In the past, video surveillance has been quite expensive and not always that effective. In the last decade or so, prices have come down while dependability has increased, and many homeowners are choosing to include video surveillance in their home security systems. This is because video surveillance systems (VSS) are good for catching intruders “in the act.”

What Video Surveillance Systems Consist of:

• a video camera
• a recording/playback device
• a monitor
• and sometimes a motion detector

The Two Types of Video Surveillance Systems

Covert — Covert systems are when the cameras are hidden. These kind of surveillance systems may be used to watch housekeepers, nannies/babysitters, or anyone on your property you may want to watch to ensure they’re not doing something they shouldn’t be.

Overt – Overt systems are when the cameras are obvious. These kind of video surveillance systems are meant to be as much of a deterrent as a method of catching thieves. A thief will think twice about visiting a house with outdoor cameras and numerous signs around the premises advertising your video surveillance system.

Video Surveillance Systems: Pros

• Can reduce the likelihood of break ins.
• If a break in does occur, cameras can increase the probability of burglars being caught and positively identified.
• This can cause them to receive firmer consequences for their actions.

Video Surveillance Systems: Cons

• Purchasing and installing a comprehensive video surveillance system can be costly.
• The systems will require ongoing maintenance.
• Cameras might be stolen/damaged.
• Family might not feel comfortable knowing the cameras are always watching.

 

homesecurityinformation.com

quote
 
“I’m not a workout girl. In my family, we are all skinny. But superheroes aren’t twiggy — they’ve gotta have a little meat on their bones. So I’ve got a personal trainer and I’ve been eating like crazy just trying to gain weight.” -Ashley Scott

biography
 
Ashley McCall Scott was born on July 13, 1977, in Metairie, Louisiana, and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. The young girl with big dreams started modeling early on, and her first competitive stint was at a Millie Lewis talent competition. Even though she forgot her lines, she recovered with grace and style, winning her division.

Knowing that an aspiring model has to start young, she headed for New York when she was 15 to break into the big leagues. After trying out different markets in different cities, she went to Miami, where she posed for several catalogs and the Giorgio Red women’s perfume.

ashley auditions for simone

Things picked up for Ashley’s modeling career as she walked down fashion runways in Paris and London, while doing magazine shoots in between catwalks. But her drive to try her luck as an actress was stronger than her love for modeling and soon enough, she was off to auditions. In one of her first tries, she found herself reciting lines in front of Al Pacino — the audition was for 2002’s Simone.

She didn’t get the part, but a tape of her audition made its way to the bigwigs at DreamWorks, who cast her as Gigolo Jane (opposite Jude Law’s Gigolo Joe) in A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001).

ashley scott in dark angel

But her first real role came later that year in the FOX sci-fi series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba. Scott’s portrayal of Asha Barlowe (an aide to cyber journalist Logan Cale, played by Michael Weatherly) was so liked by the producers that they made her an official cast member.

It didn’t take long for other shows to follow suit. The WB’s Birds of Prey, about post-Batman Gotham City, debuted in 2002 and cast Ashley as Helena Kyle/The Huntress, a female crime fighter and daughter of the caped crusader and Catwoman. Ashley got to do some of her own stunts, but the show was short-lived and ended that same year.

ashley is walking tall

Ashley Scott was next spotted on the big screen with a minor role in S.W.A.T. (2003). In 2004, she played The Rock’s girlfriend Deni in Walking Tall, appeared in the horror Trespassing, and portrayed “Judy the Operator” in the film Lost (not to be confused with the ABC series).

ashley scott is into the blue

Although she was originally cast in the Friends spinoff Joey, Ashley was replaced before its 2004 debut. But the good news is that Ashley can add 2005’s Into the Blue (starring her Dark Angel co-star Jessica Alba and Paul Walker) to her resume.

ashley scott at home

Once romantically involved with Ashton Kutcher, Ashley Scott lives in Los Angeles with her movie producer husband Anthony Rhulen and her pets — two Australian tree frogs.
 

 

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Everyone knows that you will get farther in life with a degree. High school graduates make more, on average, than non-graduates, those with an associates degree make more than those with a high school diploma, and those with a bachelors degree make even more. It will soon be essential to have a bachelors degree just in order to get a good job.

The Internet is growing rapidly and more and more users surfing on the World Wide Web everyday. People around the world are shopping, learning, and making all of their business transaction online. In this technologically advanced society it is even possible to get an online bachelors degree. You can earn a bachelors degree without ever leaving the comfort of your own home.

An online bachelors degree consists of 120-128 credits. Earning a bachelors degree generally takes around four years, give or take, but if you opt for an online bachelors degree, you can have your degree in hand much quicker than that. You can test out of some classes, and when taking college classes online, you can work at your own pace and complete courses much quicker. Many online courses are also only two and eight week courses, where at a university they would take an entire semester to complete.

You can earn an online bachelors degree in the same amount of time at home as you can on campus at a university. The wonderful thing about getting a degree online is, as it is getting more and more popular, there are hundreds of different fields you can go into and types of degrees you can get. There are degree opportunities in criminal justice, nursing, psychology, social work, business, computer science, and many more.

If you have attended college in the past but wish to finish your courses online, you are able to transfer up to 60 credits to go towards an online bachelors degree. These credits are usually made up of foundation, basic courses and core curriculum; the things needed to complete an online degree. This will also shorten the amount of time it takes for you complete your degree.

When taking courses online you are still eligible for federal grant and school scholarship money to aid in your expenses. Online courses are not any more expensive than regular college classes, in fact, they are cheaper a lot of the time. With financial aid, you can get an online degree at no extra cost as well.

You can earn a bachelor degree online without ever attending a college campus. This is excellent for stay at home mom’s or those who simply don’t want to relocate for college. Many older people who might have started college but did not get to finish enjoy taking online courses because they don’t want to be part of the college scene. Whatever your reasons for taking online courses, an online bachelors degree is easily within your reach.

 

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quote
 
“Will my boyfriend be playing in the World Cup? I want to book my summer holiday.”
- Alena Seredova, asking Italy’s coach, Marcello Lippi, about her fiance’s, Italian goalie Gianluigi Buffon, schedule.

biography
 
Alena was born on March 21, 1978, in Prague, Czech Republic. Her modeling career started at the age of 15. Five years later, she was named Miss Czech Republic. This launched Alena’s international modeling career and opened the door for her to act as cohost for Italian comedian Giorgio Panariello in 2002. Her successful turn on this show enabled her to act as cohost on a few other shows in Italy.

Alena’s popularity in Italy spawned more opportunities. She scored her acting debut in 2003 with Vincenzo Salemme’s Ho visto le stelle (I Have Seen the Stars), and followed this up with a role in 2004’s Christmas in Love.

alena seredova in max calendar

In 2005, Alena was chosen to pose in Max Calendar and was the object of affection for countless men who undoubtedly drooled over the 12, far-too-short months of the year.

 

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Every professional business should be keeping up with the demands and needs of its customers, if it is to survive. One of the essential tools of any business these days is to have a professional web site. This begins with choosing and registering a domain name that will clearly identify and brand your business online for many years to come, so you need to choose wisely.

How to choose a domain name

1. If you want your web site to have an added advantage in the search engines, think of a domain name that includes keywords visitors would search for in the main search engines.

2. Make a list of all the possible names that would suit your business (i.e. isitebuild.com contains resources for building your own web site or getting one built). Use www.nameboy.com for researching domain names. NameBoy will generate domain names based on the keywords you enter. If the dotcom name you want is not available, create a longer name that describes your business or use names that include hyphens (i.e. ihost-websites.com)

3. If possible, keep your domain name short so it is easy to spell and easy to remember. Take into account someone may remember the name but forget there is a hyphen in it – you then miss out on those potential customers.

4. If the dotcom name is not available, try the other new abbreviations such as .BIZ .US,.INFO, .TV. These are not as popular as .COM, however you may get closer to the name you want.

How to register a domain name

1. Any company that sells domain names must be registered and accredited with iCann - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (http://www.icann.org). You can get a domain name for under $10 from Godaddy.com. Read carefully what’s on their site as you go through the registration process. It’s easy to inadvertently sign up for other services you don’t need.

For a current list of companies that are accredited as registrars by iCann, visit Internic (www.internic.com).

2. Register your domain name in your own name, not someone else’s. Sometimes your host may do this for you. This could cause you problems in the future, should you decide to transfer your domain to another hosting company.

3. Renewal - you have had your site on the Web for a year, sales are pouring in when suddenly, your site disappears – it won’t show up anymore! What happened? Well, you forgot to renew your domain name. Hopefully this will never happen to you!

When you sign up for a new domain name, make sure your domain name registrar will send a reminder when your domain name is about to expire.

4. When asked about DNS server (domain name system) or Name Server information, insert your Primary Name Server and Secondary Name Server information – ask your future Web Hosting service for this information, if you don’t have it handy.

What is the DNS system?

It is the computer action of changing domain names into numeric Internet protocol (IP) numbers which enables computers to locate web sites and e-mail.

If you haven’t chosen a Web Host, then park your domain name with your domain name registrar (this is a temporary location to store your domain until you are ready to have it hosted).

How to transfer a domain name.

There may be several reasons why you would want to transfer:

-Renewing Domain Names
There is a good chance that you could save money on domain name renewals by transferring them to a different registrar. Check out the prices from different registrars at NewRegistrars.com.

Before renewing a domain name, make sure you know which registrar the domain name is actually registered with. WhoIsQuery.com is the only WhoIs known that handles
the CORE registrars as well as the ICANN ones.

-You parked your domain name and have now found a Web Host to upload your site to.

-You are not happy with the service or are paying too much for your current web host and want to switch to another.

1. If you are transferring your domain name to another web host, download (copy) all files to your computer from your old host. Sometimes files may be stored on your host but not on your computer, so doing this will ensure you downloaded the whole site.

Keep a copy of your files on the old host, while you transfer to another host, so you won’t experience any downtime of your web site.

2. Open a new hosting account.

3. Change the DNS (domain name system) or Name Server information on the current domain name to the new hosting company name servers. You can find this information by going to the domain name registrar (the place where you registered your domain name).

Your domain will take some time (24-72 hours) to propagate over the Internet, before it appears on the new hosting company servers.

4. Upload all files to the new host.

5. Amend and test your web site. Check that all files have been uploaded from your computer and that your web site appears exactly as it did before.

6. Cancel the previous hosting account when you are satisfied with the transfer of your domain name to the new host.

A Great Tip for registering several domain names. Since domain names are so cheap these days (they used to cost $35/year), you can afford to own several domains. Each domain can have its own web site. Most small sites use less than 5MB of hosting space, so you could host several sites for a small price.

What are the benefits of doing this?

Linking each of these web sites together and submitting them to the search engines will increase your sites search engine rankings. It will also broaden the places visitors can access your business.

Generating a continuous traffic flow leads to more sales. You have now implemented and solved one of your crucial marketing strategies.

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About the Author 

Herman Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of iSiteBuild.com Web Site Design and Low Cost Hosting (http://www.isitebuild.com)

Subscribe to the “Marketing Tips” newsletter for more original articles. subscribe@isitebuild.com

quote

“I just want to make one really good movie a year. And when I die, to know I was honest as an artist.” - Milla Jovovich

biography

Milla Natasha Jovovich was born in Kiev, Ukraine, on December 17, 1975. She spent her early childhood between London, where her father Bogdanovitch Jovovich was studying, and Russia, where her mother, Gallina Loginova lived. Her family soon moved to California, where Milla experienced difficulty adapting to the American way of life.

She began acting at the age of 9, and modeling at 11. Her first cover was for the Italian fashion magazine Lei. A six-page fashion spread by Herb Ritts for a French fashion magazine quickly moved Jovovich, the young and barely-trained model, to the top ranks. In her first year alone, she completed 15 fashion covers and countless other shoots, still managing the time for her studies -including the training necessary for runway work- as well as maintaining her teenage social life.

She released her first movie in 1988, entitled Two Moon Junction, followed by The Night Train to Kathmandu. She took the modeling world by storm, and impressed critics with her uncanny ability to carry herself at such a young age. She’s been in Calvin Klein, Escape, and dozens of other high profile ads, as well as in all the major glamour magazines.

She displayed maturity and talent beyond her years, and continued her acting career with the release of Return to Blue Lagoon in 1991, and Kuffs and Chaplin in 1992. At the age of 16, she married 21-year-old actor boyfriend Shawn Andrews (whom she was involved with on the set of Dazed and Confused), only to have the marriage annulled two months later.

After filming Dazed and Confused in 1993, her career was already in full swing. Milla looked to conquer a third domain; the world of music. She released her first album at the age of 18, entitled The Divine Comedy. Unlike most actresses and models that try their hand at singing careers see Caprice here, and end up with a lackluster attempt, Jovovich’s album was well-received.

Next on her list was the the Fifth Element, the sci-fi movie starring Bruce Willis that takes place in the future. In this role, Jovovich was appropriately cast as the perfect being. Playing Leeloo, Jovovich’s modeling experience came in handy -the character was engineered, and required Milla to use little facial expressions, and portray an innocent and distant look.

In the spring of ‘98, she starred in a Spike Lee Joint with Denzel Washington, entitled He Got Game. Here she played a prostitute who suffers from a severe beating, but Jovovich gets very little on-screen time. She went on to win the leading role in another Luc Besson film, where she played the role of Joan Of Arc. Soon after the production was complete, she married Besson.

In 1999, Milla starred in the horror film The Boat House. Milla plays a teenager who has seen some evil creature and loses her mind, and is sent to a mental hospital from which she later escapes. Her character is described as a beautiful, yet fragile girl. Next on her list are The Million Dollar Hotel and Kingdom Come.

She also plans to return to school and finish some of the classes she dreaded taking in high school, like math, chemistry, and physics. She stated: All the things I was bored with in high school. I didn’t understand the importance of math then, which is stupid. It provides the building blocks of reality.

She also plans to return to the studio to record another album. She is unsure of exactly where she would like her career to go, but remains true to her belief with her integrity, honesty and sincerity. I just want to make one really good movie a year. And when I die, to know I was honest as an artist, and for this we have to respect her.

 

 

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The word is out. You can now register domain names of up to 67 characters. This is going to shoot your ranking way up on the search engines. Because if you stuff all your keywords into your domain name, search engines are simply going to love your site. Or so they say…

But is that really the truth?

No point speculating. Let’s do a little test…

Go to your favorite search engine, say AltaVista. Key in your search term, say “website promotion.” Look at the top 10 rankings, closely.

How many of these top rankings actually have the full term “website promotion” in their domains?

No hype, just facts.

Call me a natural skeptic if you want. When the news hit the town, with all the “Special Announcements” flying everywhere, urging people to “go grab a new all-you-can-stuff keyword rich domain name and emerge tops in search engine ranking,” I was not at all moved. I believe this is too simplistic an approach to getting high search engine placements:

Besides keywords in domain names, search engines look at a few other factors for relevancy. In fact, this is what Don Dodge, AltaVista’s Director of Engineering said: “Keywords in the domain name do not help much in ranking. We look at half a dozen factors in ranking. The words on the page, their frequency and position on the page, are still among the most important factors.”

Search engines are constantly evolving. Once they find out that such keyword-stuffed domain names are content-poor sites with low relevance, they are going to come up with new rules to preclude such sites from getting the top spots.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against registering for long domain names. I just feel that we should see things in perspective. If you’re getting a long domain name in the hope of securing a high search engine placement, err… based on the facts, please don’t expect miracles.

So what should we look for when choosing a domain name? I use a simple “3 Es” guide:

1.  Easy To Remember
Yahoo is certainly easier to remember than AltaVista. No surprise why Yahoo is doing a LOT better.

2.  Easy To Spell
If you have a long domain name, be careful. One spelling mistake by a potential visitor is all you need to lose him forever.  (Unless you use misspelled domains software & do it on purpose to capture those mistyped URL visitors & turn them into customers! Donna)

3.  Easy To Pronounce
If your domain name is hard to pronounce, how do you expect people to spread the word and tell others about it?  What do the 3 Es have in common? They make things simple for your visitors! Our world is complex enough. We don’t need another complex domain.

Must your domain name be relevant to your site content? Not necessarily. What has the name “Yahoo” got to do with a search engine or a directory? And is there any real connection between the words “Amazon” and “books”?

Selecting a domain name is an extremely important step. So do it carefully.

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Article by Alan Yap, founding editor of ProfitJump.com. Alan offers free tips and strategies for effective Internet marketing. Visit http://www.profitjump.com now or subscribe at mailto:subscribe@profitjump.com and receive 3 Bonus Reports, guaranteed.  

One of the biggest problems with camera systems has always been producing viable, working images in the dark. However, now with the introduction of infrared security cameras, you can do just that as it is the perfect choice for day or night time video surveillance.

The advantage of infrared security cameras is that this technology enables the cameras to capture images in the dark, through the use of infrared light instead of the regular lighting spectrum. This in turn produces better images in complete darkness or low light conditions.

Night vision cameras tend to record only in black and white, with the use of infrared radiation, which is invisible to the naked eye, but during the day, some of them will record in color.

If you are looking for video surveillance, especially at night, then this really is the best option to pursue, as it helps you obtain a high level of night time security, the time when it matters most.

Infrared cameras are often called ‘night vision’ cameras because they can see at night, but they are still different from Day/Night cameras as the day/night cameras do not have infrared lights built in. The advantage of an infrared security camera is that it will provide a color picture while the light is good but when it gets dark, it will switch to infrared mode and illuminate its built-in infrared LED (light from a different region of the electromagnetic spectrum than we are normally used to seeing) and the image is captured in black and white.

What is interesting to note is the ability of infrared security cameras to capture a good image in low light which is measured as ‘lux’ex, which is the amount of available light necessary for a clear image. Additionally, the lower the light, the better the capability of the camera. The higher the rating, the more light is required for a clear, sharp image from the camera.

It goes without saying that the use of infrared security cameras greatly increases your ability to protect your property. One distinct drawback though is that due to the housing and weatherproofing requirements, their use in outdoor areas is limited. For instance, the camera lens has to be kept against the glass in an outdoor housing otherwise the reflection of the infrared lights on the glass housing case can affect the images. At the same time, there are ways of getting around this limitation.

Overall, infrared security cameras are developing rapidly as they have the ability to monitor and provide security for areas that have little or no light. Furthermore the complexity of the camera system is a personal choice and can grow to meet your growing needs, depending on what the situation demands. Also, these cameras are often lightweight and easy in both use and set up which definitely is an added advantage.

With an infrared camera set up on your property it gives you a feeling of security and nothing is more important than your safety and peace of mind.
 

homesecurityinformation.com

Quote
“Whatever you do, don’t go into acting for the fame, ’cause you’re gonna end up unhappy. And I don’t really think you can become an actress… you are an actress.” -Scarlett Johansson

Biography
Born in New York City on November 22nd, 1984, Scarlett Johansson is the youngest of four siblings — she has an older brother and sister, as well as a twin brother. As might be expected of an acting prodigy, Scarlett had an unusually early interest in performing: she wanted to be an actress since age 3, and was acting professionally when she was only 8 years old. After taking classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute for Young People, Scarlett made her stage debut in the early 1990s in the off-Broadway production of Sophistry, alongside Ethan Hawke.

Scarlett Johansson’s first film role came in 1994’s North, starring Elijah Wood, another child star survivor. The following year she played Sean Connery’s daughter in the thriller Just Cause, and then in 1996, she appeared in If Lucy Fell and Manny & Lo. For the latter film, Scarlett was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress in 1997. That year she added Fall and Home Alone 3 to her burgeoning list of credits.

scarlett in the horse whisperer

In 1998, Scarlett’s career reached new heights. Cast as Grace MacLean, a young girl who suffers a tragic equestrian accident in The Horse Whisperer, Scarlett was generally acknowledged as the most promising part of an otherwise unenthusiastically-received film. The 13-year-old actress picked up a Hollywood Reporter YoungStar Award for her work. Ironically, Scarlett was given an “introducing…” credit in The Horse Whisperer, even though she already had a half-dozen movies under her belt by then.

Building on the momentum of The Horse Whisperer, Scarlett appeared in My Brother the Pig (1999), and then co-starred with Thora Birch in Terry Zwigoff’s (Crumb, Bad Santa) adaptation of the teen-angst comic book Ghost World in 2000.

The next year she turned heads once again in a provocative role in the Coen brothers’ The Man Who Wasn’t There. Also in 2001, Scarlett starred in An American Rhapsody, a Hungarian film about a girl who escapes from behind the iron curtain in the 1950s. Such serious fare was offset in 2002, with Scarlett’s turn in the B-monster movie, Eight Legged Freaks.

scarlett was lost in translation

But 2003 would prove to be Scarlett’s most successful year yet. She starred in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation as a young girl staying in Japan, who befriends a washed-up American actor, played by Bill Murray. Scarlett followed Lost in Translation with Girl with a Pearl Earring, in which she played the title role; a struggling servant girl who becomes drawn into the world of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Both roles landed Scarlett Best Actress Golden Globe nominations in 2004, as well as a Best Actress BAFTA Award (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for Lost in Translation.

With the 2004 teen comedy The Perfect Score, Johansson has demonstrated once more that she can take on lighter fare as well as serious roles. But she’s used to dichotomy: Scarlett divides her time between New York, where her father lives, and Los Angeles, where her mother looks after her business interests.

However impressive her successes to date, it’s clear that Scarlett has a long and even more rewarding career ahead of her, with the upcoming releases of A Long Song for Bobby Long, A Good Woman and the comedy Synergy.
 

 

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Your local phone service provider is looking over their shoulder at what is coming up fast behind them. VoIP – Voice Over Internet Telephony – is gaining ground and is no longer considered a fad, but a strong and viable alternative to traditional phone service. By routing conversations over internet broadband lines, VoIP calls can be made quickly and cheaply thereby saving you, the consumer, plenty of money compared to traditional phone service.

Recent improvements in VoIP technology have prompted more and more consumers to switch to VoIP, permanently altering the way many phone conversations are handled around the globe. Let’s explore the growing trend of VoIP telephony and what this technology has to offer to you.

In its early days, VoIP telephony was considered by some to be a technologically unreliable fad, one that was shunned by mostly everyone who had long relied upon their traditional phone service company to provide them with dependable, if not costly, telephone service. Today, much has changed and VoIP telephony has not only vastly improved, but has attracted millions of new customers thanks to technological advancements and smart marketing.

Initially, voice quality with VoIP telephony was suspect, as conversations between users was often accompanied by crackling sounds and echoing. Indeed, drop offs due to connection problems was common, causing many to avoid making the switch. Still, as with virtually all emerging technologies, kinks have been worked out as newer, vastly improved versions are introduced. VoIP, for one, has undergone rapid transformation from fad to fixture in many homes and offices as quality levels have picked up while prices remain exceedingly low.

Indeed, price is a huge factor contributing to VoIP’s rapid growth. Many VoIP telephony providers offer comprehensive unlimited local and long distance calling plans that start at less than $25 per month. Compare VoIP prices to those charged by most traditional phone service providers – typically $70-80 per month – and the potential annual savings is well over $500!

Yes, you have to shop around to find a high quality VoIP telephony provider, but all of the top companies offer similar deals with packages usually containing the following important features:

- Free local and long distance calls.

- Portable phone numbers, meaning you can take your existing phone number wherever you move; certain restrictions may apply.

- Special services offered at no extra charge including: caller ID, call forwarding, 3-way calling, call return, call transfer, voicemail, and more.

- Low, fixed monthly rates. No worrying about fluctuating phone bills!

In addition, most governments are taking a decidedly hands off approach to VoIP telephony and are not levying anywhere near the same high level of taxes on VoIP service as they have been on traditional phone service. Yes, take a close look at your current phone bill and you will see that double-digit fees really push up the monthly balance. Not so with VoIP telephony as it is treated in the same way as internet service.

There has been some concern about power outages and the loss of VoIP telephony service during these interruptions. Indeed, most people understand that if your home loses electrical power, then their traditional phone service would continue to work as phone lines are powered separately from electrical lines, while VoIP telephony phone service is stopped when the power goes out.

To get around the problem, many VoIP telephony providers now give users a control panel where they can program their VoIP server to automatically reroute calls to their cell phone in the event of a power outage. So, there is no longer any excuse for you to not make the switch to VoIP telephony and begin realizing big savings today!

About The Author:
Click here to learn more about VoIP telephony: http://www.packet8.net Michael Brito is an internet marketing consultant for small business http://www.michaelbrito.com specializing in SEO and web strategy.

The advent of blogging and free blog space has brought about a revolution in web publishing that pushes the boundaries of terms like “webmaster” and “website.” In today’s brave new world of Internet publishing for the masses, the traditional means of building and hosting a personal website has fallen out of favor for many new webmasters.

If you count yourself among the many bloggers who use a free subdomain blog account, you’ll have to think about web hosting sooner or later. Unfortunately, most don’t consider the ramifications until it’s too late. In the beginning, a free blog account or ad-supported web hosting seems like the obvious choice for a personal site.

Unfortunately, this decision – or lack thereof - can cause problems down the road. Issues with free hosting and subdomain hosting range from SEO complications to ownership and control issues. Both free and paid hosting have their own merits and drawbacks, of course, so the ultimate decision is yours to make. But understanding these pros and cons is the first step in making a good decision for your site.

Free Hosting

Pros:

• It’s free. This is obviously the single most important advantage of free web hosting.

• It’s easy. Anyone can open an account on Blogger or any number of other free services and instantly get a free website requiring no more effort to publish than writing an email.

• No experience necessary. Anyone can create a site using one of these free services, with no programming, technical, or even HTML knowledge required.

Cons:

• Branding. As your blog or website grows, a subdomain hosting account offers little in the way of branding, and may adversely affect your credibility.

• SEO. If you move away from a subdomain account to your own domain, you will have to start over building links to your new domain.

• No control over ad content. With free hosting, you are at the mercy of your hosting company’s discretion as to what type of ads will be displayed on your site. Pop-ups and ads for adult sites are not uncommon.

• Limited or no accountability for site outages and other problems. When you’re getting something for nothing, it’s all too easy to become the victim of corporate apathy.

Paid Hosting

Pros:

• You can host your own domain. With paid hosting, you can brand your site with your own domain name (e.g. MySite.com) and add legitimacy to your content.

• Control. With paid hosting, you control every aspect of your site, including design and advertising content.

• SEO advantages. With a paid hosting account and domain name, you can build links to your site safely without worrying about whether or not you’ll be changing domain names. In addition, a hosting account allows you programmatic and scripting abilities not usually found in free, pre-built websites.

• Custom site development. Unlike free blogs, a hosted website can typically run a variety of CGI and scripting applications, and can be built any way you choose.

• Accountability and Portability: When you pay for hosting, you hold more leverage over your hosting company in the event of problems. Additionally, by retaining control of your source code and data, you can easily move your site to a new host.

Cons:

• Expense. Though you can get hosting plans as cheap as $2-$3 per month, it’s still a cost that free hosting does not incur.

• Some assembly required. Though many paid hosts offer site builders and blog software as part of the package, it still requires more technical work than signing up for a Blogger account.

• Maintenance. When you create a site yourself, you become responsible for the upkeep of your own code. In fact, you become responsible for just about everything involved with the site except for the server and connectivity.

So in summary, making the right choice between free or blog site hosting and paid hosting is heavily dependent on both you and your site. Though I’ve focused heavily on hosting for blog sites, much of the same information applies to free hosting vs. paid hosting for other types of sites as well. The important thing is to take a good hard look at what you want your site to eventually be, how much effort you’re willing to put into it, and then make your decision.

If you do decide on paid hosting, make sure you look at all options available. Use a web hosting review website such as www.inetpublication.com to compare available options. Not all web hosting is alike, and many hosting companies offer free tools to ease the pain of migration as well as other perks you may not have realized you were missing.

 

By Nate Landerman

quote
 
“If I was a girl again, I would like to be like my fans, I would like to be like Madonna.” -Madonna

biography
 
Without a doubt, one of the most internationally known and recognized stars of contemporary history, Madonna has achieved an unthinkable amount in the past 20 years of her career. She has dominated the music charts, she has hit the silver screen, she has entered the publishing industry, and she is probably one of the most publicized celebrities of the 20th century. To say that she is a celebrity would be an understatement; she is a veritable pop icon.

Née Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, the Material Girl was born August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan. The eldest of 8 children, she lost her mother to cancer when she was 6 years old, leaving her engineer father to raise their eight children.

Madonna’s star quality was evident at an early age, which prompted her to participate in school shows, be a school cheerleader, as well as take piano and ballet lessons.

She attended the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship, but she put aside her studies after two years of student life to head for New York City and pursue her dreams of becoming a star.

In the Big Apple with hardly any cash, Madonna barely earned a living by working several minimum wage jobs, one of which was at a Dunkin Donuts counter at Times Square. She joined the Alvin Ailey dance troupe, where although she gained experience, she was not gaining much exposure as one of many dancers in the troupe. Madonna was itching to become famous, and this was not the way to achieve her pursuit of stardom.

Developing more of an interest in music, Madonna joined her then boyfriend’s band and had the opportunity to be backup singer and dancer for a well-known disco star. With more of a taste for pop music, Madonna began writing songs and performing at local dance clubs. She was beginning to receive the exposure she was aiming for and audiences were beginning to take notice of the confident, untamed singer.

DJ Mark Kamins played one of Madonna’s demo singles “Everybody” and it became a popular club hit. Kamins is responsible for the relationship between Madonna and Warner Bothers, since he introduced the two in 1982. She was immediately signed for a record label and well on her way.

In 1983, Madonna’s debut album was released and spawned the America Top 20 chart hit single “Holiday”. The album itself was not a tremendous success on the Top 40 radio stations, but it was a hit in the nightclubs. More singles such as “Lucky Star” and “Borderline” were released and were accompanied by music videos that, if anything, showed off Madonna’s first “look”, which has almost come to be representative of 80’s pop culture.

While her debut album was still on the charts, Madonna released her second album in 1984, Like A Virgin. The album, as well as the title track, both reached the number one spots of the music charts.

Already breaking music records in 1985, Madonna embarked on another dimension of her career — as an actress. Her manager, Freddie DeMann, who was also pop icon Michael Jackson’s manager in his Thriller days, negotiated some film roles for Madonna. She appeared as a nightclub singer in the film Vision Quest and as the lead in Desperately Seeking Susan.

Susan may have had to be “seeked”, but it was clear that the pop star Madonna had been found. Her single from the Vision Quest soundtrack had become a hit, as was the Desperately Seeking Susan soundtrack, giving Madonna simultaneous hit singles and hit albums.

Madonna then tried her hand at stage acting, performing in Goose and Tom-Tom, where she met actor Sean Penn. The couple got married, co-starred in the forgettable film Shanghai Surprise and got divorced after less than four years of wedded misery.

By this point, Madonna had become a star and had already caused controversy for her “boy toy” image. Now she was causing more controversy with her 1986 single “Papa Don’t Preach”, about women getting pregnant out of wedlock.

Her video for the 1989 single “Like A Prayer”, which featured burning crosses in the background and Madonna, wearing nothing more than a slip, kissing an African-American eroticized saint. The Vatican censured the video and Pepsi backed out of their endorsement with Madonna. Still, the album Like a Prayer spawned 5 Top Twenty hits.

In 1990, Madonna appeared in Dick Tracy with Warren Beatty (who she was dating), released the soundtrack for the film and had hit singles such as “Vogue”, which had everyone “voguing” to the song; “Rescue Me”; and “Justify My Love”, which was also controversial and initially banned from the MTV airwaves.

The early 90’s were marked with scandalous projects by Madonna, such as the documentary Truth of Dare, a behind-the-scenes account of her Blonde Ambition Tour; the X-rated coffee-table book Sex; her album, Erotica; and her speaking out about the AIDS epidemic.

In 1992, Madonna sowed her entrepreneurial oats and founded the record company Maverick with her manager, which was part of a $60 million dollar, 7-year deal with Time Warner.

Taking a step away from her scandalous days, Madonna released a softer, more R&B tinged album, Bedtime Stories, spawning a hit duet with Babyface entitled Take A Bow. She returned to the movies with a role in A League of Their Own, Four Rooms and Blue in the Face.

In 1996, she starred in the title role of the movie version of the musical Evita, which not only earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, but also made audiences gain a new found respect for her remarkable portrayal of Eva Peron. That same year, Madonna entered a new stage in her life — motherhood — with the birth of daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon.

Madonna returned to the music scene in 1998 with the introspective, meditative, and electronic-influenced Ray of Light. With the help of producer William Orbit, Ray of Light spawned such hits as “Frozen” as well as the title-track, as the world was introduced to a more relaxed, more spiritually in-tune Madonna.

We heard Madonna last summer on the Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack with “Beautiful Stranger”; this year with the remix of the 60’s hit American Pie (which also caused controversy); and in a starring role in the disappointing film The Next Best Thing, co-starring real-life pal Rupert Everett and Benjamin Bratt.

With a new single entitled “Music”, her new album of the same title is slated for release this fall, and a second baby is on the way with current boyfriend Guy Ritchie — we would think that Madonna has done it all.

From mesh-wearing, fish-net stocking Material Girl, to pointy-cone bra, tuxedo wearing diva, to sex-crazed woman, and finally to Zen and yoga-practicing mother, chances are we probably haven’t seen half of what this pop icon has yet to achieve.

 

askmen.com

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, GPS stands for Global Positioning System, and is a way of locating a receiver in three dimensional space anywhere on the Earth, and even in orbit about it.

GPS is arguably one of the most important inventions of our time, and has so many different applications that many technologies and ways of working are continually being improved in order to make the most of it.

To understand exactly why it is so useful and important, we should first look at how GPS works. More importantly, looking at what technological achievements have driven the development of this fascinating positioning system.

Signals

In order for GPS to work, a network of satellites was placed into orbit around planet Earth, each broadcasting a specific signal, much like a normal radio signal. This signal can be received by a low cost, low technology aerial, even though the signal is very weak.

Rather than carrying an actual radio or television program, the signals that are broadcast by the satellites carry data that is passed from the aerial, decoded and used by to the GPS software.

The information is specific enough that the GPS software can identify the satellite, it’s location in space, and calculate the time that the signal took to travel from the satellite to the GPS receiver.

Using different signals from different satellites, the GPS software is able to calculate the position of the receiver. The principle is very similar to that which is used in orienteering – if you can identify three places on your map, take a bearing to where they are, and draw three lines on the map, then you will find out where you are on the map.

The lines will intersect, and, depending on the accuracy of the bearings, the triangle that they form where they intersect will approximate your position, within a margin of error.

GPS software performs a similar kind of exercise, using the known positions of the satellites in space, and measuring the time that the signal has taken to travel from the satellite to Earth.

The result of the “trilateration” (the term used when distances are used instead of bearings) of at least three satellites, assuming that the clocks are all synchronized enables the software to calculate, within a margin of error, where the device is located in terms of its latitude (East-West) and longitude (North-South) and distance from the center of the Earth.

Timing & Correction

In a perfect world, the accuracy should be absolute, but there are many different factors which prevent this. Principally, it is impossible to ensure that the clocks are all synchronized.

Since the satellites each contain atomic clocks which are extremely accurate, and certainly accurate with respect to each other, we can assume that most of the problem lies with the clock inside the GPS unit itself.

Keeping the cost of the technology down to a minimum is a key part of the success of any consumer device, and it is simply not possible to fit each GPS unit with an atomic clock costing tens of thousands of dollars. Luckily, in creating the system, the designers designed GPS to work whether the receiver’s clock is accurate or not.

There are a few solutions. However the solution that was chosen uses a fourth satellite to provide a cross check in the trilateration process. Since trilateration from three signals should pinpoint the location exactly, adding a fourth will move that location; that is, it will not intersect with the calculated location.

This indicates to the GPS software that there is a discrepancy, and so it performs an additional calculation to find a value that it can use to adjust all the signals so that the four lines intersect.

Usually, this is as simple as subtracting a second (for example) from each of the calculated travel times of the signals. Thus, the GPS software can also update its’ own internal clock; and means that not only do we have an accurate positioning device, but also an atomic clock in the palm of our hands.

Mapping

Knowing where the device is in space is one thing, but it is fairly useless information without something to compare it with. Thus, the mapping part of any GPS software is very important; it is how GPS works our possible routes, and allows the user to plan trips in advance.

In fact, it is often the mapping data which elevates the price of the GPS solution; it must be accurate and updated reasonably frequently. There are, however, several kinds of map, and each is intended for different users, with different needs.

Road users, for example, require that their mapping data contains accurate information about the road network in the region that they will be traveling in, but will not require detailed information about the lie of the land – they do not really worry about the height of hills and so forth.

On the other hand, hiking GPS users might wish to have a detailed map of the terrain, rivers, hills and so forth, and perhaps tracks and trails, but not roads. They might also like to adorn their map with specific icons of things that they find along the way and that they wish to keep a record of – not to mention waypoints; locations to make for on their general route.

Finally, marine users need very specific information relating to the sea bed, navigable channels, and other pieces of maritime data that enables them to navigate safely. Of course, the sea itself is reasonably featureless, but underneath quite some detail is needed to be sure that the boat will not become grounded.

Fishermen also use marine GPS to locate themselves and track the movement of shoals of fish both in real time, and to predict where they will be the next day. The advent of GPS fixing has also meant that co-operative fishing has become much easier, where there are several boats all relaying their locations to each other while they locate the best fishing waters.

Special kinds of marine GPS, known as fishfinders, also combine several functions in one to help fishermen. A fishfinder comprises GPS and also sonar, along with advanced tracking functions and storage for various kinds of fishing and maritime information.

Getting Started

There are a few solutions available to consumers, ranging from sophisticated in-car GPS systems, which feature voice guiding, powerful dynamic route calculation, and the possibility to update the map from a CD.

Then there are handheld GPS devices, such as those from Magellan and Garmin, which store a map inside, and are usually designed for outdoor use. They cannot generally perform dynamic route calculation since they do not have any road information, and leave the user to find their own way from A to B.

Finally, a more recent solution has appeared on the market which uses the power of a PDA to run the actual GPS software, and uses the interface capability to attach a GPS receiver (antenna) to the unit. These tend to be the cheapest, easiest to use and most flexible solutions, but are only as rugged as the PDA to which they are attached.

Some recent systems can make use of a wireless Bluetooth connection so that they can be used both as a personal navigation aid and also inside a vehicle, by having several receives with Bluetooth capabilities, and a single PDA.

 

About the Author:

Guy Lecky Thompson is a successful freelance writer offering guidance and suggestions for consumers regarding GPS tracking, GPS, GPS maps and tracking devices. His many articles give information and tips to help people save money and make smarter decisions.

Thank you to guest author Keith Thompson for submitting these domain name registration tips.Domain name registration is a necessary, easy, and strategically important first step in establishing an online presence, whether for business or otherwise.

A well-chosen domain name can set you up for success in so many ways, the most prominent of these being increased search engine traffic. Here are some vital elements to consider when executing your domain name registration.

A good domain name registration is easily done, but at the same time requires choices that will impact your site’s effectiveness. So here, in no particular order, are some things to bear in mind when doing a domain name registration.

 

• The extension - Will it be a .com, .net, .org, .info etc. Any of these will get spidered and indexed by the search engines, but if you can get a .com for your chosen name you’d be better off, as this extension is more common and carries an air of legitimacy with it.
• Try not to register your domain name with your web host. The reason is that should you decide to part ways with your host, (and this isn’t uncommon!) it’s potentially a massive headache to move your domain as well. Split them up: you’ll be glad you did!
• Your domain name registration, purchased from a reputable company should run you somewhere between $1-10, depending on the extension and the amount of time you sign up for.
• Probably the most important aspect of your domain name registration is the choice of keywords to use in your domain name. Try to use the main keyword or phrase you’d like to optimize the whole site for, and see if you c