tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360033092024-03-06T23:59:49.446-08:00Infopowered - A Men's LifeStyle and Tech Info Driven Blog To Empower The NetizensAn unique blog dealing with Internet Technology and Men's Lifestyle.Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.comBlogger164125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-36513992418502308222012-03-22T06:33:00.002-07:002012-03-22T06:36:10.378-07:00Never Tell a Women these 10 Things<img src="http://www.menslifetoday.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/in/archive/feature/never_say_to_woman/images/large.png" width="150" height="150" alt="10 Things to You Should Never, Ever Say to a Woman"/><p>There are few guarantees in life, but this much we can say with certainty: The sun rises in the east, death comes to us all and you will, at one time or another, suddenly find yourself in the midst of a blazing fight with your girlfriend without even realizing it.</p><br />
<p>Many of us have been there. One minute you’re having a conversation, maybe a minor argument, but that’s OK, it’s all under control. Then you say something -- a word or passing comment, something relatively harmless, or so you think -- and it sets her off. As soon as it leaves your lips, the air changes and there’s no easy way back. </p><br />
<p>There are some things men should never say to their women -- conversational land mines that appear insignificant on the face of it, but are anything but. The good news is that we know, for the most part, what they are. Many men have suffered before you. It would be wise to heed their counsel.</p><br />
<p><strong>1. “Are you really going to eat all that?”</strong></p><br />
<p>Your girlfriend is, by definition, as light as a feather and nimble as a dancer. To so much as whisper a hint of the notion that she might be, you know, <em>otherwise</em>, is to risk paying a price as heavy as you suspect her to be. In fact, avoid the topic of food altogether if you can. Eating is an emotional, often obsessive business for women, and occasionally an actual disorder. It’s tied up with their identity, their self-image, their fantasies… So the answer is, yes, she's really going to eat all that. All that dancing must have given her an appetite. </p><br />
<p><strong>2. “B*tch”</strong></p><br />
<p>The B word is like the N word: Unless you’ve been appropriately oppressed, you don’t get to use it. You might be able to pull off an ironic Snoop Dogg-style “beeeyatch,” so long as you’re smiling as you say it. But to say “b*tch” with any kind of intent is to pull the pin out of a grenade.</p><br />
<p><strong>3. “My ex used to…”</strong></p><br />
<p>Anything you say with the words “my ex” in it will be held against you in a court of law, as well it should. Of course it’s natural to compare your girlfriends, but keep it to yourself. There are inside thoughts and outside thoughts. This belongs firmly to the former category.</p><br />
<p><strong>4. “You always do that.”</strong></p><br />
<p>One sure way to escalate a minor tiff into a nuclear showdown is to use words like “never” and “always”. They’re too sweeping to be true, so you’ll not only upset her, you’ll give her the opportunity to prove you wrong and seize the higher ground. And it tends to drag every other argument you’ve had into your present one, which is like rehashing all the worst parts of your relationship all at once.</p><br />
<p><strong>5. “You sound just like your mother.”</strong></p><br />
<p>Don’t compare her to her mother. Or her sister, for that matter. You don’t know those people like she does, and you don’t know the full complexity of their relationships. And anyway, everyone wants an independent identity, separate and distinct from their family members.</p><br />
<p><strong>6. “Yeah, she’s hot.”</strong></p><br />
<p>Chances are she lured you in with an innocent question, like, “Do you think she’s cute?”, shrugging her shoulders like it wouldn't matter either way. But don’t be fooled. You must lie quickly and reflexively. Whether it’s a girl in a magazine, a Facebook friend, a waitress -- whoever -- the answer is always no. In fact, you win extra points for casually finding fault in her the closer you look. Watch your girlfriend light up as you say, “Is it me, or is her nose a bit weird?”</p><br />
<p>7<strong>. “What’s up with your hair?”</strong></p><br />
<p>Her hair looks great and it suits her perfectly. She’s allowed to have a bad hair day, but you’re not allowed to notice. For girls, hair isn’t just hair.</p><br />
<p><strong>8. “Relax.”</strong></p><br />
<p>The thing about “relax” is it dramatically reduces the chances of her relaxing. The same goes for “chill” and “calm down.” Here’s an alternative: “I can see how you would feel that way.” It takes a Zen master to actually use it in the heat of combat, but it's there if you need it.</p><!-- SPONSOR UNIT BEGINS --><br />
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<p><strong>9. “Is this your time of the month?”</strong></p><br />
<p>Even if it is, you’re not to mention it. Your role is to pretend that her menstrual cycle has no effect on her tendency to shriek and stamp and then burst into tears for no reason whatsoever. In this matter, you must occupy the high ground and show pity -- indulge her delusion that she is not in fact deranged by hormones and that she’s making a valid point. The moment will pass.</p><br />
<p><strong>10. “I love you.”</strong></p><br />
<p>I know what you’re thinking. This is supposed to be the magic pill, the cure-all, the instant fix. But the thing about the L word is that it sends women into a heightened sense of awareness. As soon as they hear it, they can tell whether you mean it or not. Misuse the force and it may destroy you. Or as the saying goes, if you play with fire, you might get slapped in the middle of a restaurant.</p><p class="ByLine"><strong>Sanjiv Bhattacharya</strong> <em>a frequent contributor to <a href="http://menslifetoday.com/in" target="_blank">Men's Life Today</a>, writes for Esquire (UK) and is the author of <a href="http://sanjivb.com/_site/book.php" target="_blank">Secrets & Wives</a>: The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy. He blogs at <a href="http://sanjivb.com/" target="_blank">sanjivb.com</a>.</em></p><script src="http://js.revsci.net/gateway/gw.js?csid=F09828&auto=t"></script><br />
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Content provided by our Content Partner: <a href="http://www.menslifetoday.com/in">Men's Life Today</a>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-48267678164028413932012-03-22T06:14:00.004-07:002012-03-22T06:36:41.285-07:00How to be a Bollywood Actor<img alt="How to Get into Bollywood" height="150" src="http://www.menslifetoday.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/in/archive/feature/Bollywood_Career/images/large.jpg" width="150" /> So you haven’t been born a Kapoor, Khan or Sippy, but you still want to get into Bollywood? If you're determined of being in the movie you're watching, don’t give up on your cinematic dreams. While there’s no guaranteed method for making it big in Bollywood, talent, persistence, connections, and a very thick skin usually pay off.<br />
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“Have patience and believe in yourself. If you are talented and true to your work, you will get that big break,” says actor Rajat Barmecha, who made his Bollywood debut with the 2010 sleeper hit <i>Udaan</i>. He joins a panel of outsiders-turned-Bollywood successes who share their advice about getting your name rolling in the credits - whether it’s as an actor, director, choreographer, dancer, or in any one of those critical behind-the-scenes jobs.<br />
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<b>Ignore the naysayers. </b>When 22-year-old Rajat Barmecha signed on for <i>Udaan</i>, he had only a few modelling assignments under his belt. He had no <i>filmi</i> background, no ‘godfather’ in the industry, no training, no manager, and his first audition for the role was not a success. While everybody agrees there’s no formula to get into Bollywood, you would think it would be hard to do without at least one of the above. But Barmecha did, and is now a successful <i>and</i> critically acclaimed actor.<br />
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Others have blazed their own trails as well<b>. </b>Vishal Bhardwaj composed music before he became a Bollywood director with <i>Makdee</i>; Kunal Kohli was a film critic pre-<i>Mujhse Dosti Karoge</i>, and Madhur Bhandarkar worked in a video library… and that’s just a small range of the jobs people did before becoming directors.<br />
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<b>Learn from auditions and meet the right people. </b>It’s easy learning even if you haven’t got your big breakthrough as an actor. “There is no shortcut to success, but do as many auditions as you can - they were my biggest learning process,” Barmecha says.<br />
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Barmecha also believes that acting or other film schools aren't necessarily the right way to get into the business, but it's much more important to network and make the right connections. Beyond that, his advice is to work hard, stay focused, not get jealous of others’ success, and to stay grounded.<br />
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<b>Training is good… </b>Film school is obviously not a requirement to becoming a director, but it’s the one recommendation director Prakash Jha makes. “Get some formal training,” he says, suggesting institutes such as Film and Television Institute of India or Whistling Woods. The training doesn’t have to be in directing. Any film-related field – editing, cinematography, critiquing – that gives you an introduction and some practical instruction will do.<br />
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<b>But experience is better. </b>Training on the job is what will actually teach you the nitty-gritty of being a director. To become the man calling the shots, the most valuable learning role is that of an assistant director. It’s the job that forms the basis of most of Bollywood’s current crop of successful directors - because it gave them hands-on experience in the craft.<br />
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<b>Explore the options. </b>Being an actor or director might be the big Bollywood aspiration, but a movie requires any number of crew members – editors, storywriters, lyricists, cinematographers, set designers, costume designers, sound recorder - jobs with a higher rate of success in breaching Bollywood’s barriers.<br />
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One of the most desirable jobs in Indian movies is, obviously, dance and choreography. To get a break as a dancer, choreographer Ganesh Hegde advises circulating a demo of your work. Put together a demo tape with different sequences that showcase the breadth of your talent. If you want to be a choreographer, first assist a good Bollywood choreographer. “It’s the only way to understand camera angles and stage sets,” says Hegde.<br />
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<b>Perfect your craft and be open to everything. </b>To get a break as a dancer, Hegde says you should send around a demo tape to bag an audition. Once you are picked to be part of a troupe, you will spend at least three months training learning that choreographer’s style. “Being a dancer is simple,” says Hegde. “Stay updated with all the different forms of dancing – right now it’s western – be the best at your job, stay disciplined about weight, look, grooming, and you’ll come to the front row.”<br />
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Perfecting your skills is crucial, because you have to be good at what you do. “Bollywood is a lot of hard work,” says set designer Sugandha Leekha, who bagged her first job in set design over a conversation with friends. “It’s not glamorous, it’s crazy. To be part of it you have to be really passionate about what you do. You can’t have set notions about what you will do and what is beneath you - you have to be open to anything and everything.”<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Photo: Getty Images</i></span><br />
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<div class="ByLine"><b>Nishat Fatima </b> <i><i>is a freelance writer and photographer. She has contributed to</i> Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan <i>and</i> Khaleej Times <i>and is currently working on her first book. </i></i></div><b><br />
Content provided by our content Partner: <a href="http://www.menslifetoday.com/in">Men's Life Today</a></b><br />
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</script>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-3618229789967812862011-06-12T11:28:00.000-07:002011-06-12T11:51:54.012-07:00Latest Tech Gadgets...Straight from the Movie Screen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>By Joe Neumaier for</i><i> our Content Partner: Style + Tech for Men<a href="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/"></a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="New Gadgets Straight From the Big Screen " height="150" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/archive/2010-12-13/feature/big_screen_gadgets/images/large.jpg" width="180" /><br />
True story: I once thought I could order a portable hovercraft from the back of a Marvel comic for $10.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
This was in the mid-1970s, when I was 8, and such things seemed within the realm of possibility. I remember the issue (“Spider-Man Meets Daredevil”), the black-and-white ad (right under the equally respectable one for X-ray Specs) and the fact that the hovercraft looked about the size of a bathtub.<br />
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I also recall my mother’s exasperation when I pleaded with her to order it for me. “If they were <i>really</i> selling a hovercraft that could fly,” she said, “do you think you could get it from a comic book for $10?”<br />
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Since I haven’t seen many hovercrafts on the open highway, I guess mom was right … and I’ve even begun to suspect that the X-ray specs were a scam, too.<br />
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Comic books may not have carried me into my future fantasies, but movies and TV have more than followed through on their pop-culture promise. In fact, from wireless communicators to personal satellite tracking, the super-tech stuff we saw on the big and small screens are now largely a part of our everyday lives. <br />
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Here’s a run-down of just a few that have gone from outrageous to obvious, and from “No way!” to everyday.<b><br />
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Big Screen Gadget: 007’s Aston Martin Db5 Dashboard Map, <i>Goldfinger</i> (1964)</b><br />
Any list of movie gizmos has to include the spy-daddy of them all. For simple “it-was-wild-then, we-got-it-now” nostalgia, the car-tracking system included in 007’s Aston Martin DB5 in <i>Goldfinger</i> is still the one that seems most on the money. The tracking device that Bond uses to follow the baddie around the Swiss Alps is shown as a dashboard map -- much like the one you used to get to your girlfriend’s parents’ house for the first time. You decide which is scarier.<b><br />
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Real Gadget:</b> <b>GPS Systems</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Today’s GPS systems offer text-or-speech guidance, 3-D mapping perspectives and multi-destination routing. These days, a digital dame with all the answers in your dashboard is pretty much a standard option. No word yet on when we’ll get our licenses to kill.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Available at </i><cite>TheGpsStore.com<br />
</cite><b>Big Screen Gadget: </b><b>The Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst (ARIA),</b><b><i> Eagle Eye</i></b><b> (2008) </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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Tasked with world-wide surveillance in the eye-in-the-sky government thriller, this super-computer tracked Shia LaBeouf’s every move. Remember? Well, start watching your back.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Real Gadget:</b> <b>Phone Tracker Spy Gadget App</b><br />
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<img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_phone_tracxker_app.jpg" /><br />
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Now <i>you</i> can be tracked the same way by suspicious bosses, ex-girlfriends or the folks at NetFlix who want their copy of <i>Showgirls</i> back. Just enter any phone number and the app scans the globe to pinpoint that phone’s location, complete with graphics that zero in on the target on a mini map. Sadly, you won’t hear the ’60s hit “Secret Agent Man” as you use it -- music isn’t part of the package, despite the app being available on iTunes. But hey, for a 99-cent download, you can just hum it.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Available at Dealnay.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Big Screen Gadget: Videophone, <i>Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan </i>(1982) </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_star_trek.jpg" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hey Captain Obvious! Forget about <i>Star Trek</i> laying down the matrix for cell phones -- we’re locking our pop-culture tractor beam on the stylish videophones that provided crucial plot points in 1982’s prescient <i>Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan</i>.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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Real Gadget:</b> <b>Skype Online Services and iPhone’s FaceTime</b> <br />
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Get <i>Star Trek</i>-worthy service with Skype (sadly without the Shatner shtick and shag carpeting) or the soon-to-materialize FaceTime video calling feature, which will be available for the fourth-generation of the iPhone. This could be an upgrade from the jumpy two-second delay that Skype can’t seem to shake. Catch up with us for a little face time when you join the 21st Century.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Available on Skype.com and A</i><i>pple.com/iPhone</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Big Screen Gadget: Wristwatch Videophone, <i>Dick Tracy</i> (1990)</b><br />
In Warren Beatty’s comic-book flick <i>Dick Tracy</i>, the Depression-era private eye faced down Clayface, Flattop and a frighteningly eyebrow-less Madonna using an unthinkable assortment of crime-fighting gadgets. Among the most famous -- and least believable to 1930s comic-book fans -- was his wristwatch videophone.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Real Gadget: Touch-screen Cell Phone Wristwatch</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hold it right there, Johnny Luddite! The Touch-screen Cell Phone Wristwatch is now armed and dangerous! As Tracy would say, here’s the keen low-down: The whole shebang’s a jacked-up timepiece that lets you make calls and even watch movies on a 1.3-inch screen with 176 x 128 pixel resolution. It also features MP3 files and a built-in speakerphone, so you don’t have to hold your wrist up to your mouth. Higher-end models have a camera, a Flash interface and quad-band network capabilities. Prices fall anywhere between $75 for a basic model and $300 to $800 for a higher-end model.<br />
<i>LightInTheBox.com</i><br />
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<b>Big Screen Gadget: Mini Rocket-launching Pen, <i>Never Say Never Again </i>(1983); Sodium Pentothal-fueled Ballpoint, <i>Stormbreake</i><i>r </i>(2006)</b><br />
<b><i>Then:</i></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Every big-screen secret agent from Bond to Bourne has made his mark in spy-flick history with some variation on the multipurpose pen. The pen has often been mightier than the sword -- and a lot easier to fit into your pocket.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Real Gadget: Spy Pen</b><br />
<img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_pen_camera.jpg" /><br />
The already-on-the-market Spy Pen -- priced at $100 -- offers up to three hours of video-recording time via a pinhole camera that’s located near the back of the pen. You can also store 32 hours of footage on 8 GB of memory. You can then download it all to your computer via a USB cable and instantly watch videos of your housekeeper stealing thirty winks thanks to the 1.3 megapixel camera with a 1280 x 960 resolution. And, yes, you <i>can</i> use it to write. Here’s a piece of advice before you decide that this device can solve all your problems: Crossword puzzles are still best done in pencil.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>DynaSpy.com</i><b><br />
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Big Screen Gadget:</b> <b>Manual Telephone-voice Changer, </b><b><i>Hopscotch</i></b><b> (1980)</b><br />
In the Reagan-era comedy gem, Walter Matthau plays a retired-but-disgruntled CIA agent -- which is really the most dangerous kind -- who calls his ex-cohorts and nearly strangles himself trying to disguise his voice to sound like Eleanor Roosevelt’s. Today, such risks are completely unnecessary: We have sophisticated equipment to make us sound like dead presidents’ wives. Want to try it yourself?</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Real Gadget: TVC-2 Voice Changer and Software</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_voice_changer.jpg" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Powered by three AA batteries, it lets you alter your voice <i>eight</i> different ways at the press of a button. (Think of the possibilities: Man! Woman! Child! Eleanor Roosevelt!) Software is also available for your PC, which can throw in background noises if you prefer. If it wasn’t for that damn phone-tracking device we loved a few paragraphs ago, we’d be making Bart Simpson-style prank calls right now!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Recorder: $60 at DefenseProducts101.com<br />
Free software at ScreamingBee.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Joe Neumaier <i><b>Joe Neumaier</b><i> is the film critic and film editor at the </i>New York Daily News. <i>He’s written about movies and entertainment for </i>The New York Times, Entertainment<br />
Weekly, USA TODAY, <i>the</i> London Observer <i>and</i> Fortune.</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-6526023678329290082011-06-12T11:20:00.000-07:002011-06-12T11:21:38.367-07:00The Must See TV/ Video Shows on the Internet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>By Julie Taylor for our content partner:</i><i> Style + Tech for men</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Must-see TV … on the Internet" height="150" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/archive/2010-12-06/feature/internet_tv_shows/images/large.jpg" width="180" />From edgy reality shows such as “Married on MySpace” to next-generation comedies like “Fred and Smosh,” the Internet seems to be offering something for everyone … except, thankfully, the audience of “The View.” So if you’re not ready to sit through another Kardashian spinoff on the tube, log on and check out these gems on your desktop.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>“Food Mob!” With Chef Niall Harbison<br />
</b><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_food_mob.jpg" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.revision3.com/scamschool/Episodes" target="_blank">Revision3.com/FoodMob/Episodes</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This weekly interactive cooking show is made for “Iron Chef” wannabes who are looking to conquer the kitchen. Viewers are encouraged to share photos of their own culinary creations on Flickr, which chef Niall Harbison displays to the online community on his iPad. He also gives regular shout-outs to his Twitter followers (@FoodMobTV) and Facebook fans. The show encourages its viewers to share their own cooking tips and suggestions. We learned it makes us hungry!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Although Harbison once served as the youngest head chef of a fine-dining restaurant in Ireland, you won’t pick up the high art of preparing a premium Lobster Thermador on “Food Mob!” However, you <i>will</i> learn how to whip up comfort foods like The Perfect Burger, Deep-Fried Mars Bars, Mac & Cheese and Shepherd’s Pie. The show also serves up “Food Mob Bites,” a daily series of one-to-five-minute cooking tips -- great for learning how to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew, or how to dice onions without bawling like Charlie Sheen’s publicist.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>“Dorm Life”</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_dorm_life.jpg" /> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://dorm-life.com/" target="_blank">Dorm-Life.com</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This mockumentary series, which follows the zany, fictional hijinks of students in a college dorm, is like an on-campus version of “The Office.” But don’t worry: As with most college shows or movies -- or real life for that matter -- tedious academics never seem to be on the scriptwriters’ syllabus. In addition to the main episodes -- which are five to 15 minutes long -- there are webcam clips and profiles offered by each character on the website's community lounge, where cast members interact with viewers. Just try getting that comfy with a Kardashian! A Webby Award winner and Hulu's most-watched Web show, the first two seasons of “Dorm Life” are available online and on DVD. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>“Fast Lane Daily” and “FL Detours”</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_fast_lane_daily.jpg" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://vodcars.com/" target="_blank">VodCars.com</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you’re a car freak, it’s time to park yourself in front of your laptop. “Fast Lane Daily” races the latest auto industry news to car nuts. It offers test-drive videos, latest release updates, under-the-hood analysis and pricing information -- all in under five minutes. If you’re really driven by auto-programming, then check out FLD’s spinoff shows. “FL Detours” is a two-and-a-half minute weekly car review where on-camera hosts take viewers along for a spin to experience the driving dynamics of automakers’ latest models. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The host of “Garage419,” Matt Farah, interviews key auto industry figures, travels to top auto industry events and test-drives groovy rods. Finally, there’s “VOD Red,” which pushes cars to their absolute limits, sometimes wrecking them -- not unlike what your ex-girlfriend did to you!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>“The Wing Girls: Dating Advice for Guys”</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_wing_girls.jpg" /> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://youtube.com/TheWingGirls" target="_blank">YouTube.com/TheWingGirls</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><script src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/programsend/programunit.js?Page=partner/unbranded/infopoweredftp/archive/2010-12-06/feature/internet_tv_shows/index.html" type="text/javascript">
</script></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sexy dating superheroes Jet and Star offer guys an insider’s perspective on the world of women. In funny episodes that run between five and 10 minutes, the ladies tell you what women want you to know -- but never seem to tell you about. You’ll get the inside scoop on episodes like “How to Kiss,” “How to Manage a Friends-With-Benefits Arrangement” and “How to Ditch a Dame.” The two tell-it-like-it-is hotties boast having “doctorates in men” and claim to clue you in on what makes you hot -- or not -- to the opposite sex. Sounds like a worthwhile academic program to us. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>“Scam School” With Brian Brushwood</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_scam_school.jpg" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://evision3.com/ScamSchool/Episodes" target="_blank">Revision3.com/ScamSchool/Episodes</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you fail out of the aforementioned chick school, you might consider transferring to this worthwhile online institution. Award-winning magician Brian Brushwood offers viewers a real education in the form of 15-minute episodes covering everything you need to know about bar tricks, street cons and scams. Archives include “Scam Hot Ladies at the Bar,” “The Brain Drain Telepathy Trick,” and “Dime in Bottle Scam.” Sounds like the same syllabus our Uncle in Attica followed. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>“App Judgment” </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_appjudgement.jpg" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://revision3.com/AppJudgment" target="_blank">Revision3.com/AppJudgment</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With hundreds of apps to choose from on your iPhone, Android, iPad or whatever other device you use, a guy needs a cyber Sherpa to download all the options. The “App Judgment” team helps viewers separate the wheat from the chaff with mobile app reviews and previews. Episodes include “Flipboard: Personalized Social Magazine for the iPad,” “Comic Books on your iPhone or iPad” and “Getting Things Done on the iPad with Taska.” New five- to 10-minute episodes are posted Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>“$99 Music Videos”</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_99centvids.jpg" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://99dollarmusicvideos.com/" target="_blank">99DollarMusicVideos.com</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Like watching music videos? Well you ain’t gonna find many on MTV. They’re too busy documenting the destruction of civilization with shows like “The Jersey Shore” and “The Hills.” If you enjoy discovering new artists, then crank up your computer and catch “$99 Music Videos” -- an Internet series that debuts a new low-budget music video every week from independent bands and local filmmakers. Check out breakout artists Care Bears on Fire in an animated video performing “Barbie Eat a Sandwich,” the Wisconsin-based Laarks performing “All the Words You Can’t Say,” and “Strange Machines” by Redding Hunter of Peter and the Wolf. See, video stars aren’t dead -- they just went digital.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div> <b>Julie Taylor</b><i> is a New York-based public relations professional that specializes in TV, entertainment, magazine publishing and general media. She has written about pop culture for RepMan Blog and her work has appeared in online literary magazines</i> WordSmitten <i>and</i> Insolent Rudder.<br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-4288505102408176762011-06-03T11:01:00.000-07:002011-06-03T11:02:05.586-07:00How smart are your Car's tech gadgets?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>By Tom Ripley for our content partner: Driving Today</i> </div><img alt="" src="http://www.drivingtoday.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/feature/smart_car/images/large.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Rear-view TV cameras, multi-zone heating and air conditioning, parking sensors, electronic stability control systems, theater-like audio -- today's vehicles are absolutely stuffed with technical wizardry. The new features will allow cars to perform feats that were virtually unimagined a decade ago. There is a downside, though. The multiplicity of vehicle systems can't communicate and interact among themselves very well. Instead, like kids at a grade school sock hop, they seem to stick to their own little groups and not worry about others much.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span> <br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Not only is this inefficient; it is also ineffective. Even though today's cars have more computing and sensing power than ever before, they are not nearly as smart and, more to the point, as easy to operate as they could be. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">While auto manufacturers are already introducing intelligent application solutions to individual issues like sound or safety on a piecemeal basis, this incremental addition of features and functions is probably not the most effective approach, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. Instead, looking at cars as robots might be a better way to build automobiles in the future.</div><a href="http://www.drivingtoday.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/programsend/programsend.html"><img alt="Driving Today" border="0" src="http://www.drivingtoday.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/programsend/programunit.gif?531111307123760160" /></a><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"Automakers interested in developing smarter cars can learn a great deal from the US military's efforts to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles," said Neena Buck, vice president of the emerging frontiers program at the research firm.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As with many mature, consumer-oriented products that have a long history of development, today's cars suffer from feature overload, often at the expense of the driver's understanding and reaction time, Strategy Analytics says. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With more and more computing devices on board cars, product planning and marketing groups within car companies are providing the usual checklist approach of features and functions within each category of car in order to compete with their rivals. But this ad hoc approach to features can result in cars laden with unused and/or unusable features. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Some of the luxury vehicles from European manufacturers are so dense with features that it is doubtful most owners even try to use them all, much less use them on a day-to-day basis. In fact, some automakers are finding that adding features actually injures their customer satisfaction scores.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Part of the problem is that a knowledge gap exists between vehicle manufacturers, who are accustomed to feature-by-feature comparisons and incremental additions to cars, and developers of autonomous vehicles who have had to re-think the design of a vehicle from the ground up. A new Strategy Analytics report discusses how automotive OEMs and suppliers can leverage work done in autonomous robotics systems to create smarter vehicles that can recognize their occupants, understand driver and passenger needs, continuously anticipate obstacles and problems, and inform or assist the driver to take appropriate action.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"More and more, competition within the automotive industry is going to be based on intellectual property and software built into vehicles, in addition to the physical design and visual appeal of the actual car," said Ian Riches, director, Automotive Electronics Service. "Vehicles with built in self-awareness, as well as ongoing situational awareness, are going to become increasingly commonplace, as high-end offerings in today's passenger cars migrate to all vehicles across the board."</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Driving Today Contributing Editor Tom Ripley writes about automobiles and the human (not to mention robotic) condition. He lives in Villeperce, France.</i></div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-88508641660824369002011-06-03T10:56:00.000-07:002011-06-03T10:56:11.478-07:00Voice Control Technology and Driving Safety -- How does it go hand in hand?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> By Luigi Fraschini for our content partner: Driving Today<em></em> <br />
<img alt="" src="http://www.drivingtoday.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/feature/voice_control_driving_safety/images/large.jpg" /> <strong>Voice control</strong> can reduce <strong>driving distractions</strong> and promote driving safety.<br />
<br />
How do we know?<br />
<br />
A new <strong>Virginia Tech Transportation Institute</strong> (VTTI) study shows that drivers can minimize visual distractions by using <strong>voice-controlled vehicle systems</strong> like <strong>Ford SYNC</strong> instead of operating hand-held cell phones and tuning music systems manually. The study by VTTI was released in Detroit at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) World Congress during a panel discussion titled “Human Factors in Driving and Automotive Telematics.”<br />
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In the new Ford-commissioned study, 21 drivers, ages 19 to 51, who were familiar with SYNC drove a <strong>Mercury Mariner</strong> while initiating a call, selecting music tracks and having phone conversations using the hands-free, voice-controlled system. For the purpose of comparison, the participants also completed the same tasks manually using their own mobile phones and portable music players in the same vehicle. The study concluded that drivers were able to dial and complete other tasks more quickly and with less eyes-off-road time when using voice-activated SYNC system.<br />
<a href="http://www.drivingtoday.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/programsend/programsend.html"><img alt="Driving Today" border="0" src="http://www.drivingtoday.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/programsend/programunit.gif?531111307123407133" /></a><br />
At the same time, drivers manually operating phones and digital music players steered more erratically and looked away from the roadway for longer periods of time.<br />
<br />
“This study suggests that keeping drivers’ eyes on the road as much as possible is important for maintaining safe vehicle control, which is in line with recent naturalistic driving research,” said Shane McLaughlin, research scientist, <strong>Center for Automotive Safety Research</strong>, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.<br />
<br />
When study participants initiated a call, hand-held operation required more than two and a half times as many glances away from the road and more than four times longer in total eyes-off-road time than when drivers used the voice-activated system. For MP3 player song selection, hand-held operation required more than six times as many task-related glances than SYNC and took more than 10 times longer in total eyes-off-road time.<br />
<br />
VTTI’s new study is consistent with the groundbreaking <strong><em>100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study</em></strong>, completed in 2005 for the U.S. Department of Transportation. The study followed 109 drivers for one year and tracked more than 42,300 hours of driving data collected with over 2 million miles driven. It concluded that manually dialing a hand-held device while driving -- a task that requires looking away from the road -- was almost 2.8 times riskier than normal driving. The study also showed that talking and listening on a phone while driving has a similar risk to normal driving.<br />
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<div class="ByLine"><strong>Luigi Fraschini</strong> <em><em>Cleveland-based Driving Today Contributing Editor Luigi Fraschini writes frequently about driving safety issues. </em></em></div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-89632198875340608172011-06-03T10:49:00.000-07:002011-06-03T10:49:33.067-07:00Cloud Computing -- The importance of choosing the right provider and how to do it<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>By Todd Wasserman for our content partner: IT Insider Online</i><br />
<img alt="How to Pick the Right Cloud Provider" height="130" src="http://www.itinsideronline.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/archive/2011-01-03/Emerging/cloud_service_providers/images/large.jpg" width="164" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As cloud computing pervades more and more of our everyday lives, it's not surprising that small to midsized businesses are also seeing the benefits. The question is, How exactly do you go about embracing the cloud?</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To find the right cloud provider, you want to do more than type the names of a few providers in a search engine. But sorting through the mushrooming number of cloud providers crowding the market can be difficult. Because there's no third-party rating system for cloud computing firms -- and no directory either -- experts advise that the best way to seek a cloud computing provider is to do it the way you'd find any other service provider.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> "My biggest recommendation is forget about the cloud and just think we're finding a vendor to work with," says Patrick Grey, president of the Prevoyance Group. "Don't get caught up in the cloud." </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On the other hand, Charles King, principal analyst of Pund-IT, notes that cloud computing has its own particular issues. "You're really looking at something you're going to be engaged with 24/7/365," says King. "You really have to have a mind for what you need and what constitutes good quality."</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><script src="http://www.itinsideronline.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/programsend/programunit.js?Page=partner/unbranded/infopoweredftp/archive/2011-01-03/Emerging/cloud_service_providers/cloud_service_providers.html" type="text/javascript">
</script></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Both Grey and King agree, however, that the key to finding a cloud computing vendor is following best practices. A few guidelines:</div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; list-style-type: disc;"><li><b>Use metrics.</b> Set benchmarks to measure good performance. Be realistic, though: 100 percent isn't always achievable, but maybe 99.9 percent is. Get a sense from prospective vendors what is possible and what's not.</li>
<li><b>Network. </b>The best resources for choosing prospective vendors are other IT decision-makers and other vendors. You might have luck cold-calling prospective vendors with a Google search, but you're better off talking to people who actually deal with the vendors. "You would be well-advised to touch base with vendors you work with closely," says King. "You basically have to get out and work the networks and see what you can find."</li>
<li><b>Make a test case.</b> A good way to test a prospective vendor is to give them a non-essential part of your business first. When you eventually move more critical pieces over, though, internalize Murphy's Law. "You have to have a plan if everything goes south," says Grey, and that plan would likely be to move to another provider or to move everything back in-house.</li>
<li><b>Consider data storage and security.</b> Take a look at how a cloud provider’s data storage, data security and security infrastructures work. How do these firms protect your data? What kind of security measures are in place?</li>
<li><b>Use a service-level agreement.</b> For critical, sophisticated or big projects, include a service-level agreement detailing which metrics need to be met and what penalties will ensue if they're not met. Gray recommends "penalties that escalate at an increasing rate as the severity of the violation increases."</li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">King cautions that the cloud computing business is the Wild West right now. "There's an awful lot of interest in the cloud area right now," says King, "but a lot of companies can't quite deliver on the services they're promising." Beyond kicking the tires, King suggests that you have a good idea of what you want if you’re in the market for a cloud computing provider. Otherwise, says King, "It's a bit like going into a grocery store without a shopping list. If you don't know what you want for dinner, you're going to wind up with a lot of stuff in your cart."</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-56660335756517538292011-06-03T10:44:00.000-07:002011-06-03T10:44:36.080-07:00USB Drives -- The security threats and how to safeguard<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>By <b>Marc Saltzman</b> for our content partner: IT Insider Online</i><i><a href="http://www.itinsideronline.com/"></a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You can find them in pockets, purses and on key chains. They're on lanyards and in pens, built into some jewelry and even found alongside scissors and nail files in Swiss army knives. Teeny USB thumb drives are ubiquitous: In fact, Gartner estimates more than 222 million were sold in 2009 alone. Could such a tiny gadget bring big risks?<b><br />
<br />
Your Data at Risk</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Thanks to their small size, low cost, and capability of instant backup and file transportation between multiple computers, USB drives actually pose significant security threats for businesses.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For example, disgruntled employees can easily make off with sensitive company information on a USB drive. "The threat is not new, but the problem is exacerbated by tiny and cheap USB drives," says Leslie Fiering, research vice president at Gartner in San Jose, Calif. "The moment we had removable storage media -- going back to floppy disk drives -- there have been stories of janitors going onto computers after hours and downloading major amounts of information." Employees who plan on quitting a company -- or perhaps those expecting a pink slip -- can also easily copy over customer or client databases, emails, calendar appointments and contact lists in a matter of seconds, and then take this digital info with them to a competitor.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><script src="http://www.itinsideronline.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/programsend/programunit.js?Page=partner/unbranded/infopoweredftp/archive/2011-01-17/Network/usb_security/usb_security.html" type="text/javascript">
</script></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Increasingly, USB drives can also carry harmful malware, say security experts. USB keys can be used to install viruses or to serve as boot drives to erase data -- even unintentionally. An employee who uses a USB drive on a personal computer at home could carry malware back to a work computer without his or her knowledge.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>USB Security: What You Can Do</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You should take several precautions to minimize the risk of data theft or malware attacks via USB drives. Consider the following:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" type="disc"><li><b>Implement strong security software. </b>All company computers should have the right security software to detect and remove potential threats. "Without question, you need serious protection today that not only protects from online threats but also is capable of scanning external devices too, such as USB drives," warns Fiering.</li>
<li><b>Limit USB access. </b>In extreme cases, organizations have cut off access to USB ports. Others have limited USB access to specific employees. Using encrypted USB drives is another option, as is disabling AutoRun on computers so that programs on a USB drive don’t immediately run when a drive is inserted.</li>
<li><b>Monitor use. </b>Keeping track of USB access will help you note who is using the drive, on which computer and at what time of day." IT departments need to make sure their machines are secure and sensitive information protected," adds Michael Gartenberg, research director at Gartner in Stamford, Conn.</li>
<li><b>Focus on education.</b> “Banning can result in users trying to bypass the ban,” cautions Santorelli. A usage policy augmented by an awareness campaign to educate end users will help mitigate the risks.</li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Fiering and Santorelli note that these risks are not limited to USB drives. Santorelli calls it an “erosion of the traditional network perimeter” because of the prevalence of mobile devices and the convergence of personal and work technology. “This is a problem that's not going away any time soon," says Fiering. With the right security measures, however, companies can ensure the security of their data, despite today’s increased risks.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">More info on <a class="SponsoredURL" href="http://www.webroot.com/En_US/business-compare-endpoint.html" onclick="window.open('http://www.itinsideronline.com/infopoweredftp//programsend/sponsorunit/url-8/index.html'); return false; ">corporate antivirus and antispyware protection</a> from our sponsor</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-5285334582833277092011-06-03T10:36:00.000-07:002011-06-03T10:37:06.493-07:00Worried about your Dental Health? Try these 7 Super Foods<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>By Jenna McCarthy for our content partner: Charge Up For Good Health</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Want a camera-ready smile and cavity-free dental health? Brushing and flossing are merely the beginning. Turns out there are a host of incredible edibles that fight bacteria, attack plaque and build enamel with every bite, says Wendy Bazilian, a registered dietitian and author of <i>The Superfoods Rx Diet</i>. Here, her surprising foods for a healthier grin.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>1. Whole Grains</b> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You know whole grains are filled with cholesterol-lowering fiber. But were you aware that the B vitamins and iron they contain will help keep your gums healthy too? According to a study of 34,000 men conducted by Canada’s McMaster University, those who ate three daily servings of whole grains -- think brown or wild rice, barley, oatmeal and whole-wheat bread -- were 23 percent less likely to suffer from periodontitis, a severe form of gum disease.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>2. Carrots</b> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">They’re not just good for your eyes: Carrots are packed with beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant that is key to building and maintaining strong, healthy teeth. Sweet potatoes and pumpkin are also excellent sources of this wonder nutrient.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</script></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>3. Celery</b> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Water-rich vegetables like celery cleanse the teeth, washing away sugar and starches that can cause cavities and plaque. In addition, munching on crunchy veggies massages your gums, which increases circulation and can help remove bacteria.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>4. Dairy products</b> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dairy products such as yogurt, low-fat or nonfat milk and cheese are all rich in calcium, a mineral essential for preserving and rebuilding tooth enamel. Calcium also aids in saliva production, which helps kill the bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>5. Sesame seeds</b> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Another great calcium source, sesame seeds have a gritty texture that acts like a hundred tiny toothbrushes to tackle plaque buildup. Try them sprinkled on cereal or vegetables, or blend them into into yogurt, soups, and homemade breads and muffins.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>6. Lean protein</b> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Eggs, poultry and lean beef are rich in phosphorous, a mineral critical to maintaining strong tooth enamel. In addition, phosphorous helps balance pH levels in the mouth, discouraging the growth of cavity-causing bacteria.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>7. Water</b> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Substituting water for sugary sodas and sports drinks may be the tooth-friendliest move you can make. Frequent exposure to liquid sugars allows cavity-causing ingredients to reach the most remote surfaces of teeth and gums. Sugary drinks also contribute to the formation of decay-causing acids in the mouth. (If you must indulge your cola cravings, be sure to sip through a straw to reduce exposure.) Water, on the other hand, contains no harmful ingredients and helps wash away bacteria from food, making it one of the cheapest, best dental health boosters around.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b>Jenna McCarthy</b> <i>has covered nutrition, fitness<br />
and general health for a variety of national publications, including</i> Allure, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Ladies’ Home Journal, Real Simple, Self, Men's Fitness <i>and</i> Shape.</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">More on <a class="SponsoredURL" href="http://www.oralb.com/topics/GumDiseaseGingivitisCanLeadtoPeriodontitis.aspx" onclick="window.open('http://www.chargeupforgoodhealth.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp//programsend/sponsorunit/url-4/index.html'); return false; ">gum disease</a> from our sponsor</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-17260279298434564982011-05-29T00:27:00.000-07:002011-05-29T00:32:38.867-07:00The health benefits of having an active sex life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>By Michael Castleman for our content partner: Live Right Live Well</i><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU_kczdtAdCAE_FYm1MFRtRjglO610IH5_qHLUBXNB6Cu1RyjFWZffjjGbQBlfADxkd0SyMEFcNzo0UDUGuREVXdgN18eCYwOc1lcQ6B13Ctz_M7PM7S7AWz0lalYfsTZwQ8fl0A/s1600/large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU_kczdtAdCAE_FYm1MFRtRjglO610IH5_qHLUBXNB6Cu1RyjFWZffjjGbQBlfADxkd0SyMEFcNzo0UDUGuREVXdgN18eCYwOc1lcQ6B13Ctz_M7PM7S7AWz0lalYfsTZwQ8fl0A/s1600/large.jpg" /></a><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b>Years ago, Marvin Gaye’s hit, “Sexual Healing,” touted the emotional benefits of lovemaking. But research shows sex can improve physical health as well. So what are the health benefits of sex?</b></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Boosts Immune System</b><br />
Sex is moderate exercise. Since regular moderate exercise is known to boost immune function, researchers at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., wondered if lovemaking might do the same. After asking 112 college students how often they had sex, the scientists analyzed samples of the students’ saliva for immunoglobulin A (IgA), a key component of the immune system that helps fight infection. The result: Those who had sex once or twice a week showed significantly higher levels of IgA than those who had sex less often. “Moderately frequent sex enhances immune function and may help prevent illnesses, such as the common cold,” concludes lead researcher and professor of psychology Carl Charnetski.<b><br />
<br />
Lowers Blood Pressure</b><br />
In a study conducted by the University of Tubingen in Germany and the University of the West of Scotland, researchers asked 51 healthy men and women how often they had sex. After the researchers measured the participants’ blood pressure, they found that as sexual frequency increased, blood pressure decreased. Another study from the University of the West of Scotland showed the same result.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Reduces Risk of Heart Attack</b><br />
Many men worry that having sex might trigger a heart attack. British researchers at the University of Bristol followed 914 men for up to 20 years and found the opposite. “Middle-aged men should be heartened to know that frequent sexual intercourse … [offers] some protection from fatal coronary events,” concludes lead researcher Shah Ebrahim.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</script></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Lowers Risk of Prostate Cancer</b><br />
National Cancer Institute researchers tracked 29,342 men and found that the more often the men ejaculated, the lower their risk of prostate cancer. Those who reported 21 or more ejaculations a month during their 20s were 33 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer later in life than those who reported only seven ejaculations per month.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Relieves Pain</b><br />
Sex helps relieve pain in two ways: First, it’s an enjoyable distraction that helps people focus less on their pain. Second, as a form of gentle exercise, sex releases endorphins, the body’s own pain-relieving compounds. In fact, the Arthritis Foundation recommends regular sex to help manage the pain of osteoarthritis, one of the nation’s most prevalent causes of chronic pain.<b><br />
<br />
Deepens Relaxation</b><br />
Meditative relaxation has been shown to help treat an enormous number of physical ailments, including pain problems, asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression and arthritis. What does this have to do with sex? Sex-related deep-breathing and orgasms are deeply relaxing. So is the whole-body sensual massage that is a part of good sex. In fact, the deep relaxation obtained through sex is very similar to the physiologic relaxation that results from meditation, yoga, tai chi and other stress-management regimens, says Marty Klein, a certified sex therapist, licensed marriage and family therapist, and nationally recognized sex educator based in Palo Alto, Calif. As a result, regular sex with a loving partner offers health and relaxation benefits that are similar to those of massage and other relaxation techniques, he concludes.<b><br />
<br />
Improves Longevity</b><br />
Immune enhancement, deep relaxation, lower blood pressure and reduced risk of heart attack and prostate cancer are all associated with longer life. Does this mean regular sex can extend life? Yes! At least that’s what British scientists at the University of Bristol concluded from a study of some 900 middle-aged men with no significant differences in age, weight, blood pressure or history of smoking or heart disease. The only real difference was how often the men had sex -- and those who had sex twice a week had half the death rate of those who had sex once a month or less. The researchers’ conclusion: Sex helps prevent death in middle-aged men.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Of course, no one makes love simply to improve health. But the health benefits of sex are an undeniable bonus. And if you like making love to music, play “Sexual Healing.” It’s a catchy tune -- and it’s true!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b>Michael Castleman</b> <i>has been a sex educator and sex counselor since 1973. He is the publisher of <a href="http://www.greatsexafter40.com/" target="_blank">greatsexafter40.com</a> and the author of </i>Sexual Solutions: For Men and the Women Who Love Them and Great Sex: A Man's Guide to the Secrets of Whole-Body Sensuality.</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-91817903814473277832011-05-29T00:18:00.000-07:002011-05-29T00:18:41.056-07:00Movies which will inspire you to get a better personality and to be a better man<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>By Mike Hammer for our content partner: <a href="http://www.menslifetoday.in/">Men's Life Today, India</a></i><i><a href="http://www.menslifetoday.com/"><br />
</a></i><br />
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<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Looking for a get-smart shortcut? The right mix of flicks will serve as a veritable Cinema U: You can really learn something by watching them. Here’s our brain-boosting lineup.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Where can you find a better blueprint for life than the movies? These days we look to cinematic fiction for answers to life’s most perplexing questions, such as, Where else can an over-the-hill fat dude like Jack Nicholson be paid zillions to parody himself <i>again</i>?</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ah, but we digress. Educationally speaking, the movies don’t just lecture you like a burned-out, tenured professor: They put you in the action. Plus the movies can out-multimedia just about any lecture class. Watch enough of the right flicks, and you may just qualify for a degree in business, politics, sociology -- even grifting. And think how far all that will go when time comes to make career choices, sound witty at social mixers and impress a worthy lady.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Yes, Cinema U is officially in session. These flicks are packed with smart bombs that’ll serve you well for the rest of your life. Watch and learn:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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<b><i>Shanghai</i></b><b><br />
<br />
Check It out: </b><br />
John Cusack is a U.S. intelligence operative desperately trying to find his missing American buddy in Shanghai just days before the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. As he frantically tries to find his friend, the search is complicated by local gangsters, Japanese invaders, a Chinese chick (Gon Li) who runs sweet and sour on him, and the realization that he’s not sure he can trust his own government.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The Smart Bomb</b><br />
Cusack’s undercover navigation of pre-war Shanghai reveals a fascinating, culturally rich -- but also slightly seamy -- melting-pot community we never knew existed. The film shows that pre-World War II Shanghai was an international community of refugees, artists, spies, and best of all, breathtakingly beautiful Gon Lis.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Also …</b><br />
Creativity cannot be stifled. Shanghai’s international community was the birthplace of China’s thriving film industry, which was squashed by the Japanese occupation during the war. The industry clandestinely slipped out of what became Red China and off to Hong Kong to give birth to the careers of our favorite imports: Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>Whiteout</i></b><b><i></i></b><br />
<b><br />
Check It out: </b><br />
Based on the wildly popular 1998 graphic novel, <i>Whiteout</i> is the story of the world’s hottest United States marshal (Kate Beckinsale), who is, um, <i>hot</i> on the trail of the first and only serial killer in the world’s coldest place, Antarctica. The problem? Winter is only three days away (so forget about seeing Kate slip into a bikini at the polar ice cap). Also, with winter come six months of darkness … in which she would be stuck with the Abominable Snowciopath.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The Smart Bomb</b><br />
Geography meets criminal justice studies meets ice-onography. The story offers the eye-opening and groin-freezing scenario in which we see how U.S. marshals are the <i>only</i> law enforcement agency charged with protecting the world’s largest and least inviting continent. When Carrie Stetko (Beckinsale) is sent to the most isolated, barren and scariest landmass on earth to shut down a serial killer terrorizing a U.S. research base, she has to do it in temperatures that drop to 120 F below 0, winds that will rip your skin off at up to 200 mph and a serious absence of backup when the bodies begin to pile up -- all of which leads us to wonder who her high school career counselor was.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Also …<br />
</b>In the original graphic novel, Stetko was a little overweight and got a bit of help from a female U.N. investigator … with whom (it was implied) she melts a little ice. In the film, though, the investigator is a dude (actor Garbiel Macht). Maybe we should go back to using comics as reference books.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>The Informant</i><i></i></b><b><br />
<br />
Check It out: </b><br />
Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) was bored working at an Illinois food processing company. So, more to make himself feel important than to actually <i>help</i> anybody, Whitacre goes undercover for the FBI to uncover his company’s massive price-fixing scandal -- while he’s in the midst of stealing $9 million bucks himself. True story.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The Smart Bomb</b><br />
Aside from focusing on Whitacre’s clueless efforts to be a hero, this story offers riveting detail about how the food industry holds not only your tummy hostage but also your wallet. In real life, Whitacre wore a wire for three years and helped record video footage of high-level meetings, where execs conspired with each other to set food additive prices well above market value so they could stuff their pockets as you stuff your face.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Also …</b><br />
Elaborate FBI stings follow white-collar crime everywhere -- even in <i>boring</i> industries. That’s right: Somebody’s making dough by charging too much for, um, <i>dough</i>. So if you’re jacking up the sugar packets at your local 7-Eleven, watch your back, Jack. And if you’re going to be an informant, you may want to avoid being a thief while working for the <i>man</i>. Whitacre’s prison term was <i>three times longer </i>than that of the guys he helped nab.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>Capitalism: A Love Story</i><i></i></b><b><br />
<br />
Check It out: </b><br />
Michael Moore, that hefty dude with the baseball cap and suspicious nature, celebrates the 20th anniversary of his breakout film <i>Roger & Me</i> -- about the suspicious collapse of the auto industry -- with a new film about the suspicious collapse of the overall economy. The new flick takes a comical look at the corporate and political high jinks that culminated in what Moore has described as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country”: the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions to bail out fat guys with billion-dollar bonuses.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The Smart Bomb</b><br />
Forget smart bomb -- this one’s an all-out genius bomb: A study of economics, politics, business and thievery all in one! Were this one to translate to college credits, you could cash it in for a quadruple major.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As in his previous documentaries, Moore blindsides his targets when they least expect it. Here, he corners top corporate and banking executives as they fly to their private islands on personal jets that they bankrolled with bonuses they set aside for themselves -- despite managing funds that bankrupted investors. Then Moore gets them to <i>not</i> explain how they can live with themselves on our money.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Also …</b><br />
Moore details how these guys siphoned funds, pensions, savings and more while the people who trusted them with their life savings went broke. So if you’re up to no good, you may want to stay on Moore’s good side.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>More Than a Game</i><i></i></b><b><br />
<br />
Check It out: </b><br />
This documentary follows five poor kids from Akron, Ohio, through their high school hoop careers. Not unusual, except when you consider that one, LeBron James, has gone on to become the world’s best player and that they wind up playing for the national championship.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The Smart Bomb</b><br />
The kids are shown dealing with the pressures of poverty, publicity that comes with competing in the national media spotlight and the heat from that spotlight intensified 100 times because James has been earmarked by the media -- and NBA scouts -- as the best high school player in the cosmos. But despite <i>everybody</i> wanting to get their hands on James, nobody is able to pull these five guys apart. Even when James is banned from a game for allegedly accepting the gift of a car (a no-no he was later cleared of), the kids rely on the bond they formed in Akron to keep them together and help them achieve their individual goals -- as a team. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Also …<br />
</b>Be true and loyal to your friends, and teamwork will always win out. (Of course, it’s easy to win games with LeBron James on your team.)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="ByLine" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Mike Hammer</b> <i><i>is a writer and former editor of</i> Maxim, Stuff <i>and</i> Shock. <i>He can glean profound lessons just by watching a bubble gum commercial.</i></i></div></div><br />
</div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-35469885438906916212011-05-29T00:01:00.000-07:002011-05-29T00:20:14.513-07:00Take control of your fat belly -- Use these tips to get a trim stomach<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>By Ethan Boldt for</i> <i>our content partner: <a href="http://www.menslifetoday.in/">Men's Life Today, India</a></i><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksweBz5DTaBSuKHc_2u-iEKK8RbHDsGteUqvtsDXXlBjjnBWZtXFbkNyTAon8U0yVyF_sZMNRiOWzOFuoGlHNFFmzy2xACr16GOj4hyphenhyphenragGUI3zBszClHUs1gn8DfnYcfuF56ZA/s1600/large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksweBz5DTaBSuKHc_2u-iEKK8RbHDsGteUqvtsDXXlBjjnBWZtXFbkNyTAon8U0yVyF_sZMNRiOWzOFuoGlHNFFmzy2xACr16GOj4hyphenhyphenragGUI3zBszClHUs1gn8DfnYcfuF56ZA/s1600/large.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You've tried it all: cutting down the carbs, eating endless amounts of chicken breast, exercising like mad. So why are those infernal love handles -- not to mention that below-the-belly-button roll of fat -- still there?</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In part, we (as in the fitness media) are to blame. There are hundreds of different ways to put muscle on the body, and these workouts are what fitness and muscle magazines love to feature; it sure beats snore-inducing cardio with another shot of someone running on the beach. But unless you want to look like a bodybuilder (and even those guys do plenty of cardio come cutting time), it’s time to step up the cardio. “You’ve got to train like an athlete to look like an athlete,” says Tom Seabourne, Ph.D., a professor of exercise science at Northeast Texas Community College.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</script></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In other words, 30 minutes of slow cardio a few times a week is not enough -- unless you’re happy with your current level of fat stores. If you want to access that fat, says Seabourne, you’ve got to do the right kind of cardio (intervals twice a week), the right kind of weight training (focusing on each muscle group twice a week), and long slow distance (LSD) cardio two to three times a week -- all while eating enough to support your metabolism.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Each form of exercise is essential if you really want to chisel your body down. You need LSD cardio because after your body burns through the glycogen in your muscles, it burns your fat stores next. And while interval training doesn’t burn as much fat <i>during</i> exercise, it burns more calories <i>afterward</i> -- just like strength training does.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Seabourne points out that some guys over-train on LSD cardio while eating too little and neglecting intervals or weights -- therefore slowing their metabolisms and holding on to that stubborn fat. Other guys do a lot of weights and short bouts of cardio, then eat tons of food in order to build muscle -- so their fat stores remain steady or even increase.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The following program was designed by Seabourne to give you the best of both worlds (i.e., recruit more than enough muscle while forcing those stubborn fat stores to surrender, at last).</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Follow this program six weeks on and one week off, depending on your body’s ability to avoid over-training mode (in which gains come to a screeching halt while muscle soreness and overall fatigue increase). For some, three weeks may be all you can handle without a break. For others, 12 weeks works.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Weights</b><br />
You probably have this covered, but here’s a guideline: Lose the bodybuilding program with all the isolation lifts and the absurd amount of exercise sets per body part (e.g., 15 sets of chest). Instead, go with upper-body on Monday and Thursday, then lower-body on Tuesday and Friday -- but only with about 20-30 minutes for each weight-training workout. Aim for two to three sets of two exercises for the major body parts (chest, shoulders, back, quadriceps and core) and two to three sets of one exercise for the smaller body parts (triceps, biceps, hamstrings and calves).</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Interval Cardio</b><br />
Complete two 20- to 30-minute bouts of cardio per week. Always start with a warm-up and end with a cooldown. Examples include:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><ul style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; list-style-type: disc;"><li>On a heavy bag: Three minutes of effort + one-minute recoveries</li>
<li>On a stationary cycle: 10 cycles of 15-second sprints + 45-second recoveries</li>
<li>On a treadmill or outside on a grass field: 10 cycles of 10-second sprints + 50-second recoveries</li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>LSD Cardio</b><br />
Because of the length of each session (60 to 90 minutes), Seabourne’s preference for LSD is nonimpact. “For some, impact LSD, like jogging, can cause unhelpful muscle breakdown -- whereas cycling will not,” he explains.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">An LSD cycling, elliptical or stair-climbing program can begin with an hour. Add two minutes a week until you’re moving for 90 minutes. Any more than 90 minutes and you'll need a snack to replenish glycogen stores.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="ByLine" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Ethan Boldt</b> <i><i>writes for</i> Men's Health, Self, and Maximum Fitness. <i>A former certified personal trainer, he co-authored</i> 5-Factor Fitness <i>with celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak.</i></i></div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-60975503308929409212011-05-28T04:02:00.000-07:002011-05-28T04:04:00.289-07:00The best SmartPhone applications for the money minded<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>From the Editors of</i><i> our content partner: Everyday Connected</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><a href="http://www.everydayconnected.com/"></a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img align="left" border="0" height="212" src="http://www.everydayconnected.com/partner/content/default/archive/2011-05-09/work/best_money_apps/EDC_best_money_apps_lg.jpg" width="181" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With your smartphone, you can spend money on just about anything these days. But instead of letting your device drain your bank account, why not turn it into a money-management tool? There are tons of great apps out there for managing and maximizing your hard-earned money -- and many of these apps are free.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here are some of the best money-management apps to help you handle your cash:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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<b>Money App No. 1: <a href="https://www.mint.com/how-it-works/anywhere/" target="_blank">Mint</a></b> <br />
<b>Helps you … Manage all your accounts</b><br />
The app version of Mint.com offers a free solution for managing your accounts, creating budgets, and setting and meeting financial goals. Sync Mint with your bank, credit card, loan and retirement accounts, and it can download, categorize and monitor all your transactions. For example, if you’re looking to spend no more than $200 each month on eating out, Mint will tell you how much you have left to spend in that category or -- whoops! -- how badly you’ve already blown your budget. It’s free and it’s safe: Mint promises to “always transmit personal and financial information securely.” Just be sure to set the app to request your passcode each time you launch it -- this is not the sort of app you’d want easily accessible on your stolen phone.<br />
<b>Available on: </b>iOS and Android devices<br />
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<b>Money App No. 2: <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/triplog-1040/id283835623?mt=8" target="_blank">TripLog/1040</a></b> <br />
<b>Helps you … Save tax money</b><br />
One of the easiest ways to lower your taxes each year is to deduct your year’s worth of mileage. But in an audit, the IRS asks for an expense log. TripLog/1040 makes it easy to track it all: For only $4.99, you can track mileage in four categories (business, charity, medical and other) for three different cars. Start tracking now to avoid a mad dash on April 15 next year.<br />
<b>Available on:</b> iOS devices. For Android devices, check out <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.softmimo.android.dailyexpensetracker%20" target="_blank">Cashbook</a><br />
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<b>Money App No. 3: <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pay-off-debt/id308554006?mt=8#" target="_blank">Pay Off Debt</a></b> <br />
<b>Helps you … The name says it all!</b><br />
If you’re paying down debt like many people these days, you can save time and money by prioritizing your payment schedule. Pay Off Debt, a $2.99 app, sets priorities based on your balances and their interest rates, and it even shows how long it would take you to pay down debt if you weren’t following its “snowball” repayment method. Best of all, it shows your magical debt-free date, helping you stay motivated and on track.<br />
<b>Available on:</b> iOS devices. For Android devices, try <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.calculator.ccPayoffPro&feature=search_result%20" target="_blank">Debt Payoff Planner</a><br />
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<b>Money App No. 4: <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/mobile/" target="_blank">Bloomberg Mobile</a></b> <br />
<b>Helps you … Monitor investments</b><br />
If you’re invested in stocks or mutual funds, financial news giant Bloomberg has you covered. Its free apps, available for just about every platform out there, offer news, stock quotes, trends and analysis. You can also follow a custom list of stocks, so as long you’re not faint of heart, you can monitor every spike and dive that your dollars take.<br />
<b>Available on:</b> All major mobile platforms<br />
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<b>Money App No. 5: <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simple-loan-calculator/id319268411?mt=8" target="_blank">Simple Loan Calculator</a></b> <br />
<b>Helps you … Estimate payments</b><br />
This free app serves a simple, but important, function: It estimates your monthly payment when you enter an amount to borrow, the years you’ll take to pay it off and the interest rate. Or, enter what you can afford to pay monthly, and the app will tell you how much you can borrow. It also offers a repayment schedule.<br />
<b>Available on: </b>iOS devices. For Android devices, try <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.cityjams.calculators.loan%20" target="_blank">Loan Calculator</a><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-6999620423911913702011-05-26T03:47:00.000-07:002011-05-26T03:47:49.326-07:00Best Tech Gadgets to Impress Or Gift Your Girlfriend/ Valentine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By Tim Jarvis for our content partner: <i>Style + Tech for Men</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Hi-tech Gifts for Your Valentine" height="150" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/archive/2011-02-07/feature/hi_tech_valentines_day_gifts/images/large.jpg" width="180" /> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You scraped by last year, but if you do the chocolates and roses thing one more time, you know you’re going to get “the look.” So surprise her this year with a cutting-edge piece of technology. Once she gets over her shock, she’ll be psyched you bought her a present that is lasting and useful -- and that won’t end up going straight to her hips or dying a slow, smelly death on her dresser. “Many people still think of high-tech gifts as cold and unromantic,” says gadget guru Eric Schlissel, owner and CEO of GeekTek.com, an IT services and tech support company based in Los Angeles. “But technology is opening up a whole new gateway to romance.”</div><table border="0" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><tbody>
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<tr> <td><b>Wine Her, Dine Her and Catch a Movie -- At Home</b><br />
Light some candles. Open the wine. Then order your favorite takeout and cuddle up to a double feature, courtesy of a <a href="http://www.roku.com/roku-products">Roku XD</a> set-top digital media receiver, starting at just $59.95. According to Schlissel, the Roku XD rivals the Apple TV box, which sells for $99.00. It’s easy to set up, and it offers a comprehensive content list ranging from Netflix and Hulu Plus, to Pandora and Amazon Video on Demand. With her favorite flicks just a button-push away, this hot little gadget is sure to put some spark into your evening. And if she’s really moved, she just might let you watch a hockey game next -- via the NHL GameCenter LIVE that’s also included.</td></tr>
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<tr> <td><b>Kindle Her Affection</b><br />
If your girl is the book-reading kind, then an e-reader makes a perfect Valentine’s Day gift -- especially when it’s preloaded with the latest steamy romance novel, hot off the digital presses. But you can do even better than that. Schlissel points out that <a href="http://gutenberg.com/">Project Gutenberg</a> has more than 33,000 classic titles that can be downloaded onto most portable devices for free. So once you’ve preloaded her new Kindle -- $139.00 from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/">Amazon.com</a> -- with a couple of best sellers, score extra points by adding romantic classics like <i>The Phantom of the Opera</i> and <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>.</td></tr>
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<tr> <td><b>Mix up Your Mutual Love of Music</b><br />
“If music be the food of love, play on,” wrote William Shakespeare in <i>Twelfth Night</i> -- and we think he was on to something. To feed her affection, load up a candy-colored iPod with her favorite songs. For a retro twist on the same theme, check out the <a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/thumb-drives-storage/9bd7">Mixtape Memory Stick</a> for $15.99. The USB Mixtape Memory Stick is designed to look like an old C90 cassette. It stores up to 90 minutes of music and you can handwrite your track list on the liner. “It’s an unusual and clever way to send your significant other a romantic message,” says Schlissel.</td></tr>
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<tr> <td><b>Stimulate Her App-etite</b><br />
If your relationship is a little too new for serious gifting, try sending her a box of personalized virtual Sweethearts candies. “The iPhone app is free and allows users to send up to five custom Sweethearts candy messages via Twitter or email,” says Schlissel. Romantic creativity not included. Available at the App Store, <a href="http://www.itunes.apple.com/us/app/sweethearts/id3/48614312?mt=8">iTunes.apple.com</a>.</td></tr>
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<tr> <td><b>A Decent Proposal</b><br />
If, on the other hand, you’re ready to pop the question, there’s no better time than Valentine’s Day to do it. And there’s no cooler way to do it than with a multimedia ring box. The Euricase Ring Box, $98.95, operates on a single rechargeable lithium battery. The unit includes an illuminated ring bed, a 2-inch LCD screen with a built-in speaker, and a generous amount of onboard memory that allows you to store up to 500 photos or 60 minutes of video. Just keep it clean, Romeo, and she just might say yes.</td></tr>
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Be sure to present your Valentine’s Day gift over a romantic dinner for two (using these <a href="http://thestyleglossy.com/blog/romantic/dinner/index.html" target="_blank">tips from aphrodisiac-food authority</a> Amy Reily, on <i>The Style Glossy</i>) -- and don’t forget to prepare yourself for the big night:<br />
<a href="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/blog/cologne_success/index.html">Scent-sibility for Success</a><br />
<a href="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/blog/gleaming_man_skin/index.html">The Skinny on Getting Gleaming Man-skin</a></td></tr>
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</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tim Jarvis <i><b>Tim Jarvis</b><i> is a freelance health, technology and entertainment writer who contributes to</i> O, The Oprah Magazine <i>and</i> <i>the men’s grooming and lifestyle site</i> Men’s Life Today. <i>He is also currently working on a book about the mysteries of quantum mechanics.</i></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-87969187951531275192011-05-24T23:28:00.000-07:002011-05-24T23:29:24.569-07:00The best tech accessories/ gadgets for your car<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>By Tim Jarvis for our content partner: </i><i><a href="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/">Style + Tech For Men</a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Today’s cars come packed with technology that can do anything from analyzing your braking system to adjusting the cabin temperature. But even the most modern cars-about-town can stand a little personalization. <i>STM</i> shopped around for the latest must-have car accessories to make your driving experience truly auto-erotic … in a PG kinda way.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Fingerprint Immobilizer</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/fingerprint.jpg" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Did your brother borrow your car for a road-trip reunion with his college roommates? Or did your girlfriend steal your sedan for an all-day salon treatment? It’s time to put your ride into lockdown with the <a href="http://store.mp3car.com/Biometric_Fingerprint_Car_Immobilizer_Alarm_Syst_p/com-113.htm" target="_blank">Fingerprint Car Security System</a>, manufactured by Poly-Supreme Technology Co. Ltd. This ain’t your father’s average immobilizer/car alarm. It comes with an advanced anti-carjacking feature, voice-input control and a fingerprint-recognition system that ensures only authorized drivers can crank the engine. It’s easy to add or delete drivers’ prints from the database, so if your brother ponies up enough scratch to make the ride worth your while, simply add his mitts to the list.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Price:</b> $689.00</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Multimedia Car Receiver<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A car radio that is equipped with Internet apps AND actually listens to <i>you</i> has just pulled into the parking lot. The voice-activated Parrot Asteroid Car Receiver pumps out music that’s sourced from your iPhone, iPod, USB drive or SD card … and it makes phone calls for you. It <b>automatically synchronizes your mobile phonebook and directly dials using those numbers or voice activation. We can’t even get our mom to do all that stuff when she’s in our car. </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Price: </b>Will be available in the U.S. later this year.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><script src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/programsend/programunit.js?Page=partner/unbranded/infopoweredftp/archive/2011-03-21/feature/auto_accessories/index.html" type="text/javascript">
</script></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Instant Engine Self-diagnosis<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Is your car mechanic as credible as a Lindsay Lohan deposition? If you really want to know how sick your ride is, it’s time for you to pick up the CarMD. The TV-remote-sized gizmo downloads data directly from your auto’s on-board computers. And when it’s done, you simply connect it to your PC and the included software generates an easy-to-read report that lets you know exactly what’s going on with your wheels <i>and</i> generates an estimated a repair bill. <b><br />
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Price: </b>$119.85<b><br />
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</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Talk to Your Apps</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/talk_apps.jpg" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Can’t stop working when you’re travelling? This voice-interactive text messaging system allows you receive, send and browse text messages while you drive, without reaching for your phone. It reads written messages and appointments aloud, translates your spoken messages into text and even lets you chat to your Facebook account and update your status while you’re on the road. “Single … and looking!”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Price:</b> $149.00 for in-car device; $9.99 per month. Currently works with BlackBerry phones. Android will be available later this year.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b> </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Remote Car Locator/Starter</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It’s a cold day, and you’re wandering through a mall parking lot the size of the Pacific Ocean with no clue where you left the car. You’re an idiot -- but now there’s hope for the clueless. You can hunt down your ride, and even warm it up before you reach it, by starting the engine from almost anywhere with the Viper SmartStart. The device is incorporated into your car’s security system and is powered by an app on your smartphone that will even pop the trunk to let out your little brother when you think he’s finally learned his lesson. If he tries to get out on his own, it can send you an alert that security -- and the trunk -- has been breached. Stupid kid!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Price: </b>Complete systems are $399.00; $49.99 per year. You can add SmartStart to existing Viper systems for $299.00. Compatible with iPhone, BlackBerry and Android platforms.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tim Jarvis <i><b>Tim Jarvis</b><i> is a freelance health, technology and entertainment writer who contributes to</i> O, The Oprah Magazine <i>and</i> <i>the men’s grooming and lifestyle site</i> Men’s Life Today. <i>He is also currently working on a book about the mysteries of quantum mechanics. <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0039XEDCQ&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00009QOWW&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000HZT89M&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001TJZ6IC&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></i></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-44396677536312923832011-05-24T23:23:00.000-07:002011-05-24T23:30:06.976-07:00A look at the best E- Readers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>By Simon Munk for our content partner: </i><i><a href="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/">Style + Tech For Men</a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="The Great E-reader Roundup" height="150" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/archive/2010-12-06/feature/ereader_review/images/large.jpg" width="180" /> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Books have taken a backseat to e-readers in the digital era. But with a bewildering range of gadgets -- from the Apple iPad to the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook -- how do you know which one offers the best story for consumers? Our head-to-head e-book bash-up will give you a great read on the situation.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Apple iPad</b></span><span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_ipad.jpg" /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>from $499 | Apple.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you're looking for something more than just an e-reader, then read no further. Wait, we have more to tell you! It fares brilliantly on its reading assignments … if you don't mind a little screen-glare. Any LED screen is going to fare badly compared to e-ink on that score. But the iPad is capable of so much more than its e-reader rivals. First, it’s agnostic to any bookstore. It takes in apps from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and its own iBooks resource. Second, along with being able to surf the Web, it serves up games, comics and thousands of apps. Third, in terms of raw power and storage, it's got more on those scores than any competitor. The price is another weak point, but since it’s the most fully-featured e-reader, it's still tough to beat.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Verdict: Best all-around tablet that beats most e-readers.</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Rating: FIVE BOOKMARKS</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Amazon Kindle</b></span><span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_kindle.jpg" /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>from $139 | Amazon.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Absolutely the best e-reader on the bookshelf -- that is, if you're not looking for any bells and whistles. The Kindle boasts an exceptional 6-inch e-ink screen, as well as a reduced size and weight that bring it close to a digital paperback in portability. According to Amazon, its storage capacity has also doubled to 3,500 books. Plus, the Kindle now comes in Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi and 3G flavors -- so you can instantly buy, download and read books just about anywhere. There's also a new experimental Web browser, but the Kindle is really best for e-reading. Its page interface is easier and more pleasurable to read than any competitor’s, and the access to the Amazon store makes your reading list almost endless. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Verdict: Just looking to read? Look no further.</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Rating: FIVE BOOKMARKS</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>NOOKcolor</b></span><span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_nookcolor.jpg" /></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>$249 | BarnesAndNoble.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The first mainstream color e-reader makes your mandatory reading list just in time for the holidays. Barnes & Noble's NOOKcolor features Wi-Fi, an eight-hour reading battery and a 7-inch color screen that can display not just books, but also magazines, the Web and videos. It'll even display some Android apps. It’s more than a standard e-reader, but also a bit less than a fully-featured tablet computer. Screen-wise, it suffers the same problems as the iPad: glare and a lack of smoothness in its text display. On top of that, it struggles to reconfigure larger magazines and newspaper pages (as well as many websites that haven’t formatted for mobile viewing) to its smaller, more pocket-friendly screen. Ultimately, the NOOKcolor is good for reading books and some other things -- but until B&N sorts out a proper app store to support it, it's not as much of a multimedia marvel as some of its competitors.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Verdict: Halfway between e-reader and tablet, but not quite either.</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Rating: FOUR BOOKMARKS</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Blackberry PlayBook</b></span><span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-right: 5px;"><img alt="" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_blackberry.jpg" /></span><i>$TBA | Us.Blackberry.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Due out this spring, the PlayBook will be BlackBerry's effort to produce fresher fruit than the iPad. It's more powerful than the iPad on paper -- with a 1 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB memory and full Web support for Flash and HTML5. But it's got a smaller, 7-inch screen and entirely new operating system software … so no existing BlackBerry apps will run on it. Even more troubling, Blackberry doesn't have a great reputation for multimedia and user-friendly features, so it's a bit of a leap for them to move from hardcore email and smartphones to mainstream consumer tablets. How good is it as an e-reader? We'll have wait and see.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Verdict: The dark horse in the e-reader race, the PlayBook will have to amaze in order to gain top tablet honors.</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Rating: THREE BOOKMARKS</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Photo Credits: iPad, Kindle, NOOKColor, Blackberry PlayBook - Getty Images</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>iPad Image Courtesy of Apple Inc.</i></span><b></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Simon Munk <i><i> </i><b>Simon Munk</b><i> is an award-winning journalist that specializes in consumer technology, video games and outdoor-product coverage for men. He's written for </i>Stuff<i> and </i>Blender<i> magazines and was launch editor in chief of </i>Stuff Gamer.<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004TNCN8Q&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000EVYGQY&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002FQJT3Q&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002Y27P3M&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-17437810572757926062011-05-23T21:53:00.000-07:002011-05-23T21:53:23.815-07:00Understanding Girls/ Women -- How to analyze their body language and talks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">By Reed Tucker for our content partner: <i><a href="http://www.menslifetoday.com/">Men's Life Today </a></i>-- Handpicked for you by our team<i><br />
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<img alt="The Girl Decoder " height="150" src="http://www.menslifetoday.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/archive/feature/girl_decoder/images/large.jpg" width="150" /><br />
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<h4>Ever think, "It's like women speak some other language!" Well, they sort of do. Here are some tips for understanding why women communicate the way they do and how to handle it.</h4><h4 style="font-weight: normal;">God has played some cruel tricks on us men. He has made manly foods far too fattening and handed over Megan Fox to Brian Austin Green. But in perhaps His most diabolical move yet, He’s seen fit to make sure men will never, ever be able to understand what the hell women are saying.</h4>Sure, that communication gap has fueled lame comedy routines and sitcoms for eons, but there’s definitely more than a nugget of truth behind it. So why do men and women have such a problem figuring each other out?<br />
For one thing, women are just plain different. And we’re not talking about their propensity to wear bikinis. They actually communicate differently. Here’s why, and what to do about it:<br />
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<b>Why They Talk … and Talk and Talk </b>While men tend to bond by exchanging information, women bond simply by opening their gobs; what she’s saying isn’t nearly as important as the fact that she’s saying it. “This is something guys don’t understand,” says Stephen Simpson, author of <i>What Women Wish You Knew about Dating: A Single Guy's Guide to Romantic Relationships.</i> “Just sharing any information is bonding to women.”<br />
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<b>Why They Don’t Come out and Say It </b>Women are also generally less direct and more polite -- not including Nancy Pelosi. “Women speak from the heart,” says Lissa Coffey, relationship expert and Web mistress of the site Coffey Talk. “We’re aware of the emotion that is involved, we’re sensitive and we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. When we are direct, it comes across as a demand, an argument or nagging. So we say in girl speak: ‘When you have a minute, would you mind please taking out the trash?’ and of course, the man hears this, interprets it as not a priority and a minute later promptly forgets. What we really meant in man speak was ‘Trash. Out. Now.’ But that just sounds mean, and we prefer to be more lady-like.”<br />
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<b>Why They Say “Maybe” When They Mean “No” </b>When you ask out a woman, she may say “Let me check my schedule” as opposed to what she’s actually thinking: “You’ll see Rush Limbaugh running the ACLU before you see me naked.” Simply, the female preference for politeness is to blame.<br />
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<b>Why They Use Body Language</b>Science has shown it, and we know you’re not going to try and argue with science: Women won’t just come out and say they are interested. Instead, she’ll let you know she’s hot for you by making eye contact, touching your arm and rubbing her own neck. It’s true. What can be most maddening for men is that women are even less direct when they feel like they’re being pursued by a guy. “She’s immediately going to become a lot vaguer and use more nonverbal cues,” Simpson says. In other words, don’t expect her to come right out and invite you for a cozy weekend at her beach house.<br />
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<b>Why They Want You to Argue</b>Most guys will agree with anything a hot woman says. When you don’t, she’ll know you’re being honest. Simpson says women are so jaded that, early on in relationships, they actually count on men deceiving them. “They expect any guy who’s interested to exaggerate and hide something,” Simpson says. Often, women are less direct because they’re more cautious. (If you’d been hit on by as many losers as most chicks have, wouldn’t you be cautious too?) One of the ways to show her you’re not like all those other lying Neanderthals is to disagree with her.<br />
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<b>How to Deal </b>So, yeah. Seems that bad comedian at the Ha Ha Hut was right. Men and women: different. She’ll continue to say vague, indirect things that you won’t understand, and the problems will persist. Solution: It’s time to put yourself in her place, gentlemen. “So often men don’t understand women because they look at the situation from their own, male point of view,” Coffey says. “Look at the situation instead through her eyes. Psychically try to put on her high-heeled pumps and feel what she’s feeling, just for a moment, even if it might seem to be illogical to you.”<br />
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And if that seems like more empathy than you can muster, try repeating back in your own words things women are saying to see if you’ve got it right. Sure, playing the parrot is a pain. But it’s not nearly as bad as swinging from your perch alone, night after night.<br />
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<div class="ByLine"><b>Reed Tucker</b> <i>is a writer at </i>The New York Post. <i>If he were to actually meet Megan Fox, he is sure he’d know how to decode her. <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001E3ZG1A&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000WQCYDI&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B003WGM7FU&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004TA7LTK&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></i></div><br />
</div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-41105246830019320462011-05-23T21:44:00.000-07:002011-05-23T21:44:01.741-07:00Keep your resolutions -- Use these tech applications to help you<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By Tim Jarvis for our content Partner: <i><a href="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/">Style + Tech For Men</a></i> -- Handpicked for you by our team</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Tech Solutions to Track Your Resolutions" height="150" src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/archive/2011-01-03/feature/track_resolutions/images/large.jpg" width="180" /> </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It used to be that new year’s resolutions were as easy to stick to as Bayou beach rocks after the BP oil spill. But technology has finally caught up with your absolute lack of resolve.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Every year, losing weight and saving money top the new year’s resolution hit -- and miss -- list. The great news is that you can stick to these resolutions with an array of gadgets that amounts to a pile of high-tech superglue. The better news? Most of them are cheap -- or <i>free</i> -- thanks to your phone.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“We’re moving into an app-dominated world,” says Eric Schlissel, the owner and CEO of the IT tech support company GeekTek.com, based in Los Angeles. “Gadgets are integrated into what you already carry around, so why spend a lot of money on something your phone can do for the price of a $5 app?”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here are five resolutions with apps to track ’em:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>1. Bring Balance to Your Life<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_remember_milk.jpg" /></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Photo courtesy of rememberthemilk.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</script></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You can balance your checkbook in a way that won’t result in prosecution <i>and</i> make sure to keep that appointment with your defense attorney by adding a task- and time-management app to your smartphone. Schlissel recommends <b>Remember the Milk,</b> a free, feature-packed app that efficiently sorts, prioritizes and color-codes your to-do lists -- and keeps you focused on your goals via IM, email or SMS reminders. Upgrade to a Pro account for $25, and you’ll get priority support and more features. <br />
<b>Platforms</b>: iPhone, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Android <br />
<a href="http://www.remeberthemilk.com/" target="_blank">RememberTheMilk.com<br />
</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>2. Get a Little Help From Your Friends<br />
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<img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_43_things.jpg" /></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Photo courtesy of 43things.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now that you’ve got your scheduling sorted, it wouldn’t hurt to have a supportive community to help you <i>keep</i> your resolution. “<b>43Things</b> is a great online goal-setting and networking app (accessible through Facebook) with millions of users,” says Schlissel. You can itemize your goals, browse through other people’s to get ideas, post questions and even track your progress as others cheer you on to the finish line … or root for you to trip over your beer muscle.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Platforms</b>: iPhone</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.43things.com/" target="_blank">43Things.com<br />
</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>3. Move More<br />
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<img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_runkeeper.jpg" /></b><i><br />
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Photo courtesy of runkeeper.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It’s a novel concept if you want to lose weight: Eat less … and <i>move</i> more! According to Schlissel, one of the most robust and accurate GPS tracking apps for athletes is <b>RunKeeper.</b> Ironically, the app works just as well for cyclists, hikers, skiers, etc. It analyzes your workout and tracks your distance, time and pace. One of its strengths is its interactive website on which you can sign up for the Street Team feature and connect with other users to trade progress reports, motivate each other and even participate in online fitness classes.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Platforms</b>: iPhone and Android</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://runkeeper.com/" target="_blank">RunKeeper.com</a><b><br />
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4. Burn-notice Machine</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_burn_notice.jpg" /></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Photo courtesy of worksmartlabs.com </i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>CardioTrainer</b> gets equally high marks from Schlissel. It also utilizes your phone’s GPS to track your workouts and automatically uploads the results to its website. The app is easy to set up and boasts an array of features that includes an integrated calorie-calculator, auto-pause and real-time feedback. <b>Basic CardioTrainer</b> (free) can be upgraded with two premium features: <b>Weight Loss Trainer</b> ($2.99), which lets you set up and track a weight-loss plan, and <b>Race Against Yourself</b> ($2.99), which records your results and sets up competition against your best times.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Platforms</b>: Android</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.worksmartlabs.com/" target="_blank">WorkSmartLabs.com<br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>5. Stay Above the Bottom Line</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><img src="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/images/STM_above_bottom_line.jpg" /></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Photo courtesy of mint.com</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you’re looking to avoid writing checks from the prison library this year, it’s time to look into a good financial app. “I think <b>Mint.com</b> is the best financial application out there,” concludes Schlissel. “It tracks your accounts, automatically updates transactions and is easy to use. It’s incredibly useful.” Mint pulls all your financial information into one place, allowing you to see all your balances and transactions together, on the Web or your phone. Even better? Neither the Mint.com app nor access to their website will <i>cost</i> you a dime.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Platforms</b>: iPhone and Android platforms</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://mint.com/" target="_blank">Mint.com</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tim Jarvis <i><b>Tim Jarvis</b><i> is a freelance health, technology and entertainment writer who contributes to</i> O, The Oprah Magazine <i>and</i> <i>the men’s grooming and lifestyle site</i> Men’s Life Today. <i>He is also currently working on a book about the mysteries of quantum mechanics.<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0979562503&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=1176667238&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001IHOA1E&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0016BQFV0&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></i></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-71214268777570430992011-05-23T21:15:00.000-07:002011-05-23T21:32:20.382-07:00How to share safely on Social Networks such as Facebook<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0470539526&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>From the Editors of our content partner: <i><a href="http://www.everydayconnected.com/">Every Day Connected</a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img align="left" border="0" height="212" src="http://www.everydayconnected.com/partner/content/default/archive/2010-11-29/play/share_safely/TOF_share_safely_lg.jpg" width="181" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The days when social networks were just for teens are long over: Adults now take up social networking for fun and business alike. One entrepreneur, Sheilah Etheridge of Anchorage, Alaska, uses social networks to turn up business leads for her home-based accounting and consulting firm. But Etheridge is selective with what she shares and where. “Everything we post on the Web is obviously out there for all the world to see, and it’s out there for eternity,” she says.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To get the most out of your favorite social networks, it’s important to be aware of how to protect your online privacy. Here’s how to share safely:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Tip No. 1: Don’t fork over too much personal info.</b><br />
You don’t always know who is viewing even tidbits of your profiles, so think twice before you post sensitive -- or potentially embarrassing -- information, videos or photos on social networks. It could fall into the hands of identity thieves, prospective employers, college recruiters or even potential mates.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“People should assume the content they put online is going to be public,” says blogger Jeremiah Owyang, a former senior analyst for Forrester Research.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Tip No. 1: Review privacy policies before you post.</b><br />
Some networks, such as LinkedIn, have adopted privacy policies that vouch they’ll never share your information with other users without your consent. Other sites, like Facebook and Twitter, offer online privacy settings that allow you to control who can view certain information and who gets notification when you add friends or Web applications.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But be mindful about the details: On Facebook, for example, your profile and photo privacy settings are separate. Just because you block non-friends from seeing your profile doesn’t bar them from seeing your photos. Make sure your review all your preferences under Account and Privacy Settings.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Tip No. 2: Don’t reveal <i>every </i>step you take.</b><br />
It’s a freaky thought, but stalkers, jealous spouses and suspicious employers can use social networks to keep an eye on your every move. Many photos and posts are time-stamped, so the date and time you post it is recorded and shared with your network of friends or connections. This means your boss may be able to find out how much time you spend on Facebook while at work.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</script></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Facebook also allows you to “Check In” where you are, revealing your geographic location. On Twitter, you can note your location in your tweets and in your profile. If you want to keep your moves and location on the down-low, avoid checking in altogether and tweak your online privacy settings.<b><br />
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Tip No. 4: Be smart with apps.</b><br />
Most social networking sites are for-profit companies, and advertising keeps membership free. Any time you sign up for a free app or contest on a social network, your private data might be used to target you with online advertising based on your activities.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“The purpose behind social networking sites is supposed to be to enable you to connect with friends and colleagues and do these networking activities,” says John Verdi, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) , a nonprofit privacy advocacy group in Washington, D.C. “What they don’t say is that ‘our real purpose is to mine your data and sell it to the highest bidder.’”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So even if you’ve read Facebook’s online privacy policy, you still need to read the privacy policies of application-makers who promote their apps on Facebook. “They are third-party applications,” says Verdi. “The social networks don’t vouch for any of them.”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Tip No. 5: Don’t expect to be able to delete it once you post it.</b><br />
It’s happened to the best of us: being haunted by your old social network posts that never die. There is an assumption that you “own” your profiles. But that’s not the case.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the past, Facebook users were not able to completely delete their profiles. Facebook claimed it wanted to store the information in case users wanted to revive their profile, but it has now caved in under pressure from users to allow for easier deleting. MySpace and LinkedIn allow users to delete their profiles too.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But when it comes to posts you leave on others’ profiles -- or content that friends copied off your profile or blog -- it can remain online for eternity. “There are going to be remnants or ghosts,” says Owyang. “Assume that everything you put online is forever.”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The single best thing you can do before you put yourself out there on a social network? “Speak to other users you know and trust before joining some sites,” says Etheridge. In other words, network a bit before you sign up for a network so you can learn more about how the site protects your info -- or doesn’t.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">More info on <a class="SponsoredURL" href="http://protectme.webroot.com/" onclick="window.open('http://www.everydayconnected.com/infopoweredftp//../../../../programsend/sponsorunit/url-1/index.html'); return false; ">Internet security, antispyware and antivirus software</a> from our sponsor<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001I45IAY&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=057804546X&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00449SBHM&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0050G307Y&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-41777032010295385322011-05-23T21:09:00.000-07:002011-05-23T21:09:11.173-07:00The Go-to Gaming Device -- A trusty Laptop<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By Matt Ployhar for our content partner: <i><a href="http://www.digitalinnovationgazette.com/">Digital Innovation Gazette</a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="My Go-to Gaming Device: A Trusty Laptop" height="135" src="http://www.digitalinnovationgazette.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/archive/2011-03-14/blog/gaming_device/images/large.jpg" width="135" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Over the past couple of decades, I’ve done a ton of gaming on PCs (including laptops and desktops), consoles, handhelds (e.g., PSP), and smartphones. When I first got my start working in the industry in a professional capacity back in 1997, I was working for Microsoft in the SideWinder gaming devices group. In the past 14 years, I’ve seen a lot of interfaces and devices come and go for various reasons, and I continue to see more on the horizon that are interesting -- but are unlikely to stick. The same holds true for gaming platforms.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Laptops for the past decade have been my No. 1 go-to gaming device. But it wasn’t always this way. (My earliest PC gaming experiences date back to the <a href="http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/computers/IIe.html" target="_blank">Apple IIe</a> in 1983 that my Dad purchased.) This doesn’t mean I dislike PC desktops. I still own one, but I do find myself booting it up less frequently. One of the limitations desktops share with consoles is that they’re stationary devices. I would say I now live in a mobile, dynamic, wirelessly connected, digital content world.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’m going to include some devices that I took some pictures of recently for one of my projects.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img src="http://digitalinnovationgazette.com/images/dig_picture_1_3142011_blog.jpg" target="_blank" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What you can see by looking at Picture No. 1 is that only the devices closest to you in the photo are actually standalone and self-contained devices. You don’t need a separate keyboard, display, etc. My hunch is that the 8th generation of consoles might head in the standalone direction and become more mobile. To that end, I believe they’re going to be playing a huge game of catch-up to the already well-entrenched and existing laptop/iPad/Slate/smartphone/iPhone markets. (Good luck!)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">They also start running a greater risk of being construed as proprietary entertainment PCs, which might be sticky to navigate for console makers that partner with computer makers. Another option would be to integrate themselves into TVs, but I think in that scenario, their proprietary nature becomes an Achilles’ heel. Finally, and what I would do if I were them, is to go the route of a proprietary Slate-like entertainment platform. However, while they’re sort of cool and sexy now, they have more limitations than a laptop and the proprietary path limits the options. Not very smart in this era, in my personal opinion.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img src="http://digitalinnovationgazette.com/images/dig_picture_2_3142011_blog.jpg" target="_blank" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The next point comes into play in Picture No. 2. From a gaming perspective, what game platform provides the least amount of compromise? What devices are best suited to carry around? What can you use from the comfort of anywhere in your home? When you’re traveling at an Internet cafe, or on a plane, what makes the most sense? Which of these is the most self-contained?</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Answer: Laptops!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Laptops have really closed the gap in terms of performance from where they used to be. About 10 years ago, gaming on them was sort of painful. However, today they’re incredible devices. With modern-day OS’s, they simply plug into and play on practically any HDTV. HDMI cables work great. There are also several wireless gaming controllers that one can use to play console-like games from your laptop in the living room (e.g., <i>BioShock</i>).</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Furthermore, the experience just keeps getting better. Laptop graphics are better and more stable. Solid state drives are becoming cheaper. Wireless display technologies are right around the corner, and everything is shrinking and becoming lighter -- and with better battery life. When you start adding all of these benefits together, I believe they far outweigh the few negatives. You end up with a very amazing and compelling gaming platform in a very portable package.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b>Matt Ployhar</b><i> focuses on graphics, multimedia and gaming in Intel’s visual computing software division</i><i> [disclosure: Intel is the sponsor of this website]</i><i>. Prior to that, he worked at Microsoft for more than 12 years. His passions are graphics and gaming. And when he can get away from his computer, he also enjoys the great outdoors and reading.<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B003FL6RXU&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001T4XU1C&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001E45XT4&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001OIRS02&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></i></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-882106657685729672011-05-23T21:04:00.000-07:002011-05-23T21:04:52.434-07:00Visual Computing -- What is the next challenge?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By Orion R. Granatir for our content partner: <i><a href="http://www.digitalinnovationgazette.com/">Digital Innovation Gazette</a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Finding the Next Challenge in Visual Computing" height="135" src="http://www.digitalinnovationgazette.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/archive/2011-04-18/blog/next_challenge_visual_computing/images/large.jpg" width="135" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Five years ago, a new wave of consoles brought the inception of high-definition (HD) content to the video game industry. Some companies excelled in this era, others did not. Nevertheless, the industry is now HD.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As evidenced by console manufacturers developing new input controls to extend the life of this generation of consoles, the industry is looking for the next challenge. With the release of DirectX 11, the increasing capabilities of processor graphics, and a new surge of mobile devices, there certainly is plenty to explore.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0044XU34C&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><script src="http://www.digitalinnovationgazette.com/partner/content/infopoweredftp/programsend/programunit.js?Page=partner/unbranded/infopoweredftp/archive/2011-04-18/blog/next_challenge_visual_computing/index.html" type="text/javascript">
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Some think programming for multicore is a punishment reserved for the eighth ring of hell. (I recently beat EA’s <i>Dante’s Inferno,</i> so it’s on my mind.) But you don’t need to fight your way through purgatory to reach multicore heaven. If you keep two concepts in mind, things get easier:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>1. Use data decomposition:</b> A game can’t scale just by dividing subsystems onto separate threads (sometimes referred to as “functional decomposition”). It has to divide data intelligently to run across multiple cores. The ever-insightful Mike Acton has a great article on this very subject over at <a href="http://www.insomniacgames.com/research_dev/articles/2009/1500943" target="_blank">Insomniac Games’ R&D page</a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>2. Use tasks, not threads directly:</b> To scale on an arbitrary number of cores and be truly cross-platform, work should be divided into tasks. A task is a unit of work (for example, a function pointer and data) that can run without (or with very limited) synchronization. These units of work are processed by a thread pool, which is scaled appropriately to the available parallelism in the hardware.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By utilizing tasking and data decomposition together, it is possible to take advantage of multicore for all subsystems. Prior to DX11, rendering was still the locked gateway to heaven. With DX11, it’s now possible to divide the work of rendering into multiple tasks using deferred contexts.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It’s interesting to note that DX11’s multithreaded goodness can run on DX10 hardware. DX11 supports “feature level,” which allows the latest API to be used on a wide range of hardware (provided the application is running on Vista/Win7) by emulating any missing behavior in software.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There is a growing uptake of task-based architectures in game engine design. <a href="http://www.digitalinnovationgazette.com/blog/ghostbusters_challenges/index.html" target="_blank">Mark Randel’s implementation</a> of physics and AI in Terminal Reality’s Infernal Engine is nothing short of amazing. The fellows over at <a href="http://www.bitsquid.se/" target="_blank">BitSquid </a> are building a new game engine written with solid support for multicore. Furthermore, the <a href="http://digitalinnovationgazette.com/feature/techtools/civilization_5/index.html?target=firaxis" target="_blank"><i>Civilization V</i></a> team at Firaxis is getting great performance out of a task-based approach. (Check out their <a href="http://www.gdcvault.com/free/gdc-10" target="_blank">GDC 2010 presentation</a>: “Firaxis’ <i>Civilization V</i>: A Case Study in Scalable Game Performance.”)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b>Orion R. Granatir</b> <i>is a senior<br />
engineer with Intel’s Visual Computing Software Division [disclosure: Intel is<br />
a sponsor of this website]. Prior to that, Orion worked on several PlayStation<br />
3 titles as a senior programmer with Insomniac Games. His most recent published<br />
titles are </i>Resistance: Fall of Man<i> and </i>Ratchet and Clank<br />
Future: Tools of Destruction<i>. <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002MPPRPO&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001E45XT4&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002RRLQIO&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></i></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002Q4U5DK&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-29128780044629256112011-05-23T20:59:00.000-07:002011-05-23T20:59:33.112-07:00Advice on how you can find the best deals online<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Handpicked for you by our team...From the Editors of our content partner: <i><a href="http://www.everydayconnected.com/">Every Day Connected</a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img align="left" border="0" height="212" src="http://www.everydayconnected.com/partner/content/default/archive/2011-01-17/shop/find_best_deals_online/EDC_find_best_deals_online_lg.jpg" width="181" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When a birthday or the holidays roll around at the Scharer household in Athens, Ohio, 39-year-old Greg Scharer has no need to make a shopping list and check it twice. Instead, he turns to his favorite online shopping destination, <a href="http://www.woot.com/" target="_blank">Woot</a> , for daily deals. This year, he was able to buy shock-resistant cameras for his three children at $12 apiece (approximately one-third of the price at Toys“R”Us).</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“It’s incredibly convenient -- as you’re waiting at a dentist appointment or traveling, you can be on your phone looking at different things you need,” says Scharer, who uses the mobile app WootWatch. WootWatch scrolls all of Woot’s various offshoots -- like <a href="http://kids.woot.com/" target="_blank">Kids Woot</a> -- to aggregate its daily deal offerings. “Along with saving time, I find it typically saves me between 30 to 70 percent off retail prices.”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Scharer’s not alone in his shopping habits. Many busy parents are embracing the ease of online shopping in the cloud -- using websites, online services or mobile apps to bargain-hunt versus trudging to the nearest brick-and-mortar store. So how can one navigate the Web to find the <i>best</i> deals and steals? Here are the five best ways to discount-hunt in the cloud:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>No. 1: Start your spree by comparison-shopping. <br />
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</b>“Your first line of research should be price comparison sites, which are very powerful for getting a quick idea of what the item you want costs,” says Brad Wilson, editor in chief of <a href="http://www.bradsdeals.com/" target="_blank">Brad’s Deals</a> . <a href="http://www.pricegrabber.com/" target="_blank">PriceGrabber</a> is SmartMoney.com’s <a href="http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/which-comparison-shopping-site-is-best/" target="_blank">top pick</a> , while <a href="http://www.nextag.com/" target="_blank">NexTag</a> and <a href="http://www.shopzilla.com/" target="_blank">Shopzilla</a> are other popular options.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>No. 2: Snag both offline</b> <b>and online deals with coupon-based sites. <br />
</b>Whether shopping online or off, coupon codes can be a bargain hunter’s best friend. Coupon aggregators like Brad’s Deals and <a href="http://www.retailmenot.com/" target="_blank">RetailMeNot</a> offer both printable and online coupons, which can be redeemed for everything from free shipping to can’t-pass-up prices. “People don’t realize just how many coupons there are and how easy they are to get,” says Wilson, whose site currently shares 4,500 active coupons for 1,500 retailers.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>No. 3: Use social networking.</b> <br />
<br />
Let other savvy shoppers do the work for you! One mom, Stephanie Moisio, has filled her Twitter feed with family shopping bloggers (like <a href="http://twitter.com/babygoodbuys" target="_blank">@babygoodbuys</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/dealseekingmom" target="_blank">@dealseekingmom</a> and @<a href="http://twitter.com/freebies4mom" target="_blank">freebies4mom</a>), who post deals they find online. "It's nice to do all your deal-seeking in one convenient place," says Moisio. When shopping on her Android, she follows their tips to make smart purchases, often using the <a href="http://www.ebates.com/" target="_blank">Ebates</a> mobile app in tandem to earn cash back at participating stores.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>No. 4: Get your daily deal fix delivered to your inbox or phone. <br />
</b>You may have heard of the popular Groupon, but there are other deals to be had. Subscribing to free daily sale sites like Woot, Zulily and <a href="http://www.yugster.com/" target="_blank">Yugster</a> gives you access to limited-time discounts available only to members. For a more local flavor and deals on meals and more, get the best of the rest with an aggregator like <a href="http://www.thedealmap.com/" target="_blank">DealMap</a> . </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>No. 5: Be smart about sharing personal information. <br />
</b>When shopping online, always make sure your site of choice is encrypted for safety; you can tell by whether it has “https:” in its URL. Also, use a credit card with built-in benefits like extended product warranties, identity theft protection or customer-friendly dispute options. But try not to stress <i>too</i> much. Says Wilson: “If you apply a dose of common sense to the process, you’ll be perfectly fine.”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-890639611007024542011-05-23T20:50:00.000-07:002011-05-23T20:51:17.042-07:00The guide to the six best music applications for your phone and computer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Handpicked for you by our team...From the Editors of our content partner: <i><a href="http://www.everydayconnected.com/">Every Day Connected</a></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img align="left" border="0" height="212" src="http://www.everydayconnected.com/partner/content/default/archive/2011-03-07/play/best_music_apps/EDC_best_music_apps_lg.jpg" width="181" /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Just a few years ago, the ability to listen to digital music on an MP3 player seemed revolutionary. Today, you can use handheld devices, like your smartphone, to create your own stations or even your own music -- without ever having to touch a real instrument.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“There are tons of great apps for music creation on the iPad and iPhone, and there are new ones emerging every day,” says Greg Thomas, a musician in El Cerrito, Calif. “There are apps that let you simulate playing keyboards, synths, guitars, drums, drum machines and other instruments.”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That’s only the beginning. Here are six don’t-miss music apps that will help you bring a little more music into your life.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Music App No. 1: Pandora<br />
Lets you … Discover new music and share music picks with friends </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.pandora.com/" target="_blank">Pandora</a> is a unique app that aims to expose you to artists you haven’t discovered yet but are bound to love based on your current music preferences. Just type in the name of one of your favorite songs or artists, and Pandora will create a “radio station” that streams music with a similar sound composition to your device. Give each song that is streamed a thumbs up or down, and Pandora will further optimize the station for you. You can create up to 100 stations, which you can also share with friends -- creating a grassroots following for your new favorite artists.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“My favorite thing about the service is definitely the ability to discover new music,” says Bethany Miller of Scranton, Penn. “By far, my favorite artist that Pandora helped me discover is Gregory Alan Isakov. I’ve been playing his album <i>That Sea, The Gambler</i> more or less on repeat since I first heard ‘The Stable Song’ on my Pandora station and immediately went and bought it.”</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Available on: Web, Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, Palm Pre and Windows Mobile.</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Music App No. 2: Shazam</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Lets you … Identify that great song you’re hearing at the store</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.shazam.com/" target="_blank">Shazam</a> recognizes and identifies music that you hear offline, such as in a clothing store, at a party or on the radio. It uses your device’s microphone to listen to whatever song you’re hearing, and then it tells you the title and artist. Shazam even links you to a place where you can buy a track and share info about it with your social networks. The app does a pretty good job of identifying music through ambient noise, such as people talking in the background.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Available on: Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, Nokia and Windows Mobile</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Music App No. 3: JamPad<br />
Lets you … Experiment with music composition</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Touchscreen devices are ideal for music-making, and you don’t even have to be a professional. Try <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jampad/id364503678?mt=8" target="_blank">JamPad</a> : It features a keyboard, drum beats, electric guitar and guitar strum patterns -- and you can play all four at once. You can’t record your musical creations, but this app is just for jamming anyway. Looking to record on your iPhone? Try <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nanostudio/id382263651?mt=8" target="_blank">NanoStudio</a> .</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Available on: iPhone and iPad</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Music App No. 4: SoundCloud<br />
Lets you … Share your original tunes </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If you’ve made your own music on your device or computer, you can upload it to <a href="http://soundcloud.com/" target="_blank">SoundCloud</a> and share it with friends to get feedback. They can even attach their comments to specific spots in your track to tell you a part they love or a part that needs more work. Then you can get on the SoundCloud site to explore and comment on the thousands of tracks that others have uploaded and categorized according to genre.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Available on: Web, Android, iPhone and iPad</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Music App No. 5: Djay</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Lets you … Spin at your own events </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Just as the name suggests, <a href="http://www.algoriddim.com/djay-ipad" target="_blank">djay </a> turns you into a DJ. Use the app to record your own mixes or to mix on the fly. If you’re a beginner and need some help, the auto-mix mode will turn a playlist into a mix for you. Plus, it integrates with iTunes, so you have your whole music collection to work with. The iPad version is especially cool because you can scratch the records just like you would on a real turntable.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Available on: Mac and iPad</i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b> </b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Music App No. 6: mSpot</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Lets you … Listen to your collection across devices</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With <a href="http://www.mspot.com/" target="_blank">mSpot</a> , you can upload your entire music collection to the cloud and listen to it anywhere, from any device. The app also keeps your collection synced, so when you purchase new music -- say, through iTunes -- it will automatically upload your new tracks to your music library in the cloud.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Available on: Web, Android and iPhone <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B002Y27P3M&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004K4AUZW&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004P1JMYA&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001EN71CW&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></i></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-30437657304265659452011-05-22T01:20:00.000-07:002011-05-23T20:22:48.116-07:0010 iPhone Health Apps to keep you in good shape<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXSnxyaOQQW_YYbuFjyKGsKLeCZlPe6vO7ptS1TtEloHKCQtmgZO3mAG6-jW_pKdJ4f14cOPvPzaIT5YoJuMNpcwRddghhWGY5_UZkPcxVgsztQC6bYiDGI-FHKYUC-ZneJJ5iCA/s1600/ifitness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXSnxyaOQQW_YYbuFjyKGsKLeCZlPe6vO7ptS1TtEloHKCQtmgZO3mAG6-jW_pKdJ4f14cOPvPzaIT5YoJuMNpcwRddghhWGY5_UZkPcxVgsztQC6bYiDGI-FHKYUC-ZneJJ5iCA/s320/ifitness.jpg" width="320" /></a>Using a phone app is an easy way to track your health -- and even improve it. But with so many flooding the market, it’s tough to figure out which ones are actually useful. So we got busy testing. Here are our top iPhone health app picks for simplicity, convenience and ease of use. (They are all available for iTouch and iPad as well.) Most are free -- and none costs more than $3.99. Better health is just a download away.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Sun Alert Lite:</b> This app lets you know when to reapply sunscreen based on your skin type, weather conditions, and your sunscreen’s SPF. By retrieving the current data of the UV radiation for your location, Sun Alert then calculates the time you can safely expose your skin to the sun before getting burned.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost:</b> Free at iTunes</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Lose It!:</b> Set fitness and nutrition goals -- and actually feel accountable for keeping them. Like a mobile food diary, this app allows you to keep track of your daily caloric intake, as well as your exercise and other activities. It comes with an extensive database of foods that’s complete with calorie, fat, carb, fiber and protein counts. Monitor your progress by printing out custom reports, or sign up for weekly email updates. And for an extra motivational push, join the online community to earn badges and share your progress with other users.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost:</b> Free at iTunes</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><!-- EDITORIAL UNIT BEGINS --><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>GymGoal:</b> With 280 exercises illustrated with animations and organized into 52 suggested workouts, this easy-to-use app is like having a personal trainer at the gym -- minus the pricey hourly fee. Track your workouts, body measurements, target heart rate and more. The app also provides progress reports and, for fitness fiends, gives you helpful suggestions of muscle groups you’ve been missing.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost:</b> $3.99 at iTunes (a lite version is available for $1.99)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cavity Free 3D:</b> Perfect your brushing and flossing techniques with realistic (and strangely beautiful) animations that guide you step-by-step. The app even makes it fun for kids to learn how to care for their teeth, especially if they have braces.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost:</b> Free at iTunes</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Mayo Clinic Meditation:</b> Learning to meditate might seem like it requires a lot of patience, but it’s really as simple as opening this app. Developed by the Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at the Mayo Clinic, the application guides you through a five-minute or fifteen-minute session that’s designed to teach breathing and meditation techniques to soothe stress. We felt more centered from our very first try.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost:</b> $2.99 at iTunes</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Epocrates Rx:</b> If you take any kind of prescription drug, you’ve got to have this app. It lists data for more than 3,000 brand-name and generic medications, including common dosages, possible side effects, and interactions. It even has photos of pills -- so you can make sure your pharmacist gave you the right Rx.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost:</b> Free at iTunes (visit Epocrates.com for BlackBerry and Android versions)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Dosecast:</b> Can’t take your daily meds at the same time without setting an awkward phone alarm? Avoid the disruption with this app, which keeps track of all your meds and vitamins, including daily dosage and pill strength, and sends you a text notification when it’s time for your daily dose. Bonus: It adjusts for time-zone changes when you travel.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost:</b> Free at iTunes</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>CPR & Choking:</b> Even if you’ve taken a CPR class in the past, chances are you’ll find it tough to recall the steps in an emergency situation. Featuring step-by-step instructions for adults, children and infants, this app could be a true lifesaver.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost:</b> $0.99 at iTunes</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Emergency Aid:</b> Whether you have to deal with a sprain, chest pain, or dozens of other unpredictable emergencies, this app gives you simple first aid instructions on the spot based on standards from the Red Cross and other national health and emergency associations.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost:</b> $1.99 at iTunes</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>ICE:</b> The name of this app stands for “In Case of Emergency.” Should there be one, it will help first responders identify you and your emergency contacts, and alert them to your medical conditions and medications.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Cost: </b>$0.99 at iTunes</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>Brought to you in association with <a href="http://www.chargeupforgoodhealth.com/">Charge Up For Good Health</a>...written by Nancy Kalish, Certified Health Coach. </i></b><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001394530&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0043OYFKU&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36003309.post-8169516689370194792011-05-22T00:45:00.000-07:002011-05-23T20:39:18.162-07:00A look at the kind of car accessories which will attract the women<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The accessories you choose depend on the kind of lady you’re looking to attract. If a girl likes to be chauffeured in a car or taken out, she’ll want to look good when she arrives.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Wheels</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The car needs to have a nice set of wheels that’s not too gaudy, chrome-y or flashy. Look for something that is clean and elegant -- something that screams quality. (WheelSkin.com is a good place to start.) <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000XQ9MGE&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><!-- EDITORIAL UNIT BEGINS --><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Seats</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Leather seats are also nice for this lady. They just make her feel like you’re more sophisticated.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Sound</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It’s also nice to have good sound system, but nothing outrageous. No bazooka tubes or exposed particle-board speaker boxes that your cousin made. <a href="http://www.alpine-usa.com/" target="_blank">Alpine</a> is a very well-known brand, but it’s also very high-schoolish. You’ll want something slightly off the mainstream that sounds cleaner. A head unit from <a href="http://www.memphiscaraudio.com/" target="_blank">Memphis Car Audio</a> or <a href="http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car" target="_blank">Pioneer Electronics</a> could work because they’re not too big or cheesy, and they crank out clean, crisp tunes.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Direction</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Having a good GPS system in your car is also a good idea. When women see a guy with a GPS, like a new <a href="http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/" target="_blank">Garmin</a>, it makes them think he’s well-prepared, responsible and not too macho to take instruction<b>.<br />
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Exhaust</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A powerful-sounding exhaust is also a nice touch. A lot of girls will be impressed if your car sounds tough. Plus, that’s how you one-up your pals: by having your car sound cooler than theirs. You can’t go wrong with mufflers from <a href="http://www.magnaflow.com/" target="_blank">MagnaFlow</a> or <a href="http://www.aemonly.com/" target="_blank">AEM</a> , companies that do exhausts and intakes. They’re not expensive, and they really add to the sound and look of your car.<b><br />
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Style</b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For old-school style, I think a nice <a href="http://www.hawaiiankinestuff.com/dahugi1.html" target="_blank">hula girl</a> would be a big hit because it shows you have a sense of humor. If you take yourself too seriously -- and wear driving gloves and aviators like you’re Burt Reynolds -- that’s a big turnoff for women. It’s like you’re telling her your car and driving are more important than she is. Even if that’s true for you, remember to keep it on the down-low.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>Brought to you in association with <a href="http://www.styleandtechformen.com/">Style and Tech for Men</a>. <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000RGQ4Q6&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B004QK5N5W&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0013PXV4S&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=infoamenslif-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000J2EN4S&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe></i></b></div></div>Infopowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16862305035785636306noreply@blogger.com0