Make Making Money

We see you out there — the future musicians of the world, pouring coffee, mixing drinks, designing websites for shifty moving companies, all the while dreaming of making it big: signing to a label, cutting a record, reaping the benefits that only a throng of gaping groupies can herald.

While not all of you will make the proverbial “Big Time” — we can’t all be Lady Gaga, nor should we strive to be — that doesn’t mean that you can’t reap some monetary benefits for your musical labor.

Jeff Price, founder of TuneCore, recently wrote on the company blog: “More musicians are making money off their music now at any point in history… Technology has made it possible for any artist to get distribution, to get discovered, to pursue his/her dreams with no company or person out there making the editorial decision that they are not allowed ‘in.’”

We would tend to agree (with the caveat that such openness has also led to a more crowded music scene, with more bands fighting for the public’s attention — but that’s a post for another day).

If you want to start seeing some payback for all your hard work, you don’t have to wait around for a label exec to catch your jazz flute set at the local coffee shop and catapult you to stardom. There are a ton of services out there that can help you make some cash, while also gaining exposure and experience.

class='blippr-nobr'>Mashableclass="blippr-nobr">Mashable spoke with folks from a quartet of such services in order to help you, the artist, devote more time to your lute than those lattes.

Note that none of the below are get-rich-quick schemes, so it might be wise to hang onto your day job — even if it is designing graphic tees for tiny dogs.

Go Into Show Business

Service: Jingle Punks

We know, we know, the moment a song makes it into the commercial, it’s an immediate sign that a band has “sold out.” But, c’mon, guys — do you really want your favorite drummer/banjo player/keytarist working in a taco trunk in order to survive? Yeah, thin may be in when it comes to the indie scene, but musicians need to eat, after all.

That’s why services like Jingle Punks can really be a boon to bands. Jingle Punks — which is basically the Pandoraclass="blippr-nobr">Pandora of music licensing services — focuses on providing filmmakers, TV networks, media companies and ad companies with music from up-and-coming bands. Band and Punks split the earnings 50/50.

“We work in a very smart but unsexy part of the music business,” says co-founder Jared Gutstadt. “Most artists tend to spend their time focusing on the old standards of how to ‘make it.’ They’re still thinking about record deals, pub deals, merch, touring. To really stand out and compete with this type of competition you need to be thinking about launching a music career in a much more unique way.”

Why Use This Service?

According to Gutstadt, “Music in film and television is a great way for artists to get the word out there. More importantly, you can generate money to help fund the growth of a band’s musical endeavors.”

In addition, the service makes use of the democratic nature of the web to get your music into the right hands. “In the past, the way people used to pitch music for media placements is that they would mail CDs off to as many music supes or producers they could,” Gutstadt says. “We have removed the giant pile of CDs on peoples’ desks and aggregated them into a user-friendly database organized in a dynamic way.”

What’s the ROI?

According to Gutstadt, money made runs the gamut. “It can be anywhere from $250 for a web placement all the way up to $30,000 for getting music in a commercial or motion picture,” he says. “, you make money over time through royalties paid out by BMI and ASCAP, who are able to track usage. I always tell artists its not a get-rich-quick scheme as much as it is a way to make some money over time off your hard work.”  

So Who has Succeeded?

“We work with an artist named Mike Del Rio (see above) and his music was used in a rebranding effort by the History Channel.  The channel has really embraced Mike and Jingle Punks and has a couple things in the pipeline that could do great things to really help launch Mike Del Rio’s career on a more mainstream level.  

“We also work with a really great band called I Love Monsters, and their music was placed in the season premiere of Entourage. This type of exposure can be great for an up-and-coming band.”

Collaborate

Service: Indaba Music

We’ve seen instances of bands forming partnerships through Twitter and the like, but wouldn’t it be easier for y’all to have everything in one place?

I mean, it’s enough of a hassle to get all your gear into a single taxi (can’t afford two) before a gig, why add 50 social media tools into the mix? That’s where services like Indaba Music — which is like the class='blippr-nobr'>LinkedInclass="blippr-nobr">LinkedIn of music — come in.

Indaba is a platform — boasting more than 500,000 musicians — that provides musically inclined folks with a place to build a profile, promote their tunes and collaborate with other musicians from around the world.

Why Use This Service?

According to co-founder Dan Zaccagnino, “There are many ways for musicians to make money using Indaba Music. The core of the platform is about collaboration, which can be just for fun, but can also generate income for musicians through work-for-hire sessions (where a musician is paid for his/her tracks) or collaborations where songwriters share in the ownership of the song.”

In addition, Indaba features a ton of contests that “give both amateur and professional musicians a chance to collaborate with world-famous artists and in the process win cash or possibly participate in future royalties if the winners’ material is released,” Zaccagnino says.

What’s the ROI?

“There are incredible opportunities to gain experience on Indaba because the community is full of everyone from amateurs eager to learn, to music educators, to Grammy Award winners,” Zaccagnino says.

“Members learn from one another through contacting and communicating with people online, having music peer reviewed in sessions and contests, learning from master-artists through our Artist-in-Residence programs, taking online video lessons, and much more.

“Education is a big priority for us and it’s been amazing to see that organically happen because musicians are interested in helping one another.”

So Who has Succeeded?

Zaccagnino cites the following examples:

Linkin Park + NoBrain (see above)

Indaba member NoBrain’s mix was included on Linkin Park’s album A Thousand Suns and got the opportunity to collaborate directly with Linkin Park front man, Mike Shinoda, through Indaba Music.

Rivers Cuomo Producer Sessions

Rivers Cuomo of Weezer started a few sessions on IndabaMusic.com and began working with members to produce rough demos that he had written with his wife.  Rivers used Indaba’s session platform to work collaboratively, utilizing the commenting system to engage musicians and achieve exactly what he envisioned.  The producers were also paid for their work.

David Minnick/PBS The Music Instinct

PBS ran a contest to source music for an upcoming show about music and the brain. It found the winner, David Minnick, to be so talented that it hired him to arrange music for another show.

Toshi Osawa and Pikes Peak Ringers – Yo-Yo Ma Collaboration Winners

Yo-Yo Ma was so impressed by the quality of musical collaborations that he picked two winners, an 18-piece hand bell choir from Denver and a speed-Metal guitarist from Canada. Yo-Yo invited them into the studio to record with him in a truly unique collaboration — both tracks were later released as bonus tracks to Yo-Yo Ma’s holiday album, Songs of Joy & Peace.

Partner Up

Service: YouTube’s Musicians Wanted Program

At last year’s SXSW, YouTubeclass="blippr-nobr">YouTube launched a partner program for up-and-coming musicians, and, just recently, the program went from U.S.-only to international.

If you have a YouTube channel, and you’re pumping out the music vids like an A-V nerd on a sugar high, you should apply for this program post haste. Basically, it allows you to make some extra cash by adding ads to your videos and garners you more exposure from YouTube with prime placement.

Why Use This Service?

It’s all about getting your name out there, and getting your music heard, right? So go where the people are. Every day, YouTube racks up more than 2 billion video views. That’s a lot of eyes. Still, every minute, the site sees 24 hours of video uploaded, which means your genius work could get lost in the shuffle. That’s why the partner program is a must — you get the YouTube stamp of approval, which brings more attention to your work.

What’s the ROI?

YouTube couldn’t tell us how much money you can earn from the program, but they did tell us that artists get the majority share of the revenue — not to mention access to those millions of viewers. You need to be consistent with your channel, though, and really focus on putting out lots of original content. So if you’re only down to make one vid, this might not be the option for you. In order to see ROI, you have to put in the time and effort.

So Who has Succeeded?

YouTube has helped launch the careers of score of performers — from Justin Bieber to Pomplamoose./> Kina Grannis is one such artist. “I joined YouTube three years ago when I was in a contest called Doritos Crash The Super Bowl,” Grannis told us. “I needed to get people to vote for me every day in order to get my music video played during the Super Bowl (which it did, woo!), so the hope was that by agreeing to post a new video every day, people, in exchange, would come back and vote daily. This run of putting up a video every day lasted about two months in total, and while it made me crazy and sleep deprived, it was also fun and exciting and very helpful in growing my viewers.

“Post with consistency if possible,” Grannis advises artists. “Be genuine, talk to your supporters, be grateful.”

If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them

Service: BitTorrent Featured Artist Program

OK, we know what you’re thinking — you hear the word “BitTorrent” and you’re about ready to rage, am I right? File sharing is the monster under the bed for many an artist. It connotes theft, basically. Still, the model — when used correctly — can really be a boon to lesser-known artists.

We spoke to Trent Reznor — who is well-known for having released his music via torrent sites in the past — who told us: “I felt furious when the record I’d worked on for a year, that my heart and soul’s gone into, . I’m pissed off at people that are listening to it. I’m mad that they’re snubbing me — by what? By being excited about hearing my music? And that’s wrong. I shouldn’t be mad at these people. I should be glad that people are interested.”

“Easy for you to say, Trent Reznor,” you might scoff, “You’re already famous.” Well — there’s the rub, right? You’re not famous. And you want to be. Or, at the very least, you want someone other than your roommate to come to your gig — and perhaps buy a T-shirt or two. And how do you do that? By getting the attention of the masses, of course.

Last month, BitTorrent launched a Featured Artist pilot program in an effort to give musicians more exposure. Some likened such an endeavor to getting in bed with the devil, but when you really think about it, what’s the difference between applying for the program and putting your music on class='blippr-nobr'>MySpaceclass="blippr-nobr">MySpace or SoundCloud or any other music-sharing site? Well, that would be BitTorrent’s 80 million users.

We’re not saying that file sharing is totally copacetic or anything (there are a lot of pirates in them waters), but it’s not like BitTorrent is out to ruin your career, either. “In many ways, Trent Reznor’s work inspired a lot of our work,” says CEO Eric Klinker. “We really do want to riff on a lot of what he’s done. He’s in an experimentation phase, as are we.”

Why Use This Service?

“The Featured Artists pilot program encourages musicians and filmmakers to submit creative works for the chance to be spotlighted to millions of BitTorrent users around the world,” Klinker says. “For a lot of artists it is about creating a sustainable business model that will allow them to continue their creative works. So, we are interested in working with artists to experiment with various business models that play to the strengths of the class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet while allowing them to tune into the distribution potential of BitTorrent to reach millions of consumers.”

What’s the ROI?

“In today’s digital age, the traditional model does not serve artists in the same way it used to, and instead forces them all down the same funnel where only a select few ultimately receive distribution,” Klinker says. “With BitTorrent’s Featured Artist Pilot Program, artists can tap into online communities and reach millions of people who might otherwise be inaccessible. These communities are powerful and provide intrinsic value for emerging artists trying to build a fan base. In doing so, these are fans that will invariably attend shows, purchase merchandise and become invested in future works.”/>  /> So Who has Succeeded?

Since the service just launched last month, there aren’t any featured artists yet, but the site has seen some success with the musician PAZ (see above), who has been working with BitTorrent.

“Most recently, in August 2010, BitTorrent released PAZ’s debut mix tape, Young Broke and Fameless,” Klinker says. “On the first day alone the release saw over 100,000 downloads, and as a result has increased his fan base and following.”

More Social Music Resources from Mashable:

- Top 10 Twitter Tips for Bands, By Bands/> - 5 Great Ways to Find Music That Suits Your Mood/> - 5 Free Ways to Identify that Song Stuck in Your Head/> - HOW TO: Turn Your Android Phone Into a Killer MP3 Player/> - 10 Amazing Musical Instrument iPhone Apps

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, shulz

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Dr. Rado Kotorov is chief innovation officer at Information Builders, and is responsible for emerging reporting, analytic and visualization technologies. He has developed analytic models and applications for the pharmaceutical, retail, CPG, financial and automotive industries.

You’ve likely been experiencing a deluge of online information coming at you in recent years — an overwhelming number of status updates, e-mails, tagged images and so forth. You’ve probably also seen, and potentially been alarmed by, the growing accuracy of targeted advertisements — “People You May Know,” and other “offers” online.

As the quantity of irrelevant information has exploded online, so too has the market for the delivery of targeted offers and information. Social networks, in theory and in practice, expose many people to contact and influence. Without precise models, people will continue to be bombarded with ineffective offers and other irrelevant information. Predictive analytics, a branch of data mining concerned with predicting future probabilities and trends, applies a filter to users’ online interactions with the aim of delivering more value from a sea of irrelevance.

With increased value comes the potential for social networks to make money as well. Here’s a look at some specific ways in which predictive analytics will make social networks money.

Recruiting

Many recruiting sites out there on the web, from LinkedInclass="blippr-nobr">LinkedIn to SelectMinds to Monster, promise to be able to match candidates with job requirements in unique and increasingly accurate ways. Predictive analytics is at the core of their business model, as it automates the process of making these matches.

When a recruiter posts a job description, a predictive algorithm runs through candidates and calculates compatibility. The technology is, in many cases, embedded in search applications. The most accurate and efficient of these analytics will deliver the most value and see the greatest adoption over time. Those recruiting and talent acquisition sites that allow businesses to leverage the existing social networks of their current and former employees are the best positioned to monetize their users’ employment data in new ways. Businesses can get value from these existing networks without the time and resource commitment it takes to build their own.

Sentiment Analysis

As sites like Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter and Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook gain value to the business world, many companies have cropped up to analyze and establish what the sentiment is of the collective online intelligence and also to identify individuals with influence and authority. Companies including Klout, ViralHeat and Radian6class="blippr-nobr">Radian6 all scan blogs and other social media channels with predictive models to determine if the content surrounding a brand or person is negative, positive or neutral. As this information becomes increasingly valuable to businesses of all sizes, these sentiment analysis companies are expected to grow rapidly.

Market Fluctuation

Social media channels are open to everyone. Day traders, retail investors and analysts are cruising around on Twitter and Facebook. What these types of people say and do online is not insignificant in an era when [Flash Crashes and Fat Fingers] are being closely scrutinized and regulated. New models are cropping up to predict stock fluctuations based on Twitter posts. Similar to sentiment analysis, these companies are able to look at the total number of tweets, as well as positive and negative comments to predict whether a stock price will go up or down. These types of companies will become a hot commodity as investors begin to rely on the wisdom of crowds.

Recommendation Engines

No one likes to be bombarded with irrelevant offers and content while using their favorite social network. But the more active you are online, the more effectively predictive analytics can work to deliver targeted and relevant offers.

Sometimes it feels like Facebook knows you better than you know yourself. RSVPed “Yes” to that big gala? You may see a discount offer for Saks. [Are you a woman between the ages of 18 and 34? A Facebook ad may tell you how you can lose those extra inches around your waist.] These offers are no longer random and are therefore increasingly effective. Leveraging the existing data from your previous activity to predict what will happen in the future is becoming, rightly, more prevalent and valuable to social networks that can sell this promise to businesses and intermediaries.

Location-Based Marketing

Do you walk down the same street at dinner time every day? Wish restaurants on that street would compete in real-time for your business?

As social networks add in more location-aware features like Facebook Places and whole new businesses are built on the promise of geo-location including SCVNGR and ShopKick, predictive analytics deliver insights into where groups and individuals will be and when, not to mention what their interests may be. For businesses, there is big money to be spent on location-based advertising in the coming years. As a result, social networks can run their existing location data through predictive models to provide companies with future insights into where to allocate their marketing and advertising budgets for the biggest returns.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- How Companies Can Use Sentiment Analysis to Improve Their Business/> - HOW TO: Earn Some Inexpensive Online Exposure for Your Small Business/> - HOW TO: Accept Credit Card Payments on Mobile Devices/> - 6 Tips on Starting a Digital Business from the Founder of Pandora/> - 5 Big Social Media Questions from Small Business Owners

Images courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, Nikada, AUDINDesign

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We see you out there — the future musicians of the world, pouring coffee, mixing drinks, designing websites for shifty moving companies, all the while dreaming of making it big: signing to a label, cutting a record, reaping the benefits that only a throng of gaping groupies can herald.

While not all of you will make the proverbial “Big Time” — we can’t all be Lady Gaga, nor should we strive to be — that doesn’t mean that you can’t reap some monetary benefits for your musical labor.

Jeff Price, founder of TuneCore, recently wrote on the company blog: “More musicians are making money off their music now at any point in history… Technology has made it possible for any artist to get distribution, to get discovered, to pursue his/her dreams with no company or person out there making the editorial decision that they are not allowed ‘in.’”

We would tend to agree (with the caveat that such openness has also led to a more crowded music scene, with more bands fighting for the public’s attention — but that’s a post for another day).

If you want to start seeing some payback for all your hard work, you don’t have to wait around for a label exec to catch your jazz flute set at the local coffee shop and catapult you to stardom. There are a ton of services out there that can help you make some cash, while also gaining exposure and experience.

class='blippr-nobr'>Mashableclass="blippr-nobr">Mashable spoke with folks from a quartet of such services in order to help you, the artist, devote more time to your lute than those lattes.

Note that none of the below are get-rich-quick schemes, so it might be wise to hang onto your day job — even if it is designing graphic tees for tiny dogs.

Go Into Show Business

Service: Jingle Punks

We know, we know, the moment a song makes it into the commercial, it’s an immediate sign that a band has “sold out.” But, c’mon, guys — do you really want your favorite drummer/banjo player/keytarist working in a taco trunk in order to survive? Yeah, thin may be in when it comes to the indie scene, but musicians need to eat, after all.

That’s why services like Jingle Punks can really be a boon to bands. Jingle Punks — which is basically the Pandoraclass="blippr-nobr">Pandora of music licensing services — focuses on providing filmmakers, TV networks, media companies and ad companies with music from up-and-coming bands. Band and Punks split the earnings 50/50.

“We work in a very smart but unsexy part of the music business,” says co-founder Jared Gutstadt. “Most artists tend to spend their time focusing on the old standards of how to ‘make it.’ They’re still thinking about record deals, pub deals, merch, touring. To really stand out and compete with this type of competition you need to be thinking about launching a music career in a much more unique way.”

Why Use This Service?

According to Gutstadt, “Music in film and television is a great way for artists to get the word out there. More importantly, you can generate money to help fund the growth of a band’s musical endeavors.”

In addition, the service makes use of the democratic nature of the web to get your music into the right hands. “In the past, the way people used to pitch music for media placements is that they would mail CDs off to as many music supes or producers they could,” Gutstadt says. “We have removed the giant pile of CDs on peoples’ desks and aggregated them into a user-friendly database organized in a dynamic way.”

What’s the ROI?

According to Gutstadt, money made runs the gamut. “It can be anywhere from $250 for a web placement all the way up to $30,000 for getting music in a commercial or motion picture,” he says. “, you make money over time through royalties paid out by BMI and ASCAP, who are able to track usage. I always tell artists its not a get-rich-quick scheme as much as it is a way to make some money over time off your hard work.”  

So Who has Succeeded?

“We work with an artist named Mike Del Rio (see above) and his music was used in a rebranding effort by the History Channel.  The channel has really embraced Mike and Jingle Punks and has a couple things in the pipeline that could do great things to really help launch Mike Del Rio’s career on a more mainstream level.  

“We also work with a really great band called I Love Monsters, and their music was placed in the season premiere of Entourage. This type of exposure can be great for an up-and-coming band.”

Collaborate

Service: Indaba Music

We’ve seen instances of bands forming partnerships through Twitter and the like, but wouldn’t it be easier for y’all to have everything in one place?

I mean, it’s enough of a hassle to get all your gear into a single taxi (can’t afford two) before a gig, why add 50 social media tools into the mix? That’s where services like Indaba Music — which is like the class='blippr-nobr'>LinkedInclass="blippr-nobr">LinkedIn of music — come in.

Indaba is a platform — boasting more than 500,000 musicians — that provides musically inclined folks with a place to build a profile, promote their tunes and collaborate with other musicians from around the world.

Why Use This Service?

According to co-founder Dan Zaccagnino, “There are many ways for musicians to make money using Indaba Music. The core of the platform is about collaboration, which can be just for fun, but can also generate income for musicians through work-for-hire sessions (where a musician is paid for his/her tracks) or collaborations where songwriters share in the ownership of the song.”

In addition, Indaba features a ton of contests that “give both amateur and professional musicians a chance to collaborate with world-famous artists and in the process win cash or possibly participate in future royalties if the winners’ material is released,” Zaccagnino says.

What’s the ROI?

“There are incredible opportunities to gain experience on Indaba because the community is full of everyone from amateurs eager to learn, to music educators, to Grammy Award winners,” Zaccagnino says.

“Members learn from one another through contacting and communicating with people online, having music peer reviewed in sessions and contests, learning from master-artists through our Artist-in-Residence programs, taking online video lessons, and much more.

“Education is a big priority for us and it’s been amazing to see that organically happen because musicians are interested in helping one another.”

So Who has Succeeded?

Zaccagnino cites the following examples:

Linkin Park + NoBrain (see above)

Indaba member NoBrain’s mix was included on Linkin Park’s album A Thousand Suns and got the opportunity to collaborate directly with Linkin Park front man, Mike Shinoda, through Indaba Music.

Rivers Cuomo Producer Sessions

Rivers Cuomo of Weezer started a few sessions on IndabaMusic.com and began working with members to produce rough demos that he had written with his wife.  Rivers used Indaba’s session platform to work collaboratively, utilizing the commenting system to engage musicians and achieve exactly what he envisioned.  The producers were also paid for their work.

David Minnick/PBS The Music Instinct

PBS ran a contest to source music for an upcoming show about music and the brain. It found the winner, David Minnick, to be so talented that it hired him to arrange music for another show.

Toshi Osawa and Pikes Peak Ringers – Yo-Yo Ma Collaboration Winners

Yo-Yo Ma was so impressed by the quality of musical collaborations that he picked two winners, an 18-piece hand bell choir from Denver and a speed-Metal guitarist from Canada. Yo-Yo invited them into the studio to record with him in a truly unique collaboration — both tracks were later released as bonus tracks to Yo-Yo Ma’s holiday album, Songs of Joy & Peace.

Partner Up

Service: YouTube’s Musicians Wanted Program

At last year’s SXSW, YouTubeclass="blippr-nobr">YouTube launched a partner program for up-and-coming musicians, and, just recently, the program went from U.S.-only to international.

If you have a YouTube channel, and you’re pumping out the music vids like an A-V nerd on a sugar high, you should apply for this program post haste. Basically, it allows you to make some extra cash by adding ads to your videos and garners you more exposure from YouTube with prime placement.

Why Use This Service?

It’s all about getting your name out there, and getting your music heard, right? So go where the people are. Every day, YouTube racks up more than 2 billion video views. That’s a lot of eyes. Still, every minute, the site sees 24 hours of video uploaded, which means your genius work could get lost in the shuffle. That’s why the partner program is a must — you get the YouTube stamp of approval, which brings more attention to your work.

What’s the ROI?

YouTube couldn’t tell us how much money you can earn from the program, but they did tell us that artists get the majority share of the revenue — not to mention access to those millions of viewers. You need to be consistent with your channel, though, and really focus on putting out lots of original content. So if you’re only down to make one vid, this might not be the option for you. In order to see ROI, you have to put in the time and effort.

So Who has Succeeded?

YouTube has helped launch the careers of score of performers — from Justin Bieber to Pomplamoose./> Kina Grannis is one such artist. “I joined YouTube three years ago when I was in a contest called Doritos Crash The Super Bowl,” Grannis told us. “I needed to get people to vote for me every day in order to get my music video played during the Super Bowl (which it did, woo!), so the hope was that by agreeing to post a new video every day, people, in exchange, would come back and vote daily. This run of putting up a video every day lasted about two months in total, and while it made me crazy and sleep deprived, it was also fun and exciting and very helpful in growing my viewers.

“Post with consistency if possible,” Grannis advises artists. “Be genuine, talk to your supporters, be grateful.”

If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them

Service: BitTorrent Featured Artist Program

OK, we know what you’re thinking — you hear the word “BitTorrent” and you’re about ready to rage, am I right? File sharing is the monster under the bed for many an artist. It connotes theft, basically. Still, the model — when used correctly — can really be a boon to lesser-known artists.

We spoke to Trent Reznor — who is well-known for having released his music via torrent sites in the past — who told us: “I felt furious when the record I’d worked on for a year, that my heart and soul’s gone into, . I’m pissed off at people that are listening to it. I’m mad that they’re snubbing me — by what? By being excited about hearing my music? And that’s wrong. I shouldn’t be mad at these people. I should be glad that people are interested.”

“Easy for you to say, Trent Reznor,” you might scoff, “You’re already famous.” Well — there’s the rub, right? You’re not famous. And you want to be. Or, at the very least, you want someone other than your roommate to come to your gig — and perhaps buy a T-shirt or two. And how do you do that? By getting the attention of the masses, of course.

Last month, BitTorrent launched a Featured Artist pilot program in an effort to give musicians more exposure. Some likened such an endeavor to getting in bed with the devil, but when you really think about it, what’s the difference between applying for the program and putting your music on class='blippr-nobr'>MySpaceclass="blippr-nobr">MySpace or SoundCloud or any other music-sharing site? Well, that would be BitTorrent’s 80 million users.

We’re not saying that file sharing is totally copacetic or anything (there are a lot of pirates in them waters), but it’s not like BitTorrent is out to ruin your career, either. “In many ways, Trent Reznor’s work inspired a lot of our work,” says CEO Eric Klinker. “We really do want to riff on a lot of what he’s done. He’s in an experimentation phase, as are we.”

Why Use This Service?

“The Featured Artists pilot program encourages musicians and filmmakers to submit creative works for the chance to be spotlighted to millions of BitTorrent users around the world,” Klinker says. “For a lot of artists it is about creating a sustainable business model that will allow them to continue their creative works. So, we are interested in working with artists to experiment with various business models that play to the strengths of the class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet while allowing them to tune into the distribution potential of BitTorrent to reach millions of consumers.”

What’s the ROI?

“In today’s digital age, the traditional model does not serve artists in the same way it used to, and instead forces them all down the same funnel where only a select few ultimately receive distribution,” Klinker says. “With BitTorrent’s Featured Artist Pilot Program, artists can tap into online communities and reach millions of people who might otherwise be inaccessible. These communities are powerful and provide intrinsic value for emerging artists trying to build a fan base. In doing so, these are fans that will invariably attend shows, purchase merchandise and become invested in future works.”/>  /> So Who has Succeeded?

Since the service just launched last month, there aren’t any featured artists yet, but the site has seen some success with the musician PAZ (see above), who has been working with BitTorrent.

“Most recently, in August 2010, BitTorrent released PAZ’s debut mix tape, Young Broke and Fameless,” Klinker says. “On the first day alone the release saw over 100,000 downloads, and as a result has increased his fan base and following.”

More Social Music Resources from Mashable:

- Top 10 Twitter Tips for Bands, By Bands/> - 5 Great Ways to Find Music That Suits Your Mood/> - 5 Free Ways to Identify that Song Stuck in Your Head/> - HOW TO: Turn Your Android Phone Into a Killer MP3 Player/> - 10 Amazing Musical Instrument iPhone Apps

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, shulz

For more Entertainment coverage:

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Dr. Rado Kotorov is chief innovation officer at Information Builders, and is responsible for emerging reporting, analytic and visualization technologies. He has developed analytic models and applications for the pharmaceutical, retail, CPG, financial and automotive industries.

You’ve likely been experiencing a deluge of online information coming at you in recent years — an overwhelming number of status updates, e-mails, tagged images and so forth. You’ve probably also seen, and potentially been alarmed by, the growing accuracy of targeted advertisements — “People You May Know,” and other “offers” online.

As the quantity of irrelevant information has exploded online, so too has the market for the delivery of targeted offers and information. Social networks, in theory and in practice, expose many people to contact and influence. Without precise models, people will continue to be bombarded with ineffective offers and other irrelevant information. Predictive analytics, a branch of data mining concerned with predicting future probabilities and trends, applies a filter to users’ online interactions with the aim of delivering more value from a sea of irrelevance.

With increased value comes the potential for social networks to make money as well. Here’s a look at some specific ways in which predictive analytics will make social networks money.

Recruiting

Many recruiting sites out there on the web, from LinkedInclass="blippr-nobr">LinkedIn to SelectMinds to Monster, promise to be able to match candidates with job requirements in unique and increasingly accurate ways. Predictive analytics is at the core of their business model, as it automates the process of making these matches.

When a recruiter posts a job description, a predictive algorithm runs through candidates and calculates compatibility. The technology is, in many cases, embedded in search applications. The most accurate and efficient of these analytics will deliver the most value and see the greatest adoption over time. Those recruiting and talent acquisition sites that allow businesses to leverage the existing social networks of their current and former employees are the best positioned to monetize their users’ employment data in new ways. Businesses can get value from these existing networks without the time and resource commitment it takes to build their own.

Sentiment Analysis

As sites like Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter and Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook gain value to the business world, many companies have cropped up to analyze and establish what the sentiment is of the collective online intelligence and also to identify individuals with influence and authority. Companies including Klout, ViralHeat and Radian6class="blippr-nobr">Radian6 all scan blogs and other social media channels with predictive models to determine if the content surrounding a brand or person is negative, positive or neutral. As this information becomes increasingly valuable to businesses of all sizes, these sentiment analysis companies are expected to grow rapidly.

Market Fluctuation

Social media channels are open to everyone. Day traders, retail investors and analysts are cruising around on Twitter and Facebook. What these types of people say and do online is not insignificant in an era when [Flash Crashes and Fat Fingers] are being closely scrutinized and regulated. New models are cropping up to predict stock fluctuations based on Twitter posts. Similar to sentiment analysis, these companies are able to look at the total number of tweets, as well as positive and negative comments to predict whether a stock price will go up or down. These types of companies will become a hot commodity as investors begin to rely on the wisdom of crowds.

Recommendation Engines

No one likes to be bombarded with irrelevant offers and content while using their favorite social network. But the more active you are online, the more effectively predictive analytics can work to deliver targeted and relevant offers.

Sometimes it feels like Facebook knows you better than you know yourself. RSVPed “Yes” to that big gala? You may see a discount offer for Saks. [Are you a woman between the ages of 18 and 34? A Facebook ad may tell you how you can lose those extra inches around your waist.] These offers are no longer random and are therefore increasingly effective. Leveraging the existing data from your previous activity to predict what will happen in the future is becoming, rightly, more prevalent and valuable to social networks that can sell this promise to businesses and intermediaries.

Location-Based Marketing

Do you walk down the same street at dinner time every day? Wish restaurants on that street would compete in real-time for your business?

As social networks add in more location-aware features like Facebook Places and whole new businesses are built on the promise of geo-location including SCVNGR and ShopKick, predictive analytics deliver insights into where groups and individuals will be and when, not to mention what their interests may be. For businesses, there is big money to be spent on location-based advertising in the coming years. As a result, social networks can run their existing location data through predictive models to provide companies with future insights into where to allocate their marketing and advertising budgets for the biggest returns.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- How Companies Can Use Sentiment Analysis to Improve Their Business/> - HOW TO: Earn Some Inexpensive Online Exposure for Your Small Business/> - HOW TO: Accept Credit Card Payments on Mobile Devices/> - 6 Tips on Starting a Digital Business from the Founder of Pandora/> - 5 Big Social Media Questions from Small Business Owners

Images courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, Nikada, AUDINDesign

For more Business coverage:

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personal finance blog

Dan Ariely had an interesting column in the latest issue of HBR, talking about how Chile forces its citizens to save money and annuitize their pensions:

When employees reach retirement, their savings are converted into annuities. The government auctions off the rights to annuitize retirees in groups of 250,000…

Institutionally, Chile has cracked an age-old problem with annuities. It’s risky business to predict how long people will live, so insurance companies charge a high premium to cover that risk, which makes for an inefficient market. Annuities also suffer from an adverse selection problem… By pooling the risk, the Chilean government makes annuities an attractive business with more competition and better prices. And since everyone is forced to annuitize, the adverse selection problem simply disappears.

This is rather clever, if it’s true. But a Chilean technocrat, Axel Christensen, responded on the HBR website, saying that Ariely misunderstood what he’d been told. The groups of 250,000 are allocated to fund managers, he said, not annuity providers.

At retirement, Chileans may choose between a fixed inflation-adjusted annuity offered by an insurance company or a variable annuity from by the same company that managed their retirement account. It is an individual decision, with no pooling as you stated. The insurance companies have to bid for the contributor´s savings that increases competition, but the system does has its flaws, like the adverse selection you identified.

This doesn’t clear things up a lot: it seems to me that if you have to pick an annuity, then adverse-selection problems are minimized even if there’s no pooling at all. After all, the problem with adverse selection is that people who buy annuities will live longer than people who don’t buy annuities. If everybody buys an annuity, there isn’t a problem.

And when Ariely republished the column on his blog after Christensen had made his comment, the column was unchanged. I don’t know what to make of that: maybe Ariely didn’t see the comment, or he thinks that for some reason it’s unimportant.

Ariely says that schemes like Chile’s wouldn’t go down well in the U.S., where Americans would consider it “heavy-handed and limiting”. I daresay he’s right. But it would be great if there were some way of allowing people to voluntarily commit to annuitizing their pension fund upon retirement. One of the problems with pension funds is that nobody actually needs some big multi-million-dollar nest egg at age 65. What they need, instead, is a healthy income in retirement. But converting a nest egg into an income is non-trivial. You want to maximize your income by spending principal as well as interest, but you also want to make sure you don’t run out of money if you live a long time.

Annuities solve that problem, but they do suffer from adverse selection: people who buy them live longer than people who don’t, and so insurance companies have to make allowances for that. If everybody in a big pool was committed to annuitizing, then the insurance company could ensure that people who died at a younger age would help to subsidize those who live a very long time — as should happen in any good pension system.

This, indeed, is one of the central problems with defined-contribution pensions rather than defined-benefit pensions. When we “save up for retirement”, we’re conflating two things: the savings, on the one hand, and our retirement income, on the other. If we die before we retire, then our retirement income is zero, but the savings are still there, and the only retiree they’re likely to benefit is our spouse, if we have one.

Are there any numbers on the amount of money which is paid in to Social Security against which no benefits are ever drawn? I’d include people working in the U.S. on temporary work visas, here, as well as people who die before retirement while unmarried. On top of that, of course, people who die early in retirement end up taking out of the system much less than they put in. And the benefits of that cross-subsidy accrue to the long-lived, who need money to live on in their 90s and beyond. It’s a humane and sensible system: the living need money more than the dead do.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a way of replicating anything like this on a voluntary basis. I could invest my retirement savings in a fund which automatically annuitizes with everybody else in the fund when I turn 65, for instance. But if I get cancer when I’m 64, I’ll surely move those savings into cash instead of meekly accepting a short-lived income.

So the Chilean system of mandating annuitization for certain types of retirement assets makes sense to me, if indeed there is a mandate there. Maybe people could have a choice: they can invest pre-tax dollars in retirement funds which are forced to annuitize, but if they want to retain control over whether or not they annuitize, they have to invest only post-tax dollars.

And then, of course, we’d have to look to see whether the insurance companies actually improved their annuity rates significantly in response to the new mandate. Is there any data from Chile on that? All of this government interference might make sense in theory, but the real world is nearly always much messier.

This was probably inevitable: the minute that Dodd-Frank cracked down on the fees charged by credit cards aimed at students, some other bright financial innovation would crop up. This time, a debit card aimed at students. Which carries lots of fees. Ylan Mui reports that a company called Higher One has started signing up colleges around the country, taking on the burden of providing cash to students. In return, it gets lots of fees:

Students say several of the fees associated with Higher One’s card are particularly irksome, including the $19 inactivity fee, a 50-cent charge for using a PIN to make a purchase rather than a signature, and a $2.50 fee for using other banks’ ATMs…

Higher One said that only 1 percent of customers have been charged an inactivity fee and that more than half are charged the 50-cent fee only once. All fees are listed on Higher One’s Web site, along with tips on avoiding them.

“We have a big effort with educating students on how to use the account,” Smith said. “We’re very passionate about financial literacy.”

If the fees are listed on Higher One’s website, they’re not exactly prominent. I did find this page, eventually, via this blog entry, but it just says that “when you swipe & sign, you won’t be charged the PIN-based transaction fee”. I haven’t been able to find a page showing a 50-cent transaction fee anywhere*, although I did manage to find this page, showing a $25 fee for domestic wire transfers and a $50 fee for international wire transfers. “Higher One offers less costly alternatives for transferring funds”, it says, without giving any indication what they might be; I suspect that what they’re talking about is transfers to or from people who have already registered somehow with Higher One.

It should go without saying that any firm which is “very passionate about financial literacy” would encourage, rather than penalize, simple, cheap and safe PIN-debit transactions. It would not give students a debit card and then tell them that if they want to avoid fees they should select the “credit” option rather than the “debit” option when they come to pay.

And I can’t think of any good reason to charge a $19 inactivity fee to people who haven’t used their cards in 9 months.

The fact is that students are often very naive when it comes to money, and it’s easy to gouge them once or twice before they learn that banks are not necessarily on their side. If you can get your card accepted by a majority of freshmen every year, and then come up with all manner of weird fees to hit them with, that’s a great way of making money out of ignorance.

Meanwhile, all students should have a bank account: giving them a debit card instead only serves to maximize the number of unbanked students. So while I’m sure cards like this are attractive to colleges, it would be great if either the colleges or else the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau started being a lot more critical of them. Prepaid cards only ever make sense if the alternative is being completely unbanked; that should not ever be the case for students.

*At Southern Oregon University, Higher One agreed to waive the 50-cent PIN-debit charge, but only if there was a simultaneous “swipe-and-sign” campaign. If the campaign is unsuccessful and students do the sensible thing by using PIN debit, then the university can be charged $2 per student for “PIN fee elimination”.

Update: Higher One’s Donald Smith responds:

Higher One was founded 10 years ago by three college students (undergraduates at the time) who were looking for streamlining the way financial aid refunds were distributed to students. Today we work with more than 675 campuses across the country, have a 97% client retention rating, and an A+ rating with the BBB.

The OneAccount is Higher One’s optional, no minimum balance, no monthly fee, FDIC-Insured checking account created by students for students. We do not offer a stored value card. We are very open with our fee schedule. We post it on every program website for all to access, explain each fee, discuss how to avoid each fee, and provide students with a web page that tells them how to use the account for free (which you’ve already found). Because of this, we believe that our customers pay less than half the amount in fees that the average bank checking account customer pays per year.

Two of the fees you referenced in your blog are the PIN fee and the Abandoned Account Fee. The PIN fee is easily avoided by choosing a signature based transaction at the checkout. The majority of students uses it in this manner and is in turn protected by MasterCard’s Zero Liability Policy against fraudulent charges (a safer way of purchasing than a PIN based transaction). We do not have an inactivity fee on our fee schedule – we don’t penalize students who do not use their accounts. We do have an Abandoned Account Fee of up to $19, for those who have abandoned their accounts, but this has been charged to less than 1% of all OneAccount holders in our company’s history because of our proactive outreach plan.

Higher One offers no instruments of credit. As a matter of fact, we’re generally in favor of initiatives restricting students’ access to credit cards and promoting financial literacy. This is why we offer a full range of financial literacy resources along with the services we provide.

I particularly dislike the implication, here, that PIN-based transactions are unsafe. They’re not; they’re just less lucrative, in terms of interchange fees, than signature-based transactions.

Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

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FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » Juan Williams, Fox <b>News</b> Liberal

It's not totally clear what he means by that, but Williams does a pretty good job as a Fox News Liberal-- i.e., someone willing to attack left-liberal groups and leaders while doing very little to promote an actual left-leaning ...

bench craft company complaints
bench craft company complaints

Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: James Cameron&#39;s Next Films Are &#39;Avatar 2′ &amp; &#39;3′ For <b>...</b>

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2' & '3' BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films … TV Pitch Season Coming To An End � Official: 'The Hobbit' Stays In New Zealand � Michael Jackson Song 'Thriller' In Center Of Pic ...

FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » Juan Williams, Fox <b>News</b> Liberal

It's not totally clear what he means by that, but Williams does a pretty good job as a Fox News Liberal-- i.e., someone willing to attack left-liberal groups and leaders while doing very little to promote an actual left-leaning ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Dan Ariely had an interesting column in the latest issue of HBR, talking about how Chile forces its citizens to save money and annuitize their pensions:

When employees reach retirement, their savings are converted into annuities. The government auctions off the rights to annuitize retirees in groups of 250,000…

Institutionally, Chile has cracked an age-old problem with annuities. It’s risky business to predict how long people will live, so insurance companies charge a high premium to cover that risk, which makes for an inefficient market. Annuities also suffer from an adverse selection problem… By pooling the risk, the Chilean government makes annuities an attractive business with more competition and better prices. And since everyone is forced to annuitize, the adverse selection problem simply disappears.

This is rather clever, if it’s true. But a Chilean technocrat, Axel Christensen, responded on the HBR website, saying that Ariely misunderstood what he’d been told. The groups of 250,000 are allocated to fund managers, he said, not annuity providers.

At retirement, Chileans may choose between a fixed inflation-adjusted annuity offered by an insurance company or a variable annuity from by the same company that managed their retirement account. It is an individual decision, with no pooling as you stated. The insurance companies have to bid for the contributor´s savings that increases competition, but the system does has its flaws, like the adverse selection you identified.

This doesn’t clear things up a lot: it seems to me that if you have to pick an annuity, then adverse-selection problems are minimized even if there’s no pooling at all. After all, the problem with adverse selection is that people who buy annuities will live longer than people who don’t buy annuities. If everybody buys an annuity, there isn’t a problem.

And when Ariely republished the column on his blog after Christensen had made his comment, the column was unchanged. I don’t know what to make of that: maybe Ariely didn’t see the comment, or he thinks that for some reason it’s unimportant.

Ariely says that schemes like Chile’s wouldn’t go down well in the U.S., where Americans would consider it “heavy-handed and limiting”. I daresay he’s right. But it would be great if there were some way of allowing people to voluntarily commit to annuitizing their pension fund upon retirement. One of the problems with pension funds is that nobody actually needs some big multi-million-dollar nest egg at age 65. What they need, instead, is a healthy income in retirement. But converting a nest egg into an income is non-trivial. You want to maximize your income by spending principal as well as interest, but you also want to make sure you don’t run out of money if you live a long time.

Annuities solve that problem, but they do suffer from adverse selection: people who buy them live longer than people who don’t, and so insurance companies have to make allowances for that. If everybody in a big pool was committed to annuitizing, then the insurance company could ensure that people who died at a younger age would help to subsidize those who live a very long time — as should happen in any good pension system.

This, indeed, is one of the central problems with defined-contribution pensions rather than defined-benefit pensions. When we “save up for retirement”, we’re conflating two things: the savings, on the one hand, and our retirement income, on the other. If we die before we retire, then our retirement income is zero, but the savings are still there, and the only retiree they’re likely to benefit is our spouse, if we have one.

Are there any numbers on the amount of money which is paid in to Social Security against which no benefits are ever drawn? I’d include people working in the U.S. on temporary work visas, here, as well as people who die before retirement while unmarried. On top of that, of course, people who die early in retirement end up taking out of the system much less than they put in. And the benefits of that cross-subsidy accrue to the long-lived, who need money to live on in their 90s and beyond. It’s a humane and sensible system: the living need money more than the dead do.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a way of replicating anything like this on a voluntary basis. I could invest my retirement savings in a fund which automatically annuitizes with everybody else in the fund when I turn 65, for instance. But if I get cancer when I’m 64, I’ll surely move those savings into cash instead of meekly accepting a short-lived income.

So the Chilean system of mandating annuitization for certain types of retirement assets makes sense to me, if indeed there is a mandate there. Maybe people could have a choice: they can invest pre-tax dollars in retirement funds which are forced to annuitize, but if they want to retain control over whether or not they annuitize, they have to invest only post-tax dollars.

And then, of course, we’d have to look to see whether the insurance companies actually improved their annuity rates significantly in response to the new mandate. Is there any data from Chile on that? All of this government interference might make sense in theory, but the real world is nearly always much messier.

This was probably inevitable: the minute that Dodd-Frank cracked down on the fees charged by credit cards aimed at students, some other bright financial innovation would crop up. This time, a debit card aimed at students. Which carries lots of fees. Ylan Mui reports that a company called Higher One has started signing up colleges around the country, taking on the burden of providing cash to students. In return, it gets lots of fees:

Students say several of the fees associated with Higher One’s card are particularly irksome, including the $19 inactivity fee, a 50-cent charge for using a PIN to make a purchase rather than a signature, and a $2.50 fee for using other banks’ ATMs…

Higher One said that only 1 percent of customers have been charged an inactivity fee and that more than half are charged the 50-cent fee only once. All fees are listed on Higher One’s Web site, along with tips on avoiding them.

“We have a big effort with educating students on how to use the account,” Smith said. “We’re very passionate about financial literacy.”

If the fees are listed on Higher One’s website, they’re not exactly prominent. I did find this page, eventually, via this blog entry, but it just says that “when you swipe & sign, you won’t be charged the PIN-based transaction fee”. I haven’t been able to find a page showing a 50-cent transaction fee anywhere*, although I did manage to find this page, showing a $25 fee for domestic wire transfers and a $50 fee for international wire transfers. “Higher One offers less costly alternatives for transferring funds”, it says, without giving any indication what they might be; I suspect that what they’re talking about is transfers to or from people who have already registered somehow with Higher One.

It should go without saying that any firm which is “very passionate about financial literacy” would encourage, rather than penalize, simple, cheap and safe PIN-debit transactions. It would not give students a debit card and then tell them that if they want to avoid fees they should select the “credit” option rather than the “debit” option when they come to pay.

And I can’t think of any good reason to charge a $19 inactivity fee to people who haven’t used their cards in 9 months.

The fact is that students are often very naive when it comes to money, and it’s easy to gouge them once or twice before they learn that banks are not necessarily on their side. If you can get your card accepted by a majority of freshmen every year, and then come up with all manner of weird fees to hit them with, that’s a great way of making money out of ignorance.

Meanwhile, all students should have a bank account: giving them a debit card instead only serves to maximize the number of unbanked students. So while I’m sure cards like this are attractive to colleges, it would be great if either the colleges or else the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau started being a lot more critical of them. Prepaid cards only ever make sense if the alternative is being completely unbanked; that should not ever be the case for students.

*At Southern Oregon University, Higher One agreed to waive the 50-cent PIN-debit charge, but only if there was a simultaneous “swipe-and-sign” campaign. If the campaign is unsuccessful and students do the sensible thing by using PIN debit, then the university can be charged $2 per student for “PIN fee elimination”.

Update: Higher One’s Donald Smith responds:

Higher One was founded 10 years ago by three college students (undergraduates at the time) who were looking for streamlining the way financial aid refunds were distributed to students. Today we work with more than 675 campuses across the country, have a 97% client retention rating, and an A+ rating with the BBB.

The OneAccount is Higher One’s optional, no minimum balance, no monthly fee, FDIC-Insured checking account created by students for students. We do not offer a stored value card. We are very open with our fee schedule. We post it on every program website for all to access, explain each fee, discuss how to avoid each fee, and provide students with a web page that tells them how to use the account for free (which you’ve already found). Because of this, we believe that our customers pay less than half the amount in fees that the average bank checking account customer pays per year.

Two of the fees you referenced in your blog are the PIN fee and the Abandoned Account Fee. The PIN fee is easily avoided by choosing a signature based transaction at the checkout. The majority of students uses it in this manner and is in turn protected by MasterCard’s Zero Liability Policy against fraudulent charges (a safer way of purchasing than a PIN based transaction). We do not have an inactivity fee on our fee schedule – we don’t penalize students who do not use their accounts. We do have an Abandoned Account Fee of up to $19, for those who have abandoned their accounts, but this has been charged to less than 1% of all OneAccount holders in our company’s history because of our proactive outreach plan.

Higher One offers no instruments of credit. As a matter of fact, we’re generally in favor of initiatives restricting students’ access to credit cards and promoting financial literacy. This is why we offer a full range of financial literacy resources along with the services we provide.

I particularly dislike the implication, here, that PIN-based transactions are unsafe. They’re not; they’re just less lucrative, in terms of interchange fees, than signature-based transactions.

bench craft company complaints

Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: James Cameron&#39;s Next Films Are &#39;Avatar 2′ &amp; &#39;3′ For <b>...</b>

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FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » Juan Williams, Fox <b>News</b> Liberal

It's not totally clear what he means by that, but Williams does a pretty good job as a Fox News Liberal-- i.e., someone willing to attack left-liberal groups and leaders while doing very little to promote an actual left-leaning ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: James Cameron&#39;s Next Films Are &#39;Avatar 2′ &amp; &#39;3′ For <b>...</b>

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2' & '3' BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films … TV Pitch Season Coming To An End � Official: 'The Hobbit' Stays In New Zealand � Michael Jackson Song 'Thriller' In Center Of Pic ...

FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » Juan Williams, Fox <b>News</b> Liberal

It's not totally clear what he means by that, but Williams does a pretty good job as a Fox News Liberal-- i.e., someone willing to attack left-liberal groups and leaders while doing very little to promote an actual left-leaning ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

BREAKING <b>NEWS</b>: James Cameron&#39;s Next Films Are &#39;Avatar 2′ &amp; &#39;3′ For <b>...</b>

BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films Are 'Avatar 2' & '3' BREAKING NEWS: James Cameron's Next Films … TV Pitch Season Coming To An End � Official: 'The Hobbit' Stays In New Zealand � Michael Jackson Song 'Thriller' In Center Of Pic ...

FAIR Blog » Blog Archive » Juan Williams, Fox <b>News</b> Liberal

It's not totally clear what he means by that, but Williams does a pretty good job as a Fox News Liberal-- i.e., someone willing to attack left-liberal groups and leaders while doing very little to promote an actual left-leaning ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Making Money With Options

[Editor's Note: The following article presents analysis and data excerpts from Inside Facebook Gold, our research and data membership service tracking Facebook's traffic growth and demographic landscape in global markets.]

When it comes to web payments, Facebook is unique, giving games and other apps a massive international reach of over 500 million people — and yet, only a single-digit percentage ever make any payment. While conversion rates in the low single digits are standard, and certainly still interesting at volume, dozens of startups have dedicated themselves to making the barriers to payment as low as possible and in doing so hope to get more people spending more money. Payment options now include credit cards, mobile phones, promotional offers, promissory notes and others, while Facebook is working to gain user recognition with its virtual currency, Facebook Credits.

What do users think of these many choices? We recently ran a survey as part of Inside Facebook Gold, our research and data service covering Facebook’s growing global audience, in order to better understand real users’ attitudes and behaviors toward payments. The survey included 384 Facebook users, nearly all of whom were active social game users, and was conducted throughout the month of September 2010.

Today, we’re looking at the first of the survey’s three sections, dealing with user perception of a dozen payment methods.

The first and most important element of perception is whether users recognize the brand at all. We offered a dozen choices based on payment options visible to users in the platform’s top social games. We asked survey takers to select all the services that they recognized:

It’s important to note that some of the payment methods listed above are made available to users at different stages of the payment selection process — Facebook Credits, for instance, is a virtual currency, while Visa is a payment method. A user might opt to top up on Facebook Credits to redeem in their favorite game, and then pay for the Credits with a Visa credit card.

Users are likely unaware of this distinction, however — the important question is which names they associate with making payments. Over 80 percent of respondents recognized the major credits cards, while almost 70 percent knew about PayPal. Following those two major payment methods, the recognition rates drop dramatically. It’s interesting to note that Amazon’s brand recognition is almost equal to Facebook’s — although it’s not clear whether survey respondents thought of it as a payment method, or simply recognized the name.

The most interesting data is on the smaller payment methods listed. Three — PayByCash, Ultimate Game Card and PayMo — were recognizable to over five percent of respondents. Note that PayByCash and Ultimate Game Card are in fact owned by the same company, PlaySpan, which has done a good job so far of creating an international brand.

Even Social Gold, which was used by dozens of Facebook games at its peak and is now owned by Google, was recognized by only 2.7 percent of our survey takers. This shows just how difficult building up brand recognition is for payment companies, and suggests that Google may do well to leverage its own brand recognition and rename the service or incorporate it into Google Checkout, if they continue to use it.

Our next chart helps illustrate just how important brand recognition is for payment options. Survey respondents chose which single option they would prefer to use if they planned to buy virtual currency:

User familiarity gave credit cards and Paypal a huge edge, with about 60 percent of the vote combined.

Very few users preferred a method other than these two (except for users who preferred not to pay at all, by using promotional offers). Facebook itself was a popular choice, although again, this will likely result in use of either a credit card or PayPal. PayByCash, Ultimate Game Card and Rixty all picked up small minorities — which, considering that all three are cash and gift card options, may mean that the users who picked them don’t have credit cards or a PayPal account.

Overall, the results of our survey don’t suggest that smaller options are failing — some are doing quite well — but they do have very low levels of brand recognition, especially when compared to competing options that have been on the market for decades. Over time, the success of the newer brands will depend on how far they can establish themselves as household names.

This survey was conducted as part of our Inside Facebook Gold research and data service that also provides regular data on Facebook’s growth and demographics around the world. Full survey results from all three sections of the survey are available at Inside Facebook Gold.

Submitted by Options Trading Signals

Learn How Out-of-the-Money Butterflies Create Profits Trading SPX

Over the past few weeks the broad stock market has seemingly grown
increasingly more bullish. Market pundits, traders, and even high
profile money managers are stating publicly that the easy trade over the
next few years will simply be being long high quality stocks. While
time may prove these managers wise, it is likely a bit early to be that
bullish.

As a trader, our job is to create profits consistently regardless of
price action. The best traders are masters of blocking out the noise and
emotion, and letting various forms of data guide their decision making.
At this point in time the bulls have the bears pushed against key
resistance at the SPX 1150 area. However, the bears have their eyes set
on the 1130 level and from there the key SPX 1040 support area.

If the S&P 500 breaks out over the 1150 area with strong volume
we could move higher to test recent highs; however, if the 1040 area
were to give way to the bears the bullish parade would end. At this
point in time, it is too early to tell which side is going to win this
battle. The monthly chart of SPX tells the entire story.

Until proven otherwise, my bias is to the downside. What might
surprise most readers is the reasoning behind my thinking. My
expectation of lower prices has nothing to do with macro economic
conditions, it has nothing to do with unprecedented intervention that we
have witnessed by the United States federal government, and it has
nothing to do with housing numbers. The reasoning behind potentially
lower prices is simple, defined risk. The SPX chart above and even the
daily chart listed below are both indicative that the SPX 1150 area is a
critical psychological level for market participants. We are literally
at a precipice right here, right now.

When major resistance or support is very near the current spot price
of any underlying, typically low risk/reward setups can be found. After
spinning through several ideas and option strategies, an out of the
money butterfly spread seemingly made a lot of sense. The out of the
money butterfly spread would benefit from the passage of time and would
not be as exposed to a comeuppance in volatility. This strategy could
produce a great potential return for a defined amount of risk.

After some brief analysis, the best proxy was using the Spider ETF
SPY as opposed to the SPX index. The bid/ask spreads are quite wide on
SPX at times, particularly when volatility is rising. Consequently, it
can be arduous to get decent fills from the SPX market makers in rapidly
moving market conditions which seem to be the norm recently. Besides
the normal option expiration on monthly or quarterly basis, options that
expire every week have grown in popularity recently. A primary reason
why volumes have exploded is due to the weekly expirations routine
offering of unbelievable risk/reward setups, particularly through the
utilization of Theta (time) decay trading setups.

After running through various expiration dates, it made since to
utilize the October weekly options that expire on Friday, October 8.
Since I have a bias to the downside, I used an out of the money put
butterfly. Traditional butterflies are typically written where the
current price is straddled by the wings of the butterfly spread. In an
out of the money butterfly, an option trader places the entire position
out of the money. It helps reduce the cost of the butterfly, and because
the option contracts are out of the money, they are not impacted as
harshly by rising volatility. In addition, these out of the money
butterflies usually have very attractive risk/reward characteristics.

SPY was trading around $114.13/share at the close on Thursday, so the
out of the money butterfly I constructed had the following strikes:
Long 1 OCT WKLY. SPY 108 Put / Short 2 OCT WKLY. SPY 111 Puts / Long 1
OCT WKLY. SPY 114 Put. Here is a snapshot of the SPY October weekly
option chain as of the close Thursday:

The Thursday closing option prices are as follows for the butterfly
mentioned above: SPY 108 Put = $18/contract; SPY 111 Put = $37/contract;
SPY 114 Put = $127/contract. The total cost to place the out of the
money SPY weekly put butterfly would have been $71 per side (not
including commissions). The maximum gain at expiration on this trade
would be a close at $111/share on SPY and it would produce a profit
around $225 (not including commission).

Clearly we would not expect to achieve the maximum gain, but this
trade would produce a profit if SPY closed between $108.70/share and
$113.30/share at expiration (October 8). The profitability chart is
below; keep in mind that the red line is the valuation at expiration and
the white line would be the profit based on that particular day.

Obviously market conditions throughout the trading day Friday and
next week will alter the prices and implied volatility of this trade.
This should not be viewed as a trade that should be taken, but an
example of what kind of returns are possible for option traders that
want to use out of the butterflies with a directional bias.

The most exciting thing about a trade like this is that the trader
can crisply define his/her risk. When the maximum risk is a specified
amount, managing risk becomes almost arbitrary. A trader simply
determines how much he/she is willing to risk/lose, and simply places
the trade. A mere $142 risk could produce a potential profit well over
$450! Keep in mind, that should price move within the confines of the
outer strikes (wings) of the butterfly, it might make sense to take
profits depending on the size of a trader’s position. Typically I like
to take profits once price action has produced a gain of 10-20%
depending on market conditions, time frame, and the strategy that I am
using. After taking profits, I typically utilize contingent stop orders
for the remainder of my position and manage it accordingly.

There are additional manipulations that could be made if price looked
like it were going to break below the 108 strike level that would allow
this trade to either remain essentially flat or potentially profit even
more. Additionally, a similar trade using calls could be placed using
the weekly call strikes 115/118/121 for a trader who was bullish.
Regardless of a trader’s directional bias, the beauty of options is not
only their ability to produce setups where risk is clearly defined, but
the potential to manipulate a position in real time allows for
fluctuations in price action or market conditions.

As for the direction of the market, who knows what the next six
trading sessions will bring. Sometimes not trading is the best trade,
but if you absolutely feel you must have some exposure, keep positions
small, risk exposure tight, and do not hesitate to take profits – easier
trades lie ahead.

Er, great <b>news</b>: George Lucas may be planning new “Star Wars <b>...</b>

My instinct is to shudder; most of you, I suspect, will react the same way. And let's pause here to appreciate how amazing that is. So reviled are the prequels that news of new entries in the greatest sci-fi franchise in movie history ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

RDR standalone DLC disc dated <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of RDR standalone DLC disc dated. ... Red Dead Redemption Review . Latest Videos. RDR: Undead Nightmare trailer 1 October, 2010. RDR: Legends & Killers DLC 6 August, 2010. Latest News ...

bench craft company complaints
bench craft company complaints

Er, great <b>news</b>: George Lucas may be planning new “Star Wars <b>...</b>

My instinct is to shudder; most of you, I suspect, will react the same way. And let's pause here to appreciate how amazing that is. So reviled are the prequels that news of new entries in the greatest sci-fi franchise in movie history ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

RDR standalone DLC disc dated <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of RDR standalone DLC disc dated. ... Red Dead Redemption Review . Latest Videos. RDR: Undead Nightmare trailer 1 October, 2010. RDR: Legends & Killers DLC 6 August, 2010. Latest News ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

[Editor's Note: The following article presents analysis and data excerpts from Inside Facebook Gold, our research and data membership service tracking Facebook's traffic growth and demographic landscape in global markets.]

When it comes to web payments, Facebook is unique, giving games and other apps a massive international reach of over 500 million people — and yet, only a single-digit percentage ever make any payment. While conversion rates in the low single digits are standard, and certainly still interesting at volume, dozens of startups have dedicated themselves to making the barriers to payment as low as possible and in doing so hope to get more people spending more money. Payment options now include credit cards, mobile phones, promotional offers, promissory notes and others, while Facebook is working to gain user recognition with its virtual currency, Facebook Credits.

What do users think of these many choices? We recently ran a survey as part of Inside Facebook Gold, our research and data service covering Facebook’s growing global audience, in order to better understand real users’ attitudes and behaviors toward payments. The survey included 384 Facebook users, nearly all of whom were active social game users, and was conducted throughout the month of September 2010.

Today, we’re looking at the first of the survey’s three sections, dealing with user perception of a dozen payment methods.

The first and most important element of perception is whether users recognize the brand at all. We offered a dozen choices based on payment options visible to users in the platform’s top social games. We asked survey takers to select all the services that they recognized:

It’s important to note that some of the payment methods listed above are made available to users at different stages of the payment selection process — Facebook Credits, for instance, is a virtual currency, while Visa is a payment method. A user might opt to top up on Facebook Credits to redeem in their favorite game, and then pay for the Credits with a Visa credit card.

Users are likely unaware of this distinction, however — the important question is which names they associate with making payments. Over 80 percent of respondents recognized the major credits cards, while almost 70 percent knew about PayPal. Following those two major payment methods, the recognition rates drop dramatically. It’s interesting to note that Amazon’s brand recognition is almost equal to Facebook’s — although it’s not clear whether survey respondents thought of it as a payment method, or simply recognized the name.

The most interesting data is on the smaller payment methods listed. Three — PayByCash, Ultimate Game Card and PayMo — were recognizable to over five percent of respondents. Note that PayByCash and Ultimate Game Card are in fact owned by the same company, PlaySpan, which has done a good job so far of creating an international brand.

Even Social Gold, which was used by dozens of Facebook games at its peak and is now owned by Google, was recognized by only 2.7 percent of our survey takers. This shows just how difficult building up brand recognition is for payment companies, and suggests that Google may do well to leverage its own brand recognition and rename the service or incorporate it into Google Checkout, if they continue to use it.

Our next chart helps illustrate just how important brand recognition is for payment options. Survey respondents chose which single option they would prefer to use if they planned to buy virtual currency:

User familiarity gave credit cards and Paypal a huge edge, with about 60 percent of the vote combined.

Very few users preferred a method other than these two (except for users who preferred not to pay at all, by using promotional offers). Facebook itself was a popular choice, although again, this will likely result in use of either a credit card or PayPal. PayByCash, Ultimate Game Card and Rixty all picked up small minorities — which, considering that all three are cash and gift card options, may mean that the users who picked them don’t have credit cards or a PayPal account.

Overall, the results of our survey don’t suggest that smaller options are failing — some are doing quite well — but they do have very low levels of brand recognition, especially when compared to competing options that have been on the market for decades. Over time, the success of the newer brands will depend on how far they can establish themselves as household names.

This survey was conducted as part of our Inside Facebook Gold research and data service that also provides regular data on Facebook’s growth and demographics around the world. Full survey results from all three sections of the survey are available at Inside Facebook Gold.

Submitted by Options Trading Signals

Learn How Out-of-the-Money Butterflies Create Profits Trading SPX

Over the past few weeks the broad stock market has seemingly grown
increasingly more bullish. Market pundits, traders, and even high
profile money managers are stating publicly that the easy trade over the
next few years will simply be being long high quality stocks. While
time may prove these managers wise, it is likely a bit early to be that
bullish.

As a trader, our job is to create profits consistently regardless of
price action. The best traders are masters of blocking out the noise and
emotion, and letting various forms of data guide their decision making.
At this point in time the bulls have the bears pushed against key
resistance at the SPX 1150 area. However, the bears have their eyes set
on the 1130 level and from there the key SPX 1040 support area.

If the S&P 500 breaks out over the 1150 area with strong volume
we could move higher to test recent highs; however, if the 1040 area
were to give way to the bears the bullish parade would end. At this
point in time, it is too early to tell which side is going to win this
battle. The monthly chart of SPX tells the entire story.

Until proven otherwise, my bias is to the downside. What might
surprise most readers is the reasoning behind my thinking. My
expectation of lower prices has nothing to do with macro economic
conditions, it has nothing to do with unprecedented intervention that we
have witnessed by the United States federal government, and it has
nothing to do with housing numbers. The reasoning behind potentially
lower prices is simple, defined risk. The SPX chart above and even the
daily chart listed below are both indicative that the SPX 1150 area is a
critical psychological level for market participants. We are literally
at a precipice right here, right now.

When major resistance or support is very near the current spot price
of any underlying, typically low risk/reward setups can be found. After
spinning through several ideas and option strategies, an out of the
money butterfly spread seemingly made a lot of sense. The out of the
money butterfly spread would benefit from the passage of time and would
not be as exposed to a comeuppance in volatility. This strategy could
produce a great potential return for a defined amount of risk.

After some brief analysis, the best proxy was using the Spider ETF
SPY as opposed to the SPX index. The bid/ask spreads are quite wide on
SPX at times, particularly when volatility is rising. Consequently, it
can be arduous to get decent fills from the SPX market makers in rapidly
moving market conditions which seem to be the norm recently. Besides
the normal option expiration on monthly or quarterly basis, options that
expire every week have grown in popularity recently. A primary reason
why volumes have exploded is due to the weekly expirations routine
offering of unbelievable risk/reward setups, particularly through the
utilization of Theta (time) decay trading setups.

After running through various expiration dates, it made since to
utilize the October weekly options that expire on Friday, October 8.
Since I have a bias to the downside, I used an out of the money put
butterfly. Traditional butterflies are typically written where the
current price is straddled by the wings of the butterfly spread. In an
out of the money butterfly, an option trader places the entire position
out of the money. It helps reduce the cost of the butterfly, and because
the option contracts are out of the money, they are not impacted as
harshly by rising volatility. In addition, these out of the money
butterflies usually have very attractive risk/reward characteristics.

SPY was trading around $114.13/share at the close on Thursday, so the
out of the money butterfly I constructed had the following strikes:
Long 1 OCT WKLY. SPY 108 Put / Short 2 OCT WKLY. SPY 111 Puts / Long 1
OCT WKLY. SPY 114 Put. Here is a snapshot of the SPY October weekly
option chain as of the close Thursday:

The Thursday closing option prices are as follows for the butterfly
mentioned above: SPY 108 Put = $18/contract; SPY 111 Put = $37/contract;
SPY 114 Put = $127/contract. The total cost to place the out of the
money SPY weekly put butterfly would have been $71 per side (not
including commissions). The maximum gain at expiration on this trade
would be a close at $111/share on SPY and it would produce a profit
around $225 (not including commission).

Clearly we would not expect to achieve the maximum gain, but this
trade would produce a profit if SPY closed between $108.70/share and
$113.30/share at expiration (October 8). The profitability chart is
below; keep in mind that the red line is the valuation at expiration and
the white line would be the profit based on that particular day.

Obviously market conditions throughout the trading day Friday and
next week will alter the prices and implied volatility of this trade.
This should not be viewed as a trade that should be taken, but an
example of what kind of returns are possible for option traders that
want to use out of the butterflies with a directional bias.

The most exciting thing about a trade like this is that the trader
can crisply define his/her risk. When the maximum risk is a specified
amount, managing risk becomes almost arbitrary. A trader simply
determines how much he/she is willing to risk/lose, and simply places
the trade. A mere $142 risk could produce a potential profit well over
$450! Keep in mind, that should price move within the confines of the
outer strikes (wings) of the butterfly, it might make sense to take
profits depending on the size of a trader’s position. Typically I like
to take profits once price action has produced a gain of 10-20%
depending on market conditions, time frame, and the strategy that I am
using. After taking profits, I typically utilize contingent stop orders
for the remainder of my position and manage it accordingly.

There are additional manipulations that could be made if price looked
like it were going to break below the 108 strike level that would allow
this trade to either remain essentially flat or potentially profit even
more. Additionally, a similar trade using calls could be placed using
the weekly call strikes 115/118/121 for a trader who was bullish.
Regardless of a trader’s directional bias, the beauty of options is not
only their ability to produce setups where risk is clearly defined, but
the potential to manipulate a position in real time allows for
fluctuations in price action or market conditions.

As for the direction of the market, who knows what the next six
trading sessions will bring. Sometimes not trading is the best trade,
but if you absolutely feel you must have some exposure, keep positions
small, risk exposure tight, and do not hesitate to take profits – easier
trades lie ahead.

bench craft company complaints

Er, great <b>news</b>: George Lucas may be planning new “Star Wars <b>...</b>

My instinct is to shudder; most of you, I suspect, will react the same way. And let's pause here to appreciate how amazing that is. So reviled are the prequels that news of new entries in the greatest sci-fi franchise in movie history ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

RDR standalone DLC disc dated <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of RDR standalone DLC disc dated. ... Red Dead Redemption Review . Latest Videos. RDR: Undead Nightmare trailer 1 October, 2010. RDR: Legends & Killers DLC 6 August, 2010. Latest News ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Er, great <b>news</b>: George Lucas may be planning new “Star Wars <b>...</b>

My instinct is to shudder; most of you, I suspect, will react the same way. And let's pause here to appreciate how amazing that is. So reviled are the prequels that news of new entries in the greatest sci-fi franchise in movie history ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

RDR standalone DLC disc dated <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of RDR standalone DLC disc dated. ... Red Dead Redemption Review . Latest Videos. RDR: Undead Nightmare trailer 1 October, 2010. RDR: Legends & Killers DLC 6 August, 2010. Latest News ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Er, great <b>news</b>: George Lucas may be planning new “Star Wars <b>...</b>

My instinct is to shudder; most of you, I suspect, will react the same way. And let's pause here to appreciate how amazing that is. So reviled are the prequels that news of new entries in the greatest sci-fi franchise in movie history ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

RDR standalone DLC disc dated <b>News</b> - Page 1 | Eurogamer.net

Read our news of RDR standalone DLC disc dated. ... Red Dead Redemption Review . Latest Videos. RDR: Undead Nightmare trailer 1 October, 2010. RDR: Legends & Killers DLC 6 August, 2010. Latest News ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints