September 2007

Imagine this situation – you are at a bar with friends having a couple of drinks and you phone starts ringing. You consider whether to answer or not, after all – you are out with friends and don’t want to be unsociable. But then when you pick up the phone to your amazement you hear the voice of American Idol star LaKisha Jones on the other end of the line. Soon enough you have all your friends fighting over the chance to listen in on your phone call. Well, this may sound a bit far fetched but for many Huston club goers this was actually a reality a short while ago.

Okay, one thing to point out is that it wasn’t actually a live call with LaKisha Jones, rather a prerecorded invitation by LaKisha Jones to a performance at a local club. You see the club owners used the Vontoo voice messaging system to promote this special event at their club and made a very original and effective use of the system. The result didn’t disappoint either with the club now planning further Vontoo campaigns.

The Vontoo system allows advertisers to send out prerecorded voice advertisements and announcements through an extremely easy to use online system. What’s great about Vontoo’s advertising is that it doesn’t come at the expense of other campaigns such as mail or email campaigns and provides businesses with another form of communication with their customers.

Summer is now coming to an end and many stores are now promoting end of summer sales. These are a great chance to pick up some good deals before waiting for the holiday season. Onlinediscountmart.com is now offering some great promotions with items marked down almost 20%.

It’s especially a good idea to pick up your winter items now such as their great looking Rain Gauges since by the time winter will be officially here these items may no longer be on sale.

Colloidal silver has become quite a hot topic lately with many articles and news stories covering it and its health benefits. We have even discussed it on our site in the past. But while colloidal silver has been used for hundreds of years as an external treatment for wounds to prevent infection, many new applications and advantages to colloidal silver are now being discovered.

For some time now, people have been using colloidal silver internally as a natural supplement but recent studies show that colloidal silver may be a very effective antibacterial. In fact, many are calling it nature’s own antibiotic. There is a lot of hope among the scientific community with the future antibiotic applications of colloidal silver since the way colloidal silver works makes it impossible for bacteria to develop an immune to it. This is due to the fact that colloidal silver doesn’t only kill the bacteria themselves but also destroys certain enzymes which are the bacteria’s food source, basically eliminating the bacteria by proxy.

I had a friend who once purchased a specific part he needed for his truck through eBay claiming he got it (used) for about a tenth of the price his local dealer wanted. But in order to achieve this price he spent weeks checking the site daily to see if someone would list the part and eventually he got lucky. This may work for some, but to me this doesn’t sound like such a sweet deal.

But when I needed a Honda Catalytic Converter for my Honda Civic I still turned online – only this time to drivewire.com. You see I am not the biggest car maven but still don’t want to pay the sucker prices that dealers charge. What’s cool about drivewire.com is that they carry almost any part for any car you could imagine and they make the purchase process exceptionally easy. You can find the exact part you need for your car by choosing your car make, year and model and then selecting from the long list of part types. There were almost part categories available for my Civic including clutches, brake pads, timing belts, oxygen sensors and more. Within each category you can easily find your part and are guaranteed one of the lowest prices around. Check them out

Kegworks.com, one of the largest sites for bar and beer related items including bar furnishing, refrigeration units and beer mugs is now offering a number of great coupon codes. They don’t advertise these codes directly on their site and you have to know the coupon codes in advance in order to save on your order.

A great place that lists a whole bunch of Kegworks.com coupon codes as well as coupons for a huge list of other websites is available at couponchief.com. The site makes it easy to find the coupon codes you need by either shopping by category or using their on site search.

You may also be interested in their Mr. Beer coupons who sells a really cool beer brewing kit which allows you to brew your own delicious beer right at home. It’s a cool way to impress your friends at your next party by telling them that the beer they are drinking is your own creation.

There has been so much talk about this whole sub prime crisis issue but the truth is that all you hear about in the news is how this is going to affect the banking sector and subsequently wall street etc. Basically what they’re saying is a bunch of poor people can’t pay their debts and now us rich wall street guys are gonna suffer. Well let me tell you this – I think it is the banks fault because they made it just too easy to take out loans.

In fact, there was a point where banks would actually beg their customers to take out various personal loans and would offer a wide range of incentives and gifts to whoever did so. But this just led to a culture of debt which got people taking out loans beyond their means. At the end of the day these same banks are the ones who will offer their customers to apply for debt consolidation and will benefit from the customer all along the way. Well, I guess this time it didn’t work out exactly as they planned…

If I had to vote for the color of the year, there would be no doubt as to which should be selected. The environmental trend that engulfed the world seems to have turned almost everyone – green. It seems like everywhere you turn there’s a new green initiative with large corporations as well as private individuals all trying to change their actions to be a little bit greener.

This engulfing trend has not passed by unnoticed by the travel industry with a new trend in travel called ecotourism. The idea of ecotourism as expressed at an online Hawaii travel blog is traveling while leaving a positive impact on our surrounding and enjoying the local culture without harming our surroundings.

A popular choice for many ecotourism enthusiast is staying at one of the wonderful Oahu vacation rentals which were built in harmony with their natural surroundings and don’t destroy their natural surroundings as with large hotels.

This game simulates snooker on your computer with full 3-D environment and perfect 3Dd sound. It features easy and addictive game play,supports short snooker(10 reds) and full snooker(15 reds) games.The balls roll just like real ones, and you can position your cue shot to hit at various places on the cue ball for different spins! 3D Live Snooker has single and multi-player modes. You can play online or off

We are in the midst of one of the most popular wedding seasons of the year and many young couples are now starting their mutual lives together. I thought I would bring a few tips for people looking to take out mortgages. The first thing to consider is that current interest rates are not very low and you may want to remortgage in the future when a lower rate will be available. Make sure your mortgage doesn’t have a high early payment fee since you may pay it off and take a new one in the case of a remortgage. Another thing that is highly recommended is mortgage payment protection, this can prevent some very unpleasant situations in the future should your income level temporarily decline.

I was referred to the site greatpricedfurniture.com and by the name of the site, expected to find a closeout style listing of furniture at discount prices. But while the prices on the site are indeed affordable, the quality of the furniture as well as the layout of the site really surprised me. The site is more like a boutique for home furniture, only because it’s online it offers great value for money with some very reasonably priced items. The information provided about each piece of furniture makes the purchase process easy and you can find many images at various angles for each piece of furniture. If you are in the market for any type of home furniture, this site is a definite must.

If you are a serious trekker, you surely know the importance of good quality footwear. This is definitely not something you want to compromise on quality with since there’s nothing that can quite ruin a long hiking or mountain trip like a torn shoe or worse an injured foot due to poor quality footwear.

But good quality footwear and combat boots don’t have to be expensive – you just have to know where to shop. Try heading off to copshoes.com and check out their wide selection and great prices. You can find some great deals on high quality desert boots, waterproof boots and more. The site is currently offering free shipping on every order above $100, be sure to take advantage of the offer while it lasts.

The Iphone craze of the past few weeks has all eyes on the cellphone industry with a lot of talk and speculation about how the success of the Apple Iphone will affect the entire cellphone market. But not many are talking about the other side of the coin and that’s how will sales of Iphone and similar devices which bundle together a cellphone with other applications such as an MP3 player. Could this move turn out to be Apple shooting itself in the leg with Iphone’s taking market share away from Apple’s own Ipod devices?

It looks like the next trend among Ipods and similar MP3 players will be focused on the higher end – next gen players. The current leader in the category is the Apple iPod Fifth Gen. Black (80 GB, M450LL/A) Digital Media Player. This unit which is titled as “fifth gen” may not have a phone built into it but it gives killer performances that an Iphone can’t even get close to competing with. The Apple iPod Fifth Gen. Black Digital Media Player is currently selling for $320 to $350. I would recommend purchasing at Amazon, they offer Free Super Saver Shipping if you are not in a huge rush to get your items.

Have you heard of compucram.com? I found that not many have, but that’s a real shame since it can be very helpful for certain people. Whether you are planning on taking a real estate test in your state, studying for a home inspection test or preparing for a number of others, compucram.com can help. You can easily download a special program dedicated to the exact test you are taking providing thousands of questions and can be used in a review mode or simulated exam mode. This will completely revolutionize the way you prepare for your test.

Everybody’s climbing Mount Everest, why can’t you? For starters, if you’re not a seasoned mountain climber going for the world’s highest peaks may be too lofty a goal to set for yourself right now, one that can even be tragically foolish.

Mountain climbing is a good outdoor activity to pursue and for adrenaline junkies, the temptation is great to push beyond the limit, but pace yourself well and properly. Start small, then work your way up to levels that are still within manageable bounds both for you and your climbing buddy.

Go to climbing schools that can teach you the right techniques and give you enough training so you can aim for higher mountain scales next time.

What do you think of my latest creation? I never really noticed the similarity before, but now that I created this morph of Clinton and Lewinsky I’m beginning to think there may be something there. In any case, the image is pretty cool, no? I created it using the Morpheus Photo-Morpher available at zoombli.com. The program is really cool and you can easily “morph” any two pictures you want. The process is very simple but the program is makes your morphed pictures look very good because it allows you to “teach” it to recognize matching features of the two pictures. The way it works is you add small dots to the first picture (these are for reference only and won’t be visible in the rendered result), you then place the corresponding dot that the program automatically ads to the second picture at the right place. For instance, if you place the dot in the first picture on the person’s nose you will then go and move the new dot on the second picture to the nose as well. The more dots you put as reference points the better the transition will look. For more information, go to zoombli.com (who have also sponsored this post).

Being green is quite a trend today. But in order to save our planet, we have to take climate change more seriously and not just act when it’s trendy. I mean there is nothing wrong with throwing a big concert and creating more awareness for our planet but at the end of the day it’s the actions of individuals as well as corporations and governments that will determine what kind of world our children and grandchildren live in.

The mainstream media is often manipulated by corporate interests and doesn’t always bring the complete picture when it comes to global warming, nor does it take a stand and promote the agenda. But thanks to the internet there is an alternative to the mainstream media and a new on demand video source is available focusing on all topics related to alternative energy and climate change. You can view the Energy Policy TV's climate change channel at video.energypolicytv.com. I especially liked Arnold Schwarzenegger’s keynote address since he brings it like it is and is a very practical and active individual. And as the key here is action and not just talk, Schwarzenegger surely proved his worth in office. We can save our plane but we have to act now. The change begins in us!

One of our biggest expenses used to be our phone and communication bills since a large portion of our customers are from oversees and we are constantly in touch with them. But in the past few months we have not only managed to drastically lower our costs, but in fact we almost eliminated them as they have reached negligible levels. The price of international communications using VoIP has become so low that we no longer bother comparing prices with other VoIP providers as the difference is almost irrelevant. But there are have been some interesting innovations when it comes to business voip lately, with some very sophisticated features available today.

Packet8 internet phone service offers a very sophisticated set of tools for small and medium sized businesses and allows businesses to set up their own custom solution based on their communication requirements. The great thing about their system is that it’s scalable so you can add as many lines and services as you need and expand your communications capabilities along with your business. I especially like their graphical web based interface which allows a receptionist to view and manage all the lines and extensions regardless of their physical location. On a full screen graphical display you have full control over what’s happening in your business and can easily route each call appropriately and efficiently just like large high ticket switchboard systems offer.

Everyone these days seems to be selling some type of insurance. There is health insurance, home owner’s insurance and of course car insurance. All of these are of great importance, yet not mandatory. On the other hand, every car owner must have car insurance. How then, can you be sure you are getting the right insurance for the best price? The answer is through a quick visit to CarInsuranceRates.com, where the answer to your every question is professionally answered.

If you’re wondering what kind of policy you can get in case of an accident or what kind of deal there is for juniors or senior, your questions will be answered in a matter of minutes. Geography plays a part in car insurance matters, as well, so all you have to do is type in your state and you’ll find out all you need to know regarding your state’s laws. If you want to find out about auto insurance quotes, just type in your car information and you will receive a quote. At CarInsuranceRates.com, you can find out any car insurance rate and see what works for you. CarInsuranceRates.com will ensure that you make the right decision when purchasing your car insurance.

If you are not familiar with quotesphere.com, now is the time to become acquainted with it. For over three years now, QuoteSphere has offered unbelievable rates on car, home, life and long term care insurance packages. They are now extending their services to health insurance.

QuoteSphere offers you inexpensive health insurance. You can receive a cheap health insurance quote by simply filling out the form on the website. Cheap health insurance is hard to come by these days, but QuoteSphere health insurance can find you the best rates possible.
It costs you absolutely nothing to fill out the form which will then provide you with five health insurance quotes.

You are not obligated to accept any of the quotes. Don’t wait for a horrible accident to happen which could leave you in a financial bind for years. Get covered now, and do it through QuoteSphere. You won’t be sorry!

If you are one of the millions of ipod owners, whether it is a classic, nano, touch or iphone, then you must have ipod earphones, and you may feel it’s time to get new ones. Here is your chance. You can trade in your old ipod earphones through the iPod Earphone/Headphone Trade In Program. All you have to do is fill out the form, mail in your iPod earphones according to the guidelines, and receive a 20$ Reward Dollar Certificate for your next purchase at Your Electronic Warehouse or Discount Golf World.

There is no need to settle for your iPod earphones any longer. By simply sending them in, you can receive a 20$ discount on a purchase of earphones such as Bose Headphones, Shure Headphones, or Monster headphones among many others. At Discount Golf World you will find a large variety of golfing equipment that can be sure to fulfill your golfing needs. At Your Electronic Warehouse you can be sure to find a wide range of electronic devices. So trade in your earphones, and save money now!

We all know that gas stoves present a risk of leaking, and starting a fire and so on. But, with all due respect, electric stoves are far inferior to gas stoves. It takes twice as long to heat up, and you never know how hot the element really is. Maybe it’s old fashioned, but I’d choose a gas stove over an electric one any day of the week!

Even though they look nicer and all, gas stoves are much more efficient, and at the end of the day what do you prefer, a nice stove to look at, or getting your eggs fried in a minute instead of ten?

Businesses can do very well from the home or if kept small. But they can do even better if expanded and brought closer to the general public. Why should you keep your business small when you can expand? You just need to start networking, advertising and putting the word out. Direct Matches can help you do that. By registering to Direct Matches you can start business networking and expand your business.

Direct Matches offers a direct sales business opportunity including your own business profile, free advertising, classifieds, and networking. For over eight years Direct Matches has helped establish and expand businesses for over 65,000 members. You can start the business of your dreams with the help of Direct Matches. Become a member and you can enjoy all of the benefits and maybe you too, can be on your way to making millions. Start networking now through Direct Matches. All it takes is a few right steps and you can be headed in the right direction, it’s that simple. I too had a home-based business that was small and unsuccessful. I did not know how or where to advertise and needed advice and assistance. Direct Matches was able to point me in the right direction and make my business a success.

You know, they say that admitting you have a problem is half the solution but unfortunately, most people reach rock bottom before admitting they have a problem. But the bigger problem is not when someone doesn’t care for himself, it’s when his friends and family fail to realize it is time for them to step up. I remember a situation when a friend from college had what was obviously an alcohol abuse problem but most of my friends were too afraid to step up. We convinced ourselves that it is not our role to “get involved”.

But that’s just it – you should get involved. In fact – if is your role as a friend to make sure your friends find the right alcohol and drug rehab they need before it is too late. If you are uncertain whether someone close has a drug or alcohol problem, you can use the Watershed Addiction Treatment Center’s free online assessment. The Watershed Addiction Treatment Programs have successfully treated thousands of alcoholics and drug addicts and helped them to get their lives back on track.

There are many beautiful and exciting cities to visit in the world. Two of them are Sydney and Melbourne, both breathtaking and yet so different, each offering a unique atmosphere. Sydney has a laid back feel to it. In Sydney you can visit the Grower’s Market, Pyrmont, on the first Saturday of the month. You can also visit the Chinese Garden of Friendship, the largest IMAX in the world, and the Sydney Aquarium. If you need good Sydney Hotels, there are many great ones to choose from.

If you want an alternative for North Sydney Hotels, try Darling Harbor. Located in Sydney, just ten minutes from the city center, is Darling Harbor which offers rich entertainment, and terrific shopping and dining. You can be sure to find luxurious Darling Harbour Hotels.

Melbourne has a large selection of eclectic boutiques, and restaurants. There are many great cafes, bistros and bars tucked into little alleyways that give the city a magical and quaint atmosphere. Of course you can find a comfortable Melbourne Hotel to stay in. With all the wonderful attractions that both Sydney and Melbourne have to offer, you would not want to miss the opportunity to visit when possible. You can be sure to have an unforgettable time.

Whoever thought that printers would ever be described as sexy? Yet if you saw one of the newest laser printers by Samsung, there is no doubt that sexy is what would come to mind. The two latest printers are the ultra-compact monochrome laser printer, the ML-1630, and multifunction printer, the SCX-4500. These printers are about 2/3 the size of regular laser printers and more than double the aesthetic points. Both were released earlier this month and will be sold exclusively at Apple Retail stores. How much are these beauties going to cost you? Around $299 for the SCX-4500 and $199 for the ML-1630.

It can be a great money saver, or investment, and quite an experience to buy fixer upper house and turn it into a beautiful and livable home. It’s not a simple procedure, however, and proper precautions should be taken. For starters, one should be careful of buying a fixer upper that no one seems to want. There must be something keeping people way. Next, a big project such as this should not be attempted alone. Help should be sought and it should be the right kind of help.

Knowledge is power, and when it comes to knowledge, doityourself.com is the best. It is an open, free community with thousands of articles and over a hundred forums on several do-it-yourself home projects. You don’t have to be the next person who glues himself to a pole or who breaks down the wrong wall. By watching the DoItYourself DVD you can gain the appropriate knowledge and information to do it the right and safe way. In no time at all, you will be transformed from an average person into a full-fledged knowledge base of all sorts of several do-it-yourself home projects. I already have my eye on their section showing how to build wood cabinets yourself. You can also use the forums to ask any question or make any comment that you might have regarding any do-it-yourself topic.

Digg is definitely not sitting on its laurels and is finding more ways to improve as a social network. With the new Digg Profile launched it is now easier for Digg Users with the same interests to keep track of each other and form a closer circle of “friends”.

The profiles pages are also a lot more meatier now enabling users to post more photos, add more personal information, and put links to personal blogs and websites. Users will also be able to view each other comments on “dugg” stories and so all in all giving each user stronger identities.

With so many credit cards to choose from today, it is up to you as a smart consumer to make the right decision. Some people simply go with whatever card their bank currently offers with their account, but there is no reason to limit yourself with the default card as getting the right credit card can offer some great savings and benefits depending on the type of card and your spending habits.

I especially like the cards offered at The Co-operative Bank since in addition to offering some great advantages for consumers such as their travel oriented card or their cash back card, they also consider themselves an ethical bank so not only you benefit from their financial services, but society and the environment do as well.

When OpenOffice 3.0 is released sometime next year (target date is September) it will be able to run natively on Mac OS X. Right now OpenOffice can run on the Mac OS but before being able to do this you need to install X11, a Unix windowing software. With the Mac OS X version of OpenOffice this is no longer necessary.

For those who can't wait next year there is already a native Aqua version of OpenOffice, called NeoOffice, which works just fine and can be downloaded for free. The NeoOffice developers are not affiliated with OpenOffice.org.

If you enjoy celebrity gossip and like to keep up to date with the latest legal predicaments of such names as Phil Spector, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton, be sure to check out the Los Angeles Criminal Attorney Blog | California Criminal Defense Lawyers Forum. The blog, authored by Dmitry Gorin, a well known California lawyer and professor at UCLA may deal in celebrities and high profile cases, but still goes in depth in legal analysis and discusses sophisticated legal issues and defense strategies in a fascinating and compelling manner which is appealing to a wide audience.

If you want to pick up a hybrid car later today, there are actually quite a lot of choices being offered by the major brands now. Ford has their Escape, which is a roomy SUV. Honda meanwhile has three cars equipped with hybrid variants. These are the Civic, the Insight, and the Accord. Toyota has a spread of hybrid options in cars and SUVs. These include the Prius and the Camry, and the Highlander.

Whatever brand you decide on, hybrids will definitely be a good decision for the environment as they produce significantly less pollution than the current vehicles we have been using. Although hybrids may come with a price premium, it certainly is something that will ultimately be for the good of everyone.

How would you like a chance to post comments or news to our blog from your mobile phone via SMS and have it available for anyone to view instantly? We are looking into signing up with golivemobile.com who are the technological force behind truemors.com mobile marketing system.

While this type of platform may not be called for with our type of blog since we don’t deal with up to the minute types of information such as breaking news or rumors like truemors.com does, it could still be a cool feature to add. The good thing is that golivemobile.com is offering the sms marketing system for free if you are an early adopter and sign up before the end of the year.

The internet has become such an integral part of life for the people of this generation that we can’t seem to stand being offline for even just a few hours. The increased demand for access to the internet anytime anywhere is spurring the mobile web technology to stop inching along and move in leaps and bounds.

Cellphones, PDAs, blackberries, and now the iTouch, a music player, now offers wifi. Website owners scramble to make sure that they have mobile versions of their websites. Online businesses are thinking of ways to offer their users access to features and services using their mobile devices. With the way things are going it wouldn’t be a stretch to find the majority of the internet accessible through mobile devices in a few years time.

I must admit, when it comes to financial planning, I am not always the most conservative and tend to take some pretty big risks in life. But one thing I never neglect is making sure I have full insurance on all my major assets. After all, I don’t want to find myself one day caught with my pants down and unable to recover from a financial crisis.

But that’s not to say I spend money on insurance blindly. Ever since the revolution of the internet it is so easy to compare car insurance and find some great deals on cheap home insurance that offer the same level of security and protection your insurance agent offers at significant savings.

The debate on copy-protected music versus more open and unlocked formats like mp3 has been going on for a while. Amazon seemed to have taken a side with its recently-opened music store that competes directly with Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Dubbed AmazonMP3, Amazon’s Music store is an ala-carte music download service that allows users to download music in the popular drm-free mp3 format.

While Apple offers the same drm-free AAC music for its EMI Music catalogue, Amazon plans to lure customers because of its lower pricing. The DRM’ed media age is slowly dying even before it had the chance to actually lift off. With Amazon as its new competitor, the consumer will surely win when Apple improves its Music Store to counter Amazon’s move.

There have been many teenage dramas over the past decade, but one that involves the trendy form of gossip blogs is only beginning now. Gossip Girl, much like my own blogs which include lots of juicy gossip, is the fictional blog of the new and upcoming TV show called Gossip Girl. The voice of this blog, which is anonymous, is narrated by Kristen Bell and narrates the show. None of the characters know who this supplier of precious information is, but that doesn’t stop them from eating it up. The gossip spreads from phone to phone like fire.

From the creator of The O.C comes a new show which revolves around the lives of young adult socialites, this time living in New York’s Upper East Side. The show is based on the novel series by Cecily Von Ziegesar. The characters attend private school whilst dealing with issues such as drugs and sex.

Serena van der Woodsen and Blaire Waldorf are best friends who share a love interest, Nate Archibald. Dan and Jenny Humphrey are two siblings who come from a different social and financial background than their peers. Although they are outsiders to this world, they are quickly drawn into it. Gossip Girl on The CW airs at 9 p.m. EST on Wednesdays.

If you are ecologically minded but want to drive around in Mercedes Benz-style, then this is definitely the mini for you. Designed to comfortably sit two adults and still provide room for other stuff, the ForTwo will easily zip you through your commutes to the store, the spa, and back. Breezing at a top speed of 90mph, it is also quite nimble when you put it through it's paces. Designed with ecology in mind, the ForTwo is also produced using processes with very minimal ecological impact. It is powder coated instead of painted, which uses only half as much energy in the process. Powder coating also has zero solvent emissions and does not use water. Moreover, as far as styling is concerned, the ForTwo does not look like any conventional car in the market today.

My mother taught me never to shop lift but I think even she would agree to the shop lifting I have been doing lately. Don't worry, I haven’t turned to the dark side of the force or something (geek alert!), I've just been doing my shopping at shoplift.com. Now while shopping at shoplift.com isn’t really shop lifting, there is a reason why the owners of shoplift.com chose this name. It's just that their prices are so low that you actually get the feeling like you did shoplift them. I am almost sorry for the site owners for having to sell such great stuff at such low prices.

I guess they don't bother with the traditional model of high prices during the year and aggressive discounting at various peek points when a major sale is being held. Instead they built a business model over clearance prices all year round. But don't think that since they sell at clearance prices you are getting some junk. They offer top line consumer Electronics and items from a wide range of categories all new in box and complete with a full manufacturer's warranty. They even offer a best price guarantee which means that if you find a lower price on any item they will refund the difference.