Not to long ago a test done by Time Warner Cable Inc. went very well, according to them. The test was charging more to their customers that went over their limit of data traffic. This test was done in one market to make sure their system can charge the right rate and monitor customer usage. I was reading that if you where a customer paying $30 a month you had 5 gigabytes of transfer data. And if you went over that limit you would be charge $1 for every gigabyte over the 5. If you ask me the 5 gigabyte limit is way to low. I would burn through that amount in the first week. I would consider switching to a new ISP if this comes to my area. Time Warner Cable is taking advantage of hard working people, this is wrong. Since they think everything went so well they have choose to role this out to 4 more major U.S. markets. And if your wondering if other ISP are doing the same thing, that would be a yes. But no where’s near the lows of transfer data that Time Warner Cable is giving. The other ISP’s are offering limits starting at 60 gigabyte all the way up to 250 gigabytes. So you can see why I think Time Warner Cable is taken advantage of people. If they try this with me I will leave them and switch to DLS or find another Cable provider. However, with all that being said, not all ISP’s are going to be doing this, so this just might keep the other ISP’s in check.

I have a few questions for all of you. Are your fed up with your hosting provider? Does your site have a lot of down time? And do you feel that your hosting provider could deliver much better customer service? If you answered yes to any of these questions you need to seek out another provider, fast.

If you’re business website constantly goes down it will cost you money, and customers. If you’re a site owner, business or personal, you know how hard it is to find reliable web hosting, which is very critical to your business. As most of you know, when your site goes down you just want to pull your hair out. You purchase a plan, your promissed up site time, then out it goes, drives me nuts. So do what I did, research, research, and research your next provider. Call them, talk to someone on the phone. Most of these providers don’t offer toll free numbers, but that’s not a big problem. They just want to reduce the calls for low level questions. To avoid phone charges, call from your cell phone. I know I’m running on here, but I can’t stess enough, call your provider, and research them. Good luck on your searches.

If you are in business or thinking of going into business for yourself then read on. The hardest part of running or starting a business is securing funds. Most businesses fail within their first year, not because of poor customer service, or your products and service. It is because of the o-mighty dollar. Most businesses that start out today require a lot of money. And if you don’t have the funds to pay for your basic requirements for at least a year out your chances of failing are significantly higher. Basic needs would include things such as paying yourself, your employees, and paying for operating expenses. Now you are probably asking, how do I get the funding if I have been turned down by a few banks? I say, you’re not alone in getting turned down by banks, and don’t take it personally. Banks have tightened their belts on handing out business loans. They mostly have been handing out loans that are considered very low risk. So now it’s time to look elsewhere. Check out loan and funding companies. Their interest rates will be higher, but the chances are you’ll get your money. Some will require a few minimal requirements. You really need to look for the money. If you look hard, you’ll find it, it’s out there. Good luck in your searches, and make sure you read all small print before you take out the loan.

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is undergoing chemotherapy right now. This was reported by the Associated Press today. He’s currently undergoing chemotherapy, and he feels he can beat it. I also read that 20 plus years ago when he was Microsoft’s executive vice president of research and new product development he had beat another immune system cancer. One of his close friends, you might know him, co-founder of Microsoft Corp. Bill Gates said “Melinda and I have Paul and his family in our thoughts and prayers, I know him to be a strong and resilient individual.” Some people didn’t now this, but the two have been friends since high school. Allen is also a huge investor in companies just starting out, or looks to be a sound company. He’s invested in companies like America Online, DreamWorks Animation and cable operator Charter Communications Inc. He also owns a few professional sport teams, the football team Seattle Seahawks, basketball’s Portland Trailblazers, and a stake in the Seattle Sounders FC, a major league soccer team. He’s very well known in the Seattle area, for what he’s done in redeveloping the City, and of course the sport teams he owns. I read that he’s only 56 years old, I think he can fight this cancer, but it’s not going to be easy.

The lawsuit filed by the Skype founders against eBay have been settled. Ebay has agreed to give the two founders a 14 percent stake of Skype as part of the deal. What eBay wanted to do was spin Skype off and sell stock into the business. During their research of spinning Skype an investment group wanted to purchase 65 percent of Skype for about $2 billion in cash. When the founders were told about the plans they filed suit against eBay for copyright infringement. The founders stated that they own the software that runs Skype, which is licensed to eBay under contract. They were claiming that the agreement between them and eBay would be violated if Skype was sold to this investment group. To keep this short, eBay settled because I think they wouldn’t win against the founders of Skype. So that’s why they agreed to give them 14 percent, sell off 56 percent to the investment group, and keep 30 percent for themselves. I think if they would have just brought Skype to the public they could have made a lot more money. The problem with bringing it to the public is reporting. When a company is publicly traded everything needs to be reported, incomes, profit and loss numbers. The way the deal was done nothing needs to be reported.

Are you one of the millions of people looking for your new career? If so, one of your main focuses should be making the best first impression you can. I read on the Gillette Career Advantage site that ninety percent of HR professionals think that a first impression is more important than a firm handshake. I’m telling you, if you go in the interview looking like everyone else your going to end up like everyone else, with no job. Making yourself stick out from the rest will win you that job every time. And if your looking for help to create a new style for yourself check out the Gillette Resource Center. At the Gillette Resource Center you will get expert advice from Mark Jeffries and GQ style correspondent, Brett Fahlgren. You can take the Gillette Career Quiz, and view the hire guide to see what HR professionals are thinking, and looking for. This site is your chance to get yourself ready for your next professional interview. You should take full advantage of the Gillette Resource Center, because if you don’t, your wasting your time going to your next interview. So do the right thing, click one of the links in this post, and turn your life around for the better.

It seems lately that businesses are selling off parts of their businesses. Or in some cases their just out right selling off to others. I’m not sure if these businesses are so deep in debt, or people are ready to cash out now that the markets have recovered some. One big buyout in the news is the news. General Electric Co., which owns 80 percent of NBC Universal is considering selling off 51 percent stack to Comcast Corp. GE is going to spin off NBC, which would make NBC it’s own company. GE would remain part owner of NBC with a small stack. Not sure why Comcast really wants NBC. What I do know is that Comcast plays dirty when it comes to buying businesses. They purchased E! and Style, as well as a few sports channels in the past. They even tried to do a hostile bid for the Walt Disney Co. It’s a good thing that deal didn’t happened, a cable company running Disney would have been bad. I wonder how the shareholders feel about all this buying.

Another top executive from the energy giant Enron Corp. is going to prison. Joseph Hirko was chief executive of Enron’s Internet division. He is going away for 16 months because he lied, he stated that the division go do things he knew could never do. He also will be paying $8.7 million in restitution. What I like to do is ask the federal government is letting him keep? They should take every dime from him and toss him to the street. Because there are a lot of people that lost all their money in Enron Corp. The one’s that lost the most are Enron employees, they lost their 401k’s and jobs. This guy should lose everything he owns. If I was an employee or investor I would demand for that. I just hope the fed took that in consideration when they entered a deal with him.

I was just reading that Twitter will be raising another 100 million dollars in new funding. In the same report it states it now puts Twitter at a worth of $1 billion. There is no way Twitter is worth $1 billion, they haven’t made one cent yet. Their losing money every day. This just shows that people in charge of investing people’s money really don’t know what their doing. I say that because the $100 million will be coming from investment groups, which control other people’s money. I believe Twitter will start making money some day, but not what people investing in now will want to see. And then the worth of Twitter will sank and people will loss their money once again. And the only one’s getting rich are the creators of Twitter, the one’s that will be laughing all the way to the bank. Lets not forget that Twitter is nothing but a micro-blogging service, which anyone can setup. Their service gets hacked into all the time because of the simple script their running. Just wait about a year when other scripts come on for micro-blogging services. You’ll be able to by one for $50, just will hope your site catches on. A company started in 2006, hasn’t made one cent, no customer support, worth $1 billions, how dumb does that sound.

Lately it seems that everyone, and every business out there is running a contest using Twitter. The reason for this is very obvious, Twitter is huge, and has a huge user base. I personally think doing a contest on Twitter is a great move for anyone, or business. So I say, “why not use them to get your business name out there”. Plus I like seeing these contests when they come across my account. I do understand that some don’t care for contests, but they’re missing out.

Here’s a great example of a contest running from a company called Netfirms, and worth checking out. Netfirms is a company that offers domain name registrations, hosting services, and a few other great services. They’re an accredited registrar for domain names, so you know you’re dealing with the right company. Now, Netfirms contest gives you the chance to win a new iPod Touch, or a Macbook. They’re giving away 4 of the iPod Touch and only one Macbook, so make sure you enter their contest soon. If you take the time to click on the link within this post it will take you to the rules, as well as how to enter the contests. So don’t waste anymore time and get over their now to claim your prize.