Yes I admit it, my desks (in two different offices) are not exactly the tidiest. Three computers on one desk, usually two on the other. And pieces of paper to remind me customer details, what work is in progress and so on.

But I am not the worst by far and in previous work places have seen people ordered to tidy their work spaces. It always seems that the managers have the tidiest desks and can shout down on the others, maybe that’s because those doing the most work have the biggest messes.

And that is where the Pimp My Cube Contest comes into this page. Do you think that you might have the messiest, most unorganised work space going? If so, can you use you web cam or a mobile phone to create a witty video of just how bad it is? If so then you might find yourself winning new office equipment or even a new high end computer system!

Once you have uploaded your video ask your friends and family to view the video and vote for it to increase your chances of winning yourself a great prize. You never know how lucky you might just be! You might win the top prize of a fantastic new computer system, new office furniture or an entertainment package. You have plenty of time to make your video popular –  you have until end of day 31st January to create as much of a following as you can.

                          

In the battle against big names not playing ball, Walgreens have announced their new prescription service. The  Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens offers its users savings against many products. From just $10 for families or $5 individuals, savings are offered on 8000 branded products and all generic products. Whether the customer wants to protect themselves against the flu with their annual jab, needs a new nebuliser or is buying prescription diabetic drugs or tablets for their dependents, from next to nothing per year the club can offer savings.

Such a new scheme needs a big launch and a lot of publicity and you can find out a lot more about what they are doing through their use of popular social networking media. With many thousands of followers and likes already, they are obviously doing something right with these!

How does this interest us here? Well this scheme is being promoted well through social networking media. You can follow Walgreens on Twitter or like Walgreens on Facebook. Have a look at either account, or ideally both, and follow them and see what they are offering and what they are doing. If you can follow their Facebook and Twitter pages, you might just like what you see and get some ideas of your own.

                          

Have you ever worried when you are packing for your holiday that you are going to miss something absolutely vital? Have you worried that you are going to be turning out on the first day of your skiing holiday only to realise that you have neglected to pack your gloves?

It is worst when you are going on a particular type of holiday that you have never been on before, but packing for any holiday can be worrying and result in packing only to be followed by an unpacking session to check that you really did put the gloves in the bottom of the case. And when you leave the house there is always that question – “Did you pack the suncream?” Even if you are certain that you did indeed pack it, you will be worried until that moment you have it in your hands at the other end.

That is where the My Travel Checklist service can come in extremely useful. You simply tell it where you are going and whether you are a single traveller, family or whatever and it suggests for you what you might need to take. You can then add and remove items as required to create your ideal checklist, then go through it to make sure that everything is packed.

And as you can access the list from your phone or computer, a sneaky look at the list whilst you are in the car to the airport is possible just to make certain that the suncream is ticked!

                          

The power of the internet these days and the information that it can give to us against what information was available to the general public even just a decade ago is amazing. These days you can uncover loads of statistics and figures about your neighbours, information that a few years ago you would never have stood a chance of finding out.

Take the new ING Direct savings widget (see below). With it you can try out for yourself the My Comparison Table widget and see how much, on average, other households in your area have in their  Savings Accounts! And not just your own area, you can explore the whole of the UK are saving and finding out whether you are above or below average with your savings level.

What can you do with this information? Well, I suppose it is there to incentivise you into increasing your savings and putting more money away for the future. Never really a bad thing! It might also tell you a lot about the different areas that are reported on if you are thinking of moving.

Just one of the many new information sources we now have access to. Have a look and le me know what you think.

Find out more about ING Direct Savings

                          

With the big fuss of the launch last week of the iPhone 4S, it is very tempting to think that rushing into an expensive monthly contract is a good idea. But Android have also released their new operating system and although it might not beat iPhone in every respect, it’s a good system and my phone of choice.

And I am not alone. Around 48% of the smart phone market is Android, whereas about 18% of the market is iPhone. Why?

Well Android phones have a good amount of features. They have their own Marketplace, from which you can access thousands of apps. Some of these are not as high quality as the iPhone apps, because there isn’t the review process, but there are any apps available on Android that would never get onto IOS for that reason.

On top of this some Android handsets are far cheaper. Yes, you can get The power of Android handsets for a fraction of the cost of their competitors. And because they are cheaper, they are very affordable on Pay As You Go deals.

You can buy a new Android handset and compare the features against the competition, then look at how much you have saved. And when you see that the initial outlay and the monthly cost is so much less, you will Feel Richer with Android than certain other handsets I could mention.

So, if you are looking for a new phone, don’t rush to a monthly contract, see what is available with an Android.

The getting richer effect has expanded… by LittleBard95

                          

One such area is marketing and a useful tool here is B2B Telemarketing. With such techniques, professionals are employed to call potential target businesses, explain the reasons for buying your services and hopefully make some valuable sales for you. These services might be partially or even fully paid for through commissions.

But B2B Telemarketing does not just need to be cold calls. Surveys to test interest in a product or just general raising of product awareness can also be good uses of B2B Telemarketing services.

                          

In that case it is essential that you look at what is on offer with different providers and read a selection of the reviews that are available on your potential host. And if you have an opinion on a host, why not help others by leaving your own web hosting review?

And whilst you are at it have a look around for some hosting coupons and see if you can save yourself some cash!

                          

Mobile phone technology has been around with us for many years. In fact, it is a technology that has been with us now for more than the last 2 decades.

However with the advent of 3G over the last couple of years it is only recently that the technology has really come to the forefront and taken off. These days mobiles are not just for crackly and hard to hear phone calls, they are full entertainment devices with internet access wherever you are. In fact, just last week the internet connection on my phone enabled me to be able to access the internet whilst on holiday when all else failed.

So it is vital that when you choose your mobile phone you get a quality package that covers everything that you need. Companies such as Net10 can offer unlimited packages, which should cover you for all eventualities, such as when I sudenly had to depend on my mobile for internet access!

If you are looking at renewing your phone that take a look at the Cute NET10 commercial and see what they have on offer. As with any contract, take a look at some testimonials. For example, here’s one from a Real NET10 customer that you might like to look at.

                          

These days people are depending more and more on their mobile technology. Not just mobile phones, but a whole variety of mobile technology including tablets. And the problem with all of these mobile technologies is the amount that they can cost you to get set up. It’s not just about how you can call a friend, it is all about getting everything you need at the right price.

A lot of people still go for the regular monthly contracts when buying or updating their mobile technology. Yes, with all inclusive tariffs these can seem good value, but do you really need “all you can eat data”, thousands of texts messages and hundreds of free minutes? However they are put to you, you are still paying for them and if you are not using your full allowance then it is money down the drain.

So why not save yourself some money and go with a provider with a bit of flexibility? Making a saving on your expenses is always a good feeling and with some providers, such as Straight Talk, you can pay a fixed monthly fee for a great deal without the risk of running up huge bills. The only question is – what will you spend that saved money on?

And remember – “mom knows best” is what they say!

                          

My account is well over the minimum payment threshold and has been for quite a few months. I keep sending them emails to every contact address that I can find for them asking where my hundreds of dollars are, but BlogDistributor just do not bother to reply.

At first I thought maybe the system had closed, but they are still sending out job invites and when I complete one (which I haven’t bothered with now for a few weeks), they review them and do, on occasion, complain about the odd typo. But they can’t be bothered to pay up what they have now owed me for a few months.

I would be very interested to hear from other bloggers currently using BlogDistributor as to whether they are receiving payments or not.

                          

They are currently offering you the chance to get $30 free advertising now on the Ad Dynamo contextual advertising network. Have a look for yourself.

                          

Here is an idea that I can see catching on very quickly – why not have your very own tv Channel?

Sounds daft? Sounds expensive? Well actually no, it is neither if you take a look at Streamago, which is a new offering from internet giant Tiscali. What they have produced could just be the next viral site for people to share everything that they are doing.

It is aimed at the general public, so a lot of the channels seem to be live streams of people playing their favourite computer games. I did also find a live stream of flamingos wading in the water.

But as a business tool such streaming could be very useful. For example, a shop could have a live stream of fashion shows. All that is needed is a simple computer with a web cam and an internet connection, plus, of  course, an account! Then just link in from your Facebook fan page and your website and get customers to watch the show. Why bother? Well, it is giving your customers an interest, a reason to keep coming back. This will keep you on their minds.

What's so different about this to services such as utube? Well Streamago offers live feeds and you can produce a film to go out for when you are not broadcasting. Other services offer the pre recorded channel, but not the live channel. And if you have something newsworthy going on that you can capture on a web cam, then why not try to raise your profile by sharing it?

Sponsored Post

Viral video by ebuzzing

                          

A lot of my customers will wait until their website is created, and then sit back and wait for business to come along. But this will almost never work. No matter how big or small a business you are, unless you successfully market yourself you are not going to be heard within your market. And good evidence of these efforts and what can be done is the forthcoming Honda campaign.

Honda are a well known leading car manufacturer. They have established what their target customers are doing and decided that is watching Channel 4 documentaries. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but if you watch these documentaries you are likely to hear their strapline – 'Documentaries on 4, sponsored by Honda'.

This year these will be featuring different drivers of Honda cars using their cars as part of their work. The series is due to start off with a feature of Philippa, an alpaca breeder in Oxfordshire, who tends to the animals on her farm using her trusty Honda ATV. And if you have your own story to tell then a competition being run by W+K could be of interest to you.

However, in these days just splashing a few minutes of advertising in front of people is not enough. Customers want to be involved and the competition is a good starting point, but this campaign shows that social media is here for everyone as the campaign will also include Facebook and Twitter marketing. It looks like a lot of bases are properly covered. What a good example.

Sponsored Post

Viral video by ebuzzing

                          

Well, here is an interesting site that I have been having a good look through that is aimed at men (and those buying for men) and the prices are quite good as well. The site is simply called “It’s a guy thing“.

If you are wanting to treat yourself, looking for an answer to that question “What do you want for…” or trying to find a present for a man in your life, then this is a great source of ideas. What’s better, as I’ve already said, the prices are good as well. There are some high price tag items there for a special treat, but plenty of the items on offer also come with very low price tags if you are not wanting to spend much.

From pieces of gear for fitness training to remote controlled toys to party and bar gadgets, the range is excellent. Rather than searching for an idea, you are going to be trying to reduce the list of potential ideas to what you actually want!

                          

If so, you might be wanting to look at a Whiplash calculator to see what it could be worth for you. Even a simple claim could be worth £750 for you, maybe up to £2,250 if it is a severe condition.

If you are interested, take a look at the calculator now and you will easily find some potential claim amounts.

                          

Look around carefully when you are choosing your Search Engine Optimisation experts. There are those that say they can help and those that will. Don’t believe boasts on websites that the website is number 1 for some unused term, instead look for someone such as seo Dallas who is going to spend time helping you and your business move forward.

Getting it right can be very profitable. Getting it wrong very expensive!

                          

Take cell isolation. Here scientists can use a whole bank of different techniques that are at their disposal to extract just those tiny cells that they are after. Marking those to be kept, or those to be removed, then keeping just those that are valuable to the work at hand.

Techniques such as cell isolation have come along a long way in recent years and you do have to wonder what the world will be like in another decade!

                          

It used to be a case of going through the phone book, through the list of providers of Car Insurance Australia and phoning around each one in turn. Every broker had to be called, told your details and the results written down.

But these days to find cheap Car Insurance Australia you can just use a few websites, which will take your details and pass them around to various insurance suppliers and tell you who, out of their panel, is the cheapest.

Not guaranteed to always give the cheapest as not all insurance suppliers work through these insurance supermarkets, but they are a good start!

                          

Yes, if you want to save money on buying new glasses then you do not have to go to the opticians down the high street, instead you can order discounted pairs from much cheaper suppliers abroad.

Yes, cheap eyeglasses do come with some problems and there are plenty of reviews that go through the pros and cons of such services. Whilst the glasses might be a lot cheaper than your friendly optician will supply them to you for, you have to persuade that same optician to part with your full prescription, including pupiliary distance first. And then if you are in a rush, whereas the optician might be able to supply a new designer frame and lenses in just a couple of days (or even same day), the discount frames need to be posted from abroad and will take time to arrive with you.

The internet is a wonderful tool and can save you money, just make sure that you read the reviews first and understand what it is that you are getting yourself into and whether the savings are worth it.

                          

The problem is they are becoming very accessible. 12 years ago when we bought what we would now recognise as a half decent home PC we paid £1200 for it. These days that buys a fantastic top end system, with netbooks even being available for around the £200 mark. Suddenly, you can update your 1-year old system for next to nothing.

So with computers being so easy to get hold of, what do you do to the old machines? Throwing them out with the rubbish is bad news – unscrupulous people can get hold of it and access your personal data on the hard drive. So it is well worth looking at services such as Round2.net to see about recycling your old computer for the environment, and your safety.