Blog dedicado a la formación en todos sus ámbitos: presencial, online, a distancia
Hola:
Una infografía sobre las dimensiones de las imágenes de la publicidad de Google.
Un saludo
[ Source TechWyse Internet Marketing ]
Hola:
Una infografía sobre el cálculo del ROI para APPs. Vía
Un saludo
Cálculo del ROI para APPs
Costco’s nightmare before Christmas in July of 2013.
South of the border, we don’t even consider holiday-themed wrapping and decoration items on display at warehouse stores in July “news” anymore. Sure, it’s an example of Christmas Creep, but many readers have also pointed out to us (repeatedly) that small businesses use Costco for some of their supplies, and these small businesses need to buy Christmas ribbon in mid-July for some reason. Fine.
This is all new to the CBC, though, which interviewed ordinary Canadians shopping at Costco about the early appearance of wrapping paper. One shopper used the “small businesses shop at Costco, too” argument, and another complained that it’s too early, and he plans to buy his wrapping paper on December 24th.
A marketing professor at Simon Fraser University put the blame for Christmas Creep squarely where it belongs: America. We simply don’t celebrate Christmas the same way Canadians do, and American ownership of chains like Costco and Target means that our disgusting marketing schedules have crept north, too.
“In the United States, Christmas is not the family holiday that it is here. Christmas is an economic time for the retailers to make the money,” she explained to the CBC.
That’s not really how it works, though, is it? We’re buying presents for our friends and family and spending time with them. Sure, marketers want us to think that how much we spend on our family members is a direct proxy for how much we care about them, but most people are bright enough to see through that.
Besides, if you see the holiday season as an “economic time,” the flaw in that reasoning is that putting Christmas stuff out in July means that the season lasts almost half of the year.
Costco Christmas decorations already on sale – but is it too early? [CBC]
Breaking a promise and overcharging for products is a pretty shady deal to begin with, but when the company you’re taking money from is the already financially-strapped U.S. Postal Service, it’s like rubbing salt in the wound. Hewlett Packard has agreed to pay $32.5 million to settle allegations that it overcharged the USPS for nine years.
The settlement stems from a period of time between October 2001 and December 2010 when HP allegedly didn’t comply with pricing terms set forth in a contract with the USPS, Reuters reports.
Part of that contract stipulated that HP wouldn’t charge USPS prices greater than those offered to the company’s other comparable contracts, according to the Justice Department.
Additionally, the Justice Dept. alleges that HP made misrepresentations during the negotiation of the contract regarding its pricing and its plans to ensure it would provide the required most favored customer pricing.
While HP didn’t admit liability in the case, a spokesperson for the company says HP is “happy to find a mutually acceptable resolution” and “values its ongoing relationship” with USPS.
Hewlett-Packard to pay $32.5 million to settle USPS pricing case [Reuters]
(Consumerist)
It’s been a nearly two-year ordeal to right the wrong perpetrated in the fall of 2012 by the Librarian of Congress, who used his discretion to reinterpret the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to state that cellphones are effectively the property of your wireless carrier, even if you’ve long since paid full price for the phone.
The LOC’s industry-backed argument was based on the idea that the apps and other software required to run cellphones is not purchased, but is instead licensed by the user. Thus, in order to legally unlock a device and take it to a new carrier, the consumer would need to get permission from that licensor.
If that sounds ridiculous to you, that’s because it is.
Regardless, in early 2013, it became illegal to unlock a new phone or table without permission. Compounding the problem, there are no laws compelling carriers to agree to unlock customers’ devices.
The backlash was immediate and massive, with people flooding a White House petition asking the President to overturn the LOC’s ruling. In March 2013, the President responded to the petition, saying he agreed with consumers and directing his administration to see what could be done.
The FCC directed the wireless industry to come up with its own guidelines to make unlocking easier. While those rules are better than nothing, they are not legally binding and still operate under the misguided notion that a consumer doesn’t own her phone.
Meanwhile, legislation was introduced in both the House and Senate to override the LOC’s harebrained actions.
Initially, both versions were identical, but the version that passed through the House in early 2014 included some last-minute language changes that caused many advocacy groups to drop their support.
The language limited the unlocking of phones to individuals and left open the door to future DMCA restrictions on bulk unlocking. This raised concerns that a company could use copyright as an excuse to inhibit certain business models, even if the business isn’t actually infringing anyone’s copyright.
That language was not in the version that the President is signing today.
You still need to own your phone outright in order to unlock it legally. Additionally, unlocking your phone won’t help if you want to switch to a new carrier with an incompatible network. But if you’ve fulfilled your contractual obligation to your current provider and your new wireless provider uses a network that’s compatible with your current device, you can unlock it yourself and be on your merry way.
In an effort to stem the tide of foodborne illnesses hitting the country every year via chicken and turkey, the Obama administration has announced new rules for poultry plants, revamping the rules its used for inspections for the first time since 1957.
The United States Department of Agriculture says the aptly named New Poultry Inspection System will prevent up to 5,000 illnesses from things like Salmonella and Campylobacter. Though the NPIS cuts down on the total number of inspectors, it says it positions food safety workers throughout the plants in a smarter way, stressing safety over food quality.
“The United States has been relying on a poultry inspection model that dates back to 1957, while rates of foodborne illness due to Salmonella and Campylobacter remain stubbornly high,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “The system we are announcing today imposes stricter requirements on the poultry industry and places our trained inspectors where they can better ensure food is being processed safely. These improvements make use of sound science to modernize food safety procedures and prevent thousands of illnesses each year.”
The Food Safety and Inspection service will require companies to focus on preventing contamination, instead of trying to deal with it after it already occurs.
In the first-ever rule of its kind, all poultry plants will have to conduct their own microbiological testing at two different points in the production process to ensure they’re controlling Salmonella and Campylobacter. The FSIS will also continue its own testing.
In addition, the optional NPIS will mean companies must sort their poultry themselves to look for quality defects before the poultry ever gets to FSIS inspectors.
That way, the inspectors can “focus less on routine quality assurance tasks that have little relationship to preventing pathogens like Salmonella and instead focus more on strategies that are proven to strengthen food safety,” the press release explains.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the numbers for salmonella linked illnesses at 1.2 million per year, resulting in 450 deaths, reports the Associated Press.
Consumers in the know might be aware of this year’s Foster Farms recall after 634 salmonella-related illnesses in 29 states and Puerto Rico were linked to their products over the span of a year.
And there was the Cargill recall of 2011, when the company recalled more than 36 million pounds of ground turkey after a salmonella outbreak hit 136 people and killed one.
USDA Announces Additional Food Safety Requirements, New Inspection System for Poultry Products [USDA.gov]
USDA overhauls 50 year-old poultry inspections [Associated Press]
According to a report from the 9To5Mac blog, Apple will be eliminating approximately 200 jobs at Beats – but that’s apparently just a small portion of the 700 jobs being cut in total.
An official with the company tells the blog that because of an “overlap in operations, some offers are for a limited period and we’ll work hard during this time to find as many of these Beats employees as we can another permanent job within Apple.”
Although Apple didn’t confirm the exact number of positions on the chopping block, an insider tells 9To5 that several Beats employees in support, finance and human resources have already been dismissed, offered new jobs at Apple HQ in Cupertino, CA, or given temporary positions until January 2015.
As far as Beats’ executives’ job-status goes, co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre have already committed to transitioning to Apple, while others haven’t made definitive decisions, although reports point to many staying on board.
Apple first announced it would purchase Beats in May, marking the largest acquisition for the company to date. The deal not only includes Beats’ iconic headphones – which are currently party to an infringement lawsuit by Bose – but also the company’s streaming music service.
Naturally, people unable to deal with reality or with doing their actual work turned to Twitter in order to make sure their inane thoughts were being shared with as many people as possible. Though the posts weren’t all inane: hardship led to funny jokes from professional comedians and random people alike about the important role that Facebook has taken in our lives in just a few years.
The #facebookdown hashtag has been a solid source of ranting, self-righteous “I don’t use Facebook anyway” huffing, and entertainment.
There is a gap in my twitter feed between those worrying about Facebook being down and those worrying about Ebola coming to US.—
Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) August 01, 2014
Website social media workers shriek in terror for lack of referral traffic due to #facebookdown—
Clint Durrett (@Phanclan) August 01, 2014
It’s funny because it’s true.
People accept that God exists & created the universe without evidence or proof but if you tell them Facebook is down they immediately check.—
Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) August 01, 2014
People who took part in this survey were adults who live in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. There were about 1,533 respondents, and the findings were pretty consistent across all three countries surveyed.
One of the chief advantages of the vehicles is supposed to be fewer accidents, and survey participants agreed with that. In theory. When asked how they would probably spend their time in a self-driving vehicle, 41% of all respondents said that they would still watch the road even though it’s not necessary when they aren’t driving.
8.3% of people say that they would probably read, 5.3% say that they would watch TV (that’s probably a gross underestimate) and only 7% of respondents say that they would sleep. Wouldn’t commute snoozing or being able to have your car chauffeur you overnight on road trips be one of the main advantages of a self-driving vehicle?
Respondents generally had positive ideas about self-driving technology, but seemed nervous about the loss of control and about adopting the cars in their real lives when the time comes. They also didn’t want to pay extra for the option of a self-driving car.
A Survey of Public Opinion about Autonomous and Self-Driving
Vehicles in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia [University of Michigan]
Survey: People Like Self-Driving Cars, But Not Enough to Sleep in Them [Wall Street Journal]
(PaulBarwick)
When your company is under investigation by federal regulators it’s best to be forthcoming with your net worth, because, you know, secrets come out. And when that secret happens to be hidden money, the subsequent fine will likely increase – by a lot.
A former work-at-home scheme operator, who allegedly tried to hide his assets from the Federal Trade Commission in reference to a 2009 case, went from owing nothing to a hefty tab of $26.9 million for his alleged additional deceptive actions, the FTC announced Thursday.
Jonathan Eborn, one of the operators behind operations such as “Google Money Tree,” “Google Pro” and “Google Treasure Chest,” allegedly hid at least $274,828.80 in assets from investigators during the settlement portion of the earlier case by misrepresenting his control over the businesses.
This summer, based on the new findings, a U.S. District Court in Nevada reinstated the full judgement against Eborn: $26.9 million.
The amount stems from his company’s part in marketing an alleged work-at-home scam, in which consumers purchased a low-cost kit with promises they would earn $100,000 in six months.
Back in 2009, the FTC charged Eborn and other operators with using the scheme to lure consumers into divulging their financial account information and failing to disclose that they would be charged $72.21 a month.
As part of the settlement, the defendants gave up more than $3.5 million in cash and other assets. At the time, Eborn was excused from liability for the bulk of the judgement based on his sworn financial stateless that showed his inability to pay.
However, part of the settlement included a provision that stated if any defendant misrepresented their financial condition, the full judgement would become due.
FTC Obtains $26.9 Million Judgment Against Work-at-Home Scammer Who Tried to Hide His Assets from 2010 Court Judgment [Federal Trade Commission]
