Below this interesting infographic is from

These scammers keep coming up with new angles and we need to be on our toes to avoid them. I think most scams are just variations on things we have seen time and time again before.

Life was easier, safer and sometimes a lot more fun before computers and the Internet came into being in my opinions.

Whatever, stay safe online, if you received emails that looks or feel wrong to you, it probably is wrong, think carefully and you wont get caught!

Dearest Ann liu..

I am Sandra Kwojo daughter of Fred Kwojo the Managing Director of Classic Trade (South Africa and Ghana West Africa). I am 18 years of age and an undergraduate, raised by my father as a single parent. My father is an American but had lived most of his live here in South Africa and Ghana until his death. He met his untimely death when unknown gun men shot his car and he died after 4hrs of uncontrolled bleeding and I have been left alone in this world for 9 months since his sudden death.

In my strive to survive here, I have sold most of my belongings to eat but recently as I was searching through my father’s files, I saw the document of seven hundred and fifty thousand British Pounds (£3,1 .0000,00) deposit he made on my name with a finance house [ETSSOLIVA COMPANY] in United Kingdom for my up keep and education because he had wanted to move me to the UK for my education when I get to 21yrs of age but his sudden death denied me this privilege, tears!!

Please bear with me that I don’t hear clearly, I seriously need help from you as the environment I am is not friendly again. All my father’s friends are now seeing me as a pest and are not welcoming again and some ask for sex before they could help me.

Please I am seeking your consent to assist me especially in the area of moving me out of this place to a new environment where I will continue my education and also for the claims of this money because I wrote to the finance house, but they needed an adult who will stand for me as my guardian before they can release this fund to me to avoid mismanagement and other risk according to them since I am still under age.

Please I beg you to help my situation; I shall furnish you with all the necessary information regarding this deposit for you to contact the finance house in United Kingdom on my behalf telling them I have asked for the transfer of the fund to you as my guardian.

Now let me to ask these few questions:-

1. Can you honestly help me as your Daughter?
2. Can I completely trust you?

Please, consider this and get back to me as soon as possible. I shall wait upon your response and if you are not in the good position to help me, please your advice and assistance will be appreciated

Thanks

Sandra Kwojo

CALL +233245010664

I just got my new unique link for sharing with groups of peeps to invite them to join Google+!

If you are also on the Google Plus, login to your account, click the Invite friends button on the right side bar as usual, see below:

Click on the button, and in the pop up you can see now I can invite people come to join Google+ by email, or Share My Special Link. Since Google Plus still in field trial, so the signups are limited to 150 per person.

Don’t forget ADD me to your circle! But if you still didn’t get invitation to Google+, you can post your gmail address in below the comment area, I will send you the invitation, there are lots of cool stuff on Google Plus, so see you there

WordPress 3.2 is the fifteenth major WordPress release in the project’s eight-year history. The focus in this release was to make things faster, lighter. Marshable has listed up a few nice things about the new release WP 3.2, below are the excerpt.

1. New Minimum Requirements – the new release officially drops support for older versions of PHP and MySQL. The new requirements mean that PHP 4 and MySQL 4 will no longer be supported, instead it requires for PHP 5 and MySQL 5.

2. Redesigned Dashboard – The new interface looks more professional and more polished. It is cleaner and more streamlined compare with the previous version.

3. Distraction Free Writing Mode – I like its nice new writing mode feature, which is aiming at cutting down on distractions and making it easier for users to “just write.” It also very smart and allow users to access various parts of the publishing interface.

4. Goodbye, IE 6 – many of the new features and additions just don’t play well with the aging browser in the new release WP 3.2, so they dropped of supporting for IE 6. Even you still can load the WordPress dashboard in IE 6 but it won’t look good or be very usable.

5. New Default Theme – Twenty Eleven, the new default visually is clean and modern and it supports responsive layouts, which means that the same website will look great on a phone, an iPad or desktop monitors of varying sizes.

Here is the email that affiliates in above mentioned states received from Amazon shortly after California governor Jerry Brown signed the budget:

Hello,

For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of California residents. Unfortunately, a potential new law that may be signed by Governor Brown compels us to terminate this program for California-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers – including but not limited to those referred by California-based marketing affiliates like you – even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

We oppose this bill because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It is supported by big-box retailers, most of which are based outside California, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that we must take this action.

As a result, we will terminate contracts with all California residents that are participants in the Amazon Associates Program as of the date (if any) that the California law becomes effective. We will send a follow-up notice to you confirming the termination date if the California law is enacted. In the event that the California law does not become effective before September 30, 2011, we withdraw this notice. As of the termination date, California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned on or before the termination date will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California. If you are not currently a resident of California, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state in the near future please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To avoid confusion, we would like to clarify that this development will only impact our ability to offer the Associates Program to California residents and will not affect their ability to purchase from Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com.

We have enjoyed working with you and other California-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to California residents. We are also working on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and we will be sure to contact you when these become available.

Regards,
The Amazon Associates Team

It sadden me is that those who brought these laws into place are probably not witnessing the impact of their decisions on their constituency. I’m not from California, but I am really saddened that individuals that’s trying to make an honest living have to suffer financially because of the decision that’s made by the politicians. I thought those politicians should be encouraging Americans to become financially independent because the ratio of people looking for work compared to the jobs that’s available is ridiculous, but it seems like not.

According to the Amazon Associate’s blog, 80,000 affiliates had their accounts suspended already. From what I understand, Associates can still log on to their accounts and even create links, but they won’t be paid for further business. Also, if an Associate did not make their minimum quota, they lose any revenue earned since the last payment.

I think it’s crazy to do business with a company that will just close your account at the drop of a hat. It maybe better to partner with smaller companies that want to work with you. If your business is completely dependent on the big Google, Ebay, or Amazon, you better reconsider your strategy. You could be out of business tomorrow.

However, I don’t know all of them so if you see my categories are not quite right, do forgive me. The subject in this list is quite diversify, it cover a range of topics including blogging, marketing, creative thinking, copy writing, social media marketing, and other business topics as well as a few blog specific books.

Blogging

• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• Create Your Own Blog: 6 Easy Projects to Start Blogging Like a Pro
• 31 Days to Build a Better Blog – you can read more about this ebook here
• Blog Marketing
• Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series)
• Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read (2nd Edition)
• Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers
• The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right
• Blogwild!: A Guide for Small Business Blogging
• Blogging for Business: Everything You Need to Know and Why You Should Care
• Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies
• Money For Content and Your Clicks For Free: Turning Web Sites, Blogs, and Podcasts Into Cash

Marketing

• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)
• Facebook: The Missing Manual
• Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business!
• The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz, and Increase Revenue
• Success Secrets of Social Media Marketing Superstars
• Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series)
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, 2nd Edition
• All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
• Marketing Green Building Services: Strategies for Success
• Marketing for Smart People
• The Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
• Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands
• Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit
• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
• Gonzo Marketing: Winning Through Worst Practices
• World Wide Web Marketing: Integrating the Web into Your Marketing Strategy
• Life After the 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With a Bold Mix of Alternatives to Traditional Advertising
• Social Media Marketing: Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media
• Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition
• Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers
• Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing
• Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich: Create Winning Ads, Web Pages, Sales Letters and More
• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Marketing 2.0: Bridging the Gap between Seller and Buyer through Social Media Marketing
• UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging
• The Social Media Management Handbook: Everything You Need To Know To Get Social Media Working In Your Business
• The Step by Step Guide to Facebook for Business

Copy Writing

• Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You
• Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
• Write It Right: The Ground Rules for Self-Editing Like the Pros
• 1100 Words You Need to Know
• 1000 Most Important Words
• Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing
• On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (On Writing Well)
• Rules for Writers with 2009 MLA and 2010 APA Updates
• Creativity Rules: A Writer’s Workbook
• Choose the Right Word: Second Edition
• The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters
• Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs
• Breakthrough Advertising: How to Write Ads That Shatter Traditions and Sales Records
• The Copywriter’s Handbook, Third Edition: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells
• Persuasive Online Copywriting: How to Take Your Words to the Bank
• Advertising Secrets of the Written Word
• Hot Text: Web Writing that Works
• The Story Factor
• Tested Advertising Methods

Creative Thinking

• Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques (2nd Edition)
• Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas
• Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step (Perennial Library)
• Growing Great Ideas: Unleashing Creativity at Work
• Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
• A Technique for Producing Ideas (Advertising Age Classics Library)
• Six Thinking Hats
• How to Have a Beautiful Mind
• De Bono’s Supermind Pack : Expand Your Thinking Powers With Strategic Games & Mental Exercises

Here are the simple steps to get this done.

Step 1: Go to Gmail -> Settings -> Labs and browse to “Add any gadget by URL”. Click on Enable and it will add a “Gadgets” tab to Settings.

Step 2: Then, go to “Gadgets” tab, add the below link-

“http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/104971404861070329537/facebook.xml” into the text field and click on Add button.

Step 3: Now you should be able to find a gadget icon on the left pane bar(mostly below the chat) . Click on it will bring up a new interface within your Gmail where you can login to Facebook directly.

Now you will be able to update your status as well as getting all your friend’s updates in real-time.

Hope you find this post helpful, if you like it, do share it with others.

Back to month ago, I saw there are so many FB members are promoting Facebook Stalker app in which actually scammers are trying to get you to give up your FB password, even Facebook removed the original stalker app very quickly (because security issues), but don’t believe that others will be any different. So don’t fall for it.

As we see these days the virus are crazy going around on FB are – An application called clickily.ws, about who’s viewing your profile and pics, the other one is supposedly a video of Osama Bin Laden’s killing, and the third one is about an old man face that tells u to see what you’ll look in the future. You might see some other types of links or picture that ask you to click, if you are not sure about whether they are virus or not, don’t click and don’t get yourself into the trap.

If your account got hit, – DO NOT click and open them, they are viruses, delete it from your wall immediately. If you click on the link, it infects our FB account and sends out the posts to our friends who may unknowingly click on the link and spread the virus yet again.

Please do not click on any link on your wall from these posts and do not click on the links in the emails or in the chat windows. Follow the steps that suggested in screenshot (see below) and change your FB account settings.

If the screenshot is too small for you to see, you can also find it on my Facebook page under photo section.

Remember: If one of u FB friend tags you by using Facebook tag feature then it’s ok, BUT if you see someone tagged you through using another FB Apps and you see a link on that image or in the bottom – Delete it from u wall.

Forks, don’t fall for the bandwagon. In too many cases, it’s just a front for nefarious programmer (scammers) to get access to your account, stay safe online!

I was so exciting about this new release, so I immediately update Body-Mind-Spiritual Balance, IM and Relationship Marketing, as well as this site to the new 3.1 version yesterday. Unfortunately, after installation done, all the sudden, all site’s permalinks are stopped working. I was like ‘What’s happened?” (you can imagine my feelings).

I was trying to figure out what caused it, why after upgrading, all the links are not working? After rambling a while, I figured out the reason, it is plugin “Simple Tag” caused it. Before I find out the real reason that caused all the troubles, I did these following:

1. Log in to my wp-admin and go to permalinks, click save to let it refresh my permalinks, after that I checked the site to see if this fixed my permalinks problem, but no luck, its still did not work, so I set it to the default – bang, it works . But for SEO purpose, I want to use Custom Structure link instead of default, so still need to fixed the problem.

2. Disable my plugins to remove them out of the equation.

3. Log into my server via FTP and find my .htaccess file, download it to the local back up, after that I delete it from my server.

4. I go back to wp-admin and visit my permalinks page and enabled the custom permalinks.

6. I go back to the plug in and re-enable/active each one of them and found out that ‘Simple Tag’ plugin – is the one that not compatible and can’t handle the 3.1 upgrade.

Now problem got fixed and my custom permalinks is start to working, you can learn more about how to custom and Using Permalinks in wordpress official site.

Biotech and Healthcare

1) Social Networking and Health (Health Internet Radio Show)
2) physician ratings (Health Behavior News Service)
3) AIDS Drug Assistance Program Crisis (The PBS NewsHour)

Business and Finance

4) Social Media Marketing Strategies
5) Healthcare Hospital Administration (Equal Opportunity Magazine)
6) Consumers hassled over old, charged-off debt
7) Updated Web Sites (UBM)
Fundraising in Latin America (PEI)
9) Need Female Business Authors
10) What should be in a business operating plan for an LLC? (National Magazine)
11) Common Tax Mistakes (TheStreet)
12) building security (Multifamily Executive)
13) Inspirational Women (Online Business Site for Women)
14) How to deal with people that tell you NO! (Self Help Book)
15) mental toughness examples (research article)
16) Expert needed for embezzlement story (Lodi News-Sentinel)
17) ASSOCIATION MEETINGS WITH COMMUNITY-SERVICE COMPONENTS (National Trade Magazine)
18) Human Resource Professionals & Gym Owners (Trade Publication)
19) Cheap Dates
20) How Much is Too Much Government Involvement With Home Owners?

Education

21) Preteen sleepovers – tips for parents not party ideas (regional parenting publications nationwide)
22) Educational Advocate (Total Education Network)
23) Reggio Emilia (Demand Media)
24) Looking for Experts in African American History (National Geographic Museum Blog)
25) Copywriter of articles, promotional materials, book author. (Haylake Business Communications)

Energy and Green Tech

26) Fuel Ethanol Cleaning Processes

Entertainment and Media

27) Roundup of Charitable Events/Fundraisers for 2011 (Vivanista)
28) Bulletstorm and video game violence (Major news)
29) Seeking Extraordinary Kids and Teens (Entertainment Studios)

General

30) Law Enforcement Input Needed (Freelance)
31) Personal Stories for Upcoming Book (New Book)
32) spring break safety (Demand Media)
33) Looking to interview homeowner who’s realtor used “lifestyle marketing” to sell their home (MetroWest Daily News)
34) Tips for Midlife Women Looking For Mr. Right (ebook)
35) Looking for interior decorators (Content that works)
36) Ordinary Americans who decided to stay in Cairo despite protests (Arabia Inform)
37) Alternatives to the Stuffy Briefcase (My Life Scoop)
38) saving on valentine’s (online)

39) Trouble filing your taxes? (CBS Early Show)
40) Handling awkward situations (KNXV-TV)
41) What Vegas needs to be cool (Vegas Magazine)
42) Book Publishing’s Marketing Campaigns (Available Upon Request)

High Tech

43) How Much Did You Get for iPhone? (AOL)

Lifestyle and Fitness

44) Custom Shower Design from Concept to Execution (Lowes for Pros)
45) Plumbing a Custom Shower or Vertical Spa (Lowes for Pros)
46) Inspiring Reinvention Stories (The Saturday Evening Post)
47) Can sleeping with your pet make you sick?
48) Moms & Bloggers – Favorite Family Recipes Needed (Ebook)
49) Long distance parenting & tech (Yahoo Shine)
50) Personal Branding BTR Show needs questions!
51) Cultural Products for Kids (NBC San Antonio)
52) Beauty Product Differentiation (Be You Only Better and the Atlanta Examiner)
53) Pediatrician & Child Psychiatrist Opinion on Benefits of Kids Yoga (Freelance Article)
54) Celebrity Parents on Kids Yoga (National Magazine)
55) nasty bachelor pads (msnbc.com)
56) women + risk-taking: ISO anecdotes, experts (women’s magazine)
57) Need a Speed-Dating Expert (And Now Media)
58) benefits of chocolate (online)
59) Recipes NEEDED (She Knows)
60) Pets and your health (She Knows)
61) Mood-lifting foods (She Knows)
62) Favorite conversation starters (She Knows)
63) Sports psychologists to discuss getting off an exercise plateau (Major online site)
64) Looking to interview a DENTIST for some reader Q&As; – deadline is TODAY (Life & Beauty Weekly)
65) Looking for a chic little tennis dress! (WAG Magazine (luxury lifestyle magazine in suburban NYC))
66) Home haircuts (Studio One Networks)

Sports

67) 1942 college football season players (Book)
68) Sports in elementary schools (Vegreville Observer)

Travel

69) travel blog / podcast
70) Miami Adventures (National Blog)
71) Best of Park City, UT (Dotting The Map)
72) Strategies for Free Vacation stuff

See, basically, HARO is a place where it brings a large number of reporters and bloggers everyday with over 100,000 news sources and thousands of small businesses together to tell their stories, promote their brands and sell their products and services.

It is a widely-used social media service that enables journalists to connect with the right source, and grants everyone – from home-based entrepreneurs to large businesses – access to reporters who may write about them.

According to the report, HARO has published more than 75,000 journalist queries, has facilitated nearly 7,500,000 media pitches, and has marketed and promoted close to 1,500 brands to the media, small businesses and consumers.

Then what is in it for marketers?

Unlike a majority of social media services, HARO is independently owned and funded. It serves as a vital social networking resource for sources. It is entirely free to sources and for reporters to use.

Think about this, you, as a marketer or affiliate marketer – if the offer of your product or services got found by reporters, or if you business, your brand can grab the attention of reporters, they will use the info or write about you in their report and publish it to the CNN, CBS, Fox, Niche Media, News Corporation, AP, Reuters and etc, not only you will get whole lots of backlinks, it also helps you get your business out quickly.

In the other words, it will help your business reach a ridiculously large and targeted audience who actually listens and is looking for what you’re promoting and selling.