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Controversy Over YouTube's 'Terrorist' Videos
Tweet Share on Facebook September 15, 2008 Comment (8)Here's a story you might have missed because of the weekend.
The video-sharing service YouTube is banning submissions that involve "inciting others to violence," following criticism from Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) that the site was too open to terrorist groups disseminating militant propaganda.
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Obama vs. McCain—The Battle for the Small-Business Vote
Tweet Share on Facebook September 12, 2008 Comment (9)Here's another breakdown of where Barack Obama and John McCain stand on small-business issues, taken from their own platforms.
One interesting tidbit about Obama's specific small-business plan: He's secretly Mark Cuban. A few months ago, Cuban wrote on his blog about getting rid of all taxes on small businesses. Obama wants to do the same thing, but only with capital gains taxes. Here's what the Blue MauMau website says on this point:
Provide Zero Capital Gains and Other Tax Relief for Small Businesses and Start-ups: Barack Obama believes that we need to reduce burdens on small-business owners, many of whom are struggling to succeed as healthcare and energy costs continue to skyrocket. Barack Obama will also eliminate all capital gains taxes on small and start-up businesses to encourage innovation and job creation. Obama will support small business owners by providing a $500 "Making Work Pay" tax credit to almost every worker in America. Self-employed small business owners pay both the employee and the employer side of the payroll tax, and this measure will reduce the burdens of this double taxation.
Of course, this would run into some of the same problems with incentives for which I criticized Cuban's plan.
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The Best Colleges for Entrepreneurs
Tweet Share on Facebook September 11, 2008 Comment (2)Budding high-school-age aspiring capitalists out there, take note: Entrepreneur magazine and Princeton Review have put together a list of the top undergraduate and graduate programs in the country. Here's what came out on top:
Top Undergrad Programs
- University of Houston
- Babson College
- Drexel University
- University of Dayton
- University of Arizona
- Temple University
- DePaul University
- University of Oklahoma
- University of Southern California
- Chapman University
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How to Blog for Your Business—the Good and the Bad
Tweet Share on Facebook September 10, 2008 Comment (4)It's almost a given now that if you have a website, you also have a blog. The question for small-business owners is: Is blogging, twittering, etc., really worth your time?
A lot of bigger companies have decided it is. Just check out this list of 50 companies and how they are using social media. In these examples, I think you can find what TO do and what NOT to do when it comes to promoting your business with social media.
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How to Get Overseas Business From Home
Tweet Share on Facebook September 9, 2008 Comment (2)I've written about methods for small businesses to get a piece of booming international markets here, here, and here. The problem is that many of these methods are out of reach for many small businesses. It takes a lot of resources to set up an office abroad or acquire a foreign business. That's why I recommend checking out this WSJ piece about how the weak dollar is spurring some small companies to find easier ways to go global:
Some companies recognize that they are too small to venture abroad alone, so they are setting up partnerships or affiliations with foreign sellers.
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The Often-Overlooked Truth About Immigration
Tweet Share on Facebook September 9, 2008 Comment (25)Everyone wants to be on the side of the small-business person—and to make the opposition look as if it is against the average entrepreneur. Barack Obama said in his DNC speech that "we measure the strength of our economy...by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business." Then John McCain said in his nominating speech that Obama's economic plan "would force small businesses to cut jobs."
But wait a minute—there's actually a policy that promotes more entrepreneurial innovation than anything either candidate talked about in their speeches. What's more, it's actually a bipartisan issue!
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Google Chrome: Wow, That Was Fast
Tweet Share on Facebook September 4, 2008 Comment (12)A sharp commenter has alerted me to the fact that sometime yesterday, Google removed the portion of its licensing agreement for Google Chrome that caused users to essentially sign away the rights to their content. It has been replaced with this:
You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.
That should allay any fears that Web-based entrepreneurs might have had about using the browser.
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Google Chrome: Bad for Business?
Tweet Share on Facebook September 3, 2008 Comment (3)Google is one of those companies that can do no wrong in the eyes of a lot of people. And for good reason: Its track record has been pretty spotless so far, and almost everyone who has used an Internet connection can say that Google has made their lives much easier. But could Google finally have a blemish with the recent release of its Web browser Google Chrome?
Web entrepreneur John Crickett found a little tidbit in the fine print of Google Chrome's licensing agreement that might make it a particularly unattractive option for business people:
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Animal Cloning and Food: More Than a Feeling
Tweet Share on Facebook September 2, 2008 Comment (22)Cloned animals are more and more becoming parts of our everyday lives, the Wall Street Journal reports:
Don Coover, a veterinarian, rancher and owner of SEK Genetics in Galesburg, Kan., estimated that "hundreds, maybe thousands, of offspring of clones" of beef cattle already exist in the U.S.—though that is a fraction of the nation's 97 million head of cattle. He said he has sold about 30 offspring of clones to be slaughtered for food.
Reason to panic? Some people aren't thrilled:
"As a mom of two young children, it makes me very uneasy, very nervous that these things are in the food supply," said Alexis Joyce, a 35-year-old homemaker in Arlington, Va., who shops mostly at farmers' markets. "It just doesn't feel right."
