Question about Middle East Business News Link

Greetings!

ameinfo or ArabianBusiness?
Our Middle East Business link has been ameinfo.com for years. It's nice, but I just discovered ArabianBusiness.com which is also nice. Please look and see which you prefer and leave it as a comment. Thank you.

Nigeria Business News
Our Nigeria Business link , Business Day Online seems cool, although it has this new dialog box that pops up strangely. If you have a better Nigeria Business site in mind, please comment.

ADVERTISING
Do you have a suggestion about who should advertise on Money Talk pages this year? Comment please.

ANNIVERSARY :)
It's been 3 years of Money Talk goodness. Lovely getting to know you. Let's do more of that...get and share ideas and support on money, career, business, and economic development. Think for a moment about what should improve over the next year, and please post your suggestion.

Friends Talk Money
Don't forget to share Money Talk with your friends. Add upnaira.blogspot.com to your Facebook Notes.

OLPC in Nigeria: One Laptop Per Child

They're really laptops, and I want some. On the website, there are testimonials by Nigerian children users. You can donate here to OLPC ($200 = 1 laptop to a child)

As for actually getting one, their laptop.org site is driving me crazy...I'm like where's the shop, the "pay" button? Only God knows...so much talk, just sell the things.

Thorpedo on Goal Setting: Ian Thorpe Beneath the Suit

Nigerian Economy

Summary of Nigeria's economy currently on wikipedia.

The currency unit of Nigeria is the Nigerian Naira.

Years of military rule, corruption, and mismanagement have hampered economic activity and output in Nigeria and continue to do so, despite the restoration of democracy and subsequent economic reform. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit and the World Bank, Nigerian GDP at purchasing power parity was only at $170.7 billion as of FY 2005. The GDP per head is at $692.

Petroleum plays a large role in the Nigerian economy, accounting for 40% of the GDP. It is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world and the 8th largest exporter, and has the 10th largest proven reserves and the country was also a founding member of OPEC. However, due to crumbling infrastructure, corruption, and ongoing civil strife in the Niger Delta, its main oil producing region, oil production and export is not at 100% capacity.

Mineral resources that are present in Nigeria but not yet fully exploited are coal and tin. Other natural resources in the country include iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc, and arable land.[35] Despite huge deposits of these natural resources, the mining industry in Nigeria is almost non-existent. About 60% of Nigerians are employed in the agricultural sector. Agriculture used to be the principal foreign exchange earner of Nigeria. Perhaps, one of the most daunting ramifications of the discovery of oil was the decline of agricultural sector. So tragic was this neglect that Nigeria, which in the 1960s grew 98% of his own food and was a net food exporter, now must import much of the same cash crops it was formerly famous for as the biggest exporter. Agricultural products include groundnuts, palm oil, cocoa, coconut, citrus fruits, maize, pearl millet, cassava, yams and sugar cane. It also has a booming leather and textile industry, with industries located in Kano, Abeokuta, Onitsha, and Lagos.

Like many Third World nations, Nigeria accumulated a significant foreign debt. Many of the projects financed by these debts were inefficient, bedeviled by corruption or failed to live up to expectations. Eventually, Nigeria defaulted on its principal debt repayments as arrears and penalty interest accumulated and increased the size of the debt. However, after a long campaign by the Nigeria authorities, in October 2005 Nigeria and its Paris Club creditors reached an agreement that reduced Nigeria's debt by approximately 60%. Nigeria used part of its oil windfall to pay the residual 40%, freeing up at least $1.15 billion annually for poverty reduction programmes. As of April 2006, Nigeria became the first African Country to fully pay off her debt (estimated $30billion) owed to the Paris Club.

Nigeria also has significant production and manufacturing facilities such as factories for the French car manufacturer Peugeot, the English truck manufacturer Bedford, now a subsidiary of General Motors. Nigeria also manufactures t-shirts and processed food.

Does this country need a gameplan? Does anybody still use the term "Third World?" Is this article crap?

Portable MP3 players

Why do people happily pay loads of cash for the i-things (iPod, iPhone,...?) It's not the sound quality or skip resistance, not that white earphones are better than black ones, or that ppl love to shuffle their little mp3 files.
It's just the "cool", the marketing. Right?
I guess Steve Jobs is the master of razzle-dazzle. Who else rocks at this game?

Slowly learning to add flash to substance are the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) people, led by Nick Negroponte and in need of a "selling" genius. Maybe they'll succeed.

I want an OLPC, or three, or ten.
I don't really want an i-whatever (except at the clearance sale prices)
At the moment Apple will sell you a walkman or a phone for money that OLPC wishes you would pay for the whole computer.

About Goals: setting goals, tracking goals, and staying motivated

You know how when you achieve one thing, it seems to roll into a next goal? Like after you make your first million, say, then you want to serve the most people or make your first billion or whatever.

So I'm wondering, after you achieve one thing, should you stop and really celebrate and enjoy it, or should you promptly march on to the next big thing?

What's the more optimal way to work: stop and go, or keep running?