Writing for free is not tax deductible

Recently I brought down my auto insurance premium significantly and wanted to find  a media outlet that was a good fit for the topic and that would pay me for writing about it. In the course of hunting around for sites of that sort and came across one that said it does want guest bloggers. But the pay is so low, it recommends you can consider the writing a donation. Here's the exact wording:

• Small fee of $20 per post.  If you normally charge more, ask your accountant if the rest of your fee is considered a donation. We'll be happy to send you our 501c3 letter.  Please also let us know if you would just like to donate the full amount, and not receive payment.

This is not just laughable but dangerous. In my eyes, the site lost all credibility if the editors actually believe what they're saying or are low enough to deliberately lure people into doing work for free or for far less than they deserve because they can gain a tax advantage.

I do volunteer work regularly. Sometimes it's writing, sometimes it's packing up food for people in the neighborhood, and sometimes it's covering phones as a dispatcher for a local roadside assistance service. It's voluntary work that I do to help, but it is not tax deductible. I looked this up once and discovered that in the views of the government, the only deductible expense associated with volunteer work would be out-of-pocket expenses -- not the value you place on your time. See https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf That is explicitly stated as item #4 on "Contributions You Can't Deduct."

So if anyone tries to sell you on donating your time with the compensation of a tax deduction, be aware that the IRS will not allow it. It could possibly work for those who sell products -- say food for an event or possibly even physical books, but not for the articles you compose for a site.  

Related posts: http://writewaypro.blogspot.com/2016/02/save-me-from-resume-advice.html

The post that got the most comments

That's the most comments to date of any single blog on that site, already topping 145.

Like much of the tech featured in the original Star Trek and other futuristic shows, communicating with a computer directly through speech has long been a reality via an interface dominated by Nuance, the company behind the virtual assistant female voice many hear on their smartphones and computers. But Google is upping the game with software that promises to deliver more than its competition does now and down the road.
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Google Cloud Speech API: A Step Forward for Voice Activation

Amazing visualization for sports

You don’t have to be a sports fan to be impressed by what real time analytics can do for sports. With

new offerings from Intel, we can now know exactly what speed and what heights a snowboarder achieved, and we can get a 3D view of basketball that goes far beyond anything we’ve ever seen before.....

 for data capture in basketball, Intel applied something completely different, 360-Degree freeD Replays. In February Intel partnered with the National Basketball Association to deliver 3-D experience to the fans watching live on TNT or on NBA.com, or through the NBA App.

Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich said the “sweeping views of top plays from virtually any angle” make it possible for “people to experience NBA All-Star like never before.” The way it works is by setting out 28 ultrahigh-definition cameras to capture video images that can then be combined for 3D views from any position.

An article inThe Cauldron, "Digitization Is Upon Us — The Biggest Change In Sports In Over 100 Years," explained that the court is rendered into “a series of "voxels," small cubes to make up the volume of the area. Then, a computer can virtually place a viewer anywhere, providing a complete 360-degree view. See the videos here 

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Sports Data Like You’ve Never Seen Before

Trading places the high tech way

A high tech approach to barter promises to make getaways more affordable. That’s the concept behind Nightswapping.com. It allows you to offer your home in exchange for staying at someone else's without limiting you to staying in the town of the specific person who wants to come to yours.

The business was founded in Lyon, France in 2012, though it also has offices in New York, London, and Sydney. The listings on the service extend much further, with accommodations in 160 countries.

In a way, the service mirrors the monetary solution to the problem of barter. What if you don’t want the eggs your neighbor offered in exchange for your wheat? Likewise, perhaps you don’t want to go to London on the same dates the person in London wishes to come to your hometown. Through Nightswapping, all parties get a consistent medium of exchange, measure of value, and store of value through points. Points are earned by giving nights in your home, and redeemed by staying at another’s place. The service brings the two together and provides some information in the form of reviews from visitors and its own scale of ranking.

You go here...
Credit: Pixabay

The price for each night’s stay is determined by Nightswapping’s scale that ranges from 1 to 7. The number on that scale is based on the Nightswapping algorithm, which takes into account the popularity of the area, the square footage, the number of bedrooms, the comfort level, and the type of accommodation -- there’s more value in having a whole apartment than a bedroom within a house. A shorter stay at a place with a higher standard can cost the same number of points as a longer stay at a place closer to the bottom of the scale.

Read more in Swipe to Swap and Go

 

German clouds on the horizon

The possibilities inherent in applying digitization to industry has earned a name of its own, Industry 4.0, with modified spelling when applied to Germany. In Europe, Germany is the leading star of this fourth industrial revolution. Progress on that front has not been as rapid as some had hoped due to some obstacles identified by a Mckinsey and Co. report published in March 2016.  But that is set to change now with the arrival of clouds built in Germany to meet the needs of Germany’s Industry 4.0.

The Mckinsey report, “Industry 4.0after the initial hype” (PDF download )  looks at perception, progress, and problems faced by the evolution of manufacturing in a digital age. It is based on survey responses from 300 industry experts in Germany, the US, and Japan.  In a nutshell, the anticipation raised a few years ago has resulted in some disappointments, as some businesses did not come up with a clear plan and timeline for implementing a digital strategy.  At this point, 60 percent of those surveyed said that they have come up against obstacles to executing digital strategies.

A fundamental problem for some of the companies was finding a way to integrate the data that comes in from various sources, something that is essential to extracting a comprehensive picture of the process to maximize efficiency that doesn’t compromise the data security or ownership when it passes into “third party technology and software providers.”   For the companies in Germany, there’s the additional concern of being certain to comply with the data privacy regulations in place and the distrust of datacenters located outside the country. 

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New IoT Clouds on German Horizon

From your ears to your feet, there are more ways to wear wearables

Wearables were one of the main features at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES). While many conformed to the traditional mold of plastic bracelets, there were some new options that could make them attractive even to those who prefer something more fashionable, versatile, or less encumbered. Now those in the market for wearables can select the sensors that fit their personal style choices.

Research from market research firm Mintel forecasts that this year’s sale of wearables in the US will nearly double, increasing 186 percent over last year. Women make up more than half that market for fitness trackers. About 14 percent of women possess some form of fitness tracker as opposed to 10 percent of men.

GlamFit Ring

That percentage could be even further boosted by the new wearables designed specifically for women in the form of pendants, rings, and bracelets that look like fashionable jewelry. That is the concept behind the fitness, calorie counters, and sleep tracking wearables fromGlamFit Jewelry by Liberty

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Wearable Tech Finds Its Style

Shopping with Watson

Over the past decade and a half, successful web retailers have been able to tailor their

marketing toward the individual consumer, providing a level of personalization all shoppers—both offline and on—have come to expect as standard across the industry.

Shoppers have come to expect the tailored marketing that algorithms can deliver to them when shopping online in physical stores. However, that kind of personalization is only possible with sales staff that knows the customer and the merchandise very well. Even in the e-commerce space, customers often are frustrated by an overwhelming number of irrelevant search results that steers them away from their intended purchase. 

read more in Using targeted marketing to improve the shopping experience