FOX Translator
No data currently available.
No data currently available.
You know that buying a stock makes you part owner of a company, theoretically with millions of other people. But, while ownership has its privileges (at minimum you get a neat stock certificate and an invitation to the annual meeting), being an owner doesn't necessarily pay. Sure, you make money if the stock goes up, but only if you sell, and you can, in theory, lose all the value of your investment if the stock tanks.
Enter the dividend. Here, you get money simply from holding the stock. Companies pay a yield, which is expressed in a percentage based on the stock's price. For example, if a stock trades at $10, and pays a 10% annual yield, your dividend payment would be a $1. (Usually, companies break out the payments quarterly, so, using our example, you¿d get, well, a quarter each quarter.)
Companies that pay dividends fall into a few categories. First, you've got your big, stable companies that generate enough cash that it makes sense to throw some back to shareholders. Next, there are businesses, like real estate investment trusts, that are in the business of sitting back and receiving cash, then distributing it to holders. And, then there are companies that need to dangle a high dividend yield like a carrot to ease investor fears. Cigarette-maker Altria has been doing this for years.
Simply because a company pays a dividend doesn't make it a good investment. After all, you may want to take a chance on a growth stock that can move higher in price than dividend payers are known to do. But, you can¿t beat the safety of knowing that, even if a stock doesn't move in a year, you¿re at least making something off your investment.
Home / Markets / Innovation
Friday, April 11, 2008
Internet, Cell Phones May Prevent Speeding Tickets
Donna Fuscaldo
FOXBusiness
Next time you’re driving down the highway at breakneck speed, your cell phone, not your radar detector, may be the device
that prevents you from getting a ticket.
Taking a page from social networking sites and adding a cell phone to the
mix, Trapster, a new Internet-based service, will inform you in real time of upcoming speed traps.
The service, which
is free, relies on the community to report police traps, whether it’s a police car with a laser gun, a red light camera, or
an officer hiding out of a motorist's view.
Users can post the traps either online at Trapster.com, via a downloadable
application on their cell phone or through a 1-800 number. If your phone is GPS enabled, it will automatically tell you via
voice alert if you are approaching a police trap. If you don’t have a GPS-enabled phone you will get text message alerts of
traps in your area.
For participants, reporting police sightings is as easy as either calling a 1-800 number
or using a downloadable application on your cell phone. With the application, a user would
press pound-1 on a cell phone
for live police, pound-2 for a red light camera, pound-3 for a speed camera and pound-4 for a police hiding in an unusual
spot. The service also lets users rate the reliability of the information, similar to how eBay users rate the credibility
of sellers on its auction Web site.
“Trapster is Facebook meets eBay meets a radar detector,” said Pete Tenereillo,
founder and president of Trapster. “People are entering data in Russia to Singapore. It works anywhere and not restricted
to a location.” Tenereillo, who had been working on the idea since 2003, but toyed with other alert concepts said police traps
were the one idea that resonated with people whether it’s a truck driver, soccer mom or street racers. “It saves money and
everybody’s got the problem,” he said.
But offering a service that attempts to circumvent law enforcement is sure to
raise the ire of police officers across the country right? Not necessarily. Bill Johnson, executive director of the National
Association of Police Organization, said that if the service results in people slowing down then he’s all for it.
“If
someone slows down because of it, it's accomplishing the same goal of trying to get people to obey the speed limit,’’ said
Johnson. He noted that he’s not aware of any federal or state laws that would make a service like Trapster illegal.
And while some towns may rely on the revenue from traffic tickets, Johnson said it’s far and few between and isn’t proper
to begin with.
“The number of towns that do that is very small,” said Johnson. “It’s not the type of enforcement strategy
that you want to impose on a police department or individual officer.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, in 2006 speeding was a contributing factor in 31% of all fatal crashes, with 13,543 lives lost in speeding
related accidents.
With most community-driven Web sites, the amount of people participating is key in the success
of the business. Since Trapster is free and addresses something that most people have had to contend with at some point in
their life, Tenereillo said it’s been a huge success so far, even though he won’t comment on the specific amount of users.
“There’s a lot and it’s been growing. Our server was slammed last week,’’ said Tenereillo. What’s more Tenereillo,
said 40% of the users who have signed up for accounts actually participate by providing information on police traps. According
to Tenereillo, user generated Web sites like YouTube have a participant rate of less than 1%.
“People have a fundamental
motivation for this," he said. "It’s a real problem that strikes a cord with people. They want to contribute. There’s not
much motivation to put a video on YouTube there’s motivation to enter a trap."
In fact, Tenereillo said the service
has even helped him get out of a couple of tickets.
Market Snapshot
| Symbol | Last Price | Netchange | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | -- | -- | -- |
