Thai Mobile Shopping App ShopSpot Adds Brands, Gets $628,000

Shopspot, a startup out of Thailand with a mobile shopping app, has won $628,000 (S$779,000) after switching its shopper matchmaking app to a more traditional shopping interface. Its earlier app focused on connecting individuals keen to sell their wares. The app would pair sellers and their goods with buyers based on geolocation. Released today, the new version bills itself as a “mobile shopping platform”, which adds goods from merchants and brands. Global audiences will have to wait. For now, the service is available just in Thailand, while the company works out any teething problems. It plans a Southeast Asia roll-out after this, The new round of funding comes from Jungle Ventures and SingTel Innov8. The funding from Jungle Ventures is backed by the Singapore government’s National Research Foundation (NRF) under its Technology Incubation Scheme (TIS), which means the NRF comes out with 85 percent of the sum, with Jungle Ventures pledging 15 percent. Last year in April, the startup received an indisclosed sum from angels in Thailand, led by Thai investor Kris Nalamlieng to kick off its earlier peer-to-peer model. This was after Shopspot and its co-founder, Natsakon Kiatsuranon, graduated from a bootcamp created by JFDI (Joyful Frog Digital Incubator) and Innov8 in 2012. With the new business model, Shopspot also announced that Thomas Clayton, CEO of Sequoia-backed mobile firm BubbleMotion, joined its board of advisors.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/J6UHXTvI0Nk/

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Car insurance and taxes - Insurance.com

It's that joyous time of the year when we figure out our tax obligations. As you travel down the bumpy road of deductions, you may be able to write off a few car expenses, including some tied to insurance.

Compare car insurance quotes now.

Auto insurance premiums and business use of your car: Are you self-employed and use your vehicle on the job? Or are you employed but use the car for work-related reasons at least part of the time, without being reimbursed for expenses by your boss? If so, then you may be able to deduct some of your insurance premiums, says Leonard C. Wright, a San Diego-based financial planner and spokesperson for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

First, you have to determine how much your vehicle is used for work, says Wright. For example, if your car is used 75 percent of the time for business and the rest of the time for personal driving, then you can typically base your deductions on that split of percentages. In this case, you would deduct 75 percent of your auto expenses, including insurance premiums, gas, oil, repairs, registration fees, lease payments, depreciation, parking and toll fees.

You'd list the expenses as miscellaneous itemized deductions. But keep in mind that you can only qualify for these deductions if they total more than 2 percent of your adjusted gross income. In other words, if 2 percent of your gross income is, say, $1,000, your expenses would have to be above that to claim all the write-offs.

The alternative is taking the standard business mileage deduction. The Internal Revenue Service has set it at 55.5 cents a mile for 2012, with all expenses (including insurance premiums) figured in that rate. There are restrictions, however, and Wright advises studying the IRS guidelines or talking to a tax consultant before going this route.

"With every tax situation, I think people need to read up on tax issues before they even meet with a financial adviser or tax planner," says Wright. "When you're sitting there with your iPad, take the time to get information -- that will help you and the tax preparer come to the best way to handle your particular situation." (See: "IRS and insurance rules for charitable car donations.")

He adds that you need to keep all receipts and related documents, just in case the IRS asks for proof. "The IRS requires that you keep careful records of your business travel, including the dates you used your car, the number of miles driven and the reason for the travel on business-related tasks," according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' website, 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy.

When your vehicle is damaged or stolen: Wright also says that you may be able to claim a theft or casualty loss deduction if your car is stolen, damaged or totaled in an accident or by an act of nature, like getting smashed by a falling tree. But you can qualify for this write-off only if your auto insurance doesn't reimburse you for the full loss. (See: "5 commonly misunderstood car insurance terms.")

Also, the casualty and theft deduction has two limitations. For one, taxpayers can claim an individual loss only if it's at least $100. Next, even if your casualty or theft loss exceeds $100, you can claim the deduction only if the total amount you lost in the year is higher than 10 percent of your gross income. (See: "Something to hold on to: comprehensive and collision insurance.")

In calculating the loss that you want to claim, you'll have to subtract whatever reimbursement you received from an insurance company. Again, you'll need to retain all your documents, including police reports, if you plan to deduct theft losses.

Deducting car insurance deductibles: You may be able to write off your insurance deductible as part of a theft or casualty loss. But, once again, the amount would have to be at least $100 to claim it as a portion of your losses, with the total losses for the year adding up to more than 10 percent of your gross income.

Source: http://www.insurance.com/auto-insurance/auto-insurance-basics/deducting-premiums-on-taxes.html

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Asian shares hit 18-month high on growth hopes

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rose to their highest since August 2011 on Wednesday after an improving global economic outlook boosted world equities overnight, encouraging investors to take on risk.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> added 0.7 percent, rose for a third day in a row, led by a 1.7 percent gain in its technology sector <.miapjit00pus>. The index has risen 4 percent so far this year.

Asian shares have been on an uptrend as risks from the euro zone debt crisis the U.S. fiscal crisis abated and signs of tepid recovery emerged in major economies including China. Corporate earnings have also been generally positive.

"A shift to cyclicals from defensives has come to a full circle and investors are now looking at sector-specific factors within an asset class, selecting those with a tight supply/demand outlook," said Naohiro Niimura, a partner at research and consulting firm Market Risk Advisory.

News of possible fresh mergers boosted U.S. stocks on Tuesday, pinning the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> near a five-year high, while a stronger-than-expected rise in the German ZEW investor sentiment index to a three-year high supported European stocks.

Australian shares rose 0.4 percent, extending a rally that has taken the market to 4-1/2 year highs, with financials and retailers supporting prices. The Australian market has risen nearly 10 percent this year.

"There's a few good earnings reports but I think it's this hunt for yield that continues to push our market higher," Weston said. "I think that's keeping the support; the market doesn't want to go down and you just don't want to be missing out."

South Korean shares <.ks11> outperformed with a 1.5 percent jump to hit a one-month high, as foreigners stepped up buying and a pause in the yen's falling trend soothed sentiment.

"The KOSPI had decoupled with global equities in January because of currency moves and foreign selling. But this is changing with the pace of currency changes easing," Shawn Oh, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said of Seoul shares.

Positive growth in Southeast Asia has drawn foreign investors, keeping regional stocks robust. The Philippines stock market <.psi> extended gains to a record high while Bangkok's SET index <.seti> hit a fresh 18-year high.

The rise in equities weighed on assets perceived as safe-haven, such U.S. Treasuries and gold on Tuesday. Spot gold inched up 0.2 percent to $1,607.94 an ounce, but hovered near a six-month low hit the day before.

London copper climbed 0.6 percent to $8,095 a metric ton, off Tuesday's three-week lows.

Tokyo's Nikkei stock average <.n225> added 0.7 percent, after touching a 52-month high. <.t/>

The yen remained jittery, swinging in narrow ranges on concerns Japan may not be able to pursue as strong a reflationary policy mix as previously thought.

A week-long delay in the government nominating a new Bank of Japan governor fuelled talk of friction between the prime minister and the finance minister over who should run a central bank charged with taking bold action to reignite the economy.

The dollar eased 0.1 percent to 93.49 yen, still near its highest since May 2010 of 94.465 hit on February 11. The euro was up 0.1 percent to 125.36 yen. It touched a peak since April 2010 of 127.71 yen on February 6.

Sterling was under pressure on growing speculation the UK could soon lose its prized triple-A credit rating. Sterling traded at $1.5444, having plumbed a seven-month low at $1.5414 in New York.

"Markets continued to consolidate while reallocation trades helped risky assets to outperform and the USD to come under some pressure," said Sebastien Galy, strategist at Societe Generale, said in a note to clients.

"Fears regarding the UK are steadily rising, reinforcing a bearish tendency...We remain short GBP, CHF, JPY and AUD," he said, adding that the market will use any bearish excuse to sell the yen.

Japan logged its biggest monthly trade deficit on record in January, underscoring the country's deteriorating trade balances and accenting the yen's weak fundamental trend.

Investors remained wary of the possible U.S. federal spending cuts and outcome of the upcoming Italian election, limiting losses in sovereign bonds.

The ZEW report was a positive sign ahead of the more important euro zone flash PMIs on Thursday and Germany's IFO business sentiment on Friday, said Vassili Serebriakov, a strategist at BNP Paribas.

U.S. crude steadied around $96.70 a barrel but Brent eased 0.2 percent to $117.34.

(Additional reporting by Thuy Ong in Sydney and Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul; Edting by Eric Meijer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-hit-18-month-high-growth-hopes-053155549--finance.html

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How You - Behind that Radio Mic - Can Make Money Online | Mark ...

David Siteman Garland is the founder of TheRiseToTheTop, one of my favorite business oriented blogs, and ?the Number One Badass Show, Resource & Community for Mediapreneurs.? He is host of one of the Internet?s most popular, successful and longest running web shows, and he has a message for broadcasters. You, too, can make money online.

Watch the complete Q&A or skip to the abbreviated transcript below:

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(You can subscribe to all the MRM?video and?audio via iTunes and get the goodies before everybody else. ?You can also get advance notice of this content if you ?like??MRM on Facebook or follow me on?Twitter).

David, for people who are not familiar with The Rise to the Top, what is it and how big is it?

The Rise to the Top is an education company. We have a show and other elements, but we serve a very specific subset of people ? a group we call ?mediapreneurs.?

I define ?mediapreneurs? as experts, authors, personal brands, people that create content online and offline who are looking to leverage that online and build a business from it.

I do a variety of different things to help them. I do a weekly long form interview show, a weekly short tips show, and then I?ve got a lot of different products and coaching pieces that help people achieve their goals.

Since I started in 2008, we?ve had over seven million downloads of the content. We have 250,000 people coming to the content every month.

I think there?s a misunderstanding about the tools we use online. It strikes me that in many ways tools are easy because they are ubiquitous. Tools create platforms that are also easy, but creating content and monetizing that content is hard. Why do we obsess so much on the tools when the hard work is really about the content and the monetization?

Oh, it?s such a great point.

Number one, it?s fear. People are scared of doing the actual monetization and the content so what they end up doing is obsessing on the tools because it?s very tangible. So it?s like, oh, I don?t think I?ll worry about trying to make money because I?m trying to figure out where to place my microphone for the next 15 hours. And what ends up happening is people are like oh, here?s a tool, here?s a tool, here?s a tool, here?s a tool ? a new tool is coming out and they never actually start making the money or building the business.

I can?t tell you how many times I hear from people that are fans of my show or just in general call up and ask advice. The biggest problem they have is really ?how am I going to make money or how am I going to go about this??

To me, that?s just a critical sticking point for a lot of people and I?m out to help people with that.

So much of social media is all about ?connection,? yet that connection is valueless unless you focus on what you do with it and how you make value out of it for you and those you are connected to, right? What?s a big group of fans without a strategy really worth?

I?ve seen people with email lists of fans or subscribers ? with 1000 fans or 500 fans or 750 fans or 2000 fans that are making six and seven figures.

I?ve also seen people with 10,000, 50,000, 100,000 and up fans that are barely making anything, and that?s scary. It?s scary because the part that they had missed out on is positioning themselves and the brand to make money. I think we?re moving into an era characterized by what I call ?the expert model,? which is teaching people something.

My first big product hit was teaching people how to do an interview-based web show called ?Create Awesome Interviews.? I took knowledge that I built up over the years and packaged it into a course for $495. People could learn at their own pace. A huge number of people don?t have to purchase it to make it successful. Do you get what I?m saying?

We had several hundred people purchase something for $495 and that ends up generating a lot of income, and now you have customers.

So a big shift that I made in the business was from strictly a ?media brand,? which is all about trying to just get sponsorships and advertisers and the biggest possible audience, to what I would call an ?educational? or an ?expert brand,? which I call mediapreneur. That means that the real focus of our business is educating people and giving them tools and products to help them succeed. That?s the thesis statement of the business and the show and all the other content supports that.

That traditional media world you evolved out of is the one I live in every day. It?s a world of content being presented to people very often for free in exchange for advertising, sponsorships, etc. Can that world be comprised of mediapreneurs, too? And if so, how?

Well yeah, but it has to shift. So here?s what I mean.

First of all, I do have sponsorships and advertisers still on my platform. I?m not knocking that. However, I don?t view that as a long-term business model for having success because I hear too many people with that model who are crying poor. I don?t mean that in a negative way. They?re telling me ?I?m not making any money.?

On the other hand, when you hear people who are selling information or coaching or software ? whatever it might be ? these are the people crying rich.

Interesting. So how do we mold these two things together? That?s just where the confusion was.

So when I started I had that old media mindset, if you will, even in a new media world. I could now control my own show, do anything I want, but I?m going to go for volume. I?m going to go for five shows a week, and I?m going to try to get as big as possible and broad and bring in these sponsors and advertisers. Well, the problem in my opinion is that the world is changing so quickly and attention spans are changing and where people spend money and how they spend money ? all of that is changing.

The most successful people, including myself, went from a business that was doing okay to multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple six figures on pace for a million at some point soon.

I made a shift. I said, okay stop, let?s really think about this. I changed the model so that now I publish free content twice a week. One?s a long video/audio which is about 30 to 45-minute interview, and the other is a five to six minute tip video. Honestly, you could get away with one or the other. So if you just have a show and do it once a week, you?re going to be more than good. And it happened when I stopped publishing five times a week and decided to make a real business out of it by creating products and creating things to sell to people directly.

We?re going to get sponsors and stuff. I want to have control of my own customers. That was the key. Once I started selling to people, you are no longer the middle-man for everything. You control the customers. Someone came to me once and he said, ?David, let?s say you could have $250,000. And you had a choice ? one sponsor for $250,000 or 250 customers paying $1,000. Which would you prefer??

The next thing I know I?m thinking to myself, wow. If a sponsor wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, my $250,000 is gone but that?s not going to happen with customers and clients unless you?ve created something really, really poor.

So that was the shift that I made, and it?s the one to make if you?re really struggling and you want to make your online platform into a business and make money.

If you want to be a hobbyist instead, that?s great. Do whatever you want. That?s awesome, I have no problem with hobbyists, and I encourage that. But if your goal is to generate revenue then the shift is from the show being the business itself to the show supporting the business and your business is something else.

That?s interesting. So you?ve pulled the focus away from generating ever-more reach, right, which was the easy commodity, to more impact for the people you already reach. It?s analogous in the radio space to a public radio model or a Christian non-commercial radio model, where the ?platform? is supported by consumers who pay in exchange for the value created on-air, right?

Right, exactly. There are so many different ways to monetize. That?s what?s exciting about it. There so many different ideas ? memberships, subscriptions, coaching, products, services, etc.

It used to be volumes and volumes and volumes of content and just going, going, going and now ? not only is this better, but it requires less free content. Better but less, and also more focused in terms of who this content is for.

When I started The Rise to the Top, it was just about entrepreneurship in general. So if you?re an entrepreneur, tune on in, this is for you. But that includes everyone, you know what I mean? So then I narrowed it down to online entrepreneurs because I realize that?s really what our core audience was. But then, that also has about a million pieces, so I narrowed it further to this new category blending exactly the type of person that I wanted to listen and consume the content ? that?s the mediapreneur.

The mediapreneur is working from home or wants to work from home and doesn?t want to have a big team and isn?t interested in raising money. They are interested in selling their expertise or something really cool and living in this lifestyle. Once I got to that point, I pointed everything towards that, understanding that our audience is not going to be a million people ? that?s not the goal. The goal is to have high quality awesome customers and people who come in and really enjoy the content, so that?s where that shift came.

I think there?s some distance perceived between the ?shift? you?re describing and the business of radio as it is now. But we have many people who know media and how to reach consumers. We have many personalities, people who talk for a living, people who entertain for a living, all of these folks could potentially build out that platform and find other ways to drive revenue. That?s really what you?re describing, isn?t it?

Yeah, and you can drive revenue. Once you figure it out and commit to it there?s nothing better than waking up in the morning and having a sale from something that you didn?t necessarily have to go do yourself. Does that make sense?

For example, I wake up this morning, I see someone that bought Create Awesome Interviews for $495. I see someone bought my coaching program and I see someone bought a tutorial for $75. All right, that?s a great start to the day.?You know what I?m saying? I can pretty much go out and lay on the porch.

Now, can you get to that point? Absolutely. Look at what people will actually buy from you and consider what you can package in a how to format. A how-to that people are interested in.

Let?s say you?re in comedy; is there an improv course you can put together? I don?t know what it is. Or if you?re doing a health and fitness thing, is there a how-to that you could put together? How-to, when it comes to information, is the number-one seller.

If you could get people an outcome with that how-to, that?s something I want people to think about. I?m not saying change your whole career. But I?m thinking maybe there?s a revenue stream here that?s untapped for a lot of radio people. You?re already great at creating content, that?s why you have a radio show. So now package some of that content up and sell it to people. A little bit of a different format and really make some money so that you get to wake up and high-five yourself in the morning.

What David is describing here is getting money not just from the sponsors or from the advertisers that surround the content and bring it to you for free, but also from the actual fans that love you and what you do because you?re providing extra value that they?re more than happy to pay for it.

Exactly, that?s exactly what it is.

Source: http://www.markramseymedia.com/2013/02/how-you-behind-that-radio-mic-can-make-money-online/

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Thousands in Guinea demand graft-free vote

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Opposition supporters held protests across Guinea on Monday to demand a free and fair parliamentary election, fearing the first such vote in more than a decade will be cheapened by fraud.

The May 12 election is intended to be the last step in Guinea's return to civilian rule following the death of veteran strongman Lansana Conte in 2008 and two years of violent army rule.

President Alpha Conde was elected in 2010 and has promised prosperity for Guinea's 10 million people.

The West African nation's economy produces only about $1.50 per person per day despite a wealth of natural resources, including the world's largest untapped iron ore deposit.

But delays in the legislative vote have deepened a political deadlock and led to intermittent violence, unnerving investors as they wait to tap into Guinea's abundant iron ore, bauxite and gold reserves.

Opponents of Conde say preparations for the long-delayed vote have been flawed.

They point to a contract awarded to two companies to update the voter roll, saying the two firms have been skewing the list to favour the president's allies.

"The opposition will not accept dictatorship, the violation of the constitution or laws of the Republic," said former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo. "If Mr Alpha Conde continues to violate these laws then we'll ask him to leave."

The European Union, one of Guinea's major donors, warned in November that it needed a credible and detailed timeline for the election to unblock about 174 million euros.

The EU and other donors also want a vote that is inclusive, free and fair. Conde, who spent many years in the opposition, needs a smooth vote to entrench his legitimacy.

MINOR CLASH IN CONAKRY

About 10,000 protesters took to the streets of the capital Conakry on Monday, according to opposition estimates.

Shops in Conakry's main Madina market shut as protesters converged near the city centre, blocking traffic.

The government said a 4,000-strong security contingent, including armed police with truncheons and anti-riot gear, had been deployed on the streets to keep order.

There were no reports of violence beside a minor clash between some opposition and ruling party supporters in one Conakry neighbourhood, government spokesman Damantang Albert Camara said.

The Ministry of Health said seven people had been lightly injured in the capital, including four injured by thrown stones.

"The people have come out to say no to dictatorship, no to attempts to organise electoral fraud, and to demand free and fair elections," Mouctar Diallo, an opposition party leader, told journalists in Conakry.

"We are also demanding that the contract awarded to the companies be terminated and that Guineans abroad should be allowed to vote," Diallo said.

The opposition has vowed to continue the protest throughout the week and organise national strikes until the government accepts its demands.

"The demonstration is just the beginning today. It is not going to stop," said Ibrahima Sory Bangura of the main opposition UFDG party.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-guinea-demand-graft-free-vote-045328942.html

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Sap Cap ? Protect yourself with a baseball cap

The Shomer-Tec Sap Cap may look like a regular baseball cap, but it’s really a self-defense “weapon” that you happen to wear on your head. The fact that it looks exactly like an ordinary cap means attention won’t be drawn to it. Hidden in the back is a special pocket that holds a pouch of?metallic [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/02/17/sap-cap-protect-yourself-with-a-baseball-cap/

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