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Here's some inputs to whether you should buy or lease... sometimes, it depends on your cash, and sometimes it depends on what the law can give you in term of benefits. Should You Lease or Buy Your Computers?With the economy on the rocks, many companies are wondering if they should lease (or finance) their computers, telephone switches, and office equipment rather than buy them. This year, the decision is a bit more complicated: The Economic Stimulus Act, best known for its $600 rebate checks, holds some powerful tax incentives to get small businesses to purchase new equipment. If you're clever, you might be able to get the tax break on a leasing deal as well. But you don't have much time left to take advantage of it.
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This is not advisable -- unless in an emergency. Credit card financing is risky, and expensive. In business, it is always possible to work so that you can get a little cash discount in lieu of using your credit card, and in today's competitive world, a few percentage counts a lot! 44% of businesses rely on credit cards for financing | IT Facts | ZDNet.comShare of businesses using credit cards has jumped from 16% in 1993 to 44% today, according to National Small Business Association. The proportion using bank loans dropped from 45% to 28%. A Federal Reserve survey showed that share of firms using business credit cards jumped from 34% in 1998 to 48% in 2003.
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I have no problem with that... actually piracy has a bad connotation, but what they are saying is that you get the record, and you can copy it, and you pay it if you like it. Other names are better -- you can call it open source, or you can call it viral marketing... I use it in our software, I use it also to spread my business cartoons. You can buy it, but you can download the ebooks 1 and ebooks2 for free. Piracy as a core business strategy | The Open Road - The Business and Politics of Open SourceYou may call this process "piracy" if you wish--for me it is an act of generosity and it both increases our audience size and record sales. And as I always say on the night--if you're going to do it anyway you may as well feel good about it! I believe the official term is "viral marketing," and we depend utterly upon it.
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Microsoft has always win in the market. Maybe there is method in their madness.... Its a continual understanding of the way businesses work -- sometimes the best strategy may not be the most straightforward way. When worlds collide: Microsoft funds Apache |CNET News.comMicrosoft, one of the biggest rivals to open-source programming, has begun funding the Apache Software Foundation, one of open-source software's biggest supporters.
"Microsoft is becoming a sponsor of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). This sponsorship will enable the ASF to pay administrators and other support staff so that ASF developers can focus on writing great software," said Sam Ramji, a senior director of platform strategy at Microsoft. He announced the move Friday in a speech at the Open Source Convention, and noted Microsoft's support of the Apache on the software company's Port 25 blog as well.
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What this article says is simple - if you lose power, you will lose data. Systems and databases now still can't handle an abrupt power outage.... Why power failures are bad for your datawhat happens to your precious data when there is a power outage? Will your file system recover? Properly? Are you sure? Or, will you resort to your backup, just to be safe? Maybe you need a UPS. Then again, maybe not.
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Here are the most sought after jobs, even when economic times are bad. People who are good at what they do are still very much in demand. one thing stood out -- because of advances in technology, ironically, we need more nurses -- simply because people live longer, and those with many terminal illnesses also survive longer.... Recession-Proof Jobs - Forbes.comJobfox examined its database of about 4,000 job postings from November 2007 through July 2008 to see which professions have the most openings monthly. The most recession-proof are those with the highest median monthly rankings over this time period.
Sales representatives top the list--and, unlike other professions, not because there's a shortage. Rather, in tough economic times, a good sales force is a critical way to pull a company out of a downturn.
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I am just going over this interesting Fortune magazine article about America's hottest investor - Ken Heebner.
When we think of investment funds, the standard is Warren Buffet.
However, apparently Ken has been doing really well, and has been called the Barry Bonds without the steroids. Since 1998, he has had an average annualized return of 24%, the best record of any US mutual fund, compared to only 4% of S&P 500.
Last year, he soared 80%, as compared to only 5% of the S&P.
While that is still shy of Peter LYnch's gold standard - Magellan recorded an average return of 36% from August 1977 to August 1987, in some ways, he is better than Lyunch. While compartively speaking, Lynch beat the market by 17 percentage points, Ken Heebner beat the market by 20 - in short, the only reason he is behind from Lynch is because the market was less good during this period, but he beat it by more points.
He has some similarities with Warren Buffet, and also much differences. Both are famous for shying away from tech stocks, but while Warren Buffett advocates holding stocks for a long term, he is extraordinarily hyperactive.
The Turnover rate of his investment fund ( which typically holds 20 to 30 stocks) was a whopping 384% last year, which in theory means he traded his entire portfolio nearly four times. ( He could have traded and changed stocks more in a year than Warren would have in his lifetime).
Which just goes to show that there are many roads to wealth, and one style that suits you is as good as another....
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Gartner counts over 1 billion PCs served | Green Tech - CNET News.comThe number of personal computers in use around the world has exceeded 1 billion and will double by 2014, with most growth coming from developing markets, according to Gartner research released Monday.
A 12 percent annual increase would amount to more than 2 billion PCs in use by 2014, according to a report that counted installed machines rather than laptops and desktops sold.
Emerging markets will account for 70 percent of the next billion PCs to come online, Gartner analysts suggested. They named dropping prices and improved Internet access as factors driving that trend.
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the eNGy Business Cartoon series is a daily toon about the hilarious experiences in the office and deals with business and technology. The second book is now added to the first book for free download.
Pls. read carefully on book2 as you may need to register in order to get the FULL e-book.
You can download for free for a limited time:
eNGy Business Cartoons Ebook 1 (Feb 25 - April 23,2008)
enGy Business cartoons Ebook 2 ( April 24 - June 20, 2008)
Read and enjoy!
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It was supposed to be a guarantee of success. The world's biggest mall, in the world's most vibrant region - the Pearl River Delta, in the world's fastest growing economy hosting the world's most populous region... but sometimes, everything can be right, and it still didn't work... Mall of misfortune - The National NewspaperThe big attraction of the South China Mall was supposed to be its “foreign” design. Learning from Las Vegas, where replicas of European monuments and New York landmarks draw throngs of tourists, the Dongguan mall modeled seven zones after various exotic world locations. Its rooftops reflect at least twenty different influences, from Czech town halls to Turkish mosques.
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Couple of things people are using ( details are in the Link). - some people took advantage of no limits on charitable contributions between August 27, 2005 to jan 1, 2006. - Taxpayers may eliminate upto 100% of their alternative minimum tax by using credits for any foreign taxes paid. ABC News: They Earn $200,000 and Pay No TaxesNew IRS statistics show 7,389 federal tax returns with $200,000 or more in adjusted gross income reported no federal income taxes in 2005. That's a 161% jump from the 2,833 comparable returns filed in 2004.
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One of the other web2.0 site that is quite addictive is www.twitter.com. It is a microblogging service that was founded by Evan Williams, who was the founder before of Blogger.com before it was bought by Google.
Twitter is called a microblog because you can only send a message that is 140 letters or less, ( a little bit less than texting). It is something like yahoogroups and texting rolled into one. What you do is that you register through the website, and then you can update your account either through texting, instant messaging, or through the websites, or one of its numerous 3rd party client tools. Then you can go around looking at other people’s sites, and if you like it, you can choose to ‘follow’ them. Following means that if they update the site, you will be able to read about their updates on your website, or you can even choose to have the updates sent to you through instant message or text your cellphone.
This is almost akin to some of the new features that you can see in almost all social networks – whether in Facebook, LinkedIn, or Friendster, which is ‘what are you doing now?’, and in which if you write something there, then everybody that is checking your account will instantly know.
So, currently, I am following the updates of about 200 people, including some quite famous people that are also there, and it can give you a better idea of what they do. Some of the famous people in twitter includes Robert Scoble, John Dvorak, Guy Kawasaki (famous author), Kevin Rose (founder of Digg), Jason Calacanis ( former head of Netscape’s web and Weblogs Inc), Leo Laporte, Dave Winer ( one of the pioneers and developers of Blogs), Jimbo Wales ( creator of WikiPedia), Joi Ito, and many others. Barrack Obama also has an account, though it is doubtful whether he is personally updating it.
One of the great uses that I was able to use Twitter was when my kids were in China for summer. So we set them up on Twitter, and when they instant messaged what they were doing or happening, it automatically updated me, my wife, and some other relatives. So with one message, everybody was synchronized, in real time.
Twitter is a nice way to get in touch fast, and occasionally it is also a good way to get rumors, or even updated on the news. When the Sichuan earthquake happened, the first instance of my knowing it ( as well as many other people) was through Twitter.
Last Monday night, when it was hardly in the news, I got a twit that said Ces Drilon has been abducted. Tuesday, before anything came out in the news, and even before some people blog about it, I was already able to read from Twitter what was the latest in Apple’s iPhone offering. This morning, as I was answering my mail, somebody immediately informed who won the latest Lakers-Celtics game. So if you are following the right people, it can be a fast way to be in touch.
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Last month, i posted my eNGy business cartoons ebook for free download, and decided I would do an experiment.
How does design and ease of use impacts people usage?
for myself, I always believe that convenience is key. when reading news, or using it, normally I would click and expect to read it immediately. I don't click on news that demands subscription anymore, and normally, most of the time, even if i have to go into a site, and it allows me to read the news but I have to register ( even for free), I don't do it.
so how much traffic are we losing if we insist on them leaving something behind first before offering the service?
My free ebook can be downloaded at a click but it is the black and white cartoon version. I put in a clause that users may download also the full color version if they are willing to subscribe to the daily newsletter.
so here was the offer - you get a black and white cartoon free ebook if you click download, or you get a full collor ( still free) version if you leave your email and subscribe to our list.
so far, over 900 in opted the black and white, and only less than 40 opted for full color download.
does that tell me something about how people respond ?
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In a world where millions of things shout for your attention, there will never be enough money to buy all the things that suit your fancy, or the time to do all the things you want to experience. The key is to focus and prioritize. For years, I scouted around for the latest in time management and organization to-do list software. But more and more, I see myself falling behind. WE cannot just list off the things we want to do , and tick them off one by one, because any list will most likely get added to faster than you can do them. Initially, we think we are keeping time because we most likely do the easier thing first. but as your list gets longer and the easy task gets ticked off, and the difficult things remain, it becomes a challenge and a chore. I started to accept that the way to go is to do the Important things first. In the company, there is the same problem. when you assign tasks, employees take time to do it, because they also have their own task list to do. If you have people who know how to prioritize, and whose priorities jives with yours, you are lucky. but most likely, you face the regular prospect of employees not doing the important things because they got caught up with things they want to do first. It may be that these things are easier to do, or not really important at all. I am starting to think that when you head an organization, the matter of success is directly correlated not only on how capable your members are, but how your priorities and focus jive ad gets done. What do you think? 
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