Social Media Trends for 2010

In 2009 we saw exponential growth of social media. According to Nielsen Online, Twitter alone grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Meanwhile, Facebook continued to outpace MySpace. So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive — at least, that's my guess. What are the near-term trends we could see as soon as next year? In no particular order:

1. Social media begins to look less social
With groups, lists and niche networks becoming more popular, networks could begin to feel more "exclusive." Not everyone can fit on someone's newly created Twitter list and as networks begin to fill with noise, it's likely that user behavior such as "hiding" the hyperactive updaters that appear in your Facebook news feed may become more common. Perhaps it's not actually less social, but it might seem that way as we all come to terms with getting value out of our networks — while filtering out the clutter.

2. Corporations look to scale
There are relatively few big companies that have scaled social initiatives beyond one-off marketing or communications initiatives. Best Buy's Twelpforce leverages hundreds of employees who provide customer support on Twitter. The employees are managed through a custom built system that keeps track of who participates. This is a sign of things to come over the next year as more companies look to uncover cost savings or serve customers more effectively through leveraging social technology.

3. Social business becomes serious play
Relatively new networks such as Foursquare are touted for the focus on making networked activity local and mobile. However, it also has a game-like quality to it which brings out the competitor in the user. Participants are incentivized and rewarded through higher participation levels. And push technology is there to remind you that your friends are one step away from stealing your coveted "mayorship." As businesses look to incentivize activity within their internal or external networks, they may include carrots that encourage a bit of friendly competition.

4. Your company will have a social media policy (and it might actually be enforced)
If the company you work for doesn't already have a social media policy in place with specific rules of engagement across multiple networks, it just might in the next year. From how to conduct yourself as an employee to what's considered competition, it's likely that you'll see something formalized about how the company views social media and your participation in it.

5. Mobile becomes a social media lifeline
With approximately 70 percent of organizations banning social networks and, simultaneously, sales of smartphones on the rise, it's likely that employees will seek to feed their social media addictions on their mobile devices. What used to be cigarette breaks could turn into "social media breaks" as long as there is a clear signal and IT isn't looking. As a result, we may see more and/or better mobile versions of our favorite social drug of choice.

6. Sharing no longer means e-mail
The New York Times iPhone application recently added sharing functionality which allows a user to easily broadcast an article across networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Many websites already support this functionality, but it's likely that we will see an increase in user behavior as it becomes more mainstream for people to share with networks what they used to do with e-mail lists. And content providers will be all too happy to help them distribute any way they choose.

These are a few emerging trends that come to my mind — I'm interested to hear what you think as well, so please weigh in with your own thoughts.

Do you know what will be its future?

Recovery Could Create Headaches for Europe’s Central Bank

Europe’s collective anguish over Greece was interrupted by some good news on Thursday. German unemployment fell more than expected, while earnings surged for some of the country’s biggest companies.

No one is going to complain about signs of robust growth in Europe’s largest economy, which has 10 times the economic output of Greece. But the recovery of the northern half of the euro zone as the southern periphery sinks deeper into crisis sets up a quandary for monetary policy makers that could increase the already serious tensions within Europe.

If growth in Northern Europe continues to gain during the rest of the year, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt will eventually face pressure to raise interest rates to contain inflation.

But a rate increase could harm Greece as well as Spain, Portugal and other countries with debt problems, raising the high cost of borrowing for governments and business.

The central bank “cannot risk inflation in the euro area for the sake of these three countries,” said Zsolt Darvas, an economist at Breugel, a research organization in Brussels. “They will have to face higher interest rates, and it will be very difficult for them to sort out their fiscal problems.”

That view is commonly held in Germany and countries near it. Another view is that relieving the suffering of Southern Europe should trump trying to stamp out future inflation with a heavy hand.

For the central bank, fortunately, the day of reckoning probably will not come until early next year. With no signs yet that inflation is an imminent danger, most economists do not expect an increase in the benchmark interest rate — it is now 1 percent — until March 2011, according to a Reuters poll.

But Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the central bank, and other members of its governing council face plenty of other tough choices in the weeks and months ahead.How much thir efforts can be successful?

One risk is that the loss of faith in Greek solvency will spread to Portugal and perhaps Spain, threatening another bank crisis and forcing the central bank to act.

The central bank has begun to gradually cut back on the nearly unlimited cash it lent to European banks after interbank lending froze in 2008. But some analysts say they believe the central bank could stop that process or even reverse it.

The bank “may have to go back and reopen some of its unconventional measures,” said Nick Matthews, senior European economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The central bank could also face pressure if the United States Federal Reserve began raising rates. Higher rates in the United States would encourage investors to move assets into dollars to earn a better return, causing the euro to fall even more.

A weaker euro would be good for Greece and European exporters in general by making their products less expensive in foreign markets. But the downside is that a weaker euro would increase the cost of oil and other commodities, which are usually priced in dollars. Higher energy costs would feed inflation, adding pressure on the central bank to raise rates.

For now, that risk seems to have eased after the Fed signaled Wednesday that it was in no hurry to raise rates.

The downgrading of Greek debt to junk status by the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, and the risk of Moody’s and Fitch following suit, presents a more immediate problem for the central bank. Under the central bank’s rules, that would make Greek debt ineligible as collateral for central bank loans, creating serious problems for banks in Greece that use their holdings of domestic bonds to borrow cash.

“The E.C.B. doesn’t want to be the one to push Greece over the edge,” said Janet Henry, chief European economist at HSBC. “If push comes to shove, they would bend the rules.”

But a shift in policy could also damage the credibility of the central bank, said Mr. Darvas, the economist for Breugel. The central bank has already loosened its collateral requirements to help Greece, despite Mr. Trichet’s insistence that the bank would not tailor policy to specific countries.

The central bank also changed course on whether the International Monetary Fund should play a major role in rescuing Greece. Members of the bank’s governing council first said that Europe could deal with its own problems, then pivoted as they were forced to acknowledge that the I.M.F. was indispensable.

Such missteps notwithstanding, bickering among European Union leaders has underlined the importance of the central bank as the one institution in the euro zone able to move decisively in response to an economic crisis.

Alessandro Leipold, former acting director of the I.M.F.’s European department, speculated that the central bank could stretch its mandate even further if Europe’s politicians were too slow to agree on the terms of a rescue package for Greece.

For example, the central bank could organize a bridge loan to allow Greece to meet its immediate financing needs and avoid a default, Mr. Leipold said. “I don’t know the technicalities but it should be possible,” he said. Other analysts said they thought such a move was unlikely.

Another option, according to analysts at R.B.S., entails the central bank buying government bonds, which the bank has avoided.

The central bank “will defend the region using all the tools at its disposal,” the R.B.S. analysts said in a note on Monday. As global trade recovers, German exporters like Siemens, the electronics conglomerate, and the software maker SAP have reported strong earnings, helping seasonally adjusted unemployment fall to 7.8 percent, from 8 percent.Now let us read more about it.

Economists recall that when Germany was struggling in the middle of the decade, the central bank kept interest rates low even though the policy led to overheated economies in Ireland and other countries. “Then they were setting policy for Germany rather than smaller countries — where conditions were far too loose,” Ms. Henry of HSBC said.

In the coming year, “Germany will feature more prominently than the periphery,” she added. “The E.C.B. has its 2 percent inflation limit, and they will do what it takes to achieve that.”

The year 2010 Will Be a Stock Picking Market

The statistics show that stock picking in 2009 was a year when even monkeys could have made a lot of money in the stock market.

Maybe you've heard the story from the 1980s, which was argued in a popular investing book, that a bunch of monkeys throwing darts at a list of stocks could make stock picking that would beat those of investment professionals.

Last year, as the considerable stock rally lifted all boats, everyone from the professionals to those who didn't have a clue (including monkeys) did quite well for themselves as long as they were invested in equities.

Stock picking in 2010 is shaping up to be quite a different stock picking market. It's rare to see two consecutive years of huge gains, which means 2010 will likely see a modest, if any, return. 2010 is going to be a stock picker's market. Those in certain sectors, and stocks, will perform better than others.

3 Ways for Stock Picking That Could See Upside in 2010

1) Look For Growth Overseas

Yes, international investing has been hot. In 2009, emerging market stocks soared on hopes of the recovery. However, there is always a concern that this trade is getting overplayed.

But stock picking has an advantage over those who simply buy an index or a basket of stocks from a particular country. They can choose companies that have a growth story and attractive valuations. There are plenty of Chinese companies that are not connected to the overheating real estate market and that are even considered value stocks, with low price-to-earnings ratios. For instance, China will soon surpass the United States as the largest car market. What Chinese companies are poised to benefit from automobile demand?

Investors can also play the international growth story by choosing American companies that have a large international presence. Many multinational companies with famous brand names do 50% or more of their business in international markets.

2) Commodities Have Made a Comeback

Commodities were the big story of 2008 as crude oil hit an all-time record. Commodities prices were crushed in the global recession. But in 2009, a slow comeback began that appears to be continuing into 2010.

As the recovery takes hold, commodities will be one of the first areas to show a turnaround as manufacturers ramp up production to meet growing demand.

Investors can invest in the area through any number of commodities and commodities-related stocks, including energy companies, oil services companies, miners and agriculture businesses.

3) Don't Forget the Building Blocks

While the recovery appears to be taking hold, the companies that supply the building blocks are still in a good position to benefit from it, especially as government stimulus programs continue to wind their way through the global economy.

Look at machinery companies, construction firms, equipment manufacturers, and chemical companies. We've already seen earnings jump in the chemical sector, which is a reflection of growing demand.

Putting it All Together to Make an Exciting Stock Picking Portfolio for 2010

We used all 3 of these strategies at Zacks to formulate our Top 10 Stocks for 2010. We started with a large universe of stocks and used both Zacks Rank and Zacks Recommendations to narrow the list.

But then the arduous part began. We used our stock picking talents to put together 10 stocks that, for the first time, are heavily weighted towards international stocks and American companies that have substantial international business. We weren't afraid of the emerging markets. We ended up stock picking several companies that we hope will continue to grow as the living standards rise in those countries.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/2010-will-be-a-stock-picking-market-1756299.html#ixzz0mSAP6ffK
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Importance of Communication in an Organization

Communication is one of the basic functions of management in any organization and its importance can hardly be overemphasized.
Without it an organization can't work. It is a process of transmitting information, ideas, thoughts, opinions and plans between various parts of an organization.

It is not possible to have human relations without communication. However, good and effective communication is required not only for good human relations but also for good and successful business.

Effective communication is required at various levels and for various aspects in an organization such as -

For manager – employee relations:
Effective communication of information and decision is an essential component for management-employee relations. The manager cannot get the work done from employees unless they are communicated effectively of what he wants to be done? He should also be sure of some basic facts such as how to communicate and what results can be expected from that communication. Most of management problems arise because of lack of effective communication. Chances of misunderstanding and misrepresentation can be minimized with proper communication system.

It is also Important For motivation and employee morale:
Communication is also a basic tool for motivation, which can improve morale of the employees in an organization. Inappropriate or faulty communication among employees or between manager and his subordinates is the major cause of conflict and low morale at work. Manager should clarify to employees about what is to be done, how well are they doing and what can be done for better performance to improve their motivation. He can prepare a written statement, clearly outlining the relationship between company objectives and personal objectives and integrating the interest of the two.

For increase productivity:
With effective communication, you can maintain a good human relation in the organization and by encouraging ideas or suggestions from employees or workers and implementing them whenever possible, you can also increase production at low cost.

For employees and faculty:
It is through the communication that employees submit their work reports, comments, grievances and suggestions to their seniors or management. Organization should have effective and speedy communication policy and procedures to avoid delays, misunderstandings, confusion or distortions of facts and to establish harmony among all the concerned people and departments.

Importance of written communication:
Communication may be made through oral or written. In oral communication, listeners can make out what speakers is trying to say, but in written communication, text matter in the message is a reflection of your thinking. So, written communication or message should be clear, purposeful and concise with correct words, to avoid any misinterpretation of your message. Written communications provides a permanent record for future use and it also gives an opportunity to employees to put up their comments or suggestions in writing.

Gas is running Out, do we have solutions?

Energy crises is the most dangerous crises! The Middle East needs to solve the conundrum which sees it sitting on 40 percent of the world’s gas reserves and yet suffering from a supply shortage, a senior Royal Dutch Shell executive said on Monday.

Natural gas demand in the region was growing at such a rate that by 2015, total consumption in the Mideast would be close to that in major European economies, Malcolm Brinded, Shell’s executive director for international upstream, said in a speech at an industry event.

Middle East gas demand was rising at around 5 percent per year, a similar rate to growth in China, he added.

“Domestic demand is growing, fueled by economic growth, low gas prices and a gradual switch from oil to gas for power generation. As a result, some Middle East countries face natural gas shortages,” Brinded said.

The region could explore using new technology and investing in LNG infrastructure as it looked to meet gas demand, Brinded said.

While global gas markets suffer a glut, the only country in the Gulf with gas to spare is Qatar. The rest of the region would burn more if it could.

In February, OPEC-member Kuwait signed a five-year service contract with Shell to develop pure gas fields in the country’s north. The Gulf Arab state plans to increase output from the gas fields to 1 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) from around 140 million cfd.

Kuwait, like its neighbors, has seen gas demand for power generation and industry rise on a petrodollar-fueled boom.

Shell signed a deal in June 2009 to supply Kuwait, one of the world’s highest per capita consumers of electricity, with gas to feed its power generation stations during the summer.

China, a Huge Market

What's a company to do when it over-expanded in the U.S. and had to curtail growth? It may be strange for many but it is true. Step up expansion into huge markets like China, of course. That's one of Starbucks' (Nasdaq: SBUX) big plans at the moment.

Starbucks' ultimate vision is to plant thousands of its cafes in China. Right now it only has 376 stores there, compared to 878 stores in its largest non-U.S. market, Japan. Clearly, the company is confident about its strategy, given its recent initiation of a dividend.

However, before donning the party hat, note that in a Wall Street Journal article on the topic, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz admitted that China's also a tricky market to navigate. "The thing I am most interested in when I go to China is whether or not local Chinese are buying Starbucks coffee and sitting in our stores," said Schultz. Its own retreat from the Forbidden City several years ago is emblematic of the uncertainty of making a great success in China.

American companies covet the Chinese market due to its huge population and economic growth, creating a large pool of consumers with money to spend. One out of every five people on this planet is in China. It's no wonder that consumer-facing companies like Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), and Starbucks have been making plans to seek their fortunes there.

Chinese expansion may be easier for companies like Starbucks than others. Internet firms have had some major difficulties due to its government's censorship policies; Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) ran into problems when it turned in a dissident journalist to the government almost five years ago, and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) recently made a high-profile about-face in China that warranted a Walk of Fame.

I can understand American companies' desire to expand in China, but I try to curb my enthusiasm and hope for more up their sleeve. Cultural and governmental differences make it a tough nut to crack. Current rumblings about the possibility of a trade war put a damper on things, too. Starbucks has had to scramble to keep Japanese consumers loyal, so expansion momentum in a new culture and then keeping momentum there is a risk to any company.

Given the ubiquitous Starbucks-within-a-Starbucks joke, the coffee giants' plan to build lots of cafes in China is a no-brainer. Let us see wha is the openion of people. As with McDonald's, successful future expansion in China could lead us to realize one day that Starbucks shares were cheap back in 2010. However, investors should realize it's a long and possibly tricky road, and keep an eye out for plenty of other innovative growth plans, too.

The 500-Calorie Smackdown , but how?

What is your openion about over eating ?You would think the American fascination with health and fitness has hit critical mass: Freezer cases are full of low-cal meals in grocery stores and farmers markets are booming. Mini gyms and yoga studios have filled in almost every vacant street corner. Fitness themes have even wiggled their way into the domains of their archenemies: video games and network television. But there is one industry--perhaps the one with the best chance of helping us fit into our skinny jeans--that has remained stubbornly out of step when it comes to our obsession with shaping up: restaurants.

There are some more thing to say!

A generation ago, dining out was an indulgence--but today, the average American grabs something off the menu four to five times a week. More than a few of us dine out almost nightly, and the numbers seem to be trending upward. Michael Pollan, the voice of the "real food" revolution, has said cooking at home will be as odd to our grandchildren as slaughtering a chicken is to us. The problem is, while eating out has lost its Friday-night glamour and corner booths have replaced the dining room, restaurants are still stuck on their legacy of indulgence, serving enormous portions and spiking them with more and more fat, salt and sugar.

Lately, though, two big players in the chain and franchise restaurant world have put their money on the idea that low-calorie, deep-fry-free zones are the next big culinary trend. Both concepts--Energy Kitchen, backed by Vitaminwater multimillionaire Mike Repole, and Seasons 52, powered by Darden, the behemoth behind Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouse--have designed entire menus around fresh, baked, steamed or grilled food. Both plan major national expansions over roughly the same time period, and both have menus built around dishes that weigh in at 500 calories or less.

Diet Plan to Lose weight

Breakfast
	Amount	Item	Protein	Carbs	Fats	Calories
	12 ounces	coffee-w/caffeine	0.40	1.40	0.00	8.00
	1 each	Bagel-plain, Lenders Bake Shop	8.00	42.00	2.00	210.00
	2 tbsp	Peanut butter- creamy	8.60	5.70	16.40	190.00
	1 tbsp	Cream, fluid, half and half	0.44	0.65	1.73	19.55
	Total:		17.44	49.74	20.12	427.55
AM Snack
	1 each	apple-medium with peel	0.30	21.10	0.0	81.00
	Total:		0.30	21.10	0.0	81.00
Lunch
	3 ounces	chicken breast/ white meat	26.40	0.00	3.00	140.25
	12 ounces	Coca cola- diet w/ caffeine	0.00	0.40	0.00	0.00
	.25 cup	Croutons-plain	9.00	5.50	0.50	30.50
	1 large	Salad-lrg. Garden w/tomato and onion	2.60	19.00	0.80	98.00
	4 tbps	Thousand island-reduced cal. Kraft	0.00	12.00	4.00	80.00
	Total:		38.00	36.90	8.30	348.75
PM Snack
	1 each	apple-medium with peel	0.30	21.10	0.0	81.00
	Total:		0.30	21.10	0.0	81.00
Dinner
	3 ounces	chicken breast/ white meat	26.40	0.00	3.00	140.25
	1 cup	pasta, corn cooked	3.68	39.07	1.07	176.40
	1 small	salad-sm. Garden w/tomato, onion	1.30	9.50	0.40	49.00
	2 tbps	thousand island- reduced cal. Kraft	0.00	6.00	2.00	40.00
	Total:		31.38	54.57	6.42	405.65
	Grand Total:		87.43	183.42	34.85	1343.95

Recession? What Recession? In which ?

Do you know?What do dry cleaning, real estate and hotels have in common? The bad news is, they were all hit hard by the economic downturn. The good news is, well, it's not all bad news for these industries. Each had companies that defied the odds, powered through the challenges of 2009 and came out on top of their categories--for the first time, no less--in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500® ranking. We talked with the top execs in each company about their secrets to surviving the recession and standing out from the crowd.

Certified Restoration.
As consumers cut the luxuries from their budgets, dry cleaning businesses suffered. But not Certified Restoration DryCleaning Network. That's because CRDN's business focuses on textile restoration for disaster victims.

"It's not a ‘want to' business, it's a ‘have to' business," says CEO Wayne Wudyka. "We solve problems. We help people put their lives back together. We did that for 24,000 families last year."

Financial Aid Appeal Letters can help

In the current scnerio education is basic thing. Education is the basic necessity of any human being. Eminent Indian philosopher and drafter of the world's longest constitution, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, once made a very realistic comment about the education by saying that 'education is makes any human being civilized, social and resourceful'. What can u say ?In short, education is needed by each and every person, to become capable in life. In many nations all across the world primary eduction is accessible quite easily. Higher eduction or more appropriately college education is however, difficult to avail. The two basic hindrances that can prevent a student from attending a good higher educational institute are the constraint of distance and/or lack of financial assistance. Can opting to write a financial aid appeal letter be helpful for a such a student?

The constraint of distance is usually solved by the simple solution of dormitories, but the hurdle of financial assistance is another story. Of late, especially after the commencement of this century, good quality higher eduction can be gained by people at an enormous value of consideration. In an attempt to provide people with costly but much needed higher and specialized eduction, society and governments have made some effective provisions such as student loans, educational loans and scholarships. Financial aid is one such provision that is provided by the Universities as well as governments to aspiring students. there may be many importen steps taken. An important step that comes into the picture is a financial aid appeal letter.

What is the perfect % of total equity should I use per trade?

A lot of traders have no clue how to use proper trading sizes per trade especially when they are trading live markets. That is the exact point of mistakes done by most of the traders. These cause them loosing money in Forex. We have to know proper money management & trading plans.

Every trading strategy must be taken into consideration of the maximum percentage of total trading capital that risk should be taken on any one single trade. They shouldn't risk too much money on any given any single trade which is very essential for a trader. The following rules are very important in order to survive financially in Forex trading. Your trading size should not be grater as 1/10th of your account size.

For instance, If your account size is 10.000 Dollar than your trading size can be 1 Lot, (or 10 Dollar per Pip)
On an 1000 Dollar account your trading size should not exceeded 0,1 Lot (or 1 dollar per Pip).
On an 100 Dollar account your trading size should not exceeded 0,01 Lot (or 0,1 dollar per Pip).

To keep these things into simplest form, I repeat:
1 Lot buying/selling are 100.000 Units of a currency. Pip value = 10 Dollar
0,1 Lot buying/selling are 10.000 Units of a currency. Pip value = 1 Dollar
0,01 Lot buying/selling are 1.000 Units of a currency. Pip value = 0.1 Dollar

With an account size of 100 dollar and you trade with pip value of 1 dollar, only 100 pips are needed and your account is empty. You lost all! As you can see to adjust the trading size to your account size is very essential.

But why they are doing this? Here is a psychological effect on trading. First they trade with lower as 1/1000 of account size. Than some losses occurred. Account size melt down to 70%. At this level people changed there risk and trade with 1/300 ( that mean trade size is 3 times now bigger as before) and they loss again. After account size is 50%, suddenly the risk grows exponential, and they trade with 1/100 or less from account size.

Let us see this as an example now with numbers. Suppose we have an account size of 1000 dollar. As I said above, we should not trade more than 1/1000 account size, that's 1 dollar /pip. (0,1 Lot). If we loose 300 dollar and have now an account size of 700 dollar. (70%). At this point we start to trade with 1/300 of account size.2,33 Dollar/pip (300 pip lost and we blow our account). We trade it & and make loss 200 dollar. Account size is now 500 dollar. Now we expanded the risk and trade with 1/100, that's 5 dollar/pip. Now we can't loss more as 100 pips, because at this level our account is going to be empty.

On a 50% account size the chances of losses are so strong for most traders and they will now attempts to recover the lost money with 1 or 2 trades. That's the reason why they blown up their accounts. I will not call this greediness, its only fear of loss. These traders can't accept losses anymore

psychologically. If they really want to survive, they must have to work on proper trading strategy and modify it again! If it's proved, than start trading with very small sizes and tries to win more trades. After winning a bunch of trades they would increase trading size easily.

China Slows Down the Global Supply Chain

There are people in some manufacturing circles that suggests that the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs over the past decade can be blamed largely, if not entirely, on China's emergence as the world's low-cost producer while flouting the global trade rules that other countries follow. China, for instance, "has consistently manipulated its currency to steal productive capacity from the United States," observes Kevin Kearns, president of the U.S. Business and Industry Council. This currency manipulation has allowed China to "devastate America's invaluable productive industries, addict the country to debt-fueled, bubble-created 'growth' and destabilize the global economy."

What is the result of this? who can predict!While politicians and trade groups debate the merits of applying some sort of sanctions on China, for those manufacturers already doing business overseas the situation is becoming even more complicated and restrictive, thanks to a push among the Chinese for new import/export regulations. According to Jackson Slipek, a senior consultant with the Trade Management Consulting team at financial giant J.P. Morgan, there are three areas attracting the most attention from Chinese regulatory authorities within the context of China-U.S. trade: anti-dumping, China Compulsory Certificates and additional import license requirements for encryption products.

A Wobbly Global Debut for Apple's iPad

The launch of Apple's (AAPL) iPad has been one of the most heralded in techdom. The early consumer enthusiasm over the tablet computer that surfs the Web, features e-books, and plays music and videos is powering sales. Yet Apple's image as a flawless marketing machine aside, this has hardly been a smooth product debut. Glitches ranging from a bizarre product ban in Israel to supply management issues in Asia have created challenges for the Cupertino (Calif.)-based company. Now you can read more about.

The iPad is certainly on a steep sales trajectory. Apple sold 500,000 iPads the first week after its early April debut. "It has shocked us, the levels of demand, at least initially," Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told analysts during an Apr. 20 conference call after the company reported a 90% jump in quarterly earnings, to $3.1 billion, on revenues of $13.5 billion.

In markets outside the U.S., however, Apple has pushed back the iPad's release by a month until the end of May. It blames the delay on unexpectedly high demand, but analysts think Apple is having a hard time managing the production flow of the tablet computer's 9.7-inch (25-centimeter) touch-sensitive liquid-crystal display.

The big screen is far trickier to produce on a mass scale than the 3.5-inch display used on Apple's popular iPhone, says Andrew Rassweiler, an analyst with market research company iSuppli in El Segundo, Calif. "We understand that the yields on the display have been low and that they're creating a production bottleneck," Rassweiler says. Neither Apple nor touch screen manufacturers such as South Korea's LG Display and Samsung Electronics or Japan's Seiko Epson would comment on supply-chain issues.

Apple is having a different kind of problem in Israel. Customs officials in Tel Aviv this week have been seizing iPads from airline passengers entering the country. The device doesn't comply with Israeli wireless standards, according to an Israeli Communications Ministry spokesman. Apple maintains that the iPad complies with the international standards for Wi-Fi frequency specifications.

You may not find many iPads on at least two American university campuses. Princeton University won't allow its students to use the device on campus Wi-Fi networks because of data security worries. George Washington University says the iPad won't work on its wireless network until an Apple software upgrade arrives in the fall.

Apple has run into manufacturing problems on some of its products before, including its MacBook notebook computers and iMac desktops, says Shaw Wu, an industry analyst with Kaufman Brothers in San Francisco. It looks like Apple will need to make some early-course production adjustments this time around as well.

Microsoft profit jumps 35 percent But .....

It may looks strange but a global rise in computer shipments that helped carry Microsoft Corp.'s net income 35 percent higher in the most recent quarter wasn't enough to satisfy investors who were looking for a bigger boost from recovering business spending.

Microsoft's Windows division reported strong consumer demand but more muted growth from corporate customers.

That didn't mesh with the high expectations recently set by Intel Corp. and other big tech companies. Intel's net income nearly quadrupled on strong sales of chips for corporate PCs and servers.

Importent to note that investors predicted better sales in Microsoft's server division, and expected companies to have placed advance orders for more new software, said Andrew Miedler, an Edward Jones analyst, in an interview.

During a conference call, Microsoft CFO Peter Klein tried to rein in expectations for the pace of a recovery for software companies.

"If you think about what's happened over the last year, the first thing that got hit and decreased earliest and fastest was hardware, and that's what's coming back first," Klein said. "Over the course of calendar 2010 and certainly into 2011 you'll start to see the growth in the overall IT (information technology) spend."

Microsoft's stock fell $1.15, or 3.7 percent, to $30.24 in extended trading Thursday. Before results were released, the stock gained 6 cents to close at $31.39.

For the January-March fiscal third quarter, Microsoft earned $4.01 billion, or 45 cents per share. That was higher than the 42 cents per share forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. It was an increase from $2.98 billion, or 33 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $14.5 billion, slightly more than the $14.4 billion analysts were expecting. Microsoft had $13.6 billion in revenue in the same quarter a year ago.

The division responsible for Windows increased revenue 28 percent to $4.4 billion. Microsoft's general manager of investor relations, Bill Koefoed, said during a conference call that sales of copies of Windows for consumers rose 35 percent. Business licenses for Windows, which are more profitable for Microsoft, grew 15 percent.

Microsoft's online business, which includes Web search and online advertising, saw revenue rise 12 percent to $566 million, but it still posted a wider operating loss of $713 million.

Delphi Scalper Review

Delphi Scalper is the recent forex scalping machine to be released via Forex Impact and Jason Fielder of Triad Trading Formula, Correlation Code and Forex Executor Pro.

The Forex market scalping strategies were available for fairly a while in the market. Alternatively, a majority of these scalping strategies are deemed high risk as traders are practically out and in trades quickly starting from a couple of mins to a few hours. Some traders will also jump into trades hoping for speedy profits whilst the market is trending all of the way up or all of the way down and got stuck whilst the market retraces or reverses earlier than they realize it.

To be successful in scalping the foreign exchange market, a few conditions should be met to qualify the trade setup to be high probability of success. We want to recognise which trading hours of the day have essentially the most pip movement to lock in enough pips profit and we additionally need to establish which currencies are gaining or losing in potential as they make excellent choice for scalping. When we obtain affirmation from price action and key make support and resistance ranges, we will be able to make certain of higher likelihood trades.

Examining the marketplace for each and every currency pairs and going through all of the indicators to spot potential trades can be tedious and time consuming. By the point a trade is being identified, the remainder of the opportunities might be lost on other possible scalping pairs.

On the other hand, Delphi Scalper is a system that identifies high probability trades for us via their custom indicators and easily presenting potential trade setups by indicating entry on the trading platform. All that needs to be done is to look forward to the sign to go into the markets for various forex pairs.

All that is done by way of choosing the trading hours with essentially the most price movement, picking which forex is gaining in potential against the rest of the currencies so that this is a excellent forex to scalp. Technical indicators will assist to make sure the probability of the trade and price action with corresponding key support and resistance ranges will make sure that all conditions should be met prior to issuing a sound setup notification.

With the Delphi Scalper machine in place, we will better predict the trading hours to focus our efforts on and at the same time quickly establish all conceivable forex pairs available for scalping any given day. The primary benefit of the Delphi Scalper is that it takes away our emotions while scalping knowing that the highlighted setups are top probability trades with obviously outlined rules of engagement.

Delphi Scalper method is presented in a simple to apply structure in order that it's easy to understand methods to implement it. Jason Fielder is a good instructor and mentor and he provides a clear training series with video and webinars so that the system can be learned fast and applied effectively. The customized indicators are easy to use and can narrow down the most profitable trade setups.