GoDaddy.com, the Internet’s largest and most successful domain name registrar and hosting company, has already felt the heat from customers who have named December 29th “Leave Godaddy Day” due to the company’s support of SOPA.  The main concern goes far beyond the obvious and seemingly good effort to curtail online piracy of all kinds of media, since it allows to government to censor what Americans are able to find on the Internet.  Many believe it would open to the door to the same situation the Chinese government has imposed on its people, allowing the Attorney General to prevent access to sites for arbitrary reasons.  Businesses like ISPs, search engines, and even private company networks could be held liable for what their users do or attempt to do through those networks.  Let’s take a look at just how bad SOPA really is for businesses:

Check out the infographic below to see which college degrees are under performing, based on the requirements for earning them and job prospects.

Take a look at the infographic below and see a great comparison of the top social networks.  Hopefully, you’ll come away with a better method for narrowing down your social networking gameplan.  Click to expand:

The good news is, once you learn how to schmooze, it sticks with you.  Schmoozing is about making small talk and being personable with others.  You don’t always have to be as interested as you seem, but staying engaged (and engaging) is so much a part of what makes business relationships really work that it’s worth going the extra mile to make your conversation natural, genuine, and memorable.   Sounds easy, right?  But it’s not.  Especially not for introverts.

No matter whether you’re an introvert or extrovert, the following general guidelines for schmoozing well will help you out.  You can thank us later.

When you go to a new place full of people you haven’t met before, ask someone you do know to show you around and help you out.  First of all, it will flatter the person you already know and will give him or her an important job of being the one to make introductions.

Be ready to ask people about themselves.  Most professionals enjoy talking about their work.  Ask them how they got to be where they are, why they chose that path, and how pleased they are with their current arrangement.

Be ready to answer the same kinds of questions about yourself.  Others will be curious when you are introduced, so start before you get there by planning how you might answer any of the same questions you might ask them.

Try to be truly at ease.  If you look angry or too keyed up, it will put people off .  Smile and enjoy yourself.  Chances are that most people are going to be approachable and outgoing themselves, so it will be worth it to go out on a limb and really put yourself out there if the result is a connection you need.

What these young people may not realize is that these products often come laden with cheap fillers that can be horribly toxic when inhaled into the lungs.  There are often contaminants in the products as well, such as insect eggs and larvae, and chemicals used as solvents that are known to be carcinogenic and can sometimes cause instant cardiac events or seizures.  There is nothing very fun or entertaining about that.  Just because a product is not specifically illegal, does not mean it is in any way safe.  Think about it.

Still, many businesses at this time are capitalizing on these potentially dangerous products and enjoying huge profits at the expense of curious youngsters’ health and well being. In a recent Web search for “spice,” at least one store online has the following message posted beside images of the product packaging:

“We’re sorry, but we have decided to stop selling spice products. Because we only carry legal products, we stopped offering it to protect our customers, until further notice.”

So obviously, they realize it is unsafe for human inhalation.  It is highly unusual for a business to admit that something they are selling could be harmful, and to remove it from the market. This is a good lesson in business ethics that many businesses could learn a thing or two from.

Lion features several significant upgrades and added features that will make it more convenient for business uses.

The first one is AirDrop.  This feature scans the network for local computers and lets users share files back and forth without any need for additional network setup.  Under the protection of TLS, it is tightly integrated with other features in the OS, such as Address Book.  If you send a file to someone, you’ll see him or her in icon form next to the file transfer status indicator.  AirDrop is the perfect way to fire off files between users without the hassle of using email, uploading them to a server and downloading via FTP, or using an instant messenger client to transfer files.  It’s incredibly intuitive and easy to use.

The other big feature we want to talk about is Auto Save.  Yes, Apple has finally given us Auto Save!  Pardon our enthusiasm, but this is a feature of Lion that we’ve been waiting for since before Mac OS started being named after cats.  If a program locked up on you, any work you’d completed since your most recent save would be lost in the old days;  now, Lion brings you the feature that Mac should have had all along, and the ability to save your work automatically in case of a program malfunction.

These are only two of a pretty huge swath of improvements coming our way when the Lion roars in July, but there are plenty of other feature add ons that make upgrading to Mac OS X Lion imperative for business owners.  And, at the price of just $29.99, it’s also a bargain.

Recently, some scientists from La Trobe University reported their discovery that people who self-identified as stressed-out caffeine junkies were more likely than people who said they were neither stressed nor heavy caffeine users to believe they heard bits of Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” in what was actually pure white noise played through headphones for a duration of about three minutes. They freaked out, and alerted their residential security alarm to seek help.

The criteria for stressed-out junkie-hood was that they consumed at least five caffeinated beverages — including coffee — each day.  Now, plenty of people hear little occasional riffs from White Christmas as a matter of course;  there is nothing shameful in it.  But when do caffeine induced hallucinations start cutting into corporate earnings and costing the company valuable productivity time and money?

“Almost never,” said Sherlinda Jones, a human resources specialist.  Then, she began to laugh.  ”Actually, never.  I can say that 100%.  It has never cost anything to this company.  I don’t know of a single person who has had this happen.”

Not convinced of the certitude of this, we went further into the corporate infrastructure for some real answers.  Nurse Brenda Coggins was happy to give us the insider’s view on this matter.

“People make light of the caffeine epidemic,” Coggins said. “But the fact is, we have a widespread problem on our hands.  Of the 56 people who work here at the corporate headquarters, I would say perhaps two thirds have a problem.  And about half of those cost this company money on a daily basis.”

The money, she went on explain, was spent on unreasonable numbers of coffee filters, ground coffee, and related paraphernalia.  And medical expenses from employees reporting to emergency rooms for treatment of auditory hallucinations unknowingly brought on by the over-consumption of caffeinated beverages.

This is not to say that the person who recommended him or her to you is not to be considered at all.  After all, they are your trusted friends and you have known them forever, even if this newcomer is someone previously unknown.  What we do say is that when you regard the recommendation of someone you can count on, also go to some additional trouble to investigate the person who needs your investment dollars as well.  Do not go strictly on a personal recommendation.  This saves you from making a mistake, but it also saves your friend from suffering a blow to his or her reputation in your mind when your opinion of their recommended person falls through.  If you have done your own research and still choose to invest, and your investee lets you down, then you can blame yourself for some of it.  But the instinct to blame your friend will be there unless you do your homework, so it always pays to do that.

Another good idea is to pay careful attention to the other people anyone may associate with, to get an idea of their levels of success as peers or colleagues.  This can be a challenge and does take time, but it is an efficient way to be sure all the bases are covered.  Remember, any investment of dollars involves an investment of attention.  In fact, the interest can be a lot better down the road when you have done this. You wouldn’t order Direct TV without doing some research…so don’t invest your money without doing the same.

Never go with anything that doesn’t fit the formula or better below:

• Money you are Expected to make must be ≥ 3(cost + startup)

If you meet that formula then absolutely go for the investment. If you fall below even by a little then don’t try it. A lot of time and effort goes into an investment and therefor you can be blinded by your emotions for the business. The formula is a minimum allowed tolerance because this is not a perfect world. Therefor your real estimates may already fall short a little bit. You don’t want your projections to fall short because then your real totals might not meet the projected therefor you may not even break even. No one wants that to happen and believe it or not there aren’t many people that want you to fail so the best thing is to follow the formula.

If the formula says that it will work then you should go with it. Money making opportunities are difficult to come by these days. A profitable idea can make the difference between driving a beater car and paying rent or driving a nice car and owning a home. Buying cable tv, or choosing the often cheaper Direct TV? You have to be willing to take the necessary risks but need to know when it is time to call it quits as well.

If you don’t want to go with that then something quicker or shorter term rather is to have a corporate luncheon. Cater food for the company and join in with each floor to get to know everyone better. It is not nearly as expensive but may take a few luncheons in order to properly acclimate people to you. If you are wanting a more lasting effect simply give everyone a bonus and meet with them to discuss where the company is going. From there you can decide who is not working and who is. Your managers are your key to this strategy as they can look for dissent and you can schedule mini meetings to discuss whether you can fix the issues or if the employee is causing trouble but can be replaced with a more qualified person. Employees that have been with the company for years might be ireplacable or they may be the very reason the company is now in your hands. Never justify your actions to them. They will treat you like you are heartless. Although it is a business the people working for you haven’t gone through everything you have or may not have taken the attitude towards business you have.