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There are a few different ways to measure the power of a meme in the tech industry. You can run powerful sentiment analysis on blog posts and message boards, scour trending topics on Twitter, or just follow the money. While it’s no absolute indicator, the appearance of well-respected venture capitalists and angels in a sector is usually regarded as a serious market signal.

And “gamification,” or the use of game mechanics to boost interest in non-game applications, is no exception. The notion of engaging consumers using game thinking and game mechanics has transformed both startup pitches and later-stage company strategies. Investors have taken notice and are ramping up their funding in what they perceive as a major, multi-billion-dollar market opportunity.

In the last twelve months alone, over $10 million in seed capital has flowed into a series of disruptive, gamification-centric startups, over $25 million additional capital has gone to businesses betting big on gamification as a core customer strategy, and at least one $100 million fund dedicated in part to gamification has been launched. (Last year, more than $600 million was invested in game companies).

We interviewed key investors and companies they’ve funded to figure out what assumptions are driving their investments. They identified three distinct (but overlapping) theses about gamification’s future: It will transform people, it will transform industries and it will transform everything.

One of the believers in the transformative people power of gamification is Brad Feld, famous blogger and Foundry Group partner. As an early investor in Zynga, he saw the power of games first-hand saying in an interview that “How we interact with computers today is crazy.” Feld has a strong interest in new human-computer interactions, and his portfolio includes gamified startups like Fitbit and Oblong, as well as a lead in the $5 million-plus investment in Seattle-based gamification platform BigDoor Media.

When it comes to transforming industries, Glenn Entis knows a thing or two. He’s one of the co-founders of PDI, and a former CEO and CTO of Dreamworks and Electronic Arts. So when he and his business partner launched VanEdge Capital this spring with a $100 million fund dedicated in part to gamification, the market took notice. In explaining his thesis, Entis said that “gamification is about applying the insights and tools of game design to raise engagement,” continuing that they see “opportunities for disruptively gamified businesses everywhere – personal health care, financial management, retail, education, and more.”

Entis is on to something. Finance, education and health care are each trillion-dollar markets with 20+ years of history experimenting with games and game thinking. Whether it was the runaway success of Mint.com, the blockbuster effect of the Obama administration’s “Reach for the Top” program in education or the consumer behavior changes wrought by the Wii and Brain Age, many experts believe these markets are ripe for gamification investment. The common thread: Finance, education and health affect everyone, are cash rich, have few payers and small behavior changes can yield outsized financial benefits.

For years, major investors like Granite Ventures and Adobe have been putting money into gamification through investments in companies like BunchBall – a service and platform provider. More recently, a number of VCs have made a name for themselves in the space, including outspoken veterans Tim Chang and Josh Goldman of Norwest Venture Partners. In candid discussions, they revealed a belief that major verticals, including healthcare and retail would be transformed most, adding that in order to gain their attention, startups must design gamification “from the ground-up, based on a deep understanding of mechanics and engagement loops.” Chang’s passion for so-called smart gamification has led him to volunteer his expertise, shaping the discussion online and at events like the upcoming Gamification Summit (of which I am conference chair).

Leading the vanguard for companies that believe in gamification everywhere is recent TechCrunch Disrupt audience award winner Badgeville. The six-month-old startup’s CEO, Kris Duggan recently revealed a stellar lineup of investors behind their $3 million initial raise. The company’s early partners include Comcast and TechCrunch, and Kris says “The message is clear: [good] loyalty rewards are sorely missing on the web and mobile, and we’ve met with thousands of companies around the world looking to engage their users, customers, employees, and partners.”

Like Badgeville, Utah-based startup iActionable has raised a seed round from notable angels to transform the world into a more fun place. CEO Ryan Elkins says what makes the market a huge opportunity is that it’s about “instant feedback to consumers that is encouraging, motivating and meaningful, while giving companies data that drives better understanding.” Like Badgeville’s Duggan, Elkins’ success doesn’t hinge on a specific vertical (like healthcare) becoming an early adopter, but rather on the long tail of web and mobile content becoming gamified.

Some investors are notably skeptical of the long-tail philosophy and gamification in general. Others, such as Dave McClure, have skewered gamification in at least one expletive-laden tirade (though he’s invested in gamified companies). And even major proponents like Tim Chang have their concerns, saying, “Every entrepreneur has added game mechanics to their business model slide hoping to jump on the buzz bandwagon.” Notably, Chang and other well-known game-y VCs, such as Bing Gordon, have thus far eschewed investing in gamification platforms.

But in perhaps the most telling anecdote, during coffee on a recent Thursday, Charlie O’Donnell of First Round Capital noted “Now, when a consumer internet startup comes to pitch without game mechanics in their plan, I always ask ‘Why Not?’”

If the standard Silicon Valley hype cycle holds true for gamification, there will be some winners and some losers. A multi-billion dollar company or two (three?) will clearly emerge to dominate their sector, while the concept permeates into society. Much like Facebook/social media or Google/search before it, we come to view the underlying concept as a core part of marketing, product design and strategy long after the “startups” are no longer so small.

Perhaps the best (and last) word on gamification as an investment thesis goes to Brad Feld: “Life is one big game that machines are making us play.  Therefore, I want to make sure I invest in the technology enabling the machines. I want that edge.”

Sounds sharp to me.

Gabe Zichermann is the author of the book, Game-Based Marketing (Wiley, 2010), the upcoming “Gamification by Design” (O’Reilly, 2011) and blogger at Gamification.Co. He’s also chair of the Gamification Summit coming up in January. He wrote this piece for VentureBeat. [photo source: gamification.org]

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On Monday, I linked to this op-ed from Tom Esvlin, Vermont's "stimulus czar," lamenting the way the money got spent. "Although I'd like to think Vermont did better than many states, much of the money ended up continuing bloated programs rather than providing a transition to a sustainable future," he wrote. That same day, Brookings' Gary Burtless e-mailed in a rebuttal that's worth quoting at length, as it's a very clear description of where the stimulus funds actually went, and why such a small percentage was directly devoted to building things. So here it is, with some edits for space:

The main problem with that silly op-ed is that it refers to only a small slice of the actual federal spending on stimulus authorized by the Feb. 2009 legislation. So far, the overwhelming share of that stimulus has been devoted to three items: Tax cuts for households; direct benefits to people adversely affected by the severe recession, mostly the unemployed or poor; and fiscal relief to state and local governments. Vermont did not need any "Czar" to receive or administer funds under these programs. The money for them quickly left the U.S. Treasury without any effort on the part of the Czar who penned this highly misleading op-ed piece. People in Vermont *directly* received benefits from the stimulus as: (1) lower federal tax withholding from their paychecks; (2) extended unemployment benefits; (3) premium subsidies so they could maintain their health insurance after they were laid off from a job in which they received health protection; (4) miscellaneous benefits (e.g., for college costs) under one provision or another; and (5) aid from the Treasury that permitted Vermont and its localities to finance their Medicaid and K-12 education programs without hiking taxes or lowering other public spending. The kinds of infrastructure spending for which the WSJ's "Czar" had some responsibility constituted a small percentage of the stimulus the Congress authorized for 2009 and 2010.



In FY 2009 and 2010, the EXPECTED spending on infrastructure and other items for which the Vermont “Czar” may have had partial responsibility accounted for just 11% of anticipated spending under the stimulus legislation. The other 89% had nothing to do with the programs criticized by Vermont’s supposed Czar. Thus, all of his complaints – even if justified – are essentially irrelevant to the programs mainly supported by the stimulus law … at least so far. Obviously, in the years 2011-2019, that kind of stimulus spending would have accounted for a vastly larger share of outlays. But (and perhaps Vermont’s Czar has not kept up with this because he does not read a daily paper) the Congress just passed and the President just signed ANOTHER stimulus program consisting of more than 90% personal and business tax cuts and less than 10% extensions in unemployment benefits. So far as I know, very little additional spending has been authorized for those hated infrastructure / technology investment projects. Below is the CBO’s year-by-year analysis of the spending authorized under the Feb. 2009 stimulus law:

My own private view is that the country would probably have been better off if *MORE* of the original stimulus had been devoted to infrastructure / technology investment (more of it would have been spent on goods and services produced in the U.S. rather than China, East Asia, and Europe). Setting aside that consideration for a minute, what infuriates me about the piece cited in your blog is that it reinforces the very widespread but totally erroneous impression that Congress and the Administration were unaware of the administrative hurdles to fast spending that the “Czar” points out in his op-ed. Those hurdles were understood from the very beginning, which is precisely the reason that infrastructure/technology investment projects constituted such a small percentage of the total package. It is perfectly legitimate to criticize the pace of spending on these projects, but it is utterly deranged to think that the slow rate of spending on the projects constitutes a serious indictment of the spending authorized under the Feb. 2009 stimulus program. Very little of the expected spending under the stimulus program (at least so far) was supposed to be devoted to those projects.

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Making Money Quickly

A stimulus package is a series of policies and programmes introduced by a government in order to deal with an economic crisis. When a crisis occurs (and, in a capitalist system, crises are inevitable from time to time), the problems that governments face include the loss of jobs as companies close down and the general lack of confidence. People, organizations and companies fear what is going to happen and so decide not to spend or invest in any money; when no one is spending money, therefore, more companies will go bust and unemployment increases further and the economy enters a vicious circle. The role of the government in such a situation is to stimulate the economy so as to increase employment and replace the spending that the private sector would otherwise have been making. It was one of the great breakthroughs in economic thought provided by John Maynard Keynes that governments must act in such situations and should, if necessary, borrow money to make sure that a sufficiently large stimulus package is implemented. The point is that stimulating growth now makes it much more possible to pay back the money owed later.

Edsall described the Terps’ opening as a “Dream Job.” But that doesn’t change the fact that the move surprised college football fans on every end of the spectrum.



Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

  There was a general consensus that Oklahoma was going to win the Fiesta Bowl. That being said, it wasn’t like UCONN rolled over. The Huskies rallied late in the season, winning four straight and entering their first BCS bowl in school history. They were playing in honor of the late Jasper Howard, who dreamed of making it to a BCS game.

Obviously, the loss left UCONN heavy hearted. They were simply outclassed by a bigger, faster, and significantly more talented Oklahoma team. One would think a loss of that magnitude would give Head Coach Randy Edsall a lot to think about. But apparently, he digested all the facts pretty quickly; leaving the Huskies for the University of Maryland literally 24 hours after losing in the Fiesta Bowl.

Edsall described the Terps’ opening as a “Dream Job.” But that doesn’t change the fact that the move surprised college football fans on every end of the spectrum. First, Maryland spent more than two million dollars just to terminate the contract of Ralph Friedgen. With that kind of money spent on the firing of a coach that went 8-4; the overwhelming assumption was that Maryland was getting a major coach. Names tossed around included Chris Petersen and Mike Leach.

But perhaps more interesting is where Maryland stands in the ACC. Maryland does not make nearly as much money from their football program as the rest of the ACC (sans Duke and Wake Forest). If anything, Edsall made a lateral move, to a strikingly similar modern program. The only real difference is the conference. And this is something the Big East has had a lot of trouble getting used to.

In 2006, Bobby Petrino led the Louisville Cardinals to a BCS game for the first time in the school’s history, and then unceremoniously left to coach the Atlanta Falcons (who he also departed from in controversial fashion). The next year, Rich Rodriguez led West Virginia, an offensive juggernaut with White and Slaton into the BCS, before ditching his alma mater for another maize and blue team. Last year, Brian Kelly literally left the Bearcats coach-less for their BCS game, in order to fill the void at Notre Dame.

So let’s add this up. In the last five years, four teams have won the Big East. All four of those teams’ coaches left, resulting in absolute chaos throughout the conference. And even though all of these coaches are doing it to seek greener pastures, there are two things that are worth mentioning. First, with the exception of Bobby Petrino, who somehow landed on his feet in Arkansas, the departed Big East coaches have had significant problems in their new environments, both on and off the field. Second, and more important, is the rate of exchange.

Since the 2005 departure of football powerhouses Miami, Boston College, and Virginia Tech, there is no other conference that has experienced coaching turnover quite like the Big East. In a country where football is the money sport, the Big East is literally the only major conference that has built itself around basketball success. Interestingly enough, the ACC’s decision to acquire BC, Virginia Tech, and Miami, were part of initiative to make the ACC a football conference again.

Try as they may, the Big East is not in a position to do that. Notre Dame has flat out refused to join the conference, so the Big East instead reached out to TCU, a school more than halfway across the country. TCU’s departure officially spells doom for the Mountain West, but also doesn’t do anything for the Big East. Because instead of moving to a conference where you can be a BCS team at-large with such a successful season, TCU has put themselves in a position where they can lose five regular season games, and still make the BCS. Hell, if an undefeated Cincinnati couldn’t get National championship consideration, you can be certain that TCU won’t either. And it’s simply because the focus is not on football.

Now, the truth is, that’s not always a huge problem. Football is literally six times more expensive to operate than the next most expensive college sport. So if you are the Big East, and basketball is the big ticket, it’s probably not a terrible idea to ride the basketball wave. The only problem is, coaches know that too.

Yesterday, I spoke to a former National Champion Football player at Boston College about the series of Big East exits, and his response was simple. “If you put every Head Football Coach from the Big East in a room and asked them to air grievances, the first thing they’d all say is, ‘we can’t get top talent here because we are a basketball conference.”

But if the understanding is that they aren’t a football conference, why is there an illusion that these are real football coaches? UCONN football was literally the only head coaching position that Edsall ever knew. And unlike Jim Harbaugh, who literally need one recruiting class to turn a 1-11 team into a national powerhouse in the Pac 10, Edsall needed 12 years, a lost of losing seasons, and three of the most significant athletic defections of the new millennium.

Perhaps coaches are doing what anyone else would do. They are striking while the iron is hot.

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New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions

Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.

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What happened after she resign? Her supervisor was sacked for poor work performance.

This happened again and again. It has nothing to do with her work performance. It has to do with her career luck. It seems that others have good luck in their career, but she has very bad luck.

Some people have all the good luck in the career.

Their business proposals happen to land on the desk of the top management because their immediate boss happens to take leave during the period.

They get the job in the company at the time when business is booming, and the company gives out record high bonus.

They leave the company and the industry before the industry downturn.

What about you? Do you have good luck in your career?

About me:

Scheng1 is a passionate blogger from Singapore.

Rich in every sense reveals my deep desire in enjoying life, and be rich in every possible ways. Personal Finance

is about money, from making money to investing money

Orbs – Lately there have been many online services that focus on quick and easy website creation for personal or temporary business use. Orbs is one such service that helps create a simple website even if you have no prior experience. You can use the site to quickly create a website and add pages to it. The site can be anything you want it to be: it can be something like a personal blog or a company events page. Read more: Orbs: Create A Simple Website & Get It Online Instantly
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Small Business <b>News</b>: Starting Your New Business In A New Year

Whether your starting a new business or rethinking an existing one, 2011 offers fresh possibilities and a new start. If you're launching a new business, there.

New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions

Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.

robert shumake detroit

Are Korea&#39;s “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots

LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,

Small Business <b>News</b>: Starting Your New Business In A New Year

Whether your starting a new business or rethinking an existing one, 2011 offers fresh possibilities and a new start. If you're launching a new business, there.

New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions

Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.

robert shumake detroit

What happened after she resign? Her supervisor was sacked for poor work performance.

This happened again and again. It has nothing to do with her work performance. It has to do with her career luck. It seems that others have good luck in their career, but she has very bad luck.

Some people have all the good luck in the career.

Their business proposals happen to land on the desk of the top management because their immediate boss happens to take leave during the period.

They get the job in the company at the time when business is booming, and the company gives out record high bonus.

They leave the company and the industry before the industry downturn.

What about you? Do you have good luck in your career?

About me:

Scheng1 is a passionate blogger from Singapore.

Rich in every sense reveals my deep desire in enjoying life, and be rich in every possible ways. Personal Finance

is about money, from making money to investing money

Orbs – Lately there have been many online services that focus on quick and easy website creation for personal or temporary business use. Orbs is one such service that helps create a simple website even if you have no prior experience. You can use the site to quickly create a website and add pages to it. The site can be anything you want it to be: it can be something like a personal blog or a company events page. Read more: Orbs: Create A Simple Website & Get It Online Instantly
robert shumake

robert shumake

Are Korea&#39;s “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots

LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,

Small Business <b>News</b>: Starting Your New Business In A New Year

Whether your starting a new business or rethinking an existing one, 2011 offers fresh possibilities and a new start. If you're launching a new business, there.

New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions

Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.

robert shumake

Are Korea&#39;s “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots

LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,

Small Business <b>News</b>: Starting Your New Business In A New Year

Whether your starting a new business or rethinking an existing one, 2011 offers fresh possibilities and a new start. If you're launching a new business, there.

New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions

Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.

robert shumake detroit

Managing your finances while you are between jobs is tough. You have to consider the overall economy, the reason for your unemployment, your skill set, and estimated length of unemployment. The economy is a determining factor since you may apply for unemployment benefits via your state. The estimated time frame is 24 weeks with the possibility of extension for an additional 24 weeks but if the economy has a high unemployment the probability for an extension is limited.

The reason for your unemployment is important. For example, if your company was part of a well-known, massive layoff/acquisition you may have received a generous severance package. You would be able to maintain fixed expenses such as rent/mortgage, property taxes, and insurance using your severance while keeping your unemployment separate for postponed/variable expenses such as dining out, entertainment, and travel.

On the other hand, it is rare to obtain a generous package so your unemployment may be your only income for both fixed and variable expenses. Remember, it will run out. While searching for a new job, check with an unemployment expert to see if you can go back to school for a short-term certificate in a promising field such as computers, technology, education, and medicine. Also, check with your state to determine if you can start a homebased business for minimal costs instead of searching for a traditional job.

Your skill set is critical. For instance, if you are a registered nurse who lost her job because of a merger you will obtain a job offer sooner because of the national shortage of good nurses and you may receive better pay/benefits/work-life options. You may still choose to enjoy an expensive two week vacation. However, a low-skilled clerical worker who has enormous competition needs to forego a vacation and hit the books.

Managing your household income will be a challenge and it may take time to establish a new budget. However, you can change your unemployment budget based on your personal needs.


robert shumake

Are Korea&#39;s “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots

LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,

Small Business <b>News</b>: Starting Your New Business In A New Year

Whether your starting a new business or rethinking an existing one, 2011 offers fresh possibilities and a new start. If you're launching a new business, there.

New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions

Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.

robert shumake detroit

robert shumake

What happened after she resign? Her supervisor was sacked for poor work performance.

This happened again and again. It has nothing to do with her work performance. It has to do with her career luck. It seems that others have good luck in their career, but she has very bad luck.

Some people have all the good luck in the career.

Their business proposals happen to land on the desk of the top management because their immediate boss happens to take leave during the period.

They get the job in the company at the time when business is booming, and the company gives out record high bonus.

They leave the company and the industry before the industry downturn.

What about you? Do you have good luck in your career?

About me:

Scheng1 is a passionate blogger from Singapore.

Rich in every sense reveals my deep desire in enjoying life, and be rich in every possible ways. Personal Finance

is about money, from making money to investing money

Orbs – Lately there have been many online services that focus on quick and easy website creation for personal or temporary business use. Orbs is one such service that helps create a simple website even if you have no prior experience. You can use the site to quickly create a website and add pages to it. The site can be anything you want it to be: it can be something like a personal blog or a company events page. Read more: Orbs: Create A Simple Website & Get It Online Instantly
robert shumake

Are Korea&#39;s “Bending” away from Bluster? « Liveshots

LONDON After a 2010 that saw the Korean peninsula edge towards the brink of nuclear Armageddon,

Small Business <b>News</b>: Starting Your New Business In A New Year

Whether your starting a new business or rethinking an existing one, 2011 offers fresh possibilities and a new start. If you're launching a new business, there.

New Edition of Huckleberry Finn to Drop N-Word: Instant Reactions

Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, along with NewSouth Books, plans to release a newly edited edition of the Mark Twain classic, with every instance of the N-word replaced with the word.

robert shumake

robert shumake detroit

foreclosure

I generally agree with yoru statement, all the tricks the FED did to print hosuing dollars are done now, now people have to bring real money, and that means wages. However I disagree with statement "businesses competing with foreign wages CANNOT pay higher wages to American workers". Businesses overpay their CEOs and upper management all the time (boards are made up of cronies, not directors working in best interest of stockowners) and big US businesses are generally making high profits and have record cash reserves. So businesses CAN afford to pay workers high wages, but rather, they simply WON'T because they do not have to (no laws, unions etc to force them) and the WON'T because unlike the waste of over-priced salaries at high-end of coroporate ladders, business are not so stupid and wasteful and low-end and they keep low and middle workers wages as low as they can or they outsource.

But just so you know in real world there is an alternative ( not one you will ever see in US due to our politics and people assumptions like yours) look at Germany. They are an exporting machine. Their companies are very competitive in world market AND their worker wages and benefits are much higher than US. They have higher horuly salaries, their workers get 6 weeks vacation from get go, etc.. Also, they are fairly heavily regulated, their companies are held to high safety standards, high worker fairness standards, and tough environmental standards and also their companies do a lot with expensive alternative energy.

So in my mind there are at least two ways to for a countries companies to be competitve on world market, China or Germany, the only option is NOT China and depressed wages and weak currency.

Again and again, I see smart people assuming we must just do a China to compete, low wages, weak currency, trash the environment, peel back regulations that keep workers safe and keep work place fair. Its like Germany's example does not enter our consciousness. No way we can have a strong social safety net, treat enviroment well, have a strong currency, pay workers well, regulate businesses to ensure fairness and still compete, pay not attention to Germany.

It may not be easy for US to replicate what is working for Germany, primarily simply because most in US media and culture has it so we don't even know it that at least one coutnry is already proven it is possible, but it is crazy not to at least look at what they are doing and see if maybe we could strive for something closer to them. Germany competes and grows and German workers benefit. Germans model is very good for the common wealth, and yet, all we can fixate on is China.

We see same phenomen in business. There are some companies that are very successful and treat their workers much better than average, while other companies see their only way to success is to treat low end workers as badly as possible and to overcompensate upper management. See simply Costco vs. Sam's club.

Stop self-limiting, we can be a globally competitive country and have a solid middle class and have clean air and water, safe workplaces. But we won't if we let crony upper management of US companies decide everything in their interest, because clearly, sh%^ting on workers and over-compensating themselves and their friends, corrupting our government for their purposes is what they will keep doing unless we fight for something better.

Foreclosures Increase As Mortgage Modification Programs Lose Steam

Even with the foreclosure moratoriums that a few of the nation’s biggest banks instituted following the robo-signing scandal, foreclosures for this year will likely top one million. According to a report released yesterday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision — two of the federal bank regulators — foreclosure activities were up significantly in the last quarter:

The number of new foreclosures increased to more than 382,000 — 31.2 percent more than in the previous quarter and 3.7 percent more than a year earlier. The number of foreclosures in process increased to 1.2 million — 4.5 percent more than in the previous quarter and 10.1 percent more than a year earlier. The number of completed foreclosures also increased to nearly 187,000 — 14.7 percent more than in the previous quarter and 57.5 percent more than a year earlier.

A large reason for the jump, according to the report, is that mortgage modifications under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) — the Obama administration’s signature foreclosure prevention effort — have dropped significantly. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said that a main problem driving the foreclosure machine is the “inadequacy of loan modification programs”.

For months, it’s been apparent that HAMP and the administration’s other programs designed to keep borrowers in their homes are going to fall woefully short of their goals. HAMP has processed only about 500,000 permanent loan modifications, out of 1.4 million trial modifications that have been initiated. The redefault rate (the number of borrowers who again fall behind on their mortgages, post-modification) for the program is an ugly 21 percent.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that just $12 billion of the $50 billion dedicated to foreclosure prevention will be spent. The Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP, which also oversees HAMP, estimates that at the current rate HAMP will only benefit 700,000 homeowners, far less than the 3-4 million that the Obama administration said would receive aid. “Absent a dramatic and unexpected increase in HAMP enrollment, many billions of dollars set aside for foreclosure mitigation may well be left unused. As a result, an untold number of borrowers may go without help,” the panel said in a report.

There are still plenty of things that can be done to fix HAMP and ensure that the full resources dedicated to foreclosure prevention actually wind up in the hands of homeowners. Here are some recommendations.

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No, Snooki Will Not Be Dropping in a Ball in Times Square on New <b>...</b>

New York City to Snooki: fuhgeddaboudit. MTV wanted.

Keith Olbermann: &#39;Fox <b>News</b> Is 100% Bullshit&#39;

Keith Olbermann is anything but hesitant when it comes to a battle with Fox News, and the MSNBC anchor took to Twitter Wednesday to share his views on the TV network he probably wouldn't even call a rival. "Fox News is 100% bullshit," ...

Year&#39;s Worst Ads Get What&#39;s Coming to Them - AOL <b>News</b>

The year's worst ads get honored with a very dubious award: a Tracy Award.

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Making Money Web

The Education Tech Series is supported by Dell The Power To Do More, where you’ll find perspectives, trends and stories that inspire Dell to create technology solutions that work harder for its customers so they can do and achieve more.

Non-profit organizations and passionate individuals have found a slew of creative ways to leverage social media and the class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet to make the world a better place. Online campaigns help provide clean drinking water, food and malaria-preventing bed nets to people who need them.

Creative uses of the web are helping to provide and enhance education. These four projects, for instance, found innovative ways to help build schools through digital campaigns.

1. Epic Change

Epic Change has become a model for raising money using social media. Since 2008, its annual TweetsGiving has asked people to tweet about what they’re thankful for while making a donation. The strategy was so successful that #tweetsgiving became a trending topic on Twitter during the first year’s campaign.

Starting out, the benefactor of TweetsGiving was a school in Tanzania that was founded by Mama Lucky Kamptoni, a passionate local woman who started the school using money she earned from her poultry business (now there are two more benefactors). Epic Change wanted to help her rebuild and expand the school.

The organization also launched To Mama With Love, a website where users can make a donation by creating a “heart space” for a mother they care about. The “heart space” is a collection of photos, videos and words dedicated to that mother. Other people who care about that mother are invited to donate in her honor.

From one of the classrooms that was built using donations from these campaigns, the students now tweet and connect with the rest of the world.

“So often, we hear the stories of children in the so-called ‘developing’ world from the perspective of the media, non-profits or friends who have traveled or volunteered,” explains the Epic Change Blog. “What happens now – when these students can share their own stories, and build relationships with the rest of the world, for themselves? How will the world be different when these children, who live so geographically far away, move into our virtual backyard? What difference will it make in their lives to know that their voices will be heard?”

2. Stillerstrong

When Ben Sitller launched the Stillerstrong campaign on YouTubeclass="blippr-nobr">YouTube, Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter and a branded website, he did it with a video that poked fun at Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong campaign. It was hard to tell if he was kidding.

But the campaign, which sells Stillerstrong headbands and accepts donations by text message and credit card, has raised about $300,000 to help provide temporary schools for Haitians displaced by January’s earthquake. At the time the campaign was announced, the organization and its partners Causecast and the Global Philanthropy Group were expecting each school to cost between $45,000 and $55,000.

3. TwitChange

Instead of auctioning off celebrity memorabilia to support a charity, TwitChange hosts eBay auctions for celebrity Twitter interaction. The donation’s bidders put down to have a celebrity follow them, retweet their tweet, or mention them in an update. The proceeds go to aHomeInHaiti.org, which will use them to build a home and school for children with disabilities in Haiti.

The first auction in September raised $531,640.25. The website instructs us to “stay tuned for the celebrity tweet auction coming this holiday season.”

4. University of the People

Less of a “campaign” than a full-blown effort to democratize education, University of the People provides tuition-free higher education through an online campus.

Since launching last year, the university has accepted about 700 students from 100 different countries to its three- to four-year programs for business and computer science. Recently the university opened computer centers in Haiti so that students with limited Internet access could enroll in its courses.

“I do believe that if we take the millions of people around the world who could not afford going to university and teach them tuition free, we’re not only changing their lives, and their family’s lives, we also change their communities, their countries,” founder Shai Shai Reshef says. “And if we have a lot of them, we will change the world for a better world.”

Series Supported by Dell The Power To Do More/>

The Education Tech Series is supported by Dell The Power To Do More, where you’ll find perspectives, trends and stories that inspire Dell to create technology solutions that work harder for its customers so they can do and achieve more.

More Social Good Resources from Mashable:

- How Online Classrooms Are Helping Haiti Rebuild Its Education System/> - Why Social Media Is Reinventing Activism/> - 5 Creative Social Good Campaigns for the Holiday Season/> - 4 Real Challenges to Crowdsourcing for Social Good/> - 9 Creative Social Good Campaigns Worth Recognizing

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, urbancow

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Since a few people told me they found my notes on cloudtop applications useful when I posted them a few months ago, I thought I'd share some more notes in the same spirit.

Part of my immediate motivation was when my friend Andre wrote up some notes on building a Web-scale app in a weekend, Jason Kottke made a smart mention of the difficulty of delivering messages, as evidenced by Jeff Atwood's post earlier this year. If these smart folks are struggling so much, surely there must be another option?

Well, I've noticed a pattern that suggests there is a better way. This time it's not a pattern in end-user applications, but rather in infrastructure services, which I'd call "Delivery as a Service." In this model, new offerings provide a set of message delivery services for developers that share a few common traits:

• Digital services that pre-date the Web, or were designed without the Web in mind, can now be exposed as simple Web services

• Legacy platforms that require extremely expensive startup costs convert into a cost-per-message (or cost per thousand messages) model

• Message systems with effective anti-spam components usually exert a high cost on spammers that can also be a prohibitively high bar for small developers unless they're able to pool their efforts

• Service providers can aggregate requests from many small, separate applications to make costly services approachable for independent developers

• You can figure out what the hell these service providers do, unlike many generic Web service providers

With those traits in mind, who's providing Delivery as a Service systems now? I'm sure this is a far-from-comprehensive list (suggestions very welcome!) but these are the few that got my gears turning:

• Urban Airship: Love these guys. Primarily focused on doing push notifications to iOS-powered Apple devices, they're rapidly expanding into related in-app sales, rich-notifications, and other areas. While Apple does offer an API for its notifications, it's not as easy to use and Web-friendly as UA's offerings, and they handle much of the other infrastructure requirements that would otherwise be onerous.

• Postmark: Good old-fashioned email! It turns out that, these days, delivering email that doesn't get marked as spam is actually kind of a pain if you're not a huge provider. And much of the commercial email market it optimized for direct marketers. But Postmark has an interesting niche in providing the valuable email capability for developers that don't want to spend precious development cycles on boring-ass email.

• Twilio: Perhaps the most impressive of the bunch. Twilio handles voice, IVR and SMS functionality for many apps, with a really simple API that any developer can work with.

Now, individually, none of these capabilities are particularly new. (Though of course, iOS push notifications have only been around a relatively short period of time.) But making them broadly available, accessible through simple APIs with code libraries available in common programming licenses, and having initial access be available for pennies or even for free? That represents a big change.

Tomorrow's Implementation of Yesterday's Technology, Today.

With the proliferation of these services, features that would be "someday" or "after we get funded" features can be pushed up much earlier in a product's lifecycle. And markets that would otherwise be underserved are now approachable; Every company that's putting money into developing an iOS app around their services could use Twilio to provide a robust SMS-based interface at the same magnitude of cost. The early signs of success for each of these little companies is promising too; It might inspire bigger infrastructure providers like UPS (which has its own API for shipping services) to market their services more like these startups as well.

I find delivery services most compelling in the context of how they serve the "cloudtop" apps I described a few months ago, but I can see these being equally important for enterprises or other environments as well. We need more simple services to connect to the real world, to "old-fashioned" technology that isn't Web-centric, but that could still be enhanced by being connected to the Web. Making a RESTful API for faxing might not be sexy, but it could enable some businesses to reach new audiences or do something creative with all of those underutilized rolls of thermal paper. If you can think of services like this that should exist, or if you've built one, let me know in the comments.

This post originally appeared at Dashes.com.

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&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

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&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

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&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

bench craft company scam

&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

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&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

bench craft company scam

&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

bench craft company scam

&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

bench craft company scam

&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

bench craft company scam

&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

bench craft company scam

&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

bench craft company scam

&#39;NBC Nightly <b>News</b>&#39; Wins 4th Quarter Ratings

"NBC Nightly News" continued its long-running ratings streak in the fourth quarter of 2010, beating its rivals at ABC and CBS by substantial margins. The Brian Williams-hosted program drew 8.72 million viewers in the fourth quarter.

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: December 28, 2010 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The reactor on your roof: Caltech breakthrough uses solar power to generate liquid fuel; Fmr. Shell president predicts $5-a-gallon gas by 2012; EPA develops neurotoxicants list; Obama admin takes ...

Phila. Gay <b>News</b> Editor On Elton John: &#39;Couldn&#39;t Find A Better <b>...</b>

After struggling to adopt for years, one of music's most influential men is now a dad. Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, now have a son, born to a surrogate in California on Christmas Day.

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Making Money on Internet

Here's the problem with funding 2011's government using 2010's budget: When the 2010 budget passed, neither financial regulation nor health-care reform had passed. And so the 2010 budget didn't include the new funds necessary to support their implementation. We're not talking about a lot of money here, of course, but certainly some. And for the health of these bills, it's important money.

But after the collapse of the omnibus spending bill, the Democrats have moved to funding the government using a resolution that simply continues 2010's funding levels. And that means starving some of their signature accomplishments of implementation funds. This hasn't been lost on Republicans, of course: Mitch McConnell's key argument for turning GOP senators who'd pledged to vote for the omnibus was that it included funds for health-care reform. The Democrats, however, seemed less attuned to this dimension of the funding fight. And even those who do see the problem aren't making much noise about it: Though there was lots of tough talk in recent months about how Democrays would risk a government shutdown rather than seeing their accomplishments defunded, that didn't prove true, at least this time.

Top Stories

The Census Bureau will announce which states gained and lost House seats today, reports Charles Babington: "The 2010 census report coming out Tuesday will include a boatload of good political news for Republicans and grim data for Democrats hoping to re-elect President Barack Obama and rebound from last month's devastating elections. The population continues to shift from Democratic-leaning Rust Belt states to Republican-leaning Sun Belt states, a trend the Census Bureau will detail in its once-a-decade report to the president. Political clout shifts, too, because the nation must reapportion the 435 House districts to make them roughly equal in population, based on the latest census figures. The biggest gainer will be Texas, a GOP-dominated state expected to gain up to four new House seats."

The federal funding resolution Congress is considering doesn't include money for the implementation of health-care reform, report Jessica Holzer and Josh Mitchell: "Democrats last week sought $1 billion to expand federal agencies to cope with health-care demands as part of a proposed $1.1 trillion spending bill. That measure died after Senate Republicans closed ranks against it under pressure from conservative activists...Congressional Republicans have said they will try to defund enactment of the health-care law's least popular provisions, particularly Internal Revenue Service efforts to enforce the requirement that most Americans carry health insurance."

Nor for FinReg, reports Pat Garofalo: "The resolution does not include funding for the implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Under the omnibus, the Securities and Exchange Commission would have seen its budget increase to $1.3 billion from $1.1 billion, and the CFTC would have gone from $169 million to $286 million. Already, the SEC has halted implementation of a variety of measures under the law as it waits for funding."

The FCC is set to enact "net neutrality" rules, reports Cecilia Kang: "Federal regulators are poised to enact controversial new rules affecting Internet access, marking the government's strongest move yet to ensure that Facebook updates, Google searches and Skype calls reach consumers' homes unimpeded. Under the regulations, companies that carry the Internet into American homes would not be allowed to block Web sites that offer rival services, nor would they be permitted to play favorites by dividing delivery of Internet content into fast and slow lanes. The rules are set to win passage in a vote Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission, after a majority of the panel's five members said they planned to vote in favor of the measure."

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Surf-rock interlude: Surfer Blood plays "Twin Peaks".

Still to come: Regulators are taking aim at executive pay; Mark Warner and Saxby Chambliss will push a deficit-reduction package; Bill Gates and Randi Weingarten talk education reform; and an infant learns to drive.

Economy

Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) will introduce a debt reduction package in the next Congress, reports Heidi Przybyla: "Senators Mark Warner and Saxby Chambliss will seek to put the U.S. debt atop the agenda early in next year's Congress by proposing legislation to slash government spending, reduce popular tax breaks and trim entitlement programs. Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, have been working over the past six months to court a group of 25 senators from both sides of the political aisle in hopes of gathering support for their bill, Warner said today in an interview. The legislation is based on a plan by the co-chairs of President Barack Obama's debt-reduction panel that earlier this month failed to get enough support for its recommendations to be sent to Congress."

The US is considering a crackdown on Wall Street executive pay, report Aaron Lucchetti and Sara Schaefer Munoz: "U.S. regulators are considering whether to require large financial firms to hold onto a chunk of executive pay to discourage the excessive risk-taking that contributed to the financial crisis, according to people familiar with the situation...The discussions by the Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal banking agencies are the result of a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law that instructs regulators to prohibit any bonus plan that "encourages inappropriate risks" at financial firms with more than $1 billion in assets."

The Fed is limiting its purchases of Treasury assets: http://bit.ly/ep64hK

The tax compromise provides a preview of new OMB director Jack Lew's style, reports Jackie Calmes: "While the deal drew fire from both parties, liberal Democrats were especially enraged by a two-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts for high incomes and wealthy estates and a reduction in payroll taxes for Social Security. In private caucuses, some turned their anger at the White House on Mr. Lew. 'This is not a package we could have supported if it didn’t take care of the workers who are most vulnerable,' Mr. Lew said in an interview, echoing the pitch he made to Democrats in private...With both Mr. Obama and Republicans vowing to bring down annual deficits swelling the nation’s debt -- in very different ways -- Mr. Lew becomes an even more crucial figure in the cabinet than budget directors typically are."

Public respect for government workers is on the wane, report Karen Tumulty and Ed O'Keefe: "Three-quarters of those who were surveyed in an October Washington Post poll said they believe federal workers get better pay and benefits than people doing similar jobs outside the government, and 52 percent said government employees are overpaid. When the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll this month sampled public opinion on the major proposals that were put forward by the president's deficit and debt reduction commission, the most popular by far - and the only one deemed 'totally acceptable' by a majority of respondents - was freezing the salaries of federal employees and members of Congress for three years."

The St. Louis Fed president calls quantitative easing "moderately successful" so far: http://on.wsj.com/fBbxaE

The spending package's March expiration date won't make raising the debt ceiling easier, writes Stan Collender: "Because the existing debt ceiling currently is assumed to be reached close to the same date the the CR will expire, won't the two issues be combined into a single piece of legislation?...Combining the two issues would certainly be possible and perhaps even likely in a rational world where efficiency is the goal. But in the hyper political and partisan world that will exist in Washington next year, will it really make any sense for the GOP voluntarily to give up one of what it will believe will be its two major points of leverage over the White House? Even if the two need to be dealt with at close to the same time, why would the GOP not use both opportunities to exert influence that it otherwise won't have?"

Tom Coburn's "Wastebook" is misleading, writes Brad Plumer: http://bit.ly/en6ujQ

Adorable infant acquiring life skills interlude: A Russian baby learns to drive.

Health Care

Sen. Tom Coburn is blocking a bill to provide health care to 9/11 first responders: http://politi.co/eFpn6x

The Justice Department is suing Blue Cross Blue Shield on antitrust grounds, reports Reed Abelson: "When the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in October, the unusual action was widely seen as a warning shot to dominant health insurance carriers in many other states...The case is viewed as a test for the Obama administration’s introduction of the federal health care law, which is aimed at spurring competition and driving down costs. About half the states in the country, including Alabama, Rhode Island and Iowa, share circumstances similar to Michigan’s, in their relationships with a big single insurance carrier."

Domestic Policy

The spending bill Congress is considering will implement a federal pay freeze, reports Stephen Ohlemacher: "Federal workers would face a two-year pay freeze under a spending bill Congress will take up this week to keep the government operating through March 4. The bill would protect student Pell grants, veteran's benefits and a program that helps low-income families pay their heating bills. A small business loan program would be extended...Three weeks ago, President Barack Obama proposed a two-year salary freeze for some 2 million federal workers, seizing on an initiative popular among Republicans. Public employee unions are lobbying lawmakers to reject the pay freeze."

State attorneys general are going to war with Google over privacy concerns, reports Tony Romm: "More legal wrangling could be in store for Google now that it has refused to turn over to state investigators the e-mails and other data it accidentally collected while mapping neighborhoods. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company declined to deliver that trove of information to Connecticut Attorney General and soon-to-be senator Richard Blumenthal by his Friday deadline. That could set up a legal showdown between the two less than a month before Blumenthal is set to become his state’s newest Democratic senator."

Bill Gates and Randi Weingarten discuss school reform: http://bit.ly/fj40lh

The tax compromise will not affect the Social Security trust fund, writes Allan Sloan: "Next year, as you probably know, workers subject to Social Security taxes will pay only 4.2 percent of their "covered wages" -wages up to $106,800 - rather than the normal 6.2 percent. This will reduce Social Security's cash proceeds by $112 billion, according to Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation. What impact will this cash shortfall have on the Social Security trust fund? None. Zero. Zip. How can a $112 billion cut in Social Security revenues not affect the trust fund? Because Treasury will give the trust fund the same amount of bonds it would have gotten had the two-percentage-point tax holiday didn't exist."

Modest proposal interlude: Craig Rowin would like someone to give him $1 million.

Energy

Republicans may actually defend spending on renewable energy, reports Sharon Begley: "This region--Texas, Oklahoma, and on up to the Dakotas--is to wind power what Nebraska is to corn. The investment tax credit for building wind and other renewable installations expires Dec. 31. Once it does, those projects will come to a halt, and thousands of people who are employed in building them will be out of work. Those workers, of course, are the constituents of newly elected officials, the companies behind the projects are crucial economic engines in the districts and states of those legislators, and both are going to give their reps an earful if the projects don’t resume."

The EPA is touting the success of cap and trade in fighting acid rain: http://bit.ly/hM57vU

Closing credits: Wonkbook is compiled and produced with help from Dylan Matthews, Mike Shepard, and Michelle Williams.

The last time she hooked up, she said, it was because “his personality put me at ease. He was straight to the point. He asked me the same questions I was asking him.” Plus, she liked that his real name matched his email address. From there, she was able to find his Facebook page, with numerous photographs. When Ashley (not her real name) finally had her rendezvous, she took down his license plate number and texted it to herself on a second cellphone, which she’d left on her kitchen table along with a note for friends and family, just in case she didn’t return. And then she collected her $500 an hour.

Welcome to prostitution in the Internet era.

Fifteen years ago, it was hard to find hookers on the Web. Now they are all over the place. The Internet has given rise to a new generation of sex workers who have more autonomy than ever before, and by and large enjoy a level of safety not shared by their street-walking sisters. Nonetheless, Internet prostitution is a risky business, and those hazards were underscored this month when the bodies of four women were found decomposing on the side of the road near Jones Beach on Long Island. Attention quickly turned to two missing call girls who’d been using Craigslist as their primary means of making connections. It turned out that neither woman was among the victims, but the grisly discovery put an unwanted spotlight back on Craigslist, which in September took down its U.S. erotic-services directory under pressure from law enforcement and human-rights groups. Last week, it pulled its worldwide adult-services ads. (Though Craigslist has managed to get most sex solicitation off its site, it hasn’t completely succeeded, as Ashley can tell you.)

David Henry Sterry has numerous stories about how the lives of prostitutes have changed in the past decade. Last year, he edited Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys: Prostitutes Writing on Life, Love, Work, Sex, and Money, an anthology that received a stamp of approval from The New York Times. He’s also a former sex worker himself, a rare example of a man who earned his living pleasing older women. (The only common thread connecting his clients, he said, was that they all had money and “most felt powerless because they were housewives, bored, and rich.”)

One of the women who appeared in his book called herself Kat, worked on Craigslist, and had an elaborate screening process in which she would force potential johns to drive up to the location of the assignations, get out of their cars, and stand there while she examined them from a nearby window with a pair of binoculars. Kat refused to talk to anyone with a blocked number. She also chose not to text. If you sent her a photo of your genitalia, a common mistake among potential johns, you were out of contention. “She had developed what she called a ‘hooker’s radar,’” Sterry said. “The tone of the guy’s voice, his walk, she had learned how to instantly size someone up. And if the guy looked sketchy or too much like a toad, she would stop returning his phone calls.”

“People who think they’re going to eliminate prostitution or violence in prostitution by shutting down Craigslist are wildly deluded,” said David Henry Sterry.

Another Internet-era phenomenon that’s friendly to business and helps boost security for prostitutes and johns alike is “the mixer.” This is a cocktail party-like event at which “hobbyists”—the current euphemism of choice for high-spending porn aficionados obsessed with bonking their favorite screen stars—get to meet potential dates. No sex typically takes place on site, explained Daily Beast contributor Richard Abowitz, a chronicler of life in Las Vegas, where the parties frequently occur. “It’s more like a job fair,” he said.

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It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

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British mag NGamer put together a clever 2010 "year in review" of mainstream news using WarioWare DIY. Some of the referenced incidents may be obvious internationally, while others are quite UK specific, so we made a list of the ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

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WarioWare D.I.Y. games cover 2010 <b>news</b> | Joystiq

British mag NGamer put together a clever 2010 "year in review" of mainstream news using WarioWare DIY. Some of the referenced incidents may be obvious internationally, while others are quite UK specific, so we made a list of the ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

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bench craft company scam

WarioWare D.I.Y. games cover 2010 <b>news</b> | Joystiq

British mag NGamer put together a clever 2010 "year in review" of mainstream news using WarioWare DIY. Some of the referenced incidents may be obvious internationally, while others are quite UK specific, so we made a list of the ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

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bench craft company scam

WarioWare D.I.Y. games cover 2010 <b>news</b> | Joystiq

British mag NGamer put together a clever 2010 "year in review" of mainstream news using WarioWare DIY. Some of the referenced incidents may be obvious internationally, while others are quite UK specific, so we made a list of the ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

bench craft company scam

WarioWare D.I.Y. games cover 2010 <b>news</b> | Joystiq

British mag NGamer put together a clever 2010 "year in review" of mainstream news using WarioWare DIY. Some of the referenced incidents may be obvious internationally, while others are quite UK specific, so we made a list of the ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

bench craft company scam

WarioWare D.I.Y. games cover 2010 <b>news</b> | Joystiq

British mag NGamer put together a clever 2010 "year in review" of mainstream news using WarioWare DIY. Some of the referenced incidents may be obvious internationally, while others are quite UK specific, so we made a list of the ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

bench craft company scam

WarioWare D.I.Y. games cover 2010 <b>news</b> | Joystiq

British mag NGamer put together a clever 2010 "year in review" of mainstream news using WarioWare DIY. Some of the referenced incidents may be obvious internationally, while others are quite UK specific, so we made a list of the ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

bench craft company scam

WarioWare D.I.Y. games cover 2010 <b>news</b> | Joystiq

British mag NGamer put together a clever 2010 "year in review" of mainstream news using WarioWare DIY. Some of the referenced incidents may be obvious internationally, while others are quite UK specific, so we made a list of the ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Sells Fox Mobile Group To Investment Firm Jesta

It looks like News Corp. has unloaded its Fox Mobile Group division. According to a release, investment company Jesta Group has acquired Fox Mobile Group (FMG) from News Corporation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in the release.

Bad <b>news</b> from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at <b>...</b>

Bad news from freed detainee: The Jews used witchcraft on me at Gitmo.

bench craft company scam