Allen’s E-Commerce Blog

Excavation of an ant colony

Posted by Kevin under News Stories That Interest Me

fascinating segment from the TV documentary “Ants! Nature’s Secret Power.” Jen says, “Scientists poured cement into an ant colony structure and then excavated it (I imagine the ants died). It revealed an amazing network of fungus gardens and tunnels and garbage pits.”

Simply Amazing A Must See!!!

How trying to find a job on a sidewalk can relate to domain names!

Posted by Kevin under Branding, Domain Name News, Domain Names, Entrepreneur, Humor, Marketing Resources & Tools, Money & Finance, My Thoughts On The Internet, News Stories That Interest Me, Online Marketing

An out-of-work banker who became a symbol of the looming financial crisis by trudging Manhattan streets wearing a sign advertising “MIT grad for hire” has landed on his feet - scoring a well-paying job at an accounting firm.

In a more hopeful sign of the times, Joshua Persky got rid of his sandwich board and demonstrated that creative people can bail themselves out without any help from the government.

I came across this news story You can read the full article here

But after reading it a couple things really hit me and how it his basic story applies to the internet, domain names, marketing and so much more. I think the first thing that hit me was having the courage or “balls” as I would say it since I tend to say it how it is rather some “PC” bullshit but anyways this guy had the courage to set aside his pride and take measures into his own hands and do what he needed to do to take care of his needs and his family!

I think a lot of domainers and for the most part entrepreneurs in general sometimes need to check pride and ego at the door and just do what they need to do. Whether that’s taking on a partner because your skill set alone isn’t able develop a web property, running and growing a business properly, marketing efficiently, web programming, cash flow/finances, or whatever it might be that your skill set or situation is missing for your venture to shine. Sometimes making some concessions here and there are needed to get a desired outcome and other times patience is needed for that. This guy did just that… Set up shop on the curb and pimped himself to bankers, accountants, stock traders and anyone in the financial district in downtown new york and had the patience to do it for a couple months.

The second thing that hit me was the simple notion that he “Got it”, You might be asking what it is he got, but us domainers, or real estate investors know this all too well… location location location. This guy parked his unemployed ass on a street exactly where his audience / customers would most likely come through the city streets in the financial district. Now that last sentence said a lot, but I will break it down a little… Location is one piece of the puzzle for businesses, the second thing was traffic which in my eyes was most important. You can have a great location with traffic or without depending on your particular situation/plan and what the location does for you, increases sales? brand awareness, raw materials, talent, etc….

He figured out that in the end it more effective to play the numbers game more effectively than sitting at home pressing the submit button to hundreds of online job applications, mailing and calling with no luck for hours on end. The best analogy would be going duck hunting with a sniper rifle from a long distance or sitting behind some brush by a pond that ducks ALWAYS come to with a automatic shot gun with a 30 round clip, then again shotguns don’t have clips last I checked but you get the point.

Choosing to setup shop in prime location, targeted audience of thousands of bankers, accountants, lawyers, stock traders, investors all walking the streets in the financial district every day who probably know someone who could use a banking / finance guy… How many streets in America or job sites could one find a comparable location and marketing opportunity to expose your talents, products, and or services?

You can’t!

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“In his weeks as a walking classified ad, he got several job interviews.”

“Obviously, I had vigorous interviews, but I think it was [the blog] which sealed the deal,” Persky said.”

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This is the same thing any Web developer, business owner, or domainer faces. For the developer its finding the right thing to develop at a given location in a specific time period of time. The business owner is very much in the same boat as the developer but he also faces picking the right location, having the right product or bait, and having traffic to feed his business… The domainer or e-real estate investor has to pre emptively forecast where people will want to be in the future for development whether for himself, other real estate investors, or someone else. The other argument a real estate investor can ask himself is can I broker or rent this space / traffic to someone else for a profit.

“The publicity I got from the sandwich board encouraged me to set up a blog to document my experience,” said Persky, 49.

A headhunter spotted the blog and brought it to Weiser’s attention.

“Obviously, I had vigorous interviews, but I think it was [the blog] which sealed the deal,” Persky said.

“It feels so great to be back at work. I went through some frustrating times, but every day I tried to be optimistic.”

He posted the happy news on his blog and got cheers from around the world.

Now the father of five - who declined to discuss his new salary - is looking forward to being reunited with his family.

His wife and youngest kids, 4 and 5, had moved to her parents’ home in Nebraska to save cash. But they’ll be returning to New York after the end of the school year.

“We’re looking forward to being back together,” he said. “It’s hard being a telephone dad.

“There is all this holiday spirit around me, all these holiday parties, and I’ve got such a lot to be grateful for myself. It’s like I’m celebrating twice this year.”

Online entrepreneurs should take note it can be done, you just have to position yourself to be ready when the opportunity presents itself.

Six-Wheeled Covini C6W Heading To Production - Covini C6W

Posted by Kevin under News Stories That Interest Me

The Covini Engineering team’s been clamoring to get the C6W into production for the last 30+ years. Now they might finally have their day.

The Covini Six Wheeler takes its engineering inspiration from the 1976 Tyrell P34 race car which had two pairs of smaller front wheels that were intended to increase air penetration and have a smaller frontal area effectively reducing drag.

The ideas behind the Tyrell P34 don’t necessarily translate to the C6W, though Ferruccio Covini, the company’s founder, gives the following reasons for creating his modern-day six-wheeler:

• Less risk of front tires deflating
• Less risk of aquaplaning
• Better braking
• Better grip
• Better comfort
• Better absorption of frontal impact

The C6W was first shown in 2004 and a revised version was shown at the Geneva Motor Show a year later with new wheels, interior and roof structure. Numerous prototypes have been developed and tested and now ItaliaSpeed is reporting the Covini C6W will be produced in limited numbers starting at the end of 2009. Power for this RWD 6-wheeled beast will be a 4.2-liter Audi mill channeling 433bhp (440PS) and 346lb-ft (470Nm) through a 6-speed manual gearbox. Top speed is expected to be 185 MPH.

Take a look at the C6W in action below:

8 really, really scary predictions

Posted by Kevin under Entrepreneur, Money & Finance, News Stories That Interest Me

8 really, really scary predictions
Dow 4,000. Food shortages. A bubble in Treasury notes. Fortune spoke to eight of the market’s sharpest thinkers and what they had to say about the future is frightening.
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Nouriel Roubini
Nouriel Roubini
Known as Dr. Doom, the NYU economics professor saw the mortgage-related meltdown coming.

We are in the middle of a very severe recession that’s going to continue through all of 2009 - the worst U.S. recession in the past 50 years. It’s the bursting of a huge leveraged-up credit bubble. There’s no going back, and there is no bottom to it. It was excessive in everything from subprime to prime, from credit cards to student loans, from corporate bonds to muni bonds. You name it. And it’s all reversing right now in a very, very massive way. At this point it’s not just a U.S. recession. All of the advanced economies are at the beginning of a hard landing. And emerging markets, beginning with China, are in a severe slowdown. So we’re having a global recession and it’s becoming worse.

Things are going to be awful for everyday people. U.S. GDP growth is going to be negative through the end of 2009. And the recovery in 2010 and 2011, if there is one, is going to be so weak - with a growth rate of 1% to 1.5% - that it’s going to feel like a recession. I see the unemployment rate peaking at around 9% by 2010. The value of homes has already fallen 25%. In my view, home prices are going to fall by another 15% before bottoming out in 2010.

For the next 12 months I would stay away from risky assets. I would stay away from the stock market. I would stay away from commodities. I would stay away from credit, both high-yield and high-grade. I would stay in cash or cashlike instruments such as short-term or longer-term government bonds. It’s better to stay in things with low returns rather than to lose 50% of your wealth. You should preserve capital. It’ll be hard and challenging enough. I wish I could be more cheerful, but I was right a year ago, and I think I’ll be right this year too.

Click here to read 7 more of the predictions by CNN!

By Beth Kowitt, Jon Birger and Brian O’Keefe

It took 90 minutes for Daily News to ’steal’ the Empire State Building

Posted by Kevin under News Stories That Interest Me

It took 90 minutes for Daily News to ’steal’ the Empire State Building

In one of the biggest heists in American history, the Daily News “stole” the $2 billion Empire State Building.

And it wasn’t that hard.

The News swiped the 102-story Art Deco skyscraper by drawing up a batch of bogus documents, making a fake notary stamp and filing paperwork with the city to transfer the deed to the property.

Some of the information was laughable: Original “King Kong” star Fay Wray is listed as a witness and the notary shared a name with bank robber Willie Sutton.

The massive ripoff illustrates a gaping loophole in the city’s system for recording deeds, mortgages and other transactions.

The loophole: The system - run by the office of the city register - doesn’t require clerks to verify the information.

Less than 90 minutes after the bogus documents were submitted on Monday, the agency rubber-stamped the transfer from Empire State Land Associates to Nelots Properties LLC. Nelots is “stolen” spelled backward. (The News returned the property Tuesday.)

“Crooks go where the money is. That’s why Willie Sutton robbed banks, and this is the new bank robbery,” said Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Richard Farrell, who is prosecuting several deed fraud cases.

Of course, stealing the Empire State Building wouldn’t go unnoticed for long, but it shows how easy it is for con artists to swipe more modest buildings right out from under their owners. Armed with a fraudulent deed, they can take out big mortgages and disappear, leaving a mess for property owners, banks and bureaucrats.

“Once you have the deed, it’s easy to obtain a mortgage,” Farrell said.

Many crooks have done just that:

- Asia Smith stole her 88-year-old grandmother’s house in Springfield Gardens, Queens, pocketing $445,000 in mortgages she took out.

“Her grandmother raised her,” said Queens Assistant District Attorney Kristen Kane. Smith, 22, was arrested last December and is serving a one-year jail term for fraud.

- A man posing as someone who had been dead for 19 years deeded the dead man’s property to himself. He then sold it to the scheme’s mastermind, who took out a $533,000 mortgage and vanished with the cash.

- Toma Dushevic managed to steal seven dilapidated city-owned buildings in Brooklyn 10 years ago.

He got renovation permits, fixed up one of the buildings, and rented out apartments. He sold another building for $250,000 and ran his scam for nearly two years until he was caught. Dushevic returned the buildings and did 18 months behind bars.

The FBI says financial institutions filed 31% more Suspicious Activity Reports involving mortgage fraud last year than in 2006. Nationwide, lenders’ losses totaled $813 million, and New York was one of the top 10 mortgage fraud states.