The Silver Bot

Point and click. The new life of digital cameras gives us all the opportunity to capture images as we go. Whether you simply hit the shutter button to take pictures of your friends and family or if you want to have your camera with you at all times in order to capture the beauty of life wherever you find it, getting the most out of your digital camera can be easy.

Let’s imagine ourselves with the perfect set up of digital camera and a few accessories to make things just right. My personal and professional recommendation is that we start with memory. Get more today. If you only have one memory card for your camera it is time to add to the collection. If you have more than one then good job! The more memory you have for your digital camera the less likely it will be that you get stuck wanting to take more pictures and have no more room on the storage. Memory is relatively cheap, takes up no space in your kit and gives you total control over creativity.

Your camera comes with a variety of quality settings to work with when taking images. Don’t use TIFF, leave it on one of the medium quality level settings and your camera will take fine images for you and not eat up all your memory. If you use the highest setting you will get very few images onto your card. They will for the most part be of very high quality but you would only want to shoot at that level of quality if you are intending to make high quality large format prints of your images.

Now if that child of yours is just so incredibly cute and your wall is aching for a portrait of his or her shining face then by all means do it on the highest quality. The key will be to use good software to process the image and then a printer that can make a large format, high quality print of your image. They exist and for not unreasonable prices I might add.

I was stunned at a recent art show in my neighborhood to be looking at a photographer’s exhibit of large size prints (18×24 and up in size) to find out that he shoots exclusively in digital now. He was a former film photographer who switched over in recent years and now makes stunning prints from his digital images. His landscape images were simply amazing and to find out that he shot them on a good digital camera made me very curious about the process, but that is fodder for another article.

Juice is the answer to your next question. Always have more juice. I spent 20 years in the TV news business and my mantra was always have extra batteries ready to go and an extra tape under the back seat in case of emergency. For TV cameras the batteries were always big and heavy rechargeable NiCads. Lithium batteries are the rage nowadays as they are lighter in weight, have no memory problems, and run longer. Digital still cameras can take advantage of Lithium batteries but the cost is often slightly prohibitive for most of us. Some camera systems use proprietary battery systems. I would recommend not buying into that sort of system. Try to buy a camera that uses universal types of batteries such as AA’s. I use a camera that takes AA’s and I have three sets of rechargeable batteries so I can rotate through them and never be caught short. Total cost for three sets of batteries is about $30, and they will last you several years if you treat them right. If you just buy regular AA batteries and shoot a lot of images your battery cost might triple that over a like period of time.

Edison did it and now we consider him a genius. Experimentation is the name of the game. Digital images cost you nothing but time and a little battery life. Play around and take lots of shots of things, people, events, you name it. Look at magazines, newspapers and notice what images look cool to you. Try to take shots like that yourself so you can see how it is done. This will get you thinking about how to make your everyday shots better. Look for new and different ways to frame things, take both a vertical and a horizontal shot of the same thing and see how it changes perspective. Get closer to your subject, or get farther away to see which looks better. Find something unique about your subject and look for a way to exploit that for a better image. Here is and example, say for instance you have a great looking car you want a picture of, well don’t stand across the street from it and zoom in on the car, get right up close with the sun behind you so the car is sparkling shiny and fills the whole frame of the image. Find it’s best feature and center that in the shot say the awesome lines of front of the car or snazzy wheels.

Print something from your camera every week to remind you of the beauty of everyday things. Take shots all the time, pick one and print it out and then put it in front of you for a day or a week. Live life as though you want beauty around you all the time. If you are madly in love then surround yourself with pictures of that love. If you live in a beautiful place then take pictures of it all the time to make sure you never forget how special it is to be there in your life. Don’t let those images hide away and not be seen. Wallpaper on your computer can be another place to put your weekly image, change it regularly with images from your family, work, life, hobby and you will get more smiles and more joy out of your camera than you know what to do with. My current wallpaper takes me back to a wonderful day on a mountain lake this past summer paddling kayaks in the afternoon breeze. What about yours?

Kevin Rockwell is a life long photographer and digital camera convert. He has spent his whole adult life taking pictures and now spends his time shooting sports images, training soccer players, and writing about digital cameras.

Great Digital Cameras

Often couples just cannot make a decision about what gifts to present to their guests and in this situation it always worth falling back on edible wedding favors. Normally they are of the sweet variety but there is no reason why savory favors cannot be supplied. There is something quite special about a chocolate bar that has a wrapper designed to suit the special occasion. As there are so many types of candy bar it might be an idea to buy a selection so that guests can swap if they prefer something else. Many companies exist that can create special wrappers that should have details of the wedding printed on them even if everything else is from a standard template.

Just to complete the favor, why not have the picture of the bride and groom printed on the wrapper as well? Another edible wedding favor option is to use tins of candy instead of bars for couples that want to try something different. By having the date, time and location of the wedding on the candy tin it makes it something that the guest will want to keep. Tins are always useful so once the candy has been eaten, it can be used to store many small items that might be lost otherwise. Even people that don’t often eat candy will tuck in when it is an edible wedding favor because they get drawn into the occasion.

One option that is growing in popularity is the use of large glass bowls containing the bride and grooms own favorite types of candy. An addition to this is to have special boxes made up for every guest with the details of the wedding and if you have decided on a theme of some kind then the box or container can match this. Even though the guests will be eating the candy during the evening, at the end of the night they can fill their presentation boxes (if there are any left) and take them away with them. One edible wedding favor some couples overlook is cookies which can also be presented in a variety of ways. You can select cookies which are rather plain in nature but place them in keepsake boxes with the bride and grooms’ names as well as the date of the wedding.

Apple Computer was one of the pioneers of the PC industry and
remains so today. It is one of the largest computer companies in
the world, with sales of $6.2 billion in fiscal 2003. Apple
designs, manufactures, and distributes a host of computer and
related products, including desktop computers, notebooks,
servers, and storage arrays, along with its own proprietary
operating system and applications. In the past few years, Apple
entered the music marketplace with its popular iPod music player
and iTunes Music Store, which sells legally downloadable songs.
Apple currently dominates the markets for both of these
products. iPod Forum

Furthermore, Apple is scheduled to come to market over the next
few months with several new products that should garner
significant attention and drive incremental business. Apple also
chose to control a greater percentage of its product
distribution due to the differentiated nature of its products, a
strategy that has been successful to date and may have played a
key role in the company’s ability to hold PC market share in two
of the past three quarters after consistently losing share in
the marketplace for each of the past four years.

Our analysis indicates iTunes has the potential to be somewhat
accretive to the overall business model if downloads continue to
increase at their current pace and Apple can increase the number
of songs downloaded per session, which would leverage the fixed
credit check costs the company incurs per order. However,
industry experts believe it will add only a few pennies to the
bottom line as Apple continues to reinvest in the business. The
main value iTunes brings to Apple’s business is increased
awareness of Apple’s products and Web site traffic, which Apple
can use to cross-sell its other products, especially iPod.

Understandably, Apple wants to avoid selling PCs at a loss, but
unfortunately the growth prospects for $1,000-plus PCs are
limited. This presents a conundrum for Apple longer term, but
for now it maintains its current strategy. Incidentally, Apple’s
revenue share has held much better, and while this is not an
often-discussed topic, revenue share is probably more important
than unit share. With regard to the compatibility of Windows and
Mac OS X, even though Apple made a concerted effort to educate
consumers about the ease with which these two products work
together, it has fallen on deaf ears for the most part. Apple
made some progress through its retail stores, where it estimates
half of Mac purchases are from first-time buyers, but for
Apple’s stock to work over the long term, the company needs to
maintain share against Windows, at a minimum.

On a brighter note and possibly a sign of things to come, Apple
reported strong Mac growth in its June quarter and held share.
The June quarter is seasonally slow for most computer companies,
but it is the education buying season, a market where Apple is
regaining lost share. One quarter does not make a trend, but
this may be a direct result of the increased awareness iTunes
and iPod have brought to the Apple brand.
http://www.ipodreviewforum.com

Although generating online traffic is an important goal of any website, attention should always be directed to the very first and most important issue in website marketing: targeting online customers. It’s important to remember that the definition of your online customers always comes from your customers’ basic needs and preferences. Your customer’s needs define your online business. If you define your customers based on their requirements, you will know what direction to follow based on your understanding of their needs. As a result, you won’t necessarily sell your products or services to a specific demographic group, but rather to the people who actually need your products or services.

The web site should be based on the premise that your customers need information to make intelligent, informed buying decisions. This type of thinking should guide strategic and daily decisions regarding further development and marketing of the site. Never lose sight of the target audience.

Most of the time, targeting means targeting customers as a whole group, whereas real targeting is based on online market segmentation. It is always important to consider targeting market segments instead of the whole market.

I often see web marketers evaluating web sites to assist in targeting customers through online demographics. Unfortunately, targeting customers online through demographics is often not an ideal situation. First, ask yourself these questions:

*Can I find a web site that targets my customers through demographic information?

*Once the site is found, how accurate are the demographics?

*If comfortable with the demographics of the visited site, how long will it take to deliver enough impressions?

*How much will it cost for online demographic targeting?

One-to-One Targeting

Once you successfully identify your potential customer’s past online behaviors, it is possible to accurately achieve one-to-one targeting.

One-to-one targeting depends upon: 1) the ability to collect enough information about past buying behavior and 2) whether the person’s past buying behavior has a clear pattern. Most of the time, these two conditions are not met.

Targeted venues are especially useful to achieve one-to-one marketing on the Web. Business-to-business strategies are especially well served with this type of approach.

Geoff Caplan may be contacted at http://geoff-caplan.com. Geoff is a professional online copywriter. marketing consultant and e-commerce strategist with eleven years of continuous experience. His diversified background includes content development, copywriting, search engine marketing, e-commerce strategy and online public relations. He has lectured extensively on subjects related to online marketing and has worked for some of the Web’s highest traffic brands, including eDiets and myTravelUSA.

Why fight nature? If you’ve got an abundance of shade, thin, sandy soil, or other lawn challenging conditions, keep your sanity and your budget intact this season and install groundcover plants instead of attempting to reestablish a lawn.

Groundcovers have the advantage of requiring fewer pest controls to stay healthy and look good. Maintenance is also minimal, as most of the plants are either slow-growing or naturally dwarf. Many will accept “weed whacker” pruning periodically and if they start to break out of their bounds, the errant plants may need to be dug. Most require an application of time-released fertilizer once a year. Wouldn’t it be nice to cut your chemical bills to nearly nothing?

The most ubiquitous groundcovers are Baltic ivy and pachysandra, but these aren’t the only options available. Be creative! Groundcovers can be woodland natives, low-growing evergreens, or herbs.
Some options for shady areas are: Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadensis), Lily of the valley (Convallaria sp.) bloodroot (Sanguinaria) one of the many cultivars of hosta, or even the unattractive-sounding dead nettle (Lamium maculatum). These plants grow quite vigorously in shady, moist conditions, stay low-growing, and offer the additional benefit of flowers, although in the case of wild ginger, they may be inconspicuous. In addition, their leaves span the gamut of green shades available on nature’s palette; hosta and dead nettle also offer two-toned or silver-toned foliage.

Sunny spots with thin, sandy soil can support low growing evergreens such as creeping juniper, Mugho pine, and false cypress quite nicely. These plants take their sweet time about growing but once they’re established, they are as permanent as the house they were planted to accent. The junipers also produce small berries, which are a treat for the birds and serve as an ingredient in Alsatian choucroute for the very adventuresome cook.

The original plant used for “lawns” was creeping thyme (Thymus serphyllum). This creeping beauty is ideal for high-traffic areas, responding to the onslaught of pedestrian footfalls with heavenly fragrance. Many people grow creeping thyme as a filler in flagstone or brick walkways, but there’s no reason to limit it to small spaces. Another herb that is popular as a groundcover and adapts to either sun or shade is sweet woodruff (Asperula odorata). The plant has a fernlike appearance, and the leaves smell like new-mown grass or hay. In the spring, it boasts dainty white flowers that are used to flavor German May wine.

Finally, if you believe you are a brown-thumbed gardener and nothing will work for you, take heart. There are two groundcovers that grow in sun, shade, sand, clay, and are virtually indestructible. These are the golden moneywort (Lysmachia mummularia aurea) and bishop’s weed (Aegopodium variegata). Golden moneywort is a golden-leaved, low-growing creeper. It starts to color up in early spring, once the temperatures reach the mid-60s, and retains its golden hue until hard frost hits. Like most lysmachias, it is very invasive, and can choke out unwanted weeds within two to three seasons. Bishop’s weed stands about 12″ tall, and offers succulent, palmlike leaves in either deep green or variegated hues. Its flowers resemble those of Queen Anne’s lace. And from personal experience, I can attest that it comes back stronger after burning, tilling, chopping and applications of glyphosphate herbicide. Perhaps you can kill this stuff with kindness, but nothing else works.

Using groundcovers may take you out of the “best lawn” competition with the neighbors, but they will be green with envy when your time is spent grilling and lounging rather than mowing, watering and fertilizing.

About the Author

The author is a farmer and freelance writer. You can take a virtual tour of her farm at http://clik.to/kittyvista

So sex aid are on the lips of every girl these days, either talking about them in the bog, at the art gallery or on the tv. But which sex aid is the most popular, with the great choice to pick from surely a sex toy company had to find out the best one.

A new retailer asked over 1 hundred and 70 UK ladies in September what their top sex aid was along with other personal questions.

If you love sex toys you should try out Dildos

It was found that the most top sex aid for UK ladies was the vibrator, and they just really liked it! Shoppers were so excited by the idea of a extra large vibrator that many of them would use it straight after coming home from work. The best types of vibrator were the rabbit vibrators as they help to stimulate the clit hood as well as inserting into the flower.

The second most popular sex aid was the exciting dong. Dongs are similar to vibrators except they do not have batteries or vibrate. Dongs come in all shapes and sizes from two inches to twelve inches. They can come with sucker cups to have an unreal experience hands free and can easily attach to a bath or toilet set. Dongs have been a firm best seller since the 70s and looks like they will be around for a long time.

So it was decided that the vibrator was the winner and the dildo came in second place, with some many sex toys out there it was difficult to know which type of vibrator was the most exciting for women to try. The standard vibrators are battery powered and shaped like a penis. Classic vibrators are shaped just like the proper thing and use batteries for power. They can be made of plastic, vinyl metal or silicone. They can either be popped in or placed against your vagina to get the sexual sensation. We supply a wide range of standard vibrators.

The nicest way to use standard vibrators is to make sure it is very clean before use, make sure it is not too giant for your vagina, and also make sure that you do not use it every Saturday night and you do venture out on a date to the pub.

As Google has gained in their search reputation the past few years, many webmasters have added a Google search box to their pages. This is meant to provide a quick path for visitors to continue their search, should they not find what they’re looking for on the original site. To help these webmasters provide even more service to their visitors, Google is currently beta-testing a new feature called Site-Flavored Google Search.

A site-flavored search will allow searchers to view results more closely related to the site where they started their search. For example, a webmaster for an auto parts site can fill out a profile to tell Google about their site. Searchers from that site can then use the Google search form to view search results more closely related to automotive topics than a general search might provide. A search from that site for “oil” might return information about the various types and brands of automotive engine oil, while a generic Google search might return broader business-related results from oil refiners and industry sites.

When a visitor performs a site-flavored Google search, some results may display with a small graphic of colored balls. This graphic is an indication to the searcher that Google determined the result next to it was relevant to their search. This is an option that is set by the webmaster in the site-flavored search profile. Note that a user’s browser must be relatively new (IE5 or higher, NS5 or higher, or Mozilla 1.4 or higher), and they must have Javascript enabled, in order to use site-flavored search.

About The Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.

If you desire to own your own home but are unable to secure
conventional financing today, leasing a home with an option to
buy may be your best option. A lease purchase can make your rent
money work for you instead of making your landlord rich.
Typically rent to own homes offer rent credits that reduce the
final purchase price!

Here’s how it works:

A home is made available via a standard lease with one important
addition. Included is an option to purchase that home at a
specified price over a specified time period (usually one or two
years). In order to acquire that option, the renter/buyer must
pay a one time, NON REFUNDABLE, fee called the option
consideration. The exact amount is negotiable, but it is usually
ranges from 2.5 to 7% of the purchase price. A fair contract
will credit the buyer 100% of that option consideration upon
closing of the sale. Furthermore a negotiated percentage of all
rent payments should be applied toward the purchase price of the
home. Some typical terms and conditions one might expect to find
in a contract follows:

1. In order to receive a rent credit of 50%, time is of the
essence. You MUST pay your rent on or BEFORE the due date of
your lease (typically the 1st of the month). This means it must
be received by the lessor (landlord) on or before the due date.
Any payment received after the due date will result in a 0% rent
credit for that month, a late fee may apply and you will not be
building any equity.

2. Maintenance is the responsibility of the Tenant Buyer. You
are now renting to own and homeownership requires maintenance.
This includes things like broken windows from stones or
baseballs, clogged drains, peeling paint, broken appliances,
burnt out bulbs, lawn work/snow removal, etc. If any major
repairs are required to ensure habitability, the owner remains
responsible.

3. You need to have Option Consideration. Option Consideration
is typically 2.5% to 7% of the purchase price of the home. It is
a non-refundable payment, of which 100% is credited toward the
purchase price, which binds the lease purchase contract.

Here’s an example transaction:

We have a nice 3 bedroom, 1 bath single family home located in a
near west suburb of Chicago in a great neighborhood with good
schools and a strong community. It has been freshly painted,
cleaned, and is ready to move in. The purchase price will be
$215,000. Monthly rent payments will be $1,500 and you will
receive a 50% rent credit ($750 per month). You need between
2.5% and 7% in up front Option Consideration. Let’s say your
budget allows for $6,000 for Option Consideration. This equates
to approximately 2.8% ($6,000/215,000). You will also need
$1,500 for the first months rent for a total initial payment of
$7,500.

Please note: Option consideration is not a security deposit. It
is a non refundable payment toward the purchase price and is
100% credited toward reducing the price of the home.

Now suppose you paid all your monthly rent payments on or before
the due date and you choose to buy the rent to own home at the
end of the 12 month lease purchase contract. You will have
$15,000 in equity before you even own the home! Here’s the math:

Lease Purchase Price - $215,000

Less: Option Consideration paid at lease signing - $6,000

Less: 50% rent credit of $750/m * 12 months - $9,000

Net Purchase Price after credits - $200,000

You started with $6,000 and by paying your rent on time; your
equity position grew 150% (another $9,000) for a total of
$15,000 with 12 months. Not a bad deal! Many people find it
nearly impossible to save $9,000 in a year with all the costs of
living constantly on the rise.

What’s the catch?

Now you may be thinking, “OK, what’s the catch? This sounds too
good to be true.”

Answer, there is no catch.

There are many possible reasons a landlord/seller may want to
enter into a rent to own agreement. Some reasons may be:

1. Needs to maintain ownership for at least one year for tax
purposes.

2. Unable to get a fair price due to local conditions.

3. Tired of performing minor maintenance.

Furthermore, when one sells a home through a realty service, a
commission of 5-7% is typically paid. In the example above, this
can cost more than the rent credit. Since realtors are usually
not involved with this type of transaction, there is no
commission and the landlord can afford to pass along the savings
to tenant/buyer in the form of rent credits.

Also, when the Tenant becomes the Tenant Buyer (via rent to
own), there is an immediate sense of pride in ownership. Tenant
Buyers add value to the community. They take care of their
future property, make improvements, and feel good knowing their
rent money is working for them (reducing the purchase price)
rather than just making their Landlord rich.

There are also many advantages for the renter. Some are:

1. Build equity toward home ownership.

2. No bank or finance company involvement.

3. Poor credit history may not be an issue.

For a large number of Americans, oranges are the most popular source for vitamin C. People generally consume this fruit in the form of juice, which gives their body around 140% of the recommended dosage of the essential vitamin. However, eating the meaty segments will give you the added advantage of fiber. Doctors promote this fruit to people as an excellent source of folic acid, potassium, thiamin and some traces of magnesium and calcium.

Researchers place the origin of this tree in the southeastern region of Asia. Columbus takes the credit of bringing the seeds of this fruit to the U.S., which has now become a major hub for growing and exporting this fruit. Earlier, the fruit was very expensive since it is not easily grown in cool climates, but now it is known to be the third-most popular fruit, right after apples and bananas. They are largely grown in the states of California, Arizona and Florida.

Oranges hold a useful position in the family of citrus fruits. They are added to an assortment of dishes and snacks, and relished in the form of juice. Their extensive use in everyday life is due to their ready availability throughout the year. Growers harvest the crop mostly in the cold season, which starts from late September and goes on until April. To retain their freshness, it is recommended you keep them in the refrigerator, but this may pose a problem when you want to extract juice. Juice is best taken from oranges kept at room temperature.

Oranges are always taken off from the branches of trees when they are ripe and ready to eat. The thin-skinned oranges are preferred over the thick-skinned fruit, as they are known to give more juice than the latter. Similarly, large oranges are not as sweet as the small- or medium-sized variety.

There are many ways in which a company can improve its profits. For example it can cut costs, if there are any left to cut; suppliers can be squeezed if there is any juice left in the orange; acquisitions, mergers and disposals are other ways of increasing profits; and of course let us not forget restructuring and refocusing, the favourite terms in press releases, as companies try to convince analysts that the extraordinary charge on their P & L was justified. Most if not all, of the above are expensive, some extremely expensive, some are short term and some potentially dangerous.

In our opinion there is another way, and maybe it is taken for granted - and that is to sell more, sell better, and sell faster. After all greater volumes, better margins, and improved cash flow are not far from most executives’ priorities, and these are the benefits that come from selling more, selling better and selling faster.

Also it is relatively cheap to implement. “No it’s not!” is the cry from the frustrated CFO who after three years implementing a CRM system at a preposterous cost, is still waiting to see some bottom line benefits. “Oh no it’s not!” is the cry from the equally frustrated HR Director as he trips over a pile of unused sales training manuals and strategic selling charts. This may seem a little harsh, and it probably is, but weren’t there good sales people before the introduction of IT systems and complex sales techniques?

Much is written in the business pages and journals about all aspects of business, but so little about selling.

The fundamentals of selling are simple; find a prospect who needs something you have to sell, and has the money to pay for it. Convince them of the value of your proposition, counter their objections and ask for the order. Sales people flourish in an organisation where there is a clear business plan with realistic goals, a well defined, unambiguous sales strategy, a strong value proposition, and a supportive management environment. If an organization has these attributes a well managed and motivated sales force will do the execution.

The next time you are planning a strategic review to enhance shareholder value, or just to improve profits, make sure you ask the question, “Whatever happened to selling?”

Paul Chiswick FInstSMM is MD of sales improvement specialists B46 Consulting.
Tel: 0121 748 4138
paul@b46.org

http://www.b46.org