Yahoo! at one time the king of search and email, but those days are long gone. The recent executive changes at the top have made no difference. Yahoo continues to struggle and for more than just popularity among users, but functionality. Lately, the problems have escalated to the point that Yahoo has lost control of the issues at hand. Today, try loading email or moving around your email inbox, it takes forever or it does nothing. Yahoo needs to get back that swagger it once had, but for now just fix the problems with the site!

As of this writing, Yahoo email is still crawling like a snail and you can’t move emails to folders, download attachments or load the financial page. I browsed around Yahoo and didn’t see any news about an issue since 7:00 AM Central Time when the problem started.

Yahoo also needs to moderate their comment section for all their blogs and news articles. I have seen so much spam about dating services and products that it really distracts users from those comments that provide opinion and commentary. Does Yahoo even care about who’s gaming their site? This has been an ongoing issue for years and it looks like Yahoo is the new playground for blackhat SEO and unethical marketing.

What’s with the biased sports writers? You can love your team, but to bash teams you don’t like all the time will push fans away. This has been common practice with a couple of writers (not mentioning names). A writer should be neutral and write for the target audience. Put it this way, if it wasn’t for the New York sports teams, Yahoo sports writers would have little to write about.

What disturbed me this past year was when Yahoo removed site explorer. Why? It was a great tool for measuring marketing effectiveness. To many marketing professionals and web site owners it was a great tool.

My rant of the day!

Posted 4 hours after this blog was published came some bad news for Yahoo – Four Yahoo! board members including chairman leaving

Many people who surf the web, download music, never even think of what goes on in a data center environment when they push and pull data to their communication devices. Many of us take for granted that when we request data from our computers, smartphones, or other communication devices, there’s a lot that goes on environmentally within a data center. Data centers are also referred to as web hosting facilities where many websites are stored. To give you an idea of the impact, please click on the info-graphic below that illustrates the “Impact of Data Centers on the Environment“.

Click to enlarge

WiMAX, which is a short form for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is another means of transmitting information over significant distances, and the current revision is programmed to provide a connection speed of up to 40 megabytes in a second. This form of internet connection has proved to be more useful in the internet world as it is a very unique form of high speed internet connection. Using a definite and unique high speed internet connection like the WiMAX under the supervision of an experienced internet service provider can go a very long way to improve the productivity of a company.

Only few have been able to understand the importance and significance of this form of high speed internet connection called WiMAX, and these few have enjoyed the maximum benefits of using the internet with a good internet access. In this post, we shall be considering some important ways a WiMAX high speed internet can improve the productivity of your company.

It Encourages Flexibility

Flexibility is a very unique factor whose power in creating proficiency in anyone that can harness its power should not be underestimated. There are untold benefits to be derived from being flexible. With flexibility, a company can escape being stagnant and overcome being dropped behind. Unlike the dial up internet connection, a WiMAX high speed internet connection can help you escape the danger of rigidity. One can hardly adapt to changes using a dial up internet connection and this is a major element that can wreck a company. Many companies that are unable to stand the test of time failed as a result of their inability to adapt easily to changes. Your company can greatly benefit from this advantageous option of flexibility the high speed internet connection called WiMAX has to offer.

It Provides Easy Access to the Internet

With a very fast internet connection like WiMAX high speed internet, your access to the internet will know no bound. A company’s access to the internet is very important. With the internet at the finger tip of a company, a very huge amount of the company’s fund can be saved from being spent unnecessarily. Another benefit a company can gain from having easy access to the internet is being informed. When the management of a company stays out of information, there are a lot at stake. A company that yearns for rapid improvement needs to have easy and consistent access to the internet. The benefits your company can derive from having easy and consistent access to the internet can be very rewarding.

Time Management Becomes Possible

Time is very important than one can imagine. The amount of time a company can save itself will determine how productive and efficient the company is. Time management is indispensable when we talk about companies, business and productivity. No matter how rich an organization can be, if the organization cannot manage its time efficiently, there is still a lot of undiscovered wealth for it which can be ruined if care is not taken. A WiMAX high speed internet connection can help a company save a lot of time unlike other slow internet connection types that will make a company waste much time doing some little tasks that require little or no time before being carried out.

It is very efficient (Makes companies get the best from their employees)

WiMAX is very efficient and can make a company derive the best from its staffs. One other factor that contributes to low productivity of staffs and employees of an organization include slowness in the aspect of the company’s working equipments. Whether or not a staff is affected by a slow working piece of equipment in a company, the staff, if asked why he or she is less productive, would make an excuse out of the slow working equipment. WiMAX high speed internet connection offers a blazing speed in connection unlike the slow dial up internet and will eliminate any form of excuse for low productivity in your company. When the internet connection of a company is at the best condition, the staffs of that company will have no reason to be less productive.

This guest post is written by Paul who helps you learn more about choosing the best high speed internet providers.

It looks like the favorite soft drink company has interest in Yahoo. It seems like a coincidence being that both the brands sound closely similar and are close in spelling, but why would Yoo-hoo want to get into the search space?

This makes no sense or at least it seems odd, but in this day and age of the dot com’s anything is possible. The press release was posted earlier this morning and it has some investors scratching their heads wondering why a company who makes a soft drink would want to get into the search business.

Yahoo has been struggling trying to keep pace with Google, but it looks like Yahoo may have thrown in the towel. Since Carol Bartz took over as CEO of Yahoo, things haven’t gone to plan and Yahoo continues to lose market share in search.

I wonder if Bartz owns a significant amount of shares in Yoo-hoo. At one time and I am not sure if this is still the case, but Yogi Berra owned a substantial share of Yoo-hoo.

Read the full press release

Yahoo for Yoo-hoo! I am sure there will be a lot of Yoo-hoo ads running on Yahoo.

My wife noticed a charge of $158.46 on her online banking statement from T-Mobile and she isn’t even a customer. Her current carrier is AT&T/Cingular. She called the bank to dispute the charge, but was told by the bank that the charge was still pending and that she would need to call T-Mobile direct.

She called T-Mobile and they verified that she is not a customer. My wife immediately asked for a credit, but T-Mobile couldn’t initiate a credit at this time. My wife asked why? T-Mobile advised my wife that there was nothing they could do and that she needed to dispute it with the bank. It wasn’t the bank that charged my wife erroneously, it was T-Mobile!

My wife called the bank when the debit cleared and asked what was needed to do to get her account credited. The bank advised my wife that she needed to write a letter with the debit card number, date of transaction, amount and reason for the dispute, along with her signature. The bank advised that the credit can take up to 10 business days.

T-Mobile could have resolved this issue by doing the following;

1. Identify the account holder who used the so-called wrong credit card.
2. Validate that the credit card holder who was wrongly charge.
3. This can be done by faxing a copy of a driver’s license.
   1. Cross reference driver’s license information against the credit information.
   2. Issue credit back to the wrongly charged person.
4. Contact the customer and advise them that they used the wrong credit/debit card to pay their bill.

Why doesn’t T-Mobile verify a customer’s banking and credit card information before issuing a charge? They should have known the customer used the wrong credit/debit information.

T-Mobile needs to do the right thing and not only credit the charge of $158, but also interest and bounce check charges or late fees if applicable.

This is very unethical on how T-Mobile manages their payment platform.

When choosing a web hosting company, make sure the company only focuses on web hosting and not an array of services outside of web hosting like Yahoo. A friend of mine needed assistance to setup a WordPress blog on Yahoo’s small business web hosting and I was amazed that such a simple WordPress installation can be so difficult.

Pitfalls of using Yahoo Hosting;

1. You can’t install WordPress in the root directory.
2. You are forced to remove the preloaded Yahoo plug-ins.
3. Setting up a MySQL database is a nightmare.
4. The WordPress version is not up to date on the auto install.
5. Support is non-existent.

If you are looking for a host company, I recommend BlueHost, DreamHost, Hostgator or Aplus. These companies are only focused on web hosting and they do a great job at it. I am currently with BlueHost and have been for more than 3 years and I am pleased with the performance, support, tools and pricing. I was a customer of Dreamhost and Aplus and both companies offer competitive pricing and superior support. I left both of these companies because I out grew their share hosting, which is a good problem.

BlueHost offers the following for $6.95 paid annually;

• Unlimited Domain Hosting
• Unlimited GB Hosting Space
• Unlimited GB File Transfer
• Unlimited E-mail Accounts
• Free Domain Forever
• Free Site Builder w/ templates
• Secure Shell, SSL, FTP, Stats
• CGI, Ruby (RoR), Perl, PHP, MySQL
• $50 Free Google Credit
• 99.9% Network Uptime Guarantee

Stay away from Yahoo Small Business Hosting if you want to avoid frustration and anxiety.

This is absolutely ludicrous! Facebook doesn’t want anyone to register a domain name that uses ‘generic plus book’. There are many domains that have generic plus book such as;

Macbook.com
SEObook.com (Excellent resource for SEO)
lookatbook.com
eBook.com
Techbook.com (Parked domain)
Teachbook (Currently being sued)
iownbook.com (Newly registered)

According to Facebook: “If others could freely use ‘generic plus book’ marks for online networking services targeted to that particular generic category of individuals, the suffix ‘book’ could become a generic term for ‘online community/networking services’ or ‘social-networking services,’” it says. “That would dilute the distinctiveness of the Facebook marks, impairing their ability to function as unique and distinctive identifiers of Facebook’s goods and services.”

Facebook is suing Teachbook, claiming the startup’s use of the word “book” in its name trespasses on its trademark.

Facebook is sending a clear message to the marketplace: If you use the word “book” in your name, it’s going to be a fight.

iownbook.com for sale at a great price!

Original news story by Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com

Just a few weeks ago, a colleague noticed a charge on her credit card statement from classmates.com for $34.95 for an annual gold membership.  About a year ago, she purchased a gold membership to facilitate planning of a class reunion and encouraged hundreds of people to register for and use the site to respond to the reunion information.

Now that the reunion is over, she had no intention of reupping her gold membership.  Without any reminders, because they said that they were essentially doing people a service by not letting them know they would be charged: “many members prefer to reduce paperwork and email,” she was automatically charged a renewal fee.  Worse, Classmates.com refuses to give her a refund, stating that gold membership is non-refundable and automatically renewed as stated in the fine print and t’s and c’s.  This for someone who brought them business and traffic.

After complaint letters, classmates.com turned off her automatic renewal, but still refused to issue a refund.

“Please be assured that your membership is no longer enrolled in the automatic renewal program and you will not be charged again. Your Gold membership will expire and revert to FREE status on Mar 20, 2011. After your membership reverts to free status, you’ll still be listed on Classmates and receive email notifications about your account activity.

We make efforts to ensure our members understand the terms of the membership they are purchasing by providing information about the automatic renewal program directly on the credit card payment page, right above the “Submit Payment” button. On the same page, it states that payment for a Gold membership is non-refundable.

The automatic renewal program and no refund policy are also explained in the Classmates Terms of Service, which you agreed to when you clicked the “Submit Payment” button to finish your membership payment.”

Automatic renewals without any reminders should not be allowed in any business, especially online businesses.  This is why so many people refuse to do business online – they are afraid they will be taken advantage of.  And until companies like classmates.com decide to be more transparent and customer service driven, they’ll actually continue to anger customers to the point that people won’t use their service.  I know my colleague has already decided to use an alternative for the next reunion.   Who else out there is using this unethical and underhanded practice?

If you haven’t heard, Entrecard the ‘blogging network’ was acquired by ZipRunner. Who is ZipRunner? I looked up the name in Google and found nothing other than someone else asking the same question.

I was a member of Entrecard, but only for about 6 months when things just seem to go south. My decision for leaving was the owner’s inability to follow through on promises. Entrecard was a great concept if it had enough VC (Venture Capital). Entrecard had the potential to be one of the best blogging communities on the internet. I decided to pack my bags like many other members and move on to the next gig. I must say, I met a lot of wonderful bloggers and I thank Entrecard for that!

There was a lot of negativity around a member who was banned because of a remark he made about the owner Graham. I thought this was hilarious that an owner would voice this publicly, it was a dumb move among many other dumb things that happened. Read it here.

I recall a statement that Graham Langdon once said – I would never sell Entrecard, not even to Google. I am not quoting that statement because the words may not be exactly what he said, but what he meant. I guess ZipRunner has something Google doesn’t, or maybe not.

In my opinion, I think ZipRunner is a new company that probably is the same team at Entrecard.

Many members are concerned about the new acquisition and are still awaiting answers. See the post below taken from the Entrecard forum.

“So Entrecard has been bought off… So now what? Will the site structure be the same? Will ZipRunner change the game? What about our Entrecard credits? A lot of questions and no answers.”

Graham Langdon’s last statement: “Whether you love or hate the decisions I’ve made for Entrecard in the past, I always did the best I could to move the company forward given the resources I had, and I always had the best interest of the members in mind. Now, with new management and ownership stepping in, I urge anyone who has left the service to give it another chance, and I urge those who have been loyal members for days, weeks, months, or years to look forward to a brighter future, a reliable and stable service, and great new features and strategic direction.”

All the best to ZipRunner! Who ever you are.

Update from My Journey Blog

ZipRunner Inc company information:
Company name: ZipRunner Inc
Number: C2322843
Date Filed: 12/12/2000
Status: Active
Jurisdiction: California
Address: 2168 S Atlantic BLVD #232, Monterey Park, CA 91754
Agent for Service of Process: ANDREW H TE, 2168 S Atlantic BLVD #232,
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Read this article about the Entrecard sale called ‘Storms a Brewing’ by My Journey.

There are many new startups launching online businesses each day. These new startups are finding out that it’s a lot harder to market their products and services using marketing techniques such as; Email campaigns, PPC (Pay Per Click), and Banner Ads.

Why is it so hard?

The latest increase in cybercrimes has put potential consumers on the defense. If you do not have a well known brand, it’s more than likely that new customers will hesitate to open any emails or click on any ads.

Internet Fraud is at an all time high. Spammers, hackers and fraudulent businesses have raised the level of caution and it’s now hurting legitimate startups. There has been a lot of news about internet security breaches, Identity theft and other malicious crimes.

How to Build Trust with Consumers?

Trust is the most important ingredient that will provide consumers a level of confidence to do business with you. In order to build this trust, you need to provide the consumer with the following;

• Earning trust with users can be accomplished by providing good web usability and comfortable user experience
• Disclosing your physical location (if applicable)
• Offering guarantees and return policies
• Highlighting affiliations such as BBB membership or your involvement in trade associations
• Explaining what information you’re collecting, why you’re collecting it and what you’ll do with it when you’re done.
• Featuring customer testimonials and/or reviews.

These tips are a great start in building trust, which leads to happy customers. Happy customers lead to returning customers. Returning customers lead to word of mouth. Word of mouth leads to more visitors. Visitors turn into customers.