Monday, 6th February 2012.

Posted on Friday, 30th December 2011 by Erin Jones

Code Year, which I blogged about a couple days ago, has now signed up over 100,000 in two days. Thats a lot of signups for a brand new service in just two days. How did they do it? Heres some suggestions on the key drivers:

1) an awesome idea. “give me your email address, well send you interactive coding lessons weekly” is a damn good idea. tim oreilly told the codecademy guys “i wish id thought of this”. thats the definition of a good idea.

2) well timed – launching as a “new years resolution” is genius. but also launching in a “dead news period” was equally genius. jan 1st and jan 2nd of this year were slow news days. so Code Year got plenty of airtime in the tech blogs and news aggregators over a sustained two day period.

3) the landing page is clean, simple, and well designed. the call to action is simple. heres a blog post from the designer explaining how that page was designed.

4) the use of twitter and facebook to spread the word is simple and powerful. after you give your email address, you are given the option of tweeting out or posting to your wall.

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Tags: Code Year, Year
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Posted on Friday, 16th December 2011 by Emily Smith

IG Index has cut deposit rates across 59 markets, including leading indices, commodities, treasuries and interest rates.

Deposit requirements for IGs FTSE and Wall Street markets have been lowered by 17%, and the Germany 30 by 14%. There has also been cuts to Asian indices, with 39% off Hong Kong deposits and 76% off China H-Shares. Brent Crude margins have been reduced by 73%.

In separate news IG Index have been voted best provider for platform reliability for the second year in a row according to independent client research by Investment Trends.

IG Index is undoubtedly the largest and longest-running spread betting company, and claims to have developed advanced technology that wont let clients down:

  • 99.5% of all transactions executed in 0.1 seconds*
  • Platform uptime of 99.8% since January 2010
  • More mobile spread betting apps than any other provider

*Covers orders accepted on our web dealing platform, PureDeal, during November 2011.

**Active UK financial spread bettors.

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Tags: 59 Markets, Deposit Rates, Markets
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Posted on Monday, 12th December 2011 by Vanessa Miller

The right app can change your life. If you find yourself “not getting” an app, there’s a good chance that someone is working on a similar one that you will get. 

TechCrunch has unveiled a list of “private Internet companies” that Goldman Sachs thinks may IPO in the next year. I thought it would be useful to check out what these companies actually do so I’ve added links and a brief description of each one  () 

  • Airbnb - Find a Place to Stay
  • Beachmint - A Next Generation Social Commerce Company (girly e-commerce)
  • Beauchamp
  • Birchbox - Discover Beauty Better
  • Bluekai – Your Data Performing at Scale
  • Badoo - Boost your social life. Chat, f

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Posted on Sunday, 11th December 2011 by Erin Jones

There are several online lenders available that will allow a person to do a car title pawn in order to obtain money for other necessities.  The application process may differ from provider to provider, but the information needed to complete the application is often the same.  Items needed include the make and model of the vehicle, the current mileage, the VIN, and all applicable insurance information to prove that the vehicle is insured.

If the amount of insurance held on the car is inadequate, the lender may require that you purchase additional insurance for the vehicle before the loan is approved.  This protects the lender in the event that you default on the loan, as the lender will become the owner of the car used as collateral for the loan.  Once the loan has been repaid in full, the lender has no further claim on the vehicle and the owner can do as they like with regards to insurance.

When submitting an application for a car title pawn online, the information from the car title must be submitted as well.  The lender will require that the car title is clear and free of any liens against the vehicle.  The vehicle must be completely paid off and the owner must be able to verify legal possession of the vehicle.  After all of the information has been submitted and verified by the lender’s representative, you will be contacted to let you know whether your application has been approved or denied.

The entire process of applying for a car title pawn will generally take less than an hour from initial information gathering to approval.  The amount obtained can range from $100 to $5,000 depending on the amount requested by the borrower, the lending limits of the lender, and the value of the vehicle being used as collateral.  There are no credit checks involved and the approval rate for these loans are high.

Tags: Car Title, Car Title Pawn, Online, Title Pawn
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Posted on Saturday, 10th December 2011 by Emily Smith

THE European Central Bank will be an enthusiastic lender-of-last-resort to banks but not to governments. That was the main message from the bank’s president, Mario Draghi, after its monthly policy meeting on December 8th.  The ECB voted to lower its benchmark interest rate from 1.25% to 1%, the second quarter-point cut in as many months. It also agreed on radical steps to help commercial banks secure the financing that private investors are increasingly loth to offer. But Mr Draghi scotched the idea that the ECB would step up its purchases of bonds of troubled euro-zone countries if a credible fiscal compact were agreed at the EU summit on December 9th.

Anything that smacks of direct monetary financing of governments—including “tricks” such as lending via the IMF—would go against the EU Treaty, said Mr Draghi at the press conference that followed the meeting of the ECB’s policymakers. Soon after h

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Tags: Draghi, Draghi Drags
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Posted on Thursday, 8th December 2011 by Vanessa Miller

COLLEGE STUDENTS: Youre probably breathing a sigh of relief that the fall semester is over and are now looking forward to going home for the holidays. But, who are we kidding, your budget is tight. Especially around this time of year, when you KNOW you have to buy all your relatives gifts, or theyll start giving you dirty looks.

As a budding, independent adult, you also cant rely on your parents to fly you home anymore. Now youre on your own, kid! Which means you have to consider how youre going to pay for airfare at the last minute, not to mention the cab fare to take you to the airport.

When you get back on campus, you cant forget about those overly expensive textbooks and school supplies left to buy and maybe you need to replenish your meal plan for next semester.

Going to college can be stressful, but weve got two credit cards SPECIFICALLY designed for individuals like yourself so you can get out of your I-can-only-afford-to-eat-Ramen-Noodles financial rut.

Just because youre a college student doesnt mean you shouldnt be rewarded with some of the same benefits as other credit cardholders.

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Tags: College Students, Students
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