Online Guru or Scam Artist: How Can You Tell?

You want to start your own online business. You want the financial independence from corporate America. You want to pursue your dreams. You need help. Who do you call?

Unfortunately, as the web has grown so have the undesirable elements too. The web is a microcosm of the real world. There are honest merchants and trainers. But there are also those looking to prey on inexperienced people. Before you get sucked into a bad situation and spend hundreds of dollars, read this article. As you read this article, do not accept what I say blindly. Test it against your own experience.

Every day, I'm certain you receive many emails promising you everything from cheap Canadian drugs to making big money fast at eBay. The first way to identify an online scam artist is by his SPAM. The spam emails you receive should trigger the same signals in your brain as the spore left by predators around the chicken coop. A reputable online business will not send SPAM (unsolicited email). A reputable company or individual will work hard to earn your business by publishing articles online, working on their website's search engine results, and providing you with a content rich website. So, the first sign of the online scam artist is his SPAM email. Just delete any you receive. But, how do you find the right company or individual to support you?

Start with a search engine, like google.com or teoma.com. Search for terms like "small business forum", "small business advice", "small business newsletters", and "home based business resources". Looking at the resulting search results, avoid those search results that start with phrases like "business opportunity" or "work from home and make $50,000". Come on! You know that just doesn't sound right. If they knew how to make a fortune with very little effort, do you think they'd be teaching others how to do it? So what do you look for? Sites that offer articles from true professionals in the field of online business.

Read the articles that interest you. Listen carefully to what the writer is saying. If they are painting a reasonable expectation and answering your unasked questions, check out their website. Reputable people will work very hard placing articles on reputable sites where you can find them. They will work for your business.

Now that you're on their site, what do you look for to determine if this company or individual is right for you? First, read the contents of their site. Is it focused on you, the potential customer? Does it give you relevant information, or just a sales pitch? Is it trying to get you to a free seminar without any other option of contacting the company? Does it give you a clear roadmap of how it intends to deliver on the promises it's making? If they aren't attempting to inform you so you can make a decision that's best for you, RUN! (In other words, skip their site and go to the next).

As a side note: Stay away from academic organizations. They tend to know the theory of creating a successful online business. You want someone who has created a successful online business and knows what to do based upon experience, not theory. Read the biographies of the people heading the company. Are the biographies focused upon real world accomplishments? Read how they operate. After you sign with them, will you be handed off to some hourly employee or will you work with someone who has actually created an online business?

Once you find one or two options that look good for you, sign up for their free seminar. Every reputable company has an online free seminar. Unfortunately, so does every online scam artist, so before the seminar, do some research. Start by contacting the Better Business Bureau where the company is located to research any prior complaints. Go to google.com or teoma.com, or any other search engine, and put the company's name in the search box. If anyone is really mad at them, results will come back. This is a case where "no news is good news". Now that you know the company doesn't have an already documented bad reputation, it's time to attend the seminar.

Now that it's time for the free seminar, what should you listen for?

· Do they emphasize the money to be made, and downplay or ignore the effort required to accomplish that task?

· Do they promise you to do the work for you?

· Do they promise a lot of "free" things?

· Do they offer a money-back guarantee? Though this may sound good as a sales pitch, few of them deliver on that promise.

· Do they allow you to ask questions at some point in the seminar or do they keep themselves insulated from you and your concerns?

· When the seminar is over, do you get to talk with the person who will be your coach/mentor, or do you only get to talk to a salesman only?

Let's say everything is sounding good and you think you want to sign up. What now?

Follow these simple guidelines and you can avoid a costly mistake: · Don't talk to a salesman! ALWAYS ask to talk to the person who will be coaching you.

· Ask them about their experience and make certain you will feel comfortable working with them for the long term.

· Be sure they are asking you tough questions to make certain you are a good candidate to be successful in their program. No reputable company wants to sell you a program you will fail at. Reputable companies count on happy customers telling other people about their company.

· Make certain you understand the program and what you will be required to do to be successful.

· Don't fall for any "early bird registration discounts". If you need time to think about this decision, a reputable company will understand that. Have as many conversations as it takes to feel comfortable. If they want to sign you fast, what kind of service do you expect once they have your money?

Is it easy to spot a scam artist online? It is if you follow the simple guidelines laid out in this article and if you listen to that small voice in your head that keeps repeating "this sounds too good to be true".

Microsoft preps Soapbox to compete with YouTube

Microsoft is preparing to go live with their new user-generated video service and is ramping up to take on YouTube in the near future.

Codenamed Warhol, the service's final name is said to be "Soapbox." It will debut on MSN instead of Windows Live, as many have expected, but will nevertheless be tightly integrated with Microsoft's MySpace competitor, Windows Live Spaces. The details of the new service are rumored to be very similar to those of YouTube, with a 100 MB upload limit from "almost any format," tags and categories, RSS feeds, integration of a Windows Live Spaces account, and the ability to embed videos on a web page or blog.

Aside from item-specific and submitter-specific RSS feeds, another item to note is the lack of any sort of length limits to the uploaded videos. In March of this year, YouTube folded to heavy criticism of copyrighted content being uploaded to the site by placing a 10-minute video limit on all user-uploaded videos that were not from a Director account—a Premium Content Creator account that allows professionals to post their own professionally-created videos to YouTube. This was done in hopes of discouraging users from attempting to upload full-length TV shows to the site, which really didn't eliminate the copyrighted content from being available, but toned it down a fair amount. So far, it doesn't appear as if Soapbox has such limitations, but that could change before the service goes live or soon thereafter.

Microsoft believes that it is already positioned to be a heavy competitor against YouTube for the user-generated video market. MSN's Todd E. Herman said in an interview that the game isn't about uploading, it's about availability and MSN is already good at making content available. Mr. Herman was very confident that while YouTube definitely "got to the party early," MSN's 4 million unique visitors per month would allow them to catch up in no time. Although he was rather vague in the interview, he definitely indicated that he thought they could outpace YouTube in no time as well, as MSN already considered themselves to be "out-TiVoing TiVo" by providing relevant news clips to viewers after broadcast instead of an entire news show to pick through.

Initial screenshots of the Soapbox page (not yet live) sure do look a lot like YouTube except with that signature Microsofty twist. What remains to be seen is whether Soapbox's interface provides the ease-of-use and visibility that will compel its video-sharing demographic to make use of the service over YouTube. Although Microsoft is confident that their 4-million-heavy MSN traffic will help them close in on to YouTube without a hitch, will it really? MySpace, which boasts overall traffic numbers around 50 million unique visitors per month, launched MySpace Video in March of this year to compete with YouTube. Although MySpace Video carries some very strong numbers itself, MySpace's ridiculously large following has yet to help them catch up to YouTube's numbers in the user-generated video market. In fact, after an initial spike, usage seems to be leveling out at just over half of YouTube's marketshare. Being the first to the party does indeed have its advantages, but for how long can YouTube hold the spot?

New Ipods

NANO:

Completely Remastered

A thinner design. Five stylish colors. A brighter display. Up to 24 hours of battery life. Just about the only thing that hasn't changed is the name. In 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB models starting at $149, iPod nano puts up to 2,000 songs in your pocket.

Look like a rock star:

Your music says a lot about you. So should your iPod nano. A super-slim design says you always have room for music — up to 2,000 songs, in fact. Durable anodized aluminum says you won't let the rough and tumble of everyday life ruin your groove. And one of five colors says whatever you want. Choose your hue and make a statement.

SHUFFLE:

One Size fits all

You know what they say about good things and small packages. But when something 1.62 inches long and about half an ounce holds up to 240 songs, "good" and "small" don't quite cut it. Especially when you can listen to your music for up to 12 continuous hours. In fact, iPod shuffle just may be the biggest thing in small.

Ready to wear

Clip it to your coin pocket. Clip it to your bag. No matter where you clip your skip-free iPod shuffle, you'll have instant access to music. And iPod shuffle's anodized aluminum enclosure goes with absolutely everything. Put it on, turn it up, and turn some heads.

Pics:

Archos' Latest Bag of Toys

Archos shows off 5 new media players

Archos has always made a name for itself when it comes to portable media players (PMP) and the new generation of PMPs are no exception. The new models include the 604, 604 Wi-Fi, 504, 404 and 404 Camcorder.

The 9.5 ounce Archos 604 brings a 4.3" (480x272) screen to the table along with a 30GB hard drive. The device can playback music, video and images along with PDF documents in a pinch (although not all PDF functions are supported). Battery life is rated at 16 hours for music playback and five hours of video playback. The 604 Wi-Fi adds wireless capabilities, an Opera-based browser and the ability to control the screen with not only the stylus, but also your fingertip. The device is rated for four hours of battery life when using Wi-Fi.

The Archos 504, like the 604, features a 4.3" (430x272) screen, but is slightly thicker, can be had with a larger hard drive (up to 160GB) and has longer battery life (17 hours audio versus 16 for the 604).

Next up is the Archos 404. This smaller, 3.5" (320x240) unit features a 30GB hard drive and weighs in at just 6.75 ounces. Its dimensions are also pretty small coming in at 3.9" x 3" x 0.59". For real-world impressions of the 404, you can read CNET Asia's review of the device. The Archos 404 Camcorder adds a 1.3MP camera to the mix and can also record video at VGA videos in MPEG4 format.

Pricing is only available for the Archos 604 and 404 -- they will ring up at $350 and $300 respectively and are available for pre-order on Archos' online store. Pricing and availability for the other three models will be announced at a later date.

It's quite interesting to see that Archos decided to add Wi-Fi capabilities to its 604. Wi-Fi is finding its way into more of our portable devices as witnessed by the immense popularity of the feature on the Nintendo DS. Nintendo just recently announced that it has surpassed the 2 million unique users mark on its Wi-Fi Connection service and has hosted over 70 million game sessions. The Nintendo DS, like the 604 WiFi, is available with the Opera browser in Japan although European and US support is still AWOL. Microsoft's new Zune will have a Wi-Fi connection, but unfortunately it appears to be limited to only sharing media with other Zune devices.

FHP Develops Four 'World's First, World's Best' PDPs

Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Ltd. (FHP) has announced four new models of PDP. Based on the company policy "to develop world's first or best technologies" (Yoshiyuki Imoto, President and Director of the Board), the four models boast the respective features described below - first or best in the world.

(1) 60-inch full HD (1920 x 1080) model
The "world's first" 60-inch full HD model. Scheduled for volume production in November 2006.

(2) 50-inch full HD model
The "world's first" single scan full HD model. Scheduled for volume production in March 2007.

(3) 50-inch HD model
The model with the "world's most" number of pixels (1280 x 1080) among the 50-inch HD models excluding full HD products. Scheduled for volume production in October 2006.

(4) 42-inch HD model
The model with the "world's most" number of pixels (1280 x 1080) among the 42-inch HD models and also the "world's first" 42-inch PDP compliant with the Chinese HDTV standard. Scheduled for volume production in September 2006.

FHP's new production site "Plant No. 3" will come on-stream in October 2006. The operation of the new plant will double the current monthly output of 100,000 units (in terms of 42-inch panels) produced by "Plant No. 1" and the "Plant No. 2" in total to 200,000 units. In addition, the second production line at the Plant No. 3 will start the operation in summer 2007 to reach a total production capacity of 300,000 units per month.

Among the latest products, the first model to be produced at the Plant No. 3 is the 50-inch HD PDP listed as item (3) above.

FHP will begin the production of 42-inch full HD PDPs exclusively targeting the Chinese market from September. The company also plans to start the shipment of this model to the Japanese market in June 2007.

Asked whether FHP is willing to make an investment to build more plants, Imoto answered it is not yet determined and said "We intend to make investments step by step in proportion to the size of the business. I do not agree with the current trends that investments are always necessary." For example, as for the reduction in panel cost, he comments that "We may fall behind other companies in cost reduction enabled through the expansion of production scale, but we will get a step ahead of competitors in cost reduction by innovative technologies." He cited as the exemplary measures a process technology to take out multiple panels out of a single glass, single scan technology, and in-house manufacturing of data driver IC

TubeSock & YouTube

About TubeSock

Grabs YouTube videos from the web and copies them to your video iPod, Mac, or PlayStation Portable. TubeSock knows how to convert the video using the codecs and bitrates best for each device. It can even add the video to iTunes for you. TubeSock can also grab just the audio portion of a video and add it to iTunes, too. Find your favorite tracks, outtakes, and live recordings on YouTube, then click "Save" to copy them to your iPod. The conversion is quick and there's no loss of audio fidelity.

Google CEO Joins Apple Board

Eric Schmidt brings a deep resume in the tech industry. He was formerly CEO of Novell and CTO of Sun.

In a move that signals growing awareness of the changing software market, Apple said today that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been elected to Apple's board of directors.

"Eric is obviously doing a terrific job as CEO of Google, and we look forward to his contributions as a member of Apple's board of directors," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric's insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead."

Schmidt has served previously as the chairman and CEO of Novell and as the CTO at Sun.

Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group, observes that by bringing Schmidt aboard, Apple will have access to someone who understands the new world of ad-supported software. "Apple has chosen a guy that has bridged the old world and the new world," he says.

By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek

How Google Might Fail

Google's success has a downside--a lot of enemies. Beyond reflexive contrarians who hate Google because they enjoy swimming against the currents of popular culture, beyond governments around the world that prefer limited rather than universal information access, there are many businesses that feel threatened by the scope of Google's ambitions.

Could Google really fail?

"People underestimate the degree to which other companies feel threatened by Google," says Donald Leka, CEO of Internet media sharing company TransMedia. "While Google is trying to sell products to these companies, they're also competing for eyeballs."

(Leka's company, not coincidentally, has been shopping the upcoming revision of its Glide Effortless online media sharing environment to companies eager to attract some of the eyeballs tuned to Google.)

Google's power as a source of traffic and revenue for many online companies represents a potential vulnerability. Startups have to convince investors that Google won't move into their market. Companies in those markets already have the same worry. Businesses that depend on Google realize the risk of dependency.

ISPs envy the traffic and user loyalty that Google, not to mention Microsoft and Yahoo, have been able to secure. Caught flat-footed by the rapid shift toward software-as-a-service, they're struggling to add value to commodity Internet access. Online software is one way to do that, but they're only just realizing how far behind they are.

Deals like the one between AT&T (SBC) and Yahoo represented an effort to wed Internet access with online content and services, but such arrangements only represent a short-term fix. At the end of the day, Yahoo users don't much care whether they get Internet access from AT&T or somewhere else. They care about Yahoo because Yahoo has their vacation photos and e-mail.

Publishers don't much like Google either, despite the arguable benefits of making texts available and searchable online. In fact, a great many people have particular sets of information they would rather not see online--witness the Internet filtering industry.

The point is that Google is different. It represents a change in the balance of power, and that scares a lot of people. To some degree, they would like to see Google fail.

Below, in no particular order, are a few potential stumbling blocks for Google.

Growth
Like many successful companies, growth represents a challenge. Large companies move slowly, and cutting-edge ideas tend to get dulled by committee. As Google continues to expand, it will be tested. As Google SVP of Operations Urs Holzle said in an e-mail interview, "For as long as I can remember, organizational growth has been the #1 issue [at Google]."

Risk: Minimal. At least for the next decade, Google should be able to navigate the organizational challenges of growth. Because the company has chosen to pursue an inherently interesting set of computer science problems, it should have no trouble attracting and retaining top talent.

Microsoft
Microsoft hasn't yet found a way to fit the traditional software business into the new reality of online software-as-a-service. But if the company has the courage to open up and minimize the resentment-inducing business practices that stoke discontent among its partners, it stands a fair chance of beating Google at its own game. It has the money and talent necessary to compete.

Risk: Minimal. Microsoft wants to change, but to do so it must give up its monopoly on the desktop and lower prices. Stockholders don't like that.

Distributed Databases
Search, at the moment, works best with a centralized index. That may not always be the case. Peer-to-peer networking and distributed database projects like the Information Commons may obviate the need for a centralized system.

Risk: Moderate. Efficient peer-to-peer searching requires significantly faster network infrastructure than currently exists--Google built that infrastructure from scratch, and it will retain that advantage for some time. But it makes much more sense for companies to control their databases than to rely on Google's index as a pointer to their data. If the trend is truly toward disintermediation--removing the middleman--then Google has to think long and hard about how far into the future it can play that role.

Net Neutrality
Everyone wants a piece of Google's pie--ad dollars--and the companies that own the Internet's pipes may well get the government's blessing to help themselves. If it becomes acceptable to discriminate against certain kinds of Internet traffic, such as VoIP calls or video, companies that play in the VoIP and video space are going to be tempted to extract tolls from others using their pipes for competing services.

Risk: Moderate. Google may well have to partner with companies like AT&T to keep its traffic in the fast lane. It may end up looking a lot more like Yahoo in the future, with lots of content and distribution partners.

Energy
Energy costs could skyrocket. Whether it's the prospect of nukes in the Middle East or dwindling worldwide oil supplies, it's easy to worry about the price of oil. Because the price of oil affects the price of electricity, it may be that in the future, vast server farms no longer make sense.

Risk: Minimal in the near term. There's too much money to be made on oil for a catastrophic Middle East conflagration. Energy will remain costly, but not prohibitively so. Ask again in 20 years.

The Law
Technical innovation can't always trump legal tradition. Those that make money off intellectual property--copyrights in particular--remain fundamentally opposed to Google's mission to make information universally accessible. Unless Google can drive legal change alongside technical innovation, its future is likely to be determined in the courts. To date, Google has plowed ahead on interesting initiatives like its book scanning project with the notion that it's better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission. It may not be able to keep that up if it starts losing in the courts.

Risk: Moderate. Now that Google takes the idea of lobbying in Washington seriously, it should have the ability to push back against potential laws that might hinder its ability to operate. The telcos aren't the only ones that can play that game.

Trust
All it takes is one disaster like AOL's release of search terms from hundreds of thousand of users to damage a company's reputation. Google could face a similar debacle.

Risk: Minimal. Google certainly takes such risks seriously. Given that it was the only company to resist when the U.S. Department of Justice came calling for search data, Google clearly is attuned to the privacy implications of the world's information.

Advertising
Perhaps the biggest risk to Google is its reliance in clicks. Google sells clicks, and lots of advertisers buy them. The problem is that most don't want clicks; they want sales.

The cost-per-click model forces advertisers to gamble. But gambling is foolish unless the odds are in your favor. And few advertisers really understand the odds of turning a click into a sale. Add to that the potential for click fraud and you have a situation where alternatives start to look appealing. Cost-per-action advertising is one such alternative. It's a lot more attractive to advertisers, who only pay when a product is sold, and a lot less attractive to Google, which collects money on cost-per-click ads regardless of whether the click converted to a transaction.

Risk: Moderate. Now that eBay is forging ahead with cost-per-action ads, Google has to be ready in case advertisers tire of buying clicks. Google is experimenting with CPA-based ads, but if change does come, it will probably hurt the company's revenue.

Boredom
Lastly, there's always the chance Google could become uncool.

Risk: You never know.

Microsoft Doles Out 100,000 Copies Of Vista Pre-RC1

The company said it was making the software available for a limited time in order to get feedback from testers to help identify and track issues before RC1 is designated for release.

Microsoft on Tuesday made the pre-Release Candidate 1 (RC1) of Windows Vista available for public downloading, saying that it wanted the extra testers to help track down bugs.

The not-quite-RC1, which debuted to a closed circle of testers last week, will be on the Microsoft site for a limited time: once 100,000 have downloaded the 3.2GB file, the Redmond, Wash. developer will shut off the spigot.

"Our goal in offering this build publicly is to help identify and track issues before RC1 is designated for release," wrote Nick White, a Vista product manager, on the group's blog. "Despite being so close to the actual release date of RC1, the download, installation, and usage feedback you send us on this build is still extremely important, otherwise, we'd not be spending resources on this interim build."

The pre-RC1 offering lends credence to reports that the actual RC1 build will release soon, perhaps within a week.

When the preview landed in some testers' hands Aug. 24, JupiterResearch analyst Joe Wilcox noted that IE 7 and Vista development have tracked together throughout the year. "Looking back, major IE 7 builds preceded new Windows Vista builds by no more than a week or two," Wilcox wrote on his blog last week. "So my expectation is that IE 7 RC1's release foreshadows that Windows Vista Release Candidate 1's release is imminent."

The 32-bit version of the pre-RC1 build of Windows Vista can be downloaded from this Microsoft Web site using either Internet Explorer or an alternate browser such as Firefox. As with other large downloads, the Vista build is an .iso file. To install the pre-RC1, users must burn the .iso file to a DVD.

By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb

YouTube directors ready for postproduction

Matt Harding had just finished recording himself dancing in front of some of the world's most recognizable places: the Golden Gate Bridge, the red dunes of Sossusvlei, Namibia, and the great stone faces of Easter Island.

The creator of the video known as "Where the Hell is Matt?"--an inspirational montage that features Harding dancing a jig in 39 countries--was disappointed with the video's raw footage when he sat down to edit.

"It looked washed out," said Harding, 29. "But a friend told me about Sony's Vegas editing tool. It was great. I lowered the brightness and raised the contrast, and instead of a light orange, the dunes became burnt red, which is how they really look."

Consumer electronics and visual-effects creators are getting the message: The YouTube generation is clamoring for tools that can help polish and add a touch of Hollywood to their homemade videos. They're demanding ease of use, low prices and visual effects that wow audiences.

Most of the material found at Revver, Metacafe and YouTube typically doesn't include much in the way of production values. It's usually just some guy with a camera recording his dog, baby or girlfriend. But the numbers of people trying to infuse their work with a unique look and craftsmanship are growing, says YouTube videographer Stevie Ryan.

Ryan is an out-of-work actress living in Los Angeles whose videos are consistently among the most viewed and discussed on YouTube. She appears as different characters, such as the thickly accented Latina from East Los Angeles known as "Lil' Loca." She's also has appeared as Paris Hilton, a siren from Hollywood's silent-film era, and a rock-video glamour girl. She's able to pull this off in part because of the visual elements she's acquired.

"I go whole hog," the 22-year-old Ryan said.

She spends hours scouring the Web for video-effects software and has plunked down big money for digital fonts. She says she has to keep up with YouTube's growing list of serious video makers, who produce increasingly sophisticated clips.

By Greg Sandoval
Staff Writer, CNET News.com