10 Best CDN Choices - Comparing Different CDN choices

Compare strengths and weaknesses for:

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• Akamai
• SimpleCDN
• Amazon Cloudfront and S3
• BitGravity
• HighWinds

Whether you’re doing:

• Video Streaming (Flash, Windows, Quicktime)
• Small file serving
• Website Acceleration
• File Downloads

Find out which network is best if you’re a:

• Top 100 retailer
• Mid Sized Successful Website
• or New Startup

Find out who has the features you need – and who has hidden charges:

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Read more about 10 Best CDN Choices » CDN News | CDN Advisor.com by www.cdn-advisor.com

5 Most Popular Myths About Making Money Online

Make money online is a powerful attraction for many people. However, some are still skeptical about it while others have wrong beliefs. Either way, you are losing your chance to earn your millions just by working on your computer.

If you wonder why many people have become successful in online business, the reason is that they have enough knowledge about it. If you want to be like them, here are some make money online myths you should know to avoid misconceptions.

1. You Need to be an Expert

Some cynical individuals fail to venture into this line of business because they think that to make money online, you have to be an expert. The myth is the primary reason why many are still trapped in financial burden. Remember that the internet offers a wide source of information.

As long as you have the drive to learn, you can become an expert on the area of your interest. By focusing on your field, you can start to make money online. Actually, to earn more profit, you do not have to know everything. Just concentrate on your niche and riches will come flowing to your door.

2. You Need to Quit your Job

Some people fear even trying to join the internet community because of their fear that they will lose time for their job and eventually, it will require them to quit. However, contrary to this belief, you can make money online without having to quit your primary source of income.

You can make additional earnings by simply using your leisure time. Instead of wasting your time watching non-sense on TV or waiting for your spouse to come home, you can turn your free time into productive time by navigating the net to find ways to increase your income.

3. You Need a Huge Capital to Start a Business

Another setback for wannabe online millionaires is the myth that they need a huge capital to start a business on the internet. In land-based businesses, you have to hire employees, rent an office, and pay for the utilities. With the make money online, all you need is your internet connection and your computer, and your business starts to work. Your virtual office is open 24/7 without any employee manning it.

4. Only the Professionals in the Field can Make money

Anyone can join and create an online business. Whatever field you are in, you are welcome to start your venture. You do not have to be somebody to make money online. An ordinary employee and a boss can have the same status when it comes to businesses.

5. Internet Marketing is an Overnight Success

Some people fail in the venture because of the misconception that make money online will turn them from rags to riches overnight. Although it is true that you can earn huge amounts of money with the internet, the earnings come with time. You cannot achieve the financial abundance overnight. If somebody offers you with a quick way to make money online, be extra careful before jumping into the offer. Many fraudulent sites exist and they are waiting for their next victim to come.

Andre Conferido has been in the internet marketing business for over 5 years mainly doing “niche blogging”. Andre is also a writer at the make money online blog http://www.carlocab.com/

Read more on: http://zacjohnson.com/

3 Mistakes People Make About George Soros and Gold, by Mike Clemson

Knowing what direction to go and the way to get things done is always really important. Knowing the details of the best way to do it is also important. Nevertheless, that's only part of the picture; it's necessary, although not sufficient. You also have to really know what to avoid, what mistakes to avoid. The best way to accomplish that is to discover what mistakes others are making so that you can avoid making those very same mistakes.

For investing in gold like George Soros, that also applies. There are a number of people who succeed there. You'll want to be one of these as opposed to someone who makes mistakes and fails. Here then will be the three most important errors that individuals make after they start off with investing in gold like George Soros.

Number 1. Do not misinterpret what George Soros says about gold. The reason that this is very important is that most investors misconstrue his words. To avert this problem you want to break down his actual statements. For example, he said "Gold is the only actual bull market currently. It just made a new high yesterday. In the present circumstances that may continue, I called gold the ultimate bubble, which means it may go higher. But it's certainly not safe and it's not going to last forever."

Some interpreted that to mean that gold was a bubble about to burst but that is not what he said.

Second, analyze Soros' gold stock holdings and not his words. Soros currently holds $897,558,000 or 18% of his total $5,085,000,000 under management in gold. The gold ETF (GLD) is 71% of his gold exposure ($633 million) and his largest gold stock position is Novagold at $90 million.. This is usually a very important factor in that people vote with their wallets. If Soros was sounding the alarm bells about gold, why would his funds allocate 18% of their holdings to gold? What you ought to do then is only focus on his filings with the SEC. Forget about what the media claims.

And finally, understand that big investors like George Soros might try to talk down the market in order to buy more gold. If you wanted to buy gold at lower prices and you were the most famous investor on the planet you would not tell everyone that you expect the price to triple, would you? This trouble is experienced in instances where people don't understand that investing is a game of poker and sometimes investors are bluffing about their positions. The best way to stay away from this is to focus on the SEC filings instead of the media reports.

Study these ideas about investor mistakes about George Soros and gold stocks and carefully avoid them. As an alternative, you may do as instructed above for doing it properly. Much better results will then be your reward!

Discover methods to invest in gold like George Soros and other top hedge fund managers by going to my George Soros gold bubble website at http://fundmanagernews.com/soros-gold-bubble.

By Mike Clemson

Ivory Coast/Civil War: Pro-Ouattara forces take Ivorian capital

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara seized the capital of Ivory Coast and advanced toward the coastal cities of Abidjan and San Pedro on Wednesday, in a dramatic push aimed at toppling incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo.

The head of presidential claimant Ouattara's rival goverment said Gbagbo had just "hours" to leave power peacefully, after months of negotiations aimed at dislodging him in the aftermath of an election late last year failed.

"The time for dialogue and ceasefires is over... (Gbagbo) has a few hours to leave power peacefully," Guillaume Soro, Ouattara's premier, told French radio RFI.

Resisting pressure from the African Union and the West, Gbagbo has refused to step down since the poll last November, which U.N.-certified results showed he lost to Ouattara by an eight-point margin.

At least 472 people have been killed since the standoff began, according to the United Nations, and a humanitarian crisis is worsening, with a million people displaced from the commercial capital Abidjan alone.

Ivory Coast is the world's largest grower of cocoa, and curbs imposed since the conflict began have paralyzed exports, sending futures prices to 30-year highs.

Cocoa futures hit their lowest point in more than two months on Wednesday as advances by Ouattara's troops raised hopes exports could soon resume.

Pro-Ouattara forces now control areas growing about 600,000 tons of cocoa a year, half of national output.

Residents and military sources in Yamoussoukro, which is officially the nation's capital but functions as little more than a presidential retreat, said pro-Ouattara forces had taken control by the end of the afternoon.

"It is the (pro-Ouattara) Republican Forces that control Yamoussoukro," a military source in Gbagbo's camp said. "(Ouattara's forces) are walking through the city."

Several residents confirmed the information and a pro-Gbagbo military source said they had been given the order to pull back toward Abidjan, 215 km (130 miles) to the southeast.

Clashes were reported in the town but it was not clear what had happened to the Republican Guard, a pro-Gbagbo unit that was expected to put up resistance to any Ouattara push.

Another group of pro-Ouattara fighters, largely made up of former rebels who have controlled the north since a 2002-3 civil war, took control of Soubre, the last main town on the road to the cocoa port of San Pedro.

In Abidjan, pro-Gbagbo youths killed seven civilians when they opened fire in a pro-Ouattara neighbourhood of Abidjan, witnesses said. Former colonial power France, meanwhile, said pro-Gbagbo forces had fired on the French ambassador's convoy in Abidjan.

As the fighting has intensified, about 30,000 Ivorians and West African migrants have been forced to seek refuge in an overcrowded Catholic mission in the town of Duekoue with little or no access to food, water or health facilities, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

Thousands more have sought shelter in public buildings and at least 112,000 have crossed into Liberia to the west.

A Reuters reporter on the road east out of Abidjan said hundreds of cars were clogging roads heading out of the city.

ARMING THE PATRIOTS

Until the push south this week, the worst of the violence had centred on Abidjan, where anti-Gbagbo insurgents, who do not necessarily support Ouattara, have seized parts of town.

A Reuters witness heard heavy weapons fire coming from the area around Agban, the main gendarmerie camp, in the early afternoon. A pro-Gbagbo military source confirmed clashes had taken place but gave no further details.

In a sign violence could become much more widespread, the army called on youths loyal to Gbagbo to enlist in the military.

"The Young Patriots are at army headquarters to pick up weapons to go and fight. They will get a few days of training," an officer at army headquarters said.

Gbagbo's often violent youth wing is considered his most dangerous and unpredictable weapon. Its members have caused mayhem in the past and recently set up roadblocks everywhere, armed with AK-47s, sticks and machetes.

Gbagbo's government on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of dialogue.

The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to vote on a sanctions resolution against Gbagbo on Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Callus in Geneva; Writing by David Lewis, Tim Cocks andRichard Valdmanis; editing by Andrew Roche)

By Loucoumane Coulibaly and Ange Aboa

Guerra in Libia: La legge del piombo fuso in un mondo senza padroni!?!

Il piombo fuso per il petrolio

L’intervento occidentale in Libia segna l’inizio di una nuova epoca nei rapporti internazionali: l’uso spudorato della forza ovunque si profilano interessi energetici per le varie multinazionali che si alimentano di “sangue” dei popoli sotto dittature, o regimi non conniventi con l’Occidente. Tutto ciò avviene con il consueto beneplacito dell’ONU, che non è altro che l’espressione del potere economico e militare dei vincitori della II guerra mondiale. Per dirla: “abbiamo vinto la guerra mondiale, adesso governiamo il mondo come ci pare e come ci piace”. Da queste considerano troviamo alcune domande giuste da farsi: Fin quando durerà questa situazione? Quante guerre “umanitarie” vedremo ancora? Fin dove i nuovi poteri forti del mondo supporteranno l’Occidente? Perché la Cina, uno dei maggiori investitori in Libia non ha alzato la voce? Perché i paesi africani stanno tutti zitti? Quali sono le vere ragioni della guerra in Libia? Chi controlla la Corte penale internazionale? I soldi delle guerre perché non vengono investiti nei paesi poveri? Quanto contano i poteri forti occidentali (multinazionali, mafie, massonerie varie) nelle decisioni di guerre?

Dopo la guerra fredda tutti si aspettavano un mondo più pacifico perché sotto la “Pax Americana”, il vincitore della guerra fredda, ma così non è stato. L’America si è rivelata incapace di governare un mondo senza padroni, senza l’equilibrio del terrore. Un mondo dove crescono a dismisura varie bande dedicate alla vendita di armi e di “morte” ovunque si vuole. Nel giro di pochi anni abbiamo assistito guerre etniche senza precedenti, come è stata quella del Ruanda e poi quella dei Balcani. Sulla stessa scia, ma senza cause di divergenze etniche, l’Angola ha vissuto alcuni dei suoi peggiori anni con una guerra civile estesa in tutti gli angoli del paese, eventi che non avrebbero successo se non fosse caduto il muro di Berlino ed imploso l’Impero russo.

A ragion veduta, il caos nella relazione tra i paesi è frutto dell’assenza di un equilibrio che limita lo strapotere di alcuni sugli altri. Molte iniziative guerrafondaie che oggi vediamo non avrebbero luogo se ci fosse ancora l’equilibrio sopracitato. La mia non è una difesa della causa russa, ma sì un’analisi della realtà attuale dove vige la legge del più forte, il più forte comunque.

Non rimpiangiamo quella pace/armata ossia l’equilibrio del terrore, considerando che il contenimento delle due super-potenze era determinato da una possibile guerra atomica che avrebbe spazzato via tutto ciò che conosciamo di normale in questo mondo. Ma bisogna pur sottolineare quanto quell’equilibrio aiutò a lungo il mantenimento di un certo rispetto tra le nazioni. Nessuno decideva di bombardare un paese per libera iniziativa, così come, anche in presenza di un mandato ONU, l’azione era dosata secondo il leader della zona d’influenza. Così per più di cinquant’anni l’America e la Russia hanno mantenuto la “Pax nucleare”. Ma che pace…

Stiamo vivendo una situazione molto critica perché il mondo è cambiato ma gli l’Occidente continuare ad agire indisturbato come se nulla fosse successo. L’America/l’Occidente, come abbiamo appeno sottolineato, ha avuto la sua opportunità di guidare il mondo come unica super-potenza, ma i risultati sono stati catastrofici: incremento delle guerre di stampo etnico (dividere per meglio regnare), incremento del traffico di armi e di droga, interventi militari arbitrari ovunque si profilavano guadagni, apertura di nuove basi militari a bene o male, etc. Per meglio sfruttare il proprio potere, l’Occidente ha accelerato i processi di globalizzazione, un meccanismo che ha permesso alle multinazionali di meglio sfruttare la mano d’opera quasi gratuita e le risorse naturali di molti paesi poveri. Questo processo ha portato molti paesi alla banca rotta così come ha aumentato le disuguaglianze in tutte le parti del mondo, compreso in Occidente. L’economia ha preso in mano la politica ed ogni iniziativa internazionale cominciò ad essere improntata secondo quanto si guadagnava.

Così, i suddetti processi di globalizzazione (conseguenza positiva) hanno contribuito anche alla nascita di nuovi soggetti internazionali, nuovi centri di potere, portando il mondo ad una situazione di è multipolarità, ma purtroppo l’Occidente continua ad agire come se niente fosse cambiato. Nel nuovo panorama mondiale ci sono i BRIC: c’è la Cina, che da sola produce beni per quasi tutto il mondo, c’è l’India, c’è il Brasile e c’è la vecchia Russia, che stenta a camminare, ma continua un paese importante nello scenario internazionale visto che ha in suo possesso una quantità enorme di bombe atomiche sufficienti per distruggere la metà del pianeta. Ci auguriamo che presto le potenze tornino a parlarsi ed imporre maggiore serietà nei rapporti internazionali, con la conseguenza di maggiore attenzione ai veri interessi di ogni popolo: vera democrazia, benessere sostenibile ed vita lunga e felice.

L’intervento militare dell’Occidente in Libia ha trasformato l’essenza dei BRIC da entità economica ad alternativa politica dell’occidente. Il cambiamento è avvenuto in sede ONU, nell’ambito del Consiglio di Sicurezza, dove i BRIC si sono astenuti di votare la risoluzione presentata dalla Francia chiedendo l’intervento militare in Libia. I quattro hanno presentato le proprie perplessità e chiesto all’ONU perché l’intervento dell’Occidente non si trasformi in opportunità di depredazione delle risorse petrolifere libiche, nonché l’eliminazione fisica di Gheddafi. Guarda caso è proprio questo l’intento dell’intervento.

Di Barack Obama non spendo più di due righe: ha deluso. Si è lasciato intimidire dalla Multinazionali e dei poteri forti. si è bruciato prima di cominciare.

Uno dei grandi assenti in questa guerra, se non il principale, è l’Unione africana. Quest’ultima, super dipendente dai soldi del governo di Gheddafi per gli assunti africani – Cfr. finanziamenti per le truppe dell’UA in Somalia e in Sudan -, non riesci ad imporre una propria linea (cessate il fuoco e negoziazione). Da una parte molti paesi africani continuano a dipendere vergognosamente da Parigi, e dell’altra molti governi sono costituiti da uomini incapaci di distinguere gli assunti interni di ogni paesi, quelli regionali e quelli internazionali. Insieme all’ONU, anche l’Unione africana ha bisogno di ripensare il proprio futuro.

Per Kingamba Mwenho

Diplomats discuss Libya's future as Italy plots Gaddafi's escape route

Belgian defence minister Pieter De Crem by a Belgian F16 fighter at Araxos, Greece. Diplomatic pressure on Gaddafi to go is mounting. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

Efforts appear to be under way to offer Muammar Gaddafi a way of escape from Libya, with Italy saying it was trying to organise an African haven for him, and the US signalling it would not try to stop the dictator from fleeing.

The move came amid mounting diplomatic and military pressure on Gaddafi as Britain tries to assemble a global consensus demanding he surrender power while intensifying air strikes against his forces. An international conference in London – including the UN, Arab states, the African Union, and more than 40 foreign ministers – will focus on co-ordinating assistance in the face of a possible humanitarian disaster and building a unified international front in condemnation of the Gaddafi regime and in support of Nato-led military action in Libya.

On the eve of the conference, Italy offered to broker a ceasefire deal in Libya, involving asylum for Gaddafi in an African country. "Gaddafi must understand that it would be an act of courage to say: 'I understand that I have to go'," said the Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini. "We hope that the African Union can find a valid proposal."

A senior American official signalled that a solution in which Gaddafi flees to a country beyond the reach of the international criminal court (ICC), which is investigating war crimes charges against him, would be acceptable to Washington, pointing out that Barack Obama had repeatedly called on Gaddafi to leave.

"I can't say I know of active efforts to find him a place to go, but I would not say it has been ruled out," the official said. "The ICC has said it will ready to pursue the case, but there are also the rules of the ICC," he added, pointing out that some countries do not recognise the court's jurisdiction.

British officials said they would rather see Gaddafi face trial, but if his escape was the price of a peaceful settlement they would be able to live with that.

David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy tried to ratchet up the pressure on Gaddafi, issuing a joint statement on the eve of the conference declaring his era over, and indicating that his lieutenants might escape prosecution if they abandoned him immediately. "We call on all his followers to leave him before it is too late," they said.

Meanwhile Obama gave a televised speech to the American people in which he explained why the US was involved in the conflict, as a response to his domestic critics over the crisis. The US president increased the pressure on Gaddafi by saying it was imperative his rule be ended. "We continue to pursue the broader goal of a Libya that belongs not to a dictator but to its people," he said. "Gaddafi has not yet stepped down from power and until he does Libya will remain dangerous."

He also used his speech to emphasise that strikes against Gaddafi's forces would continue even as American leadership of the campaign transferred to Nato tomorrow. "Our coalition will keep the pressure on Gaddafi's forces," he said.

Meanwhile, with the Libyan regime's forces and rebels squared for a battle around Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte, British planes taking part in the coalition campaign stepped up their bombardment.

RAF Tornados hit 22 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery pieces over the weekend, the Ministry of Defence said. Early Monday, they struck ammunition bunkers near Subha in southern Libya, according to Major General John Lorimer, the MoD's chief military spokesman. Defence officials said the higher tempo was the result of more intelligence surveillance and assessments from reconnaissance aircraft.

Discord over the air strikes threatens to undermine the consensus the UK will attempt to construct at the Lancaster House conference. Russia denounced the air campaign, arguing it violated UN security council resolution 1973, which permitted "all necessary measures" to protect civilians. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said: "We consider that intervention by the coalition in what is essentially an internal civil war is not sanctioned."

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was also critical, and in a symbolic blow to the London conference, it emerged that Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League – whose support for military action was deemed crucial by Washington and its allies – would not be attending, sending a deputy instead.

The joint statement issued by Cameron and the French president was intended in part to heal discord over the command of the air campaign and France's recognition of the Benghazi-based National Libyan Council. The rebels are not invited to the conference, but William Hague is expected to meet one of their leaders, Mahmoud Jibril. The shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, will warn today: "The bravery of the Libyan opposition is not in doubt. What is unclear is the motives of some, other than the removal of Gaddafi. As the opposition move westwards across Libya it is crucial that we better understand who they are and their wider ambitions."

Via | www.guardian.co.uk

Online advertisers in the UK (Web advertising) spend tops £4bn for first time

Online advertisers in the UK took their annual spend to more than £4bn for the first time last year as the digital market share hit a record high.

Research published today by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the accountant PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that online advertising grew by 12.8 per cent, from £3.5bn in 2009 to £4.1bn a year later. Joshua March, a social media entrepreneur, said: "This is still the tip of the iceberg in terms of how much spending will swing into digital in the future."

The digital share of the UK's total advertising spend of £16.6bn last year rose to 25 per cent. Internet advertising spending is closer to 15 per cent in Europe and 16 per cent in the US.

Guy Phillipson, head of the IAB, said the market was "almost back in its pre-recession heyday" and online spending was "higher than I expected". "In 2009, brands really began to understand how to use the internet. That has improved in 2010 – a year when budgets have also grown," he said. The total advertising market grew by 7.2 per cent, with 77 of the top 100 advertisers increasing their spending last year, according to the research group Nielsen. Consumer goods and retail companies raised their online budgets to become two of the four largest spenders on display advertisements. However, the financial sector spent the most in 2010, overtaking entertainment and media, with a 15.2 per cent share, the report said.

While the online market may not continue to grow quite so aggressively as in recent years, Mr Phillipson said he expected spending to breach £5bn "in the next few years". The consensus expectation for online advertising for this year is growth of 7.7 per cent, although the IAB said its internal predictions were more optimistic.

Much of 2010's online growth was driven by display advertising, which increased by 27.5 per cent from a year earlier to £945.1m, as more and more companies shifted spending on to the web. This reflected an increase in the number of active internet users in Britain, which stood at 40.3 million in December, according to Nielsen and the UK Online Measurement Company. Today's IAB/PwC survey also suggests that improvements in internet infrastructure have supported the growth of online advertising.

Search advertising continues to dominate online advertising spending in the UK, which rose 8 per cent in 2010 to £2.3bn. Mr Phillipson said the UK's search advertising market was "the most advanced in the world in terms of market share".

The rise of social media was also reflected, with advertising spending in this sector rising nearly 200 per cent. Computer users in the UK spend a quarter of their time online visiting networking sites such as Facebook.

Mr March, the founder and chief executive of Conversocial, a software company that helps brands to manage their marketing and support on Facebook and Twitter, said: "The cost effectiveness of online ad spend, especially with social media, gives companies the opportunity to build up a fan base that they can then communicate with for free, and makes it more attractive than other forms of media."

"This is combined with the increasing ability to tie online advertising spend directly to results such as purchases or actions."

Facebook has stepped up its drive to attract advertising executives to the social network with the launch of a new site called Facebook Studio.

In its report, the IAB pointed to "stellar growth" in mobile advertising, which more than doubled to £83m. Mr Phillipson said mobile was "finally coming of age". Growth was seen in adverts around online videos, up from £28m in 2009 to £54m a year later.

Despite pressure on the housing, jobs and car markets, online classified advertising "bounced back" in 2010, growing by 9.7 per cent to £751m, though its share of the market fell by one percentage point to 18 per cent.

The Independent/By Nick Clark