Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Manny Malhotra of the Vancouver Canucks, who suffered a serious eye injury when he was struck by an errant puck earlier this month, is set to undergo surgery aimed at saving his eye and his vision on Tuesday.

Surface Encounters

FOCUS: Courageous workers at troubled nuclear plant endure tough ...

Each of the employees of Tokyo Electric Power Co. and other workers engaged in containing damage at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is given 30 survival food crackers and a 180 milliliter pack of vegetable juice for ...

Surface Encounters

FOCUS: Courageous workers at troubled nuclear plant endure tough ...

Surface Encounters

Apple advertises its products as magical. They’re at the intersection of “technology and the liberal arts,” Steve Jobs said today. Something that moves your heart, not just your lust for technology. Will consumers still buy that in 2011?

The big picture question of the day is whether Apple has done it again. With the original iPad, Apple crushed its rivals, taking more than 90 percent of the tablet market in 2010 and selling more than 15 million units. Jobs predicted today that 2011 will be the year of the iPad 2. Based on what I have seen today, I think he’s mostly, but not entirely, right.

Competitors will discover that Apple has a lot of inherent financial advantages, including being a low-cost leader. That may not sound intuitive, but I believe it has to be true. It is selling so much volume of its products that it can get discounts on parts and manufacturing services that no one else can get.

When it sells its products in stores, it also doesn’t have to give away 20 percent of the margin to a retailer. That is a huge financial advantage. Carriers are also willing to subsidize the costs of Apple products in a way that they won’t with other tablet vendors. All of these things may explain why the Motorola Xoom, a very cool product, is selling for $800 while Apple has priced its new devices at $499 to $829, (and dropped the price of the old iPad to $399). Apple has also left very little room for rivals here, since it has signed up both AT&T and Verizon. Perhaps there is room for rivals to sell $199 machines, but users probably aren’t going to like them.

Those are reasons why any cool Apple mobile product could beat other rivals. But Apple has also done some smart things with the iPad 2. It has created another rev of its microprocessor, the A5, which has two cores, or computing brains. And it has nine times faster graphics than its old A4 chip. Since Apple designs this chip itself, it doesn’t have to give away much margin to a chip design firm. It only has to give a small margin to a chip manufacturer such as Samsung to make the chips.

Apple has also custom-designed the A5 to run Apple applications on a device with a 10-hour battery life. Apple should have an edge there, as it won’t sell the A5 to rivals. But if this is an advantage, it isn’t likely to last long, as Nvidia is being very aggressive with a new quad-core chip that it could sell to any Android rivals.

The design of the iPad 2 is where Apple has more advantages. The iPad 2 will have faster web-browsing with a new version of Safari. It has two cameras that will inspire a lot of video and photo-related apps. The availability of the Mac applications — iMovie, Garage Band, and Photo Booth — on the iPad 2 will make a lot of users happy. More interesting features will come with new releases of the iOS, or Apple’s operating system in the fairly near future.

There are some users who won’t like the restrictions of Apple’s ecosystem. If they want universal serial bus (USB) and SD card ports, they are out of luck. Apple didn’t change the resolution of its screen either, leaving it at 1024 x 768. Competitors could add these options and put emphasis on them as selling points. (Critics are disappointed that Apple did not improve the display, but that’s a big cost issue others have too).

Apple has also made great improvements in the feel of the product. It’s 33 percent thinner, 2 ounces lighter, and it has a wonderful new screen cover that doubles as a stand for the device. (It wakes up the device when you peel it back and it has micro-fibers that clean the screen when the cover is on).

Now here is why Jobs is not entirely right. Apple has come up with a stunning machine at prices that the competitors will have a hard time beating. But it is almost inevitable that Android-based tablets will gain market share on Apple.

So far, I don’t see the Android machine that will beat the iPad 2. But the potential is there, given ingredients such as Android 3.0, Nvidia Tegra 2 chips and other fast microprocessors, and 4G LTE. The latter is the main weakness in Apple’s armor.

LTE is fast, with a minimum speed on Verizon at around 12 megabits a second and actual speeds running much higher than that now. Getting access to 4G LTE is as big a benefit as having access to lots of cool apps, from my point of view. Right now, the timing of the still-young LTE technology means that Apple cannot yet put it into its mass-produced, lowest-cost tablet computers.

If LTE costs come down sometime soon, then Apple can launch a new version of the iPad to incorporate the technology. But it’s not a simple upgrade, as it means that the hardware of the machine — including the radio chip — has to change. And for now, LTE chips are larger than their 3G equivalents, so the heat dissipation and product size are affected. In other words, LTE can force Apple to redesign the iPad.

Apple can do that. But Android tablet makers might be able to move faster than Apple directly into the 4G LTE tablet market. If they do that, then they will have found a scenario where they could steal a march on Apple. Apple is not likely to let that gap last for a long time, but it might be enough for Apple to lose some share this year.

Apple’s leadership position in this market will be hard to beat, but the collective weight and reach of Android rivals could erode it. And here’s a sobering thought: If Apple eventually winds up with only 30 percent of the tablet market, it could still be No. 1, and its place as the largest technology company in the world will not be at risk.

Check out Apple’s overview video on the iPad 2 and Jobs’ comments on technology and the liberal arts below.

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Dirty Percent

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

It’s not hard to make the case that Apple’s new in-app subscription system offers numerous benefits to users, developers, and publishers. But whatever those benefits, they stem from the mere existence of these new subscription APIs. What’s controversial is the size of Apple’s cut: 30 percent.

No one is arguing that Apple shouldn’t get some cut of in-app purchases that go through iTunes. And, if Apple were taking a substantially smaller cut, there would be substantially fewer people objecting to Apple’s rules (that subscription-based publishing apps must use the system; that they can’t link to their external sign-up web page from within the app; and that they must offer in-app subscribers the same prices available outside the app).

The reasonable arguments against Apple’s policies seem to be:

Apple should be taking less, perhaps far less, than 30 percent.

Apple should not require subscription-based apps to use the in-app subscription APIs. If it’s a good deal for publishers, they’ll choose to use the system on their own.

Apple should not require price-matching from subscription offers outside the app. Publishers should be allowed to charge iOS users more money to cover Apple’s cut.

Apple should consider business models that simply can’t afford a 70/30 revenue split.

Let’s consider these in reverse order.

Apple Should Consider Business Models That Can’t Afford a 70/30 Revenue Split

Apple doesn’t give a damn about companies with business models that can’t afford a 70/30 split. Apple’s running a competitive business; competition is cold and hard. And who exactly can’t afford a 70/30 split? Middlemen. It’s not that Apple is opposed to middlemen — it’s that Apple wants to be the middleman. It’s difficult to expect them to be sympathetic to the plights of other middlemen.

Some of these apps and services that are left out might be ones that iOS users enjoy, though. This is the leading argument for how this new policy will in fact hurt users, and, as a result, Apple itself: it’ll drive good apps off the platform. Frequently mentioned examples: Netflix and Kindle. For all we know, though, Netflix may well be fine with this policy. Apple would only get a 30 percent cut of new subscriptions that go through the Netflix iOS app, and that might be a bounty Netflix can live with in exchange for more subscribers. Keep in mind, too, that Netflix and Apple seemingly get along well enough that Netflix is built into the Apple TV system software.

Kindle, and e-book platforms in general, are a different case. For one thing, Kindle doesn’t use subscriptions. Kindle offers purchases. Presumably, given Apple’s rejection of Sony’s e-book platform app last month, Apple is going to insist on the same rules for in-app purchases through apps like Kindle as they do for in-app subscriptions. If so, something’s got to give. The “agency model” through which e-books are sold requires the bookseller to give the publisher 70 percent of the sale price. So if the publisher gets 70 and Apple gets 30, that leaves a big fat nothing for Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, or Kobo, or anyone else selling books through native iOS apps — other than iBooks, of course.

But leaving aside the revenue split, there are technical limitations as well. The existing in-app purchasing system in iOS has a technical limit of 3,500 catalog items. I.e. any single app can offer no more than 3,500 items for in-app purchase. Amazon has hundreds of thousands of Kindle titles.

Something’s got to give here. I don’t know what, but there must be more news on this front coming soon. I don’t believe Apple wants to chase competing e-book platforms off the App Store.

Apple Should Not Require Price Matching

Why not allow developers and publishers to set their own prices for in-app subscriptions? One reason: Apple wants its customers to get the best price — and, to know that they’re getting the best price whenever they buy a subscription through an app. It’s a confidence in the brand thing: with Apple’s rules, users know they’re getting the best price, they know they’ll be able to unsubscribe easily, and they know their privacy is protected.

Credit card companies insist on similar rules: retailers pay a processing fee for every credit card transaction, but the credit card companies insist that these fees not be passed on to the customer. Customers pay the same price as they would if they used cash — which encourages them to use their credit card liberally. (Going further, many charge cards offer cash back on each purchase — they can do this because the cash-back percentage refunded to the customer is less than the transaction processing fee paid by the retailer.)

So the same-price rule is good for the user, and good for Apple. But Matt Drance argues that Apple could dissipate much of this subscription controversy by waiving this rule:

The requirement that IAP content be offered “at the same price
or less than it is offered outside the app,” combined with the
70/30 split, means developers must make less money off of iOS by
definition. They can’t price their IAP content higher to offset
the commission, nor can they price their own retail content lower.

If I am interpreting this correctly, I can’t bring myself to see
it as reasonable. […] I think a great deal of this drama could
go away if Apple dropped section 11.13 while keeping section
11.14: Your prices on your store are your business; just don’t
be a jerk and advertise the difference all over ours.

And I agree with him. Yes, the same-price rule is good for users and for Apple, but waiving this rule wouldn’t be particularly bad for users or for Apple, either — and it would give publishers some freedom to experiment.

I suspect one reason Apple won’t budge is that their competitors — like Amazon — insist on best-price matching.

Apple Should Not Require Apps to Offer In-App Subscriptions

I’m sympathetic to this argument, too. “If you don’t like our terms, don’t use our subscription system.” But it has occurred to me that this entire in-app subscription debate mirrors the debate surrounding the App Store itself back in 2008 — that 30 percent was too large a cut for Apple to take, that it shouldn’t be mandatory, etc. The same way many developers wanted (and still want) a way to sell native iOS apps on their own, outside the App Store, many publishers now want a way to sell subscriptions on their own, outside the App Store.

The fact is, the App Store is an all-or-nothing affair. You play by Apple’s rules or you stick to web apps through Mobile Safari. This alternative is no different for periodical publishers than it was (and remains) for app developers in general. A lot of these demands boil down to a desire for more autonomy for native iOS app developers. Apple has never shown any interest in that.

There’s one striking difference between the subscription controversy today and the App Store controversy in 2008: with subscriptions, Apple is taking away the ability to do something that they previously allowed. There was never a supported way to install native apps for iOS before the App Store. Subscriptions sold outside the App Store, on the other hand, were allowed until last month.

Apple Should Be Taking Less, Possibly Far Less, Than 30 Percent

Another difference between the App Store itself and in-app subscriptions is that with apps, Apple hosts and serves the downloads. Apple covers the bandwidth, even for gargantuan gigabyte-or-larger 99-cent games. The OS handles installation.

With in-app subscriptions (and purchases), however, the app developer is responsible for hosting the content, and for writing the code to download, store, and manage it. So — one reasonable argument goes — given that Apple is doing less for subscription content than it does for apps (or for music and movies purchased through iTunes), Apple should take less of the money.

Taken further, the argument boils down to this: that for in-app subscriptions and purchases, Apple is serving only as a payment processer — and thus, a reasonable fee for transactions would be in the small single digits — 3, 4, maybe 5 percent, say. More or less something along the lines of what PayPal charges.

Apple, I think it’s clear, doesn’t see it this way. Apple sees the entire App Store, along with all native iOS apps, as an upscale, premium software store: owned, controlled, and managed like a physical shopping mall. Brick and mortar retailers don’t settle for a single-digit cut of retail prices; neither does the App Store.

Seth Godin argues that Apple’s 30 percent cut is too big to allow publishers to profit:

Except Apple has announced that they want to tax each subscription
made via the iPad at 30%. Yes, it’s a tax, because what it does is
dramatically decrease the incremental revenue from each
subscriber. An intelligent publisher only has two choices: raise
the price (punishing the reader and further cutting down
readership) or make it free and hope for mass (see my point above
about the infinite newsstand). When you make it free, it’s all
about the ads, and if you don’t reach tens or hundreds of
thousands of subscribers, you’ll fail.

Godin’s logic strikes me as questionable. For one thing, he freely switches between a newsstand metaphor (arguing, perhaps accurately, that the App Store is too large for publishers to gain attention from potential readers in the first place — you won’t read what you never notice) and the economics of subscriptions. But subscribers are the opposite of newsstand readers. Newsstand readers are buying a single copy, often on impulse. Subscribers are readers who are already hooked, and who know what they want. Put another way, the size of Apple’s cut of subscription revenue — whether it were higher or lower — has no bearing on the “attention at the newsstand” problem.

Second, the problem facing traditional publishers today is that circulation is falling. Newsstand sales and subscriptions are falling, under pressure from free-of-charge websites and other forms of digital content. The idea with Apple’s 70-30 revenue split is that developers and publishers can make it up in volume — that people aren’t just somewhat more willing to pay for content through iTunes than other online content stores, they are far more willing. The idea is that Apple has cracked a nut no one else1 has — they’ve created an ecosystem where hundreds of millions of people are willing to pay for digital content. Thus, potentially, publishers won’t just make more money keeping only 70 percent of subscription fees generated through iOS apps than they are now with 96 percent (or whatever they’re left with after payment processing fees) of subscription fees they’re selling on their own — they stand to make a lot more money.

I’m not guaranteeing or even predicting that it’s going to work out that way. I’m just saying that’s Apple’s proposition.

Godin’s assumption is that iOS in-app subscriptions won’t significantly increase the number of subscribers. If he’s right about that, then he’s right that Apple’s 30 percent cut will prove too expensive for publishers. But Apple’s bet is that in-app subscriptions can dramatically increase the number of subscribers. Consider the app landscape. Apple’s 30 percent cut didn’t drive the price of paid apps up — the nature of the App Store drove prices down. It’s a volume game.

The App Store itself proves that Apple might be right. Like with app sales, in-app subscriptions won’t work for every publication. But it could work for many. It really is possible to make it up in volume.

And if a 70-30 split for in-app subscription revenue doesn’t work, the price will come down. That’s how capitalism works. You choose a price and see how it goes. I’ll admit — when the App Store launched in 2008, I thought Apple’s 70-30 split was skewed too heavily in Apple’s favor. Not that it was wrong in any moral sense, but that it was wrong in a purely economic sense: that it might be more than developers would be willing to bear. Apple, clearly, has a better sense about what prices the market will bear than I (and, likely, you) do.

Competition vs. Anti-Competition

One last argument I’ve seen regarding these in-app subscription rules is that it’s further evidence of anti-competitive behavior from Apple. That makes sense only if you consider iOS to be the entire field of play. Apple, though, is competing at a higher level. They’re competing between platforms: iOS vs. Kindle/Amazon vs. Android/Google vs. Microsoft, and in some ways, vs. the free web. Why should publishers make an app rather than just a mobile web site? For happier customers and more money.

Sony has a platform for e-books. Amazon has a platform for e-books. Barnes & Noble has a platform for e-books. Apple has a platform for e-books. But Apple is the only one which allows its competitors to have apps on its devices. And Apple is the anti-competitive one? I’m no lawyer, but if the iTunes Music store hasn’t yet been deemed a monopoly with Apple selling 70+ percent of digital music players, then I doubt the App Store will be deemed a monopoly for a market where Apple has never been — and, according to market share trends, may never be — the top-selling smartphone maker, let alone own a majority of the market, let alone own more than a single-digit sliver of the phone market as a whole. As for ruthless profiteering, consider that Amazon, with their e-book publishing, originally took the fat end of a 70-30 revenue split with authors.

One question I’ve been asked by several DF readers who object to Apple’s new in-app subscription and purchasing policies goes like this: What if Microsoft did this with Windows, and, say, tried to require Apple to pay them 30 percent for every purchase made through iTunes on Windows? To that, I say: good luck with that. Microsoft couldn’t make such a change by fiat. The whole premise of Windows (and other personal computer systems) is that it is open to third-party software. Apple couldn’t just flip a switch and make Mac OS X a controlled app console system like iOS — they had to introduce the Mac App Store as an alternative to traditional software installation. If Microsoft introduced something similar to the Mac App Store for Windows, Apple would simply eschew it. If Microsoft were to mandate an iOS App Store-like total control policy for all Windows software, they’d have a revolt in their user base that would make Vista look like a success.

iOS isn’t and never was an open computer system. It’s a closed, controlled console system — more akin to Playstation or Wii or Xbox than to Mac OS X or Windows. It is, in Apple’s view, a privilege to have a native iOS app.

This is what galls some: Apple is doing this because they can, and no other company is in a position to do it. This is not a fear that in-app subscriptions will fail because Apple’s 30 percent slice is too high, but rather that in-app subscriptions will succeed despite Apple’s (in their minds) egregious profiteering. I.e. that charging what the market will bear is somehow unscrupulous. To the charge that Apple Inc. is a for-profit corporation run by staunch capitalists, I say, “Duh”.

If it works, Apple’s 30-percent take of in-app subscriptions will prove as objectionable in the long run as the App Store itself: not very.

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

In our second installment of The Business of Blogging, we speak to the uber-talented Tommy Ton, founder of Jak & Jil and streetstyle photographer for Style.com and GQ.com

PARIS, France — “It was the summer of 1997 and I was 13 years old,” recalls Tommy Ton, now 27, describing the moment when a self-professed comic book nerd from the suburbs of Toronto first became interested in fashion. “My sister asked me to record Fashion Television and all of a sudden Tom Ford comes on and talks about women, and his idea of sex. He was so eloquent in his choice of words. It was love at first sight.”

From that moment, Mr. Ton embarked on what has been described as a something of a fairytale, becoming the world’s most influential street style fashion photographer today. But achieving such success is rarely that simple — or easy.

More than just a skilled photographer with a good eye and encyclopedic knowledge of fashion, Ton has proven himself to be a savvy digital operator with a potent mixture of ambition, work ethic and strategic thinking that has enabled him to discover and hone in on his special talent. His humility throughout it all has endeared him not only to the stylish women he has made famous, but also to fellow fashion bloggers and his growing list of paying clients.

Yes, Tommy Ton is building a business, and he’s proud of it.

At first, Mr. Ton says he simply became infatuated with fashion. “I’d bike to the library, tear out ad campaigns, and make collages of Gucci and Versace,” he explains over dinner during Paris Fashion Week. At age 15, he interned with the Toronto designer Wayne Clark and then in the women’s accessories department of Holt Renfrew, Canada’s leading luxury department store.

From the beginning, Ton has been a fervent but charming networker, not afraid to approach and build relationships with the industry’s top players. “I made an effort so Barbara Atkin knew who I was,” he says, referring to the Holt Renfrew’s highly-respected fashion director. This ultimately landed him a gig in the store’s buying office, furthering his understanding of the fashion business, but still not quite sating his fashion appetite.

“I was there in the Summer of 2004 when web magazines first started popping up,” he says. Ton started taking classes in digital photography and met with friends who did graphic design, before deciding to start Jak & Jil, which was initially conceived in 2005 as a lifestyle website focused on the product and people in Toronto.

“Then my guardian angel came along,” says Ton, referring to Lynda Latner, proprietor of vintagecouture.com. “She hired me because she saw my site and thought I could help her.”

In 2007 when Latner offered to send Ton to Europe to attend the shows in London and Paris, he had his first opportunity to experiment with street photography during fashion week, a trend which was just beginning to take off due to the pioneering work of Scott Schuman and Garance Doré.

“My first show in Paris was Balmain. I had no idea what Balmain was at the time, or what it was going to be, but all the girls were in that that show, like Daria, Irina, and Anja, and they played the Cure on the soundtrack. As soon as that show was done, it was raining outside…and I was dancing in the rain. I just felt so uplifted. I could not believe what fashion could do for you,” recalls Ton nostalgically. “To have that moment in Paris, at your very first show…it was magical.”

Using his “Canadian connections,” Ton also managed to get into Chanel, YSL, Dries van Noten and Rick Owens that first season. But in all the excitement, Ton says he didn’t know who or what to shoot. “I just shot what I thought was visually amazing. I didn’t know who Emmanuelle Alt was, or Kate Lanphear or even Anna Dello Russo.”

Almost immediately after this first trip, the Canadian fashion media took note of Ton’s photography, beginning with Flare magazine editor Lisa Tant. “Because of that trip, I got a page in Flare which gave me a validated reason to go back,” he says.

By 2008 Ton was already seeking a way to stand out from the growing hordes of photographers outside the shows who were mostly aping Schuman’s photographic style. “I thought, ‘I’m so tired of taking head-to-toe shots. No one can touch Scott at those photos — he is the king.’ I wanted my photos to stand out. That’s when I stated taking the candid shots.”

Ton’s landscape-style images focused in on the little details that caught his well-trained fashion eye — a towering Louboutin stiletto here, a pop of colour there on his favourite subjects as they walked into the shows. He rarely asked them to pose. Ton was developing a photographic style that that has now become instantly recognisable as his own, capturing the raw energy and excitement of fashion week. Fellow blogger Tavi Gevinson later remarked, “You always know what a Tommy Ton photograph looks like.”

He re-purposed Jak and Jil into a blog, and started posting two or three of his new style of photographs each day. This caught the attention of influential bloggers like Susanna Lau of Style Bubble and Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast, who helped to spread the word.

Two and half months later, Ton received an email from the head of marketing at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, asking him to shoot their Spring/Summer 2009 campaign.

“I said yes, but I didn’t even know what my worth was,” says Ton. “After talking to my business friends in the industry, I threw a figure at Lane Crawford. It was a bit too much, but we negotiated, and I was proud of myself because I was able to get an amount that I was satisfied with and which they were willing to pay.”

With his reputation spreading, Ton’s confidence began to grow. “During the Fall/Winter 2009 season, people started to know who I was. Scott [Schuman] actually knew my work. I was officially blogging and shooting for Lane Crawford at the same time. That was the season I knew what I was doing, and I knew what I wanted to shoot. It was the beginning of something.”

Another important shift came the following season in Milan, when Ton was seated in Dolce & Gabbana’s front row, alongside Doré, Schuman and Bryanboy, an image that was plastered in the fashion media around the world, signalling the arrival of fashion bloggers. “That was a huge moment. It was all due to Anna Dello Russo. She was the one who told Domenico and Stefano: ‘These are the people who are changing things.’”

From then on, the front row tickets came in fast and furious. Everyone wanted Ton to shoot at their shows, knowing his images would be seen by thousands of fashion enthusiasts and influencers around the world. The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and others came calling. “They were emailing to buy photos,” he says.

Ton went from ultimate fashion outsider to insider almost overnight.

But the real turning point came a few weeks earlier when Style.com’s editor-in-chief Dirk Standen asked Ton to step into the formidable shoes of Scott Schuman, whose own photography career had gone stratospheric, in no small part due to the platform given to him by Style.com. Schuman had decided to leave Style.com to focus on other projects, and Ton now had the most high-profile streetstyle photography gig in the business.

“Being associated with Style.com is a huge deal for me. It’s what everyone looks at every day. People go to Style.com like you brush your teeth in the morning. It’s something you just do,” enthuses Ton.

By now, the time had come for Ton to seek professional representation. An introduction to elite agency The Collective Shift—which also represents top fashion photographers Inez and Vinoodh and super-stylist Melanie Ward—instantly felt like the right fit. Ton also signed on Trunk Archive to act as his image licensing agency, removing the burden of negotiating image rights and contracts on his own and dramatically increasing what he could earn from selling his images to the likes of American Vogue, Elle UK, and Vogue Nippon.

“Before, I was underselling myself, getting about $50-100 per image.” Today, Ton reports that he can earn from as little as $100 up to $2000. “The the thing I’ve learned is that you have to really consider whether it’s a one page image or a ½ page image or ¼ page image. It’s a really big deal when it’s one image over two pages in Grazia for example, whereas if it’s ⅛ of a page in Vogue, it is much less. I’m lucky to have Trunk Archive to deal with all that now.”

But image licensing only makes up about 30 percent of the revenue he earns. The remaining 70 percent comes from a variety of projects, including his gigs for Style.com, GQ.com, but also for retailers and brands such as Topshop, Selfridges, Sergio Rossi and Saks 5th Avenue.

Ton says he has made an intentional decision not to have advertising on his site. “It’s an association with your brand. I didn’t want my blog to be associated with any type of branding,” he explains.

But would he ever take pay for editorial placement on Jak & Jil itself? “Yes,” he says matter-of-factly. “But that requires a discussion between my agent, my client and me. The thing about the development of the Tommy Ton brand and the Jak & Jil brand is that everything is strategically selected and carefully monitored. We have to see potential growth in it, and understand what’s in it for us.”

When pressed on the criteria he uses for this kind of paid content, so as not to alienate his audience, he pauses to think. “It’s definitely gut instinct. It just has to be of the moment and relevant for the time.” His readers shouldn’t be able to tell the difference, he says, because the images he creates would be the kind he would post anyway. The standards are the same, and the images are just as powerful.

All the same, Tommy Ton also realizes this is his moment and it may not last forever. “I don’t even know if I will be able to earn the money I do now in a few years. I don’t know if I will be relevant or not. I am just lucky that people want to associate with me and their brand right now.”

And what about all that competition from the hundreds of streetstyle bloggers outside the shows? “You always have to stay on top of your game, and the only way to do that now is to have exclusive content,” he asserts. Recently, Ton has been invited to shoot behind-the-scenes at the Proenza Schouler studio and the Victoria’s Secret fashion show.

“I’m not making any money from it, but it gives me access no one else would have. I take a lot of pride in that. I am so, so happy I am invited to do these things,” he says, recalling that 13 year old kid watching Tom Ford on TV back in Toronto. “In some ways I still feel like an outsider, even though I am acknowledged by these designers. I am still in awe of what is going on.”

Imran Amed is founder and editor of The Business of Fashion

The Business of Blogging is a new series on the rarely discussed business side of fashion blogging. Previous articles are listed below:

Susie Bubble

What is your social media brand? Do you have one? Sure, many small business owners and entrepreneurs are coming around to the enormous importance of social media as a marketing, customer service, and, yes, even sales tool. But if you haven’t thought about how social media can define your brand, you are probably missing a HUGE part of what social media tools can do for your business. Here’s more…

Tools & Techniques

Creating a great brand with these blog tools. Tools that improve the look and functionality of your blog also improve your brand. A well-maintained small business blog is one of the most obvious and least expensive branding tools at the entrepreneur’s disposal even more so than social media channels like Facebook and Twitter because of how a blog can be customized to fit your needs and personality. This list of tools is a great way to start. EpicLaunch

What Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi can teach you about social media. One of the stars of the hit reality show “Jersey Shore”, “Snooki” is a perfect example of personal brand, but social media entrepreneurs could also learn much about building their own online presence from Snooki. Being yourself and using a simple, short tag to indelibly brand your identity are also great techniques in social media. One site is already trying to apply the starlets techniques in the social media space. Brand-Yourself

Tito Philips doesn’t want your comments on his blog! At least, not if they’re the wrong kind. And the wrong kind would be comments left for no other purpose than to get the blogger and his/her readers to visit your blog and perhaps comment on it in return. Why is comment trading bad? Don’t get Tito started! There are many ways to engage in social media marketing. Be sure you understand and respect some of the attitudes you may face. Blogging Bookshelf

News & Trends

The best of the best. Want to get a look at arguably the 20 best Facebook fan pages for business on the planet? By now you should know the value of a Facebook fan page to your branding efforts. What’s also true, however, is that not all Facebook sites are created equal. If you want to take your social media marketing to the next level, have a look at this list of cream of the crop sites. Inc.com

Even churches use social media marketing! In this article on the growing market for tech services among religious organizations, we learn that many churches have also already entered into the social media space. As houses of worship, particularly huge mega-churches, expand and build congregations, it’s easy to see how social media can work as a marketing tool here as well. Is your religious organization using social media for branding? WSJ

Tips & Tricks

20 tips that will make you a Twitter star. Among the tools popular in the new digital space is Twitter. The microblogging platform can be used for business or non-business purposes and it can be the key to your small business’s success. Learn how to use Twitter like a pro and you may be surprised at the benefits your small business gains as a result. Global Copywriting

Valuable lessons in social media. Gary Vaynerchuk, author of The Thank You Economy and a successful social media entrepreneur in his own right, has many insights to share with small business leaders seeking a new way to define their brands in an age of social communications. Read some of the takeaways Vaynerchuk shares with those trying to define their businesses with social media. E-Marketing Associates

Success Stories

Doubt the power of FB to create brand for almost anyone? You won’t after you read the story of Princeton English Professor Jeff Nunokawa and “Jeffbook”, a collection of 3,221 brief literary essays on Facebook, that have created an incredible cult status for Nunokawa in the process. His motivation? Not too different from those of most marketers. Nunokawa simply started sharing where he knew his audience already spent lots of their time. The results speak for themselves. Fast Company

Increase exposure with niche social media. Blogger Mavis Nong talks about the importance of niche social media sites including social bookmarking sites as a key method of creating exposure for your online business. Mavis talks about her experience with our sister site BizSugar.com (thanks for the shout out! ) and explains how smaller more focused social sites can sometimes have a surprising impact even larger than the big guys. Attraction Marketing Online

Opportunities

Sponsors wanted for new SugarTone Sweet Business Blogging Contest. Put the power of social media to work for your brand. We’re looking for sponsors to help with a brand new blogging contest involving two of the fastest growing small business communities on the Web, BizSugar.com and Bloggertone.com. Learn more about the contest by reading the full announcement and get in touch today! BizSugar Blog

Surface Encounters

4000 bodies still remain unidentified following quake | Kyodo News

The identities of around 4000 bodies collected following the March 11 mega earthquake and ensuing tsunami still remain unconfirmed in severely-damaged Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, a local police tally showed Tuesday. ...

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Jon Stewart Calls Out NBC News For Not Reporting on GE's $0 Tax ...

On Friday, The New York Times reported that General Electric paid no U.S. federal income tax in 2010, despite earning $14.2 billion in profits. While.

Surface Encounters

Monday, March 28, 2011

Making Money Online With

Over the next year or two, social commerce will disrupt e-commerce and social media, effectively turning our social interactions into commercial transactions. So how will this happen and where is the disruption taking place?

A Check-In Economy

You’re walking down the street staring at your phone and it’s telling you what deals are nearby. Perhaps not the best of visions but it’s the ecosystem that currently exists around check-in services like Foursquare and Facebook Places. The features are great, but staring at your phone could result into you running into something or even something running into you. It’s not elegant. The result has been an experience based on check-ins that take place when the consumer arrives at a venue.

Foursquare and Facebook both provide platforms that enable businesses to present deals or offers to visitors, in addition to rewarding visitors for repeat business. It’s an interesting business model and so far it appears to be having decent success. However, as deals disappear and users get tired of checking in, one has to wonder if this is truly the holy grail of social media marketing. If you want to know my opinion: it’s not. Check-ins are an early phase (reviews on Yelp were probably first) in a long shift which will completely disrupt commerce as we know it.

Will normal commerce continue to exist once social commerce takes hold? Definitely! However, a large portion of commerce will become much more integrated with our existing communication.

The Main Players

The goal for any business is to get more customers and more transactions (check-outs) and any new form of commerce will have to accomplish two things: It will need to empower the consumer and help transactions become frictionless. So if we examine all existing solutions through this lens, we should be able to determine how disruptive they truly are. Let’s take a look at a few.

Yelp

Yelp is one of the earliest innovators in the social commerce space. The site has empowered consumers through the amplification of their voices. Suddenly any consumer could instantly have a large (and targeted) audience of potential customers for the business they’re reviewing. Getting bad service? Try threatening the hostess or waiter with a bad Yelp review and see what they do. On a scale of one to ten, Yelp deserves a rating of ten when it comes to empowering the consumer.

As for transaction friction, Yelp has simply integrated with Open Table in order to make reservations easier. That’s about all the site has right now as far as I know, so I’d have to rate them a three on the empowerment scale.

Groupon & LivingSocial

The other major disruptors to online commerce lately have been Groupon and LivingSocial. So far though there’s very little that’s social about these services aside from them making it possible for users to share deals with others. That capability alone has helped grow these two companies to their current values in the billions. The two companies have empowered consumers through the power of numbers.

Consumers get a discounted price for a product or service, and the business gets a massive flood of new customers. While this strategy is rapidly becoming blemished with consumer and business complaints, it has proven to be extremely profitable. Shoppers also love getting a deal so it’s a win-win most of the time. As such, we’d rank these companies relatively high, like a seven, on the empowerment scale, due to the value provided.

However, the transaction isn’t exactly frictionless. After you make a purchase, you often need to go through a scheduling process, depending on the business. Given that the Groupon and LivingSocial effect can be as overwhelming as the Oprah effect, many businesses find it hard to respond to all the demand. While this model will become more integrated overtime, there hasn’t been a removal of friction for the most part, so we’ll score both companies a one on the frictionless scale.

Facebook Places And Foursquare

Facebook and Foursquare are both interesting in their approach to location and empowering the consumer. With Facebook, users could already complain to their friends. Foursquare, however, required the re-creation of a user’s social graph in order to accomplish the same thing. Ultimately, the business value of Facebook Places and Foursquare are a bit more abstract, giving businesses the ability to reward consumers for various behaviors within a given venue.

The existing rewards programs are reminiscent of traditional coupons, making them valuable for a segment of the population. While I’ve heard people extoll the values of creating a Place on Facebook or managing a venue on Foursquare, the return on investment has yet to prove itself.

For Facebook, the value presented by tracking user check-ins is improved advertising, and Deals appears to be more of an afterthought for the company, although that could change in the future. For Foursquare, the value surrounds rewarding consumers for frequenting a business.

Ultimately, I don’t find either of these products to be extremely empowering for the shopper. The main reason is that once the consumer checks in, they aren’t as likely to change their decision to shop there. Contrast that with Yelp, where a bad review can result in a lost customer. As such, I’m ranking Facebook Places and Foursquare a three on the empowerment scale and a one on the frictionless transaction scale.

While I think both products will evolve over time, this space is still extremely nascent.

The Future

The convergence of local, mobile, and social (or “SoLoMo” as John Doerr calls it) is about to generate a tidal wave of change and we stand on the cusp of it. While I could wax poetic about the future of this space, I’ll simply say that the overall shopping experience will become much more social for a large percentage of transactions. If you think about all the purchases that involve social experiences (movies, concerts, travel, etc), these spaces are only beginning to get disrupted.

While the experiences are social, right now the transactions are not. So far the only social shopping experiences which exist today either provide basic integration with Facebook, sidebar chat with friends during the shopping experience, or other basic features. Over the next one to two years, we will see a wave of innovation in the social commerce space and it won’t be like the forms of interactions we have on the web; they will be completely different. While it’s easy to call the Groupons of the world overvalued, this is a trillion dollar market that is just beginning to unfold.

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some awesome articles on 43 ways to save money, foods you don't need to buy organic, and how to keep your head after losing your job.

Interview and Consultation

Most roofing companies provide totally free consultations. This is especially important, since it gives them a chance to evaluate what your homes roof needs, and it gives you an opportunity to evaluate them. As with all companies, trust your intuition about the people you allow upward onto your roofing. No matter how good a contractor's reputation or suggestion, he or she should begin by presenting you with a company card. If the service provider occurs looking as well as talking within an unprofessional method, chances are that the job he's going to do will also be less than professional. This isn't to express that you ought to anticipate contractors to reach within suits. They is going to be hiking in your roof, so the majority of will be dressed up in jeans and function boots or sneakers. If the service provider seems to be interested in speaking upon his mobile phone during your homes roof than he is in analyzing your roof's requirements, that may be another sign that he's not really the one for the job. For your legal safety, be certain that the contractor offers sufficient liability insurance coverage.

Roof Assessment

Expect the service provider is going to be rising in your roof. In fact, any contractor who not need to increase in your roofing to judge the problem ought to be instantly discounted. Those who're serious about their function may either make a sketching of the roof's surface area as well as tag trouble spots on it as they go through their assessment, or even they'll consider photos or even video from the surface area while they're up there. This is a very important step, because it enables you to observe exactly what the problems are as well as know how they'll be set.

Estimate

The next phase will be the created estimate. The contractor will require out their loan calculator and come track of an itemized estimation. Some contractors goes out to their vehicle or even van as well as write down the suggestion, while some will crisis the actual amounts for the job in front of you. Once you are because of the suggestion, ensure that you comprehend which products is going to be utilized, how long the job will take and if you will find any additional or concealed expenses that could occur throughout the restore from the roof. The service provider should be able to solution many of these questions effortlessly and forewarn a person associated with a extra expenses that could be incurred if the roof's integrity end up being damaged inside.

Once you have received several created estimations from roofers, evaluate what every company or even contractor would like to provide for the cost. Do not necessarily discount the greatest bet, simply because occasionally the highest bet will in reality function as the contractor who the job properly. Additionally, be skeptical of prices for bids that are not nearly as expensive other people. They might be using inferior items or perhaps be unethical about the possibility of hidden expenses. Above all, trust your instincts as well as go with the contractor who makes you feel quite comfy regarding handing more than your hard earned money.

Seven Uyghurs Sentenced to Death

2011-03-23

Critics of the sentences say China has politicized the robberies as acts of terrorism.

AFP

A Uyghur man walks past armed Chinese security forces in Urumqi, July 17, 2009.

Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have ordered the executions of seven ethnic minority Uyghur men convicted of "violent" crimes, official media said on Wednesday.

The death sentences were handed down by the Supreme People's Court in recent days, according to state media in the regional capital, Urumqi.

The men were accused in connection with three separate attacks late last year in the Silk Road city of Kashgar, according to the news website Urumqi Online.

According to another website, the Xinjiang-based Tianshan news site, Aimaiti Tuheti, Yiming Dawuti, and unnamed "others" killed a security guard at a pedestrian mall as part of a failed Aug. 7 robbery attempt.

In a separate incident on Oct. 12, it said, Nuermaimaiti Aobulikasimu and 11 others broke into a house, bound and killed the couple living in it, and took their possessions.

It said the group also broke into the homes of two brothers, robbed them, and killed six people in a Nov. 11 attack in Kashgar.

The report gave no information about the victims or the schedule for the executions.

Three of the men were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, a sentence that is normally commuted to life imprisonment in China's judicial system.

They were convicted of deliberate homicide and armed robbery by the Kashgar Intermediate People's Court in the first instance.

'Strike hard' campaign

A Han Chinese resident of Urumqi surnamed Yang said a reference to "terrorism" in official news reports on the case showed that it was being politicized by the authorities, who have launched a series of "strike hard" campaigns in Xinjiang following deadly ethnic violence in July 2009.

"There is an implied political meaning; that they were somehow engaged in separatist activities or ethnic divisions," said Yang.

Exile Uyghur groups said the trials had been conducted behind closed doors, with scant opportunity for public scrutiny.

"The entire process against these men, from the trial through to the judgment, was opaque," said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress.

"There was also very little reasonable evidence to convict them on a legal basis, because all the evidence came from one side of the case," he said.

"We strongly condemn the Chinese government for continuing to pursue their policies of ethnic division," said Raxit.

"We are also strongly opposed to the death penalty in this case."

Earlier cases

Last month, the Supreme Court sentenced four Uyghurs to death for alleged involvement in an Aug. 19 bomb attack in Xinjiang’s western Aksu city.

The World Uyghur Congress pointed to concerns over lack of transparency in those cases too.

The Aksu blast left eight people dead, including two of the bombers, and 15 wounded after a man riding a three-wheeled vehicle threw explosives at a group of uniformed patrolmen. Four Uyghurs were arrested shortly after the attack.

State media characterized the cases as acts of terrorism and unrelated to longstanding ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the region.

Exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer has warned that attacks like those in Aksu will continue to occur until Beijing addresses the underlying source of tension in the region.

Millions of Uyghurs—a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim—populate Central Asia and Xinjiang.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Those frustrations erupted in July 2009 in deadly riots that left nearly 200 people dead, by the Chinese government's tally.

At least 26 people, mostly Uyghurs, were sentenced to death in the aftermath of the riots, many of whom have been executed, according to state media.

China is believed to execute more people each year than the rest of the world’s countries combined, although the government does not publish official figures.

Rights groups say Beijing may execute as many as several thousand prisoners annually.

Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

New training scheme

China on Wednesday also announced a training scheme which places ethnic minority graduates from Xinjiang in work elsewhere in China.

Governments of the destination cities will spend 450 million yuan (U.S.$ 69 million) for the program, while Xinjiang will spend 400 million yuan (U.S.$ 61 million), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The program targets some 60,000 jobless college graduates in Xinjiang, around 80 percent of whom are from ethnic minorities, and 60 percent of whom are women.

However, some commentators see the move as an attempt to assimilate non-Han Chinese into mainstream Chinese culture.

"From the point of view of ethnic minorities, the graduate work scheme is really taking the cream of youth from the minorities and using them to 'further cultural development,'" wrote one ethnic minority user on a popular microblogging service.

"In fact, the culture that is being advanced is Han culture, and this group of young people will have been totally brainwashed," the microblog update said.

An Urumqi resident surnamed Li agreed.

"They have run senior high school schemes like this before during the past few years," he said.

"Whether it's high-schoolers or graduate training programs, these are measures that are aimed at thought control and brainwashing, and the 'Partification' of their education," he said.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Wikileaks and the Uyghur

by holly upon Dec 20, 2010
Henryk Szadziewski, Supervisor, Uyghur Human Rights Project

If it were ever in doubt, info acquired by the whistleblower website, Wikileaks, offers confirmed Chinese federal government worries over it's ongoing charge of the region it calls Xinjiang, also is known as East Turkestan. The actual leaked wires from U.Utes. diplomats demonstrate the actual degree to which Chinese language authorities attempt to persuade governments worldwide to adopt it's stance on issues impacting Uyghurs. The wires additionally display the United States' concerns and sights concerning the on going repressive steps in the area.

Most illuminating associated with Chinese language government stress would be the wires directed in order to Chinese language frustration, or the specter of Chinese language ire, over the release of Uyghur detainees within Guantánamo to 3rd nations. A December Twenty nine, 2008 cable television relates exactly how Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi fulfilled with the U.S. Ambassador to The far east to tone of voice Beijing's strong competitors associated with release in order to any kind of country other than China, which if the Ough.Utes. did certainly accede to this ask for it might "avoid injury to bilateral relationships and to co-operation ‘in essential areas'". Furthermore, the Feb '09 cable explains how the Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Zhang Yannian, regarded the feasible discharge of Uyghur Guantánamo detainees as "an unfavorable behave towards us" and a "slap within the face". That the U.Utes. federal government was company within not releasing the detainees in order to The far east illustrates the extent of the politicized character of the Chinese language judicial program. Legitimate concerns more than terrorism tend to be understandable, but in the actual Ough.S. government's view the detainees might probably encounter do-it-yourself torture and delivery when they came back in order to China

Chinese federal government stress regarding the actual Uyghur Guantánamo detainees wasn't just applied to the actual Ough.Utes. government, but additionally in order to Brand new Zealand and a number of European government authorities that were considering resettlement. Albania, Germany and Finland, as well as Eu member states all have the symptoms of borne the brunt of Chinese language government disappointment. Regarding Indonesia, that was at first prepared to consider two Uyghurs on purely relief grounds, Uyghur Guantánamo instances had been less better than other detainees due to the unwanted effects taking Uyghurs might have upon relationships with The far east. A May 8, '09 cable television applies exactly how "German Ambassador Erina Schaefer reported which Germany had informed China of the Ough.S. request to simply accept some Uighur detainees kept at Guantánamo and had already been consequently warned by The far east associated with ‘a heavy load on bilateral relations' in the event that Indonesia were to simply accept any detainees".

The actual diplomatic wires additionally discuss the actual unrest in Urumchi, the regional funds, in This summer 2009. The This summer 13, '09 cable talking about bulk incidents within China states:

"Ethnic riots like those who work in Xinjiang July 5-7 and in Tibet within March associated with 08 differ substantially in source as well as nature through bulk incidents, XXXXXXXXXXXX emphasized to PolOff [Political Officer] on XXXXXXXXXXXX. Both present serious trouble for the actual Celebration, XXXXXXXXXXXX said, however the Celebration management would not wait to open fire upon Uighurs or Tibetans when they considered it essential to recover order. Mass incidents pose a different kind of threat, he said, since the leadership is ‘afraid' to fire upon Han rioters for anxiety about sparking huge public outrage that would turn from the Celebration."

This is a chilling viewpoint, especially when one views the evidence offered in two reports launched this season through the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) as well as Amnesty Worldwide that fine detail eyewitness company accounts of the utilization of lethal live fire against Uyghur protestors in This summer '09. Additionally, the actual observation which fireplace would not be used against Han Chinese language protestors has resonances for the different approach taken by Chinese security causes within Urumchi to Han Chinese language protests within September '09. Throughout those direct orders, after that Party Secretary, Wang Lequan, addressed demonstrators, that experienced demanded he inform them about government responses to protection issues. An identical ask for to meet using the Party Secretary through Uyghur protesters in This summer was not fulfilled.

The actual wider consequences from the unrest additionally noticed a brief dialogue about the effect it might have upon Iran-China relations, as well as on relations with Australia after World Uyghur Our elected representatives Leader, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, spoke in the National Press Club within Canberra within July '09. In the second option case, china government "privately warn[ed] a major Australian bank which sponsors the nation's Press Club to use its impact to bar the Kadeer speech there".

The United States' concerns about the situation within the Uyghur region are available through within the cables. In a discussion upon policy direction within Tibet, U.S. authorities clarify that it'll end up being impossible for Chinese frontrunners to consider a softer line "if they look like they are doing this under worldwide pressure". The actual cable dated April 16, 2008, 30 days following the episode associated with unrest within Tibetan areas, additionally relayed the observation "that household stability remains the leadership's top priority most of all, meaning there will ‘almost surely' end up being no rest of the present hard collection upon Tibet or in locations such as Xinjiang." The information contained in the cable also sheds gentle on the severe sensitivity with which the Chinese government sights territorial ethics, and the possible drip over associated with unrest through Tibet.

The prospect of solutions to stress in Tibet as well as Xinjiang as a result of municipal culture are discussed in a Feb 24, 2008 cable television. Whilst recommending which China's financial achievement increases its resistance to democratic reform, the actual cable additionally discusses how Chinese language frontrunners begin to see the effectiveness of "a limited expansion of civil culture, such as enhancements in the rule of regulation along with a more powerful part for approved religions, NGOs, non profit organizations and other stars within areas which contribute to sociable stability and don't problem Communist Party rule." This can be a notable alternation in considering, that has observed U.S. officials promote the idea that Chinese financial improvement, and financial relations along with The far east will bring in regards to a steadily democratic culture; however, much more faith seems to be placed in a grassroots movement compared to one that starts in the best quantity of a Chinese federal government. Nevertheless, the actual cable television proves which "[i]n areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang, the fear associated with separatism leads to tight limitations about the development of civil culture." This approach can be regarded as counter-productive through the official, that suggests that the actual U.Utes. government "should continue to express...serious concerns more than Beijing's individual rights report and attract China's growing awareness which higher regard with regard to human rights, religious independence and the rule of law will serve to advertise the very development as well as social balance which The far east seeks in addition to to enhance China's worldwide picture." This type of technique would consider considerable diplomatic skills thinking about "China's weird fear the United States privately encourages regime alter as well as ‘separatists' within Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang".

The wires provide understanding of the daily business associated with diplomacy that is hardly ever afforded to the general public, which is interesting to notice the quantity of function done behind closed doors on Uyghur issues. The significance of the actual role of the United States as a monitor of Uyghur human privileges conditions in personal conversations is created obvious, and contrasts with its sensible public stance. Employees from the Uyghur Human Privileges Project is well aware of the pressure china government puts upon Uyghur activists; still, the details of Chinese language federal government stress on its counterparts is actually illustrative from the degree that Chinese authorities make an effort to control contradictory stories. With increased facts in the future through Wikileaks, issues more than Uyghurs may not grab the actual headlines, however the wires have get rid of brand new gentle about the documentation associated with human privileges problems in the Uyghur region.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Wikileaks and also the Uyghur

through henry on Dec 20, 2010
Henryk Szadziewski, Manager, Uyghur Human Rights Project

If it had been ever in doubt, info acquired by the whistleblower website, Wikileaks, offers verified Chinese language government worries more than it's continued control of the region it phone calls Xinjiang, also is known as East Turkestan. The actual leaked out cables from U.Utes. diplomats demonstrate the actual degree that Chinese government bodies attempt to persuade governments worldwide to consider its position upon problems impacting Uyghurs. The actual cables also display the United States' concerns as well as views concerning the ongoing repressive steps in the region.

The majority of illuminating of Chinese language government stress are the wires directed to Chinese anger, or even the specter associated with Chinese language ire, within the discharge of Uyghur detainees in Guantánamo to 3rd countries. The Dec Twenty nine, 2008 cable relates exactly how Chinese language Helper Foreign Reverend Liu Jieyi fulfilled using the Ough.S. Ambassador in order to China in order to tone of voice Beijing's powerful opposition of release in order to any country other than The far east, which if the Ough.Utes. did indeed accede to this ask for it would "avoid harm to bilateral relationships and to co-operation ‘in essential areas'". Furthermore, a February 2009 cable television describes the way the Chinese language Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Zhang Yannian, regarded the actual feasible discharge of Uyghur Guantánamo detainees as "an unfavorable behave towards us" along with a "slap in the face". The U.Utes. government was company in not really releasing the actual detainees to China demonstrates the extent from the politicized character of the Chinese judicial program. Legitimate concerns more than terrorism are easy to understand, however in the U.Utes. government's view the detainees would most likely face torture and execution if they came back in order to The far east

Chinese language federal government stress in regard to the Uyghur Guantánamo detainees was not just put on the Ough.S. government, but additionally in order to Brand new Zealand and a number of Western governments that were thinking about resettlement. Albania, Indonesia and Finland, in addition to European Union member states all appear to have paid for the brunt associated with Chinese language government disappointment. Regarding Indonesia, that was at first prepared to think about two Uyghurs upon solely humanitarian reasons, Uyghur Guantánamo cases had been much less preferable to other detainees due to the unwanted effects accepting Uyghurs might have upon relations with China. The Might Eight, '09 cable television relates exactly how "German Ambassador Michael Schaefer reported which Germany had informed The far east of the Ough.S. ask for to accept a few Uighur detainees held at Guantánamo coupled with been subsequently cautioned by The far east associated with ‘a large load on bilateral relations' if Germany were to accept any detainees".

The actual diplomatic wires also talk about the unrest within Urumchi, the regional capital, within This summer '09. A This summer 13, 2009 cable television discussing mass occurrences in China says:

"Ethnic riots such as those who work in Xinjiang This summer 5-7 and in Tibet in 03 associated with 08 vary substantially within source and nature through bulk incidents, XXXXXXXXXXXX emphasized to PolOff [Political Officer] on XXXXXXXXXXXX. Each present severe problems for the Party, XXXXXXXXXXXX stated, but the Party leadership wouldn't wait to open fireplace upon Uighurs or Tibetans when they deemed this necessary to recover order. Bulk incidents pose a different kind of threat, he explained, as the leadership is ‘afraid' to fireplace on Han rioters for fear of causing massive public outrage that would change against the Party."

This can be a chilling opinion, especially when one considers the evidence presented in two reports released this year by the Uyghur Human Rights Task (UHRP) and Amnesty Worldwide which detail eyewitness company accounts from the use of deadly reside fire against Uyghur protestors in July 2009. In addition, the actual observation that fireplace would not be deployed towards Han Chinese language protestors has resonances for the various strategy used through Chinese language protection causes within Urumchi to Han Chinese language protests within Sept 2009. Throughout individuals protests, then Party Secretary, Wang Lequan, tackled demonstrators, who experienced required he let them know regarding government responses in order to protection issues. An identical ask for to satisfy using the Party Secretary through Uyghur demonstrators within This summer wasn't fulfilled.

The wider repercussions of the unrest additionally noticed a brief discussion about the effect it might possess on Iran-China relationships, and on relationships along with Sydney following World Uyghur Our elected representatives President, Microsoft. Rebiya Kadeer, spoke at the National Press Membership in Canberra in July '09. Within the latter situation, china government "privately warn[ed] a significant Aussie bank which vendors the nation's Push Membership to make use of it's impact to block a Kadeer speech there".

The United States' issues about the scenario in the Uyghur region are available through in the wires. In a discussion upon policy direction in Tibet, Ough.Utes. officials explain that it will be not possible with regard to Chinese language leaders to consider a much softer collection "if they appear like they are doing this under international pressure". The actual cable dated April 16, 2008, 30 days after the episode of unrest in Tibetan areas, also relayed the declaration "that domestic stability remains the leadership's top priority most of all, which means there'll ‘almost surely' end up being absolutely no rest of the present difficult line upon Tibet or perhaps in places such as Xinjiang." The information contained in the cable television additionally sheds light about the severe level of sensitivity with which china government sights territorial ethics, and also the possible spill more than of unrest through Tibet.

The chance of methods to tensions in Tibet as well as Xinjiang arising from municipal culture tend to be discussed inside a Feb 24, 08 cable television. Whilst suggesting which China's economic achievement increases it's resistance to democratic change, the cable television also discusses how Chinese language leaders see the usefulness associated with "a limited expansion associated with civil society, such as improvements within the guideline associated with regulation along with a stronger role for authorized beliefs, NGOs, non profit organizations along with other actors in places that bring about sociable stability and do not problem Communist Party guideline." This can be a notable change in considering, which has seen U.S. officials promote the notion that Chinese financial development, as well as financial relations along with The far east will bring in regards to a progressively democratic culture; however, much more belief seems to be placed in the grassroots motion than one which begins from the best levels of the Chinese government. Nonetheless, the actual cable television concludes that "[i]n places such as Tibet and Xinjiang, the fear of separatism results in tight restrictions about the development of municipal culture." This approach can be regarded as counter-productive by the official, that suggests that the actual Ough.S. government "should still express...serious concerns over Beijing's human rights report as well as appeal to China's growing consciousness that greater respect with regard to human privileges, religious independence and also the rule associated with law assists to promote the improvement as well as sociable balance that China looks for in addition to to enhance China's worldwide picture." Such a technique might consider considerable diplomatic skills considering "China's paranoid fear the Usa secretly encourages regime alter as well as ‘separatists' in Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang".

The actual cables offer insight into the daily company of diplomacy that's hardly ever owned by everyone, and it is interesting to notice the quantity of work carried out nowadays on Uyghur issues. The importance of the role of the United States as a keep track of of Uyghur human privileges problems in personal discussions is made obvious, as well as contrasts using its sensible open public stance. The staff of the Uyghur Individual Rights Task is actually comfortable with pressure the Chinese government puts upon Uyghur activists; nevertheless, the facts associated with Chinese government pressure on its alternatives is illustrative of the diploma that Chinese authorities make an effort to suppress contradictory narratives. With more revelations to come through Wikileaks, concerns more than Uyghurs may not grab the head lines, but the wires possess shed new light on the documentation associated with human privileges problems in the Uyghur area.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Seo And Article promotion Will Place Yourself Page One

Seo and article promotion are a couple of the strongest strategies which you can use to promote your website and get the revenue and success that you desire for your internet business. Both of these stuff has been around for any really very long time already nevertheless they still remain to be really effective. In fact, these have helped lots of people free themselves from your traditional methods for money-generating options of society.

In this post, I will be showing the ways how you are able to properly execute seo and article marketing for the betterment of your business enterprise website. In addition, I will also be discussing the different points that you must look out for if you are using these two website marketing strategies to market your website and get customers. Even though article marketing and Search engine optimization have been around for a long time already, you need to know that the trends and preferences concerning how they are carried out are continually changing, and that's why you should stay up to date with these items through the help of Search engine optimisation forum sites to enable you to quickly adjust and discover ways to make your strategies more effective.

In the past submitting articles to different web-sites used to be so simple yet the effects they produce for web sites was powerful. However, everything has changed a great deal today. Currently submitting the identical article to various websites has stopped being recommended because search engines have now changed to some huge extent in the manner they rank pages. They no more rank contents which are identical like they used to in the past. This really is one of the best types of changes that exist in web marketing trends. This change has given birth to wide plethora of methods that web marketers are using today. Most of web marketers now produce articles and publish them in really popular article submission sites and watch for site visitors to come to their pages. This is perhaps that most reliable Search engine marketing strategy that can be used. Aside from being effective, this provides favorable benefits frequently. One problem using this strategy is that the caliber of traffic that you will get out of this won't be so good if you don't do proper keyword research beforehand and use in-links. You need for attending these two things before you decide to submit your posts so that you won't end up losing considerable amounts of targeted prospects. Because of this you must practice good amounts of diligence if you want your advertising initiatives to function.

Besides articles, you may also use operating a blog, that is another really powerful kind of online marketing strategy today since it is highly favored by the major search engines. In this technique, it is possible to choose to create a single blogging site that specifically targets your best market otherwise you can contribute to other weblogs which can be called experts in your niche.

Learn effective Vancouver search engine marketing techniques at the Vancouver SEO website.

Roofing Contractors Vancouver Washington

There are several things to take into consideration when looking for the roofing contractor. Cost, experience, along with referrals are a few of the things you will probably be concerned about. Keep reading for even other great ideas.

Finding a Roofing Contractors

Before hunting for a roofing contractor, be sure you have a standard idea of the task that you need to have done. By no means do you have to be a professional. If you have a new Roof Certification, read it thoroughly to find the specifics of your active roof. Unless you have a Roofing Certificate, make reference to documents authorized during shutting to locate your Roof Inspection bed sheet. These files should provide you with everything you need to be familiar with your roof. Just before contacting a new roofing contractor, you have to have a list of demands and features to help you make a decision exactly who is suitable for your roofing project. Be sure you write down each and every potential covering contractor's answers as well as check these against the other person. If there are any mistakes, be sure to notice this along with take this into consideration when making a final selection. There are no surefire ways to choose a roofing contractor, but if you take heed to the data provided, your odds of a successful roofer project are generally greatly increased.

One of the best ways of finding a roofing contractor is by recommendations. Try asking a friend or relative who's had roofer work done, and had been satisfied with the project. Get the title of the company and his or her contact information. If you have not sure of jaws referrals, attempt first looking in the cell phone book and internet-based. A large ad or fancy website is just not necessarily a sign of the top quality of work, but can be a excellent tool with regard to measuring just how long and determination they have placed in their respected profession. In addition, try obtaining current worksites and search at the covering work that is done or perhaps the process of getting finished. If you're visually pleased, ask the property manager for your name in the roofing contractor as well as their speak to information.

Research

When looking for a roofing contractors, it really is imperative to 1st do your background research. Purchasing in the yellow pages or on the Internet is a suitable destination to find a service provider, finding important information on most of these businesses will probably be found in other areas. First, check with spots like the Bbb, city, express, and county public records, and local accreditation agencies. Question your roofing contractor if they are an affiliate of any roofer associations. These kind of precautions can mitigate your current risks. Additionally ask them what types of roofing that they specialize in. Additionally ask your current roofing contractor with regards to any guarantees they offer on their installed roofing. Find out what precautions they decide to try avoid harm done to other parts of the home through workers. Things such as gutters, home siding, and chimneys are close in proximity and so susceptible to unintentional damages.

Make certain all of this info is included in your published contract. Check if you need a roofing permit and/or agreement from your property owners association ahead of time. These agencies will let you know who is responsible for obtaining these enables and permissions. If it is the duty of the roofing contractor, also have that included inside your contract. If it's your obligation, get said permits and also permissions collated using the estimated roof covering project and also have it plainly posted or perhaps readily available.

Accreditation and Professional references

Roofing Contractors are not necessary to be licensed in all says. Contact local licensing companies that rule general construction contractors for any list of demands. Once you have received the requirements, develop a list of detailed questions to ask your own potential roofing contractor. This simple record should right away help you to discount the qualified from the not qualified roofing contractors. Qualified contractors should be able to very easily answer questions or perhaps tell you that they should do even more research prior to giving any definitive answer.

Even if the roofing contractor has all essential licensing, you must ask to view pictures regarding completed roof covering jobs as well as speak to pleased clients. Have a list of inquiries handy ought to recent clients, such as the nature of the job, timeliness, and total satisfaction. Be sure these are recent clients along with cross reference if possible. Regarding commercial roofing, make sure that the particular roofing contractor will be bonded. Looking at these references is another included measure of security to define the list of potential roofer contractors.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Dirty Percent

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

Apple Should Consider Business Models That Can’t Afford a 70/30 Revenue Split

Apple Should Not Require Price Matching

Apple Should Not Require Apps to Offer In-App Subscriptions

Apple Should Be Taking Less, Possibly Far Less, Than 30 Percent

Competition vs. Anti-Competition

Tools & Techniques

News & Trends

Tips & Tricks

Success Stories

Opportunities

Monday, March 28, 2011

A Check-In Economy

The Main Players

The Future

Top 5 Articles

Other Essential Reading

Interview and Consultation

Roof Assessment

Estimate

'Strike hard' campaign

Earlier cases

New training scheme

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

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