Did you know…..

….the #IRS is trying to refund $153 million to about 100,000 taxpayers for the tax year 2010 due to address errors on tax returns? To check on your refund: Use the “Where’s My Refund” tool at www.irs.gov or call 800-829-1954.

10 Things Online Data Collectors Won’t Say

10 Things Online Data Collectors Won’t Say
They know your online browsing secrets. We reveal their hidden tactics.
By TANIA KARAS (smartmoney.com)

1. “We’re always watching you.”

If you’re reading this on the Internet, chances are you’re being followed. More than 200 data collection companies and ad networks use approximately 600 different tracking technologies to gather and sell information on people’s web habits, according to Abine, an online privacy firm that tracks the trackers. The online advertising industry is a $31 billion business fueled largely by behind-the-scenes exchanges of consumers’ personal online shopping and browsing habits.

Web-based commercial data collectors work by quietly dropping bits of code called cookies on user computers, which allow collectors to track what people read, click or buy. That information, collected by companies such as BlueKai and DoubleClick (a Google subsidiary), is sold in real-time exchanges to ad networks, which then target segments of users with ads fitting their interests. Someone who just searched Expedia for information on Puerto Rico, for example, would be almost instantly hit with ads featuring San Juan hotels and resorts. Billions of these exchanges occur daily. Search engines and social networking sites such as Google and Facebook also track user data to generate targeted advertising. The result? The new cell phone or spring sandals users willed themselves not to buy show up in ads alongside their morning news.

Companies in the U.S. spend more than $2 billion annually to tap into consumer data, according to Forrester Research. Data trackers, ubiquitous across the web, are collecting, storing and sharing more information than ever before, says Chris Babel, CEO of online privacy solutions provider TRUSTe. “It’s happening on nearly every site, all the time,” he says.
2. “You can’t really opt out of data tracking…”

People may “opt out” of the targeted advertising so common on the web, but that doesn’t mean data collectors will stop following their every electronic move. In 2010, the Digital Advertising Alliance introduced a tool that alerts web users that their data is being collected and used for targeted advertising. Consumers who fill out an online form will no longer see targeted ads. However, their web click patterns will still be recorded, stored and sold to marketers, says Linda Woolley, executive vice president of the Direct Marketing Association, a trade group for marketers. Tracking companies built their businesses around using and selling their information to clients, she says.

And those who click “opt out” only get a temporary reprieve from the ads. As soon as they clear their browser cookies, users inadvertently opt back in, experts say, because they also get rid of the cookie that told ad networks not to target them. Consumers’ best bet, say experts, is downloading a powerful, free add-on like Abine’s, which works on all major browsers and continually updates itself to protect users from new trackers.
3. ” And ‘Do Not Track’ options won’t stop us either.”

In addition to “opting out,” many web browsers now offer “do not track” options, which actually send a signal to data collectors telling them not to track users. Various web browsers have different default settings for tracking. Safari, for example, automatically blocks third-party cookies that track users. Firefox accepts cookies, so it is up to the users to go into the settings and turn them off.

Right now “opt out” and “do not track” are often the same in practice. In fact, recent privacy debates have centered on the ambiguous definition of the terms. Currently there is no industry-wide “do not track” standard. Studies show most web users interpret it to mean their data will not be collected, but the online ad industry interprets it to mean the same thing as opting out, Woolley says. Tracking companies will continue to collect information on web users, but they won’t target them with ads based on their data.

Unfortunately not all data tracking companies comply with do-not-track requests, says Sarah Downey, a lawyer and privacy expert for Abine. “Right now, do not track doesn’t necessarily stop data collection or development of profiles about you,” says Downey. “And it doesn’t stop your data from being stored, collected and sold to the highest bidder.” According to Woolley, online advertisers continue dropping cookies on users who don’t want to be tracked for their own internal purposes. “There are lots of operational reasons why data collection is needed,” she says, such as fraud prevention and product development.

Currently the Federal Trade Commission is pushing browser makers to adopt do-not-track tools and encouraging online ad networks to respect users’ do-not-track settings. In a report on digital privacy released by the FTC recently, the agency said it would support legislation that defines “do not track” as zero data collection.
4. “We know your secrets.”

Data trackers may know a woman is pregnant even before she tells her loved ones. They figure it out based on the web pages and advertisements clicked on recently. Target recently came under fire for combing through customer shopping patterns to identify potential soon-to-be-parents. Like other retailers, Target assigns its shoppers with a personalized code that lets the company record their every interaction with the store, from e-mails to web browsing to physical store visits. (Target declined to comment.) True, this kind of data crunching is mostly innocuous, but many web users have a word to describe it: creepy.

Retailers have used predictive analytics for years to help parse customer buying patterns — and consumers often benefit. After all, it’s not the worst thing to see ads for bridal dresses just as one’s planning a wedding. Browsing and purchase history tracking by retailers provide value to a customer they would miss if they weren’t tracked, says Fatemeh Khatibloo, an analyst for Forrester Research who covers the consumer data economy.

The potential danger, say privacy experts, is data trackers’ access to a new realm of information on the web. “It’s not just your past purchase history,” says Chris Conley, a technology and civil liberties fellow for the ACLU of Northern California. Online data collection could conceivably be troubling if web history is used against someone to deny a credit card, job or health insurance, says Babel.

Such practices would be against industry standards, says Woolley. “Marketing data should never be used to make those kinds of decisions. It should only be used for marketing purposes,” she says.
5. “We don’t know your name…”

As powerful as the data-tracking tools are, the one thing the software often doesn’t know is: the user’s real name. Instead, consumers’ page visits are tied to a random string of numbers designed to keep personally identifiable information private. These unique IDs follow a user around the web, informing data trackers which ads he or she is statistically likely to click based on past web-browsing habits.

Data brokers like Acxiom say they screen collected information to make sure it was obtained according to their privacy standards. “Our program qualifies all of the data we bring in” to ensure consumer privacy is protected, says Jennifer Barrett Glasgow, the company’s chief privacy officer.
6. “…but we can probably figure it out.”

The more online data trackers know about you, the anonymous web surfer, the easier it becomes for them to tie it to you, the person. For example, if a user is the only 65-year-old grandmother in Ames, Iowa who belongs to a certain gym and went to a particular college, it’s just a matter of time before companies accumulate enough information to figure out her name, experts say. From there, data brokers can easily take online information offline, where they can obtain information such as a residential address from public documents. That information also gives companies insight into user’s income stream.

Joseph Turow, a University of Pennsylvania professor studying Internet database marketing, maintains it’s easy for multiple data collectors to combine databases and identify users. “Eventually someone might get you to fill out a form containing your name,” says, author of “The Daily You: How the New Advertising Industry Is Defining Your Identity and Your Worth.” Prior to that “you were User 56765 based on your cookies. You were anonymous, and now you’re not,” he says — and this lack of anonymity makes users more vulnerable to identity fraud.

Woolley, however, says people should “absolutely not” be worried that data collectors will waste resources identifying individuals. “Nobody has an interest in doing that,” she says. “Advertisers are interested in aggregated data — entire categories of people who are interested in a particular product.”

But just because data trackers don’t have the time to trace anonymous data back to individuals doesn’t mean nobody will. In 2006, Netflix released customer movie-rankings as data sets in a contest without identifying individuals by name. But the company drew the ire of customers and the Federal Trade Commission after some users were able to figure out the names of people ranking the movies. The company reached a deal with the FTC and canceled the contest. A similar incident happened when AOL released its search logs in 2006, prompting an apology from the company. These cases show that not all data collectors and ad agencies take proper steps to protect sensitive personal information, privacy experts say.
7. “We control who sees the best discounts and deals.”

The web does not treat all users equally. Because data collectors can infer things like one’s income level and credit score based on sites visited, they can also influence which products people see advertised what prices they are charged, Turow says. Companies like Acxiom use high-powered analytics tools to group web users into like categories based on monetary indicators, media consumption, age and other factors. They can sell their clients access to specific audiences, letting marketers pinpoint customers with the highest value and bypass the users who’ll never click on an ad.

Data collectors “affect what ads consumers see and what coupons they get,” Turow says. When they categorize consumers, “it may affect the way we see the world and see ourselves,” he adds. To be sure, categorizing consumers “has been happening in marketing for decades,” says Khatibloo. “The best customers get the $10 gift card or a free gift and the ones who don’t spend any money, don’t,” she adds.
8. “We’re tracking your smartphone, too.”

The smartphone revolution didn’t go unnoticed by data trackers. Consumers now spend 94 minutes daily on mobile apps and 72 minutes surfing the web on their phones, according to Flurry, an analytics and advertising company. Smartphone users are gold mines for data trackers and ad networks, which are often integrated into mobile apps, experts say. These so-called ad libraries have “access to your contacts, geo-location, call records, and other information that’s stored on your phone,” says Conley. On a computer, by comparison, data trackers can only see what one does in a web browser window.

Mobile ad networks target smartphone owners by tracking actions tied to a unique device identification number, a cookie-like code specific to each smartphone. These IDs let ad networks know where the owner of a particular smartphone has been on the mobile web. And that allows app-makers and advertisers to better target phones with ads. They can track users as they move from app to app to learn more about their interests. Unlike cookies within the web browser on a laptop, the unique ID on mobile apps can’t be erased. This is potentially dangerous because of the sheer amount of data people keep on their phones, says Conley.

In February, a mobile social-networking app called Path was discovered to be uploading the full names, emails and phone numbers of contacts stored in its users’ phones — without their permission. If Path had been hacked, Babel says, people’s private information would have been free for the taking. Path recently said it will scramble data it collects from phones to protect sensitive information it gathers. Congress is now investigating the data collection techniques of 34 mobile app-makers, including Path.

After the Path incident, Apple stepped up efforts to phase out unique device IDs. But advanced tracking companies like Mobile App Tracking and BlueCava are prepared for the switch. They now use a technology called “digital fingerprinting” that creates precise digital profiles of users that will recognize the same person no matter what device they use. In other words, these companies can tell it’s you whether you’re surfing the web on a computer, iPad or phone. “We look for correlating pieces of data that might indicate it’s the same user,” says BlueCava CEO David Norris. He argues digital fingerprinting is actually safer because users can install privacy settings, such as “do not track,” across all their devices. It’s still unclear, consumer privacy experts say, if the new technologies will be any better for consumers than traditional unique IDs.
9. “The information we have on you could be wrong.”

Just because data trackers try their best to know your every move on the web doesn’t mean they always get it right.

Carole Sharwarko, a 33-year-old woman in Homewood, Ill., says the ads that pop up on her browser about pregnancy and babies — likely aimed at her due to her age and gender– make her anxious about still being childless. “All the ads I see are about enrolling my kid in some cutest baby contest or regaining my pre-baby body,” she says.

Marketing mix-ups like these are perhaps more annoying than harmful. But where erroneous data on individuals can cause trouble, say privacy experts, is in the case of commercial data collectors. These sites gather information on individuals from publicly available sources into detailed dossiers available to anyone online for little or no cost. Many of these firms are unregulated. One data collection site, Spokeo, combines the data users willingly share online with public records mined from phone books, marketing surveys, real estate listings and other sources, according to its website. “It’s basically an FBI background check for $3.95,” Downey says. “They’re profiting off you, and you’re not able to do anything about it.” A spokesman for Spokeo says the company makes no guarantee the information is accurate.

There’s no one-stop shop where users can view and edit the digital profiles data brokers create for them. But the FTC targeted such companies in its recent consumer privacy report calling for legislation that would give consumers access to data collected about them and allow them to edit it when necessary.

Sites like Reputation.com already monitor and correct erroneous information about its users — for a fee. Insurance companies and employers may vet potential applicants by searching them online, says Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik, so scrubbing the web of this kind of data protects users from harm. Simple web browsing information collected by data tracking firms, however, wouldn’t fall under Reputation.com’s radar. So, for now at least, consumers like Sharwarko have no recourse but to ignore the misfired ads.
10. “Your personal data may be worth thousands of dollars.”

In a report last year, the World Economic Forum called personal data the “new oil,” a valuable resource of the 21st century that’s fueling a new wave of economic activity. The online ad industry alone is expected to balloon to $34 billion this year, according to analysts. Though it’s hard to put a dollar amount on the value of one person’s data to a data broker or ad firm, estimates range from a fraction of a cent for a single piece of data to $5,000 for a full digital profile. Buyers of certain products, like luxury goods or expensive health-related devices, are worth more to advertisers, Fertik says, so ad networks will pay more to reach them.

What’s more, Turow says, data collectors often lure users into handing over even more information with the promise of gifts and coupons. “You might think you’re getting a free gift, but once you give out that information, your value goes up far more than the value of whatever they’ve given you,” he says. People should be wary of handing over personal details like their names, addresses or birthdates to marketers, he advises.

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Officially Enchanting

I never thought I would have been lucky enough to be in the presence of Guy Kawasaki.  Yet, Wednesday, April 4th, I had the great fortune to hear Guy speak at Rackspace in San Antonio, TX.  It was an open, easy Q and A conversation.  He spoke about his latest project, an eBook, “What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest Of Us“.  Although I have not read the book, Guy makes the case for utilizing Google+, because, quite simply “Google is Google”.  It’s SEO that everyone can understand; “if you write good stuff, Google will find it”.

A few more interesting/key points Guy made:

• Regarding privacy; don’t do stupid things.
• Regarding social media; it’s fast, free and ubiquitous and could replace traditional marketing in the near future
• Rules for engaging people through social media:

1. Act like a person
2. Always be providing value, which includes information and assistance
3. It’s about caring; mixing human emotion, interesting facts and good ideas, (and good deals!)

• Want to know who does social media right?  Check these three companies out:

1. Comcast
2. Virgin
3. Ford

• “It’s so hard to get followers on Pinterest“.

In closing; most companies make the mistake of defining themselves by what they do; not what they provide.  When you define yourself by what you provide, it’s a lot easier to adjust for the bends in the road.

10 Things Your iPad Won’t Say

 By JONNELLE MARTE

1.”The ‘i’ isn’t for ‘inexpensive.'”

A record 3 million people ordered the latest version of the iPad during the weekend after its debut on March 16 — the strongest launch for the device yet. With prices for the new iPad starting at $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version, experts say consumers are paying a premium for the gadget. But they may not realize that premium could cover the cost of making a second iPad. IHS iSuppli, a technology research company that has studied the cost of the iPad’s components, estimates Apple spends $375.10 to make the 32GB version of the new iPad with 4G LTE connectivity — roughly half the retail price.

And the profit margin grows for the more expensive models. While it costs Apple about $16 more to make the 32GB version of the iPad than the 16GB version, the retail price jumps by $100 from one model to the next, according to the IHS iSuppli. That contrasts with competitors, like Amazon, which loses an estimated $18 for each $200 Kindle Fire it sells after marketing and shipping costs are taken into account, according to RBC Capital Markets. “Apple makes a stunning profit margin on their devices,” says Colin Gillis, an analyst for BGC Partners.

That said, the iPad has generally become more expensive to make while the price has stayed the same, meaning Apple is making less profit on its newer models, says Andrew Rassweiler, senior principal analyst for IHS iSuppli. He points out that iSuppli’s estimate doesn’t include all the costs Apple incurs for producing the iPad such as shipping, engineering teams, potential royalty costs and software. Apple also recently lowered the price of the iPad 2 by $100 to $399, a sign that it is accommodating cost-conscious consumers, says Michael Holt, an analyst for Morningstar.

Apple declined to comment for this story.

2.”I’m passe before you leave the store.”

If you got an iPad for Christmas you may already feel as if you need an upgrade given the hype around the new version’s improved camera, sharper screen and faster wireless network. The previous upgrade launched a year ago gave users a lighter tablet with a faster processor. (Apple put the weight back into its latest version.) For Apple fans, the frequent updates can lead to a constant case of buyer’s remorse, analysts say. “You can almost set your clock with the knowledge that Apple is going to release a new iPad every year,” says Allan Yogasingam, technical research manager for UBM TechInsights.

But the improvements from one model to another are incremental and not always easily noticed, says Yogasingam. For instance, tech experts raved about the new iPad’s higher resolution screen, but many regular users were unable to tell the difference according to an informal experiment conducted by the tech nology tracking sight The Next Web. When consumers were asked to look at two versions of the iPads side by side and point to the newest model, many chose the wrong one, reports The Next Web.

Most people might be better off if they act on every other update so they can notice a greater difference between devices, says Yogasingam. And iPad 2 owners may want to wait for the next upgrade instead of rushing out to buy the current new model. The next version, which is likely to launch next year, will probably have a faster processor and other features, says Louis Ramirez senior features writer for dealnews.com.

For Apple’s part, the company is typically working on several models of a product at once, so features left out of one version may already be in the works for a future model. “There is rhyme to their reasoning,” Yogasingam says.

3. “I can’t compete with your PC.”

The iPad may be new and hip, but experts say it still can’t replace your ho-hum computer. Indeed, for most people, it remains a secondary device. “It could be a mistake to assume that the iPad is going to topple the PC market,” says Gillis. Much of that has to do with the tablet’s limited applications for business purposes. While iPads are great for keeping up with the media and reading emails, producing and sending word documents and other files can be a hassle, says Gillis.

Gawayne Beckford, a 28-year old website developer based in Kingston Jamaica knows what Gillis means. He says his iPad is great for showing clients demos of his work. But when he needs to send someone an image, it’s a different story. Instead of simply replying to an email and attaching the file, he has to go through a multi-step process that involves opening a picture in another app and sending it from there. For that reason, he usually downloads word documents and writes emails from his computer. “It’s much faster that way,” says Beckford.

That’s not to say the iPad can’t be used for business. Indeed, it’s increasingly popular among doctors, executives and sales people who need to get updated reports or close deals on-the-go, says Sarah Rotman Epps, a senior analyst for Forrester Research. Studies also show that people who get tablets delay purchases of new computers, she adds.

4. “Good luck reading War and Peace on my screen.”

Reading on electronic devices like the iPad, Nook and Kindle revolutionized the publishing industry, with e-book sales now outpacing sales of hardcover books. But critics say some people actually get very little reading done on tablets like the iPad. Pop up messages, web browsing and video games often prove to be too much of a distraction for some users, says Ben Bajarin, principal at Creative Strategies, an industry analysis firm. Plus, many consumers still find it hard to read at length on the glossy screen, which creates a glare in the sunlight that makes it difficult for people who like to tote their books to the beach or the park, says Jeff Haynes, editor of TechBargains.com.

What’s more, digital devices like the iPad can cause computer vision syndrome, the name given to that tired, bleary eyed feeling people get when they spend too much time staring at a screen, says Dr. Jim Sheedy, a director of the Vision Performance Institute at Pacific University in Forest Grove. And, people who hold the tablets too close to their face could be forcing their eyes to cross, which increases strain, he says. Sheedy recommends people stick with the 20-20-20 rule: Focus on something 20 feet away from you every 20 minutes for at least 20 seconds.

To be sure, many users might find Apple has improved the reading experience with its new “retina display,” a higher resolution screen available on the new iPad that allows for crisper images and text, says Bajarin. The beige background used on most reading apps should also reduce strain while reading, he says.

5. “Drop me and I’m done.”

As many people toting around cracked devices will attest, the iPad’s Achilles heel is its glass screen. About 10% of iPad 2 users reported accidental damage within the first year of owning their tablets, according to insurance agent Square Trade, which analyzed data from 50,000 customers. That rate of breakages may increase with the new iPad, based on the results of a recent drop test the company performed, says Vince Tseng, vice president of marketing for Square Trade. Though both iPads shattered when dropped face down from waist height the new damage on the new iPad was more severe.

This fragility usually means consumers need to spend more cash on a protective case, which can make the sleek tablet feel bulky and heavy. That’s why iPad user Beckford was in the habit of leaving his iPad out of its iLuv Portfolio case while at home. That is, until a few weeks ago, when he accidentally knocked it off of a chair while it was charging. Now he has a semi-circle shaped crack along the length of the screen to remind him to keep the machine in the case. “It was painful, very painful,” says Beckford.

Apple could make the glass more durable by using a thicker version of damage resistance glass, says Haynes. Of course, iPad users might have avoided many of those incidents reported to Square Trade by exercising a bit more caution, says Tseng, citing one consumer whose iPad was damaged when her toddler threw it out of a moving car. And the iPad’s fragility has yet to stop people from buying it, says Rotman Epps.

6. “I’m not worth waiting in line for.”

Apple gets plenty of free advertising from the people who camp outside its stores before a new product launch. But some experts say that loyal consumers may be losing time and money. Wal-Mart, for example, upended Apple’s 8 a.m. launch time by making some new iPads available at midnight March 16. Other stores may allow you to earn bonus points or offer discounts on accessories, says Andrew Eisner, director of content for Retrevo.com. “They might be able to throw in a case or a charger,” he adds. Target credit card holders may be able to save $30 on a 16 GB 4G LTE iPad because they get 5% off of all store purchases.

That said, some consumers may find that salespeople at the Apple store are better prepared to answer questions about the iPad and better able to help shoppers choose between models or find the best accessories, says Eisner.

7. “My extended warranty may be a waste.”

AppleCare+ costs $99 and offers coverage for iPad repairs for up to two years from the purchase date. It also lets consumers replace two accidentally damaged machines for $49 each. That’s a steep price for coverage you may not ever need, says Jamie Lendino, senior analyst for PCMag.com. Plus, there may be other ways to replace a damaged iPad.

For example, a broken 32 GB iPad 2 with “serious physical damage” recently sold on Gazelle.com for $100. Meanwhile a used iPad 2 was available online on eBay for roughly $300. If the same person was buying and selling those iPads, they’d pay about $200 to replace the broken machine, not much more than the $150 one would spend with AppleCare+, says Lendino, “And you don’t have to spend the money until it happens.” Of course, some people might find the warranty and the second chance to replace their devices well worth it for the peace of mind, especially if they travel frequently or have young children, says Lendino. Others might appreciate the extended two years of technical support that’s also available through AppleCare+, he adds.

8. “I might make you a shop-a-holic…”

The iPad’s ease of use design also makes it easy to overspend, experts say. A recent survey of U.S. consumers by shopping site PriceGrabber.com found that 77% of tablet owners used their iPads and other tablets to shop. The popularity of shopping apps is also on the rise, with the average user putting seven shopping-related apps on their devices in March, up from three a year ago. And Apple users tend to be bigger spenders than other tablet owners — they forked over an average $123 in purchases on their iPads and iPhones, compared to an average $101 spent by Android users, according to a separate survey by RichRelevance, a personalized product recommendation company.

The portability of the iPad, combined with the overall pleasant browsing experience allows for more instant gratification, says Darren Vengroff, chief scientist for RichRelevance. “There’s no remembering to go to the mall on the weekends to buy those jeans you liked,” he says. People tend to use their tablets in relaxed environments like their homes, which might cause them to spend more, according to a report by Adobe Digital Index, which found that tablet users spend 20% more per purchase than people shopping on computers. Tablet owners also tend to be more affluent than most online consumers, according to the report.

9. “… and you’ll also spend a bundle on data.”

While the iPad is marketed as an on-the-go device, most use their iPads at home on the couch or in bed. Roughly 70% of owners use tablets at home, according to Nielsen. And the majority of tablets out there are Wi-Fi only, according to Forrester Research, which found that only 38% of tablet owners use 3G connectivity on their iPads. The majority of users, 53%, said they use Wi-Fi only.

Analysts say Apple is trying to change that by introducing the 4G LTE network for the iPad, a faster service available on AT&T and Verizon, says Rottman Epps. But that faster connection typically means it’s easier to use more data, and some users have complained of blowing through their monthly data plans in a matter of days. For users, that also means paying more for the 4G LTE iPad, which starts at $629 compared to $499 for the latest Wi-Fi only version. The faster connection requires a monthly bill ranging from $14.99 for 250 megabytes per month to $50 for 5 gigabytes through AT&T. People can limit their data usage by reserving most video streams and large downloads for when they can connect to Wi-Fi, says Bajarin.

10. “I have increasingly worthy competitors.”

The iPad may be the most popular tablet in the market, but analysts say competitors are catching up in market share and ability. The more affordable Kindle Fire quickly became the second hottest tablet in the market, helped in large part by its much lower price point, says Holt of Morningstar. “That seems to be the most effective weapon the competition has — the price,” he says. Indeed, more low-cost alternatives are hitting the market, including the $299 Pantech Element, which is waterproof and dustproof, says Michael Prospero, reviews editor at LapTopMag.com.

But some of the pricier competitors are also holding their own, say critics. Some techies view the $499 Asus Transformer Prime as the most powerful tablet on the market because of its Tegra 3 quad-core processor. (The Tegra 3 is faster in some respects than the A5X processor on the iPad, says Yogasingam.) Meanwhile, Apple seems to be addressing the price disadvantage by lowering the price on the older iPad 2 model.

Still, competitors may have further to go to beat Apple. With roughly 58 million tablets sold since the device was launched in 2010, the iPad is by far the lead tablet in the market. “You’ll see others try to differentiate themselves,” says Prospero. “But they’re coming from so far behind.”

We’re All Imperfect

“A broken cup is perfect at being a broken cup.  It is only when compared to a cup that is whole that the broken cup appears imperfect.  None of us are perfect in the harsh Western sense of perfection.  All human beings, indeed all things in the world, are like broken cups.  We are all perfect, not in the harsh Western sense that we are flawless or measure up to some unattainable ideal–we just “are”.  The mental and creative exercise is to accept another human being as they are.  When we do, we see them in their perfection.  It could be called compromise, or a healthy view of the way the world works.”

–A Zen Master saying as quoted by Dr. Alex Binazir  (original source unknown)

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/K-FLb90lfCg?rel=0

For Impatient Web Users, an Eye Blink Is Just Too Long to Wait

February 29, 2012

By STEVE LOHR

Wait a second.

No, that’s too long.

Remember when you were willing to wait a few seconds for a computer to respond to a click on a Web site or a tap on a keyboard? These days, even 400 milliseconds — literally the blink of an eye — is too long, as Google engineers have discovered. That barely perceptible delay causes people to search less.

“Subconsciously, you don’t like to wait,” said Arvind Jain, a Google engineer who is the company’s resident speed maestro. “Every millisecond matters.”

Google and other tech companies are on a new quest for speed, challenging the likes of Mr. Jain to make fast go faster. The reason is that data-hungry smartphones and tablets are creating frustrating digital traffic jams, as people download maps, video clips of sports highlights, news updates or recommendations for nearby restaurants. The competition to be the quickest is fierce.

People will visit a Web site less often if it is slower than a close competitor by more than 250 milliseconds (a millisecond is a thousandth of a second).

“Two hundred fifty milliseconds, either slower or faster, is close to the magic number now for competitive advantage on the Web,” said Harry Shum, a computer scientist and speed specialist at Microsoft.

The performance of Web sites varies, and so do user expectations. A person will be more patient waiting for a video clip to load than for a search result. And Web sites constantly face trade-offs between visual richness and snappy response times. As entertainment and news sites, like The New York Times Web site, offer more video clips and interactive graphics, that can slow things down.

But speed matters in every context, research shows. Four out of five online users will click away if a video stalls while loading.

On a mobile phone, a Web page takes a leisurely nine seconds to load, according to Google, which tracks a huge range of sites from the homes of large companies to the legions of one-person bloggers. Download times on personal computers average about six seconds worldwide, and about 3.5 seconds on average in the United States. The major search engines, Google and Microsoft’s Bing, are the speed demons of the Web, analysts say, typically delivering results in less than a second.

The hunger for speed on smartphones is a new business opportunity for companies like Akamai Technologies, which specializes in helping Web sites deliver services quicker. Later this month, Akamai plans to introduce mobile accelerator software to help speed up the loading of a Web site or app.

The government too recognizes the importance of speed in mobile computing. In February, Congress opened the door to an increase in network capacity for mobile devices, proposing legislation that permits the auction of public airwaves now used for television broadcasts to wireless Internet suppliers.

Overcoming speed bumps is part of the history of the Internet. In the 1990s, as the World Wide Web became popular, and crowded, it was called the World Wide Wait. Invention and investment answered the call.

Laying a lot of fiber optic cable for high-speed transmission was the first solution. But beyond bandwidth, the Web got faster because of innovations in software algorithms for routing traffic, and in distributing computer servers around the world, nearer to users, as a way to increase speed.

Akamai, which grew out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Laboratory for Computer Science, built its sizable business doing just that. Most major Web sites use Akamai’s technology today.

The company sees the mobile Internet as the next big challenge. “Users’ expectations are getting shorter and shorter, and the mobile infrastructure is not built for that kind of speed,” said Tom Leighton, co-founder and chief scientist at Akamai, who is also an M.I.T. professor. “And that’s an opportunity for us.”

The need for speed itself seems to be accelerating. In the early 1960s, the two professors at Dartmouth College who invented the BASIC programming language, John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz, set up a network in which many students could tap into a single, large computer from keyboard terminals.

“We found,” they observed, “that any response time that averages more than 10 seconds destroys the illusion of having one’s own computer.”

In 2009, a study by Forrester Research found that online shoppers expected pages to load in two seconds or fewer — and at three seconds, a large share abandon the site. Only three years earlier a similar Forrester study found the average expectations for page load times were four seconds or fewer.

The two-second rule is still often cited as a standard for Web commerce sites. Yet experts in human-computer interaction say that rule is outdated. “The old two-second guideline has long been surpassed on the racetrack of Web expectations,” said Eric Horvitz, a scientist at Microsoft’s research labs.

Google, which harvests more Internet ad revenue than any other company, stands to benefit more than most if the Internet speeds up. Mr. Jain, who worked at Microsoft and Akamai before joining Google in 2003, is an evangelist for speed both inside and outside the company. He leads a “Make the Web Faster” program, begun in 2009. He also holds senior positions in industry standards groups.

Speed, Mr. Jain said, is a critical element in all of Google’s products. There is even a companywide speed budget; new offerings and product tweaks must not slow down Google services. But there have been lapses.

In 2007, for example, after the company added popular new offerings like Gmail, things slowed down enough that Google’s leaders issued a “Code Yellow” and handed out plastic stopwatches to its engineers to emphasize that speed matters.

Still, not everyone is in line with today’s race to be faster. Mr. Kurtz, the Dartmouth computer scientist who is the co-inventor of BASIC, is now 84, and marvels at how things have changed.

Computers and networks these days, Mr. Kurtz said, “are fast enough for me.”

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Last Minute Frequently Overlooked Tax Deductions

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Special Report From “The Bottom Line“

Use this checklist to find savings before filing your 2011 returns. These deductions have been allowed by the IRS and upheld in court.

Medical Deductions

Medical expenses are deductible to the extent that they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Included…

• Acupuncture.
• Alcoholism and drug/nicotine addiction treatment programs.
• Capital expenditures for home improvements required to accommodate a disability. Examples: Elevators, ramps, modifications to cabinets.
• Chiropractic care.
• Closed-caption television decoder.
• Contact lenses.
• Cosmetic surgery necessary to ameliorate a deformity from a congenital abnormality, personal injury or disfiguring disease—not elective cosmetic surgery.
• Dental fees and dentures—not for cosmetic procedures, such as tooth whitening.
• Eye examinations.
• Eyeglasses.
• Health insurance premiums paid with after-tax dollars, including the cost of Medicare Part B and Part D coverage. Self-employed individuals may deduct 100% of their insurance premiums even if they do not itemize their deductions.
• Insulin and prescription drugs.
• Lodging (but not meals) not provided in a hospital while away from home primarily for, and essential to, medical care. Limited to $50 each per night for the patient and a companion.
• Nursing home care required because of a medical condition.
• Premiums paid for long-term-care insurance subject to limitations depending on the age of the taxpayer.
• Prescription contraceptives, legal abortions and vasectomies.
• Psychiatric treatment.
• Seeing aids for the blind, including expenses for Braille publications and guide dogs.
• Telephone equipment for the deaf.
• Transportation to and from hospitals or doctors’ offices. The automobile rate is 19 cents/mile through the end of June 2011 and 23.5 cents/mile from July through December, plus parking fees and tolls.
• Weight-loss programs for the obese.
• Wheelchairs or other special chairs for a disabled person.

Taxes

Taxes other than federal income, FICA, estate or gift tax generally are deductible.Included…

• Co-op owners can deduct their proportionate share of the building’s taxes.
• Foreign taxes, unless a credit is claimed.
• Personal property taxes.
• Real property taxes paid during the year. (This may be different from the amount paid into your escrow account. Your lender will advise you as to the amount to deduct.)
• State and local income taxes paid or applied during the year, including wage withholding, or state and local sales taxes.

Interest

The IRS divides interest into several categories. Personal interest (paid on auto loans, credit card debt, etc.) is not deductible. However, interest on qualified higher-education loans is deductible, subject to AGI and other limitations. The maximum deduction for these loans is $2,500. This is a deduction used in calculating your AGI and is not an itemized deduction.

Mortgage and investment interest expenses typically are deductible, subject to these limits…

• Co-op owners may deduct their share of mortgage interest paid by the association.
• Interest expense paid on loans held specifically to purchase taxable investments is deductible to the extent of net investment income. Excess interest expense is carried forward indefinitely.
• Interest paid for a loan on a boat that has living, sleeping and eating quarters.
• Mortgage interest expense incurred on as much as $1 million in home acquisition debt. The $1 million threshold can be reached using mortgages on only your primary residence and one other personal residence. This includes debt incurred within 90 days of the purchase or major improvement that is secured by the principal residence and/or one additional residence.
• Mortgage insurance premiums for those with income below set levels.
• Mortgage interest expense incurred on home-equity loans of up to $100,000. Generally, the proceeds can be used at the taxpayer’s discretion without risking the interest being classified as nondeductible. One exception is if the loan is taken out to purchase tax-exempt/municipal bonds, which would then classify all home-equity loan interest as nondeductible.
• Points paid on your principal residence generally are deductible immediately, unless you choose otherwise.
• Points paid on a refinance generally are amortized over the life of the loan.

Casualty and Theft Losses

Casualty and theft losses are deductible if they result from a sudden, unexpected and unusual cause to the extent that they exceed 10% of AGI and $100 for each occurrence and cannot be reimbursed by insurance. (The 10% floor does not apply to certain disaster losses). Included…

• Automobile accident if not caused by your willful act.
• Loss of a bank account due to insolvency of the bank.
• Fire, flood and storm damage, including hurricanes and tornadoes.
• Repairs to home and appliances because of damage due to corrosive drywall (known as Chinese drywall).
• Replacement cost of trees and shrubs damaged by storms or fires.

Charitable Contributions

Contributions to qualified charities are fully deductible up to 50% of your AGI. (You can carry over any nondeductible excess for up to five years.) Included…

• Automobile expenses for volunteer activities computed at 14 cents per mile plus parking fees and tolls.
• Cash contributions. (Either canceled check, bank statement, credit card statement or acknowledgment is required for all donations up to $249 and written acknowledgment from the charity for contributions in excess of $249.)
• Fair market value of clothing and other household items donated to charity. A qualified appraisal is generally required if the value of donated items exceeds $500.
• Gifts of capital gains property, such as appreciated stock. The current-year deduction is limited to 30% of AGI. Any excess can be carried over for up to five years.
• Out-of-pocket expenses incurred while engaged in volunteer activities, as long as they are properly substantiated.
• Deductions for charitable contributions of used motor vehicles, boats and airplanes now generally are limited to the amount the charity receives upon the vehicle’s sale and not the fair market value on the date of donation. Upon sale of the property, the charity is required to report to the taxpayer within 30 days the amount of proceeds realized on the sale. Charities are required to give a copy of written acknowledgments of such donations to the IRS.
• Appraised value of the vehicle donation may be used when the charitable organization uses the donated item in its charitable activity.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous itemized deductions generally are deductible to the extent that they exceed 2% of your AGI. Included…

• Accountants’ fees.
• Costs for job-related uniforms.
• Fees paid for professional journals.
• Investment management and custody fees for taxable investments.
• Job-related education expenses.
• Job-search expenses for a new job in your present occupation, including…
  • Travel to and from job interviews, including cab fare and/or auto expenses.
  • Costs for preparing, typing, printing and mailing résumés.
• Legal expenses incurred for the production of income or the management, conservation or maintenance of income-producing property.
• Legal expenses incurred in collecting alimony under a divorce decree are deductible. However, legal expenses incurred in a divorce paid by one spouse in resisting the other’s monetary demands are nondeductible personal expenses.
• Tax-preparation fees.
• Union and professional dues.

Other

Other deductions that a taxpayer can benefit from are…

• Teachers can deduct as an adjustment to gross income up to $250 for unreimbursed expenses for equipment used in the classroom (books, computer equipment and supplies).
• Employees and self-employed individuals may deduct as an adjustment to gross income the reasonable expenses of moving themselves and their families if the move is related to starting work in a new location. Deductible expenses include (1) transportation of household goods and personal effects and (2) travel (lodging but not meals).
• Legal fees and court costs paid in conjunction with discrimination or “whistle-blowing” cases after October 22, 2004, are deductible as adjustments to gross income and not as itemized deductions.
• All properly substantiated gambling losses are fully deductible to the extent that they are used to offset that year’s gambling winnings.
• Tuition and fees for higher education up to $4,000 (income limits apply).

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Resources to help you prepare your tax returns:

IRS Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses
IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions
IRS Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions
IRS Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts
IRS Publication 936, Home Mortgage Interest Deduction
IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education

All the above publications are available through the IRS’s Web site, http://www.IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM.

How To Die Right

by Jane Bennett Clark, Patricia Mertz Esswein and Lisa Gerstner / Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

These 8 steps can help ensure that your exit from this life goes as smoothly as possible for you and your family — and that you get the send-off you want.

Excuse No. 1: You’re not going to die.

Excuse No. 2: You’ve been too busy.

Excuse No. 3: You can’t stand thinking about a future that doesn’t include you.

If you’re coming up with these or other reasons for not planning for death, you’re in good — if not smart — company.

Just over one-third of Americans have a will, and fewer than half have any estate-planning documents at all, according to a 2011 survey conducted for EZLaw.com. “People don’t want to think about dying. They’re uncomfortable with the topic,” says Danielle Mayoras, co-author with Andrew Mayoras of “Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights.” “For that reason, they don’t do anything about estate planning.”

But making arrangements for your final days and beyond isn’t just about helping your family through difficult times. It also lets you designate representatives to make decisions about your care, withdraw money from your accounts to pay your bills and celebrate your existence in exactly the way you want — even if that means letting you take your last ride, to the cemetery, in a less-than-likely vehicle.

1. Write a will

If you die without a will, complete strangers will decide how to split up your estate and raise your children. It’s called dying intestate, an act (or failure to act) that leaves the divvying-up process to state law. In lieu of a will, the court gives first dibs to a spouse and children, followed by other relatives. If you have no family, your property goes to the state. And unless you appoint a guardian for your minor children in a legally executed will, their future will be determined by the court.

Don’t let those things happen. You can make out your own will for $70 or less at a do-it-yourself website, such as LegalZoom.com. If your circumstances are at all complex, you’ll need a lawyer, who will charge about $300 to draw up a simple will and $1,000 to $3,000 for an estate plan that involves a will and a trust.

Be sure to update these documents periodically to account for major events, such as the birth of a child. If you don’t, you could create the very mess you were trying to avoid.

2. Consider life insurance

You can skip life insurance if you have no one to support or you have enough money socked away to provide for your spouse or partner. Otherwise, you’ll need enough coverage to meet your family’s expenses when you can’t.

To figure out how much life insurance you need, estimate what it would cost to pay off your debts, such as a mortgage and car loans, and to fund savings goals, such as college for your kids. With these needs accounted for, your family may be able to live comfortably on about half of your current pretax income. Multiply that annual amount by 20 to determine how much coverage you’ll need. For example, it would take $1 million to produce $50,000 of annual income.

To calculate your total death-benefit needs, add up the amounts for paying off your debts, funding savings goals and providing annual income. But don’t take that number as gospel, says Tim Maurer, a fee-only financial planner in Hunt Valley, Md. “It can be geared up or down, depending on your situation.”

Term life insurance, which carries a fixed premium over the life of the term (usually 20 years), can be surprisingly affordable, even for large amounts. For instance, a 35-year-old male nonsmoker might pay $470 a year for a 20-year term policy carrying a $1 million death benefit.

3. Establish critical end-of-life documents

“A lot of people think that estate planning is only for when they die,” says Danielle Mayoras. “It’s also to take care of us during our lifetimes.” To help family members carry out your wishes if you cannot, provide them with these documents:

• A durable power of attorney lets your agent manage your finances and legal affairs.
• A release-of-information form gives doctors permission to share your medical records with designated representatives.
• Advance directives provides guidance when you are alive but incapacitated. A durable power of attorney for health care names a representative to make medical decisions on your behalf. A living will specifies the medical treatment you do or do not want at the end of your life.

4. Avoid probate

To listen to some people, you’d think letting your estate go through probate was worse than death itself. Don’t take their word for it. The probate process, by which your executor settles your debts and disburses your property, could be as simple as filling out forms and paying a few hundred dollars in filing fees. But it could also be a long ordeal that ties up your estate for months and costs thousands of dollars in legal fees and other expenses.

Before you start fretting about the latter scenario, consider that some property isn’t subject to probate at all. Life insurance death benefits and the money in retirement accounts pass directly to your named beneficiaries, and property owned jointly with the right of survivorship– say, a house or a car — transfers automatically to the co-owner. You can also arrange for bank and other accounts to be transferable or payable on death, giving the recipient immediate access to the money.

Take enough off the plate, and your estate could qualify for small-estate treatment, which is much simpler than regular probate, says Mary Randolph, the author of “8 Ways to Avoid Probate.” Most states offer simplified probate or waive it altogether for estates valued at $200,000 or less, depending on the jurisdiction. (Find out how your state handles probate here.)

One good reason to avoid probate: privacy. Probate puts your affairs in the public record and requires that your executor notify your relatives and give claimants time to challenge your will. If you don’t want snoops looking at what you left, or your prodigal child fuming at what you didn’t leave, make arrangements to avoid probate.

5. Set up trusts

Possessions owned solely in your name go through probate. But if you transfer title of those possessions to a revocable living trust, naming yourself as trustee, you retain control over the assets during your lifetime and the property inside the trust goes directly to your heirs upon your death. Result: no probate, no fees, no public airing of your business.

In fact, living trusts can be a valuable tool for people who want to keep their affairs private, avoid a drawn-out probate or disinherit a family member. “It’s more difficult to challenge a trust than a will,” says Richard Durso, a certified financial planner in Philadelphia. But the arrangement requires punctilious attention. Fail to retitle even one asset and you kick the estate into probate, defeating the purpose of the living trust.

A lawyer will likely charge $1,000 to $3,000 to draw up the document, and more if you have the lawyer do the retitling.

6. Divvy up your stuff

Your legacy will surely include stuff, from the kitchen broom to heirloom jewelry. A will typically leaves such “tangible personal property” (that you own without a title) to a spouse or children, leaving them to sort out who gets what. The process may not be pretty.

To head off family conflict and avoid the cost of updating your will, state in your will that you have left a separate, signed list of bequests. You may revise the list at any time for free, but date it in case survivors find an earlier version. You can also specify a strategy for divvying up the rest of your property. For ideas, see Marlene Stum’s “Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate?” One option: Your executor can set up an online auction at eDivvyup (99 cents per 100 items). Invitees bid on items posted by your executor, with allotted credits.

If you own something you think is valuable, get an appraisal and have it updated every five years or so. (Find an appraiser at the American Society of Appraisers.) From your survivors’ point of view, an equitable distribution may have nothing to do with monetary value. Discuss your plans in advance, or better yet, give gifts now, while you can still receive the recipients’ thanks.

7. Plan your memorial or funeral

Over the past few decades, the tone of funerals has shifted. “It used to be an event where we came to mourn,” says Rick Noel, the manager of Walton’s Chapel of the Valley funeral home, in Carson City, Nev. “Now it’s an event where we come to celebrate a life.” You can personalize your “party” by leaving your family with photographs, music and objects that reflect your interests to include in a service.

And you’re not limited to the usual ideas. A firetruck carried one of Noel’s clients, a firefighter, from the church to the cemetery. Another man, who collected antique cars, made his last road trip in a procession of them. In lieu of a viewing, you could request that your friends and family commemorate your life at a place you love — say, a restaurant, a beach or a park. Most states don’t require you to use a funeral home’s services.

Don’t let your carefully laid plans go to waste. If you include them in your will, your survivors may not see the instructions until it’s too late because they may not be able to get the will from your lawyer or safe-deposit box in time. Make a separate list detailing your funeral and burial wishes, and give copies to your family. Or for $12, buy a fill-in-the-blank booklet from the Funeral Consumers Alliance, which includes a checklist of legal documents plus templates for advance medical directives.

You can also store the information online. For example, at MyWonderfulLife.com, you can fill out forms detailing your arrangements, upload photographs, music and letters to family and friends, write your obituary and more. The site lets you notify up to six family members and friends via email to carry out your wishes.

8. Choose burial or cremation

You may already have a strong sense of how and where you’d like to rest for good, based on your religious beliefs or personal preferences. If you don’t, the decision may come down to price. The average cost of a funeral, not including cemetery expenses, was $6,560 in 2009 (the most recent year for which data was available), according to the National Funeral Directors Association.

Choosing cremation could save money, depending on whether you have a viewing before the cremation and where you want the remains to be interred or scattered. A direct cremation — one that doesn’t include a visitation or funeral service — typically runs $1,500 to $1,800. You can spare your family some headaches by signing a legal authorization for your cremation in advance. Otherwise, depending on your state’s laws, each of your children may have to give consent for cremation, which could be a hassle if your family members are spread across the country or disagree about whether your body should be cremated.

A burial without a viewing could also save money, but you’ll still have to factor in costs for a casket and any cemetery-related expenses, such as a plot, marker or vault. In most states, you can designate an “agent for body disposition” — a person who has legal rights to handle your final arrangements — which can override next-of-kin rules.

This article was reported by Jane Bennett Clark, Pat Mertz Esswein and Lisa Gerstner for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.

Our Brave New World of No Privacy

Do you care if the words “personal” and/or “private” have no meaning? A curious and interesting consideration. The definition of privacy– “a. the quality or state of being apart from company or observation; b. freedom from unauthorized intrusion”.

On March 1^st, Google’s old privacy tools/policies and old terms of service will be replaced by their new policy on privacy*, with no opt-out choice and new terms of service policy.   One of Google’s goals as stated at the top of the, (soon to be outdated), “Privacy Tools” page states:  “One of our goals at Google is to give users meaningful choices to protect your privacy.”  No longer.

Especially interesting; Google made the choice to release their new “no-privacy” policy on the heels of a disappointing 4^th quarter earnings report.  I’m truly puzzled.  Facebook users have, traditionally, been very unhappy when technological glitches, or “new announcements/policies” have even hinted, (or succeeded), at taking away the ability to control their privacy.   Yet Google, (after recently launching Google+), is counting on a no privacy policy to boost earnings?   While it’s true that I’m sure I have a lot less privacy than I actually think I do, I still like to think that I have some control over what I choose to “share with the world”.  It’s very hard for my brain to truly comprehend what life would/will be like if the words “privacy” and “personal” are devoid of meaning.

Google’s “spin” on the new “no privacy” policy is they’re just helping us enjoy an enriched life filled with more fun.  Thanks to the new, no privacy policy, not only will life be more fun, but so much more fulfilling as Google “helps” us by trolling our no-longer-private-emails and combining that with other platforms/services:

• In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.
• Our search box now gives you great answers not just from the web, but your personal stuff too.
• But there’s so much more that Google can do to help you by sharing more of your information with … well, you.  (Huh?  Oh yeah, I get it, Google is just letting us know that we no longer have the right to “opt out” of sharing our information with ourselves?  This has to win the PRIZE for STUPID statement of all time!)  Click here for a MUST HEAR conversation!

This “no-privacy” policy will take effect across all 60+ Google owned/operated platforms, including Gmail, YouTube, Google+, etc.  Click here to see a list of Google’s products, services & apps and here for a list of Google acquisitions.  They don’t call this “data mining” they call it “data liberation”.  On the “data liberation” page, is the statement:

Users should be able to control the data they store in any of Google’s products.  Our team’s goal is to make it easier to move data in and out.

If you’re concerned about “no privacy”, take the time to utilize the information on the “data liberation” page to remove data you have stored in anything related to Google.

”Perhaps Google’s new no privacy policy has to do with a settlement between Google and the Federal Trade Commission that forbids Google from misrepresenting how it uses personal information and from sharing an individual’s data without prior approval.

Have we have reached the “Zero Moment of Truth?

What do you think?  If you’re concerned, please share this!

*Let us hope that Google’s new “no-privacy” policy doesn’t include “Google Wallet”.  Although, if you have any Google app installed on your smart phone, technically, Google can track where you’re at, what you’re doing and what you buy; all without your permission.

Don’t Forget to Say Thank-You

Received the following email from Google today, and wanted to share it.  We shouldn’t forget to thank all representatives that stood against SOPA & PIPA.  🙂

Thank you for taking action!

Hi Julieanna Last week you stood with millions of Americans to protect online freedom and innovation. Congress heard you, and delayed consideration of the PIPA and SOPA bills, which — if enacted — would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American businesses. We hope that today you will join us in thanking your representatives for protecting the Internet. And we want to thank you, again, for your actions last week. We are humbled that so many of you rallied around what we believe is the most transformative invention in history.

Until next time,

The Google team