Kaka joins Madrid for £59m to help AC Milan

Real Madrid's newest signing Kaka has revealed he joined the Spanish club in order to help AC Milan overcome their financial difficulties.

The 27-year-old Brazilian is believed to have signed for around £59m ($94.05m), which beats the world record transfer fee of £46.7m ($75.3m) paid by Real to Juventus for Zinedine Zidane in 2001. Although, due to fluctuations in currency exchanges, Zidane still cost more in Euros, at €73m, than Kaka, at €68m.

• Ronaldo next on shopping list

Real sent medics to the Brazilian national team's training camp in Recife, where the playmaker is preparing for a World Cup qualifier against Paraguay, to conduct a medical and the completed transfer was confirmed by both Milan and Madrid late on Monday night.

Speaking at a press conference in Brazil, Kaka said: "I can officially say I'm a Real Madrid player. My professional link with AC Milan finishes now, but my sentimental link will never end."

"Real Madrid intend to build a great team, with historic players such as Raul and Casillas. We will make history again, both in Spain and Europe. I guess the sport project is very good."

• Click here for our Kaka gallery

Kaka, who was also a target for Premier League club Chelsea, revealed that he turned down a £100m move to Manchester City in January because he did not want to leave Milan mid-season.

"Manchester City and Real Madrid are two different clubs with different situations. At that time, it was mid-season, I had a strong emotional impact due to the Italian fans requesting me to stay, and I decided to stay.

"Now another chance came up and AC Milan is in a big crisis (financially). For me, the sporting project (at Madrid) is interesting and will be an important boost to continue my career in the highest level.

"I wanted to stay on at Milan, but the world (financial) crisis affected a lot of clubs, especially those like Milan which are businesses. So then, I spoke with the Milan directors and we reached the conclusion that the best thing for everybody would be to sell."

The 2007 World Player of the Year will have to wait to be unveiled at the Santiago Bernabeu until the end of June, as he is due to travel to South Africa to compete the Confederations Cup with Brazil, but he is already looking forward to the new challenge of playing for Los Blancos.

Having spoken with new Real president Florentino Perez, Kaka revealed that the man who oversaw the club's galacticos era is attempting to construct a team to emulate that of Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham that dazzled football during his first stint as club chief between 2000 and 2006.

The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, David Villa and Franck Ribery have all been linked with the Spanish club since Perez's unopposed election signalled the return of their vast spending.

Kaka said: "The president (Perez) is already making contact (with potential signings) and is putting together a competitive team, one which will try to once again become champions in Spain and Europe. That's why I chose Madrid."

The Brasilia-born star also admitted he had received plenty of advice on the move from former Real player and Perez signing Beckham, who spent a short spell at Milan on loan earlier this year. He also revealed that although the deal was only announced on Monday night, it had been in the pipeline for some time.

"I spoke to some friends, like Beckham, who has already played for Real. He said it's a fantastic place to play. I spoke to him this past week and he kept helping me, he said I made a positive choice for my career's growth," Kaka revealed.

"I wanted this move to be announced sooner. For me it's a relief that it has been announced now, although I have always been 100% focussed on the national side.

"I've been weighing up the offer from Real Madrid a lot. It's an important project for me to continue growing in my career. I'm not going to Real Madrid for money, as I had other offers. But I knew I would only leave Milan to play for Real Madrid.

"Only small details were missing, such as the medical exams I passed this morning. The deal was sealed long time ago".

He also said he hoped to put an end to Barcelona's dominance of Spanish and European football, after the Merengues' arch-rivals swept all before them this season en route to claiming Spain's first league, King's Cup and Champions League treble.

"This will be a tough season at Real Madrid, after all that Messi conquered with Barcelona," he said. "They're the big favourites and deservedly so. I hope Barcelona's hegemony will end in the coming years. Real Madrid will build a great team to win titles again, as it's the club's history."

Meanwhile, he revealed he fell uncomfortable taking on the number five jersey once worn by Zidane. Perez had admitted he would like to see the Brazilian playmaker take on the shirt, but Kaka said he would not feel comfortable doing so.

He said: "Wearing the number five would be a great responsibility. Zidane was a great player, both for Real Madrid and for France, and I wouldn't like to wear the same number as he did. We're going to wait a bit before deciding which one to use."

And finally he had words of gratitude to Milan for launching his career in Europe, while he was also elusive about whether he would end his career in Madrid.

"I will be 33 years old by the time the (Madrid) contract ends, with the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 still to come. Lots of things will happen," he said. "I'm not thinking today of ending my career at 33. I expect to write history there and sign a new contract, who knows, until 35. May be I'll retire then.

"I want to thank Milan, as they were the club who put me on the international scene. They gave me the opportunity to become a big name in Europe.

"I'm happy to leave Milan by the front door, with a lot of friends. It has been very emotional to see what the Milan fans have done for me."

5 Ways To Import and Promote Your Blog On Facebook

By Charnita Fance in Blogs & Podcasts

With the Facebook public timeline functioning more like Twitter everyday, it’s a great way to get your blog noticed. I’m sure most of you probably already know about importing “stories” directly into your Facebook wall via the wall settings. If you’re looking for more options and ways to display your blog, here are five methods that might help. There are, of course, more ways to import your blog into Facebook but, these are the methods I found to be most reliable and actually do work.

Create A Page

Creating a page for your blog is a great way to showcase and gain readers and fans. There are a lot of customization options and you can even add compatible applications to your pages. To get started you will need to click here to create a new page. After you get your page the way you like it, you can start sharing it with your friends and inviting them to become fans. One thing about Facebook pages is that it will not show you as an admin of the page; you will be listed as a fan of the page along with everyone else.

The first application you may want to add is some type of RSS feed importing application but, in my opinion, it’s better to import your posts through the Notes application. Importing your blog posts through notes (which I’ll explain in more detail below) will display published blog posts on the page wall as opposed to the boxes tab or some other small area of the page.

NetworkedBlogs

This is a great application found here, that works on both personal profiles and Facebook pages. If you add it to one of your pages, it can be added as a separate tab that will then display snippets of your latest blog posts. You can also allow the NetworkedBlogs application to update your personal or page status (depending on which you add it to) everyone time a new post is published. This application is kind of like creating a page for your blog but does different in a few ways. For starters, with NetworkedBlogs you will be shown as the author of the blog. Once you have your NetworkedBlog page setup, you can then invite people to follow your blog in which they’ll be able to rate your blog and leave comments.

Import Notes

Notes is an application that allows you to create notes, which are almost like blog posts, for your friends to see. Every time you post a new note it shows in the public timeline for all to see but, many do not know that you can import a blog into your Facebook notes. From the Notes application you will see an option in the right hand column under “Notes Settings” to import a blog. Setting it up is pretty easy, you’ll just need to enter either your blog or RSS feed URL. After going over the preview of an imported blog post and confirming the import you’ll be all set. Facebook will then check your blog every couple hours for new posts. As I mentioned above, this is also great to set up with your Facebook page.

Blog Box

This application is nice because once added, you can add a blog box tab to your profile, making it more easy accessible to those who visit your page. The Blog Box application can be found here. Once again you will need to import your blog into the application after which it will check every 6 hours for new posts. There are not many customization options for Blog Box. The great thing about Blog Box is that it allows you to edit your posts right from within Facebook. Doing this allows you to edit your title, text and tags plus you can even add your mood, what music you’re listening too, and a location.

Simparis Blogcast

Last but not least you can import your blog with the Simparis Blogcast application. Once again you’ll need your RSS feed and then you can choose to have Simplaris handle the updating, manually update yourself or setup your blog to ping Simparis. This application can be added to your info tab, profile column or box tab. Whenever a blogcast is posted it will show under your recent activity section on your wall as well as in the box on your profile if you are using it. There are a few option such as changing the update mode, showing pictures and links versus plain text and even specifying the post length. You can also choose how many post to show on the profile box.

How do you import and promote your blog on Facebook?

Do you use one these methods or is there another way you like better?

Feel free to share.

Written by Charnita Fance from Social Web Tools

The History of the Internet

Many people think that the Internet is a recent innovation, when in fact the essence of it has been around for over a quarter century. The Internet began as ARPAnet, a U.S. Department of Defense project to create a nationwide computer network that would continue to function even if a large portion of it were destroyed in a nuclear war or natural disaster.

During the next two decades, the network that evolved was used primarily by academic institutions, scientists and the government for research and communications. The appeal of the Internet to these bodies was obvious, as it allowed disparate institutions to connect to each others' computing systems and databases, as well as share data via E-mail.

The nature of the Internet changed abruptly in 1992, when the U.S. government began pulling out of network management, and commercial entities offered Internet access to the general public for the first time. This change in focus marked the beginning of the Internet's astonishing expansion.

According to a survey conducted by CommerceNet and Nielsen Media Research in early 1997, nearly one out of every four Americans over the age of 16 is an Internet user. And the number of users worldwide is believed to be well into the tens of millions. Other statistics are equally startling:

• A CNN report stated that Internet traffic in 1996 was 25 times what it was just two years earlier.
• The market research group IntelliQuest pegged the number of Internet users in the U.S. in late 1996 at 47 million - a 34 percent increase over the first quarter of that year.
• According to IBM, 146 countries currently have at least some level of Internet access.
• The technology research firm IDG estimates that by century's end, one billion people worldwide will have access to personal computers—more than doubling the computer-savvy population of 1996.

The Internet explosion coincides with the advent of increasingly powerful yet reasonably priced personal computers with easy-to-use graphical operating systems. The result has been an attraction of recent computer "converts" to the network, and new possibilities for exploiting a wealth of multimedia capabilities.

For further details on the Internet's history, click here

Inggris hantam Kazakhstan 4-0

England akan pulang dari Kazakhstan hanya selangkah lagi dari lolos ke Final Piala Dunia - menang 4-0 meski sempat dipermalukan di Almaty.

Pelatih tim nasional Inggris Fabio Capello mempertahankan catatan tak terkalahkan dalam babak kualifikasi Piala Dunia di Afrika Selatan dengan enam kemenangan di Group enam dengan kemenangan ini.

Perbedaan tingkat permainan sepakbola antara kedua negara tidak segera tampak di awal pertandingan karena Inggris hampir kehilangan harga diri dan ketinggalan sebelum akhirnya menanamkan otoritas di lapangan untuk memetik kemenangan.

Kapten Inggris John Terry harus melakukan blok penting di detik ke 20 untuk menghadang Sergey Ostapenko sebelum pemain depan Kazakhstan ini melakukan sundulan kepala ke gawang Inggris yang dianulir karena offiside.

Bendera penjaga garis membungkam perayaan penonton di stadion Utama Almaty atas gol itu - dan juga menandai kebangkitan Inggris karena Kazakhstan kehabisan energi.

Gareth Barry menandai minggu kepindahan ke Manchester City dengan sundulan ke gawang Kazakhstan yang merupakan gol pertamanya bagi tim nasional Inggris dalam tujuh tahun.

Steven Gerrard kembali menunjukkan permainan gemilang dengan menendang bola dari jarak jauh yang tidak bisa dihalau dengan sempurna oleh penjaga gawang lawan dan Emile Heskey memanfaatkan bola muntah ini, 2-0 untuk Inggris.

Wayne Rooney yang tidak menampilkan permainan gemilang di sepanjang pertandingan, memperlihatkan kelasnya dengan mencetak gol 18 menit sebelum pertandingan usai.

Dan gol keempat Inggris diciptakan Frank Lampard dari titik penalti setelah Heskey dijatuhkan di kotak penalti oleh pemain belakang Kazakhstan.

Capello menyatakan puas dengan hasil pertandingan namun dia tampaknya harus khawatir dengan awal yang lambat dari timnya sehingga kesebelasan Kazakhstan sempat mengeluarkan serangan mematikan di awal pertandingan.

Terry fokus

John Terry sendiri mengaku tim nasional Inggris masih menghadapi jalan panjang sebelum bisa mulai memikirkan merebut Piala Dunia.

Meski menang di Almaty Terry menegaskan tim pimpinannya bertekad untuk lebih meningkatkan permainan.

"Kami bermain bagus dan berada di jalur sesuai dengan tujuan," ujar Terry.

"Tapi tak ada gunanya berada di puncak Group sekarang dan tahun depan tidak bisa berada di posisi yang kita inginkan. Kami tahu masih banyak perbaikan yang harus dilakukan."

Terry mengakui bahwa manajer Fabio Capello membuat perubahan bagi tim nasional Inggris setelah dibawah Steve McClaren gagal lolos ke piala Eropa 2008.

"Para pemain sekarang benar-benar menikmati dalam merebut bola dan bermain dan sudah saling mempercayai satu sama lain lagi," tambah Terry.

"Sebelumnya ada orang yang mengesalkan dan beberapa pemain tidak mau ditempatkan di lokasi tertentun.

"Tetapi jika kita lihat pertandingan ini saja, semua pemain menginginkan bola dan menempatkan diri di ruang kosong.

"Sejak manajer ini datang, itulah yang menjadi budaya tim nasional, bermain dari belakang dan bekerja keras untuk tim. Anda bisa lihat kami bekerja lebih keras sebagai satu tim."

Finding a Market vs Finding a Product to Sell Online

Being successful at selling products online means that you have to start your search by looking for people, NOT products. Looking for a hot product to sell online is the biggest mistake new Internet entrepreneurs make. You'll be much better off looking for a hot market to sell your products to!

Why? People don't necessarily go online to make a purchase — they go online to search for solutions to their problems. So once you identify a group of people with a common problem, you can think about an online product or service to sell that offers a solution to that problem.

Find a demand — offer a supply. It's the basic law of business and selling online. And on the Internet you can find those hungry customers and tell them you have a product they need. That's how successful and profitable online businesses are born, and how thousands of people have become successful at selling products and making income online.

So, how do you find a market with a common problem that you can sell to? Well, since they're going to be your future customers, you should probably look for people you have something in common with! You'll be much more passionate about your business if it's based on something that holds a lot of interest for both you and your future customers.

If you're interested in what you're doing, you'll find it enjoyable, and you'll be motivated to stick with your business — and foster its growth, development, and continual improvement.

Your unique interests may also help you find a niche market to sell to. A niche market is a narrowly defined group of people searching for answers or solutions to a similar problem (often not finding many relevant solution providers) — and these markets are the ones you want to sell your products to!

If you're looking to make an income online or start your own online business, you will succeed if you find a way to serve this kind of untapped niche market.