Here are some tips for keeping your family fed without breaking the bank:

Preplan Your Menu

If you can get into the habit of sitting down on a weekly or monthly basis to preplan your meals, you’ll likely find you can save a lot of cash starting right away. Your menu planning will not reduce the cost of groceries but will organize your grocery list so you can and do spend less. There is an unlimited amount of free recipes online and on television so you can keep meals from getting boring.

Plan for Sales

When you complete your family menu, use it to make a list of all the ingredients needed to go into each dish for the week. This list will become your shopping list at the store. Rather than run to the usual grocery store, take the time to review sales fliers to find out where the deals are. By utilizing the planned menu as a shopping list, you will be more effective at clipping and using coupons to save even more.

Buy Fresh Weekly

In order to avoid wasted food, shop for fresh ingredients once a week. Nonperishable foods and items like paper products can be purchased on a monthly basis or when sales are worthwhile. Remember that may fresh products can be safely frozen such as green peppers and onions and are handy to grab when you want to spice up your meal. Invest in reusable bags and containers to keep food safe from freezer burn.

Use Versatile Ingredients

As you continue planning meals, you’ll begin to build a nice supply of staples which you will only need to replenish once in a while. You should focus on using recipes with versatile ingredients like chicken breasts, ground beef or turkey, and other food items compatible with many different kinds of recipes.

Many families fail at meal time planning because they feel there is not enough time in their busy schedule. But if you can take an hour at night or a few hours on the weekend to prepare several meals in advance, families are more likely to spend time at the family table than in pricey restaurants or the unhealthy fast food drive-through.

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For whatever reason you end up owing federal or state taxes, you have to file your income tax forms on time or your tax bill will only increase. Many Americans have to pay Uncle Sam but do not have the amount of cash it takes to eliminate the debt upfront. Some make the mistake of not filing taxes at all out of collection fears.

The reality is no matter what your financial status is you must file on time. The IRS has options so you can pay off your owned tax balance over time if you are not able to pay the lump sum when you file. The most popular method taxpayers will opt for is an installment agreement. This is an agreement between you as the taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service where you agree to pay a specific amount of money each month towards your tax debt until it is paid off.

When you file your annual tax return, you will need to include this installment agreement with your documents. You should first review your budget and income to determine how much you can reasonable afford to pay in owed taxes. You should include a check for the portion of the debt owed along with the agreement when you file your taxes. You will need to indicate on the how much you can reasonably afford to allocate towards your tax bill each month until the balance is paid in full.

The amount you suggest to the IRS will be reviewed and must be deemed reasonable by the agency in order for them to accept. By putting as much as you can afford towards your tax bill each month, you can reduce the amount you owe since it will help eliminate penalties and interest charges.

Your next step will be to move forward ensuring you will not let history repeat itself. Make sure enough taxes are being withheld from your paycheck and that you are also contributing to a savings account with each paycheck. This emergency fund can be helpful if you ever again find yourself facing a tax bill.  You should also make a point of saving all receipts for tax deductible spending to lower your tax liability moving forward.

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If you have gotten married, divorced, added dependents, or can no longer claim previous dependents, you should speak with a human resource or payroll representative at your job to ensure withholdings are correct.

Consequences of Forgotten Withholdings Changes

You may only realize your withholdings are incorrect at tax time when it is too late. On one hand, you may end up with a rather large refund but on the other hand you may end up owing money to the IRS

While you may think getting a refund is a good thing, you need to reconsider the actually situation. When the IRS owes you money, you have essentially given the federal government an interest-free loan. That money could be put to better use by you. You should adjust your withholdings so you break even at tax time and keep the extra money in your paycheck.

More Life Changes

In addition to withholdings information during a change in life’s circumstances, there are likely many other things you need to change and update. It can be a wise move to create and keep a list of financial services, tax information, and other personal services on a spreadsheet which is stored in a safe location.

If you ever need to make an address change, a name change, a married status change, or the like, you will have one master list to refer to so you can ensure all of your relevant information is updated and accurate at one time. Often consumers will forget to update their personal information and basic contact information with creditors, relevant government agencies, former employers, and financial service providers.

Without current and updated information on file, you may not be able to access important tax documents, account alerts and changes, investment details, and other vital information you need for your personal and financial life.

Your master list should include the name of the company, the contact information, and relevant account numbers so you have all you need in one convenient place. Make sure you add and remove new service provider details on the master list as you open or close accounts. This list will make your life-changing duties a much easier and more organized process.

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Here are some situations which might cause the IRS to raise an eyebrow – and look deeper into your financial situation:

Certain Deductions

Your goal as a taxpayer is to find as many tax deductions you are qualified to receive – but certain types of deductions in large amounts might cause the IRS to take a closer look.  Employee business expenses, charitable contributions and vehicle expense deductions are among the most common causes of IRS audits due to high deduction amounts.

If you have no reported income but are submitting business and rental schedules, you will also have a higher risk of getting audited.

Questionable Lifestyle in Comparison to Financial Situation

If you appear to have a lifestyle that is not supported by the information in your tax return, the IRS might get curious and dig deeper into your bank accounts to see if there is any unreported income.

Adoption and Earned Income Credit

If you file for either the Earned Income Credit or the Adoption Tax Credits, you are more at risk for an IRS audit.  These are tax credits that individuals frequently abuse to increase their tax refund or reduce their tax liability, so when the IRS sees someone putting in for the Earned Income Credit or Adoption Credit, they are more likely to make sure the taxpayer is eligible for the credit.

Typo Errors

If you put the decimal point in the wrong place or add a few extra zeros to a deduction, you can really skew the numbers in your tax filing.  For example, if you have a $6,000 income tax withholding but accidentally enter $60,000 – you’re going to cause all kinds of problems with the rest of your tax return – and the IRS will figure it out.

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Here are five reasons you should be paying more attention to your receipts:

Overpayment

To be a savvy consumer you need to ensure you are never overcharged for anything. You should check through your receipt before leaving the store so you can head back to customer service and report the errors to get a refund. Some stores promote other perks like double refunds if pricing is wrong.

Expense Tracking

You may think you can estimate how much you spend in different financial categories but you should utilize receipts to confirm exactly what you spend from month to month for budgeting purposes.

Deductible Proof

In addition to expense tracking, you will also need to hang on to those receipts for income tax time as proof of your spending. This is also true for independent business owners.

Spending Habits

By using your receipts to track expenses, you can use more accurate data to figure out your spending habits. Until you face the reality of how much you spend and how you spend it. This is the only way you will be able to establish an accurate budget and plan for savings to stabilize your financial future.

Receipt Cautions

Saving receipts for your financial planning is important but disposing of those receipts is also something you need to consider. Receipts often give away too much vital information that can compromise your personal and financial information. While many receipts are somewhat discreet, anyone picking up one of your tossed receipts may be able to use the information to rip you off.

Any receipts you are not saving for expense tracking or bank/credit card reconciliations should be properly destroyed using a document shredder. It can be easy to toss the paper into the nearest trash can wherever you are but that will give the public access to your information.

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Plan Meals around Sales and Coupons

You don’t have to spend 40 hours a week studying sales flyers and coupons like the extreme couponers do to save money.  When you get your local grocery store flyer, take a look at what is on sale that week and plan your meals around sales.  After your list is completed, look to see if you have any coupons for items you’re already buying – but don’t make the mistake of buying something just because you have a coupon.

Buy in Bulk if it Makes Sense

If an item you use frequently goes on sale, it may make sense to buy several at the discounted price so you can avoid buying it at the regular, non-sale price.  Don’t buy extra of any item that you don’t have room to store or that will go bad before you can use it.

Stop Impulse Shopping

Grocery stores know exactly where to put items people are most likely to buy on impulse.  One way to decrease the amount of money you spend in the grocery store is to make a list before you go, based on what is on sale and what you have coupons for, and then only buy the items you have on your list.  You might be surprised to discover how many items end up in your shopping cart that are a complete impulse buy – and are not needed.

Buy Bagged Produce

When you buy a bag of carrots, the price is based on a pound of carrots.  If you were to weigh the bag, often you will find that there is more than a pound of carrots in the pre-packaged produce bags so you end up getting more for your money than you do when you buy loose produce that you bag and weigh at checkout.

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Investing with a Moderate-Risk Portfolio

If you have modest amounts of money to invest, and can’t spend hours studying the prospectuses of various options for investing – you can reach financial goals faster by setting up a one asset-allocation fund, for example, a three-year growth fund offering a blend of domestic bonds and foreign stocks with an annualized return of 2.3%.

Another option might be to set up a target-date fund based on the year you plan to retire – these funds will automatically make changes to the types of investments you buy as you get closer to your retirement age and need to reduce your risk level.

The Quick Way to Budget

Careful budgeting can eat a lot of your time, and if time equals money – it may not be the best use of that time!  Try the quicker way of budgeting using automatic deposits and multiple bank accounts.  For example, set up three bank accounts: an interest-earning savings account (with the highest interest rate you can find); and two checking accounts.

Figure out how much money you need to pay your monthly living expenses, and how much of your income that requires each pay period.  If you need $2800 a month to pay all of your living expenses and you get paid 4 times each month, have $700 automatically deposited into one of your checking accounts each pay period.  This account is your bill account, and you’ll pay all of your expenses from this account.  Then, figure out how much money you want to save each month; if saving $500 a month, you would want to deposit $125 per pay period into your savings account.  The remainder of your paycheck would go into the second checking account – and this is how much you have for entertainment and miscellaneous spending.  Provided you use the accounts the way you set them up and don’t have drastically fluctuating income, this strategy eliminates having to keep careful track of each penny coming in and out of your accounts.

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For Sale by Owner

You always have the option of listing your home for sale without the help of a real estate agent.  This is probably the most time consuming method of selling your home, but you will keep more of your home’s selling price because you aren’t paying a real estate agent a commission.  You will need to figure out the asking price and deal with marketing your home so potential buyers can find it; and then negotiate with people who are interested in buying your home.  Another drawback of listing your home as a for sale by owner is that you may have your house on the market for quite a while before it gets sold.

You can post your house on a multiple-listing service for about $300, which will make sure everyone searching for homes in your area and price range will find it.  The listing fee is nothing compared to what you’d pay in realtor commissions.

Make Your Home Look like a Bargain

Right now, the real estate market is overflowing with foreclosed properties.  It can be hard to compete with prices on some of the foreclosures, but if you set your asking price about 10% below what comparable homes are selling for in your neighborhood, you will make your home look like a bargain.  While you may lose a few thousand dollars with this method – you have a very good chance of selling your home quickly and not having to deal with having a house on the market for months.

When your home is bargain priced, you also encourage bidding wars – with multiple buyers trying to buy the home.  The listing price is just the asking price – buyers who really want your home will often offer above your asking price, in hopes of beating out other buyers for the same property.

Use an Agent and Negotiate the Commission

If you aren’t up for the challenge of listing your home for sale on your own, and don’t want to list it for well below its value, you might decide working with a real estate agent is your best method for selling your home.  Many real estate agents will negotiate their commission from the standard 6% down to 5% or so if you agree to list an aggressive home price and prepare the home so it can be listed as move-in ready.

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In this common scenario, there are typically two choices:

• You can cut some expenses out of your budget completely; or
• You can add additional sources of income to your financial situation.

If you can no longer cut anything else from your living expenses, it is time to add more money to the mix. Here are 4 ways you may be able to boost your income:

Ask for Overtime

If you work at a job that offers the opportunity for extra hours, sign on. You can earn extra cash without having to worry about starting a part time job somewhere new. If no overtime is available, perform a self-analysis about your work performance and approach your boss about a raise.

Go Part-Time

If you are not in a position to get a raise, consider applying for a part time job. Use the second paycheck strictly to reduce your debts. Once your debts have been eliminated, you can consider eliminating your part time gig.

Skills for Dollar Bills

Many people have a knack, a natural gift, for doing things. Home repair, sewing, crafts, childcare, individual lessons, or any number of hobbies and activities other people cannot do. You can earn supplemental income by promoting your skills among friends, your church, and your community and so on. A big hurdle in this option is people worrying about charging people they know for services rendered. However, move forward without guilt as many people likely feel more comfortable hiring you for jobs than they would a stranger. You may find you have a whole new career ahead of you.

De-Junk Your Life

They say one man’s trash is another’s treasure. Take the opportunity to declutter your home and your life by selling unwanted or unused items. There are many resources for you to unload items for cash including hosting a garage sale, working with a consignment shop, or eBay and other online websites.

Educate Yourself

If your current job is approaching dead-end status, consider the local and governmental resources which offer free or low-cost continuing education programs. These resources can open new doors of financial opportunity and freedom for you. There are many affordable online courses you can use to boost your skills, knowledge, and paycheck totals. It is never too late to learn something new.

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Avoid Late Fees with Automatic Payments

If you find yourself too busy to send your payments in on time, but you have the income to support your debts – consider setting up an automatic payment schedule to pay your bills.  You can schedule automatic payments through most banks’ online bill payment feature, but if your bank doesn’t offer the service you can log into each of your accounts individually and manually schedule payments.

Avoiding Late Fees when You Don’t Have Enough Money

Sometimes you don’t send payments in on time simply because you don’t have enough money to pay each of your bills before the due date. If this is the situation you’re in, try to pay your accounts in order of the accounts that will charge you the highest late fee if you’re late, first.  So if you have two accounts that charge $39 a month when you’re late, and a utility bill that charges 1% a month when you’re late – pay the $39 monthly late fee first to minimize the amount you pay each month in late fees.

Avoiding Late Fees By Reducing Total Debt

If you end up with late fees because you have more debt than you can pay comfortably, it’s time to focus on getting out of debt.  Try using the debt snowball to organize your method of debt reduction.  The snowball has you paying the minimum payment each month on everything except for one account which you send as much as you can each month until it is paid off.  Then, when you eliminate one of your debts, you apply the money you were sending to that account to the minimum payment you were sending to one of your other accounts until the next one on the list is paid off.

How to Remove a Late Fee

If you are someone who hardly ever pays your bills beyond the due date, you should have little trouble getting a late fee removed.  When you see a late fee on one of your accounts, call the customer service department and explain what happened and ask if there is any way they could extend the courtesy of removing the fee.  You may be surprised to find they will simply because you asked – but most companies will only offer this courtesy once or twice a year and only for people who don’t pay their bill repeatedly late.

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The credit card companies seem to be responding to both new legislation and a recovering economy by adjusting their treatment of card users. For this reason, consumers, especially those with excellent credit, have much more power than in previous years. It is important to understand your rights as well how you can negotiate with credit card companies to get the best possible terms and conditions.

Negotiate With Confidence

Consumers who have good to excellent credit have some negotiating power with credit card companies. If you have managed your finances well in the past, credit card companies are more willing to consider lower interest rates or possibly waiving fees which would otherwise increase your balance. Understand that your credit history and score will play a big factor in whether or not your credit card company will consider concessions for your benefit. If you do have good credit, you are in a position of power in that credit card companies tend to cater to customers posing the lowest risk.

How to Improve Your Credit Score

For consumers who have less than perfect credit, all hope is not lost. While it is true that your credit card company might not be jumping through hoops to offer you the best interest rates or other conditions, you can make changes to improve your credit. By managing your credit wisely and proving you are capable of making responsible financial decisions, your credit card company may begin to view you as a lower risk as well. There are many ways to improve your credit including making payments on time, reducing your balances and reviewing your credit report for errors.

Understand Credit Card Companies

When you understand how credit card companies work, you are in a better position to manage your credit responsibly. Recognize that you are dealing with a multi-billion dollar business, with banks looking to make as much money as possible. With that being said, if you prove to be a valued customer, credit card companies will be more inclined to work with you to improve the business relationship you have established with them. Consumers now have more protection than ever before; making this an ideal time to learn how to improve your position when dealing with credit card companies.

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Compare Credit Card Fees

Look at all fees associated with any credit card you are considering. Are their annual fees? What is the benefit of paying for an annual fee on one credit card over choosing a card without an annual fee? What are the over-the-limit and late fees? Is there a fee to close the credit card account?

Compare Annual Percentage Rates

When comparing one credit card to another, one of the first places to look is the APR, or interest rate charged. The lower the interest rate, the better, but keep in mind many credit cards offer lower interest rates for the first six to twelve months to entice consumers to choose their card – but it’s important to know what the interest rate will be after the promotional period ends. Also look at the differences in APR charged for purchases, balance transfers, and cash advances.

Available Credit Limits

How much will each credit card company offer you in terms of a credit limit? If one card is offering you $200 compared to a $3,000 credit card – it may make more sense to go with a card with a higher limit. Credit limits generally depend on your personal credit score and amount of income.

Comparing Secure Cards and Unsecured Cards

There are two primary types of credit cards – those that are secured and those that are unsecured. The traditional credit card is unsecured, in that you get a higher credit limit and do not have to give a deposit or collateral in exchange for the spending power. For people with lower credit scores, you may consider a secured card if you can’t get approved for an unsecured credit card. This will allow you to place a deposit on the account in order to obtain credit. Just make sure to choose a secured card that will also report your activity to the credit bureaus so you can begin re-establishing and rebuilding your credit score.

Compare Grace Periods for Payments

Look at how long each card in consideration gives you for paying your credit card balance before interest is charged. Ideally, you want a card with at least 25 days to pay.

Low Balance Transfer Rates

If you intend to move a high interest balance from other credit cards to your new credit card, also look carefully at balance transfer fees and interest rates. Look for a card that will offer the lowest balance transfer fee, and the longest period of time at the lowest interest rate to help you pay off your high interest debt faster.

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How Durbin Amendment Affects Consumers

The Durbin Amendment was put into play effective October 1, 2011. The amendment has limited the amount of money banks can charge merchants that process debit card transactions for purchases.

In the past, banks made a lot of money from these swipe fees but now with the new limitations, banks are losing a lot of their reliable profits. As a result, the customers of the big banking facilities are now incurring more costs for services that in the past have been free.

Consumer Consequences

Consumers are struggling with their financial obligations with the recession and the high rates of unemployment. Adding new and larger bank fees makes it nearly impossible for some to survive financially from one month to the next.

Banks are imposing fees for many things consumers are not accustomed to paying. There is still the deficiency in bank customers that regularly neglect to review bank statements and account disclosures which detail changes being made to banking services, including new or increased fees.

Without opening the mail, consumers are often in the dark about what they are actually paying for just to maintain a checking or savings account. Maintenance fees, transaction fees, and monthly debit card usage fees are growing more common and more expensive.

Avoiding Financial Mistakes in Banking

In order to avoid paying more than necessary, there are a few things consumers can do now to create a more stable financial future. These actions include:

Comparing offers of other banks – see what else is out there that better suits your banking needs at rates you can reasonably afford and transfer your accounts to a facility with better opportunities and more customer-friendly incentives.

Be diligent about recording transactions – even one overdraft on your account can incur a $40 or $50 charge so it pays to be consistent in recording transactions and helps to leave a cushion in your account to protect you from simple math mistakes.

Use cash – instead of forking over various transaction fees for using ATMs outside of your banking network, plan ahead with your budgeting to make free cash withdrawals from the teller that allow you to avoid electronic transactions and their subsequent fees altogether.

Make savings a priority – the only way to ensure you have financial stability is to pay yourself first. Most banks allow for automated deposits from your paycheck or other bank accounts at no additional charge. Make a commitment to put away some percentage of your income to build up an emergency fund that can help you avoid financial disasters such as bank overdrafts or unexpected expenses.

Read the fine print – stop throwing away your bank statements. Be sure to review each statement and piece of correspondence that comes from your bank. If you neglect to read all of the information you are being given by your bank, you are likely to miss out on important details concerning fees and other account changes. Make sure to also read the fine print that often contains the most important details.

Deal with bank concerns – if you are not happy with the changes that are taking place concerning your bank accounts, stop by the bank and speak to a supervisor or branch manager. While there is no guarantee they’ll be of assistance, pleading your case can make a difference if you have been a long-time customer in good standing. Some banks will be willing to waive certain fees or account requirements simply because you spoke up.

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Credit card skimming is when someone uses an electronic device to read the information off your credit and debit card to use later in the creation of a new card. Some thieves will use your numbers to shop online. You are at risk for credit and debit card skimming scams whenever you shop with your card instead of cash; or when you withdraw cash from an automated teller machine. If all card transactions put you at risk for credit card skimming scams, what steps can you take to avoid them?

Stop Using Credit and Debit Cards

The most obvious way to avoid credit or debit card skimming scams is by not using your cards and switching to cash transactions – but for many people this is not an option. You can reduce your use of cards by withdrawing money from inside the bank with a bank teller instead of using an ATM. If you’re unable to completely avoid using your credit and debit cards, the following tips will help you reduce your risk for skimming scams.

Review Transactions Carefully

Make sure you open your credit card statements and bank statements as soon as they arrive and review the transactions. If you have been the victim of a card skimming scam, it’s important that you recognize it immediately so you can notify the card company or bank and put a stop to future charges on the card. For many credit card companies, you need to notify them within a certain period of time after a fraudulent purchase has been made to limit your personal liability for fraudulent purchases to $0 or $50. If you fail to notify the company of potential problems as soon as they happen, you could be liable to pay for purchases you didn’t make. Debit cards have different rules for fraudulent purchases, and may differ between banks. Check with your bank to find out what their fraud policies are.

ATM Debit Card Safety

You will increase your safety when you use an ATM inside a bank branch rather than a drive through or outside ATM, since it is harder for a thief to install a skimming device on an ATM located inside the bank.

Card skimming at an ATM generally involves two devices – a unit that reads your card as you swipe or insert it into the ATM, and a tiny camera that literally records your PIN by watching you enter the numbers on the keypad. You can reduce your risks for card skimming at an ATM by checking the unit before you insert or swipe your card to make sure it doesn’t appear to have a skimming device installed; and for covering your hand when you enter your PIN to block view from a potential camera.

Gas Pumps, Restaurants, and Retailers

Every time you use your debit or credit card, you are at a risk for card skimming crimes. When putting gas in your car, you might want to pay inside instead of at the pump to reduce your risks when getting fuel. In restaurants where the waitress will disappear to another part of the restaurant to process your card payment, you might consider using cash, instead. At retailers, if you have any concern about the legitimacy of the credit card reader, you can always ask the cashier to enter your card number manually instead of swiping your card for payment.

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Make Sure Your Credit Report is Correct

Your credit report may not be 100% accurate, so the first step to improving your credit score should start with verifying the information contained in your credit report is correct. Get a free copy of your credit report from each of the major credit reporting bureaus, and look it over for late payment notations on any account that you did not send in late payments for and make sure there are no accounts with balances that you have already paid off. If you find errors, follow the instructions to dispute them with the credit reporting agency that has inaccurate information.

Take Steps to Make All Payments On Time

One of the biggest factors to the calculation of your credit score is whether or not you pay your bills on time. To increase your credit score, you will want to make sure all of your accounts are paid before the due dates. Even payments made one or two days beyond the due date can have a negative impact on your FICO score. You can use your bank’s online bill payment features to automate payments; or log into your creditor accounts individually and schedule payments for automatic debit from your checking or savings account. This will eliminate an accidental late payment.

Focus on Debt Repayment

If you have high debt, you will want to focus on paying it off as quickly as possible. Your credit score takes into consideration the amount of money you owe in relation to the amount of credit available to you. Pay down debts so you owe less than 30% of your available credit and you’ll see your credit score increase over time. Don’t open new credit card accounts to increase your available credit, as a new account in your credit history will lower the average age of credit and can reduce your credit score. If you have an account on your credit report that has gone into collections, paying it off does not remove it from your credit report – it will remain on your report for seven years from the date it went delinquent.

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Getting Married: The day most women dream about all through their childhood marks an important milestone – and creates a variety of new tasks you should to to become better prepared. If there are large assets involved, a financial planner or prenuptial agreement may be a good idea.

If the assets are minimal, there are concerns to address now in the event on partner passes away unexpectedly – things like having powers of attorney and health-care proxies so that in the event one partner is incapacitated, the other can make decisions.

Having Children: In addition to the most common concerns of parenting and raising children, there are several other considerations when you begin a family. Who will take care of the baby while the parents work, or will one partner remain at home? How will you handle the loss of income and the increase of living expenses?

When you have dependents, it becomes imperative that you have life insurance in order – if one or both parents die, life insurance can help ensure the family has money to maintain their lifestyle. Wills, while important before, are an absolute requirement when you have dependents as you can designate who will become guardians of the children if both of you should die in an accident or for any reason.

Planning for the future of your children becomes just as important as planning for your own retirement. The earlier you start putting money aside for your child’s college education, the more they will have when they’re old enough to go to college. Try a 529 plan.

Divorce: No one wants to consider their marriage may end in divorce, but with the statistics showing that 1 in every 2 marriages ends in divorce, it’s necessary that you are prepared just in case. If your husband handles all of the finances and investments, they are likely to be in his name. Make sure you know where money is being saved or invested and where the paperwork is kept.

Put some accounts in your own name, even if you are the stay-at-home parent, or a housewife. There should be some assets and liquidity in your name as you may need access to money when going through mediation or divorce.

Death: If your spouse becomes terminally ill, get your financial affairs in order immediately. It’s not what you want to be thinking about during such a difficult time, but it can save you unbelievable stress later on.

If your spouse should die unexpectedly, not knowing anything about your family finances creates a nightmare that you must work through and your mind and heart will not be in any condition to be forced into worrying about such things. Hopefully, you will never find yourself in this situation, but it’s better to prepare for it and not have to use that preparation than to find yourself up the creek without a paddle, later! Create a balance sheet of assets and liabilities, and keep it up to date.

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Home Owners

If you own a home, you might consider taking out a low interest home equity loan.  Place the loan into a high interest account that is FDIC insured to eliminate risk, and let it grow.  ING is a good example of a high interest account; either savings or checking, and you can withdraw the money if you need to in order to make a payment on the loan.  If you are considering this route, you’ll want to weigh the fees of obtaining the loan with how much the money will earn you while in the savings account.

Credit Cards

You can actually make money with your credit cards.  Look for offers for 0% balance transfers or 0% cash advances, preferably for twelve months or more.  Instead of using the card to make purchases, simply deposit the amount into your high interest account where it will earn money interest free for the year.  When the 0% interest period has ended, you can withdraw the money to pay it back, and keep the interest it’s earned.

Deposit $10,000 from a 0% credit card offer for 12 months in a 4.25% APY account, and you’ll have $425 at the end of the year.  Yes, you have to pay taxes on it as “earned income”, but it’s still money you wouldn’t have had otherwise.  If you did this every year, you could increase your earnings substantially – simply by adding money from new 0% offers into your account, and leaving your earned interest in the account. So the second year, maybe you would qualify for $15,000 from a 0% credit card offer instead of $10,000 since you paid it back on time; and you already made $425.  You are then earning interest on $15,425.  That year you’ll earn over $650 in interest.  After you pay back your $15,000 loan, you would have around $1075 in interest from the two years of making money off borrowed money.  You can decide whether or not to continue these methods of earning from borrowed money; or to move your $1000+ earned interest into a different investment or savings vehicle for long term growth.

Special Considerations

Whenever you consider ways of making money from borrowed money, you need to keep in mind that if you aren’t paying attention to the details of the loan, you can easily make a mistake that causes you to pay finance charges or interest.  If you are paying money on the borrowed money, you are probably not going to earn much (if anything at all) from the interest you can earn.

Additionally, when you borrow money, there is always the chance your credit score will drop temporarily. This is because you’ve increased the amount of credit you are using, and decreased the amount of your available credit.  Once you pay off the borrowed money your credit score should return to normal, but it’s important to consider that effect in case you have a need to borrow additional money during the time you’ve got your 0% credit card offer or low interest home equity loan earning interest for you.

This is a guest post by Car Finance 247 who are based in the UK and specialise in helping people with bad credit.

You Can Make Money With Borrowed Money was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Microsoft has been making most of its profits by increasing sales in the business category, primarily with its Office related software, and software that runs servers, raising sales to just over 8% overall. This is in stark contrast to sales of Microsoft’s netbook, which is a lower cost, smaller laptop. This same category of electronics is where Apple has picked up sales. The Apple iPad tablet has been outselling the netbook. Regular personal computer sales have dropped almost 2% in the same time period.

This shows that consumers in the private sector are leaning toward tablet computers, and specifically, the iPad. Businesses have stayed away from tablets over all, and choose to still rely on traditional PCs with Microsoft-backed software. The increase of Tablet sales may very well make laptops obsolete for the average, non-business individual.

Microsoft closed this quarter with $5.2 billion compared to Apples quarter, that ended just shy of $6 billion. Microsoft’s stock is down more then 4% for the year.

Tablets are taking more and more of the of the regular consumer market, possibly pushing laptops out of the running altogether. Apple is dominating the tablet market despite the heavy competition, however, Microsoft continues to dominate the business and server software sales. This is also a good indicator of an improving economy, because people are spending money on convenience items like the iPad, meanwhile, businesses are improving their efficiency by investing in business software.

Reference:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-29/microsoft-profit-falls-below-apple-s-as-ipad-eats-into-sales.html

Tablet Computers Cut into Microsoft’s NASDAQ: MSFT) Profits was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

All smartphones are basically a miniature laptop, easy to use, always on you, and loaded with personal information. Think about how often you use your smartphone and the type of information it saves about you as you make use of the advanced features of convenience the phones offer – and then you’ll start to get a grasp of the growing concern starting to sweep through the nation.

Smartphones have become an absolute treasure chest of personal information. The marketer’s dream come true! Most of the time you’re not even aware of how much personal information you’re putting into the smartphone – besides the obvious phone numbers and email addresses of your contact list, there’s also search engine search topics, and keywords you used, text messages, Facebook and Twitter posts, GPS readings, map search results for everywhere you’ve traveled, and even purchases you may have made using your phone like a credit card.

The growing concern doesn’t necessarily have to deal with how much the smartphones are being used to accomplish these days, but more about how easy it is to access this information that is being stored in your smartphone. For instance, most mobile service providers have tracking software in their devices which helps relay information back to them for updating WiFi hot spots and map systems. But what information they are getting and how they are using it is a bit unclear.

In response to this growing concern for privacy and security when using smartphones, there is an expanding movement to make laws that better regulate this issue. Pro-privacy advocates say there should be laws in place to help regulate what information the phone companies have access to, and disclosure for how they use that information, although at the moment there are no major bills being drafted on the matter. Congress has made a number of summons to Apple in particular, to discuss the tracking software it uses.

Not everyone is against the ease of access to the information on smartphones. Law enforcement officials see it as a positive as the information they get from suspect’s smartphones usually breaks the case, with the call logs and text message logs being the most important information to their case. Detectives have even coined the term “digital fingerprints” to describe the information they take off smartphones, because it does lead to arrests.

Reference:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_17911919?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1

When Smartphones Know Too Much – is Your Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone Putting You In Danger? was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Analysts say this is a sign of a strengthening market, and furthermore, a sign of a recovering economy. Microsoft’s announcement comes shortly after Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Facebook both announced raises for their employees, as well.

Google has given an average of a 10 per cent raise per employee, and is well on its way to hiring 8,000 new employees. Google has also announced that future bonuses will be tied to how well Google’s social media services do, giving employees more incentive to make sure the social media services are successful.

Some may speculate that it is possible Microsoft is just following a trend, or more likely, trying to keep its employees from leaving and moving to Facebook and Google. Employee retention is often more important than hiring new people, especially in the technical field.

It’s no secret that since Google became the powerhouse that it is that Microsoft has had more difficulties hiring young and talented technical workers, and now with Facebook in the picture, the hiring of young talented techs is even more competitive. Many up and coming technical workers seek Google and Facebook jobs before Microsoft, particularly as both Google and Facebook expand their market offerings. Google has recently entered the mobile device market while Facebook is developing a search engine.

Whether or not it’s just a trend, a trick to retain employees, or provide incentives to gain new employees, the truth remains that almost all technical employees working in Microsoft, Google, or Facebook will be seeing a raise this year. On average, the raises in the industry are roughly 4 per cent.

Reference:

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/More-Money-Could-Make-Microsoft-Employees-Stick-72328.html?wlc=1303656908&wlc=1303661172

Tech Employees at Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Get Bigger Raises was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Many people are still unsettled with this explanation, however. Senators, including Senator Al Franken, have recently called on Apple to describe why they are tracking location of smart phone users. Apple explains that not only does the use of location tracking allow them to update the Wifi spots to maximize iPhone use, but it allows them to update maps for GPS use by smart phone users.

Many people speculate location tracking has something to do with advertising. Google is already testing location-based advertising for their tablet and Android phones in England. Basically, this means that when you use your Android in England, you will get ads for businesses specific to your location. Ads for mobile devices are becoming the next big method for businesses attempting to reach their target customers with their marketing messages and the location tracking of smart phones will further grow this type of advertising.

Another concern of location tracking with phones of course is security-based. If an individual with ill intent toward another individual has access to the location, they could use that information in a harmful way. It may seem an unlikely scenario for the average American, but location tracking deals with security of people in general. Because the information is accessible, it could be used maliciously.

Most of the smart phones made by Google and Apple have a feature to stop location tracking. Individuals who do not want their location known have the option of turning the feature off. Unfortunately, a problem with the programming of this feature actually allowed location tracking even after the feature was turned off – but it has since been repaired. This added fuel to the fire as people saw it as evidence that the location tracking was or could become malicious. Google and Apple insist there is no vicious intent to their costumers, and promise it is just a feature to help maximize the smart phone’s experience for updating maps, search engines and Wifi spots.

References:

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/88286.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/21/al-franken-ed-markey-iphone-tracking_n_852196.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/27/google-apple-location-tracking_n_854114.html

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) On The Hot Seat With Location Tracking was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The fast sell out is a record for Apple. While tickets have always disappeared quickly, they have never gone at this pace. Last year when tickets for the conference went on sale it took eight days for the conference to sell out and the year prior it took nearly a month.

The quick sell out may be a way for developers to cash in. Many were given extra activation codes for conference tickets so that they could later hand them out to colleagues. These developers have now turned around and are selling the extra tickets they were able to acquire on Ebay and Craig’s List for a premium.

Apple was selling tickets for the conference for the same price as last year’ event and for what some may now call the bargain price of just $1599.00. If you are willing to dish out a lot more you might be able to get your hands on a ticket. Some scalped tickets are being reported as selling for close to $5000.00.

What does Apple think of this inflated resale price? In the past Apple has never openly opposed to the re-selling of tickets to the conference and it is not known whether or not they will take any action against the explicit reselling taking place right now.

Apple’s Developer Conference is not the first one to sell out this year. Google’s I/O seminar event that went on sale last month for May also sold out in just a few hours. Google’s price for the event was just $450.00 per ticket but like Apple’s event, shortly after the conference sold out tickets were found on Ebay and Craig’s list going for several times the ticket value.

Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) World Wide Develop Conference Sell Out In Less Than A Day was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Current debit card customers will not be affected by the changes. For now, these reward customers will still be able to continue to earn cash back, travel rewards as well as gift cards and gift certificates when they use their debit card for payment, among other things.

What is prompting the changes? Wells Fargo like other banks will soon need to replace revenue that they will be losing as a result of lower debit interchange fees. An interchange fee is the fee the bank charges the retailer when you use your debit card to pay for a purchase. The bank collects the fee and then shares the revenue with their partners including Visa and MasterCard.

According to data collected in 2009 from the Federal Reserve the average interchange fee collected from banks was 44 cents per transaction. While this number may seem small, the amount of revenue that is generated totals in the billions each year. Interchange fees are thought to currently generate approximately 16 billion dollars annually for the industry.

The revenue from interchange fees is more than likely about to take a severe hit, forcing banks to cut services and programs in order to save money. In December of last year the Feds proposed that the Interchange fee be capped at 12 cents per transaction. The rate change, if it passes, is scheduled to take place in July.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo along with other banks are scrambling to find ways to cut expenses and make up for the revenue that they are about to lose. It appears that debit card rewards programs at Wells Fargo and other banks just may be seeing their demise.

Reference:

http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/50091/Wells+Fargo+Halts+Debit+Rewards

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Set To Stop Offering Debit Card Rewards was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The quick sell out is a record for Apple. While tickets have always disappeared quickly, they have never gone at this pace. Last year when tickets for the conference went on sale it took eight days for the conference to sell out and the year prior it took nearly a month.

The quick sell out may be a way for developers to cash in. Many were given extra activation codes for conference tickets to be able to alter hand out to colleagues. These developers have now turned around and are selling the extra tickets they were able to acquire on Ebay and Craig’s List.

Apple was selling tickets for the conference for what some may now call the bargain price of just $1599.00. If you are willing to dish out a lot more you might be able to get your hands on a ticket. Scalped tickets are being reported as going for as much as $4599.00.

Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) World Wide Develop Conference Sell Out In Less Than A Day was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The suit was filed this week in New York and points to the time period from Jan through October of last year. During this time the bank’s stock value plummeted when allegations came out that the bank was hiding billions in debt and partaking in fraudulent foreclosure practices. Additionally, the bank is being accused of not properly filing mortgages that were acquired from Countrywide.

According to the complaint that was filed Bank Of America, “did not properly record many of its mortgages when originated or acquired, which severely complicated the foreclosure process when it became necessary.”

Shareholders say Bank of America’s stock traded at an inflated rate during much of last year. In April 2010 the shares reached their peak of $19.48. Soon after the problems came to light, the banks stock’s crashed falling nearly 42%.

Bank Of America has been dealing with the fallout since last October. As a result of accusations against Bank of America and other lenders, attorney generals in all states launched an investigation into foreclosure practices across the country. At the time Bank Of America voluntarily put all of their foreclosure proceedings on hold while they launched their own internal investigation. Foreclosure procedures have since been reinstated at the bank, but meanwhile several legal suits have resulted.

Shareholders filing this current suit are speaking out saying that Bank of America executives did not act in good faith. They are asking for damages in an undisclosed amount along with reimbursement for court costs, attorney fees and any other miscellaneous expenses.

Reference:

http://www.housingwire.com/2011/03/29/shareholders-take-aim-at-bank-of-america-executives

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-28/bank-of-america-board-sued-by-holders-over-mortgage-defects.html

Bank Of America (NYSE: BAC) Sued By Share Holders was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

So, what features are rumored for Google Music? What will differentiate it from other similar services? Here is what is being reported:

• A digital music store will be available similar to other competing sites like Apple and Amazon.
• A digital storage area will have features that surpass other sites including the ability for consumers to store their entire music library on line and have access to it for all their music compatible devices.

Google does seem to have a few snags that they are dealing with before the store can go public. The main issue is negotiating contracts with record labels. With their on line storage plans, they are striving to enter new territory that hasn’t yet been touched by their competitors. As a result, licensing issues will need to be resolved before they can go live. Whatever is decided will create a precedent and no one wants to make a move too quickly without thinking it through.

Google is hoping their music store launch will give Apple a run for their money. As of the end of 2010 Apple was dominant in the digital music field and Google is hoping to change that.

So when exactly will the Google Music Store launch and will it really have the storage technology to top all other sites? Well the date has not yet been released but some are thinking possibly as soon as May, which is when Google has their developer’s conference planned. Whether or not the locker storage system will be a go is still up in the air. It will depend on whether or not Google will be able to negotiate deals with record labels.

Reference:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/223367/google_music_is_really_seriously_honestly_almost_here.html

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Music Is Coming Soon was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The question now is will Apple be able to stay on top and will the iPad 2 be as big as the original? If stats to date are any indication, it looks like they are heading down the right path.

Other companies are certainly trying to give Apple a run for their money, but so far they have not been able to top the iPad. Competing for market shares along with Apple’s iPad include the Android, RIM’s QMX amongst others.

Apple has not yet released its total sales figures for the iPad2 but is expected to do so in just a few short weeks when second quarter fiscal earnings are due out.

Reports from different countries, including Australia, indicated large crowds and days of waiting in line were the norm for customers who were hoping to snag an iPad 2 on release day. To their dismay, many want to be owners of the new iPad2 were turned away as supplies diminished in some locations within just hours. Numerous people are complaining that the supply was inadequate and that Apple should have waited to launch until they could better meet the demand.

Retail locations across Australia are telling customers that they are unsure when they will have more in stock. According to reports some stores are starting their own waiting lists. Official Apple Stores in the country are telling customers to just keep checking back and no one seems to be able to give a clear date when more devices may be available.

It looks like want to be owners who were not lucky enough to snag an iPad2 in the first international shipments are going to have to have to play the waiting game. There is no telling when more might be available.

References:

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/tablets/apple-fans-livid-as-ipad-2-sells-out-20110329-1cdvx.html

http://venturebeat.com/2011/03/27/apple-runs-out-of-overseas-ipad-2-stock-by-saturday-afternoon/

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad 2’s Sell Out Overseas In Less Than 24 Hours was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

During 1997 through 2006, mortgage lenders created a variety of no money down type programs and “loan to own” mortgages which eliminated the strict requirements previously needed to get a mortgage. Individuals did not have to prove their ability to repay the mortgage or have sizeable downpayments during this period, and lenders like Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup lent millions of mortgages to people they knew had little chance of fully repaying them.

The original mortgage lending practices are returning, where borrowers are required to come up with a 20% minimum down payment to qualify. To contract the difference, in 2006 the average home down payment was 4% of the purchase price, while in 2010, across nine major United States cities the median down payment was 22%.

Lower down payments make it possible for more homeowners to get into homes, but it leaves them with costly mortgages they can’t afford and results in high numbers of foreclosures. Even individuals who have managed to avoid foreclosures through mortgage refinancing programs offered recently are experiencing long term financial distress – since they owe so much more than their homes are worth in today’s market.

If borrowers can’t come up with 20% or more for a down payment, they can look at loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Currently, these loans require 3.5% at closing, but come with private mortgage insurance expenses and higher than average interest payments. While it offers the opportunity to get into a home, the monthly payments will be higher.

Resource:

http://www.housingpredictor.com/2011/banks-want-more-money.html

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Citigroup (NYSE: C) Penalties Likely to End “No Money Down” Programs was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Were 150,000 Google accounts hacked? No. According to Google, it was an internal error that affected less than .08% of all Gmail users. Throughout the course of the day, Google updated users on their progress toward fixing the problem. It is unknown whether or not Google will be able to recover the lost data at this time, but many affected users report being completely locked out of their accounts, presumably while Google techs are working behind the scenes to repair the problem.

On the Google status page, the company has recently announced: “Google Mail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change.” What time frame are they speaking of, the “near future”? Does that mean the time frame for resolution might be the “far future”? The company is non-commital as to whether or not it can be resolved. Google’s techs are using the opportunity to remind individuals how important it is to backup their data – which of course is of no relief to individuals who hadn’t done that previously and lost all of their information.

A similar problem happened to Hotmail users in January, with about 17,000 users finding nothing where their emails and folders used to be.
Resource:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381097,00.asp

Empty Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Gmail Inboxes for 150,000 Users was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Consumer reports is on the case and said that Apple’s iPhone 4 for Verizon customers is having the same issues as last year’s AT&T version. The glitch in the phone has users dropping their calls due to a faulty antenna. Calls are only dropped when the phone is held in a certain way.

“The Verizon iPhone4 closely resembles the original AT&T iPhone 4 in many positive respects, including offering great multimedia functionality, a sharp screen and the best MP3 player we’ve seen on a phone,” Consumer Reports said.

“Unfortunately, it also shares with its sibling the possibility of compromised performance in low-signal conditions when used without a bumper, or case.”

Due to the glitches and even after admitting the phone has superior features, Consumer Reports will not place the iPhone4 on its recommended smart phone list. Last June, Consumer reports also left off their list of recommended models the AT&T iPhone for the same reasons. At that time Steve Jobs, Apple CEO made an official apology to customers and offered a free phone case for those who complained of the issue.

Consumer reports did say that so far there has not been a large number of complaints on the new phone. For customers who do find the problem to be an issue, Consumer Reports is once again simply suggesting a cover for an easy fix. Once a cover is placed over the phone, the user should no longer have issues with dropped calls.

In response to Consumer Reports, an Apple rep said, “iPhone 4 has a great antenna that allows it to have an amazingly thin design, great battery life and reception. We designed the iPhone4 external antenna to work great on Verizon’s network.”

No matter how you look at it, Apple’s iPhone is a huge success. Since first introduced back in 2007 the phone has been Apple’s top selling product.

Resource:

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2011/02/26/2011-02-26_verizon_iphone_owners_suffer_same_antenna_signal_glitch_as_att_model_last_year.html

Some Verizon Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone Users Finding Issues With Phone’s Antenna was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Thunderbolt:

Thunderbolt is Apple’s new data transfer concept that is similar to a USB connector. Thunderbolt however, is able to transfer data from one device to another at a high speed of 10 gigabytes every second. This is much faster than a USB 2.0 which can only transfer data at about 480 megabytes each second. For the technology Apple paired up with Intel. The new Thunderbolt, according to Intel will be able to transfer a high definition movie in its entirety in under thirty seconds. Additionally, it will be able to download approximately one year’s worth of MP3 music in about 10 minutes time.

Cameras:

All of Apple’s new MacBook Pro Laptops will come with the feature of a built in front facing camera, located just above the screen. These cameras will have FaceTime HD capabilities which allow users to have video chats anywhere that they can receive a Wi-Fi connection. FaceTime HD will offer customers new features not seen in previous camera versions including widescreen video chats as well as photos. The technology will also work with just about all other Apple devices including the iPhone4 and the new iPod Touch.

Pricing

If you thought the new Apple MacBook Pro would be cheap, you guessed wrong. Buying one of these new devices will be an investment for most people. To get the 13 inch version, the price tag starts at $1,199. The 15-inch version of the Laptop starts at $1,799.00 and the 17 inch model comes in at a starting price of $2,499.00. The good news is you don’t have to wait. All versions are on sale now.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Improves Their MacBook Pro Laptops was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Slimmer Design

A slimmer body is one of the rumored new features and is ranked highly likely to be true. Apple has always been about slimming their devices in order to offer sleek designs that are light and easy to manage.

Duo Cameras

Also ranked as a highly likely new feature is duo front and rear cameras. Apple really needs to have this as a feature in order to keep up with their competition. The cameras will allow for FaceTime video conferencing and it is expected that the rear camera will additionally be able to take pictures and videos.

Better Resolution

Although the rumors have been floating around about the iPad 2 having the new Retina Display resolution found in the iPhone 4 as well as the latest version of the iPod touch, this is thought by many to only be a slim possibility. More than likely the resolution will stay the same as the original version. For those wanting the better resolution, it looks like you will probably have to wait for the iPad 3 version.

Better Processor

In order for Apple to compete with other tablets coming onto the market, an upgraded processor is pretty much a necessity. Therefore, most consider the rumors of an upgraded processor to be very likely.

Updates to iOS

Another rumor is that Apple will be upgrading and adding new software features in hopes to stay competitive with other devices, particularly the Android 3.0. Rumors are that upgrades could include new refined multi touch controls as well as new platforms that are similar to those iOS’s introduced recently with Game Center. The likely of updated iOS on the new iPad 2 is thought to be fairly high.

In conclusion, for iPad enthusiasts, the wait is almost over. On March 2^nd you will finally know what rumors are true and which ones can be laid to rest.

New Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad 2 feature Rumors was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Google’s upgrades were primarily made to help sift out sites that have been deemed as not useful or of very low quality. Google did not use those words but instead said that they were looking to remove what they call “content farms” from search engine results.

Numerous sites on the web are in the practice of putting up quick stories on their site as well as placing videos or printing other popular how to instructions, all using original content from other web publications. Usually the quality on these sites is low, but because of the use of popular key words in addition to other headlines, these sites have been able to rank in search algorithms. Criticism over these site rankings has been going on for some time. Critics have complained that when these sites show up at the top of search results that they undervalue Google as a search engine.

The US has already felt the changes of these new implementations and other countries can expect the same in the near future. According to Google about 11.8 percent of previously ranked sites have noticed a drop, all of which are considered to be low quality. Sites however with original content including good research and analysis are seeing their sites rank higher.

While many are applauding the changes, there are of course the critics. Some believe that Google is putting themselves on the line as they decide who has high quality content and who doesn’t. One site that got hit with the changes was Demand Studios. In response they have stated that they do not believe their site is or should be considered a “content farm.”

Resources:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7446901.html

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Search Engine Changes Hurt Rankings For Some Sites was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

This past week Microsoft has endorsed the idea for adding into their web browsing software a tool that would prevent other internet users from being able to track what you do on line. This so called “do-not track” tool would be a feature that will be added to the Internet Explorer browser.

Also this past week, Facebook allowed a first look at what may become its new privacy policy. While the practices of how Facebook handles privacy will not be changed, it seems being able to protect your privacy will be a bit more user friendly. Headings will be easier to spot and understand like “your information and how it is used”, for example.

The two company’s moves to further protect user’s privacy on line are a long time coming. On line privacy concerns have become a huge issue and consumers are not always well informed of how they are being tracked while using the internet.

A Microsoft spokeswoman was reported as saying that the new proposed feature titled do-not-track is just a part of new privacy features that they hope will gain support across the industry. The next version of Internet Explorer has also been reported by Microsoft to include a feature that will allow users to block certain companies from tracking their internet usage. Users of Internet Explorer 9 will be able to customize who they want to block.

Meanwhile, Facebook is also making claims at working hard to protect user policy saying that they have been focusing efforts on this issue since last October.

“The new policy is much more of a user guide to how to manage your data,” said Jules Polonetsky, the director of the Future of Privacy Forum, which was consulted by Facebook.

Facebook has been criticized as not doing enough to protect user privacy and this latest effort is in answer to that.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) And Facebook Announce New Ways To Enhance Web Privacy was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Google of course has made searching for what you need quick and easy. They have a new Google recipe view link. When you use the new recipe link page, Google will narrow your results so that only recipes will come up. No more wasted time sifting through results to find the recipe you need. You can even filter your recipe search to find recipes with certain ingredients, cooking times and calorie count.

In the past if people did a search for a recipe on Google, results would come up that were not always the ones the user was looking for. For example, if you use Google to search for spaghetti some search results would be to recipes, but others that come up are links to restaurants with Spaghetti in their name as well as the history of spaghetti and so on. The new search link is much more user friendly for those just wanting to find a great recipe.

The recipe search premiered in the US and Japan this week and Google has plans to extend it to other countries in the near future. The new link is in response to users searching for recipes and Google has said that approximately one percent of all of searches on the site account for recipes.

Some bloggers however, are reporting that Google is going to need to get some kinks out of their new recipe search function. According to an article at the WashingtonPost.com:

The Google recipe search also proved buggy this afternoon. Several features designed to narrow and refine searches to particular ingredients or cooking times were not available, or intermittently available. A spokeswoman for Google e-mailed this afternoon, saying that the site is a work in progress.

“Search features roll out gradually to our various data centers so it can take as long as a few days to reach everyone,” the spokeswoman wrote.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Rolls Out A New Recipe Search Function was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Rescue workers were contacted as soon as it was realized where the baby was. They had to pump oxygen into the air–tight vault. The rescue workers along with a lock safe technician were finally able to rescue the baby about four hours after she became trapped.

Mike Lee of the Rockdale County Fire Department said, “During close down this evening, customers had left the bank and the toddler walked off and walked into the vault and just about the time the vault closed with its time lock.”

Gene Wilson, Police Chief of Conyers, GA told reporters that it was a “very tense scene.” The rescue time was just about four hours long.

Ron Snively was the safe tech who was called to the scene to help with opening the vault. It was reported that he said that the call was a typical one, except of course for the child being locked inside.

“This is what I do all the time, other than a child being in there it was an easy job. You take the drill point and unlock it,” he said.

“She was crying before I got to her. She was scared because of the drilling noise and all that, but once I heard her crying I knew everything was okay, it was just a matter of time,” he added.

Jay Lawrence, a spokesperson for Wells Fargo bank said that even though the baby was trapped for four hours, during that time no danger was posed to her.

Police Chief Conyers said, “She’s great. I think she had cried for a while but when they went in there she was just laying there, she took the fellow that opened the safe, she took him a note, and this is one of those things, this is a happy ending, it’s nice to have one of these.”

Resource:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/trapped-toddler-rescued-bank-vault/story?id=13008684&page=1

Baby Rescued From Inside Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Bank Vault was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Previous reports indicated that there may be a delay in the date that the iPad 2 would actually be released, but more recent rumors from supposed inside sources have said that the device may be ready to purchase much sooner than anyone anticipated.

Digitaltrends.com reports that:

According to “people familiar with the matter,” Apple has begun making preparations for a “large-scale, consumer-oriented product roll out” for the second half of next week. Considering March 2 lands on a Wednesday, that would mean the iPad 2 could be made available to the public almost immediately after it’s official announcement.

Of course, this information is all speculation and since Apple has not officially announced when the new iPad 2 will be ready for consumer purchase, we will have to wait and see. At the same time however, in the past these types of rumors and speculations from these sources have been true.

When all is said and done, consumers will have to wait until next week for the official word as to when they will be able to get their hands on the new iPad 2. Will the date be next week, or at the beginning of April as originally anticipated?

The iPad 2 is expected to have some new features over the first edition. A slimmer design is expected at about 30% slimmer than its predecessor. While the displays are being reported as identical to the first, at 1024*768, the new version is expected to have new anti reflection capabilities to reduce glare and increase the viewing angle. Also anticipated is a faster speed and a dual camera.

Rumors Are The Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad 2 Will Be Available Immediately After Launch On March 2nd was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Overstock was coming in at the top of Google searches due to the artificial rankings and when Google caught on, the company’s ranking dropped to the 5^th or 6^th page.

Overstock.com was caught giving discounts to students and faculty members at Universities in exchange for links to overstock pages on college websites. According to internet experts, when links are added to sites with .edu in the website address, Google often ranks these higher than other commercial sites.

“Google has made clear they believe these links should not factor into their search algorithm,” said Patrick Byrne, Overstock’s chief executive, in a statement. “We understand Google’s position and have made the appropriate changes to remain within Google’s guidelines.”

Google did not comment on the incident and said the company has a policy in place against talking about specific websites. A spokesperson for the company did say its goal, “is to deliver the most relevant information possible.” He added that “attempts to game Google’s ranking go on 24 hours a day, every single day.”

Companies are always trying to get high Google rankings, and for good reason. When your site appears higher on a Google ranking page, you get more visitors to your website. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is how a site ranks and many companies hire SEO experts to help them receive a higher ranking on Google.

Overstock is not the first company to be targeted for faulty tactics to get their site ranked higher. Earlier just this month JC Penny was also caught artificially boosting their ranking though faulty SEO tactics. An SEO consultant was fired after the incident and the company has stated that they were unaware of the tactics and will work hard to regain their rankings.

Overstock.com was founded in 1999 and is mostly known for selling merchandise at a discount. The company is based out of Salt Lake City, UT and last month was reported as having 10 million visitors.

Resource:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704520504576162753779521700.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_News_BlogsModule

Overstock Penalized By Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) For Artificially Boosting Rankings was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

In recent months, some of the largest US banks have been doing the best they can to reassure investors on their portfolios. They have taken the stance that their costs in association with faulty foreclosures are within their realm, and investors should not be concerned.

“I’m sure the banks are ready to put this past them and investors would certainly like to but this is not an issue that is going to go away,” Blake Howells, an analyst at Becker Capital Management Inc. in Portland, Oregon, said in an interview. “There will be more lawsuits that come down the road.” Becker Capital oversees $2.4 billion.

In all 50 states, attorney generals have been investigating foreclosure practices to determine if they were legit. The investigation came after allegations that banks were foreclosing and seizing homes without going through proper foreclosure procedures. Homes were found to have been foreclosed on without proper documentation to do so.

US regulators from the Dept of Housing and the Treasury Department may be imposing up to $20 billion in penalties to the banks that were found to have followed unlawful foreclosure procedures. To date, banks have still not been informed of whether or not they will be part of the fines.

Litigation costs are expected to be high for both Wells Fargo and Bank Of America. Wells Fargo is estimating on the high end that their costs could be upwards of $1.2 billion and that figure is above and beyond the amount that they already have set aside in reserves. Banks of America estimates that their losses could be even higher and expects that they will come in right around $1.5 billion.

Resource:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-26/bank-of-america-wells-fargo-see-fines-actions-on-foreclosures.html

Wells Fargo, (NYSE: WFC) Bank Of America (NYSE: BAC) and Others Expecting Fines On Foreclosures was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

For Android users to take advantage all they need to do is to visit Google’s Android market and find the link for Books which is right next to the on line store’s search icon.

Android users are now able to easily search for and find the books that they want to read. Already, there is a huge variety of titles available and users just need to do a quick search for what they want. Then they can then purchase and download their selections. Searching is fairly easy and you can search for the category of book you are looking for like mystery, romance, science fiction or biography, for example. You can also search for a particular title or your favorite authors. Once you find what you are looking for you will have the option of reading it directly on the web or you can choose to download it so that you can read it on your Android device using the free app for Google books.

Rumors have it that books may be just the beginning. SlashGear along with additional sources are saying that Google is most likely eying music and even movies for the near future. URL searches show that pages may already be under development for the music and movies stores. While rumors have been around for sometime about Google opening their own music store, recently it has been reported that the store is a sure thing and should be launching in the near future.

Google, working to increase its Android market recently did an overhaul of their app store. They updated their web based downloads, offering customers more details about each of their apps. While Google is currently the leader in Android software, they seem to be gearing up for competition. Amazon is expected to open an Android app store in the near future.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20036438-251.html

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android Market Now Offering eBooks: What Could Be Next? was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The case involved was against Recon Trust Company NA, a subsidiary of Bank Of America. Suzanne A. North, has taken suit against the bank, stating that Recon Trust fraudulently tried to foreclose on her home.

Bank of America is fighting to overturn the injunction and says that they along with Recon Trust were within the perimeters of the laws in Nevada that pertain to foreclosures and that the borrower’s case does not have a chance.

Bank of America is also taking a strong stance and arguing that the halting of foreclosures in Nevada and across the country is ultimately harming local citizens and the public interest. They used a quote from Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary as a means to help support their case:

“Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner opined that ceasing the foreclosure process is `very damaging’ and harms the public as communities are forced to live longer with empty homes, there is increased downward pressure on home prices and increasing blight,” the bank said. “The order also harms those subject to the foreclosure process because those individuals, especially those in mediation trying to stay in their homes, are now forced into a state of limbo for an unspecified duration.”

Fighting back, north’s attorney does not plan to back down and has said that if necessary he will find others and seek class action status for the suit. This is not good news for the mortgage companies.

This Nevada case follows a similar one earlier this month in Massachusetts where the Supreme Court there voided two foreclosures when the banks were unable to come up with the proper documentation to prove that they actually owned the loans that were foreclosed on. This is a precedent that has opened up scrutiny for foreclosures across the country.

Reference:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-economy/2011/01/bank_of_america_seeks_to_overt.html#more

Bank Of America (NYSE: BAC) Planning To Appeal Nevada Judge’s Order Halting 8,900 Foreclosures In The State was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

First and foremost, the Apple iPad 2 is expected to have a built in camera. While Apple does currently control the market for tablets, with the competitors boasting built in cameras, this is the one new feature that is totally expected. It is also expected that the built in camera will have dual camera capabilities.

The New Apple iPad 2 is expected to have the bonus feature of a USB port. The New model is expected to have a mini USB port that will make it easier for users to be able to upload video feeds and other files at a faster speed.

An upgrade to a high-resolution Retina Display is also expected. The new iPhone 4 already has the technology, which many believe is a sign that the iPad 2 will also have it.

The new Apple iPad 2 is also rumored to have a dual core graphics and this would put them on the top when it comes to the most powerful tablet available to consumers.

Flash support may also be on the new iPad 2. It is rumored that Apple may possibly be working with Adobe and if so the
new iPad might offer users Flash support that will enhance web surfing capabilities.

While we wait for the actual specs from Apple, it is hard for many Apple fans to believe that just a year ago iPad tablets had just been announced but were not yet on the market. Since released last April Apple has sold almost 5 million of the first version of their tablet. Will the phenomenon continue? Stay tuned to find out.

Reference:

http://news.oneindia.in/2011/01/30/apple-ipad2-specs-features-launch-review-aid0102.html

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad 2: The Latest Rumors was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Amazon.com is still the biggest online retailer, and had it’s public offering nearly 14 years ago. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated their first quarter at $9.36 billion, but Amazon reported sales in the first quarter will be as low as $9.1 billion. Despite these numbers, Amazon has 17 times bigger revenue than Facebook with $34.2 billion in sales in 2010 compared to Facebook’s 2010 revenue of $2 billion.

Facebook has more than 500 million users who enjoy the social networking activities offered through the site. Emarketer Inc., a researching company, estimates that ad spending on Facebook will double to a little over $4 billion in 2011. It’s current valuation of $82.9 billion is a 40% jump since the middle of December.

SharesPost Inc.

SharesPost Inc. bases private company valuations on research estimates, transactions and venture-funding. This month, shares of Facebook stock have sold as high as $60 each, which indicate there are investors who believe the social networking giant is worth $136 billion. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. provided $1.5 billion in financing to Facebook earlier in January, which brought the company valuation to $50 billion at the start of January.

By the end of the year, Facebook expects to have 500 shareholders or more. The U.S Securities and Exchange Commission requires that companies with 500 shareholders begin reporting financial results, even if they haven’t held an initial public offering.
The second largest company on SharesPost is the Zynga Game Network Inc., which is a very distant second to Facebook, is valued at $5.7 billion.

Investor Skepticism

Despite Facebook’s high valuation on the secondary markets, there is an increase in skepticism among investors. In a survey of 1,000 Bloomberg customers (investors, analysts or traders), 69% believe Facebook is overvalued.

Reference:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-28/facebook-s-value-tops-amazon-com-trails-only-google-on-web.html

Internet Company Values: Facebook Worth More Than Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) – Second Only to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Barnes and Noble reports that eBooks sold for it’s Nook eBook reader is also outpacing sales of paperback and hardcover books.

Why Kindle Sales Aren’t All That Important to Amazon

Amazon’s ebook formats can be read on devices other than the Kindle itself, with a variety of Kindle apps available for smartphones, PCs, Macs, and tablet computers. Future plans may involve the release of ebook-in-a-browser, similar to Google’s concept, which would allow Amazon’s ebooks to be read from any device connected to the internet via a web browser.

So while the Kindle is a higher priced item than the eBooks, Amazon has made it easy to buy and download ebooks for any format, which helps increase the sales of their eBooks (since the readers are not limited to the Kindle device to enjoy them). Amazon has the largest available library of eBooks over all competitors at the moment, which also tends to bring buyers to the site when they’re in need of eBooks – regardless of whether they own a Kindle device or not.
There’s no question that the Kindle is selling. On Thursday, Amazon announced that the Kindle 3 has sold more units than the final book of the Harry Potter series, which makes the Kindle 3 Amazon’s top-selling product of all time.

Why eBooks Sell More
One of the obvious reasons eBooks may be selling more than physical books is simply because they are less expensive. With the average ebook cost under $10, many consumers prefer the electronic or digital editions of their reading materials just to save money.

Some consumers prefer the format for ease of storage. Where as avid readers used to run out of physical space to store their growing collections of books – having books stored in digital formats means you have unlimited space capabilities and can continue to grow your reading collections as long as you have electronic memory to do so!

Reference:

http://www.itworld.com/personal-tech/135222/why-amazon-may-be-selling-lots-ebooks-not-so-many-kindles

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Sells 115 eBooks to Every 100 Paperbacks Sold was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Matt Cutts, Google’s search expert, said the changes are targeted to about 2% of searches. “The net effect is that searchers are more likely to see the sites that wrote the original content rather than a site that scraped or copied the original site’s content,” Cutts said in his blog post on the matter.

How Do the Search Algorithm Changes Effect Site Owners?

Website owners and operators are unclear how these changes will impact the position of their website in the search engine results. While many site owners seem happy about the change, there are many people with questions about how Google will decide which website posted the content originally and which website posted “scraped”, copied, or reworded content. How will it judge the content on sites to determine high quality content versus low quality content – to weed out the “spam” results that currently appear in search engines? You know the sites – they hit all the keywords but don’t really offer any useful information on the topic.

Will larger sites have more credibility than smaller sites, even if they post duplicate content? Sometimes there are legitimate reasons for mirrored, or copied content – like relaying news and factual information.  How will the search results reflect the legitimate sites with copies?
Google Meets with the Federal Trade Commission

Recently, Cutts also met with the Federal Trade Commission to represent Google’s belief that search results are done via computer algorithms and should not be regulated. Internet service providers have been pushing the FTC for search neutrality regulations, which would prevent search engines from sending packets of traffic faster or slower than the others on the networks.

Reference:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/google-launches-algorithm-change-to-tackle-content-copying-will-it-help/2766

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Changes Search Algorithm to Reward Sites With Original Content was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), creater of all of the “i” devices (iPad, iPod, etc), the Mac OS X and iOS software, had end of day trading value of $309 billion compared to the $238 billion for Microsoft. Some would argue that Apple is actually a bigger technology company, particularly over this past holiday season with Apple bringing in $26.7 billion compared to Microsoft’s holiday revenue of $20 billion. If you were to compare profitability for the same holiday time period, however, Microsoft boasts $6.6 billion versus Apple’s $6 billion.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), with its mobile device Android operating system and the upcoming Chrome OS for desktop and notebook computers is the next closest competitor to the technology giants of Microsot and Apple. For the quarter ending December 31, 2010 Google reported an increase of 26% in revenues compared to the fourth quarter of 2009, with $8.44 billion.

Stock prices at close of trading today were as follows: Mcirosoft down $1.11 (3.8%) at $27.76; Apple down $7.16 (2.1%) at $336.05 and Google down $15.80 (2.6%) to $600.99.

Economic Outlook
Some analysts say the stock prices and performance of technology companies is simply a reflection of the economy that continues to struggle. The Commerce Department reported that the United States economy has grown 3.2% pace during the fourth quarter. This is a healthy growth overall, but is below predictions and expectations of both economists and investors. The unemployment rate was not affected significantly by the increase since it was too slow of a growth.

Technology by the Numbers: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) & Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

In addition to the money donated in 2010, Wells Fargo team members volunteered their time, with more than 50,000 hours spent helping rebuild and renovate 650 homes – many of which were abandoned properties or foreclosures. The homes were rebuilt with green components and energy efficiency in mind. Additionally, Wells Fargo donated 19 properties to the Habitat, for use in creating affordable housing opportunities.

About The Habitat for Humanity

The Habitat for Humanity International was founded in 1976 through an ecumenical Christian ministry. The organization is committed to eliminating poverty housing through rebuilding, rehabilitating or improving houses around the world. Since it’s inception, the Habitat for Humanity has improved more than 400,000 homes and created affordable shelter for more than 2 million people. You can offer volunteer time or money contributions to support their efforts by visiting Habitat.org.
Pledge for 2011

Wells Fargo’s Housing Foundation has made an additional pledge of $5 million for the Habitat for Humanity’s “Money for Muscle” team member volunteer program to be made during 2011.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company was founded in 1852 and is currently headquarted in San Francisco. They are a community-based financial service company that provides banking, mortgages, consumer and commercial financing, insurance and investments through more than 9,000 store locations and via the internet on wellsfargo.com and wachovia.com. They currently service one out of every three households in the United States.

Reference:

http://www.vadvert.co.uk/society/8344-wells-fargo-exceeds-8-million-commitment-to-habitat-for-humanity-in-2010-by-nearly-50-percent-providing-11-8-million.html

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Contributes $11.8 Million to Habitat for Humanity in 2010 was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Wells Fargo came in second only to JP Morgan Chase in 2010 in terms of net income. The bank has reported a net income of $12.4 billion for 2010, surpassing their income from 2009. In 2009 the bank became the top mortgage lender and stayed on top in 2010. The bank originated $386 billion in home loans while competitors like Bank of America spent the majority of their time trying to recover from troubled mortgages.

“Wells is in a uniquely strong position to continue to outperform its peers,” says Andrew Marquardt, an analyst at Evercore Partners in New York. “They have weathered the storm far better than most.”

While other banks are still struggling with the impact of the mortgage crisis, Wells Fargo seems to have pushed through to the other side. This does not mean that they have not had their fair share of difficulties along the way. Back in 2008 when the bank bought Wachovia they inherited a portfolio full of option-ARM mortgages. These mortgages tend to have a history of high default rates. To date, Wells Fargo still has $90 billion worth of unpaid principals from this batch of loans, so they could still have difficulties with these loans down the road. When Wells took on the loans however, they did take the precaution of setting aside $26 billion to cover losses and they still have not exhausted these funds.

Looking ahead Wells Fargo is planning to branch out to new opportunities, possibly lending to mid size businesses. During 2011 the bank plans to increase its work force by 10% in the area of business lending. Currently they have 2,400 employees who work with businesses that have somewhere between $10 million and $500 million in revenue.

Additionally, the bank plans to begin offering a wider variety of other types of loan products and letting their local branch salespeople have the authority to make these loans. Currently Wells Fargo operates 187 commercial banking branches in locations around the US.

Reference:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_06/b4214043656537.htm

It’s Full Steam Ahead For Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

“I thought it was a prank call,” Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, UK, told Apple fan site Cult of Mac. “I said, ‘Thank you very much, I’m not interested’ and I hung up.”

It turned out Gail Davis had not actually downloaded the app, but after hanging up the phone she found out her daughters had. Davis soon realized her mistake after having a conversation with her daughters and made several attempts to call Apple back, but was not successful. Lucky for her, Apple did not give up and called her back just a few hours later. She is very thankful having commented to Apple that her daughters were quite tense while they waited and she was afraid they would never have forgiven her had her hang up caused her to lose the gift card.

The girls had downloaded the app that won for their iPod touches. The app that got the attention as the ten billionth download was Paper Glider, a game that has users virtually making paper airplanes and flinging them around the office. Users try to fly their plane while avoiding ceiling fans and the goal is to get it to go out the window.

Don’t think that Apple will be hurting from their $10,000 give away. More than likely more attention and more sales will be a result. In just the short time frame the App store has been open, Apple has said the store has exceeded all of their expectations. The store sold 7 billion apps last year alone and more and more users are signing on every day. With the introduction of the iPad last year, app stores users skyrocketed. No doubt 2011 will be another strong year for Apple and the App store.

Reference:

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/01/24/app.store.10billion/?hpt=T2

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Gives Away $10,000 was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The live counter is ticking and if you sign on to the app store, you can see it for yourself. This is not the first time that Apple has done a giveaway of this kind from the App store, they have actually had similar competitions in the past. When the store hit it’s one billionth milestone app, a lucky thirteen year old walked away with a $10,000 iTunes gift card along with other great prizes including and iPod touch, a Mac Book Pro notebook and a Mac Time Capsule devise that is used to backup files.

The App store opened its doors in July of 2008 at the same time that the company debuted the iPhone and has had steady downloads ever since. Currently, customers who have and Apple iPhone, an Apple notebook iPad or an apple iPod or iPod touch can all purchase software for their devices at the App store. .

Not long after Apple opened their on line store, the company came out with a statement saying that customers had been busy during the first weekend and had downloaded apps in the millions, just over 10 million apps to be exact.

Just recently Apple opened its latest App store, the Mac App Store. While the store only had about 1,000 different apps to choose from on opening day, Apple still reported downloads of about one million during the first 24 hours

It is being estimated that if the pace stays steady in Apple’s latest competition that the lucky winner will walk away with their prize sometime during the day on Sunday January 23^rd. So if you want to be in the game, get your running shoes on and start downloading those apps that you have been meaning to purchase. You just never know, you might come up the lucky winner.

Who Will Win Big With Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The WebMatrix software package uses the same web platform that is currently found in Microsoft’s ASP ( Active Server Pages) platform. The package includes a database and code editor and lightweight server software. Additionally, the software also has IIS Developer Express, Server Compact Division of SQL and a lightweight database.

“With WebMatrix, we are simplifying how you build Web sites on Windows and including everything you need to build, run and deploy your Web site for free,” wrote Microsoft technology evangelist Laurence Moroney, in a Microsoft blog entry first announcing the technology last July.

According to an article in PC world, the web application contains a variety of website templates and Web applications to aid in the design. Additionally, users are able to import external ASP or PHP-based templates. This includes those templates that are based on applications like WordPress, DotNetNuke, Joomia and other types of content management systems.

Numerous other features come with the application and all components to it are integrated. This make for a very unified design as well as an easy deployment process. You will also find that the software has included a number of links that go to numerous hosting providers. In an easy step process, once a hosting provider has been chosen by the user, the software is then able to upload the chosen website materials right to the designated location automatically.

In a final note on the software, while the application is intended to aid beginners, it is important to point out that the user will still need some understanding of different programming methods which can include HTML, ASP, NET and more.

Reference: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/216559/microsoft_to_release_webmatrix_dev_software.html

New Software By Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Is Set To Be Released Entitled WebMatrix Dev Software was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

There is no question that Apple led the tech market in 2010, introducing new and updated products that consumers just had to have. Of course their biggest debut in 2010 was the new notebook they developed otherwise known at the iPad. Add that to new versions of both the iPhone and the iPod and that equals nothing less than success. Based on market Capitalization, since May of last year Apple has been titled the world’s top valued technology company.

Often criticized for taking a tight lip approach to what is happening behind the scenes, some do wonder how they manage to stay at the top. The company is generally not forthcoming about new products and was very hush hush about the health of Jobs in 2009 when he took a medical leave of absence. Many investors are not pleased of these choices, but so far the company is thriving.

While Steve Jobs walked away with just a $1.00 salary, those next in line to him were compensated well in 2010. 2^nd in command Tim Cook, who took over for Jobs during his six month leave of absence in 2009, was awarded by Apple in 2010 for a total of $59 million. This is no surprise as he is considered to be first in line for the CEO position if Jobs was to ever leave. Next up are Peter Oppenheimer whose title is senior vice president and chief financial officer, Ronald B. Johnson whose title is senior vice president and retail and Bruce Sewell whose title is senior vice president and general counsel and secretary, all took in a total of $29.8 million. Total compensation from Apple includes their salaries as well as bonuses and the estimated value of the stock options they were awarded.

Jobs Takes $1.00 Salary From Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) in 2010 was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Apple, over the last few years has declined to participate in this once a year conference event, and instead reveals their product releases when they feel it will be of the company’s best interest. This is not the first year that the Apple buzz has been felt by those attending. Last year the talk of the conference was about the new tablet rumored device that Apple would be launching, which is of course the iPad.

To further Apple’s presence more, at an opening press event on Tuesday, gifts were handed out to entrants. Choices included an Apple iPhone case and an Apple iPhone/iPad charger.

During the CES conference this year Apple made a very timely announcement which helped to fuel the talk. The announcement was the unveiling of the new Mac App store. The new store is selling apps that are specifically developed for the use on their Mac platforms. It seems customers were eager to check it out and it was later reported that during grand opening day more than a million downloads took place. This is great news for Apple, and their hopes of taking the app concept to another level just may be in the making.

The biggest Apple news is of course the long awaited announcement for the new Verizon iPhone. This much anticipated announcement will take place next week. So those that have been waiting, get ready. In fact, rumors are currently circulating that a possible appearance by Steve Jobs during the Verizon’s unveiling press event, scheduled to take place in New York City is expected. Whether or not that information is true has not been confirmed, but one thing is for sure, the Apple buzz lives on.

Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) Presence Being Felt AT CES and The Company Isn’t Even Participating was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The new product would use a Blue-ray player along with a set-top box. This would enable viewers to have access to Google TV. Consumers would be able to then use their TV set to do such things as surf the internet, check their emails, access and use their social networks and more, right from the couch in their living room. The technology would be similar to that of the current smart phones that are on the market.

According to Samsung no deal has yet been reached, “We are discussing with Google but there are a couple of issues to resolve and we want to make it a win-win deal for both of us,” Yoon Boo-keun told reporters without elaborating.

The company also said that it is always looking for companies to partner with in order to expand technology and offerings to consumers and this is just another means of doing so.

Google is a great option for a partnership as their software platform has been gaining ground at a rapid pace over the last year. A partnership between the two companies just might give others in the industry, like Apple, a run for their money.

In looking ahead to 2011 Samsung is hoping to remain at the lead in the marketplace when it comes to selling flat screen television sets. They sold 39 million units in 2010 and anticipate selling 15% more during the coming year for a total of 45 million. When looking at those figures the company plans that they will sell 12 million smart tv’s and 10 million three dimensional units. In 2010 they sold just 5 million smart TV’s and only 2 million of the three dimensional variety.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Samsung May Be Partnering For Google-Powered Web TV was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Microsoft’s keynote speech by Steve Ballmer was mostly a reflection of the company’s progress in 2010 but did eventually address the future. The company’s answer to the iPad disappointed many, as consumers will have to wait until 2012 for such a product. Even more discouraging to some is that it will not be following the iPad technology of putting its mobile operating system in tablet form, but rather the company will follow its operating system technology instead.

The big news from Microsoft was on its next version of Window, still almost two years away. Windows 8 will be run on different technology than previous versions. Arm based chips will be used, which is the same technology that is currently being used in smart phones and tablets, including the iPad and the Android.

During Microsoft’s keynote speech they did give a brief demo of windows on ARM but did not show the Windows 8 interface, and instead will demo that at a later date. It is anticipated, if Windows follows its current trend, that Windows 8 will be released sometime in the later part of 2012.

Microsoft is being criticized by many as moving too slow in a technology driven world that is ultimately changing at a rapid pace. Plus their choices in technology for future products is being questioned. Michael Cherry, one analyst gave his opinion as follows:

“Do you really gain anything by taking the entire client OS of today and porting it across?” Cherry asked. “Why do they think that the power consumption of Windows will be any better on ARM? It’s still going to be running a lot of processes.”

“I saw this as a lot of hand waving,” he says of the Windows/ARM announcement. “[Microsoft was saying] ‘Look at the ARM architecture,’ but there was no discussion about timing and other critical factors. I wanted to see some proof that doing the port to ARM will give me attributes that are important on a tablet.

Will Microsoft Slower Strategy Work? was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Logitech’s denial was issued on Monday after the trade publication, DigiTimes, reported on December 24 that Gigabyte Technology was instructed by Logitech to suspend shipments of Revue boxes from December 2010 to January 2011. Gigabyte Technology is one of Logitech’s manufacturing partners.

According to the report the suspension of Revue boxes was requested so that Google could complete updates or launch a new version of its software for television. The source of the information in the report was unable to be confirmed.

The vice president of corporate communications for Logitech, Nancy Morrison, replied that these reports were completely unfounded and that there was no need to halt production of the Revue box to accommodate software issues. Those who knew the product could confirm that the suspension was completely unnecessary as the companion box could handle any future additions or enhancements to Google TV.

Nancy Morrison also went on to say that Logitech is currently filling the inventory orders of all its suppliers, shipping products on schedule so they can meet holiday and post-holiday demand from their customers. However, Nancy Morrison then confirmed that Logitech does not discuss any specific productions plans for any of its products.

According to a report in the New York Times, launches of Google TV-based products were planned for next month’s Consumer Electronics Show, but Google reportedly asked Toshiba, LG Electronics and Sharp last week to postpone them. Google told the partners that it wanted to improve the software after negative responses to the products from Sony. Logitech had also complained that some of the features of the products were not user friendly, and Google wanted the launches postponed as it needed more time to address these concerns.

Google TV has also struck another major problem after having its software blocked by major broadcasters and also some cable programmers, making it impossible to access online episodes of programs.

Logitech’s Revue set-top box is currently being offered at a 40% discount on the retail price of $300 by Dish Network. However, it still charges $4 a month to connect the box to satellite receivers.

Reference: http://www.multichannel.com/article/461541-Logitech_Google_Hasn_t_Asked_Us_To_Halt_Set_Top_Shipments.php

No Halt to Set-Top Box Shipments Says Logitech (NASDAQ: LOGI) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

In the biggest year-over-year decline since December 2009, the S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values fell 0.8 percent, exceeding the 0.2 percent drop predicted in a survey by a median forecast of economists.

With large numbers of foreclosures still waiting to hit the market, the pressure on home prices will remain throughout 2011. Federal Reserve policy makers pointed to “depressed” housing and high unemployment as putting the brakes on consumer spending.

This has prompted a plan to extend further the record monetary stimulus experienced over the past twelve months or so, as Federal officials believe that economic growth is “insufficient to bring down unemployment.”

Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York expects the market to stay in negative territory for several more months, forecasting a year-on-year drop of 1.3 percent. There is no indication in any of the data that there will be a substantial pick-up to buoy the housing market.

This is a setback for house values which had recovered earlier in the year after an $8,000 homebuyers tax credit was offered to purchasers, getting them back into the market.

Taking seasonal variations into account, there was a 1 percent fall in October which matched the larger than estimated September drop.

Of twenty cities in the index, only Denver and Washington gained in prices. The other eighteen cities showed price decreases in October, with the highest a 2.1 percent drop in Atlanta, and 1.8 percent decreases in Chicago and Minneapolis. At its peak in July 2006, the 20-city index was 30 percent higher than it is now.

The October data is influenced by August and September transactions as the Case-Shiller gauge is worked out on a three-month average.

Even though there are solid signs of recovery in the broader economy, the housing market is still bogged near recession levels. November housing permits fell to the third-lowest level on record, while the Commerce Department reported on December 16 that starts rose for the first time in three months.

After the release of the report, stock-index futures staged a brief retreat, then went on to rally on an increase in holiday sales which raised hopes of a rise in consumer spending.

Reference:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-28/u-s-property-values-decline-more-than-forecast-in-s-p-case-shiller-index.html

U.S. Home Prices Drop Further Than Forecast was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Inbound flights began arriving at two of New York’s major airports – LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International – on Monday night. On Tuesday morning Newark Liberty began receiving inbound air traffic. The total number of flights cancelled at all three airports was around 1,500.

The first plane to land at LaGuardia around 7.40pm Monday was an Air Canada flight from Toronto. “Everyone was clapping toward the end,” said Patrick Wacker, a passenger on the flight. Mr. Wacker was trying to get back to New York after visiting family in Germany and was stranded in Toronto.

Thousands of stranded passengers turned airline terminals into temporary hotels as air travel in the nation’s most crowded airspace almost shut down. There was a long wait while planes took off and landed on ploughed runways.

Travellers spent an uncomfortable Sunday night trying to sleep on hard airport floors, then spent Monday in long lines trying to get taxis, begging for flights or scrabbling for hotel rooms.

No form of conveyance was exempt from the storm’s havoc: from the Times Square bus terminal, usually the nation’s busiest, to the area’s commuter trains, generally known for their punctuality.

Adrienne Leptich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the storm was New York City’s sixth worst since records began in 1869. In February 2006, the 1947 record for the depth of snowfall was broken when a storm dropped 26.9 inches of snow on Central Park. Sunday’s storm, surprisingly, wasn’t a record-breaker, leaving 20 inches of snow in Central Park.

New York taxi driver Shafqat Hayat spent the night trapped in his car on an unploughed street, then struggled to get it moving on Monday.

“I’ve never seen so many cars stuck on the roads in 22 years,” Hayat said.

At the Newark airport Frank Mann turned the situation into a game for his 9-year-old son Stephen and his girlfriend Jackie Douglas, treating their “accommodation” on the terminal floor like a camping trip. They turned luggage trays upside down to make beds and hit the snack bar for hot dogs when they got hungry. Stephen was even able to use his Kindle to finish the book he started at the beginning of the trip.

Reference:

http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2010/12/28/thousands-stranded-trains-planes-northeast-storm/#

Storm Leaves Thousands Struggling To Get Home was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The bank’s market value rose to $157.6 billion in December 2010 compared with JP Morgan’s stated value of $156.4 billion. When assets are taken into account Wells Fargo is ranked fourth behind, Bank of America Corp, JP Morgan and Citigroup Inc.

The acquisitions strategy used by Wells Fargo under the guidance of Chief Executive Officer, John Stumpf has been very successful. Under his guidance, the bank made over 55 asset purchases in the past five years. Bloomberg Data indicates they spent $12.7 billion on the takeover of Wachovia in October 2008. This raised the value of assets from 622.4 billion to $1.2 trillion in September 2010.

The value of Wells Fargo shares in December 2010 is around $30.02. A recent gain of 0.8% followed an 11% advance during the previous months of 2010. The largest shareholder in Wells Fargo is Warren Buffet’s Hathaway Group.

The Bank of America stock, during 2010, has not been as successful on the stock exchange. Currently valued at $126.3 billion it is significantly less valuable as a stock than Wells Fargo. The current Bank of America share is valued at $12.52. Citigroup is also more valuable despite its bail out by the US government. Citigroup is valued at $133.2 billion.

Although it is smaller than The Bank of America and Citigroup, Wells Fargo is a more popular stock possibly due to its acquisition program. Analysts feel Wells Fargo will boost its dividend to shareholders during 2011. They also see Wells Fargo shares will increase in value.

Recent payouts from Wells Fargo were paid on December 15, 2010. Series J shareholders received a quarterly cash dividend of $20. A quarterly cash dividend of $18.75 was paid to Series L shareholders.

Wells Fargo continues to rank No 1 in customer satisfaction surveys. This will support the share values. Carrie Tolstedt, head of Community Banking, said, “Providing a consistent and exceptional customer experience is one of the best ways we can achieve our company’s vision of satisfying all our customers’ financial needs and helping them succeed financially. As always, we will continue to look for ways to improve our service.”

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is the Most Valuable US Bank was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

At present users will more than likely find that ‘The Body Browser’ won’t load into their browser. WebGL, which does not have plug-ins, is used to power the graphics. It is still being tested by most internet browser services. The latest beta version of Chrome or Firefox can be used for successful browsing of ‘The Body Browser’ at this stage.

The opening graphic of the Google Body Browser is the image of a women rather scantily attired. There are controls on the left hand side of the screen that allow the user to zoom in and out and also rotate the body. Using a click and drag movement with the mouse produces a 3D spinning movement of the body. There are plans to add to a male model in the future.

An enthralling feature of the layering tool is that it allows the peeling back of the various layers of the body. But not the clothing! Detailed views of human anatomy result. Muscular structure, the skeleton, organs, arteries and veins are clearly labeled. Nerves are the last thing to view.

There is also a search feature related to the browser. A user can type in what they want to view and almost instantly the item will appear. All that needs to be done is to copy the page’s web address.

Another feature of ‘The Body Browser’ is that the URL is adjusted as the user moves through the information. It is possible to save particular views or share them with others.

The daily Mail newspaper reported, “Google Body Browser also ushers in the introduction of brand new Internet technology called WebGL that will allow complex 3D graphics to be used on normal web pages, without the need for specially adapted browser plug-ins like Flash or Java.”

A comment from a blogger who saw a demonstration was, “One can quickly see the possibilities of how this could help anatomical education”.

Anyone who would like to try ‘The Body Browser’ can do so at bodybrowser.googlelabs.com.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Browses the Human Body was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The Bing search engine appeared in the middle of 2009 and has had a steady gain in popularity. To date it has about 12% of the US search market. This means the user base has grown 48% since mid 2009.

According to Microsoft, Bing has around 90 million users. There were 27 million users at its inception. Bing also powers Yahoo Search results and this adds another considerable traffic flow as well. In a recent blog post Microsoft Senior Vice President Satya Nadella commented on the latest Bing update. “We are building new technologies that help Bing figure out what people like you are trying to do, and match that with the right experiences to help get things done. The bottom line is that search will continue to evolve at a rapid pace as consumers come to expect more solutions at the end of their online journey rather than just more questions.”

Improvements to the latest version of Bing include more visual search results such as maps and photos. Users can expect a more magazine layout type search result presentation. More partners are included and therefore more information from a wider source such as social networks will be integrated.

Bing will also be more local search friendly. It will include a taxi fare calculator and parking lot finder. Map apps for mobile and PC desktops are also easier to read. As competition with Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Instant Answers Microsoft will add a similar feature called Instant Previews.

There is also an updated version of Bing app to cater for Apple’s iPhone and the Android mobile platform of Google. The growth of mobile searches has been taken into account.

The Silverlight technology is not as prominent and the updated Bing uses more standards compliant HTML5 technologies as seen in the updated Bing Maps and search image results.

Some of the improved features to the Bing search engine are available now and more will be in service over the next few weeks.

Overall the new features make Bing more visually appealing. The feature it has that Google doesn’t is tab related image search availability. The image searches are presented in scroll mode to save clicking “back’ and ‘next buttons. Its Facebook integration is also a significant challenge to Google.

Bing Search Engine Updates a Threat to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Apple has a range of products and is not reliant on the success of one. Einhorn says that is a positive factor and the health of Steve Jobs is not too concerning. Apple still has growth opportunities due to the success of iPad and iPhone. The December sales of iPod, iPhone and Mac computers are expected to be outstanding. The iPad, which has been available since April 2001, is a best seller. It is estimated that iPad sales will be around the $3 billion dollar mark in the fourth quarter of 2010.

2011 will bring some competition for Apple when a number of new tablet computers are released by other companies. Before their appearance, analysts think Apple will sell 5.5.million to 6 million iPads over the Christmas season.

Apple has had years of massive growth and with shares around the $375 mark some investors are becoming concerned whether this growth can be maintained. They are also looking at the huge size of the company and becoming nervous.

Apple shares trade higher than Dell and Hewlett Packard. They trade at 17 times forecasted value. However when the $51 billion cash reserves are taken into account the share trade is closer to 14 times. An analyst, Marshall of Gleachers, who still favors Apple’s stocks, comments that, “it’s not as attractive as it once was.”

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Stock Price Continues to Grow was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

He told CNBC that the company still needed more reforms and more work was needed to restructure Citi Holdings. Citigroup is still selling assets and restructuring their global operations. The US Federal government is still settling its $45 billion loan with Citigroup. Citigroup still has to restore its reputation gained as a result of the financial crisis.

Vikram Pandit appears to be leading Citigroup’s metamorphosis successfully. He has changed since being criticized of being out of touch with the way Citigroup needed to be restructured. He was supported by the federal Government not wishing the demise of Citigroup.

“While we think the markets are increasingly recognizing who we are, we’ve got some ways to go,” Pandit has said. He wants Citigroup to be seen and appreciated as a successful business and believes in an economic recovery. Citigroup is still influenced by the direction the global economy takes as well as the level of unemployment and the housing situation in the US.

“The housing market usually takes a little bit longer and that is not only today’s phenomena, that’s been true whenever there have been housing cycle. The key, key indicator for us is to watch how businesses do, how they grow, how they invest, and that is going to create jobs,” he said.

Citigroup shares have taken a battering over the past ten years. So much so that today they are worth a tenth as much as they were worth at their peak. However Citigroup shares have gained in value over the past year (2010). The stock has gained around 31% in value and reflects Citi’s improved position particularly amongst its competitors.

On a hopeful note Vikram Pandit said, “We’ve had to go through some trying times to get there,” “Now that we’re here I feel very good about how we’re positioned.”

Citigroup still has a lot of asset reduction to bring about. As a result the earnings in 2011 and 2012 are likely to be less than predicted. Only time will tell whether the new Citigroup restructure is successful.

No Rewards for Citigroup (NYSE: C) Investors was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The purchase of 85.6% share ($3.06 billion) in Guangdong Development Bank in 2006 was one of the ways Citigroup grew its Asian ventures. Asian economies, according to Citicorp Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, have recovered quicker than most from the financial crisis.

The co-head of Citigroup’s China investment banking team, Eugene Qian, at a recent news briefing in Beijing said, “Citigroup’s strong capital base and the ability to maintain capital costs at low levels will help us achieve that goal,” Qian also said, “We are confident that China’s economy will remain stable next year and the global capital market (environment) will be better.”

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are also providing financial underwriting and advising to Chinese companies and Citigroup intends to rival their success. According to Eugene Qian the investment opportunities available in China are big enough so out right competition between investment banks will not be necessary.

A recent agreement signed by Citigroup was with Zhongyuan Securities. The aim is to set up a joint venture that will enable the partnership to set up a securities joint venture via the A-share market. Citigroup did not comment on this venture but said they were still looking to establish more partnerships with local Chinese securities companies.

As well as expanding their investment banking business in China Citigroup is also keen to develop its commercial banking arm. It has 31 commercial branches in China at present and plans to treble this to over 100 in the next few years. This expansion will also involve employing more Chinese nationals. It is predicted that around 12 000 new Chinese employees could be employed in the near future.

The US market is still a problem for Citigroup and as a result Asia is seen as an important revenue source. The Asia-Pacific region contributed $3.5 billion of Citigroup’s $9.3 billion profit in the nine months of 2010. Stepen Bird, Citigroup’s co-chief executive officer for the Asia-Pacific region said, “We are very excited about China. For us, this is still the beginning of the China story.”

Citigroup (NYSE: C) Plans China Expansion was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Yahoo has assured people they will be hiring around the world still in an effort for certain support functions within the company, and also said that the former employees that are being laid off will receive a displaced job package, or other severance packages. Some workers, because of a ten year deal with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will be lucky enough to get a job with Microsoft.

Financial experts within Yahoo have said that increased “traffic” to Google, is not the only culprit in its slipping sales plan. Facebook is also taking a huge chunk of the advertising sales, and proving itself a financial force to be reckoned with. Although Yahoo is still one of the most popular search engines in the world, its dominance has been slipping slightly each year. Also, new online advertising options are forcing Yahoo to sell high yield advertising space.

Chief Executive Carol Bartz had announced the cuts publicly earlier in the week. She has been the chief executive for two years. Upon her arrival sales were up and profits were coming back into the company but then slowly began to wane. The strategy will be to lower overhead cost to widen the profit margin.

In this tough economy you may be scanning the financial news hoping for anything that looks like good news, or anything that resembles a stabilizing economy. These lay off announcements may not be the glowing news you may have been hoping for, but they aren’t necessarily funeral bells either. For a company as big as Yahoo, this is a relatively small layoff, and according to statements, will just help stream line the company for hopefully, a better future.

Reference:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BD6E520101215

Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) Lets 600 Workers Go was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Apple has not said how it will use the center. According to Apple’s chief financial officer, Peter Openheimer, “North Carolina is on schedule. Everything is going fine. We expect to complete it by the end of the calendar year, and begin to use it.” It is not known whether the death of Olivier Sanche will affect Apple’s plans.

The investment in the center is around $1 billion dollars over nine years. It is nearly five times the size of the existing 109,000 square foot Newark, California complex. It is believed the Maiden center was commissioned to be a keystone in Apple’s computing strategy, as the back-end for online storage. It could replace iTunes user libraries and hold data from user desktops.

The data center is Apple’s major east coast operations center. According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce new jobs could be 300 plus. There would also be spinoffs to jobs in construction and service industries. Apple has stated they intend to, “take advantage of 3 hour time change on the east Coast to facilitate communications between European operations/sales and California for Data transmission”.

It is possible Apple will build a second facility in the area. Bill Wagenseller, a local realtor, posted a video on You Tube showing an aerial view of a new construction behind the completed data center. Apple has not commented on any of the speculation. It is generally believed judging from aerial views, that Apple will double the size of the center by another 500 000 square feet.

Barclay’s analyst Ben Reitzes, states, “We believe it makes sense to have a cloud service linking Apple devices to personal photos, videos, games, music and other entertainment–eliminating the limitations and expenses of excess storage. We believe such a service would only enhance the loyalty toward Apple and the benefits of using devices in its vertically integrated model.”

Bad News for Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) Data System Operation was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Instead, Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook, giving it a 1.6% stake in the company. Thus began a three year relationship between the two companies. Microsoft and Facebook have collaborated on a number of initiatives during this time. In October 2010 both companies agreed on a number of new social search features that are found via Bing, Microsoft’s search engine and Facebook’s Web results.

A feature, Liked Results, shows websites and links that are acceptable to a Facebook’s user’s friends. This is then linked with Facebook Profile Search. This enables a Facebook user’s connections to produce more exact results.

Satya Nadella, Senior Vice President of Microsoft’s Online Services Division commented on the Bing Community blog on October 13, 2010, “Facebook has led a transformation of the Internet already. It has reached and passed 500 million members, and the amount of content created inside Facebook each day is staggering.”

Microsoft on October 14^th 2010, announced changes to its Docs.com online applications platform, with Facebook users in mind. Facebook users can now use Word, Excel and PowerPoint to create and share ideas. PDF support, full-text search, user generated templates and drag-and-drop Silverlight document uploading are now all available to Facebook users.

Collaboration with Facebook is advantageous for Microsoft too. It now has access to a worldwide brand and its followers. This is vital so Microsoft’s won’t be beaten by competitors Google Docs and other cloud –based productivity platforms. Facebook as a result has a new way to expand its social network.

The three year old partnership between Facebook and Microsoft has been a stand against Google. Microsoft has had many voices tell it to buy Facebook to keep it out of Google’s clutches.

Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Connection With Facebook was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The Google Chrome team’s aim is to ensure the standards of the tools for browsing the internet remain at a high and innovative standard due to the influence of Chrome. It appears they are succeeding at keeping Chrome as a highly ranked search engine. The number of Chrome users has trebled. Users have grown from 40 to 120 million during 2010. Its speed is the prime reason for its popularity.

Google continues to view improving its speed as foremost in ongoing innovations. Google Instant is planned which will show search results and load web pages as the user types. V8 the JavaScript program that powers Chrome has been overhauled. It is twice as fast now due to the new complex Java Script programs.

The updates to Google Chrome are released via three release channels. The first is the Stable channel. The user receives this channel when first installing Chrome. Any updates are thoroughly tested and known to be trouble free before added here. The Stable Channel is the most reliable form of the browser and suitable for users who are not fussed about the latest updates.

Users who like to contribute to Chrome development usually sign up to Beta channel. These users receive releases from the Dev Channel that are not completely established and need a little polishing. The Beta channel is one step above the development channel and receives the innovations that are nearly perfected. Users comment on how any new innovations work.

The final channel is the Dev channel. This is where all the innovations are tested. The channel is not always stable and manual configuration is often needed. Anyone who wants to contribute to improving Chrome can do so by using the Dev channel.

Canary build is the final aspect of Chrome testing. Canary build enables interested parties to contribute to Chrome testing. It is frequently updated, even more so than the Dev channel. Developments are released without any testing to this channel. Canary build is installed by interested users as an addition to installing any of the three primary channels. Canary build crashes frequently.

Google Chrome is a sophisticated browser. Its development has occurred due to the continued innovation and development of the World Wide Web.

New Innovations to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Chrome Continue was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Facebook has recently announced it is developing a search engine. How does this social network think it’s going to oust Google? By taking a new approach to how people search of course. Facebook said that there search engine will take into account not only past searches, but what you liked and disliked, and what your friends and family liked and disliked, and what companies you “friended” and interacted with.

The philosophy here is that the products or services you will be looking for will be more enjoyed if you know your close friends and family have enjoyed them, or if they’re offered from companies on your friends list.

Google’s approach right now is an algorithm it employs with past searches made, the math helps determine what you may like based on previous patterns on behavior. It sounds cold and almost robotic, but that system has been working since Google’s inception, and is the main reason people use it.

Facebook has a couple of tricks up its sleeve that make it a promising front runner. First as mentioned, Google gets more traffic, however surveys showed that people spend more time on Facebook.

It will be interesting to see which search engine will prove itself to be more popular once Facebook launches it’s own search engine. With Google’s tried and true algorithm still be a fan favorite? Or will Facebook’s search engine, “social graph” (the name being thrown around for the time being), prove itself a worthy competitor? Only time can tell, but for now there is no publicly announced launch date.

Reference:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101213/ts_alt_afp/year2010usitcompanyinternetfacebookgoogle_20101213144801

Facebook Versus Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Alicia Moore, head of Wells Fargo ATM Banking said, “Budgeting and money management are top of mind for customers today. We wanted to create a tool that would help our customers by tracking their ATM withdrawals for better budgeting,” She further commented, “Wells Fargo is committed to helping our customers succeed financially and we’re excited to offer this newest personal financial management tool.”

Customers using Cash Tracker, also receive notice of the amount withdrawn the previous month as well as their monthly average for twelve months. When established, a Cash Tracker button will be added each customer’s personalized Main Menu screen so the transactions can be seen visually. Wells Fargo customers will also be able to access the service via a ‘more choices’ button that leads to the “Set ATM Cash Tracker” button.

At present Cash Tracker is only available for Wells Fargo Customers and only accessed at Wells Fargo ATMs. ‘You Know Me’ ATMs, at Wells Fargo, also record their customer’s most used transactions to make individual banking faster and more convenient. Wachovia customers will have access to Cash Tracker once their bank is converted as a Wells Fargo outlet. It is planned to convert Wachovia outlets to Wells Fargo outlets throughout 1011.

Other management tools Wells Fargo offers its customers include a budget watch tool, savings plan tool, credit card management education plus the ‘Hands on Banking’ free education online. ‘Hands on Banking’ education online is for all ages and its focus is on teaching the basics of responsible money management.

Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO John Stumpf says Wells Fargo has been successful for 158 years. “I believe there are two important reasons. First and foremost, our people. We have the most committed, talented, experienced, innovative and caring people in our industry. The second reason is that for 15 years we’ve demonstrated that our business model — diversified financial services, not just banking — and earning all our customers’ business does work.”

ATM Cash Tracker Service for Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Customers was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

A lot of people are now speculating if it was wise to turn down Google’s offer. But Google itself turned down a similar offer from Yahoo when it was just starting out. If Google had accepted Yahoo’s early offer for a buy out – it surely wouldn’t be worth the $200 billion it’s worth today! In fact, many internet companies have a similar history of turning down offers to be bought out, only to be worth more several years later.

As a matter of fact, history indicates it would have been less prudent of Groupon to take the offer. Other examples of similar moves were Facebook – when facing a $1 billion dollar buyout from Yahoo, refused it and is now worth more then $50 billion dollars. This is very likely the strategy of Groupon, considering it is currently the fastest growing internet company – turn it down now to give the company time to grow, and become worth more for a juicier offer later.

The real consideration is that Groupon shows all the characteristics of a company thats still growing. It has over 3,000 employees this year, up from about 125 last year. It saved $800 million dollars for its subscribers this year, up from $45 million last year. It’s growth is also clearly seen in the number of subscribers – Groupon is now a community of nearly 40 million people, up from just 1.5 million last year.

Experts say that when the year closes Groupon should be worth in the vicinity of $2 billion dollars. Turning down a $6 billion dollar offer is looking smarter and smarter. It’s not to say that we won’t see Google making another offer in a few years, just that for now Groupon will remain independent, and growing.
Reference:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/12/10/groupon.turn.down.google.bi/?hpt=Sbin

Groupon Takes a Rain Check From Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

It has not been reported as to which of the four carriers of Samsung’s Galaxy tablet is responsible for the sales boost, nor has any data been released to show which markets are most successful overseas.

To put it in perspective, Apple’s iPad (NASDAQ: AAPL) sold a million tablets in less then a month, and the iPad has been favored in many surveys as the “tablet of choice”. In Piper Jaffray’s survey, 85% of customers report preference for Apple’s iPad over the Galaxy tablet. However, Samsung’s one millionth sale milestone proves that the market is not completely dominated by Apple, and that the Android-based devices may not just be a fad as many Apple fans may have thought. In addition to the Samsung Galaxy tablet computers, Samsung has recently shipped about 5 million Galaxy S smartphones, another Android-based device.

There are a few subtle differences between the devices. The key differences between the two devices are the size and weight. The Galaxy weighs less, but also has a much smaller screen. The software support is a little better on the Galaxy as well, as it supports a built-in camera, which the iPad does not. The speeds of the two tablets are about the same, the capacity is about the same and even the price is about the same. Some people may argue of a few nuances here and there but over all they appear evenly matched.

Apple may have found a true contender in the tablet field, and now it will be interesting to see how Apple will respond. Will we see a new generation iPad with camera for instance? Will they offer an iPad with a smaller screen? Only time can tell, but Samsung has a solid product here, though the sales till speak in the iPads favor, the experts say that the Galaxy may be able to carve out a niche in the market, taking up to 15% of the tablet and ereader market.

Reference: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2373878,00.asp

Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet Sales Are Out of this World – Can They Compete With Apple? (NASDAQ: AAPL) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Apple and AT&T still have an agreement in place which has not yet expired, though Verizon does have a deal with Apple to sell the iPad on its 3G MiFi bundle. This deal has fueled speculation that a Verizon iPhone may be imminent. Though neither Verizon nor Apple have confirmed this speculation at this time. Why would Apple want to allow one provider an exclusive deal at this point, when it seems they could generate more sales of the iPhone by allowing multiple cellular phone networks to offer the device?

Over 14 million iPhones 4 have been sold, and is set to sell more. In fact it is the best selling smart-phone on the market right now. These sales have been just over the AT&T network! Just think how well Apple could do if they allowed the two biggest providers to sell the same phone. Currently AT&T has about 92 million customers on its network, and Verizon has around 93 million, so you can expect that Apple could double its sales by not signing a deal to allow one or the other to sell there product exclusively.

At the moment, neither side has actually confirmed any of the speculation out there of the impending exclusive contract. All we can really do is keep our fingers on the pulse of the grapevine and wait for official announcements to be made. No one could blame Verizon for wanting to pursue an exclusive deal to sell the iPhone, after all AT&T currently has one, and they have profited well on it – it just seems to make more sense for Apple to allow both providers to sell it, to maximize their own hold on the market and make the phone available to more consumers.

Will Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone Be Exclusive for Verizon (NYSE: VZ)? was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

A land purchase in Cupertino, California, from Hewlett Packard, has nearly doubled Apple’s land holdings in the area. There are aging buildings on the site.

The Apple workforce, worldwide, is around 46,600. Around 12,300 new employees have been added recently. A sizable number of new employees are in the Cupertino area.

Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a consulting firm, said about Apple, “They’ve just had spectacular growth. They are one of the companies in the valley that are hiring, and the bottom line is they need the space.”

Kris Wang Mayor of Cupertino, commented, “We’re very proud to have Apple’s headquarters in our city. It’s not just a company. It’s the company.”

It is estimated Apple will add to Cupertino’s tax revenue in a significant way.

Neither Apple nor Hewlett Packard released any details about the transaction but an Apple spokesperson confirmed the purchase of the land.

There is a sluggish real estate market in the area so the price could have been advantageous for Apple who already has significant real estate holdings nearby. However, according to Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, who went to high school in Cupertino, Apple also looked at other areas for expansion.

In April 2006 Steve Jobs told the Cupertino Council, “But after looking at a lot of things, we found something in Cupertino that was a possibility. It was more expensive, a lot more expensive than we could get elsewhere, but it was something where we could stay in the area that we like the best.” He was talking about the land Apple already owned in the city.

Steve Dowling of Apple said, “We now occupy 57 buildings in Cupertino and our campus is bursting at the seams. These offices will give us more space for our employees as we continue to grow.”

According to Tim Bajarin,” Apple seems determined to grow close to home, in Cupertino. They’re spread over the world, and they do a lot of virtual meetings,” he pointed out. “But there’s no substitute, especially when you’re dealing with engineering and key technical designs, for having people close by.”

Apple has not released its plans for the land and there are no details about Apple’s long term plans for its new site in Cupertino.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Adds to Cupertino Site in California by Purchasing Land from Hewlett Packard was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Citigroup has a lot to do to regain its position in the market place. A banker from another group commented about his view of Citigroup. He said, “It wasn’t so long ago that we were all afraid of Citigroup. They were going to be the model of the future.”

Citigroup lost many of its senior investment bankers in Europe and has not hired any replacements. Its reputation and standing in Europe has taken a huge battering. However, there are now two new managers of Citigroup’s Europe investment banking business.

James Bardrick and Manuel Falco have equal standing and plan to announce Citi’s new European strategy. It is expected they will announce the type of clients and market group they will focus upon.

Many in the banking area, including those in foreign currency trading, believe it is unwise to underestimate Citigroup and point to the revenue that has been earned in recent quarters. Revenue for the first half of 2010 was estimated at $4.28 billion. As impressive as this is, Citigroup still has challenges ahead.

In 2011 Citigroup is aiming to open a network of bank branches in a few European cities. Their target market will be their affluent citizens. The cities are in France, Britain and Germany and Poland, according to the Financial Times.

The Financial Times quoted an unnamed person, familiar with Citicorp’s new marketing strategies, who said, “Further down the road, we will open up in key cities in Western Europe. 2011 is a potential turning point.”

There was no comment from anyone at Citigroup about this even though it resonated with Citigroup’s new marketing plan of focusing on around 100 of the world’s cities. This includes 10 to 15 Western European cities.

“We have made a number of strategic changes to our coverage model to increase the focus on our core clients, which has created a number of exciting new opportunities for our bankers and also may have resulted in some people choosing to pursue their careers elsewhere. Several of the departures were mutual, and in some cases, welcome. We have also made a number of important new senior hires, and plan to announce more over the next few weeks,” said a Citigroup spokesperson.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) Plans to Target Europe’s Wealthy Citizens was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

You will first note a less complicated design. There are fewer dialogue boxes for a start. Web browsing will of course be faster. You can place your favourite websites onto the task bar for easy access. Task bar functions can be accessed quickly via the Tools button. Websites visited often can also be accessed quickly from the task bar. Website icons play a role in easy accessing the site they represent. Clicking an icon will open the chosen site. Back and forward buttons enable easy colour changes.

A new feature of Internet Explorer Nine is a download manager that records lists of file downloads and lets you know whether a file is unsafe to have on your computer. Pausing and starting the downloading again if the current internet connection is too slow is possible. Download lists can be cleared at any time.

Internet Explorer Nine has new tabbed browsing. The user can access a number of open web pages that can be placed in one window. Tabs are set up to allow Internet Explorer to open a web page in a new window for easier access. There is also the ability to return to side by side website viewing. A unique and useful feature about the tabs is they are colour coded to match related open websites. Internet Explorer Nine also shows your most visited sites coloured coded to speed up navigation. Sites and be removed or placed out of sight easily.

To speed up navigation you can now access a chosen site straight from the address bar. Typing in an address means it will go immediately to the designated site saving time. Incorrectly typed web addresses attract suggestions of possible sites.

The information on the bottom of Internet Explorer gives you the status information relevant to your needs but it is not necessary that you read them before continuing browsing. Any add-ons chosen are also rated by the web browser as to how they slow down your computer. This feature is called the Add-on Performance Advisor.

Internet Explorer Nine also uses your GPU (Graphics Processor Unit) to ensure faster delivery of requested information.

Microsoft is confident that the Internet Explorer Nine features will enhance web browsing.

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Cara Heiden, co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage said, “We have contended from the beginning that the challenges Baltimore faces cannot be attributed to the small number of loans Wells Fargo foreclosed in the city. Even the city has acknowledged that long-standing crime, unemployment and socioeconomic issues have contributed to the city’s problems. We remain committed to working with city and state leaders to help revitalize Baltimore by addressing issues related to abandoned properties. We also will continue to do our part to lessen the impact of foreclosures on communities in Baltimore and across the nation by working with our customers to reach affordable home payments wherever possible.”

When the lawsuit was dismissed in January 2006 for the first time, the City of Baltimore was given by the opportunity to file an amended narrower file addressing the economic impacts associated with the situation. The city filed again, despite the Judge not being sympathetic towards their position.

In September 2010, US District Judge J. Frederick Motz of Maryland, refuted the state’s lawsuit stating there was no connection between the financial problems of Baltimore and Wells Fargo’s mortgage distribution.

The Federal Court Judge J. Frederick Motz commented, “When considered against the background of other factors leading to the deterioration of the inner city, such as extensive unemployment, lack of educational opportunity and choice, irresponsible parenting, disrespect for the law, widespread drug use and violence,” Wells Fargo’s role was not proven.

“From the beginning, we have consistently maintained that Baltimore’s economic problems could not be attributed to the small numbers of foreclosures Wells Fargo has done in Baltimore,” said Cara Heiden, co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, in a statement she made after the ruling,

On The City of Baltimore’s behalf, their lawyer John P Relman said, “We are not saying that Wells is responsible for a catastrophe in Baltimore and all the deterioration of the neighborhoods. We are simply saying that they are engaged in illegal conduct.”

City of Baltimore Loses Lawsuit against Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Again was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The Street View service is viewed with suspicion by around 3% of the German population. This is approximately 250 000 people. By opting out, these people have their homes made indistinguishable online by Google. The ability to opt out was agreed to before the service was launched in Germany. A comment was made that perhaps people are also afraid of Google’s power as well as being concerned for their privacy.

The site of homes being blocked out has infuriated many Germans who have approved of the service. Over 240 000 houses have been blurred. In Bergenhausen, Essen, West Germany, for example, homes of non believers were pelted with eggs and notes supporting Google were stuck to their mailboxes.

Google has removed the image of the naked man and whatever he was doing in the back of his Mercedes in Mannhelm, South West Germany. The image had received many comments about what he could possibly be doing. Ideas such as was he really naked, was he simply cleaning his car and why were orange juice bottles at the side of the car were all speculated upon.

Wilmersdorf in Berlin was where the picture of the woman appearing to be giving birth was taken. Google proved this picture was fake and taken near another close by hospital.

Google made sure it was clear that it “distances itself completely” from any association with the egg throwing incidents. Ironically, Google’s Munich offices were blocked out when a tenant in their building decided to withdraw from Street View.

Incidents involving Street View and bizarre images have also been recorded in other countries. Images of corpses in streets appeared in Brazil as did children taking drugs. A nine year old was photographed playing dead on the footpath in an English street.

There are 81 million Germans who support the Street View service and comments about protests being anti Google have surfaced. It must also be noted that the same service is also offered by some German companies.

Google (NASDAQ: GOO) Street View and Bizarre Images was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The case centers on Wells Fargo’s backroom deal to wrest the failing bank from Citigroup after an initial deal had been put on the table to buy Wachovia. The bank had been ready to fail due to toxic real estate loans when it entered the U.S. government-backed deal with Citigroup. As a consequence, Citigroup turned around and sued Wells Fargo, an act which led to the current settlement.

According to the details of the lawsuit filed by Citigroup in New York Supreme Court, the company accused the executives at Wells Fargo and Wachovia respectively of a breach of contract. They were pursuing reparations totally $60 billion for damages, not relating to online currency trading.

All of this activity also served to highlight Citigroup’s instabilities in the wake of financial crisis. In fact, the company was in a vulnerable position at that time. Several weeks following the establishment of the original deal with Wachovia, Citigroup found itself in deep trouble. A number of bad investments accumulated and dealt a serious blow to the company.

During a time when so many businesses and major corporations were taking government bailout money, Citigroup was among the takers. In total, the company received $45 billion from the United States government. In the last couple of years, the government has gradually been cutting back the percentage of its stake in the big bank. At present, it still retains a 12 percent ownership in Citigroup.

Concerning the matte of the $100 million settlement, it should be noted that this amount represents only a tiny fraction of the total earnings and assets that is owned by the San Francisco-based Wells Fargo. Known as one of the largest banks in the United States, Wells Fargo earned a staggering $3.15 billion in the third quarter of 2010. As of September 30, the company showed $16 billion in cash on its balance sheet.

Despite the controversy surrounding the settlement the company is still making a strong market showing. As of Friday, November 26, 2010, Wells Fargo’s shares had increased by 2 cents for a $27.53 per share total in afternoon trading.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Will Pay Citigroup $100M In Lawsuit Concerning Wachovia was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Currently, the company is in the midst of a series of testing stages that will include a selection of small businesses. At this writing, there is a list of nearly 60,000 organizations that are waiting for access to this new application. While everyone waits, Microsoft continues to make finer adjustments while also expanding the scale and size of the businesses that will be able participate in testing.

Early evaluations of Office 365 are starting to crop up. The system has been designed to function on different browsers, including Firefox and Safari, although it has yet be approved for Google’s Chrome browser. As such, Office 365 will be a cross-platform application, making it compatible with Mac and PC alike.

There are some areas that are open to criticism, especially in light of the current reputation of Google Apps. Still, not to put down the application before it’s even released it may be better to mention some other basic attributes. First, it should be noted that it provides on-premises software tools that can be hosted for different companies. While it continues to provide its Office and collaboration tools via Windows Live, Docs.com, and Office Web Apps, the new Office 365 opens up other possibilities.

Hosted versions of Outlook SharePoint, or Team Site, as it is called in the small business Office 365 version are notable product available. There is also Lync, a rebranded Office Communicator system that is available without the purchase of servers. It is being billed as a subscription-based service that will cost between $2 and $27 monthly, based on the relative size of the business and associated services chosen.

Office Web Apps is not a integral part of the new 365 interface. Instead, Web Apps is going to be available via the hosted version of SharePoint. Documents can be shared, viewed, and edited using the Office Web App service. The downside is that if you want to create new documents you must still either use Office software directly or visit the Office Web apps site so you can save them to SharePoint there.

Along without applications related to these, it may make sense why some are saying that Office 365 may not be the way for Microsoft to blend all of its various services in a way that maximizes online sharing and the capacity to cycle through various tasks on 365 components. It’s admittedly an ongoing process.

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Shan Sinha, one of Google’s group product managers and one of the founders of DocVerse, put it this way: “It offers a brain-dead, simple way to share docs with people using Google Apps.”

Called Google Cloud Connect, the technology is a recent offering from the San Francisco-based DocVerse, a company established by former Microsoft affiliates acquired by Google back in March of this year.

Cloud Connect is compatible with all recent forms of Microsoft Office, which include versions 2003, 2007, and 2010. The interface allows for greater functionality and sharing capabilities. Google Docs and App users and Office users are able to edit documents from either direction. This truly makes Google Apps a universal platform.

As part of its system, the software inserts a special tool bar in all Office software that gives users the option of synchronizing their program with the cloud, creating a special URL that is linked to the document. Then Google Docs users will be able to open it, edit it, and return it to the original document through the same synching process.

Currently, Cloud Connect is offered as a free plug-in for those with Gmail accounts. Of course, people will also be able to sign up for Google Cloud Connect directly as well.

This new announcement comes a mere month following one issued by Microsoft to announce its new Office 365, a cloud-oriented version of Office. It is also known as the Business Productivity Online Suite, or BPOS.

A recent statement by Microsoft readily acknowledged that Google’s new contribution was recognizing the desire of customers to keep using Microsoft Office products. The software company remained confident that their customers still believe that Microsoft offers the best productivity solutions for collaborating and sharing via PCs, phones, and browsers.

Google has stated elsewhere that it has 30 million active users on its Google Docs platform. In turn, Microsoft said it had 40 million users on its Microsoft Online Services. However, Google questions whether that figure includes active users, meaning those users who log in an average of once a week.

In response, Microsoft said, “Microsoft’s number is only for paid seats to Microsoft Online Services – people who have actually paid for the service. Gartner Research estimates that Google has only a few hundred thousand paying users.”

Cloud Connect Offers Link For MS Office To Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Docs was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Poor real estate loans had caused Wachovia to agree to Citicorp purchasing it. The purchase was supported by the U.S. Government. The Citigroup purchase was undermined by Wells Fargo, who offered Wachovia a larger settlement. Wachovia settled on the Wells Fargo deal.

The merger between Wells Fargo and Wachovia meant the size of Wells Fargo has doubled. It is now the largest retail banking network in the U.S.

Citigroup decided to sue Wells Fargo accusing them and Wachovia for breach of contract. Citigroup claimed $60 billion damages. The case was settled in New York and Citigroup received a $100 million settlement. This settlement also wiped out the multiple lawsuits Citigroup had brought against Wells Fargo and Wachovia. All banks said this settled the matter.

Anton Schutz, president of Menton Capital Advisors in Rochester, New York which had investments in both banks said, “This could have dragged on forever, and sometimes I think you’re better just settling and moving on,”

“If Citigroup had gotten Wachovia, the financial returns would have been significant. But it might have made it harder for Citi to do some of the things they’re doing now, like getting leaner.”

Losing the Wachovia deal showed Citigroup’s lack of power over the situation. Citigroup’s financial vulnerability, from poor investments, came to light in the weeks following the collapsed deal with Wachovia.

The financial vulnerability of Citigroup was such that it needed funds from the U.S. Government to save it from insolvency. The bailout amounted to $45 billion. The U.S. government in November 2010 still owns 12% of Citigroup.

The payout to Citigroup by Wells Fargo, was not a huge one, for Wells Fargo one of the largest banks in the U.S. Wells Fargo at the end of September 2010 had reported earnings in that quarter of $3.15 billion. Its shares were valued at around $27.53.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Settle Dispute over Wachovia was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Microsoft, software specialist and Facebook, social networking, have recently announced a number of collaborative ventures. One is including Facebook user data into Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. Microsoft Office applications are to be used in Facebook’s planned communication service.

Analysts are not yet seeing a clear collaboration between Microsoft and Facebook. But some are noticing that Facebook’s Internet vision resonates with Microsoft’s. The vision of these two companies is unlike the one that Google used to develop its internet presence. An analyst with Gartner Inc. Ray Valdes says, “When you add all of these (collaborations) up – and there seem to be more of them every week – then it really is a very substantial threat to Google.”

The president of Creative Strategies Inc, Tim Bajarin says, “The link between (Facebook and Microsoft), especially across applications and communications, can be a very powerful partnership.”

So the domination of Google in internet searches appears to have a serious challenge. The evidence for this is coming from social networks. The links and ‘likes’ of friends in the social networks are influencing people’s internet experience. This challenges the Google way of searching the internet. Internet searches are Google’s main business and it looks as if Bing will be challenging this with the advantage of incorporating the social networking searches.

It is not known specifically, whether Google is developing links to social networks. Bing may not have the only relationship with Facebook. Facebook with its over 500 million participants has had a spectacular rise over six years. However Google’s advertising revenue is increasing as a result of keyword searches. A Google spokesperson said, “As the Web evolves – from mobile to video to display ads to cloud computing – our business grows with it, and the results speak for themselves.”

Google stresses that it has a fundamentally different view of technology than does its competitors. According to the company they have an open system that enables users to have control over their information. Google tends to see Facebook, Microsoft and Apple as companies that have a more closed system of searching and more stringent control of data and user experience.

Eric Schmidt, Google Chief Executive at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco stated, “I worry … that the business structures are causing (companies) to keep too much private information. We’ve taken the position that user data is the users, and it should be possible for them to move it back and forth.”

Debate still continues about open and closed systems. Apple CEO Steve Jobs believes that closed systems sometimes win.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Faces Challenge from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)and Facebook was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Apple was Adobe’s first substantial customer when they adopted Adobe’s postscript language for their Laserwriter printer. Apple invested in Adobe and at one stage owned about 20% of the company. Both companies were pioneers in desktop publishing. Overtime Adobe saw the corporate sector as their market and Apple went through some profound changes.

Both companies still have customers in common. Apple customers use around half of Adobe’s Flash products. However Adobe Flash products do not suit Apple’s new generation products. Jobs categorically states that Apple does not allow Flash products on iPhones iPods and iPads for this reason.

Adobe has reacted to this decision by claiming that Apple has become a closed system protecting their App store. Adobe says Apple has made a business decision and Apple says it is due to the lack of technical rapport. Steve Jobs states that in his view Adobe, not Apple, has the closed system. Although Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, Adobe maintains total control over their placement and pricing and future improvements.

Apple uses the open standards of HTML5, CSS and JavaScript for their mobile products acknowledging that the operating system for iPhones, iPods and iPads is controlled by them. Apple is adopting the HTML5 standard, along with Google and others, because it enables developers to create products without relying on third party plug-ins. HTML5 is controlled by a standards committee and Apple is part of the committee.

Steve Jobs Explains Why Adobe Flash is Not Suitable for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones, iPods and iPads was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Executive vice president of Wells Fargo Internet Services Group, Stephanie Smith said, “One of Wells Fargo’s strategic initiatives is to allow customers to transact anytime, anywhere in order to meet their needs. Through online banking, our customers can view their current available account balances, pay bills, and transfer funds between most accounts. Online statements provide the added benefits of organization and convenience, fraud prevention, reduced paper use, and functioning as paper statements for record-keeping, forex and tax purposes.”

The opportunity to win one of the cash prizes is available until December 15^th 2010.

The benefit of receiving online statements is they are easy to read and understand and are brief summaries of what activity has been undertaken in relationship to the account. The account holder is able to scan for any information they need. They can also order online statements for savings accounts, checking accounts, mortgage information, credit card purchases and payments, home equity lines of credit and loans, personal loans and student loans.

The bank customers who accept paperless statements can access them securely and safely when they sign in for an online banking session. An email is sent to all online customers when their statements are ready. Online statements can also be helpful in preventing mail and identity fraud.

It is still possible for thieves to get people’s personal and banking information from their letter boxes. This has been verified by the Javelin Strategy and Research 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report. Wells Fargo free online banking and online statements are available 24/7 unlike the post.

Wells Fargo believes in the necessity to protect the environment and paperless statements can help to do this. Mary Wenzel, director of Wells Fargo Environmental Affairs said, “We already reduced our greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by seven percent in 2009. We’re on our way to achieving the GHG reduction goal of 20 percent below 2008 levels by 2018 by focusing on energy efficiency, optimizing space, and online and mobile banking services.”

There is no purchasing necessary to enter the sweepstakes. The websites to visit for the official rules are: www.wellsfargo.com/fallsweeps and www.wachovia.com/fallsweeps. The prizes will be awarded in early February.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and Wachovia Announce Online Banking and Statements Sweepstakes was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has developed a Privacy Policy. It is a guide to ensuring the company considers the privacy and security for the millions of users who rely on the search engine. Google’s Privacy Policy is based on its responsibility to the people who use the services it provides.

Occasionally Google runs into trouble with the effect of its innovations. A recent example is the conflict over privacy and security issues that affected residents of the United Kingdom. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has instructed Google to develop a policy related to the way personal information is handled by the Company. Part of the Agreement was for Google to give more in-depth security training for its employees and ensure more privacy is assured of data collected.

An Agreement with ICO was reached and it was signed by the senior vice president of Google, Alan Eustace. He said, “I am very pleased to have a firm commitment from Google to work with my office to improve its handling of personal information,” information commissioner Christopher Graham said in a statement. “We don’t want another breach like the collection of payload data by Google Street View vehicles to occur again.”

Google’s Privacy Policy principles include the aim to “Focus on providing the best user experience” Products developed are done with privacy practices and standards in mind. The Company admits it collects private information and their aim is to not be secretive about the information they have. Google has a history of considering the Privacy Policies of many countries and respects the laws in any country with citizens accessing its products. Google also aims to be flexible enough so that people can have a say in what personal information they give to the Company. No personal information is every given to unauthorized people or organizations.

Google takes its responsibility to its users seriously. They are fully aware of the necessity to protect the privacy of any data they collect. Breaches in security are taken seriously and dealt with by security experts.

Several years ago Google developed a list of 10 things they know to be true in regard to their business. It is company policy to review the list regularly and consider whether they still hold true.

What Drives Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to Protect the Privacy and Security of its Users was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO said, “We asked ourselves what would happen if a MacBook and an iPad hooked up? It’s one of the most amazing things we’ve ever created: It is our new MacBook Air, and we think it’s the future of notebooks.”

The new MacBook Airs, say some Mac enthusiasts, are superior to the popular MacBook Pro. The speed of the MacBook Air is impressive. They are ready to use in less than 15 seconds after turning on. The i7 MacBook Pro takes twice as long. MacBook Air shuts down in around 3 seconds. The overall speed of loading applications and file transfers are equally impressive.

The Baseline 13 inch MacBook Air has 1.86GhzIntel Core 2 Duo processor and RAM is 2GB. It has a flash storage hard drive of 128GB. Testing has shown the MacBook Air to outperform the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the faster Core 2 Duo processor and twice the RAM. The outstanding performance of the new MacBook Air is due to the flash storage hard drive. The heat issues have been dealt with. The 11 inch MacBook Air is also receiving outstanding reviews. The 13 inch MacBook Air is retailing at around $1299 and the 11 inch around $999.

An issue has appeared however, regarding the storage space. It is possible that the 128 GB hard drive is too small when 256GB seems to be the benchmark due to the variety of media downloaded. One enthusiast, M.G Siegler in a review wrote: ‘Here’s how I see it: if storage didn’t matter, I think this 13-inch MacBook Air would almost immediately be Apple’s best-selling Mac. It’s that good.”

It seems Apple’s Cloud strategy is planned to compensate for this. The Cloud strategy consists of providing streaming from their servers to Apple products, enabling Mac users to stream content from their computer to other

Apple devices they own and wireless syncing content to devices. It is probable that MacBook Air will become a content viewer like the iPad.

It appears that MacBook Air has the same appeal to the market as iPhones and iPads. It also has an affordable price tag.

New Release of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) MacBook Air a Success was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan find it difficult to gain employment after returning from the war zones. Their unemployment statistics of 9.6% are higher than the US average.

Veterans in the Microsoft program will receive support over two years. This includes technology skills training, job placement, career counselling, transportation and housing if necessary.

Microsoft’s senior director of Community affairs, Akhtar Badsha commented, “Veterans may not necessarily have a specific qualification such as a college diploma, but after having spent time in the field they are incredibly accomplished individuals and leaders. With the experience of having veterans in the company at different levels, we clearly know they are a tremendous asset to anyone that can employ them.”

Vin Perrone, CEO of Worcester, Massachusetts-based Veterans, Inc. one of the six organizations receiving a grant said,

“It’s been a struggle for us to try to find ways to get people retrained and open up new doors for employment. With the Microsoft grant, we’re not only going to be able to support the veterans we already have been helping, but it allows us to do something we’ve been desperate to do for a while, which is to take guardsmen and reservists still on active duty or those who have just returned and get them into a program along with their spouses. We’ll actually be able to create a family support structure in the employment training area, and this is wonderful for our veterans; also for the reservists and the guardsmen.”

The lead advocacy specialist with Microsoft’s Customer and Partner Advocacy Group, Mi Hausvaster, was a marine for eight years. “It’s great to see such a big organization be such an active participant in the military community and want to reach out to military members about careers. It’s not just saying, ‘here are additional resources for veterans already at Microsoft. They’re actually reaching out to people currently serving and trying to get them interested in Microsoft, which is cool,” she said.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)Supporting Veterans and Families was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Wells Fargo’s, ‘Leading the Way Home Priority Markets Program’ have a number of innovations. Amongst them are providing workshops for residents in areas with many mortgages in default, an education program that teaches credit management, mortgage strategies and the responsibility involved in repaying loans. Company representatives are also working with nonprofit organizations and supplying grants for assistant programs. Assessing housing in many areas, is also undertaken, to see what can be done to salvage many situations.

The co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Cara Heiden, said, “From the beginning of the housing crisis, we have joined with numerous communities and organizations to help preserve and advance homeownership, assist struggling homeowners, and help stabilize communities hard hit by foreclosures. From January 2009 through August 2010, Wells Fargo has helped more than 2.3 million households with mortgage payment relief through its refinancing and modification programs.”

“Transfer of foreclosed properties for redevelopment—Wells Fargo was the first mortgage servicer to partner with the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST) to assist local governments and nonprofits in acquiring foreclosed properties for redevelopment. Wells Fargo’s Housing Foundation, in partnership with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, also donates foreclosed properties, or offers such properties at a reduced price, for redevelopment and resale. In addition to properties transferred through NCST, Wells Fargo has discounted or donated more than 2,000 properties to nonprofit organizations and government entities in 2009 and 2010.”

Wells Fargo has also donated to Habitat for Humanity International. A grant of $8 million was donated early in 2010 for their Neighborhood Revitalization program. Cara Heiden stressed, “From the beginning of the housing crisis, we have joined with numerous communities and organizations to help preserve and advance homeownership, assist struggling homeowners, and help stabilize communities hard hit by foreclosures. From January 2009 through August 2010, Wells Fargo has helped more than 2.3 million households with mortgage payment relief through its refinancing and modification programs.”

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Helps People Keep a Roof over Their Head was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

As part of their commitment to public service, Google has already introduced a support for distressed people in the US. It has been extensively tested. Icons that present contact details of helping agencies, are placed above the searches relating to suicide or related searches. More search keywords appropriate to the service are continually added. Icons are distinct from advertisements.

Roni Zeiger, a Google employee and trained physician said, “People come to Google to search for information. Particularly in times of crisis, it’s especially important for them to find the crucial information they’re looking for, and find it fast, and these special search results can save precious moments.”

Help lines that support people in distress are a resource in many countries. In the United Kingdom and Ireland a group called the Samaritans offer twenty four hour support for people who have no one to turn to when feeling suicidal, distressed, isolated and who need some immediate human contact. The Samaritans are non judgmental and all callers are assured their conversation is confidential.

The news from Google is they are linking with the Samaritans. They are displaying the Samaritan’s helpline number on the search results related to suicide, from anyone in the UK and Ireland. What will be shown at the top of the search results is an icon of a red telephone. Contact details for the Samaritans will also be displayed.

Google’s UK chief, Matt Brittin said, “People turn to the internet for information and advice all the time. We hope that by adding a highly visible link on searches relating to suicide, Google can help guide those who are vulnerable, distressed or suicidal to the renowned expertise and support service offered by Samaritans.”

There are still some teething problems with the service. General searches relating to suicide are not showing the icon. However the Samaritans welcome Google’s move and a spokesperson believes, as the service grows, more terms will be added. The Samaritan’s chief executive Catherine Johnstone said, “The internet is a rapidly expanding phenomenon that allows people to access huge amounts of information, much of which is helpful but some of which can occasionally be dangerous,”

“It is therefore important that vulnerable and distressed people are steered towards safe places such as Samaritans.” she said.

Google, believing in the need to contribute to social projects, is also expanding the “special search results for searches relating to poisoning and suicide in Australia.”

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) the Good Samaritan was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The current share price will still mean a profit for the government. It is estimated at around $8 billion. This is good news for the taxpayer, as many criticized the government for rescuing Citigroup during the recent financial crisis. It is believed by some analysts, that the large government sale is factored into the current share price.

In a statement, The Treasury Department said investment bank Morgan Stanley “will have discretionary authority to sell 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup common stock under certain parameters.”

Apparently Citigroup stock is one of the most active listings on the NYSE. It is also believed, by some analysts, that the huge supply of Citicorp shares on the market will not be advantageous for investors. Institutional investors are looking at investing in Citigroup. This will support the Treasury sale and prevent harm to current shareholders. Institutions buying large blocks of Citicorp shares will give the message that the restructure is approved.

Warnings about buying Citigroup shares centre on the need for the Group to complete its turnaround plan, in order to be a viable company. Citigroup has no bidders as yet for its non-core group assets in Citigroup Holdings. Some investors are counting on the areas that have been restructured to show profit.

Citigroup continues to find ways to reduce its debt. It is hoped the sale of Primerica Inc. will earn $234 million through the sale of 18 million shares at $12 to $14 a share.

An economic recovery is the good news Citigroup needs. An improving economy would strengthen the current share value. A recovering economy would also ensure that the Citigroup share price increases in value and will also attract retail investors.

Analysts are looking with interest at the next Citigroup earnings report and believe it will be a significant one.

Citigroup received $45 billion from the Federal Government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in 2008.

Treasury Plans to Sell Citigroup (NYSE: C) Shares October 2010 was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Wells Fargo became the number one SBA 7(a) lender in the country by issuing $871 million in loans. This number was five percent higher than it was in 2009, when it was at $827 million.

Antonio Zate, head of Well Fargo’s SBA Lending Division in greater Los Angeles, had this comment: “The changes that came about as a result of the recently passed Small Business Jobs Act will help America’s small businesses growth, and we stand ready to do our part by providing the credit to meet their financing needs.”

Zate expressed the desire of Wells Fargo to maximize its status as the top SBA lender in dollars to extend viable financing to as many small businesses as possible, provided they are qualified borrowers. He acknowledged that the success of businesses remains very important to the overall economy. Zate said, “Wells Fargo’s position as No.1 SBA lender gives us an important opportunity to support an economy recovery.”

In another report released by the Community Reinvestment Act, date released for 2009 showed that Wells Fargo also ranked as the top California small business lender in terms of loans below the $100,000 mark and total business lending below $1 million categories.

Wells Fargo & Company, headquartered in San Francisco, has been a national, community-based financial services organization since 1852. It currently holds in the neighborhood of $1.2 trillion in assets. The company operations a diversified umbrella of services include banking, insurance, investments, mortgages, and commercial and consumer finance. It operates using wide variety of channels to deliver quality services both in the United States and internationally. There are more than 278,000 active team members.

Additionally, Wells Fargo was listed at number 19 on a list of Fortune Magazine’s 2009 rankings for America’s largest corporations. It is a dynamic business with a reputation as a leading lender to women and diverse-owned businesses. It makes use of the latest technology to provide customers with online resources, including webcasts and topical videos. The company is ready to offer sound advice to business owners in order to help them succeed financially.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Tops SBA List of Top Lenders With A $59 Million Loan To California Small Businesses was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

For instance, S. Somasegar, senior VP for Microsoft’s Developer Division, as well as Scott Guthrie, corporate VP for the division, have both been very vocal over the past week about their support for Silverlight.

This whole controversy was set into motion by comments made by Bob Muglia, president of Microsoft’s server and tools business, in a ZDnet interview. He talked about a shift in the company’s strategy that targeted HTML 5 and moved Silverlight to Windows Phone development projects. However, Muglia later explained that Silverlight is meant to run applications not using HTML.

“I’m very proud of the work we’ve done in four versions of Silverlight and am very excited about the work we’re doing for the next version and we have plenty more to do,” said Somasegar in a recent blog post. The exec also apologized for the confusion. He added, “We’ll be sharing more details about some of the great Silverlight improvements coming in the future soon.”

Somasegar went on to talk about the strategy shift involving Silverlight. He said that while the strategy has certainly went through different phases since Silverlight was initially launched, the reasons have been shaped largely by the growth in usage of web-connected devices. The numbers for the last two years alone have been significant, including phones and other embedded devices such as televisions. The goal had been to get a way to implement a consistent runtime across all of the variety of devices on the market. The realization that the last goal was unrealistic led to addition reassessments. (Most of this is due to the closed platforms that many of these types of devices operate on.)

It really doesn’t matter if you’re using Silverlight, Flash, Java, Cocoa, or a specific HTML5 implementation, the runtime issue is the same. At the same time, for those who want the broadest possible range, HTML still offers the most.

Microsoft still remains confident and plans to work hard to ensure they have the best browser in the future, using HTML5 implementation on Windows devices using the Internet Explorer version 9.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Attempting Silverlight Damage Control was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Recently a report issued by DigiTimes, a Taiwan-based business, has revealed that Google is actually getting ready to announce the first in a series of portable systems. Based on the preview time last November, the time sounds right since even Google officials were clear that these new units would not be available until the following November, just in time to make their holiday season debut.

Of course, Google representatives in an attempt to stave off rumors and speculation, they said that they could neither confirm nor deny that there would be such an announcement.

The changes in the market brought on by Apple’s iPad have fueled fervor among other vendors and developers to create tablet devices of their own. This has bound to have had an effect on Google’s position. Plus, there are other factors to consider. At this point, the netbook market has calmed somewhat causing prices to drop between $299 and $399. This has made them more attractive to buyers.

Regarding those past plans, Google had opened up about its work at producing netbooks with larger screens and keyboards. The Chrome-powered model, mentioned by DigiTimes, was called both a “smartbook” and a “notebook” calling into question its other attempts at describing the new technology.

More details included in the reports mentioned the notebook would be based on ARM chipset and produced by Inventec. Estimated shipment numbers were between 60,00 and 70,000. In other reports, Acer and HP computer manufacturers have their own Chrome notebooks in the works.

The biggest challenged that Google and others have, according to analyst Nathan Brookwood from Insight64, is to create Chrome-powered notebooks that are attractive to development partners.

Brookwood questions whether developers would be interested in the platform since it lacks many applications. “Developers are focused mainly on Apple’s iOS and Android and there’s still a huge base of Windows systems drawing their attention. Where does a platform that isn’t any of those justify developer’s attention?”

Still, despite skepticism rooted with suppliers, there are some major vendors that are ready to bring out a Chrome-powered notebook this year. It’s hoped that Google will take the first step.

What’s Up With The Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Chrome-Powered Netbook? was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Like other lenders, Wells Fargo failed to set systems in place that would ensure all paperwork was thoroughly checked. The company joins many others in the industry with paperwork errors that prevent forced sales of mortgaged property going ahead.

Wells Fargo is one of America’s biggest mortgage lenders and the failure to have all paper work checked is a serious anomaly. The company at present is preparing around 55,000 foreclosures in 23 states. It promises to fix the mistakes associated with these foreclosures.

The bank announced that the paperwork errors related to the ‘final step’ of filing. Foreclosure papers included final reviews and notarizations of documents. Plans are for the documents in question to be resubmitted in November 2010.

The mistakes, the company claims, are technical and will not stop the foreclosure process from continuing. In a statement, Wells Fargo says it doesn’t, “believe that any of these instances led to foreclosures which should not have otherwise occurred.”

John Stumpf, CEO of Wells Fargo, claims the bank is “confident that our practices, procedures and documentation” are accurate. No one at Wells Fargo would comment whether the bank had used ‘robo-signers’. Robo-signers signed an enormous number of legal documents without checking for errors.

Wells Fargo now has to now deal with slowing of foreclosures, lawsuits brought by homeowners and legal strategies developed by mortgage investors in the hope of getting their investments back.

David Grais, an attorney representing mortgage investors said, “None of these avenues of litigation is for either the faint of heart or for those with short attention spans.”

It will not be easy for investors to prove that any bank did not act in the best interest of their customers.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman, Terri Schrettenbrunner, who would not discuss the type of errors Wells Fargo was dealing with, said, “We found human errors, and we are fixing those errors,”

Wells Fargo has had two of their employees question their foreclosure procedures. One of whom claimed she signed around 300 to 400 foreclosure documents on a daily basis.

The issue of paper work and legal procedures and how they were handled in hundreds of thousands of situations is being investigated by attorney generals in each of the 50 states.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Foreclosure Paperwork Also Flawed was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

With a budget of around $100 million the company plans to market its nine phone models aggressively in an effort to regain top position in the market place. Microsoft also hopes to regain the customers it lost to Apple Inc and Google Inc.

There are new products ready for the market in the next few months from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, LG Electronics Inc, HTC Corp and Dell Inc. Products will be delivered to stores late in 2010.

In a research note, Wells Fargo Analyst Jason Maynard said, “We are the first to admit that Microsoft is fighting for third place, not first or even second, at this point; but we believe this is a key step toward rebuilding confidence in their ability to innovate in mobile.”

Ross Rubin, a consumer electronics analyst with the retail research firm NPD Group states, “They have phones with slide-out keyboards, larger screens, and high definition outlets – all features that the iPhone does not have. That should help Microsoft’s competitive position. There will always be a segment of customers that seek out the newest devices.”

The Microsoft handset compares favorably with Apple’s iPhone unlike the earlier versions. The product has colorful touch-screens and quick web access.

“The user interface is quite innovative because it takes advantage of those precious few seconds when eyes hit the glass and actually gives you something useful,” commented Al Hilwa from the research firm IDC. “It will probably be copied by other platforms over time.”

Jack Gold analyst of J Gold Associates says, “This is Microsoft’s last chance to be a major player in the Smartphone market. Microsoft will be required to undertake a massive consumer education campaign if it wants to stand a chance of differentiating itself from iPhone and Android, which have far greater market presence.”

A huge fan of Apple products is British actor and writer Stephen Fry. However he is impressed with the Microsoft phone.

“When I got one of these (phones) my first feeling was it’s fun to play with. I have felt enormous pleasure using this phone. Yes, I love Apple, but I’m not a monotheist. I want biodiversity in this market and all of us that love it should welcome that too.”

Sales forecasts for the new Microsoft phones have not been released by the company.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Plans to Dominate Smartphone Market was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

“With the iPhone and the iPad, the company continues to experience tremendous product momentum across two core areas that we believe are still in the early stages of growth: with global handset units at 1.1 billion/year and the tablet opportunity still nascent. We additionally see meaningful opportunity for Apple in its Mac line, particularly with the company’s new $999 11 inch screen MacBook Air, which our checks show to be selling higher than expected units both online and in Apple Stores.”

Blair produced his forecast after checking Apple outlets and Barron’s financial reports. He is convinced that Apple is looking at a “nearly 100% year over year growth for iPhone in 2011″

The results will be “a staggering number any way you look at it,” he says.

Not everyone agrees with Brian Blair’s predictions. Analyst Yair Reiner acknowledged Apple’s success with sales of the iPhone 4 in the recent quarter but felt that overall Apple’s sales in other areas were disappointing.

“Disappointment, thy name is expectation,” Reiner said. “Notwithstanding the short-term vicissitudes of the expectations game, Apple clearly has a winner on its hands.” Reiner’s estimates Apple will sell around 52 million iPhones and 23 million iPads in 2011.

The iPad sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 were less than Wall Street expectations.

Charlie Wolf, analyst with Needham & Company, predicts that 18 million iPads will be sold in 2011 and thinks that iPad might even miss reaching that target. He thinks that the growth of the tablet market is unpredictable.

Brian Blair thinks Apple is “incredibly bullish about its growth prediction. In a research note he wrote. “We believe Apple remains the best-positioned company in the tech sector as we exit the year and look into 2011.”

He supports purchasing Apple stock. “With the iPhone and the iPad, the company continues to experience tremendous product momentum across two core areas that we believe are still in the early stages of growth: with global handset units at 1.1 billion/year and the tablet opportunity still nascent.”

Forecasts Differ on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Sales Volume in 2011 was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

In two years, Chrome has become the third most used web browser. Google is aiming at the number one position for the popular browser. To do this, the Chrome development team, has put a development model in place that enables continuous and frequent updates. Google believes other browser developers will find this difficult to do and so it gives the company a competitive edge.

The updated Chrome Version 6 is supported by the changes that have occurred in supporting technology. For example, JavaScript speed is ten times faster than in 2008 and HTML5 support is now a standard feature in modern browsers. All browsers, as well as Chrome, have developed significantly over this time. It is the performance of JavaScript with its support of HTML5 that enables the speed of Chrome.

The user base of Google Chrome is growing substantially. Google sees it as real competition to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

The developers of Chrome, state it is designed for speed and easy access to online services. From an instant start up from the desk top of any computer it is uncomplicated and easy to use.

The designers have focused on safety and security. Chrome has built-in malware and phishing protection. Automatic updates keep the browser secure. An added layer of consumer protection is called the ‘sandbox’. The ‘sandbox’ prevents malicious code being downloaded and infecting the user’s computer.

New releases are planned at six week intervals. This is highly competitive in relation to other browsers.

The new version of Chrome also has the best and most loved features of earlier models. Extensions, browser translation, themes and other features are built in. Chrome 6 has a different color scheme and captivating user interface. Google has indicated that users will be provided with a stable browser and crashes will be less.

Google aside, many experts see this browser with the potential of becoming a leading browser. Global market share for Chrome is estimated to be 7.5% of the global market. The user base is estimated at around 18 million.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Chrome Celebrates Second Birthday was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Known as, ‘The Communities at Work Fund’ it is a $200 million fund. Citicorp provides $199 million and the Calvert Foundation and the Opportunity Finance Network provides $1 million.

The fund was established with the aim of sustaining and helping business grow and so contribute to the country’s economic recovery. Traditional banks rarely give loans to this type of small business.

Community banks, the traditional lenders to small business, are not lending as freely as before.

Small business access to loans has remained low during 2010. The decline in banks lending to small business was affected by the credit crisis of 2008-2009.

Citicorp has stepped into the breach. It has already distributed funds.

A Chicago nonprofit received funds for a 60 seat restaurant. It serves low cost meals to 3500 low income families and so far employs 49 people with plans for another 12 full -time employees.

Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citi said, “Citi’s investment in the Communities at Work Fund underscores our commitment to the economic life of the communities we serve and to the U.S. economic recovery.”

“We recognize that too many small businesses, microenterprises, charter schools and community service institutions simply do not have access to credit, yet they are engines for economic growth. The Communities at Work Fund will leverage the expertise of the leaders in the Community Development finance sector and provide much-needed financing in these markets.”

Global Director of Citi Microfinance and Community Development, Bob Annibale, stressed, “Citi’s investment in the Communities at Work Fund is driven by our commitment to providing funding to small businesses and microenterprises, which are a primary source of job creation and opportunity for underserved communities.”

He states, “This is not philanthropy, but an investment in the CDFI sector, which is rooted in local communities and provides innovative financing for community development and economic growth.”

Calvert Foundation President and CEO Shari Berenbach said, “Small businesses are the engines of local economies, but the entrepreneurs behind these businesses often have the most trouble getting financing. These businesses are withering in the absence of financing.”

For over 30 years CDFI Loan Funds have been an effective way to create economic opportunities in areas that do not attract loans from banking institutions.

Low Income Areas Receive Access to Citicorp Inc (NYSE:C) Funds was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Yet, even the performance of these products is what has gotten the attention of industry analysts and Wall Street observers. The enthusiasm has been fueled by Microsoft’s rapid entry into the cloud computing realm. It’s been noted that the company no longer seeks to stand strictly behind the PC as the focal point of computing technology. Instead, Microsoft has remained content letting other payers like Amazon.com, Google, and even Salesforce.com spread the message about cloud computing so they can concentrate on developing the tools and applications that will be used in this new environment.

The wisdom of this move has been demonstrated by the interest expressed by Microsoft customers. For instance, the 40% growth of subscriptions to Windows Azure, the company cloud-focused platform, between one quarter and the next give you something to consider. Azure was created to allow customers to build and upload apps to the cloud. Microsoft also reported that those businesses choosing to license to use of cloud services tripled from the previous year.

The popular Office and Windows franchises offer the best starting point for launching into the cloud. Both businesses and individuals that use such products are more than willing to stick with Microsoft as it transitions to the cloud.

Jillian E. Mirandi, an analyst for Technology Business Research noted, “The cost will be cheaper, because customers will have access to all of those tools, as opposed to buying separate licenses.”

With all of this praise for Microsoft’s overall direction towards building solid cloud-based strategies, there are still those who wonder if the company will develop a strong program to carry Windows further into mobile devices, including smart phones and tablets. The upcoming release of the Windows Phone 7 is projected to have a range of support from several manufacturers and carriers across the globe.

In other words, Microsoft’s share of the OS market will probably remain modest compared to Google’s Android and Symbian for the foreseeable future. The company still seems determined to break in and fight for their place at the table.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Digging In To Stay Strong In A Post-PC World was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Google Apps such as Google Talk, Gmail, and Google Calendar, as well as mobile access to Google Docs are available via Verizon Wireless’ entire Droid line, including the Motorola Droid, the Droid X and the Droid 2. The addition of the Android 2.2 offers, for the first time, an open source OS that comes with comprehensive enterprise support features.

This configuration comes with a policy management AP that offers a remote wipe feature and it will allow users to manage Microsoft Exchange on the smart phone. The new aspect is that Google Apps is now available in a format that supports the data security features.

What this means for IT administrators is that they have the ability to accomplish a number of tasks with added precision and security. Not only can they wipe all data from lost or stolen mobile devices remotely, they can also lock devices that have been left idle for certain length of time, insertion of unique device passwords for each phone, and make various customizations of password strength and essential format. Also, administrates can block inside information from ex-employees who no longer need access to sensitive corporate data.

To emphasize why this is an important development, it should be noted that some companies are noticing that their employees are using personal Androids or iPhones to conduct interoffice communications.

In related developments, Google has stated that such protection policies can be enforced using a web browser on those devices that install the upcoming Google Apps Device Policy app. It will be accessible for free to all users of the Google Apps Premier services or Education Edition customers. It can be obtained on the apps control panel by accessing service settings.

With all these new apps and services coming online it’s interesting to note that Google has been offering security packages via other major mobile platforms. Back in August of 2009, they supported the Blackberry Enterprise Server for Research in Motion. It was followed by coverage for the Nokia S60, the iPhone, and Windows Mobile this past February.

As the number of Android devices activated each day increases, more and more are being used in the corporate setting for business correspondence. Google is finally stepping up to add the same features to its own platform.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Apps On The Android Gets Enterprise Security Support was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The Des Moines-based mortgage unit for the big bank planned to re-file documents for 55,000 individual cases by the middle of November. At the same time, the company noted that not every one of those posted cases contained errors, but no one listed how many did.

Representatives have stated that the mistakes on the foreclosure forms were purely technical in nature. For instance, there were several problems that occurred during the final review of foreclosure affidavits and notarizations. In these cases, the documents did not fulfill the strict guidelines required by current procedures.

Wells Fargo has said it wishes to submit supplemental affidavits to replace those that were incorrectly issued.

This event has not affected Wells Fargo’s plans to maintain foreclosure processing. It did not join other major banks like Ally Financial’s GMAC and Bank of America in suspending foreclosure filings.

Teri Schrettenbrunner, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman had the following to say: “We don’t believe that there are instances in which the foreclosures would not have occurred otherwise.”

The foreclosure documents will be re-filed in a total of twenty-three states, including Iowa, where a judge must approve all foreclosures.

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf said that he was confident his company’s current practices, procedures and documentation were correct in a conference call with certain investors.

According to depositions given by two Wells Fargo employees, there are reasons to question the company’s foreclosure practices. One employee, working in Fort Mill, South Carolina gave testimony back in March that she had signed upwards of 300 to 500 foreclosures on a daily basis. Another employee stated that he had personally verified only dates on around 150 documents he signed each day. He relied on the help of co-workers in order to verify the information was accurate.

As a consequence of these depositions, the attorney generals in all fifty states have began joint investigates into Wells Fargo’s practices. Both the paperwork and the legal procedures are being evaluated to determine whether they were handled appropriately in thousands of cases. The attorneys generals are planning to meet lenders regarding the probe. Loan servicers were also contacted as well in conference call settings. Iowa’s own attorney general, Tom Miller is heading the multi-state probe.

A spokesman for Miller, Geoff Greenwood, was able to confirm certain meeting dates but was unable to comment on the identities of the banks expected to show up. He also stated that Miller’s office was currently examining Wells Fargo’s disclosure information.

Greenwood added, “We will initiate communication with Wells Fargo, just as we have with other companies that have disclosed flaws in their foreclosure process.”

The company has completed over 500,000 mortgage loan modifications (556,868 to be exact). This figure included $3.5 billion in principal forgiveness. Additionally, Wells Fargo has refinanced almost 1.9 million mortgage loans since January of 2009.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Claims Responsibility For Errors On Foreclosure Paperwork was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

All across the United States, banks at every level are facing revenue declines as the financial industry seems poised at the brink of the lowest growth rates since the Depression era. This slow growth period has likely been influenced by other factors such as Citigroup’s decision to enact new regulations that restrict capital rules, derivatives, as well as fees on accounts and credit cards.

Yet, there are other problems for the beleaguered financial institution. The latest information shows that Citigroup is still caught up in the throes of serious mortgage issues. In a recent New York Time report, the number of loan modification issued to the big bank had reached a new record low the previous month. This was part of multi-month trend. The Treasury Department noted that on 28,000 borrowers obtained permanent loan modifications in September 2010. This made it the lowest total number since the fall of 2009 when the program was first implemented. It is a clear indication that the loan modifications are not achieving the kind of results hoped for in most cases.

Far worse for Citigroup and many of its competitors in the financial sector is an announcement that the company Lender Procession Services and several of the major U.S. banks are officially under criminal investigation. In fact, a number of State and federal law enforcement agents are conducting a series of probes to discover whether members of Lender Processing, several foreclosure processing groups, and the bank administrators that hired them, were involved in criminal activities.

The details are yet to be worked out but a number of big banks are under investigation in order to ascertain more information about the nature of the crimes. Citigroup, as well as J.P. Morgan Chase, and Bank of America Corp are top-ranking clients of Lender Processing.

The criminal charges are causing uncertainty about the future of many organizations in the financial sector. That Citigroup in also in the mix does not bode well for the near-term improvement of the industry.

Citigroup’s (NYSE: C) Stocks Drop In Wake Of Projected Financial Declines was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Bank of America is not the only lender under the microscope when it comes to potential faulty foreclosures. Other big lenders including JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo are being investigated as well. Attorney Generals in all 50 states have teamed up to take a close look at how lenders have been processing foreclosures as a response to accusations that some lenders have been unfairly evicting homeowners. Accusations include not filing paperwork, getting improper signatures, falsifying documents, not following proper legal procedures and more. As a result of the accusations Bank of America along with other lenders halted their current foreclosure procedures.

Bank of America had been quick on the defense and until this week had claimed no mistakes had been made. As they began examining documents however, they had no choice but to own up to the errors, even if they were minor ones.

Bank of America is currently the number one lender in the country, holding 1 in 5 American mortgages. Other banks are watching as they proceed to examine and re-file with the courts, the cases in question. With only having looked at such a small number of the questionable cases, there is no telling what will be found in the remainder of the documents.

Bank of America is still defending their actions and saying that human errors do happen. While they are now saying that they cannot claim to be perfect, they are being assertive in saying that they did follow proper procedures and are careful to make sure that all of their customers are treated fairly.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Owns Up to Foreclosure Document Errors was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Revenue was $20.34 billion with a net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion. This amounts to $4.64 per diluted share. This compares more than favorably with the fourth quarter of 2009. The 2009 earnings were $12.21 billion, a quarterly profit of $4.31 billion and a diluted share value of $2.77.

The gross margin was 36.9 percent for 2010 compared with 41.8 percent in 2009.

Apple is truly an international company for 57% of the revenue earned in the fourth quarter was from international sales.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO reports, “We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings—both all-time records for Apple.” Our “iPhone sales of 14.1 million were up 91 percent year-over-year, handily beating the 12.1 million phones RIM sold in their most recent quarter. We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year.”

Total sales for the quarter were 3.89 million Macs (a 27% rise), 14.1 million iPhones (91% sales increase), 9.05 million iPods (11% down) and 14.91 million iPads.

Apple is the leader in the digital music field with iPods and iTunes. The influence of the new product iPad will be felt in mobile media and computing.

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO announced, “We’re thrilled with the performance and strength of our business, generating almost $5.7 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter,”

“Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $23 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $4.80.”

The Press Release of the company’s fourth quarter report is positive about the trends continuing but warns there are still uncertain variables such as competitive and economic factors that can’t be measured. They will affect future results. The company outlines a number of factors that need consideration as they prepare to market their products in the next quarter.

Apple does not accept any obligation to change any assessment of their future growth because the market cannot be assumed but it remains optimistic regarding future growth.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Continues its Market Domination was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The announcement was made at the American Wind Energy Association’s annual wind power conference held in Dallas, Texas in May 2010.

The proposed wind farm is a result of a four year campaign, undertaken by The Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, to get a wind farm established.

Ohio’s Governor, Ted Strickland, praising the announcement said, “Ohio’s greatest potential for creating wind energy is offshore in Lake Erie, and this partnership marks a significant step forward. In Ohio we have all the right assets to make offshore wind energy successful, including an innovative workforce and the manufacturing strengths that would allow us to build all the component parts for wind turbines.”

The farm will be a 20-megawatt one. GE will provide 5 wind turbines and maintenance.

The wind turbines will be 300 feet tall with three 176-foot long blades. A huge ring of magnets runs each turbine. Maintenance is reduced due to fewer moving parts.

This will also benefit Ohio’s economy if the manufacture of turbine parts is undertaken in the state.

It is planned that the wind farm will provide 1.000 megawatts of electricity within a decade.

Other lakes could also have farms if the first farm proves to be economically viable.

It is expected that there will be numerous regulatory constrictions to overcome before the offshore wind farm is established.

An example of the types of regulations that had to be taken into account, were those faced by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) in 2009, when it wanted to establish an offshore wind power project in the New York State waters of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

There were 12 separate regulations. These included strict fixed capacity charges and fixed prices for renewable energy credits. Finance had to be provided by the ARRA. Existing vessel, rail and port facilities were also to be incorporated into the plan.

The operation of both the St Lawrence Seaway and the Welland Canal were not to be affected either.

The formidable and usually necessary red tape will not stop the growth of off shore wind farms but it will slow down their development.

This wind farm project will be an indicator of good times ahead for General Electric (GE). It also has another contract for $300 million with the Saudis.

General Electric (NYSE: GE) Plans Wind Farm for Lake Erie was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Customer feedback from this selected group will be analysed before a larger rollout of cards to Citi customers occurs in 2011. Citi’s points system, which enables cardholders access to prizes or cash payout, will be maintained, but with instant access to redeeming points and cash.

Executive Vice president of Citi’s North American Credit Card Division, Terry O’Neil says, “People don’t typically think of credit cards as an innovative product, but we are excited to be the first issuer to pilot these advanced technologies and additional choice at checkout through the ‘next generation’ of credit cards.”

The new Citicard, Citi 2G Credit Card, incorporates the latest credit card technology which now gives the user a choice of 2 options at point of purchase.

These 2 options are the choice to pay from “Regular Credit” or from “Request Rewards”. The “Request Rewards” allows the customer to redeem points or cash instantly. This happens when the customer presses the “Request Rewards” button on the card.

The customer must know the level of reward points available. The card works in the same way as the old card technology. It there are not enough points available, the customer will still be charged as before.

An issue against this new technology is customers may think they are getting goods free of charge and with no waiting period. It is still the same rewards system that takes time to compile the points. They are never added to a customer’s account instantly.

The new cards are heavier than the older ones and Citibank has not specified the cost to the customer of owning one.

However, the credit card, according to phone and industry consultant Richard Crone, of Crone Consulting in San Carlos, is on the decline.

“We have reviewed more than 100 companies that are developing payment schemes that would eliminate cards altogether,” he says.

Citicorp has a belief in the success of their new card. They see their rewards program as being even more rewarding with the new Citi 2G Credit Cards. They view it as being more than a “debit or credit” card.

Citi (NYSE: C) to Launch Updated Credit Card was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Street View, Google Maps and Google Earth were developed in Australia. Lars Rasmussen, head engineer of Google Australia, denies that Street View invades anyone’s privacy. “So, these are all images that anyone could go out and take with a camera. We do take great care that if someone did feel their privacy was invaded, there is a way that they can easily tell us about it and we’ll remove it right away. But all the pictures are taken in public areas where anyone could go [and] take a picture,” he said.

He holds this view despite images showing a lot of human activity ranging from people urinating, being booked for traffic violations and possible drug deals.

Google insists that Street View only contains images that anyone could see when walking in the street mentioned. The images were captured at a specific point in time and took a few months to process before put online. This means they are not current.

Technology has been developed that blurs anything that can be classed as specifically identifiable such as faces and car registration plates. There is a process that eliminates any inappropriate content. Anyone can request images be removed.

Despite Google’s stance Street View is encountering problems in many countries. Some governments are seeing it as an invasion of their privacy. In September 2010 the Czech government refused Google permission to take any new photos. Google’s offices were raided by South Korea authorities before Street View was launched in that country. In Canada it was ruled that Google broke their privacy laws and the company was asked to delete some of the information. Google was forced to apologize to Australians whose privacy had been invaded through their method of collecting data.

Americans are also looking at whether Google is breaking US privacy law.

German citizens are protected by their government. Before allowing Street View to operate in Germany Google had to ensure that the blurred out facility was fully operational and available to all citizens. Hundreds of thousands of requests were received by Germans to have their home blocked out.

Google continues to update the service and stand by its value to business and the ordinary citizen.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Street View Controversy was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Wells Fargo is established throughout the United States as a community based financial services company. It provides a range of Financial Services from its more than 10.000 banking stores and 12 000 ATMs. The company also provides internet services and international distribution points as well.

Wells Fargo employs more than 278,000 people and claims customers in one out of three US households. Specific services provided, include mortgages, investments, insurance and commercial and consumer finance.

Wells Fargo’s aim is to satisfy the financial needs of each customer. To support this vision the Company has developed a new customer service plan. It is aware of the importance of educating customers about the role of credit in their lives and so ensuring they make wise financial decisions.

The recently launched educational video series coupled with an online quiz is aimed at providing customers the knowledge they need about their own credit situation as well as pointing out the credit services available. Wells’ Fargo employees are featured in the videos. The video information includes what lenders are looking for as well as the information about how credit works.

Jamie Moldafsky, an executive vice president in Wells Fargo’s Home Equity Group says, “Credit and how one qualifies can be a mystery to a lot of people. With today’s economic challenges, it’s more important than ever for consumers to understand credit and debt management. We have developed numerous tools for consumers to learn more about their credit, so they are better equipped.”

The videos are produced in English and Spanish.

The English Videos can be downloaded from:

Smarter Credit^TM Center (https://www.wellsfargo.com/smarter_credit/index).

Financial Education Center (https://www.wellsfargo.com/financial-education/index), and YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/wellsfargo).

The Wells Fargo Spanish videos can be downloaded from:

YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2F9C8EA9595D90FE

To complement the online education Wells Fargo employees are also moving into communities and talking to individuals and families about managing credit and personal finances.

Because it has had a conservative home lending policy Wells Fargo was not badly hurt by the mortgage policy crisis of 2008.

Wells Fargo joins Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase to control more than 30% of bank deposits due to its purchase of Wachovia Corporation from Citicorp.

Wells Fargo’s (NYSE: WFC) Plan to Educate Customers was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

According to Gavriella Schuster, general manager of Windows product management, the new software exceeded all expectations. Windows 7 made up more than 17% of the operating system worldwide market in 2010.

Windows 7 is now the operating system on more than 1.2 billion PCS throughout the world. Customer satisfaction is around 94%. It is also the chosen operating system for new PCs. 93% of new PCs have Windows 7 installed

The principal analyst of the Enderle Group, Rob Enderle said, “First realize that one of the reasons Windows 7 is so good is that Windows Vista was so bad. So it’s making up for some of the slip that Windows Vista caused. Windows 7 has largely eliminated what was a huge exposure in Microsoft’s ability to defend its own space.”

Microsoft’s internal research indicates that people are now more likely to recommend Windows 7 than a year ago. IT professionals also supported Windows 7 over XP. This trend appeared in the first five months of the software’s release.

Windows 7 is also economical. Microsoft says the annual cost to run Windows 7 will be $140 cheaper for every PC. This means a 131% first year investment saving.

Rob Enderle commented, “As the dominant vendor, Microsoft has far more to lose than to gain. Stealing market share from Apple and Linux isn’t going to get them very far. So having a strong offering holds off challengers.”

“I should point out, though, that Apple is still doing very well in the face of Windows 7 and that is ongoing, but this performance showcases the potential for what Windows 8 could do. While Windows 7 sort of made up for the shortfalls of Windows Vista, Windows 8 has the chance to move the ball, and we’ll see if it does that.”

Al Gillen, IDC analyst and program president for system software says, “For most business customers, a migration is not something that happens in a period of weeks or months,” “The average customer doing an operating-system deployment in conjunction with a new PC deployment usually takes a couple of years to get through.”

Gavriella Schuster says it will be necessary for Microsoft to persuade more businesses to upgrade to Windows 7 during the second year for both consumer and enterprise success. “It is very important,” she said. “Enterprise is over half of our Windows revenue.”

Windows Seven a Resounding Success for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Third quarter profits for Citigroup came in right around the $2.2 billion mark, which in turn sent their stock up by 7 cents per share or 4%.This is a huge turnaround from just a year ago when the company was spiraling downward. Last year third quarter Citigroup turned in a loss of 3.4 billion, sending stocks down at that time 27 cents per share.

While Citigroup’s third quarter profits do look good on paper, it is important to note that the majority of the 2.2 billion reported was from temporary funds the company had previously set aside as a means to protect Citigroup from loans gone bad. Many analysts are looking at this as a good sign however, saying that Citigroup is showing that they are confident that loan defaults will continue to decline.

Loan defaults for Citgroup have been consistently declining and third quarter statistics show continued improvement. It was the 5^th quarter in a row that the company was able to report a decrease in loan defaults, showing an astonishing 30% decrease. Other promising news for the company is that credit card defaults also seem to be declining, possibly showing that Americans are working hard to fix their personal finances. Third quarter statistics showed that credit card holders who were 90 days late dropped by 19% and during the same time period, credit cards that were 30 days late dropped by 24%

Citigroup has also been looking to foreign markets to help them recover. The company is showing a strong presence in dominating markets in Latin America and Asia. If Citigroup continues on the same path they just may become the global bank to compete with.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) Reports Promising 3rd Quarter Profits was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

This ability to stay independent from government, has improved both the Company’s reputation and its appeal to new customers.

Ford, usually in second place to General Motors, is emerging as the premier US automobile company. It has increased sales and market share particularly in the US.

Ford’s sales in February 2010 outdid the sales of GM something not seen for over a decade. The best operating profit for six years also occurred in this quarter. Its share of the US market was 16.6% in the first quarter. Market share was 2.7% in 2009.

Industry analysts tend to believe that Ford was also helped by the huge recall of Toyota vehicles.

In July 2010 Ford announced earnings of $2.6 billion earned in the second financial quarter of 2010. This being the fifth quarter in a row the Company has been profitable.

The Company expects to have favorable cash to debt ratio by the end of 2011 despite a lower profit forecast in the second half of 2010, due to seasonal factors.

This favorable position enjoyed by the Ford Motor Company stems from the decision in 2006 to borrow $23.6 billion. This enabled Ford to develop and market fuel-efficient vehicles. The range of new products included an update of the Taurus sedan which saw sales of this vehicle increase by 96%.

There was also a cash flow remaining, which enabled the Company to stay afloat when the sales dropped in late 2008.

Moving out of the luxury car market and selling the up market brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercury and its Volvo subsidiary, enabled Ford to focus on the core brands.

However Ford was not unscathed. In 2008 it posted a debt of $25.8 billion and a cash flow of $24 billion. It was prepared to borrow from the federal government if the economy worsened.

The company plans to eliminate around $10.4 billion in debt by distributing cash and stock to debt holders.

Ford hopes to remain on top by controlling its debt and using Ford Motor Credit shares to persuade bondholders and other creditors to support its restructuring initiatives.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) No Longer Second Best was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

He first came into conflict with Citicorp executives in 2002 after publicly criticizing the group about their risk management policy and aggressive accounting tactics.

Mayo says, “Many of Citi’s problems relate to risk management, and there are several red flags.”

In his recent report, “A Matter of Trust”, Mayo wrote that the way Citicorp planned to meet its financial targets “can encourage short-term excesses over long-term prudence”.

Mayo believes Citicorp is not profitable, even though its accounting shows this. Citicorp, in his opinion, needs to review its accounting practices.

Citicorp’s use of the deferred tax asset accounting issue, which enables companies with losses to use future assets to reduce tax obligations, is of particular concern to Michael Mayo.

For almost two years Mayo’s request for a meeting with Senior Citigroup officers was ignored, even though it is not unusual for Wall Street executives, to meet with stock analysts at times.

In a recent interview Mayo said, “It is aggressive accounting.” Not writing down tax assets “is a window into the risk management practices at the company. It is emblematic of a bigger issue, of being overly aggressive.”

Unlike companies, in a similar position to itself, Citicorp has not written down any of its $50 billion deferred tax assets.

Mayo also disagrees with the public announcement by Citicorp that it plans to develop assets in the future. “I think it is inappropriate to list any target based on growth of assets because it is dependent on outside economic forces, which Citi can’t control,” he said.

The response of a Citicorp spokeswoman was, “Citi is very comfortable with the recordi