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GSM cell phones run over 1 of the most reliable cellular communications protocols around. It was GSM mobile devices that 1st made available low-cost text messaging services, which is also a common feature of other cellphone communications standards in the present day. Industry experts believe that up to a whole eighty pct of the planet uses GSM for just about every day, which indicates that approximately four billion people in greater than 2 hundred countries and territories are served daily by this standard. Thanks to such widespread adoption, roaming arrangements between cellular carriers are workable for uninterrupted service in many various parts of the planet.

The serial entrepreneur is a special breed of a special breed. Take Zalman Silber, for a case in point. Already a President’s Club member at famed New York Life Insurance Company, he stumbled upon the idea of a “ride” located at the Empire State Building. After all, what do tourists pay for if not to get a bird’s-eye view of the city from there? So why not provide them the Skyride, an attraction that is as enticingly named as it is misleadingly so, a tourist trap of an attraction as any to be found in the backwoods of a small hick town, just that it’s right there in the Capital of the World! And it’s nothing more than a half-hour film, some of which is made up of helicopter flybys over city landmarks. Whoopee.

But it’s wildly successful, and from such success he has founded other successes. And that’s just what a serial entrepreneur is. But a new breed of serial entrepreneur has come on the scene. No Zalman Silber peddler of old-economy businesses, these young men and women are as much technicians as they are visionaries. That is to say, they harken back the age of a Thomas Edison, when businessmen actually built the things that formed the bases of their fortunes. And one of the most outrageously incredible startups has been one from serial techpreneur Seth Priebatsch (who founded his first company at age nine and has pocketed enough from other ventures to get this latest off and running), based on his idea of “the game layer.” This is…well, it’s hard to explain. Best get a cup of coffee started.

Like most of this generation, Priebatsch really enjoys videogames. It is almost certain he has tried his hand at building some of his own, given that he also seems to have a certain level of programming expertise. But no videogame can possibly compete with the thrill of creating a business – one that is successful. And that is what drives the serial entrepreneur. The thrill of the chase.

And here’s where it all ties in to Priebatsch’s Big Idea: the game layer. It’s a kind of platform whereby just about any task can be turned into a game – and with very tangible rewards. In programming terms, it would be a little like an API, or Application Programming Interface, a set of pre-made ready-to-serve software that makes programming that much easier. A bit like a template, if you will, though vastly more open-ended and customizable.

Well, Priebatsch’s game layer is a platform upon which a business, say the local bakery, can reward you for achieving certain goals in a game. Yeah, really! The game allows players to compete for rewards at stores, gyms, museums, and so forth.

Nice idea – except that “game” doesn’t necessarily mean “videogame.” A game could be anything. Frequent flier mileage is a kind of game, according to Priebatsch’s take on things. It’s just not particularly fun.

He aims to change all that, in the process introducing a “game layer” to the world.

A lot of people have heard of 3G cell phones, whether it be via advertisements or word of mouth, knowing that 3G is “good” with little understanding beyond that suggested fact. In fact, the 3G of 3G no contract cell phones simply means “third generation”, referring to the third “generation” or wave of technological advances that have upped the efficiency and technological capacity of cell phones and mobile devices, including CDMA and GSM standards.

Especially, 3G cell phones are those fulfilling certain specifications permitting use of wide area voice and data telecommunication, internet access, video messaging, television – as well as most of the modern applications we associate with normal smartphones. By IMT-2000 specifications, to be classified as 3G, a device must provide peak rates of data transfer at 200 kilobits a second.

Before 3G cell phones, there were needless to say cell phones of the first and second generation. A new “generation” has become widely available approximately every ten years, each offering new frequency bands, higher rates of data transfer and non backwards compatible transmission technology. The first generation, 1G, relates to the first generation of analog based mobile phones produced during the eighties. This was replaced by 2G on the GSM standard in 1991, which was the first digital standard allowing data to be digitally encrypted for the first time.

It also offered data services to mobile devices for the first time, starting up with SMS text messaging which has become progressive, but also including picture messages, email, and file transfers. Though 3G cell phones are the current standard, with 4G looming over the horizon, 2G networks are still fully functional in many parts of the world.

3G cell phones first came to fruition in 2003 when the first 3G network was introduced. By 2007, 200 million people had subscribed to any one of the 190 3G networks functioning in 40 countries. Still, only about 7% of cell phones users are subscribed to a 3G network, given that most cell phones users are in places like East Asia or the Middle East where networks are slower to roll out and technology is still a few years behind places like Europe or North America.

Poised to succeed 3G cell phones, 4G is slowly beginning to find its way to the market. The 4G standard of data transfer is 100 megabits a second for users in a state of increased mobility, such as behind the wheel or on a moving train, and 1 gigabit for pedestrian or stationary users. This update in data transfer will allow 4G to improve and continue using features established by 2 and 3G, such as video calls and broadband internet access, as well as newer technologies such as streaming HDTV. For 4G, the CDMA standard is set to be left behind, in lieu of the newer OFDMA.

To make money by blogging, you need to find explosive niches to blog, topics folks care about – a lot of people. The easiest thing to do, if all you really care about is money, is to start up an MFA site. No, this isn’t a Master of Fine Arts website, but a made-for-Adsense website. A website designed specifically for Google’s Adsense program, where you place interactive ads that pay you for each click made on them!

Every click from a unique visitor, as determined by a unique IP address, usually. That is why it’s so important to find explosive niches to blog about, because you will only be making money if enough folks click on the advertisements you put up on your site. Of course, you now come to the next problem to be solved: how to attract all those folks?

First off, know that you’ll want to appeal to tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of visitors to your website – each day. That’s right; every day, your site needs to have enough traffic for you to make money, since every click will normally only yield pennies – yes, pennies! So you need thousands of people clicking those ads to be able to make a decent amount of money each day. That’s how you blog residual cash to your business, by getting commission off of referrals!

But conversion rates, the number of folks who actually generate income for you, are generally around three percent. That means for each hundred visitors, chances are only three or four – or two or one! – will actually click on an ad, netting you less than ten cents, usually. That is why it is so important to find topics that will interest the greatest number of people! Blogging popular television shows is a great way to go in many cases.

Online residual cashflow is the name of the game when it comes to making money off websites. The term “residual income” refers to being continuously paid for work that is performed only once; for example, a single song that is played over and over again on the radio makes money each and every time it’s broadcasted.

To get residual income on the worldwide web means, for most folks, creating made-for-Adsense sites that use Google’s Adsense program to sell advertising space. If you have a popular site, you’re nearly guaranteed to make a lot of money – many, many times over!

To get residual income this way means a site that’s interesting to the greatest number of people possible. This is key, due to the fact, as in the case with so-called “old media” like newspapers and television, it’s all about the number of eyeballs you can offer an advertiser. People don’t put up signs in the middle of nowhere, after all, and neither will someone pay money to promote their business on a corner of the internet no one else visits.

That’s why eyeballs are so important. But how to get a sizable audience, then? S.E.O., or Search Engine Optimization. That’s the first step in a series. S.E.O. helps your website to be found in the first place. It is what causes your website to rank highly. Effective S.E.O. indicates increased income and is an indispensable part of business online.

Another fantastic way to make money with the web is through affiliate marketing. Like hosting a popular MFA site, affiliate marketing is commission-based, where you only make money if you make a sale. The power of the web exponentially increases the reach and scope of any effort, but it’s still a good old-fashioned numbers game, and S.E.O. can help in this area, too.

College flags rank amongst the most valuable of memorabilia, with a wide variety of designs that reflect the unique heritage of each individual institution. Officially licensed college flags and pennants guarantee authentic insignia as well as top quality construction, and they provide a source of revenue that goes back to support the school. One may purchase flags or pennants to hang by the door of one’s house or show in one’s garden as well as banners that could be streamed over an entrance or across the yard. Two-ply constructions allow designs to be viewed correctly from either side.

But most kinds of college flags are most often to be found at intercollegiate games, especially football games. They are utilized by the fans to cheer on their team, and waving them is a symbol of the school spirit. One well-known activity while waving them is to sing the school’s fight song en masse. In fact, it is hard to conceive of a college flag apart from that college’s fight song. One would seem incomplete without the other.

Thus, there are hundreds of fight songs, just as there are hundreds of flags. Sometimes both are equally old and hallowed, and sometimes each is of vastly different vintage. The oldest fight song in generally recognized to be Boston College’s “For Boston” of 1885, but it is not certain which is the oldest college flag. Indeed, it is not certain when the tradition of college flags and pennants began, although one may safely imagine that their origins roughly coincided.

Speaking of origins, numerous flags have changed over the years owing to cultural developments that made it unacceptable to feature mascots based on racial stereotypes or designs incorporating the old Confederate Battle Flag. Many alumni protest, but ultimately new generations of students with no sentimental attachment to old symbols make the revised designs their own.

Italian marble statues – the phrase conjures up any number of images, from ancient examples like Augustus Caesar to the achievements of the Renaissance. Given that these kinds of works are priceless, even with all of the money in the world they could not be bought, presuming they were offered for sale in the first place.

But replicas of such marble sculpture are available for every person to appreciate, with a degree of faithfulness that is belied by their affordability. Museum-quality replicas of such masterpieces are a excellent way to enjoy art in your own home or office.

Greek vases, Italian statues, Flemish canvases – any number of reproductions can be bought to adequately appoint any setting, lending an elegance or austerity to your interiors or exteriors.

Of course, not every person who purchases replicas is interested in such high-minded matters. In fact, one of the largest class of clients for such fare is the entertainment industry. Stage or screen, production assistants are regular shoppers of highly accurate props, although interestingly enough there exists some controversy as to how much verisimilitude is actually necessary.

Many directors insist on painstaking accuracy, not only in historical terms and not even also in technical terms but right down to every ding, scratch, or other such detail. Most take a much more practical approach with an eye on the budget, where the role of the prop determines the amount of attention paid to its details.

That said, however, it ought to be noted that museum replicas frequently don’t merit such intense scrutiny merely due to the fact that they’re often employed as a part of the background and no more than that. Accuracy is probably not too great a concern in these cases, though in the 1980s Spielberg hit “The Goonies,” Michelangelo’s David had to be anatomically correct in order for a sight gag to work!

Rhinestones are diamond simulants or imitations made of rock crystal, glass, or even acrylic. As the name suggests, a rhinestone used to be rock accumulated from along the River Rhine. Eighteenth-century Alsatian jeweler Georg Friedrich Strass was the first to coat glass with metallic powder in such a way as to simulate diamonds. We’ve come a long way since then, with some manufacturers even able to reproduce the sparkling effects of a real diamond.

Rhinestones are discovered anywhere a diamond would be, from apparel to jewellery. They’re primarily utilized by those who cannot afford genuine diamonds, but musical celebrities have elevated the status of wearing them. Personalities as varied as Liberace and Elvis Presley have worn it so much that they’re now widely associated with it, and even caricatured that way.

The diamond simulant, however, is no cheap thing, inexpensive only when compared to the real thing. The gemological characteristics desired are usually matched (though never all of them simultaneously in any one material), making the simulant a valuable object in its own right.

One of the largest producers of rhinestones in the world is the Austrian concern Swarovski, which has a tradition of manufacturing fine crystal products such as miniatures and chandeliers. From 2004 through 2009, it was a Swarovski creation that served as the star atop New York City’s famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

Preciosa is a Czech organization that’s responsible for most of the other rhinestones in the world, with a process that uses only about thirty percent lead in order to minimize refraction.

Other unique coatings and coating processes are utilized to produce crystal rhinestones that exhibit diamond-like traits such as rainbows. Like Swarovski, Preciosa virtually makes sculptures, jewelry, and the like. Indeed, the former Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Hapsburgs host most of the fine rhinestone makers in the world.

Virtual travel has basically only come of age now, in the 21st Century, thanks to the kinds of Web 2.0 applications like Google Magps’ Streetview function. Unlike something like the sort of uninspired movie one might view at a Zalman Silber Skyride or Oztrek, where the audience simply sits back and watches tape of a helicopter flyover intended to induce a you-are-there feeling, virtual travel today is really virtual, and much more interactive – which is all to say, realistic like never before.

Indeed, two friends have even embarked on that good ol’ tradition of The Great American Road Trip – only this time, thanks to the marvels of modern technology, they will do it all from the comfort of their own homes. With the help of Google Maps and its Streetview option, Peter Baldes and Marc Horowitz have been able to trek across the country without paying for gas – or speeding tickets!

Perhaps best of all, however, are all the strangers you can meet along during such a road trip – and they aren’t necessarily locals, either! Thanks to those same wonders of modern technology, it’s easy for others to check in on you, joining you for a part of the virtual trip by webcasting the trip live, just as Marc and Pete mentioned above had done. After all, what’s virtual travel without virtual companions?

Unlike the travel videos of yesteryear, virtual sightseeing this way is fully open-ended, just as if you’d won the lottery and can afford to do whatever you want, whenever you want to! No longer will you merely be following along passively; with the simple click and drag of a mouse you can instantly teleport anywhere! Started off in Rome and suddenly longing for Paris? Have most of Germany covered and now want to check out Japan? It’s easy, and fast, through virtual travel in the 21st Century!

Of course, as any Physics 101 student will tell you, you don’t get something for nothing in this universe. And with respect to sightseeing virtually, you give up a lot even as you save a lot of time and money. You won’t meet folks face-to-face, or feel the wonderful weather or sample regional specialties, culinary and otherwise. Most of all, as any globetrotter knows, much of the fun lies in the journey itself, the very getting there. All this, and much more, are lost on a virtual trip.

It is, in many ways, about what you get with a Zalman Silber spectacle, only without the professional production values – a flowing stream of images, as if instead of a juicy well-done steak on your plate you are presented with a glossy high-resolution photo of one! Virtual travel will likely never replace really being there yourself, and it still has a long way to go before it can even begin to rival the same level of fun offered by the real thing – for right now, the sizzle is the most attractive thing about it.

Virtual assistant jobs are increasingly popular with individuals who for different reasons wish to avoid standard employment. This kind of work by definition involve telecommuting, which is a really attractive feature in a culture that’s beginning to prize personal and family time more and more.

Part of a broader class of virtual work at home jobs, it most often consists of general clerical duties that might be easily fulfilled outside of an office. Some positions, nonetheless, can require advanced skills for example computer programming or internet research.

Virtual assistant jobs are growing in number as companies decide to downsize their support staff in search of increased profitability – or to just stay alive! The current company environment is such that if you’re not an executive, you are entirely expendable. Not just an “at-will” employee, but nearly unnecessary.

From the company’s point of view, they only need someone to transcribe or file or answer phones, say; for this they have had to incur expenses beyond simple wages or salary, for example health insurance, pensions, and so forth. But with somebody hired on an ad hoc temporary basis, the organization gets the job done without all the “overhead.” And thanks to the marvels of modern technology, it’s easier and more practical than ever before to work off-site, even in one’s own home.

Note that these are not old-fashioned work-at-home scams where you assemble tchotchkes or stuff envelopes with fliers but actual honest-to-goodness employment opportunities made possible by an ever more interconnected world.

Numerous entrepreneurs hire real live virtual assistants to give their fledging start-ups a respectable appearance, creating the professional impression of a full-staffed operation. If you’re a student, a homemaker, retired, or just do not wish to deal with a conventional lifestyle, you now have much more options than ever to be, in a very real sense, your very own boss!