It seems like a pretty daft question considering that billing is how we get paid but what isn’t such a daft question is deciding your business’ billing structure. There are different options out there and the one that is most widespread is ‘billing by the hour’. This method is mainly used by lawyers and other service providers who punch the clock as soon as the client enters the workspace but is it the best method? Billing by the hour has sparked major debates and there are mixed feelings about the ethics of this form of billing clients. We can take a look into some of the pros and cons so that you can decide which structure suits your needs (and your clients’) best.
Days after Twitter announced their censorship plans, Google has followed suit with its own plan of action that will only affect its Bloggerplatform.
This censorship basically means that Blogger users will be automatically redirected to a country-specific URL, so if you wish to view a Blogspot.com site and you live in Spain for example, you will be directed to Blogger.es instead.
You are probably wondering what the point of this move is. The purpose behind it is to be able to censor a blog in one country but leave it untouched in another. In this way, blog content can be censored according to the rules and regulations of individual countries whilst allowing freedom of expression in those countries that allow it. Google’s official position is as quoted here:
“Migrating to localized domains will allow us to continue promoting free expressionand responsible publishing while providing greater flexibility in complying with valid removal requests pursuant to local law. By utilizing ccTLDs, content removals can be managed on a per country basis, which will limit their impact to the smallest number of readers. Content removed due to a specific country’s law will only be removed from the relevant ccTLD. Google’s official position
Over the upcoming weeks, we’ll begin to notice that sites are being redirected and that new countries will gradually be added. Google assures however that blog writers will not notice any visible changes on their page and they are making the necessary adjustments to ensure that SEO will not be affected due to duplicate content on multiple domains.
As with most things though, there is a way around this new move. If the user enters the website they wish to view followed by “ncr”, he/ she will see the page on its original domain. For example, http://www.exampleblogname.blogspot.com/ncr will take you to the US version of the blog. NCR, stands for “No Country Redirect” and this code will work on all operating systems.
What remains to be seen is the effect these changes will have across the globe as censorship is a pretty touchy subject, one that most do not appreciate as they believe it encroaches on basic human rights for freedom of expression regardless of the subject matter.
As much as it pains me to write this story, it is still highly relevant because Standards and Poor’s rating service has downgraded Spain’s Canary Islands today from A+ to AA-, which only demonstrates Spain’s current financial struggle.
This is a massive blow to the region but the credit rater has also warned that the region could suffer further downgrades as it has been flagged with a “creditwatch negative status”. This basically warns of problematic public finances and high unemployment issues stemming from the year 2008 which has worsened over time. From data received in September of this year, unemployment stands at approximately 25% and is predicted to increase over the upcoming year.
Hello all,
Well, after being hit by hordes of spammers, I have been left with no choice but to install captcha software on my blog. I mean come on, I spend ages reading hundreds of comments to try to pick out the genuine ones and it was just getting ridiculous.
I’m glad these people have nothing better to do than cause extra work to others just so they can drive more traffic to their own websites but they won’t get my help to do it (hopefully).
So, I apologize in advance for the inconvenience but it had to be done. I hope it won’t stop GENUINE readers from commenting in future because I’m going to keep on posting 
I have now officially joined the Fight Against Spam!!!!
An important part of setting up your own business is getting your mission statement down. Some dispute the value of writing a mission statement claiming that it is a waste of time and once written, it is never referred to again so why do it?
