Central Perk: 15 apr. 2014

marți, 15 aprilie 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

French Email Ban Update: "Duty to Disconnect"

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 04:23 PM PDT

In response to France Prohibits Sending Work Emails, Answering Cell Phones, Outside Working Hours one reader strenuously objected.

After exchanging numerous emails, his main objection was the accuracy of the title itself "France Prohibits Sending Work Emails, Answering Cell Phones, Outside Working Hours."

Here is the exact headline of the La Vanguardia article that I translated "France prohibits sending mails from work outside working hours".

The reader's big objection? Claiming "France" did this.

Similarly, the Guardian received a lot of flak for its report When the French clock off at 6pm, they really mean it.

The Guardian originally had the number of people affected at 1,000,000. They corrected it to 250,000 and posted this correction.

This article was amended on 11 April 2014. An earlier version stated that the labour deal would affect "a million employees" and require staff "to switch off their phones after 6pm". The deal obliges staff to "disconnect" from work calls and emails after working hours to ensure they receive the full minimum rest periods already mandated in French employment regulations but there is no particular time at which they are required to do so. While the deal was signed by unions representing 1 million employees, it will affect only 250,000 workers directly.

The article I quoted did not mention a time of day or the number of people affected. Thus, I did not have several errors that were present in the Guardian report.

Moreover, I know how these things start. In my opinion, this will quickly cascade, to numerous other unions.

Duty to Disconnect

A Translation on Les Echos speaks of the "duty to disconnect communication tools at a distance" to ensure that the minimum rest periods imposed by the French and European regulations on workload and minimum rest time.

Correcting the Guardian, Slate France complains France does not prohibit employees from sending mails after 18h

Here is an amusing snip (translation not modified)...

A response to a court order

It is far from a victory for labor unions on employers as required by the snapshot on France.

The agreement is negotiated since September by representatives of employers and employees, and responds to a decision of the Supreme Court, which in April 2013 had invalidated the previous device, holding the amplitude control and workload days packages insufficient. And therefore the health of employees not protected enough.

Supposedly ....

France did not issue the ruling (instead, a French court mandated it)
It's not even a victory for the labor unions
Only 250,000 are affected
It won't spread

Lost in the nitpicking over titles, the entire point of my original post was the ridiculousness of it all. And it is ridiculous.

No one forces anyone to answer emails or cell phones. No agreements or legislation was needed. But here it is, and it will spread.

Getting the idea correct ... Business Insider reports France didn't actually ban work email after 6 pm — but what did happen is still really funny "France's administrative court recently ruled that tech workers' right to health and rest was not sufficiently protected by existing laws. Yes, a judge actually said that."

My sin? I said "France" not "French Court Rules".

Apologies offered.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Specter of Civil War; Putin's Army Hiding – Not Even CNN Can Find It; Easy Solution

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 10:56 AM PDT

Today the government of Ukraine moved with force against the separatists, evoking a Specter of Civil War.

Ukraine unleashed an offensive to dislodge militants from towns in its eastern Donetsk region as the authorities in Kiev said elements of Russian special forces were identified among the anti-government forces.

Four militants were killed and two wounded when Ukrainian troops stormed an airport in Kramatorsk, taking it under control, Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news service reported. Ukrainian units backed by armored personnel carriers blocked all approaches to the town of Slovyansk, RIA said, citing an a pro-Russian activist, Sergey Tsyplakov. Part of Russia's 45th Airborne Regiment was spotted in both of the towns, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Vitali Yarema said on Channel 5.

The U.S. and EU states say Russia is behind the turmoil that has fueled their worst standoff since the Cold War. Russia, which NATO says has 40,000 troops massed on Ukraine's border, denies involvement and says the government in Kiev isn't protecting Russian-speaking citizens. In warnings similar to those that preceded its annexation of Crimea last month, it insists it has the right to protect them with force if needed.

40,000 Troops - Where Are They?

Countless times over the past few weeks the US, NATO, and EU spoke of mass buildup of Russian forces on the Ukraine border. OK so where are the troops?

Pater Tenebrarum at Acting Man notes Putin's Army Still Hiding – Not Even CNN Can Find It

While it certainly appears possible that Russian special forces are lending a helping hand to the separatist movements in the Eastern Ukraine, we can continue to be quite sure that NATO is telling tall tales about the alleged 'massing of Russian troops' at the border with the Ukraine. Shortly after we noted that a UK journalist was unable to find Putin's army anywhere near the border, NATO published satellite pictures that seemed to prove the opposite.

The Russians averred that while these pictures were quite real, they were also outdated, showing the situation at the time drills were taking place last August. It seems they were telling the truth. CNN has sent a team of reporters to the areas where NATO asserted the troops are stationed, and couldn't find them either.

If you repeat lies often enough, do people believe them, or do the liars lose credibility (or both)?

All the major news outlets repeat lies that are easily disproved, and they keep on doing it.

Who is the Bully?

In terms of reneging on promises, the US has treated Russia like dirt. There is a very nice article in the Washington Post on that very subject.

If you want to see who is really behind the provocation in Ukraine, please read The U.S. has treated Russia like a loser since the end of the Cold War by Jack F. Matlock Jr., ambassador to the U.S.S.R. from 1987 to 1991.

Matlock is the author of "Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended."

Hypocritical Cry For Democracy

Yesterday, at a UN Meeting on Ukraine Russia reiterated their narrative that the conflict has been pushed all along by terrorists waging a war against their own country.

"The international committee must require that henchmen of Maidan stop war with their own people," the Russian Federation's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said, according to NBC. "Western sponsors of Maidan including USA should stop this."

"Apparently Maidan was a cry for democracy but apparently in Crimea or East Ukraine it's an act of defiance, what is the difference? U.S. is going to encourage the criminal use of force? It makes no sense!"

Maidan Nezalezhnosti is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine where the former president was ousted.

Self Determination

Note the blatant US hypocrisy. The US is all for "self determination" provided it is the "self-determination" that we want.

Without a doubt the US fomented the Maidan uprising, but now is unhappy with the result.

Easy Solution

There is an easy way to end the crisis. Let the regions vote on what they want to do.

I proposed just that in US Treasury Signs $1 Billion Ukraine Loan Guarantee.

Mr Turchynov on Monday said in a meeting with MPs that the authorities were "not against holding a referendum" to determine the country's fate.

That would be excellent news, if it were true. Unfortunately, both statements are a lie. Turchynov is only in favor of a rigged vote. Why should Kiev get to vote on what is best for Donetsk?

I propose letting each Ukrainian area vote for itself.

Eastern Ukrainian areas would likely vote to leave. By the way, why shouldn't the people decide?

Reader Krzysztof Kajetanowicz sarcastically responded ...

"Eastern Ukrainian areas would likely vote to leave." And what is that assertion based on, exactly? Might as well say that "Northern Belgian [Dutch-speaking, or Flemish] areas would likely vote to leave and join the Netherlands".

I can easily explain my basis via a map of areas in Ukraine that speak Russian.

Russian Speaking Areas of Ukraine

Wikipedia notes Russophones make a majority of the population in Eastern and Southern regions of Ukraine

Crimea — 97%
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast — 72%
Donetsk Oblast — 93%
Zaporizhia Oblast — 81%
Luhansk Oblast — 89%
Mykolaiv Oblast — 66%
Odessa Oblast — 85%
Kharkiv Oblast — 74%

In the absence of polling data on a vote for affiliation with Russia, I will stick with my assertion "Eastern Ukrainian areas would likely vote to leave."

While it may be impractical to allow each city to decide independently, it is not impractical to allow each region its say. And I propose just that.

None of Our Business

Quite frankly it's none of our business what they decide.

Of what importance is Ukraine to a farmer in Iowa or an auto worker in Ohio?Anyone but the warmongers?

The answer is none.

Spain

And by the way, the same setup exists in Spain. In December Spain's Catalonia Region Announced "Independence Referendum" for November 2014

Of course Madrid promptly vowed to block vote on "Independencia!"

Like Ukraine, Spain would be willing to have a "national vote". And also like Spain, Catalonia would fail to win majority approval in a national vote given Catalonia is one of the richest regions, and the other regions want Catalonia tax revenues.

But why should anyone but those in Catalonia have a say?

The answer is they shouldn't. Either way, it's simply none of our business.

Mish Pro-Russia?

Finally, I have been accused of being pro-Russia. I'm not.

Rather, I am against blatant US interference where we do not belong. I am against US hypocrisy on self determination only when it suits us. I am against all the lies by the Ukraine, NATO, US, and all the media outlets on easily disproved troop movements (and God only knows what else).

If the media outlets all trump up easily disproved lies, what else are they lying about?
Everything?

This crisis would be over in a flash if Ukraine would put it to a vote. The warmongers don't want that. The hypocrites don't want that. They do want an escalation of tension, US missiles in Eastern Europe, and a host of other things that cannot possibly lead to anything good.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Damn Cool Pics

DIY Coiled iPhone Cable

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 07:25 PM PDT

How to make a coiled cable for your gadget. All you need is a cable, a pen and a dryer.

Girl Meets Johnny Depp

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 07:20 PM PDT

One girl flew to Hollywood from Denmark to live out her great plan.

The plan

Went to the premiere of the Transcendence with Johnny Depp and waited till the last second to have this written on her face (so no one would copy her master plan).

Fear and Loathing

Days before she drew this picture of Johnny in Fear and Loathing

He showed up

"Oh, yeah its really happening"

The master plan succeeded

Best day of her life

A moment of silence for Boston

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

A moment of silence for Boston

Today, at 2:49 p.m. ET, President Obama will observe a moment of silence to mark the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing.

The President also released a statement this morning on the tragedy:

A year ago, tragedy struck at the 117th Boston Marathon. Four innocent people were killed that week, and hundreds more were wounded. Today, we remember Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu, Martin Richard, and Sean Collier. And we send our thoughts and prayers to those still struggling to recover.

We also know that the most vivid images from that day were not of smoke and chaos, but of compassion, kindness and strength: A man in a cowboy hat helping a wounded stranger out of harm's way; runners embracing loved ones, and each other; an EMT carrying a spectator to safety. Today, we recognize the incredible courage and leadership of so many Bostonians in the wake of unspeakable tragedy. And we offer our deepest gratitude to the courageous firefighters, police officers, medical professionals, runners and spectators who, in an instant, displayed the spirit Boston was built on -- perseverance, freedom and love.

Read the statement here, and if you like, join the President for a moment of silence at 2:49 p.m. ET today.

Stay Connected

This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com
Sign Up for Updates from the White House
Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy
Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House

We're updating the White House privacy policy on April 18. Learn more.

The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Boston

Featured

Boston

Today, at 2:49 p.m. ET, President Obama will observe a moment of silence to mark the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Read the President's statement on the anniversary and join the moment of silence at 2:49 p.m. ET.

President Barack Obama observes a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, in the Oval Office, April 22, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

10 Smart Tips to Leverage Google+ for Increased Web Traffic

Posted: 14 Apr 2014 05:09 PM PDT

Posted by Cyrus-Shepard

This time, it's about engaged traffic.

While checking our stats here at Moz, we noticed that while visits sent to us from Facebook keep decreasing, traffic from Google+ has started to appear significant by comparison.

While not everyone has an audience active on Google+, the number of people who interact socially with any Google products on a monthly basis now reportedly exceeds 500 million.

What's different about Google+ is that beyond the direct social visits as seen above, Google offers marketers the opportunity to interact with visitors through many more touch points, including YouTube and directly in search results. This means that for visitors who engage with you through Google+, the potential traffic channels multiply.

For this method to work, it requires that your visitors actually engage.

Facebook and Twitter experts know this and perfected their engagement craft over several years. Engagment with Google+ means a new set tactics and best practices. These are areas that I consistently see otherwise expert brands fall short and miss easy opportunities.

Let's discuss supercharging our Google+ engagement.

1. Headlines, every time

The more users notice your Google+ posts, the more likely they are to engage. The challenge is to stand out in a sea of thousands of posts.

First things first. Unlike other social platforms, Google+ posts act more like mini blog posts, and every post needs a headline. Not only does adding a header help your post stand out, but Google uses the first words of your post in two different ways:

They incorporates your headline into the title tag of the post
The headline is typically what displays in Google search results

Adding the right headline can help your post stand out in search results, and can greatly influence the number of people who both notice and click through to your content.

Use a headline, every time.

2. Formatting for attention

Easily break up your long blocks of text with formatting to make your posts simpler to read and skim. This allows you to communicate more clearly and makes your text more accessible.

In addition to adding bold to your headline, copy and paste the formatting cheats below to help compose a post that stands out from the rest.

G+ Formatting Cheats:

*This is a Bolded Headline*

_ Italic_
_* Bold*_
-Strikethrough-

Mix and match styles: _*Bolded Italic*_

Numbered List:
*1.* Point One
*2.* Point Two
*3.* Point Three

Bulleted List:
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3

Link: http://example.com

#hashtag1 #hashtag2

How it Looks:

3. Use your words

Google+ is a both a visual and a text medium, so make them both count!

Don't be afraid of writing longer posts. Instead of simply posting a link to your latest blog posts and hoping for the best, add a summary of your important points. Explain why this is important. Give people additional context as to why they should click and share.

Personal example of Google+ posts where I embraced the long-form:

Introducing The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet 2.0 • 308 +1s, 222 Reshares
5 Takeaways and Assumptions from Matt Cutt's Video on Authority vs. Popularity • 194 +1s, 94 Reshares
New Google Title Tag Length Guidelines: 55 Characters • 152 +1s, 180 Reshares

The few minutes it takes to jot down your thoughts could result in multiple reshares and thousands of additional eyeballs on your content.

4. Use your images too

The vast majority of top posts on Google+ use images. In fact, the most popular post I've personally ever shared was a simple animated GIF.

For increased shareability, it's usually best to upload your own photo.

By default, Google+ tries to include an image for any URL that you share. Unless you define the right Open Graph images and the proper social meta tags, the images are often not ideal, or are sized wrong.

When you upload your own image, the image links to the full-size version, not the URL you want to share. In this case, don't forget to include a link to the URL in the text.

5. Smarter sharing > targeted

Most people set their post to "public," thinking this gives them maximum exposure. In fact, there is a much more effective way to gain exposure to your top content, as long as you don't abuse it.

By also adding your circles and select individuals to your share settings, this triggers a notification for those users that you've shared a post directly with them.

Used smartly, these notifications can greatly influence the amount of activity on a post.

Warning: When targeted sharing is used too often, it turns spammy. Be careful what you share.

Only choose your very best, most important posts.

Amazingly, Google+ also allows you to notify people in your circles via email when you share. In order for this to work, the individuals must have their email notifications set up correctly. Be extra careful with this function, as it can turn people off fast!

6. The mighty, mighty #hashtag

Twitter and Facebook have made us accustomed to hashtags, but Google+ uses them in entirely different ways to organize and recommend content.

Google uses hashtags and semantic analysis to form relationships between topics. For example, consider this hashtag search for #linkbuilding. Notice the related topics Google associates with link building:

These associations aren't random. In fact, Mark Traphagen demonstrates how you can "teach" Google these relationships by tagging your own posts.

By default, Google often adds hashtags automatically to any post with sufficient text. Best practice is to add your own relevant hashtags at the end or within the body of each post.

7. Find the followed links

The followed link on Google+ has gone the way of the dodo.

When Google+ was born, it was a bonanza for links, and seen as an SEO paradise. Since that time, Google has replaced most equity passing followed links with nofollow, which pass no link equity. This includes profile links, "contributor to," and shared URLs.

There is one exception. Public +1's remain followed.

For now, whenever a visitor +1s your content without sharing it to their stream, this results in a followed link as long as the visitor has +1's set to "public."

This could be an oversight, or Google could remove these followed links soon.

While the value of +1s for SEO has been debated again and again, this may be the last remaining place that a +1 may actually pass link equity.

8. Leverage Google+ comments

I'm sort of in love with the Google+ commenting system.

Much like Facebook's popular commenting plugin, you can embed Google+ comments on your own blog. What makes this so powerful is when visitors leave a comment, they are given the option of sharing your post to their own Google+ followers.

This can greatly increase engagement among these users and their followers.

Officially, Google+ comments are only supported for Google's own Blogger platform. Fortuneatly, clever folks have devised a number of plugins and solutions for Wordpress, Drupal, and more.

9. +Post Ads: the future of social engagement?

Google's +Post Ads offer an interesting premise: take your most successful Google+ posts and turn them into ads that show all over Google's massive display network.

This exposes your posts to more people who otherwise would not have interacted with your brand on Google+ alone. This interaction drives more social sharing, and the sharing can continue after the paid promotion is over.

For example, if you are a car manufacturer, you could target your Google+ posts to appear on auto parts websites.

While still early in adoption, +Post Ads present a unique opportunity for businesses to attract customers at different stages of the buying cycle, and then keep those customers engaged through social media.

While the jury is still out if +Post Ads will be effective, it will likely take some time for marketers to learn how to effectively leverage this channel.

10. Interactive posts

Interactive Google+ posts allow you to perfectly customize how your content is shared, but they also allow you to prompt your social audience to take a specific action.

Google maintains an impressive list of actions which you can automatically embed into your post. These include:

Watch a video
Sign up for a newsletter
Reserve a table at a restaurant
Open an app
...and about 100 more.

Mike Arnesen wrote up a good overview of getting started with Interactive posts, or you can find more at the Google Developers blog.

Building your influence

Google+ isn't so much a social media platform like Twitter and Facebook, but an identity platform that works with Google to connect across all our different devices and web services.

This means that while sites like Facebook and Twitter can still deliver traffic to your website, Google+ is so integrated across so many platforms that it has many more places to touch potential visitors. Business that build up their audience base today potentially position themselves to collect bigger rewards in the future.

Do you receive traffic from Google+? Is it a part of your social strategy? Let us know in the comments below.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

Your 2013 Federal Taxpayer Receipt

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Your 2013 Federal Taxpayer Receipt

Want to know how your federal taxes are spent?

President Obama is keeping his promise to make sure Americans like you can easily see what you're getting for your taxes.

Just enter a few pieces of information, and the Taxpayer Receipt gives you a breakdown of how your tax dollars are spent on priorities like education and veterans benefits.

Get your 2013 Federal Taxpayer Receipt:

Stay Connected

This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com
Sign Up for Updates from the White House
Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy
Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House

We're updating the White House privacy policy on April 18. Learn more.

The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

9 helpful tools for an education in digital marketing

Posted: 15 Apr 2014 04:00 AM PDT

If you're like me and are interested in a wide spectrum of digital marketing areas, you may be familiar with some of what I'm going to recommend. If, on the other hand, you're a die-hard fan of just 5 blogs and only read those blogs every day, you're going to find your reading very limited.

We know that in our industry it's important to keep your eye on the ball in terms of developments and updates, but we also know that the path to becoming more well-rounded marketers involves continual up-skilling and thinking beyond our day-to-day roles onto the wider marketing fields.

I came to work on the agency side of things 18 months ago, and realised how limited my experience and knowledge of the wider world of marketing across the verticals was. I've also had to learn a whole new range of skills from the ground up. With this in mind, I have been developing an ever-evolving list of blogs, dailies, tools, guides and tutorials that I use to keep up with what others are doing and to help in my personal development as a search marketer. These happen to be incredibly varied and I'm always looking for recommendations, as you never know what you'll discover next!

For 'out-there' content inspiration:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/tendency

The provider of many of my muffled laughs in the White.net office, this is where I go for some literary light entertainment and inspiration. Granted, your new client's topic of choice probably wont be featured here, but there's such a variety of writing styles and genres that you're bound to find a quip or angle that will inspire future content creation or may even be the onus for a whole campaign.

For philosophical and user-centred thoughts:

http://arquiteturadeinformacao.com/

A multi-author blog, curated by Fabricio Teixeira. Mostly in Portuguese, but with a fair bit of English thrown in, this gem of a blog features posts on the emotions and feelings behind user decisions, mobile UX, recommended readings and the occasional rap video (yes really.)

For even more thorough site audits:

http://www.usereffect.com/topic/25-point-website-usability-checklist

Covering off the most basic usability points, this checklist helps you to check those most important functions and sticking points for users. Add it to your site checklist to make you site audits even better.

If you're completely new to code:

http://www.codeitpretty.com/

This is a great little site by Virginia native Marie Mosley. She provides practical and step-by-step tutorials on making small changes to blog sites. It a great introduction to code, even if you just want to be able to recognise the important elements of html, and offers tips on getting to grips with html and css changes, as well as how to write and test changes. It's great for people who learn by experimenting. Marie is good fun on twitter too: @MMosely

For news on what those cool kids in advertising have come up with:

http://www.adverblog.com/

Adverblog is where advertising meets digital marketing. Keep in touch with the latest virals, innovative and integrated campaign news. Great for examples of how companies are using social media channels effectively, as well as cross-channel integration and the new features on social media.

For examples to back you up in your work:

http://whichtestwon.com/

Which Test Won? is a premium access tool, but sign up for their free weekly emails and soon you'll have a library of great A/B test examples you can show to clients at relevant times to convince them that their 'Sign Me Up!' button really does need to be bigger.

For checking the need for speed:

http://gtmetrix.com/

An easy to use, free tool that brings together page speed reports, YSlow and recommendations, plus a great comparison element that is useful for showing clients why their website needs to be faster than their competitors.

The PRO version lets you track and monitor your sites, and alerts you when something bad happens. It also keeps a history of each site, so you can compare load times over time and across site changes.

For quick mock-ups and examples:

http://balsamiq.com/products/mockups/

Sometimes it's just a lot easier to show what you mean rather than using a page of text to explain yourself. Balsamiq let you do this in an idiot proof way. If you're not going to be using this too often, the free web app is good enough, but for saving, exporting and improved features, try the paid desktop app version.

For guidance on making your life simpler:

https://www.distilled.net/blog/seo/awesome-examples-of-how-to-use-seotools-for-excel/

The SEOTools for Excel extension is great, so making the most out of it seems like a pretty good idea and will save you a lot of time when doing everyday tasks. Luke Master's guide gives a great overview of how to utilise the basic and most commonly used features of the extension. It's basically an Idiots Guide, but it's a great place to start because it's so simple. Once you've mastered the basics, tool creator Niels Bosma has a comprehensive list of functions here to try.

Disclaimer: reading Luke's guide won't stop Excel from crashing, no matter how much you'd like it to.

So there you have it, just a portion of the sites and tools that I find most useful. It's a random list, but one that I find invaluable. I'll be adding to my list over the coming months and would love to hear your recommendations for other invaluable resources or tools. Speak to me in the comments below, or tweet me @alex_cestrian

Main image courtesy of Moyan Brenn

The post 9 helpful tools for an education in digital marketing appeared first on White Blog.

marți, 15 aprilie 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics

A moment of silence for Boston

Boston

10 Smart Tips to Leverage Google+ for Increased Web Traffic

10 Smart Tips to Leverage Google+ for Increased Web Traffic

1. Headlines, every time