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Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world’s first risk free naming agency
Business Model: Selling unlocked cellphones
Who Did It: Junaid Shams and Ahmed Khattak
Capital Required: $150,000
How Much It Makes: $35 million a year
The name GSMNation is one of the most synonymous with the mobile phones. GSMNation is a well known seller of mobile phones but this is not why the website has become well known. What makes the phones that are sold by this website so special is the fact that the phones are first unlocked by the manufacturers prior to being sold. GSMNation is the brainchild of one Ahmed Khattak, a Yale student who noted during a brief stay in London that in Europe, mobile phone users would use their phones without having to take contracts with the carriers of the service. This was in stack contrast with the American population where most users buy phones that come with contracts. This is more expensive than the services that come minus the contracts and this is the pitch that GSMNation is now using and has been quite successful so far.
Surprisingly GSMNation was started with nothing more than 150 000 dollars that Khattak and his friend Junaid shams had gathered on their own and from their families. They also got support from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute. GSMNation was officially launched in 2010, two years after the two friends had started selling the unlocked phones online. GSMNation sells a wide variety of mobile devices including the popular BlackBerrys and iPhones. Apart from individuals, the website caters to a wide array of clientèle including agencies of the government. GSMNation currently employs 12 people and has already achieved sales in excess of 50,000 phones. The unlocked phones can be used with any carrier and although most of GSMNation’s are from other countries, the U.S. based customer base is expected to grow in the years to come.
For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.
[Via - NicheGeek.com]
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Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world’s first risk free naming agency
âGO F- -K YOUR SELF A- -HOLE, You are making me hate this site!!! F-G!â
If this comment is not enough to make anyone squirm, then they should work for ICUC Moderation. Chuck Dueck, a professional online moderator for the company, eats comments like these for breakfast everyday.
And he does more than eat it straight out of the can. With the mental poise of a Zen master, Dueck carefully deletes these comments and gives the commenters a bit of scolding on the forum. He even does it through email.
It doesnât work all the time, though. There are occasions where he had to ban the accounts of repeat offenders, all the while deleting the cusses and swears of spammers, trolls, and haters alike. This goes on for hours; and after a day of careful pruning, Dueck has temporarily managed to restore civility among the volatile users of the Internet. That is, before he gets another comment from someone intent on annihilating the human species.
Free discussion and commenting have always been one of the main reasons why a lot of people are seduced by the Internet. But freedom of expression isnât always served with good intentions. Online discussion can be a lethal combination, a concoction of anonymity, privacy, and safety from a secluded area of the world that brings out the repulsive natures of human beingsâhence, the increasing need for moderators to act as online mediators and censors in the comment boards.
Dueck is among one of the 200 comment moderators employed by ICUC Moderation, a brainchild of Keith Bilous. He started the company in 2002 as a business that broadcasted text messages onto nightclub screens. The business expanded, and a year ago, ICUC cleaned up the comments on the Twitter and Facebook pages of the Boston Globe, Starbucks, and Chevron, earning them around $10 million in revenue.
Not bad for a company who makes a living out of raging hormones, bad hair d ays, and âcolorfulâ obscenities.
Moderators, or “mods”, typically earn from $40,000 to $80,000 every yearâan acceptable figure to compensate for working with the vile and the obscene. Personal threats are not uncommon, as well as extreme bigotry, racism, and pedophilia. Even Bilous is not immune to them. There are moments he feels like he needs to spend two hours in the shower because the comments can be so disgusting.
And heâs not the only one who shares this sentiment. Many of his staff feels the same way, and there are some who finds it just one BIG pain-in-the-ass. In fact, a significant number of newly-hired employees with ICUC last for only about two weeks; and so to keep them longer, the company has devised a strategy where moderators work on sites in short shifts, alternating between malicious forums to light and fun ones.
At the end of the day, however, it all comes down to the person whoâs moderating the site. Commen t moderation is not just about mediation, conflict-resolution, and sensitivity, but also a unique detachment from everything and everyone. It also requires good common sense. It takes a special kind of person to do all of thatâand the faint-hearted ones need not apply. Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr and a former community manager for numerous online comment forums sums it up in one sentence: âItâs art, not science.â
[Via - NicheGeek.com]
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Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world’s first risk free naming agency
Two self-described Disney “fanatics” have purchased a house in Utah modeled after the colorful home featured in the animated movie “Up.”
Discovering the house in the Salt Lake City suburb of Herriman, Utah, was a dream come true for Clinton and Lynette Hamblin of Petaluma, Calif. The couple had been looking for a house with some of the same flourishes as the one in the movie, such as a multi-colored exterior or a blue kitchen with retro appliances.
They initially looked in California until they saw news reports about the house in Utah that included every possible detail from the movie and was even officially recognized as the “Up” house by Disney. Even more surprising was the $400,000 price tag, which was less than homes they looked at in California.
For them, however, the real attraction to the house was it underscored the overriding theme of the movie.
“We just love the message of the movie â adventure is out there,” Lynette Hamblin told The Salt Lake Tribune.
The house is modeled on its appearance early in the movie, when Carl and Ellie Frederickson are flush with the optimism of newlyweds. That was before infertility undid their hopes for a family and Ellieâs death left Carl a curmudgeonly recluse who refuses to succumb to developers and sell his house.
Homebuilder Adam Bangerter told The Associated Press earlier this year that he and his brothers â who collectively own Bangerter Homes â wanted to replicate the house because itâs iconic and plays an important role in the movie.
“It illustrates what homeownership really is, and itâs not an investment. Itâs part of the American dream to have a house to care for, to improve and to make part of your family,” Bangerter said during a tour of the house.
Herriman City spokeswoman Nicole Martin said about 45,000 people have visited the home for tours, and will continue to do so through the month of December. City leaders even recently passed a resolution honoring the house for its economic impact.
The Hamblins plan to move into the home after closing Jan. 4, which happens to be Lynette Hamblinâs birthday.
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Cool sites - PickyDomains.com, world’s first risk free naming agency
Before the rise of the Digital age, research and forensic scientists, biologists, and botanists, painstakingly identified each and every living organism by searching their various ranks in the Nomenclature Code rule book. Using advanced technology however, has made it possible to simplify these steps in just a couple of clicks on the computer. Determix has created Lysandra Online, an internet-based, biological database that classifies all organisms using interactive catalogues and identification guides. Everything is basically there; and unlike a trip to the library, it wouldn’t take a day to find a strange organism’s Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species classificationâall in one sitting.
This is good news to scientists all over the world. Lysandra Online is co-authored by leading specialists in the fields of zoology and biological sciences; and it uses complex algorithms to search for an organism’s specific hierarchies. It makes things even easier by adding illustrated catalogues, handy navigation, and print output in its features. And here’s the best part: it can organize random search lists from the general catalogue and even create mini-presentations. Some of its published works include beetles and butterfly classification, butterfly identifcation database, and all that can be easily accessed via website.
The best part, however, is that itâs free. All its database and facilities are available after installation, and some of its demo databases don’t even need registration. Today, it is used as an accurate guide to biological classification, and Determix has now released a commercial version of its database that contains completely illustrated tools, maps, and pictures for better identification.
[Via - MadConomist.com]
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Need business name ideas? PickyDomains.com, world’s first risk free naming agency
1. Remember that summer you spent with your parents in Hawaii and how mad you were that they made you go? And how you were hopelessly bored until you saw the most gorgeous man youâd ever encountered strolling down the beach looking at you, skillfully removing your skimpy bikini with his piercing eyes? And how you spent the last month imagining him taking you in every possible way, masturbating feverishly day and night, wishing he would reappear, but he never did because you were 15 and he would have gone to jail? That was me, and you just turned 18.
2. Mmmm Pez! Rabid Wonder Woman fan looking for someone in satin tights, fighting for our rights and the old red, white ân blue. You look like Linda Carter? Big plus. Know all words to theme song? Marry me.
3. Angry, simple-minded, balding, partially blind ex-circus flipper boy with a passion for covering lovers in sour cream and gravy seeks exotic, heavily tattooed piercing fanatic, preferably hairy, either sex, for whippings, bizarre sex and fashion consulting. No freaks.
4. Iâm about 5*2 and about 118lbs. I have light brown hair and gray/blue eyes. I wear glasses, I have my belly button pierced and I am slightly tan(because of the sun). I am planning on going to college to be a probation officer. Hop to here from you soon!!!!
5. When I was thirty my dates had to be young, tall, handsome, rich, intelligent. Now Iâm 64, they only have to know how to read and use the telephone!
6. Meâtrying to sleep on the bus station bench, pleading with you to give me a cigarette; youâchoking on my odor, tripping over your purse trying to get away; at the last moment, our eyes meeting. Yours were blue. Can I have a dollar?
7. Bitter, unsuccessful middle aged loser wallowing in an unending sea of inert, drooping loneliness looking for 24 year old needy leech-like hanger-on to abuse with dull stories, tired sex and Herb Alpert albums.
8. I am black and a woman. With children being slaughtered in Rowanda.
What difference does it make how big my breasts are, how long my legs
are, or how much money you or I make? To hell with long walks, holding
hands, candle lit dinners, and all of that other crap that people never
continue doing after the first date anyway; that didnât even take place
in Cinderella (Iâve seen the movie). If there is a man out there who:
isnât a crackhead or crack dealer,
isnât an alcoholic,
doesnât have any kids,
doesnât smoke,
doesnât beat women,
isnât wearing womenâs underwear as youâre reading this ad,
isnât a liar,
isnât looking for fun behind his wifeâs back,
isnât into being hit, peed on, or tied up while having sex,
doesnât want to hit, pee on or tie me up while having sex,
likes having sex,
CAN have sex,
is not
in jail,
on probation,
has a court date pending,
isnât a
misogynist,
racist,
classist,
elitist,
lawyer,
politician,
member of the military,
policeman (Malice Green, Rodney King),
bible boy, or
a pompous ass.
What you have to be is HONEST, HONEST, HONEST!!! If youâre out there,
if you exist, call me. Please donât make me give up on men. Prefer
letters.
9. Austrian-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher/engineer/kindergarten teacher and published author (one book of philosophy, one of spelling) seeks companion/housekeeper adept at soup preparation and prepared to travel to Norway on a momentâs notice. Must like: silence; dampness; impenetrable intellectual speculation; detective novels. Must despise: clarity; optimism; fellow academics. Age, race, gender unimportant. Respond (âYâ or âNâ only) to L. Wittgenstein, box 354.
10. Things I wonât do for love include replacing corroding soil pipes and trepanning at home. Everything else is A-OK. Eager-to-please woman (36) seeks domineering man to take advantage of her flagging confidence. Tell me Iâm pretty, then watch me cling, at box no. 3286.
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