Keep Me Notified | Blog | Internet Business Finally Explained

Internet marketing or marketing on the Internet is no longer the mysterious world it once appeared. Internet marketing is the process of promoting a product or service via the internet. Internet Marketing is the opposite of what you?ve been taught at school.

Basically, Internet marketing is about finding the right customers online and convincing them to buy. Just like all other areas of marketing, internet marketing is chiefly concerned with meeting the needs of customers in order to satisfy business objectives. Blogging for money is also a popular method which Internet marketers utilize to earn money online.

Internet marketing is a broad term that refers to any promotional activity over the Internet designed to attract more customers for a business. This includes paid advertising, such as banners ads and pay-per-click ads, and traffic-increasing activities such as search engine optimization and blog marketing.

One of the plus points of Internet Marketing is that you can target precisely the people who want your products and services, and then direct them to your site. Apart from that, one of the many benefits associated with Internet marketing is also the availability of information. You can visit my make money online and work from home blog and bisnis online site to get an understanding of what Internet Marketing is.

By creating an Internet marketing strategy that uses your specific business and product as well as acknowledges the customers that want what you offer, you will be able to create an effective campaign. It definitely cost less in terms of expenditures and is also much more effective than other forms of traditional marketing. To obtain maximum return on investment, you must select your customers wisely.

The first step of marketing a business or service online is building a website. On the long term, you will also need to put in effort to make your business a success. If you?re serious about building an online business, I think your time should be focused on finding or developing the best products to meet your customers? needs, and closing the sales eventually.

Source: http://keepmenotified.com/blog/2012/07/05/internet-business-finally-explained/

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Women more likely to die of lung cancer

Women more likely to die of lung cancer

By Dan Buckley

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Irish women are more likely to die of lung cancer than breast cancer as the tobacco industry aggressively targets female customers.

With more than 1m Irish men already hooked on cigarettes, tobacco manufacturers are courting lucrative new customers, especially young women, according to the Irish Cancer Society, which hosted a conference in Dublin yesterday in association with the National Women?s Council of Ireland to discuss the matter.

Almost one in three women in Ireland smoke, Kathleen O?Meara, head of advocacy with the ICS, told the conference. "Superslim cigarettes have been the key design innovation of the last five years, with particular appeal to the female smoker," she said.

The society claims the tobacco industry has developed brands and products specifically for women, linking these with the idea of glamour and slimness. Packs use feminine colours and names that are perceived as being more attractive and less harmful than others, the conference heard.

"Despite significant measures to reduce smoking in Ireland, the number of women smoking has reached a crisis point," said Ms O?Meara.

"Big Tobacco is misleading women with products which link smoking to glamour and femininity. We are warning girls and young women that the tobacco industry is manipulating them into developing an addiction which kills one in two smokers. Women need to be aware of the tobacco industry?s tactics.

"Their success is highlighted by the fact more women are now dying from lung cancer than breast cancer."

The ICS is particularly concerned at the high level of female smokers under 35, particularly those from poorer areas. More than half of disadvantaged women aged between 18 and 29 smoke ? twice the rate among non-disadvantaged groups.

"It is time to take action," Ms O?Meara said. "Around 70% of smokers want to quit but they have to be helped. There is a need for more support in disadvantaged areas."

Data from the National Cancer Registry shows the number of lung cancers among women is increasing by 3% a year. From being a predominantly male disease for the past 50 years, lung cancer is projected to be a mainly female disease by 2025.

The ICS alert follows a call by the World Health Organisation for global action to protect women from tobacco use.

It has estimated that the rate of female smokers worldwide will double by 2025 as the male smoking rate has peaked and is slowly starting to decline.

The UN said females represent the biggest potential growth market for tobacco products.

The agency said research in half of the 151 countries surveyed for tobacco trends among young people revealed girls? use of tobacco was comparable to boys.

* Contact the National Smokers? Quitline on 1850 201 203 or www.quit.ie

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

?

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, July 05, 2012

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ietopstories/~3/JezFJGr51PA/

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High MLB draft picks sign for $1,000 apiece

In a June 11, 2012, photo provided by the Lowell Spinners, Kasey Kraus poses for a photo in Lowell, Mass. Kraus was taken by the Boston Red Sox with the 241st pick overall, and received a $1,000 signing bonus. Signing bonuses have plunged for many top picks in this year's amateur draft, the first under restrictive rules adopted in baseball's new collective bargaining agreement. Teams face penalties if they exceed specified totals for their bonuses. As a result, some clubs selected players they knew they could sign for close to nothing. (AP Photo/Lowell Spinners, Casey Gariepy)

In a June 11, 2012, photo provided by the Lowell Spinners, Kasey Kraus poses for a photo in Lowell, Mass. Kraus was taken by the Boston Red Sox with the 241st pick overall, and received a $1,000 signing bonus. Signing bonuses have plunged for many top picks in this year's amateur draft, the first under restrictive rules adopted in baseball's new collective bargaining agreement. Teams face penalties if they exceed specified totals for their bonuses. As a result, some clubs selected players they knew they could sign for close to nothing. (AP Photo/Lowell Spinners, Casey Gariepy)

In this June 15, 2012, photo provided by the Lowell Spinners, Boston Red Sox draft pick Kyle Kraus stands at the team's stadium in Lowell, Mass. Kraus was taken by the Boston Red Sox with the 241st pick overall, and received a $1,000 signing bonus. Signing bonuses have plunged for many top picks in this year's amateur draft, the first under restrictive rules adopted in baseball's new collective bargaining agreement. Teams face penalties if they exceed specified totals for their bonuses. As a result, some clubs selected players they knew they could sign for close to nothing. (AP Photo/Lowell Spinners, Casey Gariepy)

NEW YORK (AP) ? At 5-foot-11, Kyle Kraus didn't expect to be a high pick in the Major League Baseball draft after going 7-6 with a 2.03 ERA as a senior at the University of Portland.

Then about 2 hours before second-day selections started June 7, his telephone rang. On the line with the 22-year-old right-hander was Pat Portugal, a Northwest area scout for the Boston Red Sox.

"They called me that Tuesday morning and said, 'Hey, we want a senior in the seventh round or the 10th round that will sign for $1,000. Would you do it?'" Kraus recalled. "I said: Yeah.'"

Signing bonuses have dropped for many top picks in this year's amateur draft, the first under restrictive rules adopted in baseball's new collective bargaining agreement. Teams face penalties if they exceed specified totals for their bonuses.

As a result, some clubs selected players they knew they could sign for close to nothing.

Kraus was taken with the 241st pick overall, assigned a value of $143,000 in baseball's labor contract. If he had not signed, the Red Sox would have seen the cash from his slot deducted from their total.

With the money saved, the Red Sox were able to sign their top pick, Arizona State shortstop Deven Marrero, for $2.05 million ? $300,000 over the amount slotted for the 24th selection overall.

"My whole thing was, I'm not 6-5 and I don't throw 95 (mph), and so I'm not going to make a whole lot of money being a senior out of college," said Kraus, who has made two relief appearances for Lowell, Boston's Class-A affiliate in the New York-Penn League. "I figured I can't turn down $1,000 in the seventh round when I don't even know if I'll get picked up later on for the same amount. It's a dream come true. Yeah, I would have liked to have slot money, but for me money is not the reason why I'm playing this game."

Marrero's selection helped push the Red Sox into picking Kraus.

"As the draft is developing and the players end up being there and you know what their signability roughly is going to be, then you need to start making adjustments," said Mike Hazen, a Boston assistant general manager. "We sort of had to adjust in the seventh and 10th round this year, among other rounds, to sort of make the cap work."

Each team has a different threshold, which triggers varying strategies. Two picks after the Red Sox chose Kraus, Arizona used the 243rd selection on Andrew Velazquez, a shortstop from Fordham Prep in the Bronx. He signed for $200,000.

Facing a July 13 deadline, 22 of the 31 first-round picks last month already have signed, and their bonuses total $51.8 million, according to a review by The Associated Press. Last year, 32 of the 33 first-round selections signed for a total of $91.6 million in guaranteed money.

Among the four players in the top nine who have reached agreements, all received less than the equivalent pick last year. Toward the end of the first round, some players did get slightly more than last season's selections.

Because of penalties for exceeding a threshold in the first 10 rounds, several clubs drafted players they could sign on the cheap in order to shift money to other selections.

A trio of 10th-round picks also signed for $1,000 apiece: pitcher Paul Sewald (New York Mets), outfielder Alex Azor (Toronto Blue Jays) and catcher James Watkins (Red Sox). Their slot values were $125,000 each.

"We sort of knew what we needed in the way of slot money to satisfy our other picks," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said.

Baseball's labor contract, agreed to by players and teams in November, assigns a value to all picks in the first 10 rounds, starting at $7.2 million for the top selection and dwindling to $125,000 for No. 300 and remaining 10th-round picks. The values of a team's picks in the first 10 rounds are added up and form a signing bonus pool.

Clubs exceeding their total face escalating penalties, starting with a 75 percent tax on the overage, graduating to a 100 percent tax and the loss of its next two first-round picks. For the 11th through 40th rounds, the amounts of bonuses exceeding $100,000 per pick are added to a team's total for calculating the tax.

Top pick Carlos Correa, a shortstop from the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy, signed with Houston for $4.8 million, nearly half the $8 million Gerrit Cole received from Pittsburgh after the Pirates took him first last year.

Just two first-round picks have signed over slot, and both are clients of agent Scott Boras: Marrero and high school shortstop Corey Seager, who got $2.35 million ? $400,000 over slot ? from the Los Angeles Dodgers as the 18th pick.

Stanford right-hander Mark Appel, also represented by Boras, was thought to be a possible top draft pick by some but instead went to Pittsburgh with the eighth pick ? which has a slot value of $2.9 million. Appel remains unsigned.

"The real mockery of the draft is no longer are the top 10-round picks the best-talented players, particularly rounds 6-10, where clubs were choosing players with less ability so they could sign them at well below slot," said Boras, a frequent critic of the new rules.

According to figures compiled by Boras' staff, the average bonus dropped from $232,000 to $172,000 for sixth-round picks this year and from $112,000 to $53,000 for 10th-round selections.

"This wasn't just a setback for the high end," agent Tom Reich said. "But with respect to the whole universe of the draft, it's just a disaster for the young players."

Management expected team behavior would change under the agreement.

"You have a pool, and spend it as you want," said Dan Halem, MLB's senior vice president for labor relations. "When we designed the system, we recognized that clubs may allocate to some players more than their signing bonus value and other players significantly less than their signing bonus value. The system was designed to give clubs that flexibility and to decide on a strategy that works best for the club."

Union head Michael Weiner declined comment, preferring not to make his thoughts public until after next week's deadline for picks to sign ? a month earlier than under the old deal.

Some agents have claimed pre-draft discussions between players and clubs over signability may have violated major league rules. Halem wouldn't address that possibility.

"That's been going on for as long as the draft's been going on," Hazen said. "We're always making those phones calls, and go like, 'Hey, what's your signability going to be? What's it going to take?'"

As part of the labor deal, players also are signing earlier. Last year, just 10 first-round picks had reached deals with an hour left before the Aug. 15 deadline. According to MLB figures, 45 percent of picks in the first 10 rounds had signed through July 3 last year. This year, 89 percent had signed through Sunday.

"I don't think anyone could disagree with the notion that getting drafted players onto the field in June and early July benefits the club and the player from a developmental standpoint," Halem said. "That was a very important objective of the draft reforms, and we have seen a vast improvement on that issue this year compared to prior years."

Obtaining the restrictions on amateur player costs was one of the top goals of teams in bargaining for a new labor contract. Similar restraints were placed on foreign amateur signings, with a team facing penalties if it exceeds $3.2 million in the year that began Monday.

There was a rush to get in signings before the rules change this week. In the year ending Sunday, the 30 clubs combined to spend $186 million on players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, up from $85 million in the year ending July 1, 2011, according to figures compiled by MLB. The amount spent on Cuban defectors increased from $27 million to $108 million, inflated by big-money deals for outfielders Yasiel Puig ($42 million over seven seasons with the Dodgers), Yoenis Cespedes ($36 million over four years with Oakland) and Andy Soler ($30 million over nine years with the Chicago Cubs).

Teams did not attempt to institute a foreign draft for 2013, a possibility under the labor contract. Instead, a management-union committee continues to examine starting an international draft in 2014.

Changes to the rules have been designed to give smaller markets a better chance to compete. The overhaul started with revenue sharing and the luxury tax that began after the 1994-95 strike and expanded with the new amateur regulations.

Commissioner Bud Selig, watching Pittsburgh vie for the NL Central lead, said all the new policies helped spread the talent wealth.

"If this were still in the late '90s, this couldn't happen. But it is happening today," he said. "It's a manifestation of all the economic changes we have made ? and all for the better, I may add."

___

Associated Press researcher Julie Reed contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-07-04-Draft%20Dodging/id-9f300469d5a94e7ebf0e2116a34a51ca

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Seabirds study shows plastic pollution reaching surprising levels off coast of Pacific Northwest

ScienceDaily (July 4, 2012) ? Plastic pollution off the northwest coast of North America is reaching the level of the notoriously polluted North Sea, according to a new study led by a researcher at the University of British Columbia.

The study, published online in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, examined stomach contents of beached northern fulmars on the coasts of British Columbia, Canada, and the states of Washington and Oregon, U.S.A.

"Like the canary in the coal mine, northern fulmars are sentinels of plastic pollution in our oceans," says Stephanie Avery-Gomm, the study's lead author and a graduate student in UBC's Department of Zoology. "Their stomach content provides a 'snapshot' sample of plastic pollution from a large area of the northern Pacific Ocean."

Northern fulmars forage exclusively at sea and retain ingested plastics for a long period of time, making them ideal indicators for marine littering. Analysis of beached fulmars has been used to monitor plastic pollution in the North Sea since the 1980s. The latest findings, when compared to previous similar studies, indicate a substantial increase in plastic pollution over the past four decades.

The research group performed necropsies on 67 beached northern fulmars and found that 92.5 per cent had plastics -- such as twine, Styrofoam and candy wrappers -- in their stomach. An average of 36.8 pieces per bird were found. The average total weight of plastic was 0.385 grams per bird. One bird was found with 454 pieces of plastic in its stomach.

"The average adult northern fulmar weighs five pounds, or 2.25 kilograms," says Avery-Gomm. "While 0.385 grams in a bird may seem inconsequential to us, it's the equivalent of about five per cent of their body mass. It would be like a human carrying 50 grams of plastic in our stomach -- about the weight of 10 quarters."

"Despite the close proximity of the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch,' an area of concentrated plastic pollution in the middle of the North Pacific gyre, plastic pollution has not been considered an issue of concern off our coast," says Avery-Gomm, "But we've found similar amounts and incident rates of plastic in beached northern fulmars here as those in the North Sea. This indicates it is an issue which warrants further study."

The researchers propose annual monitoring of trends in plastic pollution and the effectiveness of marine waste reduction strategies.

"Beached bird surveys are providing important clues about causes and patterns of sea bird mortality from oil spill impacts, fisheries by-catch and now plastic ingestion," says co-author Karen Barry with Bird Studies Canada, a not-for profit organization that helped facilitate the study.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of British Columbia, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Journal Reference:

1. Stephanie Avery-Gomm, Patrick D. O?Hara, Lydia Kleine, Victoria Bowes, Laurie K. Wilson, Karen L. Barry. Northern fulmars as biological monitors of trends of plastic pollution in the eastern North Pacific. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.04.017

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/iVq4dE-xfZQ/120704124321.htm

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Report: $99 Android games console backed by Xbox and Kindle senior staff

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At July lull, presidential race is close as ever

FILE - In this June 21, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speak Orlando, Fla. The presidential race enters the sultry summer _ a final lull before a sprint to Election Day _ with President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney neck and neck and no sign that either can break away. Both sides have money concerns _ for all the flood of cash _ as well as political worries. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

FILE - In this June 21, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speak Orlando, Fla. The presidential race enters the sultry summer _ a final lull before a sprint to Election Day _ with President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney neck and neck and no sign that either can break away. Both sides have money concerns _ for all the flood of cash _ as well as political worries. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

FILE - In this June 26, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in Atlanta. The presidential race enters the sultry summer _ a final lull before a sprint to Election Day _ with President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney neck and neck and no sign that either can break away. Both sides have money concerns _ for all the flood of cash _ as well as political worries. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The presidential race is entering the sultry summer, a final lull before the sprint to Election Day, with President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney neck and neck and no sign that either can break away.

As both candidates take a breather this week ? Romney at his lakeside compound in New Hampshire and Obama at the Camp David presidential retreat ? each sees problems he'd like to cure before Labor Day.

Obama and his allied groups aren't keeping pace with Romney and the Republican fundraising machine, and that places more pressure on the president to solicit huge sums himself. And the Supreme Court ruling that saved Obama's signature health care initiative last week didn't change the fact that most Americans don't like the law.

Romney's fundraising is impressive. But, in a sign of his hurdles, he's spending heavily in North Carolina, a state he almost certainly must win to have a chance at the White House. And some voters in key states appear uncomfortable with his record at a corporate restructuring firm before he became Massachusetts governor.

National polls suggest that Obama holds a small, perhaps meaningless lead as he awaits a new jobs report Friday that could bring bad news similar to last month's. Romney is offering few details of his own health and economic proposals for now, perhaps thinking outside forces will dislodge the president.

"When it's a 2 or 3 point race, that's not good for an incumbent president," said Republican strategist Rich Galen, who is not affiliated with Romney's campaign. "Obama's political career is totally dependent on Angela Merkel holding the eurozone together," he said, referring to the German chancellor and Europe's financial woes, which could further hurt the U.S. economy.

An eventful June began badly for Obama. Anemic job-creation numbers followed news that Romney's campaign was raising more money than his. Things got worse when Obama told reporters, "The private sector is doing fine," a line now featured in countless GOP attack ads.

The month ended better for Obama. The Supreme Court struck down much of Arizona's strict anti-immigration law, a law the president opposed. Then the justices upheld the 2010 national health care law, a victory that nonetheless forces Obama to keep defending an unpopular mandate to obtain insurance or pay a fee, which the court labeled a tax.

"Last week was a reminder to the American people of who the president is fighting for," said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki. She cited "access to health care" and "immigration reform."

"But we're looking ahead, and we know this race is going to be really close," she said.

Obama on Thursday starts a two-day bus tour of Ohio and western Pennsylvania, a trip that partly mimics Romney's earlier and longer recent tour. The president might spend part of his drive time dialing for dollars. It's a chore all candidates face, but it poses new urgency for the president, because pro-Romney "super PACs" are raising far more campaign money than are Democratic groups.

In a leaked recording of a conference call Obama recently placed from Air Force One to top donors from 2008, the president implored them to match their earlier generosity. "We're going to have to deal with these super PACs in a serious way," Obama said, according to the Daily Beast.

Obama's team may find some comfort in knowing that since April 10, pro-Romney forces have spent more money on TV ads in North Carolina ? $6.4 million ? than in any other state except Florida and Ohio. Four years ago, Obama narrowly won North Carolina, which had voted Republican in seven straight presidential races. Most plausible scenarios for a Romney presidency require him to secure the state, the sooner the better.

The two campaigns, including their allied super PACs, are matching each other nearly dollar for dollar on TV ads in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Virginia and New Hampshire. Romney's forces are out-spending Obama's in Iowa and Michigan. The opposite is true in Colorado.

Romney is vacationing this week in New Hampshire, where family games might mix with talk of who his running mate should be. Romney, whose oversight of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games won wide praise, plans to attend the Summer Games later this summer in London.

He also will go to Israel, a trip that could appeal to Jewish voters and donors, and to conservatives who see Israel as a vital military and political ally.

Meanwhile, Republicans worry that Democrats are making headway with claims that Romney supported shipping jobs overseas when he headed a corporate restructuring firm called Bain Capital. His campaign says Romney did not oversee the export of U.S. jobs, although Bain at times invested in companies that helped pioneer outsourcing certain jobs to places such as India.

"It is a problem," Galen said of anti-Romney ads citing Bain and outsourcing. But he said the ads might have had greater impact if Obama could have saved them for September. Instead, Galen said, Democrats had to throw every weapon possible to counter the damage from Obama's "private sector is doing fine" remark.

It's not clear how June's biggest political headline ? the Supreme Court's decision to uphold "Obamacare" ? will play out in the campaign.

Congressional Republicans have jumped on the court's conclusion that a fee to be imposed on people who refuse to obtain health insurance is actually a tax. Romney tiptoes around the issue because the fee/tax is similar to one he imposed on Massachusetts residents who failed to buy medical insurance.

"Once the dust settles, the health care issue still serves as a way for both sides to motivate their respective bases, but it's hard to see it playing much of a role with the rest of the electorate," said Dan Schnur, a former Republican adviser who teaches political science at the University of Southern California. A more important issue, Schnur said, "is Bain vs. Solyndra."

Solyndra was a California-based solar panel manufacturer that received a large federal loan and big compliments from Obama before filing for bankruptcy.

"There's no question the Bain argument is working very effectively for Obama," Schnur said, "because it hits directly at voters' biggest concerns about a private sector-driven approach to the economy. But Solyndra accomplishes exactly the same thing for Romney, when he argues about too large a role for government."

The economy, Schnur said, will remain the top issue until polling places close on Nov. 6.

Summer vacations and Olympic Games might distract voters for the next several weeks, and political and legal activists might keep arguing over health care and immigration. But Romney is staking his candidacy on the claim that Obama has failed on the economy.

An election that seems destined to be tight will largely turn on voters' gut feelings about job security, the government's role in boosting or hindering employment, and candidates' visions for the nation's role in a global economy.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-07-02-Presidential%20Campaign-State%20of%20Play/id-2ad874a48c84408f9450f13736eb7f4e

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