Category Archives: Business & Economy

X-Men 3 on Memorial Day Box Office Smash

Business & Economy, Fun, Movies

if you didn’t see X-Men 3 this past Memorial Day weekend but have seen the first 2 you might have been in the minority of X-Men’ers. that’s because X-Men 3 made over 120 million bucks… CHA-CHING… btw >> MVL

i saw it and it was a pretty good movie… perfect to start the Summer movie-going season off with. i think a tad bit more comedy earlier in the film would’ve added a nice touch… but the action and fx weren’t lacking one bit.

if u haven’t seen the first 2 you can get away with not seeing them prior to checking out this installment… but i highly recommend you rent the first 2 (that way if u don’t like u don’t pay the 7-12$ per person ticket price).

Google Calendar

Business & Economy, Technology

i don’t know how useful this web app will be as a standalone product (probably a lot) but it will fit nicely with Googles continued efforts to seemingly transform the software world we have long known as “workstation” based into “web” based.

how many times can you post about a single company??? sheesh G is on a tear with their product lines… i’m telling ya… i don’t you can go wrong if you buy Google stock now and sit on it for a looooooong time

check out the Google Calendar >> https://www.google.com/calendar

Enron Scandals & Trials – Jeff Skilling Testifies

Business & Economy

remember Enron? u should… it’s probably one of the biggest examples of greed, fraud and blantant disrespect of humanity and the American economy. several corporate execs cashed out with millions (in some cases hundreds of millions) of dollars while many of 30,000 Enron employees lost retirement and savings accrued through Enron. they puffed up earnings numbers using a form of accounting (mark-to-market) that allowed them to basically cook there books like a big pot of water stew… (of course they we’re promising a big fat roast).

Enron’s deceptive ways caught up to them in the long run… as well as some other major institutions (Arthur Anderson, Merrill Lynch, CitiBank… and on and on…)

after all these years Jeff Skilling is finally on the stand to defend himself… and he better hope his story adds up because he’s facing 28 charges of fraud and conspiracy.

if you have an interest in this issue there’s a decent movie called “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”

for more info and details you can keep up with the case at >> http://chron.com/news/specials/enron/

Bad vs Good Google SEO

Business & Economy, Search Engines

in the world of SEO you often have to choose whether or not to use only “good seo tactics” or to also utilize “bad seo tactics”

when i say good or bad… i mean tactics that are deemed acceptable and non-acceptable by the major search engines. Google would be at the top of that list.

just a couple of days ago BMW got caught by Goog for “cloaking”… rot row… that’s a “bad” tactic.

truth is… bad tactics work… until u get caught. sometimes they work extremely well and u can make a bundle of money… but once the well is dry… u have to cap it.

i can tell u this… i’d hate to be the BMW Webmaster right about now… u think his neck might be on the chopping block?? who knows maybe BMW was using a 3rd party for search engine optimization… think BMW isn’t going to try to sue the heck out of them (which they would probably lose)… but i’d still hate to be that 3rd party.

next time u are considering a tactic for seo be sure u r educated enough to know that what u are going to do is ‘good’ and ‘acceptable’ by the major search engines… and be sure that if u use a 3rd party that u bring up things like BMW getting banned from Google with your seo specialist and make it clear that u don’t want something like that happening to you (by any means of the specialist) and that u want it agreed to contractually. and believe me there are search engine optimization specialists, for example Austin SEO Company SiteStreet.com, that do look after their clients best interests in such matters.

Web-based Video Ads

Business & Economy, Programming

if anyone out there in the Austin Texas area needs a website video ad to showcase their products or services then you’ll be happy to know that the company i work for, SiteStreet.com, has begun to work with local videographers to provide online video ad creation. i think it’s a very cool approach to promoting your goods. afterall, we know how effective the TV commercial has been in the last 50 years and the TV infomercial in the last 20 years… so why not on your website too! go from text and pictures to video and audio.

visit http://www.sitestreet.com/37/Website_Videos.htm for more info and pricing (pricing is cheap too!)

Gas Prices Are Going Down Finally

Business & Economy

i like it i love it i want some more of it… it being lower gas prices!!

down here in Round Rock, Texas gas prices are currently about $2.15 a gallon for regular unleaded. last week when i filled up my guzzling truck i actually treated myself to super unleaded (since it was cheaper than lower octane gas i’ve been buying for the last 4 months).

now if prices will drop another BUCK then prices will be where they need to be… i know the oil companies will survive:

XOM
CVX
COP

No Water or Bread in Austin

Business & Economy, Funny

how lame is this… last night i went to the grocery store to get a few things to get me through to this weekend. water and bread were on my list. i went to Albertsons and the bread aisle looked like it had been hit by a tornado… so i sifted through the debri and found a loaf worthy of salvaging. several aisles later i came to the water… and it too had been plundered. well i found a couple of the last precious few gallons of purified water and went on my way, but i was thinking… ‘man did the delivery truck for water and bread not show up this week or what???’

later last night one of my cousins called and told me i better get gas in my truck if i needed it, cause there are crazy lines and stations running out of gas. ‘what’s going on?’ i asked, and she told me that because of the hurricane headed towards Galveston everyone is stocking up on bread and water and gas.

i just gotta say this… i can live without bread for a few weeks… a few months even… probably don’t really need the stuff anyhow (according to Dr. Atkins) and i think i could survive on tap water too. i mean i dont really like the taste of tap water… but i would survive just fine. now gas… that’s a whole other ballgame… don’t get me started on a rant about how the stations and oil companies take advantage of everyones doom and gloom outlook when it comes to gas prices… sheesh.

the sad thing is this… i can picture all these upper middle class folks getting in their monster SUV’s filling up to go to the grocery store, then buying as much bottled water as possible… and they gotta have their bread… heaven forbid they go without bread for a while… then they fill up with gas on the way home.

for bread in water… the things i thought (when i was a kid) we fed to prisoners.

seems a little extreme to me. people need to calm down. yes these storms suck and yes they will impact us negatively in many ways… but i’m pretty sure Mrs. Baird’s and Sparklets will be ok… the only reason there might be a bread or purified water shortage is because of all the “sky is falling” people out there encouraging the corporations to raise prices and slow down supplies and boost their profit margins through the roof. so think about it… please.

Gas Prices

Apps, Business & Economy

with gas prices getting waaaaay out of hand, i discovered a pretty interesting site: GasBuddy.com. it is updated by visitors to the site (so i if u want to help update i guess u can) store owners should definitely be plugging in updates!! hope it helps u save a little $$

>> Gas Prices

Free Credit Report

Business & Economy

is your credit good? is it bad? is it non-existant?? < < sounds like a commercial for a car dealer huh? actually, u can get a free credit report right now, so long as u don't live in the northeast USA (if so, then you'll have to wait until September 1st). no playing around! i don't see it doing me any good, but i figured somebody out there might find this valuable. the website setup by the 'BIG 3' is AnnualCreditReport.com, but if you think it might be some kind of scam you can read about it from the good ole Federal Trade Commission : http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.htm