2021 | Fire Boy and Water Girl Play

Lucille Wood
September 27, 2021
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Getting Some Automotive Service Consulting Tips

Your business can regain some economic losses by getting some automotive service consulting tips that can help you gain business in this tough times. With the sales of new cars dwindling, you will need to find ways that are different to keep a profits coming in. One of those ways is to focus on the service department of your dealership.
People love to take their vehicles to people who are qualified to work on them. At times they will pay more just to make sure the job is done by a licensed professional. However, that doesn’t always mean they will be coming to you for that work. You need to try and make sure you earn the reputation as the best in your area where everyone will go for maintenance.
Nothing can be more frustrating to a customer who needs something done on their car than not being able to get it in to be fixed. For that reason you may need to make a few changes in your business. Especially if this is going to be the mainstay during this time when not much money is coming into your business.
Convenience is a huge thing when it comes to service, and you can make sure that you have the best convenience offered to your customers. Even if it means that you will need to extend hours of when your open making it easier for people to set up those appointments. This is going to be a way that you may beat others out for those vehicles that need to be fixed.
Adding more locations that are easier access for more people may be another way that you can help out in convenience. Though you may think that will cost a lot more money than it’s worth, if you find a garage that has closed down, you won’t need to do much to open it again.
Providing your customers with more times and more locations to be able to bring their vehicles in could be just the right thing to do. It will have you seeing more business and Auto keeping those loyal customers coming to you. This can keep them coming even when they are offered lower prices from other places who don’t offer as much convenience as you do.
Find ways of doing follow up with your customers. Phone calls or cards that are sent to them to find out if they were happy with the job that was done might be a way to determine this. It is a great way that you will be provided the feedback that you need to make your business stand out above all the rest.
Also, you will make the customer feel they are a very valued and important asset to your business. If they feel important they will continue to come back when they need more service. You need to keep in mind that your service department may be the only reason you are still in business.
Providing customers with that convenience and treating them right will be the best ways to keep your customers and build Auto up more. Those happy customers will be more than likely to pass on your name to friends and family who need work done.…

Lucille Wood
September 24, 2021
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Get Your PlayStation Move Free This Christmas

Sony has just released the PS3 Move, this is a hand controller which follows your movements on screen just like the Nintendo Wii. Using the Eyetoy camera all your actions are made on screen with much more accuracy than any other controller to date.

With just a few short weeks until the big fat man in a red suit arrives and delivers to all the good little boys and girls parents will be inundated with requests to have the PlayStation move for Christmas.

But you can get these controllers for free and not just the PlayStation move for free you can also get the PlayStation 3 for free too. This is possible by using incentive based websites.

The websites who offer the free gadgets all have one thing in common, they are using incentive advertising. This means they advertise great offers from some major brand names such as Santander Coral and LOVEFiLM.

Many of the websites who offer the latest gadgets have been around for years, constantly updating their free gifts with all the latest gadgets you can be sure the gadget you want can be got for free.

To get the ball rolling you will need to find a website which offers a free PS3 Move, once there you will see that you are required to give them some details such as name email and delivery address. It is very important you fill out this form carefully as mistakes may delay your free gift being sent out.

Once signed up you are required to view the offers available and choose just one which needs to be completed, there are dozens of offers ranging from free trails through to offers which require you to credit and spend money on bingo or casinos.

We always advise people to view the free trials as this means you do not have to spend any money and still allow you to try a service which you may well enjoy and continue to use.

Delivery of your free gift is also free, once your account has been checked and all the requirements have been met the free gift will be dispatched to the address given at the registration stage this is why it is important to fill this in correctly.…

Lucille Wood
September 20, 2021
0 Comments

iPad Insurance – UK Providers

There are quite a few companies in the UK that provide iPad insurance. However, not all companies offer all kinds of iPad or gadget cover for a reasonable price.

In this post I will put into view three of the most reputable gadget insurance companies in the UK, what they will cover your iPad for, and what would be an average price for a policy. So, if you reside in the UK and you would like to get an insurance policy for your iPad, this post should be helpful.

Protect Your Bubble

Insuring your iPad with Protect Your Bubble, you will benefit from coverage for accidental damage, which also includes water damage and cracked screens. Theft and mechanical breakdown is also insured by this company when it comes to iPads, and the insurance is fully functional worldwide.

In case of a successful claim, your iPad will be replaced within 48 hours. Also, in case you own multiple gadgets, you can insure them all under the same policy and of course, you will benefit from a discount.

One of the beautiful parts of this company is that they accept various types of payment, including PayPal. I only pay my monthly premiums via PayPal.

Unfortunately with PYB you won’t benefit from accessory cover. However, most companies that offer this type of coverage consider that a certain accessory is part of your iPad. So, you will only benefit from the insurance for your iPad accessory, if that particular accessory is damaged by the same factor your iPad was damaged by.

For an iPad priced between AÃ¯Â¿Â½500 and AÃ¯Â¿Â½700, price of the monthly premium with PYB iPad insurance is AÃ¯Â¿Â½4.88.

Gadget Cover

With Gadget Cover, you will also be covered for the most important detriments that may happen to your iPad. Theft, accidental damage (including liquid damage), technical breakdown (in case your warranty has expired), and you will also be covered worldwide. To this whole package you can add loss cover, but this will add an extra AÃ¯Â¿Â½1 to your monthly premium.

So, for an iPad between AÃ¯Â¿Â½500 and AÃ¯Â¿Â½700, your monthly premium will be AÃ¯Â¿Â½5.99, or AÃ¯Â¿Â½6.99 if you also opt for loss cover. However you will benefit from a month free of charge.

Insurance 2 Go

With Insurance 2 Go, your iPad will be insured for theft, accidents, water and fire damage, worldwide cover for up to 30 days. They also offer accessory cover for accessories up to AÃ¯Â¿Â½150. Also, in case your iPad is damaged or stolen while in the possession of your immediate family members (over 18), you will also benefit from your insurance.

For an iPad of a similar value as I mentioned above, your monthly premium with Insurance 2 Go should also be somewhere around AÃ¯Â¿Â½5.

Now, take note that I’m not explicitly recommending any of the UK gadget insurance providers here, although I have insured my iPad via Protect Your Bubble. But, in case you would like to find an insurance provider for your iPad or other gadgets, you can start with these three. They all offer pretty good policies for acceptable prices.…

Lucille Wood
applying
books
September 16, 2021
0 Comments

Applying Printing-Press Rules To Digital Books

The New York Public Library has 87 branches, but recently some patrons have decided to forgo all of them, and visit the stacks in their living rooms instead.
As the popularity of e-books has increased, libraries across the country have installed virtual stacks. At the New York Public Library’s website, patrons can check out audio books and e-books, temporarily downloading items directly to their computers or mobile devices, without ever stepping inside a physical library. “As our readership goes online, our materials dollars are going online,” Christopher Platt, the director of collections and circulating operations for the New York Public Library told The New York Times.(1) The American Library Association estimates that two out of every three libraries now offer e-books.
But a recent decision by HarperCollins may slow the growth of libraries’ digital collections. The publisher announced this month that it will set a lending limit for new e-books it sells to libraries. Under the new policy, after a HarperCollins e-book is checked out 26 times, it will self-destruct. The limit is intended to provide a digital equivalent of the ordinary wear and tear that, over time, causes paper books to expire.
The restriction raises interesting copyright issues. In the U.S., libraries are able to lend books as a result of what is known as the “right of first sale.” This legal principle allows the purchaser of a particular iteration of a copyrighted work to resell or lend it without permission from the copyright holder, so long as no additional copies are made. Once I have bought a copy of a book, CD or DVD, it is mine to do with as I wish.
This principle, fairly straightforward when applied to physical objects, becomes more complex for “objects” such as MP3 files or e-books that exist only as bits of digital information. In response to file-sharing sites, which attempted to apply the doctrine of first sale to digital content, copyright holders began to assert that content transmitted digitally was licensed rather than sold. Since there was never any actual sale, they claimed, the right of first sale did not apply and they could, as a result, exercise greater control over how the content was used. End User License Agreements were created, requiring customers to agree that, though they seemed to be paying money to acquire a product, they were, in fact, not buying anything. By asserting a right to limit libraries’ use of e-books, HarperCollins is essentially claiming that its e-books are, like software programs, licensed rather than sold.
The principle of “fair use” provides further information on how copyrighted works can be used. It is less directly applicable to library e-books, since it applies primarily to the replication of portions of copyrighted works rather than to the use of individual copies of whole works. But it offers some useful general guidelines for considering what constitutes copyright infringement. According to the laws on “fair use,” individuals and courts examining whether a particular use is fair or not are instructed to consider “the effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work.”
Publishers argue that unlimited library access to e-books would undercut their sales. If e-books are readily available to “check out” for free at any time, they worry, customers would have little reason to click “buy” rather than “borrow.” HarperCollins said in a statement about its new policy, “We have serious concerns that our previous e-book policy, selling e-books to libraries in perpetuity, if left unchanged, would undermine the emerging e-book ecosystem, hurt the growing e-book channel, place additional pressure on physical bookstores, and in the end lead to a decrease in book sales and royalties paid to authors.”(2)
While the existing case law is murky, I am inclined to believe that, regardless of the possible consequences for publishers, the “right of first sale” applies.
But I doubt libraries will sue to win the point. While the “right of first sale” protects purchasers of copyrighted material, there is no “right to first sale.” If selling e-books to libraries hurts their profits, publishers are free to simply refuse to do business with libraries. In fact, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan, two of the largest trade publishers in the U.S., currently do precisely that.
Just as libraries depend on publishers, publishers depend on libraries for a large portion of their sales. Sales to libraries can account for 7 to 9 percent of a publisher’s overall revenue, two major publishers told The New York Times. Like it or not, publishers and libraries are locked in a relationship of mutual interdependence.
My guess is that publishers and libraries ultimately will find a solution that both can accept. Publishers might, for example, delay release of popular new e-books to libraries, forcing those who want to read the book …

Lucille Wood
September 11, 2021
0 Comments

Guns in Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty Black Ops is eagerly expected to be released and the hard core fans are already frantically looking for clues on the possible weapons that will be featured in the game. The game is played in the Cold War Era as seen from the trailer and in various places like Russia, Vietnam and Cuba. Since the game is full of violent action and war action forces, there is no dearth for arms and ammunitions in this game.

The sites that offer reviews have made a guessing game on the weapons but some of the ardent gamers feel that looking into those clues will only dampen the spirits of suspense and therefore, they would rather wait till the game is officially released. Those who foresee the weapons do it on the basis of the fact that the game is set in the Cold War during the Vietnam era and thus, the early M16, AK47 and CAR 15 will certainly have their place in the game. Treyarch has already outlined that Black Ops will be in line with Modern Warfare and the fans can certainly expect to have more number of weapons than in modern warfare.

The games trailer featured CAR 15 in various scenes which confirm its presence. Another guess is that Thompson gun will also be another option in the new Call of Duty. Though Thompson gun has seen better days, it is more likely to make a come back in this game. Uzi is the weapon that has featured in most of the Modern Warfare games and the MP5. Hence Uzi, along with many other submachine guns will be invariably used in the Black Ops.

The theme of the game is an indication of the possible weapons that will be used in Black Ops. For instance, since it is set in the cold war theme, most of the weapons that were used in that war will also be used in Black Ops. Sniper rifles such as M40, M14 and Winchester model 70 were used in the cold war. The trailer also shows the Huey and shot guns in the game but M4 family guns are significant by their absence. M16 comes with a very great accuracy and high power which also features a fully automatic FAMAS weapon. Apart from these, new weapons like scorpion, RPK, SIG commando, PSG and MAC 11 are also introduced in Black Ops.

Lucille Wood
essential
ingredients
September 6, 2021
0 Comments

The Innovation Process – 5 Essential Ingredients To Minimise Risk

Let’s define what we mean by innovation and the innovation process. Innovation is the creation of something new and original. The more different it is from what already exists the more innovative it is. However, we need to understand what the innovation is for in order to give focus on innovation as a process. The purpose of innovating may be to:

differentiate from competition by offering customers different benefits.

reduce manufacturing cost and thereby increase margins

increase quality, either by new design, new manufacturing techniques, or even new quality control methods

improve levels of customer service and satisfaction

In short, innovation for manufacturing is about improving the returns on investment and making the companies’ activities more effective.

Any process needs to have an input, an output, and a value added element sandwiched in the middle. In order to have successful innovation these 3 elements need to be fully understood.

Innovation process input

The input of the innovation process is either a need or an idea. It is the seed of thought which can arrive in our heads by chance, or by an idea generating process in itself. It is a preconceived idea which has not been proved out and lives on gut instinct or suspicion. None of this is in any way bad, although it can be difficult for those who like the certainty of facts and figures to accept. That is why the innovation process is required in order to improve the certainty.

Innovation process output

By the end of the innovation process there needs to be much more certainty about what the outcomes of the innovation itself are. The end of the process is also an opportunity to filter the innovations which are not beneficial or are too difficult to achieve. The end of the innovation process is the point at which decisions are made.

Innovation process middle

In order to move from the beginning of the process where there is only a preconceived idea through to the end where decisions are made requires a significant amount of information gathering and this can be summarised in 5 essential ingredients for successful innovation:

Strategy – The innovation needs to be strongly aligned with the corporate strategy, and it goes without saying that there needs to be a very clear and well laid out strategy in the first place for this ingredient to be in place.

Technology – The technology for the innovation must be readily available and understood by those working with it in order for it to be employed. Any development project being undertaken where the technology is not fully established will run a high risk of taking much longer to complete than expected, and this will have an adverse effect on the project costs.

Opportunity – This is the core ingredient and involves understanding the facts and figures surrounding the commercial opportunity. How much will the product or service cost to introduce? How much will the customer pay for it? How many customers will buy it? To help answer these questions, a full understanding of the existing market conditions as well as the position of the market when the product or service is due to be launched is essential.

Planning – A detailed plan is key for a successful introduction of your innovative product or service. The plan is required not only to ensure that all the right activities are done in a timely manner, but also in order to feed back into the Opportunity research so that checks can be carried out to ensure that the customer needs will still exist when your innovation is due to be launched.

Specification – What will it be like and what are the essential elements of the innovation in order to make it successful on the market? Which elements can be dropped due to lack of customer value and which ones are essential if the product of service is going to be successful?

This article has turned out to be much longer than normal but I don’t apologise for that. This is just so important, because without a thorough innovation process as laid out here, the risk of your new product or service failing is significantly increased. However, if you include all these essential ingredients to your innovation process then the risk of failure will be significantly reduced. What is more, due to increased focus provided by the innovation process outcomes, the time to market is more likely to be optimised, leading to lower development costs too.

Enjoy the opportunity!…

Lucille Wood
September 4, 2021
0 Comments

PlayStation Vita Games – What You Can Play With the Latest PS Generation From Sony

PlayStation Vita is the next PS generation from Sony whose installment was released on 17 December 2012 in Japan and some countries in Asia and is due to launching on 22-23 February, 2012 in Europe, Australia, and North America. Along with that, several vendors are also attempting at developing games for the latest console. For you who live in Europe, Australia, and North America, here are some PlayStation Vita games you can pre-order along with the console. One of the cool fact when people buy this new console is there will be 25 games available on day 1 with the console and more than 100 games currently in development.

1. Ben 10 Galactic Racing

Monkey Bar Games is the developer of this racing game of the Ben 10 series. You can enable Ben’s alien forms during the race in Galactic Grand Prix circuits. Released in North America on 18 October, 2011 and in Europe on 25 November 2011, Ben 10 Galactic Racing is also available for other gaming consoles such as PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS.

2. Uncharted: Golden Abyss

As one of the PlayStation Vita games developed by Sony Computer Entertainment, Uncharted: Golden Abyss offers versatile gameplay for Uncharted fans. Still with Nathan Drake as the story’s protagonist, this latest Uncharted series takes its setting some time before the Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune installment. In this story, you will undergo an adventure with Nathan Drake to uncover the mystery of a Spanish expedition massacre which happened 400 years ago while attempting to solve murderous problem amongst an ancient and secret Spanish sect.

3. Army Corps of Hell

Army Corps of Hell is a game designed by the Entersphere, Inc, which launches at the same time with the launching of Sony PlayStation Vita in North America. This action game will bring the player to a vicious combat between goblin soldiers and the enemies to regain the throne of the King of Hell.

4. Silent Hill: Book of Memories

For you who love survival horror games, you must be familiar with Silent Hill series. Good news for PS Vita enthusiast that in its latest installment of Silent Hill, Konami is releasing the Book of Memories only for the console. Silent Hill: Book of Memories will give you overhead isometric view, a new storyline, and recurring creatures from the previous series. Silent Hill: Book of Memories is the first series of the game which enables multiplayer gameplay.

5. LittleBigPlanet

Specially designed for PS Vita, the LittleBigPlanet is developed by multi-developer of Tarsier Studios, Double Eleven Limited, and Sony XDev Europe. This fifth installment of LittleBigPlanet series also launches in 2012. As other series of LittleBigPlanet, you will follow the adventure of Sackboy in many different kinds of world through the multi-touch display PS Vita.…

Lucille Wood
snippets
technique
September 1, 2021
0 Comments

RDFa Rich Snippets Are the Best Technique for Your New Year

RDFa rich snippets offer the best gains in terms of improving SERPs (search engine results pages) ranking, CTR (click-through rate) and all-around ROI (return on investment) for your web site.

For the search

Several benefits can be enjoyed in this arena by implementing RDFa technology;

Make more in-depth information available to the search engines to determine your page’s relevance to a search query;

Give the search engines more inter-relational data to tie your site’s content to more external data, via Linked Data;

Promote greater utilization of Web 3.0, or Semantic Web, capability.

Anything you do to help the search engines better understand the meaning of your content can only help with matching your pages to relevant search queries. The classification of data with this technology is a great way to do this.

For the CTR

When you utilize this technology, the search engines can then display the additional information provided to the users in the SERPs in the form of RDFa rich snippets. That means the users will have more information available to them in order to select the site that best meets their needs.

It also means that because the search engines can better match your page to the search query, your CTR will increase.

This technology can give you a significant advantage over competitors in your niche that aren’t yet utilizing RDFa.

For the conversions

Since the search engines will be serving up more relevant results to the users, and the users will have more information available to them in the snippets, you’ll not only achieve a higher CTR… you’ll also be receiving more targeted visitors.

Any experienced marketer knows that as users progress through the steps of finding, investigating and deciding upon a product or service, every positive experience makes them more comfortable with the process and more receptive to the conversion process.

Thus, it stands to reason that first finding highly descriptive results in the SERPs and then entering a site that truly meets their expectations will make users more receptive to the conversion from visitor to customer.

For the user

The stated reason for existence for the search engines is to assist the users in finding results relevant to their queries. Each success in that endeavor provides a higher quality user experience.

The users wish to find what they’re seeking with as little effort as possible, and each success in that endeavor also supports a higher quality user experience.

For the ROI

As webmasters and site owners, it is to our advantage to also contribute to the quality of the user experience, in every way we can. In turn, we get more targeted traffic, a higher click-through rate, and a greater return on our investment.

Now is the time to bring your web site up to speed by implementing RDFa technology. Make 2011 your banner year, as you simultaneously surge ahead of your competition and increase your profits.

Upgrade your web site now, to take advantage of RDFa rich snippets and Linked Data and become an integral part of the new Semantic Web. You can make your site a leader, rather than a follower.…

Lucille Wood
gravatar
hovercards
August 29, 2021
0 Comments

What Are Gravatar Hovercards?

The word ‘gravatar’ stands for ‘globally recognized avatar’. Social media users have been using them since programs became available to create them.
Gravatars are graphic representations of you or your brand that are displayed next to all your comments, forum posts and Tweets (Twitter messages).They can be comic characters, photos or logos. Other users begin to recognize your posts from the gravatar and potentially increase your following.
Using gravatars can add to your personal branding since your gravatar represents you!
WordPress has recently had an upgrade and added a new feature to the user profile functionality. You can now add more information to your profile and it can be made public using hover technology.
What is Hover technology?
‘Hover’ and ‘mouse hover’ are synonymous terms. Have you ever noticed when you move your mouse over a link or graphic that it can trigger a response? It might produce a popup window or indicate the text your cursor is on is a hyperlink. When text has been hyperlinked and is clicked on it can take you to another page or website. This technique is referred to as hover technology.
The Gravatar Hovercard feature is now set as default across WordPress blogs. You can disable it if you don’t want your profile information made public. Remember, you are in control of what information is placed on your profile and this determines what is on your hovercard.
When you enable Gravatar Hovercards, the public can hover over your gravatar and your personal information that you entered into your profile will be displayed. Things like your name, short bio, photos and contact information can be seen at social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Gravatar Hovercards Pros
AÃ¯Â¿Â½ The primary benefit of Gravatar Hovercards is to promote and extend the community feeling. The hovercards allow the viewer to learn more about you, depending on the information you enter in your profile.
AÃ¯Â¿Â½ Soon this information will be displayed in languages other than English which adds to the ‘user friendly’ part of it.
AÃ¯Â¿Â½ Ease of use. This feature is already set up as a default function.
AÃ¯Â¿Â½ See and learn about the others who are commenting on your blog. It can also help you fine tune your blog or website even further by learning more about your readers.
Gravatar Hovercards are another fun tool to use to share fun and interesting facts about you or your business while posting comments on the Internet.…