Categories
Random

You gotta love French socialism

On my daily read of the French newspaper Le Monde (the World), I came across this article that just made me angry!

It is about a man called Ali, illegal immigrant, who is going on strike because his boss (who hired him illegally since Ali is an illegal immigrant) doesn’t want to give him paid vacations. How funny is that?

Only in France…

Categories
Opinions

Why the US should NOT boycott the Olympics

Boycott China OlympicsAlthough the idea of protecting human rights and bringing democracy in China looks good on paper, I believe this is not doable for any country who wishes to stay in good terms with China.

Let’s face it, China is the largest market in the world and a country simply can’t afford to reject it’s largest potential clients.

I came across this great article on Business Week. The author Diane Brady has a very good point there:

Categories
SEO

Is this link building technique really working?

BacklinksI recently recommended that we use blogs versus “normal websites” for some of the World Franchising Network websites, including, 100 Top Franchises, Minority Franchising, and Hottest New Franchises.

My goal is to set up these 3 blogs on 3 different servers and link them back to our main website, WorldFranchising.com. Why hosting them on different servers? Simply because Google is smart enough to realize when websites are hosted on the same server and linking back to one particular website.

Categories
Franchising

Check me out in Franchise Times magazine

After over 3 years in the franchising industry, my good work has finally been recognized with a special franchise executive profile in Franchise Times magazine, the most regarded franchise publication.

While this article didn’t change my life, it certainly fed my ego… haha

Click here to view the online version of the article.

Categories
iPhone

VoIP on iPhone now available

FringFring just launched a new app for jailbreaked iPhone that allows you to make Voice over IP calls using Skype (you must have a Skype Out account though). I think it’s really cool but AT&T CEO might disagree with that.

Basically you will be able to make phone calls while on wifi. Using Skype Out is especially good if you have friends and family overseas.

Fring also supports MSN Messenger, ICQ, GTalk, SIP, Twitter, AIM, and Yahoo!.

Categories
Internet Opinions

Google is evil

Google is evilFollowing something I posted yesterday saying that Google scares me, here is an interesting article. Basically, this article confirms what I’ve been thinking and saying for a while. For those of you who don’t want to read the full article, here are a few snipets:

Some have interpreted the ceaseless criticisms of Google’s privacy policies and its co-operation with totalitarian regimes as a sign the Don’t Be Evil goal is unattainable for a profit-driven company.

I agree with that! If you’re in business, you have to be somewhat evil. If Google didn’t want to be evil, it would be a non-profit organization…

Categories
iPhone

iPhone – save pictures from Safari. Yeah, finally!!

iPhone 2.0 BetaEngadget reported that the iPhone 2.0 Beta software let’s you save web images to your roll. This is just in beta mode but it totally makes sense that this feature would be available to all when iPhone software 2.0 goes public. I’ve personally been waiting for this basic feature since the beginning.

How it works? Simply by holding the sleep button, then tapping the home button. It apparently flashes white once the image has been saved to your roll. Sounds like a hustle and it could probably be easier, by holding your finger on the image for example but we’re not gonna complain. Read after the break for screenshot.

Categories
Internet

Google searches reaches all-time high!

According to HitWise, Google just reached an all-time high in search queries by getting 67% all all US searches. This number is up 5% from last year.

The 4 top search engines share the market as follow:

  • Google: 67.3%
  • Yahoo: 20.3%
  • Microsoft: 6.7%
  • Ask: 4.1%
Categories
Internet News

Favorite News Reader

NewsgatorNewsgator is an RSS aggregator that allows you to get your news the way you like it by adding your own RSS feeds from your favorite sites. You can group feeds in folders and read everything in a river-of-news. Or just read one feed at a time. Play video right inside your reader, or clip podcasts to download with single click.

Clippings allow you to save particular articles for later review. If you’re in a hurry, you can quickly save stories in folders you create to let you easily separate your world news from your weekly comic strips.

The mobile version of Newsgator is very slick. I use NewsGator everyday from my iPhone. The layout is clean and it is pretty handy to have all your favorite news in one place (especially when you’re stuck in an airport!).

Categories
Franchising

Are franchise lead generation websites going to move to Pay Per Lead?

Pay Per LeadYes and no. Yes is the short answer and no, not in the immediate future. First, let’s see why franchise lead generation websites will have to use a Pay Per Lead model in the future.

Franchisors are now very well educated about the Internet. Before, it was this neat little tool that got you a few extra leads but recent surveys has shown that franchisors now get most of their leads from the web. A large chunk of the franchise sales budget goes into the Internet and when you spend a lot of money in something, you want to know what you get in return, right?