Underemployed and unemployed turn to working at home online
The average workweek for rank-and-file employees in the private sector — roughly 80 percent of the work force — slipped by a fraction, to 33 hours, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1964.
Average hourly earnings for such workers have increased by 2.7 percent over the last year, to $18.53. But weekly earnings have risen less than 1 percent, reflecting how millions of people have lost working hours. The so-called underemployment rate — which captures not only the jobless but also those working part time because their hours have been cut or they cannot find a full-time job — increased to 16.5 percent.
U.S. Job Losses Rise in June as Unemployment Reaches 9.5%
A lot of people who are unemployed are turning to work at home offers, some of which are legit, and some unfortunately are a scam. Most are somewhere in between - it's very possible to make enough money with them, but they require a modest investment.
People who find themselves in this situation should certainly ask around and read reviews of the various work at home programs carefully before spending anything beyond a few dollars.
And now California is issuing IOUs for some of its' state assistance, tax refunds, welfare, and more. I suspect that move will spring up a cottage industry or two of its' own.
DOJ Investigation into Google Books Deal Confirmed
Looks like the fireworks have begun early in Mountain View. On Thursday afternoon, the Department of Justice officially notified Google that it is investigating its book deal for violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act."
Slashdot Technology Story | DOJ Confirms Google Antitrust Investigation
The investigation doesn't surprise me. I am a little surprised that of all things, the DOJ is going after their books deal. Although the whole Author's Guild arrangement doesn't sit well with me.
Facebook makes us dumb, Twitter makes us dumber
Scoble posted recently "Real-time systems hurting long-term knowledge?".
On April 19th, 2009 I asked about Mountain Bikes once on Twitter. Hundreds of people answered on both Twitter and FriendFeed. On Twitter? Try to bundle up all the answers and post them here in my comments. You can’t. They are effectively gone forever. All that knowledge is inaccessible. Yes, the FriendFeed thread remains, but it only contains answers that were done on FriendFeed and in that thread. There were others, but those other answers are now gone and can’t be found.
The other night Jeremiah Owyang told me that thought leaders should avoid spending a lot of time in Twitter or FriendFeed because that time will be mostly wasted. If you want to reach normal people, he argued, they know how to use Google.
I'm not a big Scoble fan, but he said something I basically agree with - microblogging and "Wall" type interaction on places like Facebook are making people retarded.
I'm not one of these idiots that freaks out when English is modernized, but Twitter must be stopped for society's sake! Just kidding - sort of.
Has anyone done a study on the long term effects of people using these "tools"? Is the upcoming generation of Twits going to be able to focus enough to hold down a job?
What kind of printable coupons are people using?
According to RetailMeNot's Printable Coupon Data Report May 09 (pdf):
- Food
- Apparel
- Sit-down + Restaurant
- Dining
- Chicken
- Restaurant
- Pizza
- Children
- Auto
- Haircut
I don't know why this makes me laugh, but lol at chicken having its' own category. Mm, chicken. Anyway, this was the first time I stumbled across this report (thanks to MarketingCharts!) and it seems like it could offer valuable insights into how people are responding in the recession.
Who uses the most coupons?
- Georgia
- New Jersey
- Virginia
- Missouri
- New York
- Illinois
- Colorado
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- Tennessee
That might make for some juicy geotargeting data.
Bulletproof Domain Registration
(3:09:56 AM) Justin: Hey
(3:10:03 AM) Justin: Any recommendations for bulletproof domains?
(3:10:30 AM) plunge: kevlar
(3:10:40 AM) Justin: Can I transfer to them?
Upsell: Offset the carbon emissions for these flights
The total cost to offset these emissions is$ 79.00 *
You can help minimise the impact of your flying by offsetting your carbon emissions. The total carbon emissions from your itinerary are 4.644 tonnes and the cost of offsetting your emissions is $ 79.00.Our carbon offsetting programme is government approved and your money will go towards UN certified emission reduction projects.* Please be aware that once your carbon offset contribution is paid, it cannot be refunded.
This is an "upsell" on British Airways when you go to book a flight. Really?
Giving my money away into thin air with no accountability will save the earth? Where do I sign? As long as we're doing bad business, I'm a little disappointed this isn't some sort of negative option rebill.
Also note that once you've been duped, you cannot be unduped, as there are no refunds on the dupeage.
For urgency I had skipped
This is why you don't outsource. IM log between two of our programmers just now, one inhouse and one outsourced through a professional outsourced programming firm. I have no words.
<american> you are not using mysql_real_escape_string
<american> if a customer last name is: o'malley
<american> your code would fail
<american> this is true for all mysql queries
<outsourced> yes u r right
<outsourced> whether magic quotes is enable on server ?
<american> never rely on magic quotes... it is safer to code it properly with safeguards
<outsourced> hmm u r right...
<american> from the php manual: This feature has been DEPRECATED as of PHP 5.3.0 and REMOVED as of PHP 6.0.0. Relying on this feature is highly discouraged.
<american> magic quotes is bad.
<outsourced> for urgency I had skipped need to care of it in future
Rebills - A rebill in your rebill offer
New AdWords Interface In Wider Beta
From Inside AdWords:
Here are a few of the exciting features we're testing:
- Performance graphs: Spot trends over time with custom graphs on every campaign management page.
- Insight across ad groups: Focus on the high-impact areas of your account with new roll-up tabs on every page. You can see and edit keywords, placements or ads from all ad groups on a single tab.
- In-line editing: Want to change a keyword or bid? Click on it and make changes in-line instead of loading a separate page.
- Easier content network management: Improve content network performance through a new Networks tab. Look at statistics for the placements where your ads have appeared, and then take action by setting unique bids or excluding placements directly from the report.
However, keep in mind that the new interface doesn't change how ads run. Bidding, ranking, Quality Score, and the rest of ad serving will remain the same in the new interface.
The new interface is still a work in progress, so not all features available in the previous web interface are currently supported. You can switch between old and new interfaces during the beta, so you'll still have access to the full range of AdWords tools and reports, if needed.
C2M: For Varying Definitions of Life
So, C2M cut their publisher referral payouts from 5% to 2%. "Official" announcement on their blogs. This happens, however they've decided that they're going to cut existing referrals' commissions too. So if you earned $5k last month on referrals from C2M, you earn $2k this month.
I don't do referrals. It keeps me from writing blog posts like this.
Shot of the old page on C2M, courtesy of Google Cache:
Relevant section now:
Apparently they forgot to include this:
Ah, sweet redemption:
Handlers, people. Get some.