Is your overseas mobile calling bill too high? Learn how to save money.

How To Always Save Money On Overseas Mobile Calling

 
Marc Weber Tobias

I was just in Paris and received a call from a colleague in California who was totally clueless as to how calls are billed when dialing a cell phone that is outside the U.S. I would not have paid any attention to this issue, except that the audio quality was poor, so I asked whether the caller was on cellular or a landline. It turns out that he dialed my Verizon cell number through Skype which was an application on his handset that offers the option of different call routing to save money on international calls. He thought that if he called me in Europe through the VoIP application it would cost him less money because of the high roaming charges overseas. He was wrong on several counts.

I had just cautioned him a week before when he was in China not to make or answer any phone calls (in China) because the rates were about $4.00 per minute. So, he naturally thought that this same high rate would apply when he called me in Europe. His misunderstanding highlights a common misconception and confusion about who pays for what when making or receiving a call on your cell phone when traveling in a foreign country.

The issue can become more convoluted and complicated depending on whether you are using a mobile phone with a U.S. carrier SIM card, a roaming SIM like I use from Ekit or Telestial, or if you have installed a SIM from a local carrier in the country where you are using your phone. It’s important to distinguish the costs of receiving or placing calls. If you use Skype when you are traveling, or your phone number is call forwarded from the U.S., then other issues can come into play. Read more »»»

North Korea's economy in a permanent nose dive

Inside Asia

Pyongyang Losing Grip on Economy

By JOHN RUWITCH and JU-MIN PARK | REUTERS

Published: June 3, 2013 

CHANGBAI, China — Chinese renminbi and U.S. dollars are being used more widely than ever in North Korea instead of the country’s own money, a stark illustration of the extent to which the North Korean leadership under Kim Jong-un has lost control of the country’s economy.

The use of dollars and renminbi has accelerated since a disastrous revaluation of the North Korean currency, the won, in 2009 wiped out the savings of millions, according to experts on the country, defectors and Chinese border traders.

On the black market, the won has shed more than 99 percent of its value against the dollar since the revaluation, according to exchange rates tracked by Daily NK, a Seoul-based news and information Web site focused on North Korea. 

North Korea is one of the most closed countries in the world, so it is difficult to determine what effect this could ultimately have on Mr. Kim’s regime.

But experts say the growing use of foreign currency is making it increasingly difficult for Pyongyang to implement economic policy, resulting in the creation of a private economy outside the reach of the state, which may be able to rein it in only with draconian measures.

For now, Pyongyang appears to be capitulating, rather than trying to stamp out foreign currency use, they said.Read more »»»

 

Is Apple worried about Samsung's new technology?

Samsung's new technology puts more heat on Apple

By John Shinal

SAN FRANCISCO — For anyone who thinks former L.A. cop and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was the greatest futurist of the 20th century — as I do — wait until you see new home entertainment technology coming from Samsung.

It was demonstrated at a San Francisco hotel late last week on a 54-inch TV — equipped with two-way wireless — that was smarter than any computer or home entertainment platform I've ever used.
It does Roddenberry's famous Star Trek computer one better, because it allows consumers to navigate their home media centers with voice and hand commands.

Samsung has combined the gesture-capture breakthrough of Nintendo's Wii with the new voice-recognition search technologies used by both Apple and Google in the latest versions of software for tablets and smartphones. Read more »»»

Investing - Making the most amount of money in a bad economy

You Can Make Plenty Of Money In A Slow-Growth Economy

 
David Trainer


I am optimistic about the U.S. economy and I don’t believe we are in a bubble. Too many investors and economists are looking at the economy the wrong way. They see slow growth in GDP and employment and assume these are bad for the health of our economy. They look at the S&P 500 surging upwards and say it is caused by the easy money policies of the Fed, not the underlying profitability of these companies.

My response to these arguments is that slow growth can be better for the long-term health of an economy than rapid growth. Just look at the last couple of bubbles. GDP grew by nearly 5% a year and unemployment was at 4% in the late 1990s, and we all know how that turned out.

Rapid growth is not always healthy for an economy in the long-term, while more measured growth can be an indication that resources are being allocated more efficiently. I believe what we’re seeing now is the allocation of both human capital and business capital becoming more efficient.
The slow level of employment growth is not a sign of a stagnant economy. It is the result of significant transition as people are learning new skills to suit more productive jobs. The jobs that were lost when the last bubble burst are not the same ones coming back, and that is a good thing. Read more »»»

Moral authority

Moral authority is an authority based on principles and values that are independent of written laws and considered more fundamental and lasting. These principles, which can be of metaphysical or of religious nature, are considered to be normative for behaviour, whether they are or are not also embodied in written laws, and even if the community is ignoring or violating them.

Moral authority has thus also been defined as the "fundamental assumptions that guide our perceptions of the world".

An individual or a body of people who are seen as vehicles for communicating such principles but who do not have the power to enforce them on the unwilling are spoken of as having moral authority. Examples are the Catholic Church and its leaders.

In this sense, moral authority has been defined as "the capacity to convince others how the world should be", as opposed to epistemic authority, "the capacity to convince others of how the world is".

Trade fair

A trade fair (trade show, trade exhibition or expo) is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities. In contrast to consumer fairs, only some trade fairs are open to the public, while others can only be attended by company representatives (members of the trade, e.g. professionals) and members of the press, therefore trade shows are classified as either "Public" or "Trade Only". A few fairs are hybrids of the two; one example is the Frankfurt Book Fair, which is trade-only for its first three days and open to the general public on its final two days. They are held on a continuing basis in virtually all markets and normally attract companies from around the globe. For example, in the U.S. there are currently over 10,000 ^[1] trade shows held every year, and several online directories have been established to help organizers, attendees, and marketers identify appropriate events. Read more »»»

Bargaining unit

A bargaining unit in labor relations is a group of employees with a clear and identifiable community of interests who are (under U.S. law) represented by a single labor union in collective bargaining and other dealings with management. Examples would be "non-management professors"; "law enforcement professionals"; "blue-collar workers"; "clerical and administrative employees"; etc. Geographic location as well as the number of facilities included in bargaining units can be at issue during representation cases.
The size of a company does not relate to the size of a bargaining unit. Bargaining units must consist of at least 3 employees, and must have the support of a majority of employees in the bargaining unit. However, the bargaining unit could be a small portion of a large company, where no other employees are members of a union.