Mediaboss Marketing

Google on Wednesday got dressed up in its best suit and tie and grabbed its briefcase to head to work, rolling out new Google+ tools and features tailored for businesses that will be free through the end of 2013.

Google is no stranger to business-ready applications, having built up an impressive enterprise portfolio in recent years with its Gmail and Google Apps offerings.

"Every day, more companies are going Google. We're excited to help them take advantage of modern, Web-based tools and give their employees new ways to connect and collaborate," Google Apps product management director Clay Bavor said in a blog post.

All Google Apps users can get a sneak peek at the new features in full preview mode, a step up from Google's beta testing format. Pilot customers, including Kaplan and Banshee Wines, have been testing the new site by engaging and connecting employees, according to Google. Early feedback is crucial for Google to tailor its new features to organizations, the company said.

Google+ for businesses is defined by three features that differentiate it from the consumer platform private sharing, video integration, and administrative controls.

Google Apps users get more control over the content they post to Google+. There's a new option to mark posts as restricted, which keeps them private within an organization and bars another user from re-sharing them with outsiders. Businesses can also share a message only with specific partners or colleagues outside of the organization as well.

Since July, Hangouts have been accessible through Gmail and via a Google doc, but now, users can also add a hangout to a Calendar event, turning it into a one-stop-shop for attendees to check the time and location of the meeting, just before joining.

Administrators can also restrict Hangouts for private meetings.

"These latest business features for Google+ ... are just a start," Bavor said.

A mobile version of the new business tool suite, plus more administrative controls are on their way, according to the company.

Excerpt from:
Google+ Launches Business-Savvy Social Networking Tools

Lindsay Lohan has appeared to stay true to her word that she's serious about turning her public image and career around, landing movie roles and working hard enough to collapse from exhaustion.

But that doesn't mean the 26-year-old actress has escaped troubling headlines .

In her view, "all of this negative press is BS," Lohan tweeted August 22. "Whenever I'm doing great, people fabricate lies. It's such a shame. I'm just sayin."

There was news of a car accident, and lately it's been a Hollywood burglary that Lohan's name has been associated with. The incident happened on August 18, and while she and her assistant were considered suspects in the case, prosecutors have concluded there's not enough evidence to press charges.

It seems the gentleman robbed, a man by the name of Sam Magid, who had a "longstanding relationship" with Lohan, opted against prosecuting after learning that the actress was a suspect in the case.

According to her rep, Lohan's "glad this matter has been cleared up so she can focus on her upcoming projects," presumably "The Canyons," and perhaps promotion for her portrayal of Elizabeth Taylor in Lifetime's "Liz and Dick."

She tweeted on August 25, "Cleaning MY jewels ...... I love feeling like Elizabeth."

Read this article:
Lindsay Lohan: Negative press is BS

U.S. stocks rose as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he saw scope for further action, increasing speculation the central bank will act to boost economic growth.

Nine out of 10 groups in the S&P 500 rose, as consumer discretionary, industrial and technology stocks erased earlier losses. Parsippany-based Watson Pharmaceuticals. climbed 6 percent for the biggest gain in the benchmark gauge for U.S. stocks as its generic painkiller Lidoderm got approval from the Food and Drug Administration. QEP Resources jumped 6 percent after agreeing to buy North Dakota oil assets.

The S&P 500 added 0.7 percent to 1,411.13. The gauge fell 0.5 percent for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 100.51 points, or 0.8 percent, to 13,157.97 today. Volume for exchange-listed stocks was 4.7 billion shares, 24 percent below the three-month average and the third-lowest level of the year.

It was confirmation of Bernankes commitment to potentially do something more if the economy appears it needs it, John Carey, who helps oversee about $220 billion at Pioneer Investments in Boston, said in a telephone interview. That was reassuring to people who might have thought he was stepping back from that. He said, Its summer trading and volume is light so it doesnt take much to move the market. A little whiff of positive news was enough.

The S&P 500 had advanced for the past six straight weeks amid optimism that global central banks will take actions to stimulate growth. At the same time, trading volume and volatility have dropped this month as vacationing traders await policy clues from the Feds annual summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and a European Central Bank meeting in September.

There is scope for further action by the Federal Reserve to ease financial conditions and strengthen the recovery, Bernanke said in an Aug. 22 letter to California Republican Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committees July 31- Aug. 1 meeting showed many members judged that more stimulus would likely be warranted fairly soon unless the pace of the recovery picks up. Bernanke will have an opportunity to clarify his views in a speech Friday at Jackson Hole, Wyo., where he signaled a second round of bond buying in 2010.

A report today showed demand for U.S. capital goods such as machinery and communications gear dropped in July by the most in eight months, indicating companies are pulling back on investment. Bookings for non-military capital equipment excluding planes slumped 3.4 percent, the Commerce Department report showed.

Global stocks fell earlier as two central bank officials said ECB President Mario Draghi may wait until Germanys Constitutional Court rules on the legality of Europes permanent bailout fund before unveiling full details of his plan to buy government bonds. With the court set to rule on Sept. 12, investors looking for Draghi to announce a definitive program at his Sept. 6 press conference might be disappointed, according to the officials.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras that Germany is ready to help the Greek government as it takes the necessary steps to resolve his countrys economic woes. Samaras will go to Paris for a meeting with French President Francois Hollande tomorrow after concluding his visit to Berlin today.

Excerpt from:
Markets inch upward, await word from Bernanke

Now that primary Election Day has passed, it may no longer matter who Carlos Sierra is, or the Opportunity for All PAC that funded a recent campaign mailer in support of U.S Congressman Raul Grijalva's opponent Amanda Aguirre.

Why not toast the super-PAC and take one last look at Opportunity for All? Perhaps we'll see them again for the general election, but since we haven't heard back from Sierra, we can't be sure.

On Saturday, Aug. 25, Grijalva held a press conference from his campaign headquarters about the mailing, that a former McCain staff was involved (Sierra), the PAC address was an empty El Paso lot, and the mailing could be in violation of Federal Election Commission rules and regs.

The next day, Grijalva's campaign sent out another press release saying further investigation linked Sierra to Aguirre through Tequila Party "foundress" DeeDee Blase - remember Somos Republicans? Blase had volunteered for the McCain campaign, and when she started the Tequila Party she cast away her Republican Party affiliation and became an independent.

The press release included three photos two with Blase and Sierra, and the third with Blase and Aguirre. That's it, which honestly, just really isn't enough.

From the Grijalva press release:

Carlos Sierra, the man who leads the group responsible for the mailer a PAC called the Opportunity for All Committee is a former staffer for GOP Senator John McCain. Aguirre's online media is being handled by DeeDee Garcia Blase, the founder of the Hispanic Republican group Somos Republicans. Although Sierra has denied knowing Aguirre or any of her staff, two of the attached photos freely available at the Somos Republicans Web site show Sierra and Blase working together, in one case at a McCain office. (In the group photo, Sierra is third from left and Blase is fourth.) Another attached photo shows Aguirre and Blase together at a Latina Trailblazers event in March of this year.

The headquarters address Sierra filed with the Federal Election Commission is an empty dirt lot in El Paso, Texas. When asked directly by KVOA, the NBC affiliate in Tucson, where the money came from for the attack mailer, he refused to answer. You can watch the KVOA segment here. A video of Rep. Grijalva's Aug. 25 press conference denouncing the mailer and asking Aguirre to explain her involvement is viewable at http://bit.ly/RdNGEA.

Aguirre hasnt denounced the attack piece. In fact, she told KVOA that Sierra is welcome to support me because I need all the help I can get. Her press release responding to questions about the mailer called Grijalva's press conference "a direct example of his underhanded bullying tactics." Her campaign consultant, George Braun, is a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association.

We finally caught up with Blase, who took her Tequila Party deal to the protest outside of the GOP convention in Florida. Blase said she's not part of Opportunity for All, but that she knows Sierra and volunteered with the McCain campaign.

Follow this link:
Last Word on Opportunity for All PAC?

28-08-2012 02:48 Strong winds are kicking up waves on the New Orleans-Lake Ponchartrain shoreline early Tuesday. Tropical Storm Isaac is closing in on the city, and expected to hit Tuesday night or Wednesday. (Aug. 28)

Excerpt from:
Raw Video: New Orleans Wind and Waves - Video