Thanks to the internet, it's no longer necessary to haul your weary body into an office every day, a cup of lukewarm Starbucks coffee in your hand. A proliferation of sites now make it possible to bid on contract work as a way of supplementing your income.
But, like everything else to do with the net, it's a case of buyer (or seller) beware. These sites are a great way to make extra cash - if you can avoid the scammers and chancers that are invariably drawn to them.
The way it works is this: someone looking for a service - it could be a small business needing a website design, or a student needing their thesis proof-read - puts out a tender. Anyone who thinks they can fill the brief is welcome to bid. Usually, the lowest bid wins, although some sites also encourage bidders to emphasise the quality of their service, not just the price.
Among the largest sites are Guru and Elance, both in the US, and the UK's PeoplePerHour. The claim to being the biggest online jobs site, however, goes to freelance.com, which is based in Australia. Freelance.com says it has up to 500,000 prospective workers, from IT consultants to personal assistants to humble copy editors using it to find extra employment.
The site received a recent endorsement from no less than Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist. "I can use freelancer.com to find someone to do my logo and manage my back room," he wrote.
"And I can do all this at incredibly low prices."
I expect Mr Friedman used some imaginative licence in his description - even though he didn't personally outsource his skills on the site. If he had, he might have encountered a man in Pakistan with the user name "Pinky", who tendered for a writing project based on a budget of US$250 (Dh918.28).
The brief was vague. All it said was "Web-based content writer needed". This sounded easy. I put in a pitch and soon heard from Pinky. It turned out he wanted 250 articles of at least 500 words in length. Which worked out to be around a buck an hour. I think I could earn more working in a Chinese iPod factory. I turned him down.
The next job I pitched for was to proof-read a university dissertation for a user named Magnus in Australia. "Job should only require a few hours as it is light proof-reading," read his description. I entered a bid and a few days later, heard from Magnus. I had the job. But the brief had expanded a little.
The dissertation, which arrived in my inbox in a Word file, was near perfect. It did not require proofing. What it needed was to be entirely rewritten because, as Magnus put it, "It has to get through Copyscape". Copyscape, of course, is commonly used to detect plagiarism. In other words, the job was not to proof the document, but to make changes that would hide the fact that Magnus was ripping off someone else's work. Exit Magnus.
A better prospect is the PeoplePerHour website. It restricts how little an employer can put up for a job, eliminating the Pinkys. Although a few chancers get through, most of the jobs advertised seem legit. The main disadvantage is that it is not nearly as egalitarian as Freelance.com. Almost all bids requested are for UK-based workers only.
Outright scams are also a hazard. Several posters on PeoplePerHour's forum have complained that after submitting a bid, the client asks for their bank details to make a payment. The usual process is to use PeoplePerHour's own escrow system. Which raises the suspicion that these sites are also being used by online con artists to mine for personal information they can use for data theft.
The trick to avoid dodgy job postings seems to be similar to that of eBay - check the ratings of the poster. Freelance.com, PeoplePerHour and other sites usually provide a feedback system. A contractor can rate an employer on promptness of payment and the employer can rate the contractor on adherence to deadline and quality of work.
PeoplePerHour also tallies how much money a client has paid out. A record of regular payments is usually a sign that the employer can be trusted.
Like any new service that springs up on the internet, the early days are likely to be anarchic. But it is also clear from postings on blogs and forums that many people manage to navigate these jobs boards and supplement their incomes with regular extra work.
Gavin du Venage is a business writer and entrepreneur based in South Africa.
Tell Me Who I Am
Director: Ed Perkins
Stars: Alex and Marcus Lewis
Four stars
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
CREW
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERajesh%20A%20Krishnan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETabu%2C%20Kareena%20Kapoor%20Khan%2C%20Kriti%20Sanon%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The%20Emperor%20and%20the%20Elephant
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RESULTS
6.30pm: Emirates Holidays Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Lady Snazz, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Arabian Adventures Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7.40pm: Emirates Skywards Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Rich And Famous, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.15pm: Emirates Airline Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Rio Angie, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Emirates Sky Cargo (TB) Dh 92,500 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Kinver Edge, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
9.15pm: Emirates.com (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
Cherry
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo
1/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
RESULT
Deportivo La Coruna 2 Barcelona 4
Deportivo: Perez (39'), Colak (63')
Barcelona: Coutinho (6'), Messi (37', 81', 84')
Apple product price list
iPad Pro
11" - $799 (64GB)
12.9" - $999 (64GB)
MacBook Air
$1,199
Mac Mini
$799
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Afro%20salons
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFor%20women%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ESisu%20Hair%20Salon%2C%20Jumeirah%201%2C%20Dubai%3Cbr%3EBoho%20Salon%2C%20Al%20Barsha%20South%2C%20Dubai%3Cbr%3EMoonlight%2C%20Al%20Falah%20Street%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFor%20men%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EMK%20Barbershop%2C%20Dar%20Al%20Wasl%20Mall%2C%20Dubai%3Cbr%3ERegency%20Saloon%2C%20Al%20Zahiyah%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3EUptown%20Barbershop%2C%20Al%20Nasseriya%2C%20Sharjah%3C%2Fp%3E%0A