigations involving technology companies. Microsoft was ordered to pay substantial penalties for ‘bundling’ Windows with their Media Player; and, within the EU, must distribute a version of Windows that does not have said bundled software. A similar battle was fought over the automatic inclusion of Internet Explorer with their operating systems.

Google has previously been the subject of anti-trust allegations and investigations. United States authorities blocked Google from buying Yahoo!, citing concerns over a near-monopoly in search; Google’s purchase of mobile advertising company AdMob was also subject to anti-trust scrutiny by the US prior to being allowed to go ahead.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=European_Commission_to_investigate_anti-competitive_allegations_against_Google&oldid=1971261”

Reasons To Have Your Kitchen Remodeled

Author:  |  Category: Home Renovation Solutions

byadmin

When it comes to your home, style is a big part of the equation. If you happen to live in a home that does not inspire you from an aesthetic standpoint, it might wind up causing you serious stress in a subconscious way. Luckily, there are tons of different ways for you to be able to get around this. Kitchen remodeling in Wheaton, IL, can be a fantastic place for you to begin your search. When you switch up the appearance of a room in your home, you are easily able to get out of your comfort zone and start appreciating your house. Here are a few reasons to have your kitchen remodeled.

A New Look

As stated, the biggest reasons to explore kitchen remodeling in Wheaton, IL, is to give yourself the chance for a new look in your home. When you have been living in the same space for years, it can wind up taking a toll on you. Routine and comfort are both important, but these things can also make the mind soft and weak. Complacency is no fun, and you want to make sure that you are taking advantage of all options when it comes to breaking out of the mold. Kitchen remodeling in Wheaton, IL, can offer you the chance to make this happen.

Improved Functionality

Another reason to consider this service for your needs is because it can actually help you to improve your home from a realistic standpoint. If your kitchen is too small for your family, but the rest of your home is spacious, then you are probably not going to want to move anytime soon. This means that you need to try your hand at services that can make a difference. Kitchen remodeling in Wheaton, IL, will help you to get more from your home without having to make any big moves.

When the time comes to make a change, it is important to focus on areas that you can easily conquer. Look at your kitchen, contact the right professionals, and get ready to make a huge change in your household.

Wikinews interviews Corrado Giustozzi, security consultant and author

Author:  |  Category: Uncategorized

Monday, March 17, 2008

Wiki@Home

This interview was carried out in Italian as part of Wiki@Home. It was originally added to the Italian Wikinews as Corrado Giustozzi, il Nightgaunt: sicurezza, privacy ed intelligiochi and the interview has now been translated into English.

This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Corrado Giustozzi, who has written many books, in addition to being an Information security consultant for many Italian law enforcement agencies, was recently interviewed for Wikinews in Italian, as part of Wiki@Home. A translation of an abridged version of the interview can be found below.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Wikinews_interviews_Corrado_Giustozzi,_security_consultant_and_author&oldid=4560574”

Avoiding The Pitfalls In Real Estate Investing

Author:  |  Category: Real Estate

Avoiding the Pitfalls in Real Estate Investing

by

Russ Whitney

Real estate investing can give you a lot of opportunities in making money. There are many ways for one to profit in real estate. You can either rent it for financial support or sell it for really big profit. But selling is best done in the future, for the market value can increase over time and the price can be more than what you expected to have. Investing in real estate is actually the process of buying a property for a low value, doing the renovation and other necessary work to make the house look good and appealing once more. After which, the owner or the investor would have to decide if he want the house to be rented or sold.

Thinking about how well making this investment can profit you seemed to be very attractive to venture. It is true that this type of investment can help one earn substantial income, but not all people have succeeded for variety of reasons. If it can help you earn good profit, it can also lead to significant loss of capital and income, depending on how you handle the situation and how you overcome the pitfalls in this investment.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLuvDeonKDg[/youtube]

Always remember that to succeed in investing real estate, one has to maximize profits and minimize losses. If you want the former to happen, it is best to know these following pitfalls of real estate investing and avoid them early for these commonly lead to the losses of investors, especially those that are newer in this trend.

Purchasing properties that cost expensively it is important to buy properties that are under value so you can earn really big profits when you resell it. In case you were able to purchase a property under market value marginally, selling it for a profit would be really hard for you. You have to take note and consider that there has to be repairs to make which calls for additional budget. Another thing is the commission of the brokers if any, legal fees, costs on operation and taxes. All of these factors will totally affect how you are going to name a price when you resell your property.

Purchasing properties that need a lot of work such as repairs and renovation Buying old properties can be less expensive, but this entails bigger expenses on repairs and remodeling. It is always best to purchase properties that require less work and expenses. When buying properties, be ready to identify how much work and is needed for it to become salable again.

Lacking the performance of searching the title – this is very common in traditional property buying. You should be performing the job by yourself. Unlike in buying foreclosed homes where you have a choice of searching the title on your own or not. Seeking the title of the property should not be taken for granted for this will let you become aware if there are legal issues and liens that you will inherit when you purchase the property.

Being able to keep yourself away from these pitfalls in real estate investing will allow you to generate good amount of profit.

Real estate investing can give you a lot of opportunities in making money. There are many ways for one to profit in real estate. You can either rent it for financial support or sell it for really big profit.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com

CanadaVOTES: NDP candidate Don Davies running in Vancouver Kingsway

Author:  |  Category: Uncategorized

Friday, September 26, 2008

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. New Democratic Party candidate Don Davies is standing for election in the riding of Vancouver Kingsway.

A lawyer, he has spent the last 25 years fighting for human rights. A two-time student government representative, Davies was involved in the anti-apartheid, third world and peace movements. Admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1989, Davies and family moved to Vancouver in 1991, where he became the Director of Legal Resources for Teamsters Canada (Local 31), the next year. He is a long-time volunteer for children’s charity Variety, is Chair of the Parent Advisory Council at Mount Pleasant school, and a Director of the Meridian Cultural Society, among other things.

Wikinews contacted Don Davies, to talk about the issues facing Canadians, and what they and their party would do to address them. Wikinews is in the process of contacting every candidate, in every riding across the country, no matter their political stripe. All interviews are conducted over e-mail, and interviews are published unedited, allowing candidates to impart their full message to our readers, uninterrupted.

The riding is vacant, after Conservative Minister of International Trade David Emerson’s resignation. Emerson was elected in 2004 as a Liberal, serving as the Minister of Industry. Two weeks after re-election in 2006, he crossed the floor to join then-new Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had won a minority government. Emerson was the first MP in Canadian history to cross the floor before a new government was sworn in. He has stepped down, after pressure from other parties.

Besides Davies, major party candidates include Liberal Wendy Yuan, Conservative Salomon Rayek, and Green Doug Warkentin. Also putting their hat in the ring are Matt Kadioglu (Libertarian), Kimball Cariou (Communist), and Donna Peterson (Marxist-Leninist).

For more information, visit the campaign’s official website, listed below.

This Saturday at 11 am, Davies will host NDP leader Jack Layton in the Commodore Ballroom at “rally4change”.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=CanadaVOTES:_NDP_candidate_Don_Davies_running_in_Vancouver_Kingsway&oldid=735339”

Canadian Cabinet Minister resigns over Harper’s Quebec motion

Author:  |  Category: Uncategorized

Monday, November 27, 2006

Michael Chong, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister of Sport, and MP for the riding of Wellington—Halton Hills, has resigned over Stephen Harper’s Quebec motion. The motion asks MPs if Quebec is a nation “within a united Canada”.

Chong opposed the vote saying that it was akin to ethnic nationalism, which he opposes.

“It is nothing else but the recognition of ethnic nationalism, and that is something I cannot support. It cannot be interpreted as the recognition of a territorial nationalism, or it does not refer to the geographic entity, but to a group of people,” Chong said.

“I am resigning as minister so I can abstain from the vote tonight,” Chong said at a news conference in Ottawa, the nations capital. “While I am loyal to my party and to my leader, my first loyalty is to my country. I believe in one nation undivided called Canada.”

Chong remains a Conservative member of Parliament. Later in the day, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed York—Simcoe, Ontario MP Peter Van Loan to the position vacated by Chong.

Harper asked Liberal race contender Stéphane Dion for guidance with the Quebec motion instead of asking the now former Intergovernmental Affairs Minister, Michael Chong.

Michael Ignatieff, the front-runner in the Liberal leadership race, has proposed a similar motion. Liberal leadership candidate, Gerard Kennedy, said he opposes the motion and finds it divisive to national unity and could advance the separatist agenda.

The vote will be held tonight in the House of Commons.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Canadian_Cabinet_Minister_resigns_over_Harper%27s_Quebec_motion&oldid=4498165”

Explosion in Turkey kills seventeen

Author:  |  Category: Uncategorized

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Reuters, AFP, the Associated Press are reporting that a gas explosion in a Turkish school killed at least seventeen girls Friday.

Reuters reports the initial death toll at sixteen, with 27 injured. The number of deaths later rose to 17 when a body was removed from the rubble. Two survivors were pulled from the rubble as rescuers worked into the night. One girl is still missing.

“We won’t stop until we find her,” village mayor Mehmet Demirgul, told the Associated Press.

About fifty students and teachers were in the school, where some had gathered on for Islamic study in the three-story structure in the village of Balcilar, near Taskent in the Konya province .

Merve Avci, a 13-year-old, slightly injured student spoke to the Anatolian news agency: “I was in the part of the building which didn’t collapse with five of my friends immediately after the explosion, and we felt flames rising from the downstairs to upper floors.”

Anatolian says that Avci was in the process of washing before pre-dawn prayers, when a noise in the building’s kitchen led Avci and some teacher to investigate. She says she saw a loose gas pipe before being ordered back to her room. She says she smelled gas coming from somewhere above her room before the explosion.

“We think the collapse was caused by a gas canister explosion in the building, given the burns on the injured,” Konya province health service official Galip Sef told Reuters.

Mayor Demirgul said a leak in a pipe carrying liquefied petroleum gas is the probable cause of the pre-dawn blast.

“We are hearing voices. I believe those inside the rubble will be saved,” Demirgul told reporters, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.

The Associated Press reports that a small portion of all three stories of the building were left standing. This is confirmed by images displayed on the Reuters website.

The building is owned by a religion foundation and is under investigation when Turkish authorities found an non-approved annex to the structure, according to AFP.

The explosion is unrelated to the bomb blast in northern Turkey on July 28.

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=Explosion_in_Turkey_kills_seventeen&oldid=3787886”

Affiliate System How Does It Work?

Author:  |  Category: Performing Arts

Submitted by: Herman King

Online marketing strategies of products and services extensively use a combination of direct sales, auctions, and affiliate system. An affiliate system is a popular marketing strategy which involves four elements or actors. Firstly, it includes the merchant or the seller who wishes to enhance the sales of the products/services. Then there is a network of websites, blogs or e-mail marketing platforms that hosts the promotional contents relating to the same. The affiliate system also includes an affiliate, someone who joins this network and does the promotional activities.

Lastly and most importantly, the affiliate system includes the customer, who, by the affiliate is directed/redirected to an appropriate sales page or website and completes the purchase. Through the affiliate system:

– The buyer gets his desired item – The seller earns a profit through the sale – The affiliate earns a commission by acting somewhat as a sales agent in the process.

Why Affiliate System?

Affiliate marketing strategies or affiliate system is becoming increasingly popular with the expansion of e-commerce. Affiliate system is found to be more effective marketing method than direct sales since it involves less marketing overheads such as:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EhRiCw3FrM[/youtube]

– A sales page or website which is much cheaper than a sales outlet. – A less expensive marketing agent or the affiliate who is paid a small promotional commission. – A cheaper advertisement or promotional activity such as PPC, SEO, PPM etc. – A larger and more prospective customer base than real world market.

Compensation Methods Involved in Affiliate System

Present trends in affiliate system include some or all of the following compensation methods:

– Pay-per-click (PPC): The affiliate hosts banner ads in his website/blog and draws the customers to click on the ads. For each click of the visitor, affiliate (or the publisher) gets paid. This affiliate system involves high risks since a visitor may ultimately end up doing nothing after the click.

– Pay-per-sales: This compensation method in the affiliate system requires the redirected visitor to be converted as a customer and complete a purchase.

– Search Engine Optimization: The affiliate or publisher displays SEO contents in websites where traffic is generated by search engine results.

– Cost-per-mille (CPM): In this method the affiliate system relies on a thousand page/ad view . The affiliate or publisher earns specific revenue by generating one thousand page views of the ad in the webpage. Thousand page views mean thousand visitors or a number of visitors viewing the ad for a thousand times. The affiliate system using this method has a high probability in converting visitors into customers.

Where to Start?

In contemporary trend of e-commerce, affiliate marketing is growing significantly. There are hundreds of programs in different affiliate systems where you can subscribe and earn affiliate commissions on a regular basis. For becoming a successful affiliate in these affiliate systems you need to:

– Understand how an they works. – Understand your own potential as a publisher against the merchant s affiliate system requirements. – Understand different compensation methods and their earning potential in your affiliate program. – Be imaginative, innovative and persuasive. – Be patient and strive for continuous development in affiliate skills. – Know about super affiliate s success stories shared in different affiliate forums. – Identify affiliate secrets from a host of affiliate publications, stories and trends. – Take an affiliate course or lesson if necessary before subscribing to a program.

Affiliate marketing is shaping today s e-commerce much more than any other marketing strategies. Understanding the mechanism of affiliate system including tips, tricks and methods is essentially the first step you should take before getting into this diverse system. After gaining sufficient knowledge, you can ensure steady revenue earning which could even become your primary income.

About the Author: Iam is a former professor and administrator, who have spent the past few years navigating and mastering the waters of affiliate marketing. For some affiliate system tools, you’ll find them here

secretaffiliate.org

.

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=546476&ca=Computers+and+Technology

School on Australia’s Sunshine Coast makes staff redundant, requests they apply for ‘new’ jobs

Author:  |  Category: Uncategorized
This article’s primary contributor, Patrick Gillett, is an alumnus of Sunshine Coast Grammar School.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Wikinews has obtained a list of middle management teaching staff allegedly made redundant, or laid off due to restructuring, by Sunshine Coast Grammar School (SCGS), in Queensland, Australia. Sources say that those staff have been told that they can apply for new positions that have opened up.

The list, published on the SCGS alumni Facebook page, contains the names of twenty-two staff members, eight of which taught this article’s primary contributor. Seventeen positions are reportedly being opened up by the private Christian school, eight of which seem to significantly overlap the old ones.

The changes are, apparently, designed to get teachers back into the classroom. “We are not cutting subject choices and extracurricular activities, but retaining a student-driven curriculum that integrates with the new Australian Curriculum, in keeping with our commitment to teaching and learning opportunities,” said headmaster Nigel Fairbairn.

Fairbairn could not guarantee that any of the staff would be given a position in 2011. “That will depend on how many people on that list apply for new positions of responsibility and are successful,” he said.

“The Head of the School cannot guarantee the 21 staff a job at the School in the future, with many of the positions being advertised to external applicants,” said Terry Burke, secretary for the Independent Education Union of Australia Queensland branch (Queensland Independent Education Union, QIEU).

“There has been little or no consultation with affected staff, who should not have to reapply for their jobs,” he said. “Most of the proposed restructuring is highly questionable and places at risk the high quality education at the School.”

Some former students responded angrily to the news.

Four of the affected teachers “were the backbone of the school when [controversy surrounded founding headmaster John Burgess] happened,” a former prefect (student leader) said. “They got it through that crisis and this is the thanks they get.”

“People are angry and shocked,” they continued. “I am aware of at least 10 families who have said they will pull their children out of the school – it’s that bad.”

The student body has not ruled out protesting the schools plans. “It’s getting to that stage,” the former prefect said. “People are trying to look at it in an intelligent way but there is so much anger out there.”

Wikinews understands that Fairbairn attracted criticism when he was a head teacher in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a former student claimed that Fairbairn “replaced the open and welcoming culture … with the tyrannical and oppressive one.”

Retrieved from “https://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?title=School_on_Australia%27s_Sunshine_Coast_makes_staff_redundant,_requests_they_apply_for_%27new%27_jobs&oldid=2714715”

Website Designing For Real Estate Business

Author:  |  Category: Real Estate

Website Designing for Real Estate Business

by

Amit Kothiyal

Is a website must for a real estate business? Well the answer to this question is an emphatic yes ! Today, every 2 out of 3 homebuyers use the Internet to search information for their new home. They try to find a real estate agent who will help them to take the biggest financial decision of their life. So if you are on a look out for such prospective clients who are actively seeking out real agents, have money to shell out and are willing to make quick purchasing decision, you need to be online for sure.

For this, first and foremost, try to choose an experienced and professional real estate website designer even though it may cost you little more. Check if the web designing company the website designer belongs to have any previous record of developing a real estate website. This is important because an experienced real estate website designer knows how important it is for you to stand out of the crowd and will help you accordingly with simple yet professional web designing techniques.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rn3GwW2JWM[/youtube]

One such technique often used by website designers to make real estate website attractive is by using interactive flash maps that displays hot selling properties across your area of operation. You can have interactive maps for different states, counties or cities depending on your business need. Moreover to target local customers you can display extra information about any locality with advanced designing techniques. These will help your customer to find information about a property from your website faster, thus increasing the possibility of closing of a deal quickly.

Moving on, a good looking, graphically and programmatic very well designed website is one of the most important marketing channels for any real estate company. It acts like a 24 hour salesperson which helps you to promote your business online. Additionally it projects a better professional image of your company to the visitors, is the best way to showcase all your properties and most importantly creates a direct relationship with your potential customers by collecting their email addresses and alerting them to new listings & newsletters of your company.

Finally a professional real estate website design has the ability to capture leads and track back their origination. There was a time when it was difficult to get leads for real estate websites. However things have changed a lot due to the integration of Search Engine Optimization with website designing. Today there are no boundaries and no limitations for your online real estate business to expand.

This post is written by Amit Kothiyal, a well-known professional writer. He is part of reputed web design firm, a reputed name of the web world, delivering

expert services of web designing

, web development, and internet marketing.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com