Planning on buying an iPod anytime soon? How about a Mac? Why not save yourself some cash, and purchase your Apple products from the Apple store at Ebates? When you shop through Ebates, you’ll be eligible to earn cash back on EVERY purchase. Membership is free, too! In addition to the cash back offers on every purchase (which range from 1% cash back to 25% cash back), you’ll find specials and coupon codes, and they’ve got 79 stores that offer computer products, 36 for DVDs & videos, and 114 specializing in electronics. Truly, a geek’s dream - well, at least this geek. I always enjoy saving money on my new toys!

Laura told me about a nifty little plugin I could use to show the people who have commented the most on my site. I installed it on tonight on another blog, and even figured out how to excluse myself from the results after poking around the code a bit. Yay me! You can see it in action in my left sidebar on my main blog.

If you want to promote your blog, here’s a great new option that doesn’t cost a dime: Fuel My Blog. Just pick a square, and add your blog to the big wall o’ blogs. It’ll only take a few minutes, and like I said - F R E E! It’s a great way to find other blogs you’ll enjoy as well. I’ve had fun looking over the grid and trying to pick out the pictures of friends. As for me, I’m easy to spot - look for the big pink spot

If you’re a business owner in the New York area, and you want a lawyer to represent your company - who would you pick? Would you choose a name at random out of the yellow pages? Or would you follow in the footsteps of companies like Coca-Cola, Bes Buy, Staples, Circuit City, and General Motors? They’ve hired Simmons Jannace & Stagg to represent their companies - and you can do. The litigation firm focuses on general and commercial litigation, and just because they service the big boys, doesn’t mean they can’t do a hell of a job for your business too.

Technorati Tags: legal, lawyer, litigation

I don’t get a choice of operating system on my laptop, since it was provided to me by my company, so I will not be one of the first users to give the new Windows Vista a whirl. And honestly, I’m not sure how many people will switch right away, given the bugs and issues with every new Microsoft release. After 5 yeas and over $5 million dollars to get Vista ready, you’d think it would be bug free, but this IS Microsoft we’re talking about after all.

One reason a lot of people won’t make the switch? Vista requires at least an 800 Mhz chip, 20 GB of free disk space, 512 mb of system ram, and 128 mb of video ram. Unless you’ve got a reasonably new PC or laptop, you probably can’t use Vista. One more reason? The average at home PC user isn’t going to shell out $100 for a new o/s when Windows is working just fine for them.

Technorati Tags: Windows, Vista, Microsoft, operating system, o/s

Do you send text messages? I’ve sent a few in the past, but I’d rather just pick up the phone and talk to someone if I need to reach them. I’m just old enough (30) that I can’t pick up “texting” and my thumb coordination stinks. One day I was texting with Sindy and I was amazed at how quickly she was texting back to me, and how long her messages were. Turns out, it was her 15 year old, doing the texting for you.

No matter how you feel about texting, it’s here to stay. Especially now that a book has been written completely in the text message format. The Last Messages has been published in Finland, and it tells the story of an IT executive…in nothing but text messages.

Personally, I don’t think I could stand to read a book like that. It was hard enough for me to read “The Color Purple”, which is a classic written by Alice Walker in the vernacular of a poor black sharecropper in the early 1900’s. It took me a few chapters to get used to the spelling and grammar. Likewise, I think that a book about text messaging, filled with “g2g” and “brb” would drive me nuts.

Technorati Tags: text message, text messaging, The Lost Messages

I’ve always had a great sense of direction. When we took family vacations, my father would pass the map back to me and let me navigate, because my mother could get lost in an elevator. Seriously! I guess I get that sense of direction from my father…because it sure didn’t come from mom. In fact, she’d probably really enjoy having an automotive GPS in her car. She doesn’t get lost around town, but she could put it to work when she steps out of her comfort zone. A GPS uses satellites to receive signals - that combined with thousands of maps lets you know where you are, and how to get where you’re going. (Ooh, big brother is watching you!)

Technorati Tags: GPS, satellite, automotive GPS, TomTom

If you’re in the market for a new laptop, Marcus wrote about the best laptop deals out there this week on Techboyardee.com. Not only did he compare apples to apples, specs to specs, but he provided prices from online stores, like Tiger Direct, and traditional brick and mortar retailers like Best Buy.

If you can wait til the end of the year, that’s probably the best time to find a deal. We bought our kids a laptop a few years ago and paid under $400 for it with rebates, and got a free Epson printer and scanner too!

Technorati Tags: laptop, notebook, computer, PC, Tiger Direct, Best Buy

After hearing people talk about feed readers for months, I finally listened and started using the Google Reader. It’s been about a week now, and of course, I’m kicking myself for not using it sooner! No more visiting my favorite blogs in hopes that they’ve updated, because the Google Reader lets me know when all my favorites blog again.

It’s really easy to start with, you just drop in blog URL’s and you’re off and running - it’s connected to your Google account so I didn’t even need to create a user name.

Technorati Tags: Google, feed, feed reader, Google reader, blog feeds, blog

It’s not too early to plan ahead for Valentine’s Day - tear yourself away from World of Warcraft, shop now and avoid the rush! You don’t want to be at the store on February 13th looking over a selection of picked over cards, and sad looking candy. Do the right thing and splurge on gourmet Valentines Day Gift Baskets for the ones that you love! You’ll be sure to impress someone sweet when you present them with a basket of fruits, wines, chocolates, or cheese. Or personalize your own basket to really make a statement! Trust me - most women go nuts for this kind of thing. We may SAY we don’t care, but really - we do care! (Maybe throw in a thumb drive or a new card for the digital camera too - I’d like something like that!)

Are you creative? Ever thought of a saying so funny, you wanted to wear it across your chest? I just came across a contest that gives you the chance to design your own custom t-shirt. I’ve made t-shirts in the past - in fact, I drew the logo for the Momslife.com t-shirts when I owned the website. I still have a few of those t-shirts that I wear as jammies. Berda is a custom t-shirt company that thought it would be fun to have a contest to get people creative about designing t-shirts. You can win a free custom printed t-shirt if you’re design is picked, so let those creative juices flow and give it a shot. As for me, I’ve been thinking about designing a shirt about scoliosis, which I have a mild case of. Something along the lines of “I make this S-curve look S-E-X-Y” or “Rockin’ scoliosis since 1976″. Whadya think?

Here’s a great list put together by CNN, featuring their take on the 101 dumbest business mistakes of 2006.

Wal-Mart makes the list several times, from their Candidate Wal-Mart campaign (the grand prize winner on the list) to former Wal-Mart vice chairman Thomas Coughlin, who stole half a million dollars from the company. Other notable dumb mistakes include Greyhound dumping poo, as well as stripper poles & tattoo toys aimed at kids.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll wonder how these companies stay in business.

(Thanks to More Than Pocket Change for drawing our attention to the list)

Let’s talk about marketing for a minute - and I mean the bare bones type of marketing, that involves NO cash, just a lot of networking and work on your part. Not everyone has the cash to hire a PR firm, or paid bloggers, to spread the news about their site or blog. I certainly don’t, but I also want to increase the popularity of my site and increase my pagerank.

So how do you market your site on a non existent budget? First, networking is KEY. I’ve developed a lot of relationships online, and most of those people would be happy to promote my site for me, without anything in return. They know that I’ll certainly return the favor. Of course, you can’t start off with that strategy - you need to give a little love and prove yourself. By being willing to give to others (be it a link, an entry about their site, blog, or product), I can reap those same benefits back when I need them. Granted, it does take time to build this type of relationship - some of the bloggers I know best, are people that I’ve known since long before I started blogging. Others are people I’ve met in the last few months. And of course, using this method of self promotion is completely free.

Another tool I use is Technorati tags - I’ve written about those a bit in the past. Actually, using tags ties back into my first point about networking. I regularly click on the tags in my posts and see who else is blogging about the same topics, and then visit those sites and comment. It increases traffic here, because I’ve found that at the very least, the blog owner will visit my site to learn more about me.

To learn about other methods of marketing, including affliate marketing, take a look at www.JohnTanBlog.com - John is from Singapore and his blog has tips on blogging, traffic, and other topics for bloggers.

I’m in a contest, and I need your help! RealRock 101 (WJRR-FM) is sponsoring a contest with PayPerPost, where we were invited to share our most outrageous, exciting, or embarrassing concert experience! Watch my video and see what you think of our story about a VERY embarrassing incident at a Jimmy Buffett concert in Tampa.

The 3 videos with the highest # of views on YouTube will go to a finals round on the RealRock 101 website, and they’ll be voted on there.

Here we go - have a laugh on us!

I’m a girl geek, and proud of it! And sometimes, I want the world to know. What better way than to plaster a cute saying across my chest? I found this shirt online tonight at ThinkGeek - it combines 2 of my great loves:

1) The Wizard of Oz - for those of you not “with” classic movies, you’re missing out. What girl wouldn’t want to defeat a witch AND get a great pair of shoes out of the deal? I’ve been watching this movie since I was a little girl geek in the making.

2) A confusing saying that most of the general public won’t get. I love messing with peoples heads!

Technorati Tags: ThinkGeek, geek gifts, geek t-shirt, Wizard of Oz, ruby slippers

This morning, my friend Julie told me that DMOZ.org was accepting submissions for new sites again. If you’re a webmaster, blogger, store owner, or anyone with a domain to his name, you need to head over to DMOZ now and submit your site.

DMOZ (aka the Open Directory Project) provides directory results to Lycos, HotBot, Netscape, AOL Search, etc. If you can’t get your site indexed by those sites, you’ll get in through the back door when you’re listed in DMOZ. You’ll need to take a few minutes and look over the DMOZ directory to get an understanding of where your site should be placed - this isn’t a simple submission and spider type deal - you’ll pick a section of the directory that best applies to your site, and they have extremely specific areas.

This site has a great list of DMOZ rules that explain how to submit your site, and what NOT to do - give it a read before you do anything. Hopefully, I’ve done everything correctly, and all of my sites will be accepted!

Technorati Tags: SEO, DMOZ, search engine submission, Lycos, AOLSearch, HotBot, Netscape, directory

I played Sims on my PC 5 years or so ago. After a while, I got bored with it, and moved on. Last year, my kids found the installation disk and started playing The Sims on their own laptop. Because of that, they asked for it on Playstation, so we paid $40 for some overpriced Sims and Sims Pets games. I’ve played a few times with my daughters and I found it to be as boring as the PC game I played years ago, but this new edition of The Sims has me interested.

In the new version, you’ll be able to follow a storyline, which is much more interesting to me than just eating, sleeping, and swimming naked in your Sim pool. You’ll run through 12 chapters of a set story line, and the game will retail for $40 (still overpriced, in my opinion).

You know what I’d like to see? A game like Grand Theft Auto aimed at women - missions could include managing a career, cooking a well balanced meal the kids will eat, and being in a cat fight when things go wrong at a PTA meeting. I’d totally play a game like that.

Technorati Tags: Maxis, The Sims, Sims, Grand Theft Auto, GTA, PC games, laptop games, Playstation

I have a little addiction problem. I’ve tried to quit, but I just can’t stop. My vice? Fonts. I could spend HOURS looking for the perfect font for a website, and then even more time choosing just the right color or size for a header or graphic. I was really happy to find UrbanFonts, because they’re not JUST a font site. They carry over 8,000 completely free fonts, without annoying ads. You’ll be able to see a huge preview on fonts and dingbats before you download one. They’ve got tags to help you find the top fonts too.

You can search by catergory also - from 3D to Adventure to Gothic to Western - the collection is simply amazing, and a must visit for anyone with a little font addiction like me. Don’t blame me if you want to redesign your blog after visiting this site - you’re sure to be inspired!

Within minutes of blogging about my frustration with Technorati, and resubmitting my support request, I received an email from Jose Cardenas over at Technorati support:

We’ve been experiencing a backlog in support and are working hard to address everyone. I’ve taken a look to see why you are unable to claim your blog “http://www.simplekindoflife.com”. It seems your blog was marked for review.

And it finally works - YAY!

Technorati Tags: Technorati

How long does it take the guys at Technorati to answer their support emails? I’ve been waiting for over a MONTH now, for them to assist me with my blog claiming troubles. Ree-dick-u-less.

Guys, I realize you’re offering a free service, but this sucks.