1. Don’t set a lot of resolutions.
In fact, I don’t recommend setting more than one. If you set a lot of them, you lose focus on individual resolutions, making them hard to achieve. I would focus on tackling the one thing in your life that bothers you the most and focus on a resolution that helps to fix that problem.
2. A resolution is almost always part of a longer-term pattern you want to establish - figure out what that pattern is.
If you’ve decided to invest this year as part of your resolution, it’s part of a bigger pattern. Maybe you want to reach a greater state of financial stability right now. Maybe you want to bump up your savings for retirement. Maybe you’re just going to save for a new house. Whatever it is, your immediate resolution is just a strong first step towards that bigger goal. The same goes for a health-related resolution, a personality-related resolution, or so on - you’re hoping to cause a bigger change in your life. Understand what that change really is and keep that big picture in mind even as you make little steps. (more…)

The man who first turned me on to blogging, BuzzMachine’s Jeff Jarvis, has a great post out today listing 9 amazing Google facts. Sometimes it behooves one to sit down and marvel at Google. Companies like this only come along once in a lifetime. GE. Coke. Ford. Disney. McDonalds. Xerox. Wal-Mart. Intel. Microsoft. Now Google.

I’ll quote from Jeff:

• Google is the “fastest growing company in the history of the world.” – Times of London, 1/29/06
• Google controls 65.1% of all searches in the U.S. at the end of 2007 and 86% of all searches in the UK, according to measurement company Hitwise.
• Google was searched 4.4 billion times in the U.S. alone in October, 2007 (three times Yahoo), says Nielsen. Average searches per searcher: 40.7.
• Google’s sites had 112 million U.S. visitors in November, 2007, says Nielsen.
• Google’s traffic was up 22.4% in 2007 over 2006, according to Comscore.
• Google earned $15 billion revenue and $6.4 billion profit in 2007, a profit margin of 26.9%. Its revenue was up 57% in the last quarter of 2007 over 2006, says Yahoo Finance. As of late 2007, its stock was up 53% in a year. The company has a market capitalization of $207.6 billion.
• Google controls 79% of the pay-per-click ad market, according to RimmKaufman. It controls 40% of all online advertising, according to web site HipMojo.
• Google employed almost 16,000 people at the end of 2007, a 50% increase over the year before.
• Google became the No. 1 brand in the world in 2007, according to Millward Brown Brandz Top 100.

Original post:
Google is God (BuzzMachine)

10. Transistors Get Way Smaller
In the race to make computers faster, chipmakers rely on exotic new materials. In January, Intel announced that the element hafnium and some new metal alloys will allow them to make the millions of switches on their microprocessors far smaller. Gordon Moore, co-founder of the company and father of the law that bears his name, called it the biggest change in transistor technology since the 1960s. (…)
9. Scientists Clone Rhesus Monkey to Produce Stem Cells
At Oregon Health and Science University, Shoukhrat Mitalipov and his team cloned a Rhesus Monkey and used the resulting embryo to create stem cells. Until then, the impressive feat had been performed only with mice. (…) (more…)

Bestselling Products

The following is a list of the bestselling products on Amazon.com in 2007 by total units sold:

– Books: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J.K. Rowling

– Music: “Noel” by Josh Groban

– DVD: “Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series”

– Electronics: Canon PowerShot A570IS 7.1MP digital camera

– Home & Garden: Pyrex storage sets

– Health & Personal Care: Omron HJ-112 digital premium pedometer

– Grocery: Senseo Douwe Egberts dark roast coffee pods (more…)

(1) CNNMoney’s Money 101
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/index.html
If you’re just getting started learning about how to manage your money, how credit cards really work, and things like this, CNNMoney’s Money 101 tutorial is a stellar place to get started. The material is neatly broken up into 23 lessons, each of which can be read through in fifteen minutes or so - in other words, it’s a great place to bookmark and go through slowly.

(2) Morningstar’s Investment Classroom
http://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Classroom.html
This is a great place to get started learning about how stocks and bonds work, what mutual funds are and how they work, and how to start investing. Better yet, if you go through the entire course, you can earn “credits,” which allow you to get up to sixty days worth of Premium Morningstar.com for free - which can be invaluable information if you’re just beginning to invest and are picking your first mutual fund. (more…)

Recently, when I flew to visit family for the holidays, I used curbside check-in at the airport for the first time. The Skycap took my bags and then politely waited. It took me a few seconds to remember he wanted a tip… and then a few seconds more to realize I didn’t know what sort of tip was customary.

That of course got me thinking… then researching… and now we have this list below: The AnyNumberOfThings Tipping Guide. Think of it as a list of tips for giving tips.

I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as possible and include every situation you might ever encounter in modern life.

Common Tips

Waiter/Waitress-
I’d argue that 20% is the new standard. But if you’re old fashioned, then the old rules apply: 15% for adequate service; 20% for very good service; no less than 10% for poor service.

Taxi-
In most cities in the US, tipping is not mandatory. But that’s just the law. Of course you should tip. A minimum of $1-$2 for a short tip of only a few minutes, or a cross-town/few blocks trip. 15-20% for longer trips or driving to an especially congested or busy area of town. (more…)

This might not be the sort of list you want to see a few days before you have to join the holiday crowd heading back home after the new year… or maybe it is. I dunno. I guess it all depends on your luck. Are you heading to one of the good airports or one of the bad ones?

The following lists come from Travel + Leisure, and the rankings are based upon percentage of flights delayed.

For the first eight months of this year, one in four flights landed at least 15 minutes late and cancellations are en route to smashing the record set in 2000.

Sounds great right? If you’re ready to roll the dice, the 10 best and worst airports in America… (more…)

Over at weblog Techipedia, Tamar Weinberg has a list of his favorite Internet Marketing blog posts of 2007. He’s gone way into it, not only listing more than 250 articles, but giving a descrption of each.

I don’t have his patience or stamina, so I’ll just list a few of his favorites that I remember reading this year.

(more…)