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Online Fax - Can You Explain To Me Exactly How It Works? [Nov. 19th, 2009|06:08 pm]
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For the very computer savvy young person who probably already has more than a few micro-chips permanently coded into their DNA, the above question might sound rather silly. However, for many of us, understanding just exactly how online or Internet faxing works, is still a bit more puzzling, especially for those of us who are used to faxing the old-fashion way thru the good old reliable fax machine in the office.

And that doubly goes for those of us who don't necessarily keep up to date on the latest developments in technology. For older workers who have always used the traditional fax machine, online faxing can be seen as down-right perplexing. With the traditional way of faxing, we are used to punching in a few numbers and scanning off the fax in the machine in order to send a fax.

Now, with online fax, I have to use computers and the Internet? What's up with that?

Like the introduction of any new technology there is a learning curve, especially for seasoned workers and small business owners who are set in their ways. Online fax has become extremely popular but there are still many people and many businesses not taking full advantage of this new way of faxing.

Perhaps, the biggest obstacle, a lot of people simply don't understand how online fax works? They might know it has something to do with computers and the web, but just how does it work?

First, you must understand, online fax is simply using your email system and your Internet connection to send your faxes. You sign-up to an Internet Fax service provider who gives you your own local or Toll-Free fax number and you are also given an online site (interface) where you can view and send your faxes. This online provider acts as your intermediary to handle all your faxing. You use your fax number to receive and send your faxes as email attachments, usually in TIFF or PDF formats.

But how does it work?

This question was actually put to Christian Watts, the co-founder of FAXAGE, an online fax service provider operating out of Denver. Here's his answer:

"Ultimately, every Internet Fax service works by receiving faxes by having some sort of dedicated phone numbers coming in to fax servers at their site or sites. Once a fax is received on the fax server, it is converted to a suitable format (PDF or TIFF with FAXAGE, PDF by default) and then sent to the customer. In our case, we send these as email attachments and store them in our website as well by default. We offer many customizable parameters around the messaging for received faxes, ability to route ‘fax received' emails to an unlimited number of email addresses, API methods for receiving
faxes into systems, etc.

On the sending side, the process is reversed – the customer sends in an electronic document (either via email, website, or, in the case of FAXAGE, an API method is also provided), the system converts it to a format suitable for faxing (The fax standard is G3 or G4 TIFF) and sends it out via a fax server. Status is then posted to the FAXAGE website as well as emailed back by default. Again, we offer a lot of flexibility around number of retries, resolution to use, priority control, which users can send faxes in a given account, etc."

Basically, what you're doing is switching all your faxing chores over to the computer, the Internet and your email system. You are simply bringing your faxing into the modern computer age. Just as you have modernized many other aspects of your business, you should also modernize your faxing. Keep in mind, you can still send and receive faxes thru the old fax machine but now you have the option of using computers and the web.

Obviously, online fax must have many benefits or advantages, otherwise everyone would still be using the old fax machine. In other words, why has Internet faxing become so popular?

Mainly because with Internet fax you and your business are no longer tied down to the fax machine in the office, you can send and receive your faxes anywhere, anytime. Online fax is also cheaper because you don't need an extra fax phone line, no need to purchase all that paper, inks and toners since online faxing is paperless.

Internet fax is ideally suited for companies since it is completely "scalable" for your growing business, you can quickly add more lines/numbers without having to install all the needed hardware as with the old way of faxing. It can also make your business more competitive, especially if you depend on faxing to bring in new sales and/or clients... your business is open 24/7, 365 days of the year.

Simply put, online fax works by utilizing all the modern contractions of the workplace, mainly your computer, your email system and the Internet. It uses all of these to give you fast, inexpensive, reliable faxing that's available anytime, anywhere. What more could you ask for?





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For more information on Internet Fax Services use this
handy online Fax Comparison Guide to get your own: online fax services
Or if you want more detailed information on Internet Faxing
try here: internet fax providers.
Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2009. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.
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Four Features Every Good Blu-ray DVD Player Should Have [Nov. 18th, 2009|09:28 am]
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With the Blu-ray format becoming more and more popular, there are now many different versions of Blu-ray DVD Players in the marketplace, all having their own set of features and functions. Combine this with the fact Blu-ray is a relatively new technology, it can get a little confusing for us consumers to figure out exactly what to look for when buying a new Blu-ray player. To help you decide, here are four features every good Blu-ray DVD Player should have:


BD LIVE

All Blu-ray Players are divided into Profiles and each Profile offers certain functions and features. Older profiles are 1.0 , 1.1, 2.0 and BD-Live is the latest and newest Profile. It is the best profile and contains all the functions and features of 1.0 and 1.1, as well as a few new ones. Most Blu-ray Players manufactured today are Profile 2.0 or BD Live, but not all of them. BD-Live allows you to access a wide variety of bonus material found on the web, such as online movie related games, latest trailers and other content. It allows your movie experience to be interactive since you can go into chat rooms and discuss movies online.


Ethernet/Wireless

Blu-ray Players are not sorely about the Blu-ray disc anymore, it offers so much more. Being able to connect your Blu-ray Player to the Internet or your home computer is no longer a convenient perk but a definite must. In the beginning the Ethernet port was mainly used as a nice and fast way of upgrading your Blu-ray Player's firmware. Although this is still the case, having your Blu-ray Player connected, now offers so much more. There are many services out there that have online streaming of movies and TV shows in High Definition. Services like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon-on-Demand offer a wide variety of movies and TV shows in HD. Therefore, you no longer have to pay for specialty HD cable channels in order to watch your favorite TV shows or movies; you can Stream them online for free.

The Blu-ray DVD Player having a wireless connection is big plus since you don't have to deal with all those annoying cables. Blu-ray Players with wireless Ethernet, once you turn the power on, will automatically pick up your wireless home network and connect you to it. Streaming movies and pictures from your home computer is also something you can do via some Blu-ray Players.


Fast Load Times

Blu-ray DVD Players have a reputation of very slow disc loading times. In the past, and to some extent still today, this has been a main criticism of Blu-ray DVD Players. It may seem like an insignificant feature, but most people when they insert a disc want instant playback and waiting around for a few minutes before you can access your disc can get rather annoying. Adding to the annoyance is you get different loading times with each movie Bluray disc. The good news is that Blu-ray Players are improving their load times. Players like Sony's PlayStation 3, OPPO's BDP-83, and Samsung's BD-P3600 have very fast loading times, and most Blu-ray movies have the exact same loading time. Remember, updating the Blu-ray Players firmware can increase loading times, as manufactures are always trying to improve playback.

Audio/Video

Lastly, but certainly not least, it should come as no surprise that a Blu-ray Player should have great audio and video. Having a clear, sharp, crisp image/sound is a very important feature and Bluray Players can deliver this if they have Ful HD 1080p video output. Every Blu-ray Player will have Dolby Digital, DTS, and PCM audio formats. However, if you want the best, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio; these are the formats you should look for in a Blu-ray DVD Player. These will bring you the best possible sound and most blu-ray movies will be encoded with these audio formats.

Of course, there are other great features and functions that a Blu-ray Player might have, but these four features are the core basics to every good Blu-ray DVD Player. Having all four of these features will make for a solid, dependable Blu-ray DVD Player, fully allowing you to get the best enjoyment out of your movie viewing experience and even a little bit more.





...

For more information on Blu-ray and Blu-ray Players
try this handy comparison guide:
bluray dvd players
Or view our Videos on our Blu-ray YouTube Channel here:
top 5 blu-ray players
Copyright 2009. This article may be freely distributed if this
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Corporate Business Gifts That Won't Nuke Your Budget [Nov. 16th, 2009|03:42 pm]
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In these harsh economic times, many companies and corporations are struggling to find ways to cut operating expenses and stay in business. Many may find it difficult to participate in the whole gift-giving festivities of the upcoming Holiday Season and some may even be dreading the looming gift-fest, especially if they have given generously in the past.

Those same companies may be struggling to find appropriate corporate business gifts which won't break the bank and put a further dent in the company's coffers. They will be looking for tasteful, yet inexpensive corporate gifts, to hand out to their employees and clients.

If you're on a tight budget, you may have to find more creative ways to celebrate the holidays this year. If you're scaling back on your gift-giving, here are some general suggestions you should consider while you're making your choices.

First, like everything in life, honesty is probably the best policy. If your company is cutting back on the festivities this year, explain to your workers and everyone concerned why you're cutting back. Be open and honest with all concerned and explain the reasons; just don't take it for granted they know. Most workers will understand and appreciate this honesty.

Second, while you may be cutting back, don't forget one of the most powerful aspect of gift-giving is personalization. Make sure your gifts are personalized. Everyone likes to be recognized and appreciated; your employees and clients are no different. So personalize that gift with your employee's name and/or any other recent awards/accomplishments that employee has contributed to your company. Keep in mind, almost any object can now
be engraved with lasers, so think outside the box for an inexpensive item that can be personalized to match your worker or client.

Third, practical gifts which the receiver can actually use and benefit from, will always be appropriate and appreciated. Practical gifts which will make that employee's job a little easier to do will produce a lasting effect for all concerned. Even simple work-related items can be given and they won't break your budget.

Fourth, look for creative ways to celebrate the season within your company. Have gift-raffles where all your employees will a chance to win a major gift or gifts; if you have thousands of employees this could be a fair way of celebrating and rewarding your workers. If your company makes products or retail items, you can always give away these items as gifts. Do volunteer gifts where time is donated in place of gifts. You can even give time off as a gift because everyone loves a holiday.

Fifth, shop around and buy in bulk, if you have a large number of workers buying gifts in bulk could be a good bargaining chip to get a lower price. If your company has many branches, consolidate all these numbers and approach a supplier for a special deal. Even simple personalized gifts like mugs, company t-shirts, USB memory sticks, key chains... can be simple tokens of appreciation which will suffice in these harsh times.

Finally, don't think of corporate gifts as objects or items, instead these are merely ways of saying thank you to your employees. They are ways of saying that your employee is special and appreciated. Everyone wants to feel they're needed and their work and worth is appreciated by the company they work for.

A simple inexpensive personalized plaque or a hand-written framed letter of appreciation can be perceived as priceless in the eyes of the receiver. Corporate business gifts, no matter how expensive or inexpensive for that matter, should always cement that special bond that exists between the employer and employee. Never forget that bond and all your gifts will leave them smiling and appreciated, while leaving both your reputation and bank account intact.


For the latest corporate gift ideas and a handy Amazon
gift-organizer try here: corporate business gifts
For Timely Special Savings/Deals/Coupons on Promotinal Corporate Gifts...click here:
corporate promotional gifts
Copyright 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be
freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
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10 Best Movies of the 70's Now Available on Blu-ray [Nov. 4th, 2009|11:35 am]
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Many people have called the 1970's the second Golden Age of Cinema, on par with movies produced during the late 1920s up to the late 1950s. With new directors such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese coming onto the scene, it's very hard to argue this fact. The 70's were without a doubt a time of great storytelling, producing high quality movies driven by characters more so than by plot. Great movies that still hold up today.

Below are some of these 70's movies now available on Blu-ray. Each one is a great achievement in cinema and would be essential to anyone's movie collection. One of the greatest advantages of owning a Blu-ray DVD Player is the fact that you get to relive watching all these wonderful movies you enjoyed in the past, as if you were watching them for the very first time. Check out these top movies of the 70's and enjoy them once again.

M*A*SH (Director: Robert Altman, 1970)

While being one of the most acclaimed comedies ever made, M*A*S*H is also one of the most iconic antiwar movies ever produced. Directed by Robert Altman, it is based on the novel "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors" by Richard Hooker. Adapted for the screen by Ring Larder Jr., it tells the story of a group of medical doctors and nurses stationed in Korea during the Korean War. With no real plot, the film is about the arrival of two surgeons, Captains "Hawkeye" Pierce and "Duke" Forrest and their interaction with the surgical staff. They use a series of humorous hi-jinks to keep their sanity during all the horror that war brings.

Video Quality: M*A*S*H was never a film that looked crisp and sharp; or particularly bright. This was the intentional purpose of the original cinematographers. They used filters and brownish tones to give the film its unique look. While this look is preserved in its 1080p with AVC-encoded transfer, it still gives us the best image quality the film has ever had.

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2:35.1
Original aspect ratio: 2.40:1

Audio Quality: The film has been given a newly lossless sound in the form of a DTS-HD Master 5.1 soundtrack.

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
German: DTS 5.1
English: Dolby Digital Mono

Special Features:
- "The Complete Interactive Guide to M*A*S*H"
- "AMC Backstory: M*A*S*H"
- "Enlisted: The Story of M*A*S*H"
- "M*A*S*H: History Through the Lens"
- "Remembering M*A*S*H: 30th Annual Cast & Crew Reunion"
- Two trailers
- Stills gallery


A Clockwork Orange (Director: Stanley Kubrick, 1971)

A controversial film even to this day. Its depiction of sex and violence is some of the most graphic ever put on screen. But simply stated, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is a cinematic masterpiece. Adapted from the Anthony Burgress novel of the same name, the film is about a man, Alex DeLarge, who is a psychopathic delinquent. Among his many delights is Beethoven, rape, and ultra-violence. He is the leader of a group of young criminals who spend their nights stealing cars, breaking into peoples homes and vicious attacks on their follow human beings. Alex is taken by the government and is used as a test subject in an experiment to force criminals to become well behaving citizen. With this film, Kubrick asked us to consider the greater evil. The monstrous acts committed by Alex throughout the film or our willingness to destroy a person's own moral choices to maintain social order.

Video Quality: The film is presented on Blu-ray in 1080p with VC-1 encoding and a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. Its many brilliant and crude colors are given a tremendous upgrade.
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1

Audio Quality: The audio for the movie has been remixed into a PCM 5.1 uncompressed track and a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. You can now enjoy synthesized Beethoven symphonies in all their glory.
English: PCM 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
German: Dolby Digital 5.1

Special Features:
- Commentary by Malcolm McDowell and Film Historian Nick Redman
- "Still Tickin': The Return of A Clockwork Orange"
- Great Bolshy Yarblockos: The Making of A Clockwork Orange"
- "O Lucky Malcolm"
- Theatrical Trailer

The Godfather I and II (Director: Francis Ford Coppola, 1972/1974)


Generally considered two of the best American Movies ever made and landmarks in world cinema. Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather and Godfather II is a multi-generational crime family saga. Staring Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone and Al Pacino as his son Michael; the story takes place in New York in the late 1940's. The Corlones are a Mafia family, and Vito is the Godfather or Don. Michael is initially an outsider in the family. Making the decision to stay out of the family business. Through a series of unfortunate events, Michael is soon drawn into a life of crime and eventually rises to the position of ultimate power. Through both films we are shown every aspect of their lives; from births, marriages, dealings with friends and allies, to deaths. What we are left with, in essence, is a great family drama.


Video Quality: Noticeable better than their DVD counterparts, The Godfather Films on blu-ray are delivered in 1080p with AVC MPEG-4 encoding at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. It offers great fullness and sharp images.
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio Quality: Presented in Dolby TruHD 5.1 Surround for all films, it offers great clarity and the best sound ever for The Godfather films.
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital Mono
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Young Frankenstein (Director: Mel Brooks, 1974)

They don't come any funnier than Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein. A spoof of the classic horror movies Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Using the same sets as the original, the story centers around Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) and his on going effects to re-animate the dead. With the help of a bumbling assistant Igor (Marty Feldman), and the beautiful Inga (Teri Garr) he is able to create life, The Monster (Peter Boyle). With scene after scene of comedy highlights, Mel Brooks brings out the very best in his cast which includes: Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman in a classic cameo. Unlike many comedy films, this one does not age and its jokes are still as funny as they were 30 years ago.


Video Quality: It gets the absolute most out of its 1080p with AVC-encoding. The remastering of the black and white imagery looks fantastic.
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio Quality: The film has a DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 sound track and a remix of the film's original mono.
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English Mono
French Mono
Spanish Mono

Special Features:
- Inside the Lab: Secret Formulas in the Making of 'Young Frankenstein'
- Alive! Creating a Monster Classic
- Making FrankenSense of Young Frankenstein
- Transylvanian Lullaby: The Music of John Morris
- The Franken~Track: A Monstrous Conglomeration of Trivia
- Mexican Interviews


Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Director: Steven Spielberg , 1977)

This, Steven Spielberg 1977 film, has become one of the most revered Science Fiction movies of all time. It stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, and Teri Garr. It is the story of an electrical lineman whose life takes an unexpected turn one evening when he encounters some unidentified flying lights in the sky. He soon becomes obsessive and can not help himself from being drawn to a rural site in Wyoming. Government agents are also at this site keeping away the general public. More of a character driven movie, this science fiction tale is no less riveting and visually spectacular.


Video Quality: This is a visual stunning film transferred to 1080p with AVC MPEG-4 encoding. The film remains to keep its grainy tone but you will never see this film look as vibrant as it does on Blu-ray.
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Audio Quality: You get two audio options, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Both giving you high resolution sound making the soundtrack absolutely brilliant as well.

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
French: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Spanish: Dolby TrueHD 5.1

Special Features:
- Steven Spielberg: 30 Years of Close Encounters
- Storyboard to Screen Comparisons
- Photo Gallery
- Making of Documentary
- "Watch the Skies"
- Deleted Scenes
- A View From Above

Saturday Night Fever (Director: John Badham, 1977)

Most movies come and go without much notice or impact on our daily lives. While others, all be it rare, can come along and in an instance have an impact and even change our culture. Saturday Night Fever is one of those movies. After its 1977 release, disco rules the music airwaves and the dance floors. It tells the story of a 19 year old Italian American living in Brooklyn by the name of Tony Manero (John Travolta). He works at the local paint shop and still lives with his family. At night he frequents a nightclub and becomes a disco dance god. Director John Badham does a great job showing the spiritual connection between music and dance, and how Tony sees this as a means of escaping his limited life to something bigger.

Video Quality: Great quality with the Blu-ray format in a 1080p with AVC MPEG-4 encoding. This version of Saturday Night Fever is the best the movie has ever looked including theatrical revivals.
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio Quality: Remixed in Dolby TrueHA 5.1 Surround, the sound track is very impressive. You be able to enjoy all those classic songs like never before.
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Special Features:
- Commentary by Director John Badham
- Pop-up trivia
- Documentary: Catching the Fever
- Back to Bay Ridge (9 minutes) hosted by Joe Cali
- Dance like Travolta and John Cassese (9 minutes)
- Fever challenge – Interactive feature
- Deleted scenes





Midnight Express (Director: Alan Parker, 1978)

Midnight Express is about Billy Hayes and what happens to him when he is caught trying to smuggle out two kilograms of hashish from Istanbul, Turkey. Sentence to 4 years in prison, the sentence was soon extended, with Mr. Hayes experiencing terrifying and unbearable acts of physical and mental torture. While being committed to the prison's insane asylum where he manages to escape in 1975. Told with fine skill and detail, director Alan Parker and Screenwriter Oliver Stone, have created a powerful film.

Video Quality: This films is delivered on Blu-ray with a 1080p with AVC MPEG-4 encoding at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 .The image quality is good and faithful to its source.
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio Quality: Audio is also, faithful to the original source. Remixed into Dolby TrueHD 5.1 you get very good results.
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English: Dolby Digital Mono
French: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Portuguese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1

Special Features:
- The Producers
- The Production
- The Finished Film
- The Making of 'Midnight Express'


Being There (Director: Hal Ashby, 1979)

Peter Sellers gives an award winning performance as Chance the Gardener (Chauncey Gardiner) in the truly classic comedy film. He plays a simple man who has been isolated his entire life in a townhouse in Washington, DC. And the only things he knows anything about is what he has seen and heard on TV. Once he is thrown out into the world, he comes across an array of characters from the inner circles of political power makers and the resulting fall-out
makes this one of the best comedies of the 70's.


Video Quality: Remastered with a 1080p with VC-1 transfer the image is the best this movie has ever been.
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio Quality: The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 1.0 or lossless Dolby True 2.0 mono.
English: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
English: Dolby Digital 1.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 1.0
French: Dolby Digital 1.0
English: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
English: Dolby Digital 1.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 1.0
French: Dolby Digital 1.0 (less)

Special Features:
- Memories from Being There
- Deleted Scenes
- Alternate Ending
- Gag Reel
- Theatrical Trailer


One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Director: Milos Forman, 1975)

Milso Forman directed this 1975 film depicting the lives of patients in a mental institution. This film is regarded as one of the greatest films in American Cinema. The main character in the story is Randle Patrick McMurphy, played to perfection by Jack Nicholson. Who is sentenced to 18 months in prison for statuary rape, but he soon convinces the prison guards he is crazy and in need of psychiatric care. His rebel nature soon attracts a following with the other patients. He soon gathers them up to take on Nurse Ratched, who runs the institution more like a dictator that a dedicated
health care giver. The resulting conflicts and battles will give viewers some of the most powerful emotions ever experienced while watching a film.
A solid masterpiece of cinema, well worth experiencing once again on Blu-ray.


Video Quality: This film comes to Blu-ray in a 1080p with VC-1 encode. Certainly the best remastered version produced. With it high quality 1080p images, the resolution is a giant lead forward over any other version released previously.
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio Quality: The sound resolution is in Dolby Digital 5.1.
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono... (more)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono
Italian: Dolby Digital Mono

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary
- The Making of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- Deleted Scenes
- Theatrical Trailer
- Collectible Booklet


Enjoy Once Again!



...

For more information on Blu-ray and Blu-ray Players try this handy comparison guide:
bluray dvd players
Or try subscribing to our YouTube channel which will give you a
list of trailers/movies being released on Blu-ray each week:
BlurayDVDplayers's YouTube Channel
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Gaming Laptops - 5 Reasons To Put Them On Your Christmas List [Nov. 1st, 2009|02:36 pm]
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One of the major categories of laptop computers is gaming laptops. Usually, these are the laptops that offer high processing performance, superior graphics, brilliant displays and possesses a large hard drive for plenty of storage. In other words, you want a laptop that has a high-end GPU, fast processor, tons of RAM, large 17inch or bigger display, large hard drive and many throw in a Blu-ray optical drive to make sure you're getting the best viewing enjoyment possible.

You should also know, in the quest to produce the most powerful gaming notebook computer, the ideal machine will now sport multiple graphics cards, dual or even quad processors, multiple hard drives... and as gaming technology has progressed, these fully loaded laptop rigs are just about on par with what you would find on a gaming desktop PC.

Gaming laptops have also been a popular Christmas gift in years past and this year will probably prove no different. These dream machines are on everyone's list for a number of reasons so here's why you should consider getting or giving one this year...

1. Price & Variety

As competition in this market heats up, prices have been steadily falling. Once this category was dominated by gaming specialists such as Alienware and Rock, but not anymore, as many of the major computer makers such as Dell, HP, Sony, Toshiba... are all entering this niche market. The resulting fall-out has seen most prices drop and a whole variety of options presented to the consumer. There are a lot more quality gaming machines to choose from and you can expect to pay less than in previous years. However, lets not kid ourselves, to buy a fully loaded gaming rig with all the extras can still set you back 4 or 5 grand. Ouch Santa, that hurts!

However, this factor plays into another segment of the buying public, despite the down-turn in the economy there are still those amongst us who only buy the best of everything. The ultimate gift for those who want the very best of everything. The highest price laptop you can buy. Then these buyers will have to go with a gaming laptop as these are usually the most powerful machines on the market; not counting desktop PCs.

2. Supreme Performance

Gamers want and demand the highest performance possible in their machines. Manufacturers are gladly supplying that power by utilizing more and more powerful processors such as the new Intel Core i7 (64-bit x86-64) processors. And decking them out with ever increasingly higher performing Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and neatly presenting all this power and performance on High Resolution and High Definition Display systems, many incorporating the newer Blu-ray technology. For those who want to receive the latest in tech gadgets and gizmos, then gaming laptops fit the bill perfectly.

3. Portable

Sometimes it's hard to imagine some of these 10 plus pound monsters as portable but when compared to a gaming desktop PC, a gaming notebook computer can be said to be much more portable. One of the major selling points of gaming laptops is this mobility, you can quickly pick one up and carry it around with you and as these machines are getting sleeker and smaller - they will only become even more portable. Ideal gifts for college students, travelers and your very active teenagers. You can send both of them to their rooms without getting those dirty looks. Some gifts do come with fringe benefits.

4. Windows 7

Windows 7 has just been released and now is an excellent time to upgrade your computer. Unlike all the negative press that Vista received, Windows 7 seems to be getting much better reviews, mainly because Microsoft actually listened to its customers and designed an operating system that satisfies the end-user. Unless you're Mac fanatic, now would be a good time to purchase that new laptop either for yourself or someone you like, and obtaining the new Windows 7 would just be an added reason to get one this Christmas Season.


5. Fun/Enjoyment Factor

First and foremost, Christmas gifts should be all about fun. If it's not already written into the constitution, it should be! Mainly because nothing says fun more than a gaming laptop and it will surely please the receiver. And while it will deliver hours and hours of enjoyment throughout the year; always remember, unlike other toys, gaming laptops can be very practical - especially for students. Remember, these machines are powerful computers which have many more beneficial uses than playing computer games. Just try to convince yourself, Junior is destined to do more than kill imaginary aliens for the rest of his life.


If you think for a second, you can probably come up with many more solid reasons to put a gaming laptop on your Christmas list. Your beloved off-spring pestering you for 30 days straight for one, doesn't really count but it probably does. Just remember the 5 reasons above and you will feel much more comfortable playing Santa this year by giving a gaming laptop.





...

For a handy online Laptop Guide featuring the latest top
gaming notebooks, click here: gaming laptops
For the latest corporate gift ideas and a handy Amazon
gift-organizer try here: Corporate Business Gifts
Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be
freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

Corporate Business Gifts - Will E-Readers Be The Top Tech Gifts This Christmas? [Oct. 26th, 2009|02:25 pm]
[Tags|, , , , , , , , ]

E-Readers which are also called digital or electronic readers, lets users wirelessly download books and read them on hand-held devices resembling a glorified etch-a-sketch. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but these handy little digital readers have become extremely popular; according to a recent Time article, Amazon has already sold 1.7 million of the Kindle E-Reader since it was introduced in 2007.

And according to the same article, the Association of American Publishers states total revenue from digital-book downloads has risen 149% this year, while they estimate e-book readers sales to top 3 million by Dec. 31. Plus, according to Forrester Research around 1 million of these gadgets could be sold this holiday season, and sales in 2010 are projected to double, to 6 million.

"The year 2009 is a breakout year for e-readers," says Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research. "But we're still in the early stages."

Those make for very impressive numbers and it could point to E-Readers as "the" hot Christmas gift this Holiday Season; at least where tech gadgets are concerned. Given its well received features and programs, an E-Reader could make for an excellent corporate business gift, especially if you could brand them with your company logos and stream them with your company's newsletters and RSS feeds.

Then we also have the recent launch of the NOOK from Barnes & Noble which will give the Amazon Kindle some competition. The Nook has a 6-inch paper-like display which uses a 16-level grayscale that can support up to five fonts. You can use it to read PDFs, in addition to over 1 million books, newspapers and magazines available in Barnes & Noble's eBook store. The Nook is currently priced at around $260.

How is it different from the Kindle: besides the flashy color icons, designer cases and color customizable back panel; the Nook does have some nice features such as a virtual bookmark called Reading Now that lets you pick up where you left off reading on the Nook, and it has Wi-Fi radio which customers can use at 700 Barnes & Noble's locations and at 600 college stores in 50 states. There's enough memory for holding 1,500 books (2 GB) and there's a microSD slot which could give you another 16 GB more.

But this holiday season, gift buyers (corporate or otherwise) will have many more E-Readers to choose from other than the Kindle and the Nook. Where there's a profit to be made, other companies will follow. Just like when Asustek invented the category of Netbook with its ASUS Eee-PC in 2007, other laptop makers and sellers quickly jumped on the bandwagon and the marketplace was flooded with netbooks or mini-laptops.

This recent trend towards E-Readers will prove no different; take for example Sony, who introduced the first electronic reader way back in 2004, will be introducing three new devices according to the Time's article. The Sony Reader will have a Pocket Edition ($199), sporting a 5-inch-diagonal screen, Touch Edition ($299) which will be touchscreen-equipped and the Daily Edition ($399), which will feature wireless capability.

Asus is also entering the E-Reader market with a product called the Eee-reader which should be on the market for Christmas. Then there is the Fujitsu FLEPia which is the only commercially available E-Reader which has a color display. It's only available in Japan and costs around $1,100. Ouch!

For the more modest consumer, the Irex Digital Reader will be hitting U.S. stores this month, October 2009. The DR800 will have an 8.1-in. touchscreen with wireless connectivity and will sell for $90 less than the similarly sized Kindle DX, which will set you back around $489. This is the price at the time of writing, expect those prices to drop as competition heats up.

On the horizon, there are many different versions of the e-reader that will hit the market. There is even a fold up model which will open like a book and another one called the Polymer Vision Readius which is also a phone but it has a flexible screen that folds up around the phone to make it extra portable.

Then we have the looming debut of Apple's fabled iTablet which could be a game changer in the whole E-Reader arena. It could also be a Kindle or Nook Killer given Apple's enormous popularity with tech savvy consumers who only want the latest gadget on the market.

One really has to question why all this popularity for the E-Reader, especially since we already have the small portable netbook on the market, which can be easily used for reading books. More specifically, we already have Tablet PCs which could easily fulfill this reading function. Granted they may be slightly larger, but they also offer all the features of a laptop, so why not just convert/use this device as an E-Reader?

Regardless, the E-Reader seems to be gearing up to be a top tech gift this holiday season. The perfect gift for family members, friends and employees alike... especially for the book-reading fanatics in your family or company. E-Readers are also the ideal gifts for those who simply must have the latest and newest tech gadget on the market.
...


For the latest corporate gift ideas and a handy Amazon
gift-organizer try here: Corporate Business Gifts
To check out the Amazon Kindle click here:
Amazon Kindle
Copyright 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be
freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

Does Google PageRank Count Anymore? [Oct. 23rd, 2009|11:10 am]
[Tags|, , , , , , , ]

Being a full-time SEM (Search Engine Marketer) I have been
conditioned like Pavlov's dog (not a pretty picture) to jump
every time Google twitches. Lately Google has been doing a
lot of twitching.

Specifically, the rather startling news from Google Webmaster
Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa that Google has ditched PageRank
from Webmaster Tools.

"We've been telling people for a long time that they shouldn't
focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it's
the most important metric for them to track, which is simply
not true," states Moskwa. "We removed it because we felt it was
silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show
them the data, implying that they should look at it."

Find more here on WebProNews:

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/10/15/google-ditches-pagerank-in-webmaster-tools

Now, for SEO reasons or for ranking in Google's index, PageRank
has long been eunuchified by Google. However, even missing
a few dangling bits, history has shown us eunuchs still wheel
tremendous power. PageRank is no different.

Regardless of what Google wants to happen, PageRank is still
extremely important to anyone marketing on the web, especially
if you're selling SEO services or operating a web business. Try
selling SEO services when that little green bar on your site
is pointing to PR0 or worst yet, pointing to a solid gray bar.

Obtaining a high PR7 or PR8 simply means more business and revenues...
regardless of how Google is or is not using PageRank. People know how
to count and they learned long ago, a ten is a lot more than
a big fat zero.

Placed against a PR1 site, a PR8 will win more respect in the eyes
of potential clients and can produce enormous profits for the site
owner and we won't even mention the still widely practiced
habit of selling links, which Google is desperately trying to stop.
Total and full elimination of PageRank would be an honest start
but it will still be an uphill, if not an unwinnable battle, for
Google to fully eliminate link selling.

Even with my modest sites, I have turned down a small fortune
by not selling text links on any of my sites. When I had a PR6
site instead of a PR4 - those link requests were nearly doubled.
So one can easily understand Google's position and the need to
downplay PageRank, if they want to put a small dent in all
this link selling and buying, which is still running rampant
on today's web.

PageRank is Google's creation, and unless they remove it fully
from their system and the Google toolbar, then PageRank still Counts.
Actually, in the whole scheme of marketing your website on the
net, PageRank counts big time. And in more ways than one.

There are several reasons why you shouldn't count PageRank out.

For years Google has been downplaying the important of
PageRank and states it's only one of about 200 ranking factors
which determines how Google ranks its index for keywords.
Obtaining top organic rankings for popular lucrative keywords
in Google simply means money in the bank. Actually, even a movement
of only one or two places on those first page SERPs (Search Engine
Results Pages) can make a major difference to any online marketer's
bottom line.

Now while you can have a lower PR number and still rank above
other higher PR pages for your chosen keywords, I have even had
many times when my PR drops but my actual SERPs rankings in Google
goes up, mainly due to building related relevant backlinks. So
PageRank counts little towards your keyword rankings but it can't
be totally dismissed.

Mainly because, even if PR is just one ranking factor, in close competitive
keyword battles (I am presently fighting tooth and nail for some
very choice keywords) just one ranking factor such as high PR can make
the difference of whether or not you get to the top spot. Big dogs
are still jumping and for those of us who know how to count, getting
a number one spot in Google makes all the difference in the world.

Not only because Google controls roughly 80% of all search engine
traffic, but more importantly Google has established unmatched
credibility and brand recognition in the eyes of potential customers
visiting your site. Web users trust Google. Web users look to Google
for guidance and direction. Web users believe what Google is telling them.
In the online world, rightly or wrongly, perception is everything.

As an online marketer, I am completely amazed each day at the
marketing power Google now commands with web surfers and with the
general population. Google is king of online search and no other
search engine even comes close to Google.

PageRank is Google's ranking system, and in the eyes of those who
notice these things, it still wheels tremendous influence and power.
By default, PageRank is Google's opinion of your site, and web
users can count (at least to 10) and if Google believes people
are still not counting when it comes to PageRank, then they are fully
mistaken.


...

The author is a full-time professional online marketer who has numerous
niche websites. For the latest web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools
or here: Free Marketing Tools
Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be
freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

Bluray DVD Players: Can Blu-ray Ever Achieve Success In The Marketplace? [Oct. 20th, 2009|01:04 pm]
[Tags|, , , , , ]

Having won the war over HD-DVD, it would seem Blu-ray would have clear sailing into a very successful and bright future. While success has not been as sudden as most would have liked, there are signs that Blu-ray is gaining ground. Blu-ray discs and Blu-ray DVD Players have seen steadily increasing sales over the past two years, giving hope that the format has finally gotten a foot-hold into the public's awareness. Both, however, still come up short when compared to DVD sales. Many people see this as a prediction of Blu-ray's fate: no matter what type of success it will have, it will not be long term or long lasting. However, there are many marketing indicators that seem to dispute this prediction.

Here are some reasons why Blu-ray may have a bright future:

Sony

Sony has invested a lot into the Blu-ray format. It pushed aside HD-DVD (Toshiba) and it is now ready to reap the benefits and there is no debate that Sony has tremendous marketing ability. It seems highly likely Sony will find a way to make Blu-ray work and this does seem to be the case. Sony recently announced in September, 2009 its new Slim PlayStation 3 console sold more than one million units in its first three weeks. Reducing the price to $299, certainly helped the sales.

Price

Besides Sony, almost every major electronic company have begone to support Blu-ray. Therefore, these companies have a greater interest in pushing the format towards success. More and more Blu-ray DVD Players and recording hardware are being launched. There are even rumors that Apple will produce a new Mac computer with a Blu-ray DVD Player. This will bring about strong competition in the market place. Strong competition is always good for the consumer, meaning prices will go down. And of course every major studio now supports Blu-ray, providing more content on Blu-ray disc. Eventually, Blu-ray Discs will be on par with that of the DVD discs. In some incidents this is already the case.

Continuously reducing prices of HDTVs, Blu-ray DVD Players and Blu-ray Discs will go a long way in helping Blu-ray win the marketplace battle. Even in a time of recession, HDTV are still being sold. There is no getting away from the fact that embedded into the public's psyche is the need to have a bigger, better TV viewing system. It is a necessity of life! Nothing good about Food and Shelter if you don't have a great Television to go along with it? And it just makes common sense people will want to get the best quality picture possible out of their HDTVs through using Blu-ray.

One Standard HD Format

Blu-ray is the only High Definition format you can use to get the best quality pictures. The quality of the picture and audio is what makes Blu-ray far superior to that of the standard DVD. You may get some critics that will argue Blu-ray is better, but only slightly. You can get DVD upconverting that will produce almost the same picture quality. This is UNTRUE. If anyone saw the picture of a DVD or upconverting DVD side by side with a Blu-ray Picture, there would be a remarkable difference in quality and sound. Blu-ray picture is noticeably better than anything else, even most HDTV broadcasts.

But good intentions and a strong backing don't always result in a positive outcome. Blu-ray does have its competitors in the Home Entertainment market
and the most substantial one being - digital downloads.


Digital Downloads

Many see this as the future, and will be the main cause of Blu-ray's defeat, if it is ever defeated. Streaming video platforms services such as Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV and Vudu may very well in the future give Blu-ray serious competition. But right now they all have some major crippling factors; just like the Blu-ray format they have issues with pricing and content availability. But one of its biggest obstacles is Bandwidth, or the lack of bandwidth,
since this effects the quality of the video and audio of the downloads.

Not including the fact that many places do not even have broadband connections, most that do, their bandwidth is not sufficient. Most cable internet connections are fine for streaming video on your 19 inch computer monitor; but when streaming on your 42 inch HDTV the picture more often than not will be unclear or the colors dull. You would need to get high end bandwidth services, usually designated towards businesses not the average consumer, to get good quality pictures. Some experts have indicated we are at least a decade away from getting the bandwidth needed to reap the full benefits of online full definition streaming videos. Are people going to sit around and wait for their Broadband to increase, when there is a perfectly good option all readily available? Not likely.

And people still like to use discs for movies and storage. They are familiar with a 12cm disc and know how to use them. Besides people have learned to trust and rely on these discs. Bringing us to another major drawback of digital downloading. Downloading 100 GBs worth of movies is fine, but what happens if your hard drive crashes, you will have to re-download all your movies. Most people still like having their movies in a physical form on discs for convenient storage.

The simple fact is, while digital downloads and Blu-ray will compete for the same market, one does not have to exist without the other. Both can offer you an alternative to each other. However, Blu-ray is the option available right now and it is not going to be replaced with another format in the foreseeable future. So given all these factors, I believe the time is right for Blu-ray to succeed and keep succeeding in the future as the High Definition viewing system of choice.




...

For more information on Blu-ray and Blu-ray Players
try this handy comparison guide:
bluray dvd players
Or try downloading our handy Blu-ray Buyer's Guide here:
blu-ray buyer's guide
Copyright 2009. This article may be freely distributed if this
resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

Online Fax Service - Starting Up A Home Business Or Office [Oct. 19th, 2009|02:43 pm]
[Tags|, , , , , , , ]

It is almost inconceivable that anyone could start up a home office or
a home business without having a fax service or fax number. It is one
of those necessities of doing business, no matter where your business
is located. In other words, having a fax service and number is essential
to the running of your company or business.

With the recent downturn in the economy, more and more people are switching
their attentions to working at home in order to bring in extra income.
Many of those same people are setting up home offices because it is much
cheaper than setting up an office outside of the home. Besides, working
from the comfort of your own home is very appealing to most people.

As mentioned above, one of the first things any prospective home business
will need is a fax number. This is where an online fax service enters the
picture. More and more individuals are turning to Internet faxing to solve
or meet all their faxing requirements or needs.

First, you probably already know online fax is simply using your current
email system and your Internet connection to handle all your faxing needs.
Your faxes are sent as email attachments, usually in TIFF or PDF format,
although there are many more formats you can use to send your faxes.

In order to use web faxing, you have to sign-up to an online fax service
provider where you are given a local or Toll-Free fax number. You also
get an online fax account (interface) where you logon to send and/or
receive your faxes. Your faxes can also be stored in your online fax
account.

There are several important reasons why many new home business start-ups
are using Internet fax instead of the traditional office fax machine.

Here are Seven major reasons:

1. There is no need for an extra fax phone line since everything can be
done online and with your computer. This will save you money on your home
business start-up costs.

2. There is no need for a fax machine, which will also save you money,
since all your faxing can be done through the Internet and your email system.

3. You don't have to purchase papers, inks, and toners in order to send
and receive your faxes. Over the long haul, this can mean significant
savings for you, not to mention, your savings on the maintenance costs
of running your fax machine.

4. Online faxing is often cheaper than regular faxing. Monthly charges run
on average around $10, but there are cheaper options, especially if you have
minimum faxing needs. So it pays to shop around before you sign-up to any
one service.

5. An online fax service is web based which means you can do your faxing
anywhere you have the Internet and these days that's just about everywhere.
You can use cell phones, laptops, Blackberries, PDAs... to do your faxing
from anywhere you're located.

6. Internet fax is extremely easy to use. Actually, it is as easy as
sending an email and we all know how to do that. Besides there are no more
paper jams, messy inks and toners to deal with in the running of your office.
You can also send and receive faxes simultaneously.

7. It can make your home business more competitive since having your
faxes available 24/7, 365 days of the year will give your business
an advantage especially if you rely upon faxing for bringing in sales,
clients or you rely upon it heavily for communicating with your customers.
Also remember, online fax is completely scalable to meet your growing
business needs. For example, if you should need extra fax numbers you
can get them without putting in the extra hardware and phone lines.


Lastly, since online faxing is mainly done through computers and the
Internet, it is often thought of as the modern way to run your business.
So why not start your home office or business off on the right foot by
using this modern way of faxing? The rewards and benefits are well worth it.


...

For more information on Internet Fax Services use this
handy online Comparison Guide to get your own: online fax
Or if you want more detailed information on Internet Faxing
try here: free fax trial.
Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2009.
linkpost comment

7 Proven Internet Marketing Strategies To Increase Your Sales [Oct. 12th, 2009|11:35 am]
[Tags|, , , , , , , ]

I am constantly amazed by the number of people I meet on
the web who have absolutely no marketing strategy whatsoever
behind their site or online marketing.

I am even more amazed by the number of people who believe
all they have to do is buy a domain, slap a few HTML pages
together and place them on a web host somewhere. Then they
expect everything else to just happen because their site or
business is on the web!

It very rarely happens that way.

Creating an online business takes some planning and strategy
if you want your site or business to succeed. You must have
a plan of action, but most of all, you must have some fundamental
marketing strategies behind your online site.

Now, I am speaking from experience here, because I also stumbled
around on the web for 2 or 3 years like the people I described above.
I foolishly thought just because I had a web site, I could do
business on the web.

Well, not very much happened. I received very little traffic
and very few sales. My site was going nowhere fast.

Fortunately, the theme I chose for my first site was Internet
Marketing! I spent those first years studying all the online
marketing material and information I could get my hands on.
I gradually learned what to do and what not to do when it
came to marketing online.

Mostly, I stumbled across some great Internet marketers like
Marlon Sanders, Neil Shearing, Ken Evoy... true pioneers of
online marketing. By studying those first class marketers and
their marketing techniques I learned how it was all done.

Over time, I learned how to become very analytical with my
sites and marketing. I started to create marketing strategies
and put them into practice with my sites. This was all new to
me because I have a background in education rather than marketing.

Now, I would like to share with you some of these marketing
strategies and practices - just things I do and things I put
into place which enable me to receive a modest but very
comfortable online income.


So here are some things you can try:


1. Know Your Market Or Audience

First and foremost, you must know your market. Know who
you will be targeting with your marketing? Know who will be
buying your products or the affiliate products that you're
promoting on the web?

I keep my eyes open for hot trends or products which everyone
is buying. You can use programs like Google Trends to see which
products are becoming hot. For example, in electronics, which
products are on everyone's wish list? Is it laptops, PCs or netbooks?
Are people buying smart phones, PDAs, Blu-ray Players or E-readers?

Just find out what products are hot? Find what products are being
searched for in the search engines... do a check to see how many
searches are made each month for your chosen product? Use WordTracker,
or a free online site such as Seobook.com to see what products
people are searching for on the web.

If there is a large demand/audience/market for your product or
subject area, then you have a better chance of succeeding online.
It is a simple marketing strategy that many first time marketers
ignore - please don't. So choose your products to match the
demand that is out there for them.



2. Buying Mindset

One of the key elements to selling stuff online is finding people
at the exact moment they are ready to buy. What some marketers
refer to as a "Buying Mindset". You find people who have their
minds set on buying something when they reach your site.

This is much easier than you think!

A simple way I found to do this is to create sites which target
keywords related to buying... such as gifts, coupons, bargains,
deals and so on. For example, a site on wedding gifts will obviously
attract customers who are interested in buying wedding gifts.

To give you a concrete example from my own site, I have a
section on "Corporate Business Gifts" which offers special
deals/coupons on corporate business gifts... someone searching
for that phrase is more likely to purchase a gift. Just simple
reasoning, but it works wonders for selling stuff online.

In the Info-Product market, many Gurus create a "Buying Mindset"
by offering special bonuses and discounts if someone buys from
their links. Another simple way to boost your sales.


3. Target Special Holidays

Along the same lines, I like targeting times when people feel
obligated to buy. Using special holidays like Christmas,
Mother's Day, Valentine's Day... in your marketing can be very
effective.

There are occasions such as anniversaries, birthdays, weddings,
graduations... when people feel they must buy something for
a loved one or special friend. Targeting those occasions with
your marketing can be extremely effective... people are looking
for a birthday gift, a graduation gift or a wedding gift - you
simply help them find what they're looking for.

On one of my sites, I target the "Back To School" market which
has proven very lucrative since I market high-ticket affiliate
items such as laptops, PCs and netbooks.


4. Place All Your Emphasis On Supplying Information

The majority of people searching on the web are looking for
information - first and foremost - even those who are ready to
buy. They want information on the subject or product they're
searching for on the web. It should be your marketing strategy
to give them this information.

All of my sites are based on supplying information to my visitors.

If you give solid information they will be pleased and take note
of your site and a few will buy the products you recommend, but
the information must come first.

Even popular selling sites like Amazon give loads of consumer
information and feedback while selling their products on the
web. Consumers want information on the products they're buying.
Supply this information and you will sell more products.


5. Target Long Tail Keyword Phrases In Your SEO


If you're selling stuff on the web, it is extremely important
that you have a SEO marketing strategy. You must use the search
engines to bring in those quality visitors and potential customers
to your site. You must rank high in the search engines for your
chosen keywords.

I have found SEO is not easy but it is also not that hard to do.
In order to rank high you must be persistent, have a six month
or yearly plan... work at it over time, even years to build up
your rankings. Most webmasters won't have the patience or resources
to stick to a long-term strategy for months, even years before
they start ranking for popular, well-searched for keywords.

However, there's another quicker and faster way to get quality
traffic from the search engines. Instead of targeting highly
competitive popular keywords, you target longer keyword phrases
that have little competition. For example, someone searching
for a particular brand and model is more likely to buy then someone
searching for a general topic. Someone searching for "cars"
compared to someone searching for "2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT"
- the last phrase will have very few searches but it can
produce more targeted buyers.

6. Build Lists of Interested Buyers

One of my most effective marketing strategies is building
simple lists of people who want to receive further information
on the subject or product they're considering buying.
The web is a very temporary process since most people spend less
than a few seconds on most sites. So it is important that
you try and get them to opt-in to your mailing list, join
your Twitter account or FaceBook group... and so on.

You must build lists of people who are interested in finding
out more about your subject or product. This way you will
have repeat visitors to your site and you will get the opportunity
to sell to them again and again. If you build a trusting
relationship with these contacts, they will respect your
opinions and suggestions.

List building can have a very positive effect on your
sales numbers so it is one marketing strategy you should
definitely try if you're not already using lists.


7. Sell Things You Can ONLY Buy Online

This marketing strategy is so simple - it's almost laughable.
But I quickly found selling stuff that can only be bought
online do much better than selling stuff that can be bought
at your local Walmart. If buyers can only find it online,
then you will have a much better chance of selling it to them.

Therefore, marketing unique products or specialty items,
which are only available online can prove very lucrative.
This is a very simple marketing strategy but also a very
effective one. Just try it.

There are no doubt, countless other marketing strategies
you can use. But using some or all of the ones listed above
will help increase your online sales. Again, just try them
and see for yourself.





The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites.
If you want to find out more marketing strategies and selling on the
web in general, just download these marketing manuals:
Free Marketing Courses
For the latest web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools
Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2009. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

Online Fax - An Essential Service For Your Home Business [Oct. 7th, 2009|10:24 am]
[Tags|, , , , , , , ]

More and more individuals are turning to home business start-ups and self-employment as a means of weathering these tough economic times. Countless small businesses are springing up as many highly qualified workers and professionals are laid off from the traditional work-force and are switching to new ways of earning a part-time or full-time income from the comfort of their homes.

Online fax has become one of the fastest growing aspects of these recent economic changes. As more and more of these new business owners turn to the Internet and computers to make their businesses viable, getting an online fax service has become crucial to their success, especially if those businesses depend upon faxing to bring in sales, keep in contact with clients or play a vital part in advertising.

First, you must understand online fax is simply using... Read the article here: online fax article
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List Building - Is It Really That Important? [Oct. 4th, 2009|01:26 pm]
[Tags|, , , , ]

Except for the whole concept of Internet Marketing, no issue
has taken up more of my time and interest than list building.
Since the very beginning, list building has been one of those
subjects that I am constantly coming back to and redefining.

So much so, that it seems to have taken on a life of its own.

At first, I didn't really understand list building and why it
was so important. So you put out a newsletter and you built up
a list of contacts or subscribers that give you permission to
email them - big deal!


People can actually make money doing this?



That was my main question at the time, I just didn't understand
how someone could actually make money from sending emails to a list
of contacts? And at first, I didn't make any sales from my list,
no matter how attractive the products I was pitching.

In the beginning, I made a crucial mistake, one that many
beginning list builders often make, I didn't realize it is
not getting subscribers which is important; but rather it's
the whole process of building meaningful relationships with
those contacts that's the crucial factor.


It's a lesson I am still learning.



You have to build a connection with your subscribers, you
have to build some kind of meaningful relationship with
someone who is basically a total stranger. You have to first
convince them you're someone worth listening to; so you have
to try and build/have credibility in the eyes of your reader.

Traditionally credibility has two key components: trustworthiness
and expertise. You must use these two things to build a relationship
with your subscribers. Show your readers tangible examples or
successes from your online marketing or sites... if you have
achieved top 10 rankings in Google - show them. Showing
recommendations and testimonials from ordinary people who
have used your site or products is very effective. Video
testimonials are even more effective.

Only when you build that relationship and credibility will you
truly see why list building is so important. Unfortunately,
building that relationship is often the most difficult part
of list building.

To tell you the truth, I didn't get anywhere with building my list
of contacts until my main site started ranking high in Google and
the other search engines. Which is only logical, someone searching
for information in Google and your site pops up, it is a simple way
of building instant credibility in the eyes of the surfer. Well, up
to a point, your content has to be of high quality and further capture
your potential subscriber's attention.

Then you must follow-up with informative emails or information which
that subscriber is truly searching for.


Always remember...



Your subscribers are looking for information - first and foremost.
They are not looking for a sales pitch and if you keep trying to
constantly sell to your subscribers - they won't be on your list
for long.


Put the emphasis on giving helpful quality information first and do
any selling as an afterthought.



Let's take one of my actual examples of how this list building technique
works so effectively for me. One section of my site deals with laptops
and computers. Visitors can sign-up to my laptop guide to find out more
about business laptops, student laptops... and so on. Just informative
information on laptop computers... included in those mailings I give links
to some pages containing online laptop deals, coupons and offers from
major computer makers such as HP, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo... where
consumers can get $50 - $300 or more off their laptop purchases if they
use these online links or coupons.

Those are my most lucrative lists that I have and they have really
shown me why building lists are so important. They can be a simple way
of gathering prospective customers for your own products or for the
affiliate products you're promoting.


List building is a very effective way of increasing your sales numbers.



Moreover, since I mainly do affiliate marketing, I have surprisingly
learned another somewhat hidden aspect of list building that I knew
absolutely nothing about when I first started marketing online.


It has everything to do with the simple "cookie!"



With most affiliate programs when you send a customer to them, these
customers are "cookied" with your affiliate IDs. If that customer makes
a sale in the following days, you get credit and a commission. Now these
cookies can have different lengths - any where from a few days up to a
lifetime - however, most are around 30 to 90 days.

Basically, what this means is that you're building a whole list of
customers cookied with your affiliate IDs. I realize the power of this
a few years back when my main site went down for over a week - but I
was still making daily sales, I couldn't figure out where these sales
were coming from until I checked and found it had to do with these
cookied customers who had clicked on my affiliate links weeks, even
months before.

This has proven to be such an effective selling technique, I do
certain things to take full advantage of cookies. First, I usually only
join affiliate programs that have 90 day cookies or more, some even
have lifetime cookies. Second, I make sure I cookie my list by sending
them to my affiliate links... this can be done with free videos, ebooks,
informative articles that the affiliate programs supply to you for your
marketing. In the case of my laptop newsletter a direct link to special
online coupons and discounts will cookie these potential customers with
my affiliate IDs.

In the Internet Marketing field, a common marketing tactic is to
produce a valuable report or video which affiliates can use to "cookie"
their customers. That's why you will often be bombarded with these
offers if an important marketer is launching a major product - everyone
is trying to cookie any potential customers out there. That's one of
the reasons, Internet Marketing has a handful of heavy hitters who
usually make all the sales... they reach those customers first because
they have enormous lists in the millions. The larger the list numbers,
the larger the number of cookied customers, the more sales they make.
Simple arithmetic.

And it is also another reason why list building is very important,
sometimes it is just a matter of working the numbers. If you have
lists with hundreds of thousands of subscribers... there will always
be a certain percentage who will buy ANY product.

But don't get fooled by the numbers... you can have very small
numbers and still make plenty of sales. If you have a list of
proven buyers who always buy from you then a small list can be
just as important. If you have built up a solid relationship with
these buyers and they totally trust you, then you can sell to them
time and time again, because they know your recommended products are
worth buying. Moreover, they will recommend their friends and your
list building can take on a life of its own.

These are just a few examples of list building and there thousands
of ways to use lists in your marketing. I just hope the information
covered here has convinced you the importance of building your own
lists. How effective they can be in promoting and selling your site
or product to your potential customers. Most of all, I hope you never
ever underestimate how powerful list building can be to your online
marketing. The money is certainly in your lists.







...
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
niche sites. If you want to learn how to make your online
marketing much more effective by building your own lists try here:
list building
Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be
freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

The Tricky Issue Of Duplicate Content & What Google Says About It [Sep. 28th, 2009|11:25 am]
[Tags|, , , , , , , ]




Being a full-time online marketer means you have to keep a close watch on how
Google is ranking pages on the web... one very serious concern is the
whole issue of duplicate content. More importantly, how does having
duplicate content on your own site and on other people's sites, affect
your keyword rankings in Google and the other search engines?

Now, recently it seems that Google is much more open about just how
it ranks content. I say "seems" because with Google there are years
and years of mistrust when it comes to how they treat content and
webmasters. Google's whole "do as I say" attitude leaves a bitter taste
in most webmasters' mouths. So much so, that many have had more than
enough of Google's attitude and ignore what Google and their pundits say
altogether.

This is probably very emotionally fulfilling, but is it the right
route or attitude to take? Probably not!

Mainly because, regardless of whether you love or hate Google, there's
no denying they are King of online search and you must play by their rules
or leave a lot of serious online revenue on the table. Now, for my major
keyword content/pages even a loss of just a few places in the rankings
can mean I lose hundreds of dollars in daily commissions, so anything
affecting my rankings obviously get my immediate attention.

So the whole tricky issue of duplicate content has caused me some
concern and I have made an ongoing mental note to myself to find
out everything I can about it. I am mainly worried about my content
being ranked lower because the search engines think it is duplicate
content and penalizes it.

My situation is compounded by the fact that I am heavily into
article marketing - the same articles are featured on hundreds,
some times thousands of sites across the web. Naturally, I am
worried these articles will dilute or lower my rankings rather
than accomplish their intended purpose of getting higher rankings.

I try to vary the anchor text/keyword link in the resource boxes
of these articles. I don't use the same keyword phrase over and over
again, as I am nearly 99% positive Google has a "keyword use"
quota - repeat the same keyword phrase too often and your highly
linked content will be lowered around 50 or 60 places, basically
taking it out of the search results. Been there, done that!

I even like submitting unique articles to certain popular
sites so only that site has the article, thus eliminating
the whole duplicate content issue. This also makes for a great
SEO strategy, especially for beginning online marketers, your
own site will take some time to get to a PR6 or PR7, but you
can place your content and links on high PR7 or PR8 authority sites
immediately. This will bring in quality traffic and help your
own site get established.

Another way I combat this issue is by using a 301 re-direct
so that traffic and pagerank flows to the URL I want ranked.
You can also use your Google Webmaster Tool account to show
which version of your site you want ranked or featured:
with or without the www.

The whole reason for doing any of this has to do with PageRank
juice - you want to pass along this ranking juice to the appropriate
page or content. This can raise your rankings, especially in Google.

Thankfully, there is the relatively new "canonical tag" you can use
to tell the search engines this is the page/content you want
featured or ranked. Just add this meta link tag to your content which
you want ranked or featured, as in the example given below:


link rel="canonical" href="place your preferred link here"


Anyway, this whole duplicate issue has many faces and sides,
so I like going directly to Google for my information. Experience
has shown me that Google doesn't always give you the full monty,
but for the most part, you can follow what they say. Lately, over
the last year or so, Google seems to have made a major policy change
and are telling webmasters a lot more information on how they (Google)
rank their index.

So if you're concerned or interested in finding out more about
duplicate content and what Google says about it try these helpful
links. First one is a very informative video on the subject
entitled "Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues" which is
presented by Greg Grothaus who works for Google.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hSoXutuj0g

Another great link is this page from Google Webmasters Support Answers
by Matt Cutts. It has a lot of helpful information, including a video on
the Canonical Link Element. It's located here:

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139394


In yet another post, Matt Cutts discusses the related issue of
content scraping and advises webmasters not to worry about it.
This is a slightly different matter, other webmasters and unmentionables
may use software to scrape your site and place your content on their
site. This has happened to me, countless times, including when my
content has been reduced to scrambled nonsense. Cutts says not to
worry about this matter as Google can usually tell the original source of the
material. In fact, having links in this duplicate content may
just help your rankings in Google.

"There are some people who really hate scrapers and try to crack
down on them and try to get every single one deleted or kicked off
their web host," says Cutts. "I tend to be the sort of person who
doesn't really worry about it, because the vast, vast, vast majority
of the time, it's going to be you that comes up, not the scraper.
If the guy is scraping and scrapes the content that has a link to
you, he's linking to you, so worst case, it won't hurt, but in some
weird cases, it might actually help a little bit."

As a full time online marketer I am not so easily convinced, I
mainly have pressing concerns about my unscrupulous competition using
these scrapings and duplicate content to undermine one's rankings
in Google by triggering some keyword spam filter. Whether in fact this
actually happens, only Google knows for sure, but it is just another
indication, despite the very detailed and helpful information given
above, duplicate content and the issues surrounding it, will still
present serious concerns for online marketers and webmasters in
the future.




...

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
websites. For the latest web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools
If you liked the article above, why not try this Free 7 Day
Marketing Course here: Marketing Tools
Copyright 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

The Right Way To Set Up Your New Blu-ray Player [Sep. 24th, 2009|09:52 am]
[Tags|, , , , , ]

After having just gotten your new Blu-ray DVD Player, you will obviously be excited about testing it out. No doubt you will be anxious to see the glorious 1080p picture and High Definition sound quality. So the question is this: how to set up your new blu-ray player to get the highest possible performance from it? Will it be as simple as connecting your DVD player? Will it be a breeze?

Not exactly!

When setting up your new blu-ray player you have to keep in mind, this is a rather new technology, therefore over the past few years TVs and AV receivers have been adapting to conform to this new format. Unfortunately, you may discover not all of them can support every new feature of your blu-ray player. This may make the process a little more difficult than setting up your standard DVD player. So I have outlined a few procedures and possible difficulties you might come across so that you can more easily incorporate your new blu-ray player into your home entertainment system, hopefully without too much frustration.

Basically to get the best performance out of your Blu-ray player you need to understand three features: Picture, Sound, and Internet Connectivity. You will discover all three can be easily done with some simple cable connections; no fine-tuning necessary, just some simple modifications to the set-up menus maybe all that is required. Hopefully this advice will cut out any confusion and the whole process will go very smoothly for you.

Picture

1080p High Definition picture quality - this is why most people purchase their first Blu-ray Player and it is the best feature of any blu-ray player. Blu-ray movies are stored on a disc in 1080p at 24 frames-per-second so you often see this referred to as 1080/24p. The director filmed the movie at this rate, so blu-ray discs allow you to view the movie as it was originally meant to be seen. Blu-ray players allow you to watch these HD movies by connecting it's HDMI output to the duplicate input on your TV, so a HDMI cable will need to be purchased if one is not included with the Blu-ray player. In most cases a HDMI is not provided. HDMI cables can run anywhere from $20 to $150. (Some argue there is no difference in HDMI cables, no matter what the cost.)

Not all blu-ray players are capable of this 1080/24p output rate. These players will be older, and instead of the 1080/24p output rate they convert the signal to 1080/60p using a method called "3:2 pulldown' technique. What this simply means is one frame is played three times and the next frame is played twice and so forth. This results in one frame being shown on the TV screen slightly longer than the other. This produces judder into the picture, a slight moving or shaking of the picture.

To avoid this problem, a simple solution would be to purchase a newer model blu-ray player. Most of the latest models can output 1080p pictures at 24 frames-per-second via HDMI. Also, your TV set must be able to support it. If it does not, then if you feed a signal of 1080/24 p into a TV which can not support it, the TV will convert the signal to 50 or even 60HZ. This will also place judder into the picture.

What this all comes down to is to get the best, purest and most genuine High Definition picture possible, you require a Blu-ray Player capable of a 1080/24p output signal (this is easily selected on the set-up menu) and a TV capable of supporting this signal. Most of the newer LCD and Plasma televisions will give you the right support you need. LCD sets usually have a 120Hz mode, where each of the 24 frames is repeated five times and shown on the screen for the same amount of time, producing no juddering. Plasma usually has 72Hz 3:3 pulldown mode and they can use this because they do not have as much slowdown as the LCD.

Sound

The second feature most people purchase the Blu-ray for is the perfect sound quality. Blu-ray has the superior 'lossless' Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio. What you get with these audio formats is 100 percent identical to the original studio master track. This is a clear advantage over DVDs which use Dolby Digital and DTS, but again as with the picture signal, not all AV receivers are capable of decoding the newer High Definition formats.

Set up is fairly easy if your receiver can decode the formats because both HD formats can be used via the blu-ray player's HDMI output port and the HDMI input port on the receiver. This allows a bitstream (meaning raw digital data) to be transferred to your AV receiver where it is decoded into multichannel sound. All you need to do is set your blu-ray player's HDMI output to bitstream or primary. The HDMI ports on these devices must be specified as version 1.3/1.3a/1.3b. These are the only versions that allow for the transmitting of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Audio. You will also need a Second HDMI Cable to connect the AV receiver's HDMI output to your TV's HDMI input. The AV receiver will decode the audio and transmit the 1080/24p video signal.

Things can get a little trickier if your AV receiver does not decode the HD audio formats. However, it does not mean you can not still enjoy the great high quality sound. One option available to you is to set up your blu-ray player to internally decode the audio and convert it to LPCM (an uncompressed form of audio). This option is located in the set-up menu and found on almost every blu-ray player. LCPM can be transferred over any version of HDMI and it preserves the high multichannel sound quality of both Dolby True HD and DTS HD. This way your receiver does not have to do any decoding. (Take note that some lesser blu-ray players will only convert 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS into LPCM.)

This LCPM option assumes your AV receiver has HDMI inputs. If it does not have these HDMI inputs, then your best option is to look for Blu-ray Players that can decode the HD sound formats into high quality analogue and output them from multichannel outputs. Using optical or coaxial outputs which are usually found on most players can not be used because the do not have the sufficient bandwidth capabilities to transmit Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Audio.


Internet Connectivity

Most newer Blu-ray players have a feature called BD Live which allows you to download content from the internet, play games online and participate in web chats. To use this feature you need a blu-ray player with a Profile 2.0 since these blu-ray players have an Ethernet port you can use to connect to an internet router or computer. (Profile 1.1 may have an Ethernet port but WILL NOT SUPPORT BD LIVE.)

Also, you may need a USB flash memory drive or SD card to plug into your blu-ray player. This provides digital storage for updates and extra data. It's recommended that the drive or card be at least 1 GB. Other than the Playstaion 3, no other blu-ray players on the market have internal memory built-in, but some newer blu-ray players are now unveiling Wi-Fi, eliminating the need for external storage.



Conclusion


Hopefully, by checking all three factors discussed above - Picture, Sound, and Internet Connectivity - will make setting up your new blu-ray player a lot easier. Just follow all the steps and you will get the best picture and sound quality that only a Blu-ray system can deliver. Happy viewing!




...

For a more information on Blu-ray and Blu-ray Players try this handy comparison guide:
bluray dvd players
For information on buying Laptop Computers try here:
best gaming laptops
Copyright © 2009. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

Why You Should Always Compare Online Fax Services Before You Buy [Sep. 23rd, 2009|10:19 am]
[Tags|, , , , , , , ]

When choosing any long term business service it is probably wise to
do some serious comparison shopping before you sign on the dotted
line. Internet or online fax is definitely no exception to this rule,
you should thoroughly check out any fax service provider before you buy.

Mainly because this will likely be a long term service and doing
your homework now could save you some serious money over the long
haul. Rates and fees can differ depending upon which service and
monthly plan you choose on using so comparing these different
services and plans would be in your best interest.

First, you must understand, online faxing is simply using your
email system and your Internet access to send and receive your
faxes. Your chosen Internet fax provider acts on your behalf to
handle all your faxes, acts as your intermediary. Think of it as
a form of "cloud computing" which is the business catch phrase of
the moment. Your fax services are handled by an outside source
that works on your behalf.

When you sign up to a web fax service you are given your own
local or toll-free fax number which you can give out to all your
contacts. You also receive your own online account or interface
where you can logon to send or check your faxes. You can also
store your faxes here. Keep in mind, your faxes are sent as
email attachments, usually in TIFF or PDF format. That's why
online faxing is often referred to as email faxing.

This new way of faxing is becoming more and more popular mainly
because it is totally portable so you are no longer tied down
to the old traditional fax machine in the office. You can send
and receive your faxes wherever you have Internet access and these
days that's just about anywhere on the planet. You can use many
devices such as cell phones, laptops, PDAs, netbooks or even your
old fax machine, if you still have one.

Online faxing is very cost-effective because you don't need
an extra fax phone line or a fax machine for that matter; plus
you don't have the expense of buying papers, inks, toners.. with
online faxing. Perhaps, the biggest savings can be achieved by
purchasing the right service that perfectly matches your faxing
needs or requirements. For example, if you only do minimum faxing,
you can get a yearly service for around $20.

Now there are many fax providers or services you can choose so
it pays to shop around. On average, most charge around $10 a month
but there are cheaper services that you can use. For that price,
you usually get 300 Free (incoming and outgoing) faxes a month,
extra faxes will be charged to your account. Keep in mind,
some fax providers charge by the fax/page, while other charge by the
minute - it is assumed that an ordinary fax will take one minute
to send.

Another reason email faxing has become so popular with businesses
has to do with fax broadcasting, you can send a large number of
faxes simultaneously. Also, most services are completely scalable
for businesses, if you need more fax lines/accounts for your growing
business, they can be quickly added without the expense of adding
extra hardware such as additional phone fax lines.

However, rather than just saving money, as always your main
objective should be to find a quality service with very good
customer support. You will save yourself from many headaches and
hassles if you can find a quality service that matches your needs.

Fortunately, many of the major Internet fax services offer
30 Day Free Trials so you can check out their services before
you buy. This is probably the best route to take because if any
issues or problems should arise, you can simply drop the service
and try another.

So compare online fax services and check out the different plans
and prices before you buy. Save yourself or your company some
major revenue by choosing the service that perfectly matches your
faxing needs or requirements. Become an educated buyer and save.


...

For more information on Internet Fax Services use this
handy online Comparison Guide to get your own: online fax
Or if you want more detailed information on Internet Faxing
try here: internet fax services.
Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2009. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

HP And Dell Planning 3D Gaming Laptops - Is This A Smart Move? [Sep. 21st, 2009|04:59 pm]
[Tags|, , , , , , ]

Recently, gaming circles and forums have been abuzz with news that both HP and Dell are working on 3D gaming laptops. They are said to be working with Wistron, which is a major ODM manufacturer with over 30,000 workers world-wide, on producing new 3D gaming rigs. According to rumors swirling around the web, we might see a possible HP gaming laptop using 18.4-inch 3D panels made by Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) and a Wistron created 3D laptop solution based on NVIDIA's GeForce 3D Vision technology.


Actually, the movement towards 3D is probably the next logical way to go with computer gaming but is it a good idea? Will these new 3D gaming laptops be snapped up by hard-core gamers?

Probably so and here's why.

Computer gaming is all about fun and entertainment, new 3D technologies will only add to the fun factor. Gamers are all looking for the next big thing when it comes to gaming, can you say Milo? Sorry wrong storyline but not really, gaming is becoming more and more interactive, we want real emotions, we want real interactions and we want real connections with the characters in our games. But most of all we want real images, the more realistic and life-like, the better our gaming experience will be. We want to be totally immersed in the role playing, if 3D can add, rather than subtract from this immersion, it will be a big winner.

Many people are turned off by 3D movies, at least the ones produced in the fifties, sixties and seventies - to me they just come across as way too cheesy, more aimed at our retinal cones than our minds or hearts for that matter. Ralphie you'll poke your eye out.

Besides, most 3D movies of the past and not so distant past are just plain silly. They can not be taken seriously, no matter how you view them. However, many would agree, 3D movies are a lot of fun and that's what gaming is all about. 3D does have it's place, I can remember being wowed by the 3D Terminator show at the Epcot Center in Orlando Florida which had a mixture of live action and 3D images. No King Lear, but it was entertaining and it was fun.

Gamers want fun and escapement. I keep thinking, would 3D enhance a game like Crysis which I have just finished playing - hell yes. Using 3D would probably make floating around in that mountain/alien much more enjoyable and it would probably make fighting that creature on the battleship at the end much more entertaining, even if all they wanted to do was poke my eyes out.

Hopefully, game designers will go for a little more sophistication in their application of these newer 3D technologies and combine it with the increasingly popular HD technologies to produce a totally realistic immersion for gamers. Pure escape into a world that looks and feels real is the ultimate goal. No doubt, this goal will give many concerned parents added worry about the affect these already too realistic violent games are having on young people. Especially worrisome is the whole argument that popular "first person shooter games" desensitizes impressionable teens and young children into acting out violent behavior in the real world.

This controversial issue aside, if 3D can truly enhance our gaming pleasure in these new gaming laptops, more power to them. Mainly because, in more ways than one, the game is the medium, message and king. Make the game more enjoyable and gamers will be lining up around the block to purchase your new contraption.

So bring it on, HP and Dell, let's see what you got?





...

For a handy online Laptop Guide featuring the latest top
gaming laptops, click here: gaming notebooks
For the best Blu-ray DVD Players go here:
bluray dvd players
Copyright 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be
freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

What is the Difference Between a Netbook and a Laptop? [Sep. 14th, 2009|11:53 am]
[Tags|, , , , , , , ]

Lately, one question that keeps constantly popping up
with laptop buyers - what is the difference between
netbooks and laptops? If you're buying the latest
mobile computer, should you go with a netbook or laptop?
What are the major differences and which one should you buy?

First, you have to realize the category of "netbook"
is a fairly new one. Asustek launched the netbook category
when it released its first Eee PC in the fall of 2007.
Nebooks have proven so popular with consumers it is now
the fastest growing laptop segment.

Netbooks are small in size, usually with screens of 10
inches, but some displays can be slightly smaller or larger.
Netbooks will usually run Windows XP or Linux and sell for
well under $500. Most have the smaller Intel Atom processor
and at least one GB of RAM.

Netbooks usually have multiple USB ports, wireless
Internet, Ethernet, webcam, vga port for an external
larger monitor, microphone and headphone jacks, card
readers and most now come with 160 GB hard drive, but
older models will have 30 to 60 GB ones. Expect longer
battery life with a netbook and nine hours is not that
uncommon.

Sounds like a regular laptop, doesn't it?

Well, not exactly, because the main difference besides
the smaller size, is the lower processing power you will
find in a netbook. Most have the smaller Intel Atom
processor so expect less performance, especially when
you consider most netbooks have much less RAM than
a regular laptop. In addition, most netbooks don't
have an optical drive (cd/dvd player), although some
newer models do have this feature. The keyboard will
usually be smaller so if you have large hands, look
for a model with normal sized keys.

Why have Netbooks become so popular?

The main reason could be our constant quest for a handy
portable device to go along with our hectic fast-paced
well-connected lifestyles. Many people want something larger
than a smart phone or PDA to connect with family and friends
at all times. For students, a netbook is ideal because of
its small size and portability. For travelers, vacationers,
hikers, sailors... a netbook can be a very convenient device
to bring along to stay connected with the outside world.

The other major reason is Price!

Netbooks are a lot cheaper than laptops, at least
for the moment this statement is true. Since regular
laptop prices are constantly decreasing, this price
difference has grown a lot smaller in recent years.
But for the most part, netbooks will be cheaper to
buy then laptops.


Should you buy a netbook or laptop?


This question will largely depend upon what tasks you want
your new device to perform. If you have computer tasks which
require high performance or you want to store large amounts
of data, then go with a laptop or PC. If you have tasks which
require a large viewing area (display) then go with a laptop;
those third quarter company spreadsheets will be very hard to read
on a netbook.

However, if you want a small portable device to stay connected
with friends and family while you're traveling or just out
around town, then go with a netbook. If you're a student
and want a small compact device for the classroom, then go
with a netbook.

Now, to confuse things somewhat, any prudent buyer must be
aware that you can have all of the features of a netbook in many
ultra-portable laptops currently on the market. For example, you can
buy a Sony VAIO 11.1 Inch Laptop with a 1.6 GHz Intel Core
2 Duo SU9600 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive and
a Blu-ray Drive. The main difference is price, expect to
pay well over two grand for the Sony.

Again, which device you buy will largely depend upon your own
computer needs and your budget. A cheap, yet sturdy netbook,
may be all you need to get the job done, why waste money by buying
features you don't need and will never use? However, if you
require high performance in a small package, then a more
powerful ultra-portable laptop may fit the bill in more
ways than one. It's your call?




...

For more information on Buying Student Netbooks at Bargain Prices
Click Here: netbooks
To download our Comprehensive Laptop Computer Buying Guide go here:
Laptop Computer Buying Guide
Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource
box stays attached.
linkpost comment

Free Fax Trial - Should You Try One? [Sep. 11th, 2009|07:56 am]
[Tags|, , , , , , ]

Internet or online fax seems to be all the rage at the moment
with both companies and individuals switching over to this more
modern way of faxing. A major part of this change is all the
free fax trials many online service providers are offering to get
you to switch. But is a free fax trial worth taking or is this
just another slick marketing/selling gimmick?

Before we can tackle this issue, you should first know a little
something about Internet faxing in order to fully discuss your
options. Online fax is simply using your email system and your
Internet connection to send and receive your faxes. Your faxes
are sent in an email, as an attachment, usually in TIFF or PDF
formats - although there are countless different formats you
can use.

In order to start online faxing, you have to sign-up to
an Internet fax service provider who will give you your own
toll-free or local fax number. You also get an online account
or interface where you can store your faxes and you can also
send your faxes from there. Your fax provider acts as your
intermediary to handle all your faxes. Keep in mind, you can
still send and receive your faxes thru the old traditional
fax machine.


Why are people switching to online faxing?


One of the main reasons is accessibility, you can get your
faxes anywhere you have Internet access and these days that's
just about everywhere on the planet. It is truly portable since you
can send and receive your faxes from laptops, PDAs, netbooks,
cell phones... you are no longer tied down to only receiving
your faxes at the office.

It is also paperless, inkless, more secure and much more
cost-effective than the traditional fax machine and since
everything is handled with computers and the web, there is no
need for an extra fax phone line which can mean major savings for
companies just starting up. Another major advantage, online
fax is completely scalable for businesses, you can quickly
add lines/accounts when you need them.

Free Fax Trial - Should You Try One?


Now most of the major online fax service providers offer
you a free 30 Day Trial so you can check out their service.
This is not exactly a bad idea because it is always wise
to "Try before you Buy". You can test out the quality of
the service before you sign on the dotted line.

However, since this will usually be a long-term business
service, doing your homework now can save you major expenses
over the long haul. Compare and shop around before you sign
up for any given fax service - even if they're offering
a free trial. One major catch, once you have your new fax
number circulating with all your contacts, it might be hard
to change it. Many companies will let you "port" your fax
number but some don't or you have to pay a fee.

So thoroughly check out any fax service you're thinking
of signing up for. Most monthly charges run around $10
but there are cheaper options out there so shop around
if you're on a tight budget. Also find out the cost of
extra pages - most companies offer 300 (incoming/outgoing)
free faxes a month. Some companies charge by the pages,
while others charge by the minute.


Overall, taking a free fax trial may just be your best
option since you can check out the service before finally
going with it; any issues with faxing, support or the
service will generally be evident in that time frame.
If the service is not up to your standards, just drop
the service and try another, either way you can't lose!




...

To compare prices and services of the different Internet Fax Services
just use this handy online Comparison Guide: online fax
Or if you want more detailed information on Internet Faxing
try here: free fax trial.
Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2009. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

Online Fax - How To Find A Quality Fax Service Provider? [Aug. 10th, 2009|08:15 am]
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Just like email has totally changed how we send our mail; so too has online fax totally changed how we send our faxes. Actually, the two are intertwined since with online or Internet fax we send our faxes as email attachments, usually in TIFF or PDF format. We simply use our email system and our Internet connection to send and receive all our faxes.

However, there is one other player in this whole scenario - your Internet fax service provider, who acts as an intermediary on your behalf. But first you have to sign up to a service provider where you will be given a local or Toll-Free fax number which you can give out to all your contacts.

This number works in the same way as a traditional fax number except all your faxes are handled online so there is no need for an extra fax phone line. You can still send a fax to and from the old fax machine in the office since, as mention before, your online service acts as your intermediary.

You are also given an online site (interface) where you can logon and view your faxes. This is where you can send and receive your faxes. Most services also let you send faxes directly through your email system and many also have desktop applications you can use.

Still the main question remains - how do I find a good quality online fax service?

Well, there are certain norms, or average standards you can expect from all these providers. Mainly, you have to look for a provider which has 24/7 customer service, runs around $10 per month with approximately 300 total (incoming/outgoing combined pages) with extra pages going at 10 cents or less.
You should note that some services charge per page, while others charge per minute and they assume that 1 page takes 1 minute or less to transmit. However times will vary depending on what your page contains, large graphics/files may take longer.

Ideally you will want a service with no start-up and no hidden fees. You should also look for a service with a 30 Day Free Trial so that you can thoroughly check out the quality of the service before you buy. Fortunately, most services do provide these free trials.

However, there are slight differences in the pricing and/or services so it definitely pays to shop around before you sign on the dotted line. Mainly because this is usually a long term business service and doing your homework now can save you big bucks over the long haul. In addition, if faxing plays a vital role in your company for acquiring sales, contacting or communicating with clients, then it is essential to find a good quality reliable service to take care of all your faxing needs. Pricing should be a consideration but your main goal should be to find a quality service with good 24/7 customer service that will quickly address any problems should they arise.

As more and more businesses switch over to online faxing or use it to supplement the old fax machine in the office; can you really afford not to get it? Can your business or company stay competitive in this dog-eat-dog economic climate is the real question you have to ask? When you consider Internet faxing is more convenient, more secure, more mobile and more environmentally friendly than the old traditional way of faxing, it really becomes a no-brainer. Just choose wisely when you go looking for your own online fax service.




...

For more information on Internet Fax Services use this
handy online Comparison Guide to get your own: online fax
Or if you want more detailed information on Internet Faxing
try here: internet fax services.
Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2009. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.
linkpost comment

How SPNbabble Can Help Web Professionals (SiteProNews Launches New Micro-Blogging Shortcut) [Aug. 4th, 2009|12:50 pm]
[Tags|, , , , , ]

SiteProNews, a well established website geared towards webmasters,
has recently introduced a new micro-blogging service called SPNbabble.
Describing itself as "Micro-Blogging For Web Professionals" - SPNbabble.com
lets you share your ideas with friends and colleagues. It also incorporates
such popular services as Twitter and Facebook. To find out more about this
interesting new platform, Bizwaremagic.com</b> did an interview with Mel Strocen,
CEO of the Jayde Online Network, which runs numerous websites, including
SiteProNews and SPNbabble.


1. Lets cut to the chase, why should anyone use your micro-blogging
program, SPNbabble?


The main reason, and the reason we created SPNBabble, is that it
provides social media marketers with a means to post to multiple
micro-blogging sites simultaneously. Currently, SPNbabble members
can configure their accounts so that a post on SPNbabble will also
appear on Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, Plurk, Tumblr and 5 other
micro-blogging sites. If time is a factor in your marketing endeavors,
then using SPNbabble is a no-brainer.


2. Not everyone is familiar with micro-blogging, could you go
into more detail and fully explain how your program works or
functions?


Well, anyone who uses Twitter will find SPNbabble very similar in features
and functionality. For those unfamiliar with micro-blogging, it's basically
a concise form of blogging. Most micro-blogging sites, including SPNbabble,
restrict blog posts to 140 characters. It takes some practice to get your
message across in shortened form, but for busy web professionals less is more.

Micro-blogging is ideal for getting short snippets of useful information
out to a potential audience of millions of micro-bloggers. Short blog
posts can be about news, articles, products, services, programs, links to
interesting sites, what you happen to be doing at that moment, or about
almost anything else you care to share with others.


3. Can you elaborate on the SPNbabble Community Toolbar and how
it works?


The SPNBabble toolbar was created using the Conduit.com custom
toolbar creation service. Conduit allows site owners to create
their own branded toolbars in minutes. We selected from some of
the standard components that Conduit offers, but component
choices literally number in the thousands.


The toolbar is available for the Internet Explorer, Firefox and
Safari web browsers and can be downloaded in seconds from

http://spnbabble.ourtoolbar.com


In addition to common toolbar features like search, weather, radio,
pop-up blocking and a drop down link menu, the SPNBabble toolbar
also offers more unique features like online chat between
SPNbabble members, a RSS feed reader for SPNbabble posts, a
Twitter post reader, an email notifier that supports virtually all
webmail providers and most POP3 providers, and a Message Box
that enables us to send messages to members in real time to which
they can respond.


4. How much does it cost to use SPNbabble?


There is no cost. SPNBabble is FREE to use.


5. Seems like everyone has gone Twitter mad, can you give your
views on Twitter and how it is connected with your new program?
How is it different from using Twitter?

Twitter is an acquired taste. Either you immediately grasp its
value or you find it to be a total waste of time. For many
people, the latter view is based on their personal tastes and
preferences. They see no real benefit in reading about what
other Twitter users had for breakfast, where they are going or
what they are doing.

The trick, of course, is to follow the message posts of people
with whom you have something in common. Finding those people
on Twitter isn't that easy or intuitive, but there are Twitter
related services that can help you find people whose message
posts you might find interesting. I personally like Mr Tweet
(mrtweet.com), but there are a number of other similar services
that assist in pinpointing Twitter members with similar
interests.

Like Twitter, SPNbabble allows members to follow each other's
message posts, invite their friends, add custom promotional
backgrounds, direct message other members, search message
posts and setup groups devoted to specific interests.

Unlike Twitter, SPNbabble caters more specifically to business
professionals versus the general public, although no one is
prevented from using the service.


6. What types of Data or RSS feeds does your program support?
Do you have a Wordpress Plug-in?

SPNBabble supports RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0 and Atom data feeds. If
you use a RSS feed enabled browser or one of the many available
RSS feed readers, you can browse and read message posts in the
SPNBabble public timeline without actually visiting the site.

SPNBabble also offers a Wordpress blog plug-in. Details can be
found at the Wordpress Plugin Directory:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/spnbabble


In brief, the plugin, once installed on a Wordpress based blog, allows
a blogger to select the blog posts he/she wants converted to
micro-blog notices and automatically added to SPNbabble and
the other micro-blog services SPNBabble supports.

7. Spam is an ever constant problem for every site on the web,
but blogging sites with comments are especially vulnerable, what
measures have you put into place for SPNbabble or is this a
non-issue?


Spam notices are definitely an area of concern, for SPNbabble
and other micro-blog sites.

The question is how does one define spam on a micro-blogging
service. In our case, we define spam as notices that are
inappropriate (adult, inflammatory, illegal, etc.) or repetitive
and identical. We are looking at ways of automating the spam
monitoring process, but currently notices are manually scanned
and removed
as necessary. In extreme cases of abuse, members
are banned and all of their message posts removed.


8. In a slightly different vein, not everyone reading this will
be aware that you're the CEO of the Jayde Network, which has
many popular sites such as SiteProNews, GoArticles, ExactSeek...
Plus, you also co-founded the iEntry network, which also runs
some very popular sites on the web. How do you see SPNbabble
fitting into these comprehensive online networks?


My connection with iEntry ended 8 years ago. iEntry has thrown
its own hat into the micro-blogging ring with Twellow.com, a
comprehensive directory of Twitter users broken down into
hundreds of categories, and has been successful in popularizing
Twellow very quickly.

We chose to go in a different direction and provide our core audience
- webmasters and site owners - the means to market and communicate
across multiple social media sites. It's a service that I personally
find useful as a marketer and entrepreneur and one that I believe will
strike a chord with other web professionals as the micro-blogging
phenomenon continues to grow.

Obviously, we plan to promote the service across all of our
websites and we are also approaching other companies in the
social media arena to form mutually beneficial partnerships.


9. What are your goals and objectives for SPNbabble? Where
would you like to see it in a few years?


My main goal for SPNBabble is to make it a one-stop destination
for anyone interested in effectively utilizing the social media
bandwagon for meaningful and profitable communication.

Specifically, I would like to improve, and add to, SPNbabble's
feature set. That might entail tying into additional micro-blogging
sites, providing additional search functions, adding a directory of
categorized users, notice ranking and/or voting, etc. I'd also like
to see SPNbabble eventually added to desktop social media applications
like TweetDeck, Twhirl, Twitteroo, Bitter, and others.



The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
websites. For the latest web marketing tools try:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com
If you liked the article above, why not try this Free 7 Day
Marketing Course here: http://www.marketingtoolguide.com
2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed
if this resource box stays attached.
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