Dr. Randal Pinkett Extends Deadline for Campus CEO Challenge

3rd Annual Business Plan Competition in partnership with the Institute For Entrepreneurial Leadership





NEWARK, NJ, January 21, 2010----Dr. Randal Pinkett, author of The No Money-Down CEO: How to Start Your Dream Business with Little or No Cash and Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur's Guide To Launching A Multi-Million Dollar Business, is looking to find the most promising entrepreneur among students attending New Jersey high schools and colleges via his annual business plan competition, the 3rd Annual Campus CEO Challenge. The deadline has been extended until Thursday, February 4, 2010, so that students in good standing in a high school, college or graduate program can submit summaries of their original business plans to Dr. Pinkett’s website, http://www.randalpinkett.com, and compete for cash prizes.

The Campus CEO Challenge is sponsored by insurance giant, Prudential Financial, who continues to demonstrate their commitment to business innovation and community involvement despite challenges in the economy.

"Who says you have to wait until after graduation to earn a decent living and launch the business of your dreams?", says Dr. Pinkett. “This is a great time to perfect business skills and flesh out ideas while you have a captured audience and a great test market. Facebook, a multi-million dollar business and one of the most recognized brands in the world, started in a college dorm. And a 13 year old, Jordan Culpepper, currently runs a successful business, Buttons by Jordan, creating customized buttons, for campaigns, special events and celebrities. It’s a perfect example of how the Campus CEO Challenge can help identity the next big thing.”


A panel of judges will select five finalists in the first round. In the second round, the public will be invited to Dr. Pinkett’s website to cast their vote for the Grand Prize winner. On March 31, 2010, all finalists will present their ideas to Dr. Pinkett and his team at the Institute For Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL) Next Level Mini-Conference and 3rd Annual Business Plan Competition Awards Luncheon hosted by NJIT. The event will include student groups, startups and aspiring entrepreneurs participating in business pitch presentations. The afternoon will conclude with Dr. Randal Pinkett’s Campus CEO Challenge Awards, recognizing the Grand Prize winner, runners-up and finalists of the contest.


The Grand Prize winner will receive $5,000.00, a copy of Dr. Pinkett’s book, Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multimillion-Dollar Company, his audio course, The No Money-Down CEO: How to Start Your Dream Business with Little or No Cash, as well as a one-on-one business coaching session with Dr. Pinkett. Runners-up receive $3,000.00 in cash and prizes.


For details visit: http://www.randalpinkett.com.

Daryl Mikell Brooks 5th Day of a 50 Day Hunger Strike

On Monday, January 18, 2010 in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., editor of Today's News NJ Daryl Mikell Brooks begin a 50 day hunger strike. Brooks will have no food, only liquids, during his hunger strike.

No food just liquids....

Who is Daryl Mikell Brooks?

As an activist Daryl have sought to confront those issues that plague our neighorhoods: drugs, guns, gang violence, inadequate educational system, prison system, police corruption and poverty.

He is the new age civil, human and political activist. A former host radio talk show on WTTM, ran for congress, US Senate twice and editor of Today's News NJ

A civil rights activist, former candidate for U.S. Senate and veteran of the justice system, Brooks is angry at the treatment of himself and persons released from the corrections system in the New Jersey.

Read more.......
www.brooks50dayhungerstrike.blogspot.com

Cash Money CEO's Get Into Gas/Oil Business

By Ismael AbduSalaam
(AllHipHop News) Entrepreneurs and Cash Money CEOs Bryan "Baby" and Ronald "Slim" Williams are moving their skills to a new venture in Bronald Oil & Gas, an independent company centered on identifying and using gas and oil reserves.



Bronald Oil & Gas are using several locations to develop oil and gas outlets, such as Osage County, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and unidentified Central America sites.



The Williams brothers have issued a mission statement which lists four key initiatives which they believe will be instrumental in developing oil and gas energy production in the 21st century:



Implementing proven and new cost-effective technologies to profitably recover oil and gas and extend the product life of existing reserves



Forming strategic alliances with other operators to leverage their respective experience and strengths on development



Forming partnerships with service, equipment and technology companies. By partnering with such companies, some of our fields may be designated as “testing ground” for new and developing technologies.



Building a strong investor and financial partner base by assembling and offering low to moderate risk (relative to the industry) recompletion and developmental drilling opportunities, as well as more risky exploration and development opportunities.

Bronald is seeking to work with government and private investors in these efforts while adhering to regulations that will benefit the environment.



“Bronald is committed to working cooperatively with governments and private enterprise to recover energy from known oil and gas reserves throughout North and Central America in an environmentally friendly manner,” the company states on its new website. “Bronald intends to utilize both historically successful technologies and means, as well as new innovations and technology, to recover energy resources in both and economic and environmentally efficient manner. Bronald is committed to preserving the environment, promoting worker safety and maximizing the potential output of various oil and gas assets.”

Radio Waves: Air America Ceases Operations

Air America Media is ending its live programming operations as of today. The company, which blamed a bad economic environment, intends to file a Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to close the business.

In a memo from Charlie Kireker, chair, Air America Media, he said the past year has seen a "perfect storm" in the media industry.

Air America Radio, which ultimately ran on 100 radio outlets, launched in April 2004 with both known personalities such as comic turned Sen. Al Franken, and then-unknown future stars like Rachel Maddow. It was credited as a rare progressive voice in mainstream radio broadcasting, a medium dominated by conservative talk-show hosts.

Air America is not alone in its financial woes; major radio players like Clear Channel, Citadel and Emmis have reported revenue shortfalls. The industry's veteran trade magazine Radio & Records closed last year.

Kireker cited the difficulty in obtaining "operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding. In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success."

He added that radio industry ad revenues are down for 10 consecutive quarters and reportedly off 21% in 2009. Online efforts to monetize face the same "profitability challenges."

A severance package will be offered to full-time employees with more than six months' service.

"We should all be proud of our passionate determination to assure that our nation's progressive voice would be heard loud and clear," he wrote, adding that "a lasting legacy was forged which will now continue through other voices and venues."

Nigeria's Christian-Muslim War Settles Down For Now

Authorities relaxed a 24-hour curfew to allow as
many people as possible back to their homes [AFP]



Religious Gang War Leaves Hundreds Dead -- ABC News (Australia)

Thursday, January 21, 2010
Nigeria's Christian-Muslim War Settles Down For Now

Authorities relaxed a 24-hour curfew to allow as
many people as possible back to their homes [AFP]



Religious Gang War Leaves Hundreds Dead -- ABC News (Australia)


Mass funerals are underway in the central Nigerian city of Jos after days of fighting between Christian and Muslim gangs left hundreds of people dead.

Human rights groups estimate at least 450 people have been killed in the violence and many of the dead have been taken to mosques and churches for burial.

At one mosque alone, more than 200 bodies have been left for burial, while dozens of others have been taken to churches.

Fighting between the groups of youths began last weekend and quickly escalated into a massacre.

Read more ....

Index of Economic Freedom: UK drops out of top ten

The news that the UK has dropped out of the top-ten countries in the Index of Economic Freedom should act as a wake-up call to the politicians wishing to form the next government. The country’s score dropped from 79 to 76.5, the second largest fall among the world’s twenty largest economies (only in the USA is economic freedom declining even more rapidly). Worse still, the 2010 Index is based primarily on data from July 2008 to June 2009 – before December’s disastrous Pre-Budget Report and the arbitrary supertax on bankers’ bonuses.



Under New Labour, Britain has fallen far behind leading economies such as Hong Kong (score: 89.7), Singapore (86.1) and Australia (82.6). The UK has moved closer to the low-growth economies of continental Europe.



The implications are extremely serious. The prospect of further tax rises and more burdensome regulation will deter the private investment needed to bring about a vibrant and sustained economic recovery. Moreover, there is a growing risk that multinational businesses will move their UK operations to countries where there are fewer restraints on their activities.



The next government should therefore act quickly to reverse this worrying trend. In particular, urgent steps are needed to tackle very high levels of government spending (the UK scores just 41.9 out of 100 on this component of the Index). The imperatives of the current fiscal crisis mean either large tax rises or severe cuts to public expenditure will be necessary. These shocking figures on economic freedom strongly recommend the latter.

IBM CEO on Lessons & Opportunities in Internet of Things

Earlier this month IBM CEO Sam Palmisano gave a speech in London, in which he discussed IBM's products and services in the Internet of Things. He also outlined what IBM sees as emerging opportunities for "smart systems" over the coming decade. It was a significant speech, given that IBM has been probably the leading large tech company promoting the Internet of Things up till now.

When you consider that trillions of sensors will be deployed worldwide in the coming decade and the interest in Internet of Things from such high-ranking officials as China's Premier, IBM's use cases so far and its evolving strategy is definitely worth taking note of.

IBM's 'Smarter Planet' campaign and accompanying Tumblr blog have been in operation since November 2008. This strategy is about connecting objects to the Internet and applying intelligence and services on top of that.

Palmisano noted one of the key points about Internet of Things early in his speech - it puts computational power into "things no one would recognize as computers." Things like "cars, appliances, roadways and rail lines, power grids, clothes." He also mentioned processes and global supply chains, non-sexy markets that have proven to be early commercial successes for the company in Internet of Things. Finally, Palmisano pointed to implementation in "natural systems, such as agriculture and waterways."

He explained that "intelligence" can be gleaned off all of this data, "because we now have the processing power and advanced analytics to make sense of it all."

IBM claims to have developed 1,200 "smarter solutions" so far. Palmisano said that "in four cities where IBM has helped deploy congestion management solutions, traffic volume during peak periods has been reduced by up to 18 percent, CO2 emissions from motor vehicles were reduced by up to 14 percent, and public transit use increased by up to 7 percent." He listed other examples from healthcare, banking, power metering and retailing.

However, Palmisano cautioned that while the "technology may be ready, [...] your culture may not be." He talked about one of IBM's customers, Rosenau Transport in Canada. That company took over two years to implement a new 'smart' trucking system.

Another key thing to note about Internet of Things is the sheer volume of data that will flow through the Internet in the coming years. Palmisano remarked that "we are amassing an unimaginable amount of data in the world." He claimed that in three years time, IP traffic "is expected to total more than half a zettabyte" (which equals a trillion gigabytes).

He also said that "all this data is far more real-time than ever before" - which of course is another trend that ReadWriteWeb has been tracking closely.

Palmisano didn't neglect to mention the "disquieting implications" of the Internet of Things. In particular, privacy and security. However, he didn't give any reassurances on this front - other than to say that IBM is part of several coalitions, such as the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition and the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative. He rather blandly added, "they [privacy and security] will require serious consideration and collaborative decision making across all the stakeholders of civil society."

Overall, we continue to be impressed by IBM's commitment to Internet of Things. It is leading the way in technology and implementation. The privacy implications (in particular) will potentially be a roadblock in some areas, together with the continuing difficulties of implementing technology such as RFID. So it will be interesting to see how IBM deals with those two issues over 2010.

Doc Rivers Says Big Baby Needs To “Grow Up”

Heading into last year’s offseason, things were looking pretty good for Glen “Big Baby” Davis. He was coming off a stellar postseason where he averaged 15.8 points and 5.6 rebounds. The Celtics rewarded him with a two-year, $6.5 million contract. Davis also made one of the biggest and most memorable postseason plays when he hit a baseline jumper in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals to beat the Magic. But since then, things have gone south for Big Baby.
During the preseason, Davis injured his hand after an altercation with a friend. Big Baby missed the Celtics’ first 28 games after getting surgery on his hand. Since he’s been back, he’s averaged just 6.2 points and 4.3 rebounds.

In last night’s game against the Pistons, Davis was heckled by a fan who was allegedly calling him “fat boy.” Davis reportedly responded with a graphic comment of his own. When coach Doc Rivers was informed of the incident after the game, Rivers was not exactly on Davis’ side.

“I always say to the ‘to the [victor] goes the spoils,’” Rivers told reporters last night. “If the other team’s winning and the fans are on you, that’s part of it. We’ve been taught you have to take it and you have to keep playing. I don’t think it’s a huge step backwards [for Davis], but it is a step backwards and Glen Davis has to grow up.”

White American basketball league

In June, the All-American Basketball Alliance will start its first season of play. What sets the AABA apart from other basketball leagues? Players must be white and born in the good ol' USA. Of course, AABA commissioner Don "Moose" Lewis says the league isn't racist. Of course not. From the Augusta Chronicle:

"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."
Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color." He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans' dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.

"Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?" he said. "That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."

The Atlanta-based league, which will operate as a single-entity owning all of its teams, is looking for local contacts to pay $10,000 to become a "licensee" in one of 12 cities throughout the Southeast. Lewis said he has already received threats from people opposed to the roster restrictions and several cities have told him to stay out of town.

No Mo, No Sweat Cavaliers Stop Lakers 93-87

The Cleveland Cavaliers have swept the home and home series with the Los Angeles Lakers winning Thursday night at the Q Arena in Cleveland 93-87. The Cavaliers went into the game without a main cog as starting point guard Mo Williams will be sidelined for 4-6 weeks after suffering a left shoulder strain against Toronto Tuesday. However LeBron James had a game high 37 points and big nights from some of Cleveland’s big men helped them get the victory. Kobe Bryant had 31 points for Los Angeles but the team shot just 38.6% (32-83) from the floor for the night.

Delonte West is taking Williams spot in the staring rotation and although he did not have a strong night statistically he did stay on the floor for 43 minutes. The Cavaliers looked totally dazed and confused in the first as Los Angeles pulled out to a 27-18 advantage at the end of the period. Cleveland would have the hot hand in the second quarter and they would trail just by 2 points as the contest reached the half with the Lakers lead at 46-44.

The score was tied in the third quarter with 1 minute left to play in the period when LBJ knocked down a mid-range jumper and the Cavaliers would hold the slim lead at the conclusion of the quarter 67-65. With 1:31 left to play in regulation Kobe Bryant buried an outside and knotted the score up at 87-87. Those would be the last points the Lakers would score as Cleveland ended the game on a 6-0 run.

LeBron James dropped 37 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block while Shaquille O’Neal had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 1 steal. J.J. Hickson recorded a double-double with 11 points, 14 boards and 1 assist while Anderson Varejao scored 11 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 31 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds in the loss. Pau Gasol added 13 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal while Lamar Odom came off the bench and had a double-double as he scored 10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Cleveland is now 33-11 and will play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder Saturday while Los Angeles has a 32-10 record and will play in New York Friday as the take on the Knicks.

Lil Wayne’s NFL Playoff Prediction: Minnesota Vikings Win Over The Saints

Lil Wayne may be from New Orleans, but that doesn't mean he rooting for the Saints to take it all during this year's NFL Playoffs.

He's actually rooting for another team. The Minnesota Vikings?

In a recent interview with MTV, the New Orleans-bred rapper explained that over the weekend, when the New Orleans Saints take on the Minnesota Vikings in his hometown for the NFC Championship game, he'll be pulling for the Vikings. Why? Because his favorite player is their quarterback, Brett Favre.

"I'm rooting for Brett because I'm a diehard," Weezy told MTV this week.

Aside from Favre being his favorite player, he says the Vikings have it ... simply because of their superior running attack and defense.

"I believe the Vikings will win because of the running attack," Wayne explained. "The Saints give up about 150 rushing yards a game, and the Vikings have arguably the best running back in the game [Adrian Peterson]. ... I believe the Vikings defense will frustrate Brees."

The Saints-Vikings game kicks off at 6:40 p.m. on Sunday evening (January 24). The winner of that game earns a spot in this year's Super Bowl, who will take on the winner of Sunday's Indianapolis Colts/ New York Jets game.

Waka Flocka Flame Not Dead, Was Shot Though

Atlanta rapper Waka Flocka Flame was shot Tuesday in a robbery, but is not dead despite the Waka Flocka Flame dead rumors doing the rounds.

According to reports, Waka Flocka Flame (real name Juaquin Malphurs) was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was injured in a jewelry store robbery. Flame was shopping in the store when it was held up, and was shot after refusing to hand over the jewelry he was wearing.

He did however require assistance, and was taken to Atlanta Hospital for surgery. He is in a satisfactory condition, and is expected to make a full recovery.

Although this rumor had some basis in truth (that is, he was shot) we can confirm for the record that Waka Flocka Flame is not dead…Waka Flocka Flame did not die.

Fat Woman Pleads Guilty To Killing Her Kids' Father By Sitting On Him...Receives Probation

MyFoxDC -

CLEVELAND - A woman in Cleveland pleaded guilty to sitting on her 120 pound boyfriend, Mikal Middleston-Bey, and killing him.

It happened back in August, during an altercation between the couple, who share three children together.

Mia Landingham, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, during her sentencing, her boyfriend's family spoke out letting Landingham know the pain she has caused..

...

Landingham's public defender told the judge there was a long history of domestic abuse between his client and her late boyfriend.

He also pointed out she has no prior criminal record.

Landingham then told the judge she was sorry for squashing the father of her children.

...

Judge Carolyn Friedland sentenced Landingham to three years probation and 100 hours community service.
She was immediately released from jail.

McDonald's 4th-quarter profit rises

Friday, McDonald's Corp. (MCD: News ) reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.22 billion or $1.11 per share, compared to net income of $0.99 billion or $0.87 per share in the same quarter last year.

Quarterly results included a positive impact of $0.07 per share due to the effect of foreign currency translation.

On average, 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.02 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter increased 7% to $6.0 billion from $5.57 billion in the comparable quarter last year. Analysts expected the company to report revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter.

The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.55 per share of common stock, payable on March 15, 2010 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 1, 2010.

Asian Markets Drop after Wall Street Reacts to President Obama's Bank Limits

Asian stock prices have dropped in line with markets in the United States after President Obama announced plans for new limits on how banks invest.

Benchmark indexes in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Seoul fell up to two and a half percent Friday. Some markets sank nearly three percent in early trading, but the losses eased in the afternoon.

President Obama said Thursday he wants to restrict banks ability to make excessively risky investments to avoid another financial crisis.

U.S. markets drooped on the news, leading Asian stocks to follow suit.

David Cohen, director of Asian forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore, says the sell-off is just a reflex and Mr. Obama's limits on banks are not likely to have significant effects on world markets.

"A lot of it is political in the United States, revolving around the populist anger at Wall Street," he said. "And, the fact that Obama waited this long to introduce the measure I think says something to that. It's more … as much a political response to some of the problems that the Democrats have been feeling lately."

The drop on Wall Street was the second day that stocks took a tumble. Markets slumped Wednesday after China said it would reduce bank lending to slow its economy.

Chinese officials said Thursday their economy is back into double-digit growth and has recovered from the global financial crisis.

Cohen says curbs on bank lending are a logical step in view of China's rapid growth.

"The reason the policy makers in Beijing are looking to tighten policy a little bit is simply because their economy has been showing strong momentum as it entered 2010 and it just might be appropriate to withdraw some of the aggressive stimulus that they added about a year ago in a successful effort to counter the drag from the global downturn," he said.

Some economists have said China's economy was an important factor in the world avoiding a more serious economic problem.

Cohen agrees. He says the global economy is now on track to recover with Asian economies, and in particular China. in the lead.

But, he says although there is a lower chance of another financial crisis there are still risks that could shake up markets.

Cohen says there are no doubt more problems hidden in some banks and that governments still have to deal with the massive debts racked up from spending to stimulate their economies.

In the Asian markets, Australia's All Ordinaries index fell 1.6 percent, Japan's Nikkei closed down almost 2.6 percent and Seoul's Kospi lost 2.2 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed six tenths of a percent lower, but had been down nearly three percent in the morning.

Haitian Government to Relocate 400,000 Displaced by Quake

Haitian government officials say an estimated 400,000 residents displaced by last week's earthquake will be moved to new villages to be set up outside the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince.

Officials said Thursday they will provide transportation for the residents and hope to begin moving them as soon as possible. The 7.0 magnitude quake left an estimated 1.5 million people homeless, and earthquake survivors have been living outside in overcrowded camps with little or no sanitation.

Also on Thursday, U.S. military announced it had reopened the heavily damaged seaport in the Haitian capital to help improve the flow of aid to earthquake victims.

The commander of the U.S. Southern Command, General Douglas Fraser, said the port should be able to handle the movement of about 150 containers of relief daily.

The port's capacity is expected grow to at least 250 containers a day Friday, when a commercial vessel arrives.

Debris around the port, wrecked roads and congestion at the damaged main airport in the capital have made delivering relief to earthquake survivors difficult.

Fraser also said three new airports have opened in Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic for relief supplies.

Meanwhile, U.S. aviation authorities say they have sent a temporary control tower to Haiti to help with the flights bringing in earthquake aid from around the world. The tower will come with two diesel-powered generators and supporting fuel tanks.

Separately, aid workers on the ground in Haiti say they are making progress getting food and water to survivors, but the death toll could rise because of untreated injuries and disease. The aid group, Doctors Without Borders, says patients are dying of sepsis (an infection in the blood) from untreated wounds and that some of the group's surgical sites have 10- to 12-day backlogs of patients.

The January 12 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people and affected 3 million people -- about one-third of Haiti's population.

The U.S. Defense Department said Thursday that the number of American troops taking part in relief efforts will grow to 20,000 by Sunday, including troops on the ground and on the many ships in the area.

The U.S. Navy ship, USNS Comfort, reached Haiti Wednesday and its crew has treated more than 230 patients from 10 hospital sites.