PSA Station
Business, Marketing, and New Technology
New TV
Oct 17th
Contribution by Saul Martin
I have been dying to get one of those new LCD televisions. I would really like to get a 60-inch screen for our basement, which my wife has graciously allowed me to turn into my “man cave”. However, my wife said that she had to draw the line somewhere, and she said we could not get the new television until I had figured out how we could save money elsewhere. After all, our utility bills had almost doubled since we moved into a bigger house two years ago. Luckily I had just had a conversation with a buddy of mine about how he saved money on his power bill by going to shopelectricityratestexas.com. I told my wife about it and she agreed that it would save enough money for me to get the new television. I have big plans for the television with football season coming up. I hope to have my entire fantasy football league over to watch a few games on the big screen. My wife may regret letting me get the TV, but I’ll gladly let her watch it during the week.
Camera Philosophy
Oct 17th
Are you planning a vacation? Maybe just a short visit to a friend? Or perhaps you just like to have fun. Anytime you find yourself doing something out of the ordinary is the time to grab your camera! Now, I have always had just a tiny bit of a different philosophy when it comes to picture taking. Most of my family and friends will line everyone up in a row and say, “smile!” But then you end up with an album of lots of people standing in rows.
I much prefer to take out my camera periodically, and just take a picture of “what everyone is doing right now”. Then you end up with a historical snapshot of the event. At Thanksgiving, I always catch at least one person asleep on the sofa after the big meal. Or someone reading in a corner. Or the kids making a card house on the carpet. These sorts of pictures are so much more interesting to look back on, than one-face, two-faces, three-faces, all in a row. Of course, you do have to have the obligatory line up, but that’s ok, as long as there is some reference to what else they might have been doing that day.
Recently, my camera has been giving me a bit of trouble. Fortunately, though, one of my sons noticed, and I’m pretty sure he made note. Ah, Christmas is coming! Perhaps I’ll get a new camera!
Great Android Cell Phone and Carrier
Oct 15th
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Still looking for a new cell phone company, and so far, one company that is high on the list is Straight Talk. They have android phones and service for them at $45 / mo. I like the android, as it is the most popular, and fastest growing platform. That means that there will be all kinds of new apps that can be downloaded, with more coming all the time. I intend to have my own personal app someday!
The Straight Talk plan has unlimited talk, text, and data, so it’s a great deal at only $45/mo. Talk about saving some money! My last plan had half that many features and it cost well over $100! You know that feeling of being rich because you just saved yourself a bundle of money? Like those car mechanics who suddenly have the urge to carry around toy dogs? I found their video, if you’d like to watch it.
The getting richer effect has expanded… by LittleBard95
There are so many new apps and games available, there’s just not enough time in the day to do it all. And every day, the technology is moving faster and faster; it’s like living in a science fiction movie, isn’t it? With the newest smart phone, you can feel The power of Android not to mention how much you can Feel Richer with Android .
Looking For A New Mobile Phone Service
Oct 14th
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Net10 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
I just got off the phone with a friend of mine. Again. I say again, because her phone kept dropping the call. Every time we talk, I have to wait for her to call back at least 3 times. She swears she’s going to get a new phone soon, and I can’t wait.
Since she’s been on the search for a new phone and service, we’ve been looking around a bit, and talking about what might be the most economical thing to do. I’ll share some of our findings with you!
One company of real interest is Net 10. I have relatively few needs in a phone, or at least I thought I did, until I got caught up in the app craze. Now, I need a smart phone at the least that can connect to the internet, without costing me an arm and a leg. Net 10 has a really good deal- unlimited nationwide coverage with unlimited talk, text, and data for a flat $50 a month. One thing I like about them is that they have no contract, so you’re not on the hook for hundreds if you need to cancel. They use great quality phones like LG, Motorola, Kyocera, Nokia and Samsung.
Of course they have other plans for different needs if you don’t want the unlimited one, and you can easily switch between plans each month if your needs change. Very flexible- that’s a good thing. You should check them out on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/NET10…
I was impressed when Vick talked about how his phone service doesn’t get dropped any more, even in the mountains- here he is:
or you can listen to What Rob has to say . Then there’s Hector, he’s a Real NET10 customer too.
Photos at Home
Oct 11th
Years ago, when my kids were younger, and changing so fast you just couldn’t keep up with them, I was into taking lots and lots of photos. With 4 kids, 4 birthdays, 4 school plays, 4 band concerts, 4 scout activities (every month!) there was ALWAYS something to take a picture of. That’s not even counting the holidays. And we did love to party! We had an exchange student come over from Sweden one year, and by Christmas, he’d made the comment that he’d never known anyone who liked to have so many parties for so many reasons. 
He probably thinks all of America is the partying-est place ever!
Anyway, I took lots of pictures, and often wanted to have them asap. So I bought a photo printer. It’s an HP PhotoSmart, and it’s still chugging along nearly a decade later. I love my photo printer. I do not especially like having to buy the photo ink, but I guess that just comes with the territory. I also have to buy photo paper. Now, there are many many different kinds of photo papers available. Did you know you can get glossy, matte, satin, semi-gloss, glossy, premium high gloss, and professional high gloss, just to name a few! You can even get glow-in-the-dark paper- wow! Well, I only know of one place to get that, and it’s where I get all my other inkjet photo paper, at http://www.geographics.com.
Glow in the dark pictures, what will they think of next?
Keeping it all safe
Oct 11th
A few days ago, we had a really bad storm come through- lightning, and thunder and horrific down-pouring of rain, and more rain. The electricity here at my house is sometimes iffy, and sometimes for no reason at all we’ll have a brown-out. So, with this kind of electrical chaos thundering all around, I was reasonably worried about my electronics. I realized that the buffer that had caught the last lightening strike had blown itself up, and I had never replaced it. Since all my data had not been backed up in, well, an embarrassingly long while, I realized that I had been quite remiss in this area, and vowed to get it all backed up at the first opportunity.
Thank goodness, my data made it through the night, and I set about looking for a safe harbor for a backup of my data. I checked on extra hard drives, and storage systems, and automatic systems, and got advice from friends. Seems like there are lots of ways to back up your data, some easy, and some a bit more difficult. One of the best solutions, I think is online storage. Not only is it secure, but it is accessible from anywhere you are, like from your iphone while you’re vacationing in the Bahamas, and want to check just one last time on that report you just sent your boss. (OK now, cut that out, you’re vacationing, remember?) Anyway, with online backup storage, you can upload any kind of file, and just leave it there for safekeeping, or access it again whenever and wherever you want. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Maintenance Management Software
Sep 27th
Ok, this post is for all you guys who have large businesses, with lots of employees, and assets of all kinds. This won’t be of much interest to the smaller Mom & Pop businesses out there.
I became more aware of the need for all kinds of maintenance, because a relative of mine works at a very large university, and is responsible for the physical plant. Well, that means everything physical about the place- the buildings, the chairs, the tables, the school vehicles, the computers, everything. Can you imagine how difficult it is to More >
Quick Turn PCB Anyone?
Sep 9th
Now this is for you really geeky folks out there. I’ve run across a good company that makes high quality and low cost PCBs. (For the rest of us, that mean “printed circuit board“. We all use them, but usually we don’t know we are, and that’s OK. I do not need to be an electrician to know that if I flip the switch, my lights come on.)
Anyway, if, indeed, you are looking for prototype PCB, or you need a pilot run with fast lead-time, you might want to check out More >
Sunshifter Clothing and Fingernails
Sep 9th
Ok, high tech fans, perhaps you knew about the clothing that changes color when the sun hits it? These have been around for 25 years or so. I know this for sure because my kids had some when they were small, and they are not small anymore! I’m wondering why this sort of high tech textile has not been more widespread than it is. I have heard of fabric that is “wired” in such a way, that you can actually have dynamic color changes, and it’s programmable.
For instance, you could have a series of colors change, More >
Does Your Business Need An Advertising Boost?
Sep 3rd
Let’s face it. Times are rough. Everywhere you look businesses are struggling. Unfortunately many businesses don’t seem to understand that when their income is off, THAT is the time to spend more on advertising, so that more income comes in. Not only that, but if your business is the one that is keeping it’s name out in front of the people, while your competitors slack off, then when those same customers do decide to buy, it is your name they will remember because of the recent advertising. You win.
Of course, you don’t want to be just throwing your advertising dollars out the window. You need to More >