Streaming Video More Popular Than Ever

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When I think of streaming video I still sometimes have flash backs of a few years ago when I was connected on those crazy dial up connections!  Streaming wasn't fun back then.  But today with broadband taking over, it is quite different!  Many companies are starting to offer all kinds of shows and movies through streaming video.  And it will only grow from here.  It just makes sense that in the future everything we watch will be via the internet.  What's a TV?  Maybe we will still call the TV a TV but how it gets its content will be much different.  You can already start to see that…

However, the potential of new streaming video services — fast, full screen and in sharp resolution — is unleashing a torrent of movies and television shows, much of it aimed at narrowly defined audiences that can’t find niche programming even on cable systems with 500 or more channels.

The Independent Film Channel is streaming 22 short films called “Trapped in the Closet” by the R&B recording artist R. Kelly. The Jewish Television Network, a nonprofit television production and distribution company, is streaming music videos by Jewish performers, cooking shows and Israeli news programs. The network is also planning to stream religious services during the High Holy Days in September, the sort of broadcast that would be hard to find on mainstream television.

“There is extreme interest in streaming because it simplifies the process of getting video to the consumer,” said Ross Rubin, the director of industry analysis for the NPD Group, a market analysis company.

Streaming video, unlike downloads, never resides on a viewer’s computer. It usually cannot be replayed as a downloaded file can be, which is another reason that content creators like it.

To learn more on this subject, read the complete article below from The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/business/media/06stream.html?em&ex=1186632000&en=f5be43885bde277b&ei=5087%0A

Kamaron Institute personal finance business references, tips and resources. 

Homeowners Defaulting On Loans

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Home mortgage lenders are going through some rough times right now.  There is a big increase in homeowners who are defaulting on their loans.  The challenge is many home buyers bought homes thinking that the prices would continue to increase at the rates that they were increasing.  Many buyers had adjustable rate mortgages and paid little or no money down so as the interest rates on their adjustable rate mortgages went up and their home price dropped making it harder to sell, it made it hard to keep up with the payments. 

Subprime lenders have felt the biggest hit but it has really hurt them all…

Problems in the mortgage market spread deeper and farther afield yesterday.

Trading in the shares of a large mortgage company was suspended yesterday, and the nation’s largest insurer of home loans said its stake in a business that underwrites and invests in mortgage securities may be worthless. Earlier, a German bank acknowledged that its investments in American loans have deteriorated.

The developments are the latest indications that the housing slump will affect a broader segment of the mortgage industry and that the problems will last longer than many officials had suggested earlier this year. Just last week, the nation’s biggest home lender, Countrywide Financial, acknowledged that defaults on second mortgages to prime borrowers were rising quickly.

The New York Stock Exchange never opened trading in shares of American Home Mortgage yesterday after the company said late Friday that it would suspend its dividend and was facing “significant margin calls” from its banks.

Already down 70 percent for the year, shares in A.H.M. fell 39 percent in premarket trading, to $6.39.

To learn more on this subject, read the complete article below from The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/business/31subprime.html?em&ex=1186027200&en=6c5add7e526f06d2&ei=5087%0A

Kamaron Institute personal finance business references, tips and resources. 

The Stock Market Plunged Today!

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It was a bad day for all the major indexes today.  It was one of the biggest drops this year.  The worries over the subprime lending market along with other issues caused a big hit to the stock market…

Investors who had been able for months to largely shrug off discomfort about subprime mortgage problems and a more difficult environment for corporate borrowing finally decided it was time to sell after the Commerce Department issued another disappointing home sales report.

Feeding the plunge were concerns that higher corporate borrowing costs will curb the rapid pace of takeovers that had driven stocks higher this year. Investors also feared the sluggish environment for home sales and continued defaults in subprime loans would spur debt defaults and weigh on corporate earnings.

“Worries that have been out there for the past couple of years are coming to a head right now,” said investment strategist Edward Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research Inc. “It's show time.”

The Dow plunged 311.50 or 2.3%, to 13,473.57 after falling 449.77 in earlier trading. The close was its worst since the 416.02 it lost on Feb. 27, when a drop in the Shanghai stock market rattled world exchanges.

Read the complete article on USAToday.com if you would like to learn more:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2007-07-26-stocks-thu_N.htm?csp=34

Kamaron Institute personal finance business references, tips and resources. 

The Troubles with Getting Africa Online

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We live in a great country.  It is easy to take our easy access to the internet for granted.  We complain when our internet connection “goes down” for a short time or when we can't get our wireless working at someone's house.  And when the wireless doesn't work, that means we actually have to plug in to a wire and sit in one place!  That is so terrible!  But as we are complaining about these silly issues there are people in countries in Africa who would just love to be able to afford to get online.  Most people can not afford it yet as the costs are just too high.

There have been many attempts to help bring Africa up to speed but it seems more important issues like hunger and AIDS take priority.  The Rwandan government has made some aggressive moves to help their country have more access to the internet and lower the cost.  And while they have made progress, it is not what they had hoped…

Attempts to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the masses have made little headway on the continent. Less than 4 percent of Africa’s population is connected to the Web; most subscribers are in North African countries and the republic of South Africa.

A lack of infrastructure is the biggest problem. In many countries, communications networks were destroyed during years of civil conflict, and continuing political instability deters governments or companies from investing in new systems. E-mail messages and phone calls sent from some African countries have to be routed through Britain, or even the United States, increasing expenses and delivery times. About 75 percent of African Internet traffic is routed this way and costs African countries billions of extra dollars each year that they would not incur if their infrastructure was up to speed.

“Most African governments haven’t paid much attention to their infrastructure,” said Vincent Oria, an associate professor of computer science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a native of the Ivory Coast. “In places where hunger, AIDS and poverty are rampant, they didn’t see it as critical until now.”

Africa’s only connection to the network of computers and fiber optic cables that are the Internet’s backbone is a $600 million undersea cable running from Portugal down the west coast of Africa. Built in 2002, the cable was supposed to provide cheaper and faster Web access, but so far that has not happened.

If you want to read more, you can view the complete Kamaron Institute Job Market article by clicking the following link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22rwanda.html?em&ex=1185422400&en=c53d8a4e648db045&ei=5087%0A

Kamaron Institute business news, educational career and parenting reference tips and resources.  

Microsoft Earnings Are Up

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Microsoft had to pay out over a billion dollars from challenges with the Xbox 360 game consoles.  But even with that they still were up for the quarter.  It was good news for Microsoft shareholders today…

The software giant reported that profit grew 7.3% in its fiscal fourth quarter. Meanwhile, revenue for its fiscal year topped $50 billion for the first time.

Microsoft posted quarterly net income of $3.0 billion, or 31 cents a share, on sales of $13.4 billion, meeting analyst expectations. In the year-ago quarter, it had net income of $2.8 billion, or 28 cents a share, on sales of $11.8 billion.

For fiscal 2007, Microsoft earned $14.1 billion, or $1.42 a share, on record sales of $51.1 billion.

Charly Tracy, Microsoft senior finance manager, attributed robust sales growth to “strong execution by our partners and sales force.”

Windows PC software, Windows server software and Office saw revenue increases of 14%, 15% and 19%, respectively, compared with the year-earlier period, Tracy says.

Read the complete article on USAToday.com if you would like to learn more:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/earnings/2007-07-19-microsoft_N.htm?csp=34

Kamaron Institute personal finance business references, tips and resources. 

A Presidential History Lesson

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We can learn so much wisdom from studying history and all the great men and women who lived before us.  This is a little fun history lesson.  If you like math you could try to figure up the odds of this happening.  It would be hard to even figure out!  Not only is it odd that it was the same day but that it was a VERY meaningful day in both of their lives.  It is amazing.  OK, read on to figure out what I am talking about…

These two men were both signers of the Declaration of Independence, they were also both Presidents of the United States and they were also both great friends.

Did you know that both of these Presidents and friends died on the exact same day? Not only was it the same day but it was a very special day…

Jefferson died on the Fourth of July, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the same day as John Adams' death.

On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Adams died at his home in Quincy. His last words are often quoted as “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Only the words “Thomas Jefferson” were clearly intelligible among his last, however. Adams was unaware that Jefferson, his great political rival — and later friend and correspondent — had died a few hours earlier on that same day.

The fact that both Adams and Jefferson, both of whom had been so instrumental in creating the Declaration of Independence, would die on the fiftieth anniversary of the date of its publication, is one of the greatest coincidences in history.

Education lesson resources from Kamaron Institute for parents and teachers.

Gas Prices May Go Higher

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I'm sure everyone has probably noticed a spike recently in gas prices.  I've heard some comments lately asking why prices have gone back up on gas.  This article found on the USA Today website gave some reasons for the price increases and said they may go even higher through August…

Strong demand for gasoline and tight motor fuel inventories will push pump prices higher in July and August, the government said Tuesday, but oil futures prices eased Thursday, which may soften the pain at the pump.

Retail gasoline prices are expected to average $3 a gallon this month and climb to $3.07 in August, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a monthly forecast.

“This is due to a combination of rising crude oil prices, strong demand for gasoline and low gasoline inventories,” the analytical arm of the Energy Department said.

The average national price of a gallon of gas jumped 2.6 cents overnight to $3.026 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices, which typically lag the futures market, have risen 7.7 cents over the last week after falling steadily from a late May peak of $3.227 a gallon.

Analysts say the closure of a refinery in Coffeyville, Kan., due to flooding, and the shutdown of a huge piece of oil processing equipment at a BP refinery in Whiting, Ind., sent prices in the Midwest and Plains states sharply higher, boosting the national average.

Read the complete article on USAToday.com if you would like to learn more:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-07-12-gas-oil_N.htm?csp=34

Kamaron Institute personal finance business references, tips and resources. 

Changing Jobs – Self Promote?

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People are constantly changing jobs now days.  It used to be that people stayed in one job for most of their career.  That is certainly not the case today.  So changing jobs is something that most Americans will do several times.  Do you self promote yourself?  Or how much should you self promote yourself?  These are great questions. 

Let's face it, it does require a little self promotion when looking for different jobs.  But how much is enough?  Many people have a problem with the thought of “self promotion.”  The most important thing is that you must be good at what you do.  That should be the number one thing.  But assuming you are good at what you do, you have to be able to communicate and show others that you are good.  This may require a little bit of self promoting.

This Kamaron Institute article shares some interesting perspective on this subject.  If you are looking for a job or thinking about a job change, this will be helpful to you…

I know my book is good, and after talking with scores of authors about what it takes to sell a book these days, I realized that if I did not convey passion and pride about my ideas, how could anyone else?

So while I might not be a fan of the terminology, I believe that self-promotion is essential in today’s competitive landscape. And this is not just true for authors. It is true for anyone who wants to get ahead when there is someone equally qualified sitting in the next office, cubicle or home office, or in India.

Still, the language rattled me, and I wondered if it was possible to get the same kind of results in more subtle ways. I decided it was time to talk to some experts.

If anyone has given a lot of thought to the unseemliness of self-promotion, it is Peggy Klaus, the author of “Brag: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It” (Warner Business Books). Her philosophy boils down to this: we all have to master our own “bragologue,” an authentic and effective way to talk about our accomplishments, not just when we think we are in positions to self-promote. Though I was initially put off by her language, I gave Ms. Klaus a chance. I am glad I did.

If you want to read more, you can view the complete Kamaron Institute Job Market article by clicking the following link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/business/smallbusiness/02webshifting.html?em&ex=1184212800&en=da7737bf79398f7f&ei=5087%0A

Kamaron Institute business news, educational career and parenting reference tips and resources.  

A Buyers Market for Home Buyers

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If you are in the market for a new home, it is a great time.  There are so many homes for sale that deals are out there.  Of course, if you are also wanting to sell your home first then it may not work out as good.  But regardless, deals are out there to be found.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said that rates have dropped this week and they may continue to do so.  If you are considering a first time home purchase, now may be the best time.  Rates may not be what they have been the last several years but they are still historically low and there are lots of houses to choose from.  That makes for a pretty good combination for first time home buyers who are trying to find a deal…

Rising demand last week for loans to buy homes offset a drop in applications to refinance existing mortgages, leaving mortgage applications little changed from the prior week, an industry group said Thursday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its mortgage applications index rose 0.1% to a seasonally adjusted 619.4 in the week ended June 29, nearing its lowest level since mid-February.

The MBA's purchase index rose 2.0% to 437.3. But the refinancing applications gauge dropped 2.6% to this year's low of 1,687.2 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

“We've got a huge amount of inventory to work through, particularly of existing homes. but it looks like demand is holding up here,” said David Kelly, economic adviser at Putnam Investments in Boston.

The MBA's purchase index has been steadily rising, based on a four-week moving average, to its highest levels since January 2006, he said. New-home sales and housing starts looked stronger in the second quarter than in the first, he added.

Home sales might get a kick from falling mortgage rates.

To learn more on this subject, read the complete article below from USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-07-05-mortgage-apps_N.htm?csp=34

Kamaron Institute personal finance business references, tips and resources. 

George Washington Carver – Creativity & Passion

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When I think of George Washington Carver, the first thing I think of is peanuts.  I think that is because that is what I learned most in school about him.  And he did in fact invent many uses for the peanut.  At a time when many farmers were hurting, Carver showed farmers many different ways to use peanuts.  He saved many farmers by helping them make money and eat.

But George Washington Carver did way more than find uses for the peanut.  He had many other inventions and teachings.  But more than that he was a great leader for African-Americans at a tough time in history.  He was born a slave but died a man of great respect.  He was passionate and a very hard worker.  You know he must have had his share of problems and challenges but he over came them and made a great impact on on his country and the entire world.

George Washington Carver – Quotes

“Learn to do common things uncommonly well; we must always keep in mind that anything that helps fill the dinner pail is valuable.” – George Washington Carver

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” – George Washington Carver

“No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving something behind.” – George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver – A Tough Start

He was born into slavery in Newton County, Marion Township, near Diamond Grove, now known as Diamond, Missouri. He was born on July 12, 1864. His owner, Moses Carver, was a German American immigrant who had purchased George's mother, Mary, from William P. McGinnis on October 9, 1855 for seven hundred dollars. The identity of Carver's father is unknown but he had sisters and a brother, all of whom died prematurely.

When George was an infant, he, a sister, and his mother were kidnapped by Confederate night raiders and sold in Arkansas, a common practice. Moses Carver hired John Bentley to find them. Only Carver was found, orphaned and near death from whooping cough. Carver's mother and sister had already died, although some reports stated that his mother and sister had gone north with the soldiers. For returning George, Moses Carver rewarded Bentley with his best filly that would later produce winning race horses. This episode caused George a bout of respiratory disease that left him with a permanently weakened constitution. Because of this, he was unable to work as a hand and spent his time wandering the fields, drawn to the varieties of wild plants. He became so knowledgeable that he was known by Moses Carver's neighbors as the “Plant Doctor.”

One day he was called to a neighbor's house to help with a plant in need. When he had fixed the problem, he was told to go into the kitchen to collect his reward. When he entered the kitchen, he saw no one. He did, however, see something that changed his life: beautiful paintings of flowers on the walls of the room. From that moment on, he knew that he was going to be an artist as well as a botanist.

After slavery was abolished, Moses Carver and his wife Susan raised George and his brother Jim as their own children. They encouraged George Carver to continue his intellectual pursuits and “Aunt Susan” taught him the basics of reading and writing.

Since blacks were not allowed at the school in Diamond Grove and he had received news that there was a school for blacks ten miles south in Neosho, he resolved to go there at once. To his dismay, when he reached the town, the school had been closed for the night. As he had nowhere to stay, he slept in a nearby barn. By his own account, the next morning he met a kind woman, Mariah Watkins, from whom he wished to rent a room. When he identified himself “Carver's George,” as he had done his whole life, she replied that from now on, his name was “George Carver.” George liked this lady very much and her words “You must learn all you can, then go back out into the world and give your learning back to the people,” made a great impression on him.

At the age of thirteen, due to his desire to attend high school, he relocated to the home of another foster family in Fort Scott, Kansas. After witnessing the beating to death of a black man at the hands of a group of white men, George left Fort Scott. He subsequently attended a series of schools before earning his diploma at Minneapolis High School in Minneapolis, Kansas.

After high school, George started a laundry business in Olathe, Kansas.

Pick up some books on George Washington Carver if you want to learn more.  We can learn so much by studying his life.  He didn't start off with much, but with passion and hard work, he did great things.

Education lesson resources from Kamaron Institute for parents and teachers.