Maybe the time has finally come. To get an iPod. I am the kind of shopper who totally AVOIDS the mad rush to pay one year’s wages for the latest technology. (Plus, I hate standing in lines!). SO I watched with slight amusement and disgust when the craze for the high-priced iPod rose. I’d much, much rather take these things cautiously– wait and see how technology develops, wait for prices to go down, and wait for the others to work out the bugs! I’m a cautious buyer and I usually research things well before taking the plunge. I checked out iPods a few months ago, and while the prices had gone down at my local retailer, I thought they were still pretty high. Plus, I still new very little about the gadgets (I’m a PC user, still, but hopefully things will change in the future).
Anyway! If you are like me and have been on the prowl for better deals on iPods, maybe you’d be interested in Shopobot.com. Cute name, eh? They are like a mini iPod search engine– the webpage shows a selection of new and used iPods, listing the features in an organized way so you can choose what’s right for you (the ones I saw were all at Amazon). You can check out their page for iPod Prices here. It features new and used iPods. There’s also some handy buying guides, and other social media options. I took a deeper peek into the website, and Shopobot also features buying guides and listings for other stuff, including books, Canon DSLRs, gaming consoles, and other electronics. A nice buying guide site, check it out.
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Tags: buying guides, price guides
I’ve been stretching out in various pro-blogger directions, trying to widen my horizon here. I’ve joined Sponsored Reviews (which gives me about 1 opportunity a month or so), ReviewMe (which gives me about 1 opportunity a YEAR, sheesh), Blogsvertise (another lame one), and Linkworth. I joined Linkworth about a year ago; I think I’ve only seen about 3 or 4 offers from this company.
I wonder if the problem lies with the baffling complexity of the website. Every once in a while, when I feel brave, I log in and try to navigate around the place. It is SO confusing! I’m no Einstein, but I’m no Elmer P. Worrell, either… Linkworth has me completely stumped. It is a confusing mess of LinkAds, LinkPost, LinkMura, LinkText, LinkThis and LinkThat with a billion different options. And then you have to figure out WHERE and WHAT you submit– a blog, or a website? And with what? And what are LinkMuras? What do I do? Do I submit every blog with everything? How? Gosh, I usually quit after about 5 aggravating minutes of trying to navigate the place. Yuk.
I have to wonder– how popular is this place? Are you able to decipher the thousands of links that tell you this and that?
I know how very difficult maintaining a fitness plan can be– I work full-time at home, homeschool four kids, babysit children, and try to keep the house clean, all the while trying to grow vegetables, renovate a house, and maintain a dozen blogs. Life is busy, and I really have a lot less time to manage my health regimen now that I am older (and really need one). If you are in the same boat (and I know you are!), here’s a little sneak peek into a fitness social network online: FitClick.com. It’s GREAT! It’s a community of like-minded individuals, meeting online and sharing everything from diet tips to online weight loss goals and successes (and foibles!), meal plans, and more. I like the calorie counter and food diary aspect best of all. My life is such a rush most days, so I don’t always pay attention to what I eat. When I jot things down in the food diary (I’m on the computer working all day, anyway, so it’s easy to access FitClick’s website), it gives me a better idea of what I have eaten, total. I can clearly see the cold, hard facts.
Check out FitClick.com if you’re looking for something to help you improve your health and fitness. I’ve signed up with other programs, but none of them had a social community to it. It’s free to register! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Well, everything except more weight– hopefully, you’ll lose that if you need to. 
Tags: diary, fitness, health
I’ve been running quite a few articles and posts about the benefits of maintaining your own web hosting and not relying on the free hosting offered by companies like Google/Blogger and Wordpress.com. I’ve heard reports of blogger’s seeing posts and comments deleted, wrought by both Google and Wordpress.com. Free hosting gives you very limited rights to your content. If your blog means anything to you, or you deal with controversial topics, you should definitely look into registering your own domain and hosting your site on your own paid-for hosting.
I also recommend that you do some research into owning and managing your own site, before taking the leap. Hosting one’s own blog– using FTP, cPanel, Wordpress software, Fantastico, and MySQL databases– can be a little daunting without some education to support you.
As far as web hosting, I highly recommend Hostgator. (My affiliate link for Hostgator is in my sidebar). They are an excellent company, and Ihave had NO problems with them at all. I just love them! I had Bluehost for a year– what a nightmare! The constant “CPU Quota Exceeded” errors, the constant downtime… my visitor stats were very low, and if someone Stumbled one of my posts, that would activate the CPU Quota Exceeded errors all over again, causing all my blogs to go down. Grr!
Reviews are important (but not the final word, mind you) when it comes to researching web services. Web Hosting Rating has some good stats on the various web hosts (I didn’t see Hostgator listed there, though), and includes reviews from users. If you are looking for new hosting, this site may prove useful for comparing reviews, rates, space, and etc. And they have an articles page for various tips on changing web hosts, too.
One quick note when going to review sites– always be sure to do your homework and get second opinions, etc. Sometimes reviews can be “rigged,” so it always helps to take into consideration the reviews of a friend or someone you know, than a total stranger online. Just my two cents.
Tags: web hosting
I came across a VERY interesting ad campaign for www.airnewzealand.com. “Interesting” might just be the understatement for this campaign! I’m sure Air New Zealand will be getting tons of attention by this! This is from the site:
Air New Zealand is holding a casting call in late October to select 30 adults to be shaved and tattooed to serve as cranial billboards in Los Angeles as part of the airline’s marketing campaign promoting life-changing journeys to New Zealand.
Basically, Air New Zealand is asking for brave people to use their bald heads as a, uh, billboard. “Bald as a billiard ball billboard” might become a new proverb, eh? The illustrious airline is recruiting 70 people to stand in line at airports, advertising the airline with their bald heads. Have no fear! The tattoos are temporary; they are a two-week henna tattoo! Good thing! But you can’t wear a hat during the two-week tattoo time!
The lucky 70 persons selected from the casting call can get a cash prize or an economy round-trip ticket to New Zealand! The purpose of the campaign is to advertise for Air New Zealand, of course, but also to discuss “individuals’ needs for change and the transformation that a journey to New Zealand offers.” A journey to New Zealand would definitely transform my life! I’ve always wanted to see New Zealand.
Would you do this?
I have long, brown hair, and it would be very difficult to consider shaving it off! Although, at the rate my hair is thinning, maybe it wouldn’t be too bad, lol. Talk about a transformation, ugh! My hair was always my beauty… 
Anyway, men (or courageous ladies) who are already bald or have their heads shaved (which seems to be a trend right now) would really benefit from it. And Air New Zealand is a classy airline. So, hey! Maybe some folks would love this! Maybe someone like this, eh?
Tags: advertising campaigns, bald, New Zealand
