The deadline to file Federal Income Tax Returns is fast approaching. April 15th is historically one of the darker days throughout the year. However, these tax credits and breaks could help brighten your day:

1. Federal Tax Housing Credit – $8,000 credit for first time buyers

2. Federal Tax Housing Credit – $6,500 for purchasing a home.

3.  EnergyStar Tax Creditst -save 30% on the cost of select EnergyStar home appliance

4. Property Taxes – Be sure to write off local Property Taxes on your Itemized Deduction

5. Capital Losses -  Losses can offset Capital Gains (up to $3,000 filing jointly or $1,500 filed separately). Also, unused losses can be carried forward to future years until they are written off.

Hopefully, these credits and breaks will allow entrepreneurs to keep some of their hard earned income.

Creative Commons, a non-profit organization out of San Francisco, California, has established itself as a leader in the movement against intellectual property rights. The organization prides itself with the slogan “some rights reserved.” While the idea of limited intellectual property rights may seem as a novel idea by some, the very concept that Creative Commons champions could lead to the deterioration of copyright law as we know it. The phrase “some rights reserved” implies that the owner of the property has the right to reserve certain rights while waiving others. This is no different than the current copyright system. Under the current law, owners can choose to waive various rights while reserving “other rights. Creative Commons is nothing more than an activist organization that seeks to change Copyright law. While their intentions may indeed be good, the proposed results of their initiatives could lead to further property rights violations in the future. Property rights have been under fire ever since the growth of the digital era and if Creative Commons has its way, we might as well kiss intellectual property goodbye.

We are all(as a class)  blogging constantly. There are millions of blogs out there. How do we stand out? Blogs do not generally stand out, but you can have a more successful blog if you follow these 5 simple tips.

1-KISS- Keep it short and snappy. This can be done with bullet points and careful use of words. Use the least amount of words and make them count. Make it easy to scan with good subtitles.

2-Write about something you care about- The reason people are reading your blog is because it is not the opinion of a big business. Be passionate about your opinions and it will show.

3 Use Keywords- This will help people see you, and know what you are all about.

4 Include many links- This will help you network with other people and websites, which will give you more exposure.

5 Have viral content- Write about something that people will want to tell their friends about. Be unique, be original.

Good luck with your blogging! Now, if only I could follow all those rules…

With increasing globalization, people online are starting to feel a pain. They need a way to share information, ideas, or anything. Creative commons helps users cut through all the red tape and allows them to put simple customized copyrights on their stuff. Almost everything we make is copyrighted. The internet is fast paced, and we don’t have the time to give everyone permission to use our stuff. When we can freely share our work, then people can freely use it for what they need, and maybe build on it. Mixing cultures around the world has proved to have many positive results, mainly because people tend to take the best out of each area, and use it for improvements and more efficient ways of doing things. This website is free, easy and it allows you to all the things listed above. People are able to now share things like never before.  Copyright laws are often huge barriers to entry and may stifle creativity. The non-profit organization called creative commons is helping the world to be a better place. Creative commons is a good example of how to fill a need in the online market.

Digg fancies itself to be the future of social news.  It was one of the first websites to incorporate a voting mechanism that allows viewers to determine content.  The basic premise is that as people read news they see on the web, they are able to vote approving of the news (dig) or vote against it (bury).  The news then moves up or down in the rankings on digg, with the most popular being placed on the front page of digg.com.

Digg has been incredibly popular, it is one of the top one hundred most trafficked sites on the internet.  But it’s future is questionable because of stiff competition in the social news arena.