I Art You

There are a number of online companies where you can post software projects you want coded and freelance workers from around the world will bid the price of the project down to the minimum level they will do it for. You can get software made very quickly and cheaply using these services. If you have had a project in mind for awhile now but have not had the time or money to get it done check out these sources and see how easily you can bring your project to life.

1) E-Lance

2) Rent A Coder

3) Script Lance

4) FX-Web Solution

Google has recently announced a new contest/program called 10^100 were they are looking to invest millions of dollars in ideas that have the potential to change the world..for the better. Basically if you have a great idea but no way to implement it you can enter it into the contest. People will vote on which ideas they like the best and the final winners will be determined by a panel of Google employees.
There are a number of different categories ideas can fall under.

Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.

Source

Wherever TV’s International TV Receiver allows your to access hundred of international TV stations. Why would you want to do this? Well there is the free TV, and for those of use that have learned/are learning another language it means a great way to keep your skills sharp and learn more about a culture of your choice. The Wherever receiver can be hooked up directly to your TV and does not require any PC to work.
Although many of the channels are rather uninteresting there are a lot of gems in the thousands of channels to choose from. You can easily get your news, sports, sitcoms, and music videos for your country of choice. If you have a global perspective, are studying another culture, or have a cultural heritage you want to stay in touch with Wherever TV is for you.

South Korean newspaper the Chosun Ilbo has reported that a Pyongyang business man has attempted to bring a McDonalds to the reclusive communist country. Although a McDonalds in North Korea would be a significant symbol of change McDonalds has declined the offer. McDonalds sights “the poor infrastructure and distribution network and probable lack of demand”, as their key reasons for not declining the offer.
Although I can understand McDonald’s reservations about doing business in North Korea the press coverage and publicity may be enough to outweigh the cost of opening up a small McDonalds in Korea even if only for a limited time. Perhaps a McDonalds Express in Pyongyang?

If you have ever been interested in opening a franchise look no further then the Franchise Gator website. Before I discovered franchise gator it would take be hundreds of hours to sift through different franchises I was interested in. Even if I found one I liked i would often find that all the positions in my area had been filled or were otherwise unavailable.  The Franchise Gator has thousands of franchises listed on its website and organizes the content in an easy to read way. You can save hours of time and browse thousands of franchises you have have never heard of before. If you are looking for your perfect franchise opportunity look no further then the Franchise Gator website for all your franchise information needs.

Esquire reporter Colby Buzzell has a great in depth article about China’s economic miracle city Shenzhen. Although the article is a little on the longer side it paints a nice picture of the city and the ex pats as well as the Chinese who have made it there home.

There are a lot of interesting little facts about Shenzhen that even those who have traveled there would find interesting. For example the first McDonald’s in China was built in Shenzhen. The city which is just across the boarder from Hong Kong has been the industrial heartland for China’s rapid economic growth. Anyone who has visited the city realizes there is something special about Shanzhen and Buzzell does a good job of capturing that spirit.

Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) recently released a report speculating about a price cut for the Xbox 360 followed by a PS3 price cut. I followed the stories link back to the EEDAR website and discovered what must be one of the most interesting jobs I have seen. Combing both Economics and the consumer electronics industry EEDAR advises companies in the process of designing games and analyzes their markets. Working for this company would be a gamers dream come true!

With Apple currently the darling of media outlets everywhere every patent they file, alteration to their website they make, or press conference they hold is held up to endless scrutiny. Most of the articles are highly speculative and have little to back them, but in a recent article from Fortune Magazine one small company has managed to drum up a great deal of publicity for themselves and their services by releasing a juicy piece of information regarding the rumored 3G iPhone

Import Genius tracks shipping documentation and has discovered Apple has recently received 40,000 units of something named an “electric computer”, a marking that is different from previous products. Import Genius reveals the ‘electronic computers’ where sent to the company that handles the Apple’s product distribution in the United States.

Whether or not this means the United States is on the cusp of a 3G iPhone release is up for speculation, but Import Genius has definitely demonstrated they are as smart with marketing as they are with importing intelligence.