Online Shopping Tips #1

Many of us are tightening our belts this holiday season. Luckily there are many ways to save money when you're shopping on line this year. Retailers understand that many shoppers pared down their budgets for 2010 and are reaching out by offering significant discounts and promotions.

Our first tip is to search out online promotional codes. Promo codes, also called coupon codes are often overlooked as a way to save money. Almost every online store has a box for promo codes at checkout. The right promo code can get you free shipping, a percentage off or a specific dollar amount in savings.

Finding a coupon code can be as simple as typing the retailer's name plus the words "coupon code" into your favorite search engine. You can also visit sites such as RetailMeNot.com, CouponWinner.com and CouponCabin.com to name just a few. Be wary, though. Don't be taken in by offers to join coupon clubs or spend money for bigger discounts.

This is a test...

This is a test of recording a blog using my new bluetooth headset and dial2go software. I'm interested in seeing how it end.
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It's Incredible

The folks at Verizon have been kind enough to let me play with one of their new HTC Incredible phones. And I'm loving it! They may have a hard time taking it back when the trial period it over :-)

First off, the touch screen interface is gorgeous! There are several themes, but the default screen offers animations for the current weather and a large digital clock. This phone by Google runs the Android 2.o operating system. This version offers quick processing and quick graphics. Like the iPhone, it offers multi-touch screen navigations. In other words you can "pinch" the screen to zoom in or spread your fingers apart to zoom out. There are other gesture that allow users to navigate other features and screens.

The voice recognition for search and even entering text is extremely accurate - perfect for use in the car. Speaking of the car, there's a Car Panel app that provides the top six most useful apps for your car, including maps, voice search and navigation.

The Android market offers a wide variety of free and inexpensive apps that download and install probably 10 times faster than on my old T-Mobile G1. Some of my favorites include GPS Essentials (speed, altitude, lat/long and bearing to destination), UrbanSpoon (easily find local restaurants using a variety of criteria) and Key Ring which scans all the barcodes on those little plastic tabs on your key ring. Retailers can then scan the code from your phone.

So far, this rates way up there. I think it surpasses the third generation iPhone and will most likely hold its own agains the fourth generation iPhone.

More to come! We'll look at upload/download speeds around town, signal strength and more.

AT&T Changes Data Plan Rules

According to an MSNBC article AT&T is doing away with its unlimited data plan just in time for the release of the new iPhone. There is some good news: if you currently have an "all you can eat" plan for $30/month you'll be able to keep it. The bad news is that if you're a new subscriber you'll be paying for the amount of data you transfer. If you just check email and don't watch video or download lots of apps you'll probably save some money. But power users beware. You could find a BIG surprise in your bills this summer!

Business Blastoff on a Budget

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Business Blastoff on a Budget

View more presentations from Byte Slaves Computing.

My Favorite Hobby

I enjoy lots of things outside of work, but one of the things tat I always enjoy is flying. I can't afford a real plane (yet) so I use Microsoft Flight Simulator X and planes downloaded from Fly Away Simulations to see the world. It's fun to play with different aircraft - most are modeled on real planes and handle like their real-world counterparts. I can start from any airport in the world and choose to fly in real-time weather conditions or choose my weather. If you enjoy flying I suggest you check it out!

Watch Your Phone Bill

Word to the wise: make sure someone checks your phone bill from front to back every month. There may well be unexpected and unauthorized charges hiding on there.

Last week I got a call from the folks at Verizon. Somehow the change of address notice I sent out in October didn't get processed. I expected a big hassle, but I only had to explain myself to two people with one transfer in between. Quite a pleasant surprise.

The second person I talked to, Gina, asks me a bunch of qualifying questions. But she was friendly and professional. Finally, she asked if I knew my bill was over $50 a month. I said no, I should only have the charge for forwarding my number to my AccessLine - about $20 a month.

Gina explained that there's a company who has added it's Web hosting services to my bill at a cost of $50 plus tax per month. Seems this happens frequently, and the charge shows up on the back of the last page of the bill. Obviously this slipped by us. Seems that's what these scamsters count on. Gina worked on my account for about half an hour, then called me back with the good news that I now have a $568 credit on my bill. Great work. Great service.