The IoT and the Day the Internet Died, Almost

A little over a week ago, the Internet almost died.

Starting on Thursday, October 20, much of the U.S. and parts of Western Europe experienced a massive outage. Some of the most popular and heavily used websites in the world went silent. Poor Donald Trump couldn’t tweet for a few hours.

And it was all because of cheap webcams and DVD players… perhaps even one of yours.

Making Connections

To understand how this happened, you need to understand how Internet of Things (IoT) devices work.

If you’re reading this, you have an Internet connection. To make that connection, your computer or smartphone needs to have three things:

  • A piece of hardware designed to connect to the Internet through a cable or wirelessly
  • Software to run that hardware, which contains its unique Internet “IP” address
  • A way to tell the difference between authorized and unauthorized connections

The last requirement is typically met by a username and password to connect to your Internet service provider. But it’s also possible for other devices to connect remotely to your computer across the Internet – “incoming connections.” Some of those are good (e.g., incoming Skype calls), and some are bad (hackers). Having passwords for IoT devices achieves the same thing – but only if they’re strong passwords.

The tech industry has worked hard to develop common techniques to identify and stop unwanted incoming connections to computers. Operating systems are constantly updated to deal with the latest threat. Specialized companies do nothing but watch for viruses, bots, malware and other dangers and design software to fight them. Guys like me write about how you can maintain good digital hygiene. That’s why we have far fewer virus outbreaks than we used to.

When it comes to Internet connections, IoT hardware has pretty much the same setup. But there are three big differences.

One is that the username and password setup may be hard to alter – it may even be hardwired by the manufacturer, as seems to have been the case with the devices that contributed to the recent Internet outage.

Another is that IoT devices are always on and rarely monitored. Unlike a computer, they could be infected and you’d never know.

Above all, there is no collective effort to monitor and prevent hacking of IoT devices. Nobody is sending out general security updates, like a McAfee or Norton antivirus service. They can’t, since IoT devices are all different. There’s no common language or protocol that could address threats to all IoT devices at once.

Instead, it’s up to the manufacturer of each IoT device to secure the device and to update its “firmware” when threats become known.

We tried that approach with computers… and it didn’t work.

How This Led to Last Week’s Outage

In the recent outage, IoT hardware made by a Chinese manufacturer – including those cheap bundled home-security webcams you see advertised at Home Depot – was hacked by someone using software called Mirai. It searches the Internet looking for IoT gadgets that use default passwords or simple passwords, infects them and then assembles them into a “botnet”- a collection of devices that can be made to do the hacker’s wishes.

In this case, they instructed IoT devices to send “tens of millions” of connection requests to the servers of a U.S. company that provides crucial Internet routing information. Overwhelmed, the company’s servers crashed… and with it, the Web pages of sites like Twitter, Facebook, The New York Times and others.

This was possible because the software running the Chinese IoT hardware used a single hardwired username and password for all of them – which couldn’t be changed by the user. Once the hackers got the username and password, it was easy to program them to do what they did.

Roland Dobbins, principal engineer of Internet security company Arbor Networks, blames this on the failure of manufacturers to work together to develop a common security approach to IoT. Instead, each company pursues its own designs and ignores the PC industry’s painful experience in this respect.

“I’m not concerned about the future; I’m concerned about the past,” he said recently. “If I could wave a magic wand, I would make it so there are no unsecured embedded devices out there. We still have a huge problem; we still have tens of millions of these devices out there.”

Don’t Disconnect From the IoT

Does this mean that positive predictions about the IoT are misplaced?

Not at all.

First, companies like Samsung, which plans to make all its products Internet-connected soon, now have an incentive to develop ways to fight this. Otherwise we won’t buy their products.

Second, consumers aren’t going to stand for a situation like the old Betamax versus VCR wars – competing approaches to a common need. The IoT is a platform, like the Internet itself, and everyone needs to be on the same one. Manufacturers will sit down and come up with common protocols to secure IoT devices, even if they’re kicking and screaming all the way.

Third, the same market forces that produced Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky Lab and all the other security companies in the computer space are going to produce solutions for the IoT. And there will be money to be made investing in those as well as the IoT itself.

In the meantime, here’s my advice. Get IoT devices… but only the top of the line. Avoid cheap mass-produced off-brands. Ask salespeople about security protocols and whether you can set your own username and password easily. If not, walk away. They’ll get the picture soon enough.

After all, that’s the way “market forces” are supposed to work.

Internet Marketing – From Zero to Hero

Making money online is a very attractive prospect. You determine your own work hours. You make money for yourself. Best of all, you get to do these in the comfort of your home.

However, many beginners are clueless when they first start internet marketing. As a beginner, you might ask, “How much money do I need to start my online business?” or “Can I get started if I do not have any money at all?” Rest assured that YOU CAN start your own internet business, without any startup capital at all.

Other worries you might have as a beginner might include: “How long does it take for me to start making money?” or “How much time will it take before I start making $5000 a month?” or even just “Is it possible for a new bird like me to be successful at this?” In fact, it is very easy to learn how to make money on the internet. How fast you take to achieve that $5000 monthly income will depend on 3 factors:

1) Effective System

Having an effective system is crucial to your internet marketing success. When you find yourself an effective guide or mentor, half the battle is already won. It saves you time and effort, by cutting down trial and error.

You might have to pay for a quality internet marketing system. I am a firm believer that if you pay peanuts, you only get monkeys. A quality system would cost you a bit of money. See this as a small investment, to help you start making money quickly. Beware of scams. Look for systems with proven results or money back guarantees.

As a beginner, you want a system that is easy to follow. I would recommend you start with Affiliate Marketing. It is simple and profitable.

2) Effort

As with any endeavor, your success will hinge on the effort that you put in. Obviously the more time and energy you invest into your internet marketing business, the more success you will attain.

3) Mindset

Remember, you are starting an internet marketing BUSINESS. As with all businesses, there will be ups and downs. It can make you a lot of money, but you must also be prepared for the challenges that come your way. Persevere with the system you chose, and your online business will go from zero to hero very quickly.

I was lucky to start off with a proven system. This helped reduced much of the trial and error, and helped me make $5k monthly in about 5 months. I strongly recommend that you invest in a quality step by step Internet Marketing System. Trust me, this will save you much time and grief in the long run.

Good luck! Go from ZERO TO HERO TODAY!

Earn Money Online Using The Secrets Of Other Successful Internet Business Owners

Have you seen, heard or been told about successful business owners and you want to know what secrets they know that you don’t which allows them to be successful? Then you are in luck, you are going to learn the most important secrets that they use to achieve success so you can start using these secrets also to achieve your own success with your business.

Here are the secrets that will let you start seeing your own business become successful like you need and want it to.

1. Hard work – This is not something you may want to hear, but if you want to build a business to be successful, then you have to put in hard work. There is no way around it.

Any business is going to require hard work when you are first starting. That is just a fact that you have to accept and learn to deal with or you will never succeed with your business.

2. Time and patience – Time and patience are both needed to build your business to success. Time for your marketing efforts to start working effectively, time for you to learn how to build a business and time for many other things, along with patience to get everything going is a big secret that many people have trouble with.

3. Online business education – There are many subjects that you will know absolutely nothing about. Successful business owners took the time to learn anything and everything they needed to know, no matter how much time it took, so they could achieve the success they have.

You can do the same thing if you are willing to learn and educate yourself on every subject you find that you need to know for building your business to be a success.

4. Desire to succeed no matter what – Building an online business is not going to be easy so this is imperative to anyone’s success. You need to have a strong desire to succeed so that you can overcome any problems or obstacles that stand in your way.

This will also prevent you from giving up too soon and not giving yourself or your business a chance to be successful.

5. Marketing – This is the number one secret that will help anyone build a business. You have to learn about each marketing method, one at a time. Then put each method into action, one at a time.

This will take time, hard work and patience, but it will be well worth it because without this, you will never make any money. The key thing to remember is that the more marketing you are able to do for your business, the more success you will achieve.

These are the secrets that the successful business owners have used and still use to help them get their business where they want it to be. If you just use these same secrets with your online business, you can easily achieve the same success. If you are smart enough to use them, before you are aware of it happening, you will have a business that is most definitely making you money online.

Seven Benefits of Internet Forums

Internet forums are wonderful places to be, especially as an Internet marketer. If you join forums in your niche, then be sure to benefit so much, especially when you try as much as you can to be active in the forums. Just take a look at the following benefits:

– Free Knowledge: In forums you have access to knowledge worth some real money for free. Forum members are ever willing to share their knowledge and experience with others, and you can, especially as a newbie, benefit from these free knowledge.

– Cost Saving: You are saved cost by having some things that you would ordinarily spend money to achieve given you for free by your forum members. When I was to publish my first site, I had some difficulties. Yet I had it published by a member of one of the forums I belong. I would have spent so much money to have someone else do it for me.

– Mentorship: Forum members provide a form of mentorship to newbies. There are those in every forum who are ever willing and ready to offer you help in every topic. And from there you can even develop a lasting business relationship with some of the gurus in the industry.

– Opportunity to build credibility: Forums offer you the opportunity to build credibility and establish yourself as a guru in the Industry where you operate. If you are the open-minded type that will always offer help to people, especially the newbies, you will soon be seen as a guru and an established expert in the Industry. The idea here is for you to always be willing and ready to offer useful help to people.

– Opportunity to advertise your products: The forums have sections where you can advertise your products for free. This is also another way of saving you cost. You also have the opportunity of advertising yourself.

– Early Guidance: I was in warrior forum and saw forum members discussing a particular product that was bought by some of them and found out that the product was just nonsense, and worse still, when they asked for refund as promised by the product owner, he said their guarantee was just for thirty days and that the time to ask for refund was over. This issue actually came up because somebody in the forum wanted to buy this product and wanted to inquire from the forum members whether to go ahead with the purchase or not. After all he heard about the product, I’m sure no charm in this world would make him want to buy any product from this owner.

– Source of Motivation: You can easily see people who will give you the motivation and encouragement you need to keep on in your business and eventually succeed. It is great to have people of like minds and in the same business line who are willing to co-operate with you and help in building you up. Remember that iron sharpeneth iron.

These are some of the benefits of joining Internet forums. And if you are yet to join one, I wonder what it is you are still waiting for.

How to Make Money Online For Free with This No Cost Internet Business Model

Yes that is right you can have a viable, profitable and legitimate online business set up and running for nothing – all you will need however is a computer and internet connection – so make sure that your online business income generating capability is ready for the next dotcom wave.

Whilst there are many tempting online money making programs on the internet they often don’t live up to their expectations and promises.

This could be because the quality of the particular program is not up to scratch or simply that the user has not applied all the techniques through lack of motivation or competence.

It is often a case of the user expecting the package (whilst lying on the computer’s hard drive) to miraculously generate income on auto pilot while he sleeps. Despite the fact that this is precisely what a lot of these programs offer, sadly you do actually have to do something to give the ‘secret techniques’ a remote chance of really working in the way they were intended to.

So if you are one of the many disappointed recipients of one of the ‘instant wealth’ packages do not get too despondent as you can still make a decent income online – in fact you can make anywhere between $0 and $1,000,000 online every month.

Furthermore and according to Forrester Research, online sales reached a staggering $172 billion in 2005 and they predict this will rise to $329 billion by 2010 – so make sure you are set up to get a share of this enormous online wealth.

So bearing in mind what has been said above, you should by now be convinced that starting your own legitimate online business deserves more scrutiny.

The following are the benefits that you will derive from embarking on this free online business model;

  • Online Earning Potential

    There is no limit to the amount of money you can make online – it really only depends on how much drive you have and the amount of effort you are willing to put into it.

    Just remember that, contrary to the auto pilot riches programs, this is not an instant wealth strategy but will reward those with a medium to long term vision

  • Financial Risk

    The risk is almost zero as this type of internet business can be started from home as a full time or part time venture.

    You can therefore test the waters before giving up your job or doing anything drastic.

    Startup capital will be almost nothing.

  • Overheads

    This business can be run from home on your own so there will be no rent or salaries to pay or other fixed overhead.

  • Monthly Expenses

    Web Hosting = $0

    Domain Name = $0

    Data Transfer = $0

    Stock = You should not need stock to sell

    The only real cost will be for your internet connection and your computer.

  • Hours of Work

    As an internet business is always online you can choose your own hours – you can work part time (after work) or treat it as a full time job.

    Obviously the more effective and efficient your working input is, the more successful your business will be.

Often when things sound too good to be true they generally are, but in this case this internet business model, whilst not an instant wealth creator, is a viable and legitimate online business opportunity that can be setup and run for next to nothing.

So get prepared for the next dotcom wave and ensure that you have the tools to start your own profitable & legitimate online business for free.

Home Based Money-Making Opportunities in Review – My Internet Business

Today as you search the term “online business,” you are flooded with a myriad of business opportunities that all claim to make you earn thousands of dollars in no time. Some of these opportunities will make you do some work, while most of them will make you write, invest some money, and most of all, sell.

But how effective is selling products via an online networking company? Let’s see what one company has to offer.

Let’s review My Internet Business (MIB).

MIB is a relatively new business that was established back in December 2007 by Darren Gaudry. This online networking company aims to produce more wealth by teaching and motivating people to unleash their entrepreneurial skills and become more business-minded, because we all know that nobody can get rich when he or she remains to rely on being an employee.

MIB’s main goal is to create more businessmen in the different parts of the world by means of teaching them some trade secrets practiced by successful businessmen. If you are to join the network, you will be given lessons in marketing and promotion, advertising, labeling, as well as different online marketing techniques and building self confidence for business purposes. Definitely you will learn a lot, and it is expected that you will be able to use the lessons you learned after you finish reading, listening and absorbing what were in the package materials.

How do you earn from MIB? Simple-just tag your friends to sign up and become members of the network.

Like other companies in the same field, MIB wants to expand its network base, thus it needs more and more members. Every recruit you convince to join the group and purchase a package would earn you $37, and this can actually lead you to riches if you are just diligent. There are no pass-up sales or tests if you can be a vital part of the company. You just have to be you. According to their goals, you can reach up to $10000 even while just at home.

But is MIB a reliable source of income? Since it is still young in the biz, the company is still unheard in the virtual world, unless you give the business the utmost marketing plans it deserves. Well, based on reviews and other reports, it will take time before one becomes a member of the program, as the internet is full of fake people who are capable of robbing you of your identity. MIB apparently reviews their members’ profile thoroughly it will be sometime before they tell you whether you are a member of not.

Their products are not really defined right away, which makes it a bit confusing because you wouldn’t know exactly what to sell until you join the group. So, if you want a more definite product to sell when it to smarter buyers, then you should check out other network businesses to see if they have more reasonable products and techniques needed in your sport.

10 Most Common Uses of the Internet

Since the internet has become popular, its being used for many purposes. Through the help of the World Wide Web and websites, the internet has become very useful in many ways for the common man. Today internet has brought a globe in a single room. Right from news across the corner of the world, wealth of knowledge to shopping, purchasing the tickets of your favorite movie-everything is at your finger tips.

Here is the list of some common uses of internet

1) Email: By using internet now we can communicate in a fraction of seconds with a person who is sitting in the other part of the world. Today for better communication, we can avail the facilities of Email. We can chat for hours with our loved ones. There are plenty messenger services and email services offering this service for free. With help of such services, it has become very easy to establish a kind of global friendship where you can share your thoughts, can explore other cultures of different ethnicity.

2) Information: The biggest advantage that internet offering is information. The internet and the World Wide Web has made it easy for anyone to access information and it can be of any type, as the internet is flooded with information. The internet and the World Wide Web has made it easy for anyone to access information and it can be of any type. Any kind of information on any topic is available on the Internet.

3) Business: World trade has seen a big boom with the help of the internet, as it has become easier for buyers and sellers to communicate and also to advertise their sites. Now a days most of the people are using online classified sites to buy or sell or advertising their products or services. Classified sites saves you lot of money and time so this is chosen as medium by most of people to advertise their products. We have many classified sites on the web like craigslist, Adsglobe.com, Kijiji etc.

4) Social Networking: Today social networking sites have become an important part of the online community. Almost all users are members use it for personal and business purposes. Its an awesome place to network with many entrepreneurs who come here to begin building their own personal and business brand.

5) Shopping: In today’s busy life most of us are interested to shop online. Now a days almost anything can be bought with the use of the internet. In countries like USA most of consumers prefer to shop from home. We have many shopping sites on internet like amazon.com, Dealsglobe.com etc. People also use the internet to auction goods. There are many auction sites online, where anything can be sold.

6) Entertainment: On internet we can find all forms of entertainment from watching films to playing games online. Almost anyone from any age group can find the right kind of entertainment for themselves. When people surf the Web, there are numerous things that can be found. Music, hobbies, news and more can be found and shared on the Internet. There are numerous games that may be downloaded from the Internet for free.

7) E-Commerce: E-commerce is the concept used for any type of commercial maneuvering, or business deals that involves the transfer of information across the globe via internet. It has become a phenomenon associated with any kind of shopping, almost anything. It has got a real amazing and range of products from household needs, technology to entertainment.

8) Services: Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking, purchasing tickets for your favorite movies, and guidance services on array of topics in the every aspect of life, and hotel reservations and bills paying. Often these services are not available off-line and can cost you more.

9) Job Search: Internet makes life easy for both employers and job seekers as there are plenty of job sites which connects employers and job seekers.

10) Dating/Personals: People are connecting with others though internet and finding their life partners. Internet not only helps to find the right person but also to continue the relationship.

Most Oil Sellers and Brokers Fail – Crude Oil Selling Procedures That Sell in Today’s Internet Era

Most Crude Oil And Petroleum Product Sellers, Brokers and Agents, in the International “Secondary” Oil Market, Do Not Make Any Sales Or Income. Do You Ever Wonder Why?

A MAJOR “HIDDEN SECRET” OF OIL SELLERS & BROKERS: MOST DO NOT MAKE ANY SALES or INCOME

Crude oil and petroleum products sellers, and their brokers and agents, who operate in the so-called “secondary market” of the international oil market today, do not usually speak about this, or like to do so. Or like the fact about this to be known. In deed, many of them would rather that it be kept obscured, or simply misrepresented. But, the fact is that one distinctive part of their business “reality” is this: as a group, they frequently close no deals nor make any sales for the oil product they purport to have available to sell, and, in fact, the vast majority of them often go for months, even years, or perhaps for ever, without ever landing even a single sales contract or deal. It is probably what might simply be called “the open secret” of the oil selling industry!

C. Keila Nakasaka, a California attorney and real estate investor and entrepreneur, who conducted extensive market research and investigations into the D2 diesel oil trade to see if he could prudently recommend taking up the commission broker’s job to his clients, says he came away from his research greatly disillusioned and disappointed. According to him, the “stories that these brokers concoct are that the seller has some direct connection with a refinery. Some even claim that the seller is, in fact, one of the leading energy companies in Russia… [but] what bothered me [the most] is that almost every one of these brokers failed to be forthcoming. They often misrepresented themselves as mandates, direct representatives, and even buyer and sellers.”

Probably the principal and most sensitive thing about which most such sellers and intermediaries (the agents, facilitators, mandates, brokers, etc.) are least “forthcoming” and “misrepresenting” about, is concerning the number and volume of sales deals they have ever closed, if any, or the income they have earned in the trade, if any. Simply put, almost all of these operatives generally close no deals, and earn almost nothing. Most of them go for months, even years – or forever – without successfully closing any sales deals, not to speak of earning even a dime in commission income!

As Nakasaka put it, describing his findings: “Another factor which I thought was odd was that most of the brokers I spoke with never closed a D2 deal despite their months and sometimes years in this business. There was one broker who claimed that he had pending deals, and two who stated that they did in fact close these deals. However, I did not find them credible.”

MAJOR REASONS FOR THIS, WHICH ACCOUNT FOR WHY MOST “SECONDARY MARKET” SELLERS & THEIR INTERMEDIARIES NEVER CLOSE ANY DEALS

Why is this so – that they make no sales or income? Many factors account for it. They could roughly be summed up as follows:

1. MOST SELLERS (and their intermediaries) ARE FAKE, ANY WAY, WITH NO CRUDE OR OIL PRODUCT TO SELL

A fact that is by now well-established and not subject to any disputation whatsoever among credible experts in the industry, is that the overwhelming majority of selling offers peddled by crude oil and petroleum product “sellers” in the so-called “secondary” oil markets, and their brokers, agents, and other intermediaries, are fake and bogus. In deed, some objective studies and research have put its extent at a whopping level of some 99.999999 percent of all offers presented for sale. Probably the only thing of much redeeming value that could be stated about this, is that with particular respect to those who act as foreign brokers and intermediaries in the business, some of them may often be engaged fraudulently in the business but innocently and unwittingly, mistakenly believing that the deal or selling operation is authentic and legitimate, when it actually is not.

2.LACK OF PROPER TRAINING, SKILLS OR KNOWLEDGE IN THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE BUSINESS

Put very simply, perhaps nowhere is the saying that “we live in a wide interconnected world” more applicable today than in the world of the international buying and selling of crude oil and petroleum products. For the most part, virtually all that one needs in order to become a “seller” of crude oil or petroleum product, or his agent, legitimate or not, who are operating out of any part of the world, is simply to have an access to a computer and an Internet connection. That’s just about all! Unfortunately, however, one dire negative effect of this so-called “revolution of the Internet” (among many others), has been that many who now claim to be, or operate as, “sellers” or the sellers’ “brokers” or “agents,” are largely uneducated or semi-illiterate, untrained and unskilled, and are lacking in any knowledge of the proper fundamentals of international oil trading.

Kamal J. Southall, one of the foremost experts on the subject, whose book, “Trade Fraud, Financial Fraud, and the Joker Broker,” is one of the most authoritative texts on the phenomenon, puts it this way:

“Have you noticed that as you’ve searched Google and libraries, and looked high and low, finding bits of information here and there, you encounter interesting phenomena: very little practical information on the art and science of dealing in International trade as an independent trader exists in any comprehensive way. Certain practices, documents, and procedures; mysterious acronyms such as “NCND” or “MPA,” are thrown back and forth, badly corrupted model documents and forms may filter your way, but the reality is that most attempted home based traders, brokers – or, more properly, intermediaries – learn through highly expensive ‘trial and error,’… often re-inventing the wheel each time, in that ever-elusive search for a deal and knowledge on how to close that deal.”

Southall estimates, citing another expert’s calculation, that out of some one million individuals currently trying to make it as brokers or trade intermediaries in the world, “perhaps no more than 1% has the training and skill needed to ever close a deal… [meaning that] the overwhelming majority, are trading blindly, [hence] deals are collapsing… and more to the point, [oil dealers are] being defrauded – sometimes massive..”

Mr. R. Ambardar, a broker of over 10 years of wide experience in international market development and advisory services, calls “lack of experience and knowledge” one of the principal reasons why many brokers and facilitators fail in crude oil endeavors. “Many people are attracted into this business because of [the tales they hear about the] kind of money one can earn on account of successful deals. Many agents fail, [however], to understand that requirements to succeed in this business are very demanding, [and that] Only those who have years of hands-on experience and thorough knowledge of the industry can strive to do well as middle-men.”

A great many number of brokers, Ambardar adds, forget that “To become a ‘Facilitator’ in oil business,… what you actually need is right knowledge and expertise [since this is what will help] you hook up genuine buyers and sellers. One should be in the industry for long to have acquired knowledge related to the dynamics of this business.”

Consequently, one fundamental way in which this general lack of competence or knowledge about the basics of the oil trade manifests itself, is in the inability of the average person among the string of brokers and agents and intermediaries that operate in the trade, to craft good deals and successfully close sales deals even after several months or years in the business.

3. BYE AND LARGE, MOST BROKERS AND AGENTS LEARN THEIR CRAFT FROM THE INTERNET, AND THIS HAS SOME SERIOUS DRAWBACKS

There is, for the average contemporary seller’s agent or broker, one other serious shortcoming and negative consequence that emanates directly out of the fact that the primary source of their education and training by which they learn the workings of the oil trading business, is essentially the Internet. Again, Kamal J. Southall sums up these negative consequences this way:

“The expertise in recognizing a questionable trade lead or tender request from a strong one, is generally lacking through the Internet, [and] there is no critical filtering of the leads you end up reading. Anything that can be put out there, is put out there, from the genuine to the questionable, to the fraudulent. Moreover, the nature of the “broker network” is such that information is often passed about with little critical filtering, lack of knowledge of proper trading procedures and the general tendency of information to become corrupted as it trades hands, [and this] leads to dangerous results.”

4.LONG STRING OF BROKERS, AGENTS AND MIDDLEMEN, MOST OF WHOM UNDERCUT EACH OTHER.

Partly as a result of the virtual lack of any objective requirements for qualification as an agent or middleman in the trade, and the ease of entry into it, these operators generally tend to function in a climate of little or no rules or standards, and of loose or no ethics, in which the “dog eat dog” mentality seem to prevail – a climate in which each broker, agent, or mandate, being only selfishly concerned with just his own personal gains and self-interest, is constantly trying to undercut and circumvent the other in deals. Thus, often leading to the ultimate detriment of ALL the parties involved in an offer, as ALL of them, as a whole, and not just one party or the other, invariably wind up the losers since NO deal at all is had with any buyer.

“[One] reason why it’s difficult to ascertain the truth [concerning the oil product market],” reported C. Keila Nakasaka, the California attorney and entrepreneur who investigated the industry in 2010 for possible recommendation of the trade to his clients, “is that there are multiple brokers involved in any given transaction; and they’re all afraid of circumvention. Hence, it’s almost impossible to know the end buyer or seller. Now, I understand that sometimes it requires teamwork to put a large transaction together, but what bothered me is that almost every one of these brokers failed to be forthcoming. They often misrepresented themselves as mandates, direct representatives, and even buyer and sellers.”

THE “JOKER BROKER” CHARACTER

Sure, admittedly, there’s no question that the phenomenon of having a lengthy string of players, including brokers, agents and intermediaries, in a business transaction, is a necessary aspect of international business. Even more so, especially, in today’s Internet world in which we are all so interconnected globally. Certainly, in oil sales transactions, it should come as no surprise or anything unusual to anyone that such operations, because they often tend to involve huge sums of money and elaborate logistics, would sometimes require teamwork to put the transactions together. And hence, should sometimes involve a multiple number of parties – traders, agents, intermediaries, brokers, mandates, buyers, distributors, etc – to conclude a deal. However, what is different here, is not so much the fact that in the Internet crude oil dealings one encounters a string of too many brokers and middlemen. Rather, it is the fact that most of these brokers and middlemen or intermediaries that get involved in it, typically act and behave in the detrimental manner of what is known as the so-called “Joker Brokers.”

As Kamal J. Southall put it, “But the experience of the underground string of international brokers trading meaningless offers and circumventing each other, left and right, illustrates well the term “Joker Broker” and resembles, often, a Zoo full of monkeys.”

Adding that “the character, [which is] often scorned as ‘the Joker Broker,’ is one thing most people encounter very quickly in their forays into the world of trading,” Southall, the author of a classic on the “Joker Broker” character, gives a definition and explanation of the essence of this “Joker Broker” behavior, this way:

“Defined in the first instance as a bit of a time waster, the joker broker is an individual who knowingly or unknowingly peddles and plies deals and products that, in the vast majority of instances, are non-existent, or badly defined. Characterized by a tendency to bluff his way through transactions, the Joker Broker is one… [who goes about] plying deals often involving a string of brokers from one end of the planet to another, and yet not a single one has verified the very existence of the goods at hand.”

.One significant result of this?

With a multiplicity of brokers and chain of agents often involved in a trade, and each party operating selfishly and undercutting and sabotaging each other in a working environment in which each party is untrusting of the other in a transaction, and is scared of being circumvented by the other; most deals which the “secondary” market sellers and their brokers and agents undertake, are automatically doomed to failure, even from the very beginning. And often do fail.

5. PERVASIVENESS OF “The Joker Broker” MENTALITY AMONG THE INTERNET BROKERS, AGENTS & OTHER INTERMEDIARES

However, probably the most fundamental and central factor which accounts for why most intermediaries involved in the “secondary” oil market are generally not able to, and do not, close any sales deals or earn any income or commission as brokers and agents even after several months or years of peddling their oil product, could simply be condensed into one broad term: namely, the powerful pervasive grip that the “The Joker Broker” mentality has come to have on the brokers and agents, most of whom today are merely Internet-based brokers and agents.

What Is meant by this?

Put very simply, many brokers and agents, driven and limited by the fact that they generally lack much training or knowledge in the fundamentals of international trading, and by the fact, in today’s Internet era, that their only “qualification” for assuming the mantle of being a “broker” or “agent” in the oil business, is simply that they have an access to the Internet and a computer, often behave in their conduct of the oil selling operation, in a manner that “resembles, often, a Zoo full of monkeys” – in the words of Kamal J. Southall, the author of a classic on “‘the Joker Broker” character. A common characteristic of these brokers and agents, is that they peddle, knowingly or unknowingly, crude oil deals and products that on the face of it, are in most instances seemingly non-existent or questionable, or at least badly defined, while yet acting as though all is well with the product they offer, and that there’s absolutely nothing for the prospective buyer to worry about concerning it. They are mostly blinded by greed and false belief that they “are going to be super rich next week or next month” by doing nothing, other than, just shoving around a few copied documents on the Internet usually passed down to them from other jokers, none of which any of them has usually verified as to the very existence of the goods they purport to be selling.

Apart from the fact that a good many of them would, whether they do it knowingly or not, frequently try to push fake deals on the Internet, they generally act out of many misconceptions and beliefs which are simply not true, usually passed down to them from other jokers. Many times, mainly concerned with “making a quick, fast buck,” they are innocently and naively trying to close a deal for someone who they believe or merely hope to be real, but who is, in fact really not. But oftentimes, they are too proud or conceited to simply accept or concede that their own beliefs and procedures are simply incorrect, refuse to change their ways, and continue to waste their time and others’ time for months and years still trying to push deals – until, perhaps, it finally begins to dawn on them that for so long no deals have been closed, or are likely to be closed, and not a dime of income has been, or would be, earned!

But above all else, perhaps the most detrimental factor that results in the lack of business or income for most “Internet” crude oil brokers and agents, is the fact that, lacking much experience or real understanding of the true workings of international business or the way it actually works, they are often totally unrealistic and impractical about the conditions and requirements they demand of, or expect that, prospective buyers would accept in order to buy the products they purport to have for sale. That is, they often present sales offers and proposals that are so impracticable, unworkable and outrageously unreal, and are totally contrary to the way normal and legitimate business has traditionally been done in the real world.

As one analyst put it, “Some of them [the “Internet” brokers or joker brokers] are quite entertaining [in the notions about business workings they present], and remind us of the Nigerian scam artists. The world simply does not work like that.”

EXAMPLE OF JOKER BROKER OFFER THAT CAN’T WORK

The following is a good example of the Joker Broker-type of offer that the oil sellers and their brokers and agents, most of whom operate mostly online today, typically demand of intending buyers. It is presented in the form of the transactions PROCEDURES they demand that the would-be oil buyer should meet and follow, such as these:

TRANSACTIONS PROCEDURES:

1) The Buyer submits ICPO (Irrevocable Corporate Purchase Order) & banking details

2) Seller issues FCO (Full Corporate Offer) on his letterhead with full contact details.

3) Buyer returns the FCO duly signed and stamped.

4) Seller and buyer sign contract.

5) Seller and buyer exchange the Proof of Product (POP) and Proof of Funds (POF) in the following sequence/order:

6). First: Seller issues POP to the buyer. Second: After buyer verification and within 7 banking days, buyer’s bank issues POF to seller’s bank.

7) Buyers bank opens non-operative Letter of Credit (L/C) to seller’s bank/or Bank Guarantee (at seller’s choice).

8) Seller issues 2% Performance Bond (PB) to activate L/C.

9) Shipment commences as per the agreed contract.

TO TODAY’S BUYERS, THIS IS WHAT THESE PROCEDURES ARE SAYING TO THEM

In point of fact, actually the procedures such as the above-outlined, are “standard” and should, in NORMAL and proper circumstances, ordinarily be a workable and acceptable set of terms and conditions or requirements for a credible prospective buyer to do business by. However, here’s what brings about the big difference here: there is one very serious and fundamental factor that is grossly missing here. And that is this: typically, such offer requiring the intending buyer to comply with these procedures, is made, NOT by or from by a known or established or even readily identifiable person or entity, or necessarily by an AUTHENTIC crude seller or supplier. But merely by an Internet “seller.” It is typically presented by someone who merely writes (or phones) and claims, usually via some Internet connection or communication (a portal, email or website), that he is a crude “seller,” or the broker or agent of one, who supposedly has some oil available to sell. And it is typically presented by someone who, invariably, would present virtually no tangible evidence or proof whatsoever establishing his (or her) bona fides and credentials as an authentic seller, or an intermediary of one, nor shows any real track record of having previously performed in the crude oil selling business, or any other products.

Thus, in effect, what is essentially happening here, is that a set of well-meaning procedures which have legitimately been designed by the industry professionals to be used by LEGITIMATE crude sellers, and have traditionally been used by RELIABLE and respectable crude sellers and buyers alike to do business, have suddenly been hijacked by a new breed of “Internet” brokers and agents – Joker Brokers – who now demand that prudent crude buyers are to adopt precisely those same procedures in transacting business with them! To put it another way, were these Internet brokers and crude “sellers” to have been some of the so-called oil Majors – such as Chevron, Valero, Shell Oil, Exxon Mobile, British Petroleum, Total Oil, etc. – meaning companies and business entities that are well-known, already established, readily recognizable, reputable and trustworthy, there would have been absolutely no problem or question about the crude buyers using those “standard” procedures and conditions set forth above in doing business with the Internet sellers and brokers. However, that is not the case all, here. Rather, quite to the contrary, these Internet-type brokers and agents (and the purported sellers whose offers they peddle), are largely Internet-based; and are generally obscure operations, or even non-existent, with no known identity, no recognized base of operations, or established record or history of past performance as crude sellers.

WHY THE INTERNET BROKERS’ PROCEDURES LARGELY DON’T & CAN’T WORK WITH BUYERS

Yet, this is, in the vast majority of instances, the kind of supposed crude “sellers” who want and ask that would-be buyers should be submitting to those same procedures and conditions in dealing with them. Clearly, that’s a ridiculous “Joker Broker” type of day-dreaming – virtually no credible crude oil buyer anywhere in the world would accept to submit an ICPO (Irrevocable Corporate Purchase Order) to a mere unknown, unproven, dubious Internet “seller” of crude oil to solicit business with such an entity. And certainly, no credible crude oil buyer anywhere in the world would accept to submit its Proof of Funds or financial and banking details to such an entity, or to even sign a contract with it – an entity about whom it knows practically nothing, and whose bona fides, credentials or existence as a supposed crude oil supplier, is largely dubious and unestablished.

A major, well-known, recognizable, or reputable entity or crude dealer, yes. But NOT an obscure, dubious, unknown entity, largely existing merely on the Internet.

Analysts at the JokerBroker.com website, which is a site devoted to extensive compilation of a database of the most notorious “Joker Brokers” persons and companies, sums it up this way, describing why most credible crude buyers would generally reject accepting such procedures and conditions often demanded of them by Internet brokers, outright:

“When a deal starts off with “send ICPO with BCL or Soft Probe, [POF], NCND and IMFPA,” this is “broker language.” Those that know broker language know what this means: “I’m a joker broker. I don’t have any real product for sale, and I don’t know anyone who has any, so I want you to give me an Irrevocable Purchase Order with your full financial details disclosed, so I can run around with your order and your money in my hands looking for product, and the next thing you see will be your company and banking details exposed to the whole world, running around unsecured on the Internet between thousands of other joker brokers.”… That is what this language means. I suggest you learn the language, and please do not send me even one “deal” which starts off with this procedure. Please just put them straight into the rubbish bin, which is exactly where I put them whenever anyone sends them to me.”

Kamal J. Southall, author of “Trade Fraud, and the Joker Broker,” describes the following as “some of the most notorious Joker Broker Documents”:

“The Irrevocable Purchase Order/IPO ICPO: Sometimes known as the Irrevocable Corporate Purchase Order, such a document simply does not exist. Or to put things more rudely, the ICPO is crap. There, we have said it, let the chips fall.”

SUMMARY

Here’s what might probably be called “the open secret” of the so-called secondary market oil industry: as a group, the crude oil and petroleum products sellers, and their long string of brokers, agents and intermediaries, generally close no deals nor make any sales or income out of the oil product they purport to sell, frequently after several months, even years, or perhaps for ever, of doing the business. There are several reasons which account for this. They range from the fact that most oil sellers and their brokers and other intermediaries, are fake operatives with no crude or petroleum product to sell, in the first, to lack of proper training and knowledge by these operatives in the fundamentals of the business, to the existence of certain serious drawbacks and shortcomings inherent in the fact that, bye and large, the principal source by which most brokers and agents today learn their craft today as oil dealers, is merely the Internet.

However, probably the most fundamental and most central factor of all which accounts for the above reality, could simply be condensed into one broad term: namely, the powerful pervasive grip that the “The Joker Broker” mentality has come to have on the brokers and agents, most of whom today are merely Internet-based brokers and agents. Typically lacking much experience or real understanding of international business or the way it actually works, and frequently blinded by greed and false belief that they “are going to be super rich next week or next month” by doing nothing, other than, perhaps, simply shoving around a few copied documents on the Internet, the conditions, requirements, and procedures often proposed by the “Internet” brokers and agents for prospective buyers to buy from a seller, are usually unrealistic, impracticable, outrageously unreal, even laughable and ludicrous atimes. They are unworkable conditions and requirements that are completely contrary to the way normal and legitimate business has traditionally been done in the real world. And consequently, credible buyers generally reject outright the sales offers coming from such Internet sales operatives, thus resulting in common lack of sales or commission income for such operatives, month after month, and even year after year.

For example, most of the selling offers one gets today for the sale of oil, are usually from Internet “sellers” – persons who merely claim, via an Internet communication, that they are “sellers” of crude or petroleum products with some product to sell, but typically have NO known identity, show no credible record or history of past performance as an AUTHENTIC crude seller or supplier, nor present any solid evidence that the supposed seller even exists. Yet, these mere “Internet” sellers would typically demand and expect a serious buyer of oil, to simply sign an “ICPO,” and enter into a binding contract with them committing itself to obligations valued in the several hundreds of millions of dollars with such a yet unproven and dubious Internet “sellers” (or brokers and agents), or to submit its most sensitive financial and banking details to them, etc! Demands which, clearly, virtually no credible crude oil buyer anywhere in the world would accept or submit to with merely a dubious, unknown, yet-to-be-established entity! On top of all that, add to that the reality that those harsh conditions are being demanded of intending buyers by the sellers and brokers in an oil industry that is, by all credible accounts, full of too many fakes and fraud in the contemporary oil selling industry!

And so, here you have it: why most supposed “secondary” market Internet oil sellers and their brokers and agents typically make no sales or income in their stint into crude oil and petroleum product selling business today in this Internet era, for months and years.

FOR A FOLLOW UP

WISH TO FOLLOW UP ON GETTING A CRUDE OIL OR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS SELLER OR BROKER WITH WORKABLE, REALISTIC PROCEDURES THAT A CREDIBLE BUYER CAN READILY ACCEPT? Please see the instructional information in the author’s resource box below

No Need to Be Lonely at Sixty – Use the Internet

As we live healthier, longer lives we are faced with issues that did not trouble our parents’ generation so much. Nowadays it is common for people to have gone through divorce or bereavement, and we don’t always have the cosy extended family around to fill the gap. Old age often can sometimes be seen as a time of loneliness: friends die off, family are no more and children move away. All that remains is an empty, meaningless life in front of a dying fireside – right?

Wrong! Like the rest of life, age is what you make it, and there are no rules that say that being over sixty means being any more lonely or unfulfilled than at any age – in fact it’s quite the opposite!

Over-sixty is an unparalleled opportunity to get to know more people and do more things than we ever thought possible. We can sit at home and have access to the whole world. The home computer has more power than the Soviet Union did at the height of the Cold War. The TV does things that we never even knew we wanted, the smartphone is a whole world in my pocket, and an e-reader contains more books than the library. And whatever others might say, many older people are savvy with technology.

Through the internet we can have friends all over the world. We sit in the living room and talk to people in every continent. We don’t have to be alone: we can have all the friends we need at the touch of a few buttons. Sometimes the main problem is how to shut them all out for a while and get a little peace. But remember what they say: you can be in a room full of people and still be lonely. There is quantity and there is quality; sometimes it’s also not about how many people we know; it’s about having one special person close to us. Someone to share our conversations, our daily activities, or spend some special time together.

But how do you go about finding that person? When a man or woman reaches over-sixty, they might start to feel a little out of practice with dating. After all, for some of us it might have been over forty years since we were looking for a partner. And where do we go to find a partner? For many people this is a very unfamiliar business, and so daunting that we can easily choose to give up the idea in despair. Most dating sites are designed for and used by people our grandchildren’s age. That is where a specialist dating site for the over-sixties can prove invaluable as a way of meeting the people of your dreams.

There are thousands of people, aged sixty and over, actively looking for love, romance, shared interests, companionship or just plain friendship. We don’t have to go down the disco or up the dance hall to find them: they are a special group of people who have selected themselves just because they are looking for someone special. Amongst that group there are all sorts of interests, activities, preferences and experiences; and the dating app will find you just the people who best match your own interests.

Internet Secrets – Making Money Online

If your business is not offering its product/service online, then you are surly living in ancient times. Companies today have realized that in order to remain competitive, they have to reach today’s’ customers who do business mainly on the internet. Running a business online means that you have an international audience. And having a worldwide audience means that your business is up and running seven days a week twenty four hours a day. While your customers in United States are sleeping, those in Japan would defiantly be awake. An online business never goes to sleep; customers are always visiting night and day. Because of this, your online company must be staffed all the time in order to keep a close eye on potential sales and new customers.

When managing an online home business, communication is vital. Using instant messaging and email as a type of communication between your staff and yourself will surely have great benefits. There are also several different types of technologies available such as the VoIP which gives you the ability to communicate with your staff and business partners from any place on the planet. But since you and your business associates live in totally different time zones it is very important to set up certain times of the day when you can talk with them concerning different issues and updates that your company faces day after day and what they should to do deal with it. You should ensure that they follow your schedule and instruction.

Meetings are also very important for online home businesses. Having Meetings will inform you of the issues effecting your staff and issues that your company might be facing. To save effort and time, an internet businesses can meet online in conference rooms. This will get rid of the need for manual preparations and physical space.

One of the biggest secrets to making money online is brand promotion! Yes, brand awareness is very important even though you’re business is on the Internet. Brand building means providing fast services, great products and great experiences to your clients. Yes, you will surly want all your clients to have a good experience. Remember, news spreads quickly online. If you have just one visitor who has had a bad experience with your business and then spreads a bad rumor, chances are your companys’ name will be destroyed.

Remember that your site is the face of your online home business and should not be a secret. Making money online would mean that your business must keep up with current technological advances. In designing your sales page always remember to keep navigation at the top of your head. Potential customers will not want to visit a hundred different web pages simply to buy one item.

Surviving online is tough, Every single day there are millions of businesses going online and even more people setting up online businesses. Ultimately, the key to being successful in any endeavor is to totally love what you do. Remember, not everybody gets to affect lives every day on a global scale. If you would like to know more on this topic check out Dotcomology [http://MakingMoneyFromHomeOnTheInternet.com] the art of making money with your home business.

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