You may have read my post on the BlackBerry Bold (located here).  If you have, you know I recently went through the process of learning more about some new cell phones in order to make a purchase.  I looked at the features of several cell phones before finally settling on one which one worked for me.  Now since I conducted all that research I figured I may as well write about it, so here is what I found on the BlackBerry Storm.

If you have ever wanted a BlackBerry Storm you should take a look at its features. Here in this article we will be taking a brief review of this affront to the Apple iPhone. Let’s see how the BlackBerry Storm does in its basic form. Full Story »

My daughter first told us about Twilight when she came home from school one day and asked us if she could read it.  By the time this movie hit the theater, my wife and daughter had read the first Twilight book, but I had not started yet.

The backdrop for Twilight is the Pacific Northwest, because the overcast conditions offer a nice haven for vampires to go less noticed.  Not to mention, it creates a beautiful backdrop with the forests, rivers and coastline.  It gives one the feeling of taking a trip to an exciting new destination, without having to actually travel there.

The casting for the characters was completed with perfection.  Their character portrayals, expressiveness and emotions combined with the stories of Edward, Bella and the rest provided a depth to the movie that left all of us wanting to see it again.

Robert Pattinson gives a brilliant performance as Edward, conveying the inner conflict which rages and bringing it out full force.  At points he can be dangerous and fearsome while at others be gentle and loving. Full Story »

If you read my post on the BlackBerry Bold (located here), you know I recently had to go through the process of purchasing a new cell phone.  During that process I looked at several cell phones and their features before settling on one which worked for me.  Since I did all the research I figured I may as well write about it, so here is what I found on the BlackBerry Curve.

When the BlackBerry Curve came out in June of 2007 and started a small revolution. This was a step away from selling strictly into business or work uses. Let’s take a quick review of the blackberry curve and see what it has to offer.As the BlackBerry Curve has hit the market, it certainly has fans. This particular model from Research in Motion has been popular enough to spread out to five other models of blackberry curve; the 8300, 8310, 8320, 8330, and 8350i. The first model, the 8300, does not have Wi-Fi or built in GPS but the 8320 and the 8350i do. The 8330 is rated to have the highest talk time of the blackberry curve models at 260 minutes. All of the other curves will have a four hour talk time. The 8350i has the highest amount of flash memory of the bunch with 128 megabytes and is expandable with a microSD card. Any of the blackberry curve models can use a microSD card but with some curves the card is located under the battery inside the phone. Full Story »

If you’re a regular reader of my blog you probably know that I only review products or services which I have actually used or or heavily researched prior to a purchase.  You may have also noticed that I have reviewed quite a few tech gizmos here recently.  Yes I have been on somewhat of a tech buying binge, so here goes with the latest purchase.

The Canon Powershot SX10IS Digital Camera with 20x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom.

I am not a professional photographer but I do like to take pictures.  Plus since I will be using the camera for business, I can write off it off as a business expense.   What I wanted from my new camera was one that would take good quality photos and not give me a lot of hassles while doing it.

This Canon Powershot seemed to be the natural choice for a camera which provides that with room to grow into the many custom settings it also offers which I can learn to use over time.  Full Story »

For some time now I have been searching for a Wordpress plugin which can be easily set-up to manage and track affiliate links.  I have tried the few free ones available and researched several paid versions, until finally finding the plugin that had everything I was seeking.

The Ninja Affiliate Plugin by MaxBlogPress made for Wordpress was designed to improve your affiliate marketing results by increasing your commissions with very little effort.  A major consideration for me was that it is compatible with Wordpress 2.7, because many of the plugins I had tried were not. 

The Ninja Affiliate plugin allows you to convert keywords in your blog to affiliate links automatically and instantly.  It allows you to set up campaigns, sub-campaigns, track clicks and easily manage everything from your Wordpress text editor. Full Story »

I have been on a tech binge lately.  What is the latest indulgence?  Well up until recently I have had the same cell phone for at least 4 years.  It was old and way outdated, but it still worked so I found it hard to upgrade.  Well finally my battery went out and I figured I might as well get some new technology.

What did I choose?  Well I purchased a BlackBerry Bold.  Now this is not a tiny cell phone.  It measures 4.5 X 2.6 X .6 inches which I like because it allows me to see the screen, the buttons and actually use them with ease.  Best of all is the size makes it feel solid, comfortable and sturdy in the hand. Full Story »

Now just in case you did not read about The Amazing Kindle 2, well I bought one which was subsequently hi-jacked by my wife and daughter.  However, I am able to sneak off with it to a corner chair which sometimes ends up being in the wee hours of the morning when all are asleep.  Since I don’t care to sneak anything I purchased in order to use it we will be purchasing another Kindle 2 soon.

That is not the purpose of this post though.  About 2 AM this morning I was able to finally finish reading The Shack which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Oh yes I had heard “the buzz” on The Shack through word of mouth which seems to have really helped The Shack become popular.  Most of our friends who already read The Shack would say how much they loved it while some critics write on how it fails to meet their literary standards. Full Story »

I did it!  I ordered a Kindle 2 - The Latest Generation.  Though it took a few days to receive it , it only took a few hours for our whole family love it.

My entire family enjoys reading.  That is my wife, daughter and I and the Kindle 2 makes it easy to get lost in the world of a good book.  The size of the Kindle is appropriate and easy to read.  Navigating is a breeze because a press from your thumb makes it easy to change pages with one hand.  It comes in handy when you’re sipping on a coffee or latte.

What I like about the Kindle 2.

It has never been easier to find and purchase a new book.  With the Kindle 2 you can look up a book and review the summary.  Then if it appeals to you buy it and download it in under a minute to your Kindle 2.  The whole book downloads wirelessly to your Kindle 2 in only a few seconds. Full Story »

I have been a long time user of GoDaddy hosting services up to about a week ago.  The reason I started using them for hosting was primarily because I held my domains there.

What caused me to leave GoDuddy after so long and leave 8 months of prepaid hosting on the table?  Believe me, it was not one simple thing.

When I used GoDuddy,  I had issues with load speed.  All right, the hosting was slooooowwwww.  There were problems with un-announced changes on their servers causing conflicts with the site.  There was no cPanel and the real irritating thing was when I called them no matter the issue they always blamed it on the script.  Even though the script had been working just fine for months and nothing had been changed with it when the issues occurred.

For example the last issue I had with them was with load speed.  I called them and received the standard response.  Our servers are fine, it is your script they said.  It was the same response one too many times so I changed to Host Gator and immediately noticed the site loaded substantially faster.

There were no script changes, in fact nothing changed other than the hosting service.  If it was as GoDuddy said and caused by the script, changing hosts would have had no effect.

With GoDuddy there always seemed to be something going on with the hosting.  Just when you got comfortable they would hit you again.

Why did I choose Host Gator?  Well it came highly recommended so I checked into it.  I checked the load speed of several sites I knew to be hosted there.  I also checked into the features they offered.

All their plans come with cPanel, AWstats, green power from wind turbines, unlimited storage and bandwidth (I use plenty).  Oh and best of all, they will migrate your site for free.  Many more of the standard and non-standard features you can read about at the Host Gator site.

Since the switch I made I have been getting used to the cPanel, which I love and all the added features offered there.  It is one of those things that you look back on and say why didn’t I do this a long time ago. 

Well I guess the main thing is I finally made the move and I am very pleased with it.  If you’re having hosting issues like I did or just looking for a great host for a new site, take a long look at Host Gator.  Their hosting packages are tough to beat.

I wanted to bring to your attention a great service from Directory Maximizer.   

Directory Maximizer is a directory submission service that typically offers submissions to around 1000 directories at only $.14 per submission.  The list of directories is continuously updated to keep current and they keep track of the ones already submitted to.  It is a great deal if you’re wanting to do submit your website to hundreds of free directories but just don’t have the time to do it yourself. 

You can set up multiple descriptions and anchor text to improve the effectiveness of the submissions and best of all you don’t have to take the time to manually submit them to all the directories yourself. 

I have used this service myself for several sites with great results.  You can submit to as many or as few directories as you want with Directory Maximizer and they keep track of them for you. 

If you have already done some submissions on your own it is not a problem.  All you have to do is upload the list of directories you have already submitted to in order to avoid duplication.