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Posted by Search Here on February 15th, 2010

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Tantric Techniques for How to Please a woman in bed

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

It’s not what you think! It’s not about where to kiss or lick or rub or how hard or how fast. Its not about harder, longer erections (although those are also very nice!) A woman’s body and her responses are so changeable. What pleased her last week does nothing for her tonight.

Many men learn about women’s sexuality from pornography. I have nothing against pornography and I quite enjoy some pornography myself. But, the depiction of women’s sexuality in pornography is simply not accurate. Many women compound this lack of information by expecting her man to know how to please her without telling him. You can encourage her to communicate with you. You can also learn to expand your consciousness so that you can sense what she desires without her telling you in words.

She needs is your full attention. She needs to trust that you are there with her with your complete presence. If your mind wanders to your car or your career or the bills due at the end of the month, she can feel it and she loses trust.

Improving your ability to please a woman is very like learning to play a musical instrument. It takes practice, patience and experience to make beautiful music. You master the basics before moving on to advanced techniques. Here are some good basic practices for you to start with. Learning to please a partner with Tantric teachings starts with practices you do by yourself. While pleasuring yourself, expand your attention to your entire body: your toes and fingers and top of your head and everything in between. When you can do this at the height of arousal, expand your consciousness to your entire body and to your surroundings, noise from the street, light in the room, air temperature, the bed against your back, the trees seen through the window. Next, do these consciousness practices with your partner. And, finally, expand your consciousness to your entire body, your surroundings and your partner’s body as she experiences being in it at each moment. If your mouth is on her breast, imagine how it feels to have a breast and feel someone’s mouth on it. When you master this expansion of consciousness, you will simply know without effort what she wants from you in any moment.

Send energy into her body with your mind.

Tantra teaches us that a man yearns to empty himself out and a woman yearns to be filled up. There are many ways to do this in addition to the physical sex act. You can penetrate a woman with your consciousness, your energy and your attention before or while you penetrate her with parts of your body. The practice in the above paragraph is one way to do this. As you expand your consciousness to include her body as she experiences being in it, you penetrate with your energy. She will feel the difference! She may not be aware of why, but she will feel more trust and connection. She will feel more alive. Another wonderful practice is to use your mind to send energy into her body through your fingers. Imagine that there is a fire in your hand (which there is!) and think about sending the warmth and light from that fire into her body.

And finally, be aware that a woman experiences her sexuality and emotions very differently from a man. I believe very strongly in letting men be men and letting women be women and celebrating the differences and the gifts that we bring to each other. But I also believe it is helpful to understand these differences. For a man, sex and love are very separate experiences. A man can learn to connect his heart and sexual energy if he wishes and there are benefits to this. For a woman, love and sex are much more naturally linked. When you take a woman in your arms, remember that she is experiencing that time with you with her heart as well as her sexual body.

Nancy Ibsen is a Tantric Practitioner and Sexual Healer in Seattle Washington. http://www.sexual-healing-tantra.com/

Long Distance Relationships: Tips For Making Them Work

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

As a couples therapist, I’m often asked if long distance relationships can be successful. The answer is yes, but long distance relationships are complex and for it to work, both partners must be on same page.

Here are some tips for making it work

- Ask the important questions at the onset, to make sure you are both clear on the parameters of the relationship. These can be difficult and awkward questions to ask, but will save you great heartache and misunderstanding down the line. For example, are you open to the possibility of relocating if the relationship should become more serious?

- Communicate in some way every day – more than once if possible. Since you won’t be seeing each other, it’s important to establish and maintain an emotional connection. These don’t have to be long, in-depth conversations (though those should occur sometimes). Tell each other about your little triumphs and tragedies. Ask for advice. Use an instant messenger program or VoIP for real-time chat, or webcams for that visual connection. E-mail is great so make sure you use it, especially if long-distance phone calls put a strain on your budget. Write love letters. Send small gifts or flowers for no reason. In this case, quantity is as important as quality. You may discover an advantage over others whose partner is close at hand – you don’t take communication for granted!

- Recognize, and take advantage of, the benefits that long distance relationships offer such as more time with friends and/or family, no arguments over toothpaste caps, the pleasure of seeing your sweetheart again after a long absence. Most important, being far apart gives you a chance to maintain your individuality – something that can get lost in the shuffle when couples spend all their free time together.

- Pursue common interests, even if it means pursuing them apart. If there’s a movie you’re both interested in seeing, watch it individually and then call each other afterward and discuss it. Read a certain book at the same time. Stargaze while on you’re on the phone. Set your watches to go off at the same time every day, and synchronize your alarm with that of your partner. Make it a point to think of each other when your watch goes off, and revel in the fact that he or she is thinking about you, too. Find creative ways to bond.

- Avoid the temptation to be controlling. People have free will and no one can or should control another person. As long as you are both interested in being in the relationship, you will stick with it and distance will not make a difference. As soon as one of you decides the other is not a good match – or someone else is a better match – your relationship ends, whether you live 3000 miles apart, two streets over, or share the same bed with your wedding picture on the wall. Most relationship advice boils down to common sense; needless to say you are going to have to trust each other completely if this relationship is going to work.

- Talk about your future together. Assuming that ultimately you’d want to live together, discussing how you’re going to get to that point will help you prove to each other that long distance relationships can go somewhere and that your efforts and frustrations are not in vain.

- Perhaps the toughest aspect of long distance relationships is this: Know when to say good-bye. While this is tough in any relationship, this can be especially hard over long distances. When communication becomes one-sided or sparse for too long and for no apparent reason, when arguments (yes, you’ll have them) become too frequent, when the whole thing just seems like more trouble than it’s worth, it’s time to re-evaluate the relationship. Either you’ll decide to go your separate ways, or you’ll get closer for having overcome another obstacle to your happiness together.

About The Author

Emily Kensington is a couples therapist. For free relationship advice and romance tips visit http://www.hearts-and-kisses.com

5 Inspirations for Being in the Moment

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

Normally, we do not so much look at things as overlook them. — Alan Watts.

How often have you eaten a meal and not really tasted it, or completed a chore or drove to work without really thinking about it?

Our days often pass us by while our minds are elsewhere.

One of my favorite methods of finding happiness and preventing stress is living in the moment — also known as mindfulness. It’s one of the foundations of Zen Buddhism, of course, (actually all Buddhism, I believe), but it’s not necessarily meditation, per se — it’s more being aware of your actions and thoughts, and what your senses bring in, in your every day routine.

No one actually lives in the moment all the time — I don’t think it’s possible. Some, with practice, can learn to live in the moment for longer than most of us, but there will always be times when you’re worried about the future or thinking about the past, and forget to be in the moment.

It’s actually pretty hard, if you give it a try. Test it out right now: close your eyes (after reading these instructions first), and concentrate on your breathing — the sensation of the air as it enters your nose or mouth and fills your lungs, and as it goes out again. If other thoughts come up, be aware of them, acknowledge them, let them go (but don’t try to force them away) and then return your focus to your breathing.

It’s hard, isn’t it? Being in the moment isn’t as easy as it sounds.

It takes practice. But it can be achieved at times. To help inspire you to live in the moment, here are 5 great examples:

Children. There’s no one better at being present than a child. I love to watch my three-year-old son, Seth, as he plays. He’s not thinking about what happened to him yesterday, or what he’s going to do later today. He’s Spiderman, and he’s fighting the bad guys, and nothing else in the world exists. If he gets mad about something, he overreacts, and nothing else in the world matters but what has upset him. But he’ll cry about it, and then soon return to normal, happy again, the offending situation forgotten without a grudge. He has no cares about tomorrow, and for that, I love to watch him. We need to use children as inspiration, and try to be like them sometimes. Jesus instructed us, “Be as a child,” and those were wise words.
Cats. I also like watching my cat, Riddle. He thinks he’s a lion. He’ll stealthily stalk an insect or lizard, as if he’s hidden in tall grass on the savanna, and then he pounces and attacks. You know he’s not thinking about what he had for breakfast or what furniture needs to be clawed to shreds later in the day. Cats (and other animals) are all about the Now. Be like a cat.
My wife and dessert. My wife Eva really knows how to eat dessert. Actually, of all the people I know, she may be the best at being in the moment, completely. She can really enjoy something, with all of her being. I’ve learned how to eat dessert by watching her — while I tend to gobble something quickly, Eva closes her eyes, and slowly puts a spoon of ice cream in her mouth. She savors the flavor, the texture, the coolness, the sweetness, the chocolateness of it. Eva enjoys things more than most human beings, and she inspires me. The next time you eat something, try not to think about anything else, not to read, not to talk to someone — just experience the food.
Zen sweeper. It’s been said that the only two jobs of a Zen monk are sitting zazen (meditation) and sweeping. Cleaning is one of the daily rituals of a Zen monk, one of their most important daily practices. They sweep or rake, and they try to do nothing else. They aren’t thinking about being in a Zen state — the Zen state is the sweeping. The next time you’re doing housework (or anything, really), try concentrating on the housework, on the dust, on the motion, on the sensation. See this interesting article for more on this.
Yourself, lost in something. You’ve been in the moment plenty of times. Can you remember a time when you lost yourself in a task? Not lost in thought, but lost in the doing of the task itself — you were concentrating fully, you thought of nothing else. The world disappeared. It might have been work — you might have achieved that state of mind known as “flow” — or it could have been a hobby, playing sports, yardwork, fixing something, anything. Try to remember a time like that, and replicate it.

How To Throw Darts

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

What are the Do’s and Don’ts of throwing darts? Do you just stand, aim and throw? Well there is actually a correct way to throw your darts at the dartboard, and you will find that your dart throw will improve as you spend more and more time perfecting it. It is not always helpful to read about it, if you are not going to go to a dart board and put these pointers to work by actually throwing the darts.

Here goes for a basic resume of dart throwing the correct way;

When you are standing at the Oche, most people prefer to stand so they are slightly sideways to the board, with their leading foot a little bit forward of the back foot, so that the toe is just touching the mark. Do not cross this, or you will have a foul throw.

You should position your dart so that it is at approximately the level of your eye, and when you begin to move the arm for your throw, you should keep the top part of your arm steady, as it is from the lower part of your arm that the throw is actually made.

Your shoulder should not move during the throw, so to make sure that your throw is good you must not move your body whilst you are throwing your dart.

One of the most important points is to make sure that you keep your wrist loose. A lot of experts claim that is is the wrist action that actually helps with the accelerationof the dart. For example if you do wrist snap, then the point of the dart will accelerate at a faster rate.

OK, then you have to look at the part of the board you are aiming for (when trying to score on a non-professional level, it can be best to aim for the treble 19′s, so if you miss you are likely to score higher than aiming for the treble 20′s, due to the neighbouring numbers), then with the target in constant view, swing your lower arm back to the point level with your eye, then you need to move your lower arm forwards. You release the dart when the dart is in the highest position. Remember to keep your arm steady during the throw. Do not twist your wrist as this will only ensure that the dart goes off your target!

Remember that the faster a dart is thrown, the harder it will hit the board and also the more accurate it should be. A dart that is thrown fast and sure is going to have a higher chance of hitting the number you are aiming for then a dart that is thrown slowly and hesitatingly.

If you find that standing slightly side ways to the board is just not working for you, then try standing square on. I have known a few darts players of quite a good level, who stand this way. It is all about adapting the method to suit you, once you are getting the number you are aiming for and have found the best position to stand in, then stick with it, even if it is typically text book.

It is a good idea to aim for each number on the board, and not move onto the next one until you have hit a number – Start with 1 and work through to 20, do this frequently and you will find that your aim gets better and better.

As you get more used to throwing your darts, you will find numbers that you are happier aiming for (and hitting!), keep these in mind for your doubles to win your games. So for instance if your favourite double is double 16 (32) then always try and throw your darts to leave yourself with this particular double.

The weight of the dart can also alter the way it throws, so again try several different weights until you find one you are happy with. Equally the length of the shaft is also important and you will find the weight best suited to you by trying lots before you finally decide on the correct one. Likewise the flights, try several until you find one you are happiest with.

Getting your own personal darts so that you have the best chance of scoring highly and winning games, is just down to trial and error and not forgetting to stand in front of that board and throw, throw and throw again until you are consistently hitting the right target.

Short note about the author

Mick Webster is a keen darts player, and writes frequently for www.sportsinformationsite.net. To read more articles on darts and other sports information, please visit http://www.sportsinformationsite.net.

Tips to increase the love in sex for women

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

A good amount of pleasurable sexual act is undeniably one of the most important components which helps to build and maintain a successful and rewarding relationship. In most cases, good sex speaks louder than words when it comes down to love and intimacy between both partners.

Both partners are equally responsible for giving the others a total sexual pleasure. It is very easy sometimes for a woman to think it is her man’s responsibility to give her sexual pleasure and to make her come. From time to time, certain women would also have the idea that they should not be too wild in bed, as this might give their partner a sense of insecurity! This is a total myth and one which should be addressed immediately if she ever hopes to have a totally satisfying relationship!

Women sure can be charming by the way they present themselves and also by the way they dress up. But, men like women who are also great in bed. Men like women who take the initiative and are confident in their sexual act. Men like women who give them complete pleasure and satisfaction at the end of the sexual act and they themselves should feel satisfied with their partners.

It is often said that only when women have 7 times the pleasure as men that women can reach an orgasm. This is totally wrong! The truth is, a woman can have no orgasm but that does not mean she is not satisfied with the sexual experience. At the same time, a woman may have multiple orgasms. The ultimate aim for a woman would be to satisfy her partner and herself.

A woman should devise new ways to excite her man in the beginning and get him involved completely in the sexual act. She can also gift herself or her man sex videos. This is certainly going to turn both of them on. Sex videos are a great resource to learn the finer and more beautiful nuances of sex. Videos also help you learn different better sex positions so that sex does not become a monotonous act.

A better sex tips for women would be to get stimulated in the beginning. Performing sex just for the sake of doing it won’t bring in any enthusiasm and pleasure. The most important part is to be you throughout the whole sexual act.

Women should be as flexible as possible in the whole sexual experience. Try out different things to excite your partner. Like, tying a handkerchief around his eyes and then slowly running your fingers on his body or, you can write erotic stories and then narrate them to your partner in order to stimulate him and respond to your demands.

Communication, both verbal and sexual is another important aspect which help to improve your love life. Tell your partner how comfortable you feel in his arms and thank him for the great sexual experience. Tell him that you would like to take the fantastic journey as much as you can. This is sure going to build a stronger sexual bond between you and your partner.

You can also create an environment to excite your partner like lighting candles in the room, keeping the room dark, playing soft love songs which you both enjoy and so on.

At the end of the day, it is a matter of communication, both verbal and sexual, that is going to make your relationship works. Be selfless and live for the moment for each other.

Short note about the author

Leah Holden is The “Better Sex Expert”. Leah’s mission is sharing her vast array of sexual knowledge with individuals and couples. To spice up your sex life, please visit Leah’s blog, http://better–sex.blogspot.com

All about wines – What You Always Wanted to Know About Wine glasses, but Were Afraid to Ask

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

A Brief History of the Wine Glass

Wine glasses have been used since ancient times.

Pliny (23-79 A.D.) wrote about gold and silver drinking vessels being abandoned in favor of glass, and they were frequently priced as high as the precious metal versions. Bonifacio Veronese’s sixteenth-century ‘Last Supper’ includes modern style wine glasses with a stem and foot.

The oldest surviving European wine glasses with a stem and foot are fifteenth-century enameled goblets (a goblet is a glass holding more than four ounces of liquid).

Near the end of the sixteenth-century in Germany sophisticated engraved decoration was applied to covered wine glasses.

The earliest surviving English wine glasses are diamond-engraved glasses that were produced near the end of the sixteenth-century by Verzelini. Plain straight stems gained popularity around 1740, with air twist stems being introduced about the same time. Ten years later a twist incised on the exterior of the stem became popular.

Quality crystal wine glasses were being produced in France near the end of the eighteenth-century.

Cordial glasses in the eighteenth-century had bowls of the same shapes that were typical for wine glasses, but they were much smaller, holding about one ounce.

Toast masters glasses were made with a thicker bottom and walls so that they would hold less. A toast master had to drain every glass and still be able to remain standing till all toasts were completed.

Wine glasses during the nineteenth-century were often produced in sets – with a dozen each of port and sherry, burgundy and claret, champagne glasses and liqueur glasses.

More recently, in the 1950s, Riedel Crystal and other stemware manufacturers have refined wine glass design to the point of having a unique size and shape for almost every wine variation.

Wine glasses are made for drinking wine, of course, but people are creative and have found other uses ranging from combining several wine glasses to construct a glass harp to using stemware in a similar manner to provide sound education.

Choosing Wine Glasses

There really is no right or wrong glass for wine tasting – or for drinking wine for that matter. However, there are some glasses that are better than others for evaluating wines. First of all, we like to suggest using glasses that you are comfortable using. Aesthetics aside, there are really only two things to remember when considering a wine tasting glass: the size of the glass and the overall shape of the glass.

The more universally used tasting glass is called a chimney shape. Broader on the bottom of the bowl, it tapers upward to a smaller opening. The broader bottom will enable you to hold enough wine and give you plenty of room to swirl the wine, while the smaller opening at the top will help to trap and focus the aromas, allowing you enough of a scent to assess the wine.

Size Doesn’t Matter

For the most part, if your glass is of this shape, the actual size of the glass is not important other than it needs to be big enough and have a big enough opening for you to be able to get your nose inside to really smell the wine. Some people swear by large “Burgundy” style glasses that allow as much of the wine to come in contact with the air as possible, therefore releasing as many of the aromas and flavors as possible. Others like the convenience and ease of use of a smaller glass. Other considerations that will enhance your tasting experience include glassware that is clear (no colors) and free of cuts or engravings within the glass.

Many glass manufacturers have designed specific glasses for specific wine types or varietals, taking in to account different aspects of the individual wine type. While this is wonderful, it is not a necessary purchase for a complete wine tasting. The top producer of these specialized wine glasses is an Austrian crystal company named Riedel (pronounced REE-dle). They are exquisite and expensive.

Cleaning Wine Glasses

When it comes time to clean your glassware, try to avoid using soap. Instead use hot water and rinse thoroughly. Soap can become trapped within the glass release soapy odors the next time you use it. Although you may become quite proficient at identifying various brands of dish soap, this ability and the soapy glasses that taught you will not add to the enjoyment of a good glass of wine.

To summarize, it’s important that you find good glassware for your wine tasting experiences, but “good” does not necessarily mean “expensive.” Find glassware that you are comfortable with and adequately serves its purpose: presenting wine for your evaluation and enjoyment.

Tips For Serving Wine

You’ve probably heard many conflicting and complicated instructions throughout the years on the proper way to get wine from the store to your glass. It doesn’t have to be that hard. Here are the basics of serving wine, which are all you really need.

Many customs have accompanied wine drinking through the years. None of them are meant to be intimidating or stuffy. They are just practices intended to enhance the enjoyment of wine.

- “White wine with fish and red wine with meat” is more customary than culinary.

- Red wines are served at room temperature, while white wines, roses, and champagnes are served chilled.

- The stronger the food, the stronger the wine. The lighter the food, the lighter the wine.

- Wine loves air, which revives its sleeping flavors. It is recommended to open the bottle about an hour before consumption and let the wine “breathe”. This ages it a year or so, and allows its flavors to mellow.

- A bottle of wine has to be handled carefully, with the minimum movement possible. Remember, wine likes to sleep, only to awaken in your mouth.

- Red wine bottles do not need to be cleaned or dusted before opening. They are opened on a hard surface. White wines, rose, and Champagne bottles are opened in ice buckets.

- Red wines corks are sniffed to make sure the wine has not spoiled, which gives the cork an unpleasant smell. It is not necessary to smell white and rose wine corks since the wine was refrigerated and the cork will not smell.

Ideal Serving Temperatures For Serving Wine

On the subject of temperature – you may have heard that red wine should be served at room temperature and that white wine should be slightly chilled before serving. These recommendations originated at a time when “room temperature” was lower than is typical today.

Full-bodied and tannic red wines are best enjoyed at not more than 64°F (18°C) and clarets, Pinot Noirs (including burgundies), and then the modern reds – soft, light, fruity and relatively tannin-free for drinking young, at progressively cooler temperatures – down to about 54°F (12°C).

White wines are ideally served between 43°F (6°C) to 52°F (11°C). Red wine or white wine, err on the cool side as they will warm quickly on the table and in the glass.

Performance tuning for high traffic web applications on your site

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

Based on 2 years’ experience with PRADO v.3.x at

Note: Tips are marked with stars ( * ), where 5 stars are the most important tweaks.

I. Basic settings

http://www.pradosoft.com/demos/quickstart/?page=Advanced.Performance

a) Application.Mode = “Performance” *

Time of control’s templates modification isn’t checked (can be set in application.xml)

b) pradolite.php * *

Less include() function usage (just change include(“framework/prado.php”) to include(“framework/pradolite.php”).

c) Set cache class *** * * * ***

Don’t generate all the data on every request. PRADO can save parsed templates, configurations etc. in cache. (can be enabled in application.xml)

d) eAccelerator *** * * ***

Now, server parses scripts once, so PHP compiler has less work to do (see: http://eaccelerator.net)

II. Advenced settings

a) TOutputCache * *

Not all parts of HTML code on your page need to change every request. Use this to cache content of the selected controls.

b) Memory cache * *

Why not store all PRADO templates and configurations directly in the memory? (read: Templates in memory – quick guide)

c) Generating HTML on your own *** * ***

If you have looong list of items, don’t use TRepeater or TDataGrid. They are easy to use, but they cost some performance and higher memory usage. (Generate HTML code in your .php file – using foreach() function by example, and then set output to TLiteral).

d) Keep pagestate in your database *** * * ***

PRADO pagestate can be really big – it’s about 10kb-100kb of data. And by default, you send this data on every AJAX request! (just use TDatabasePageStatePersister class)

e) Sometimes it’s better to set PostState of ActiveControl to false *

If you have a control like TAutoSuggest, by setting this option, you prevent PRADO from gathering all fields on a form values, on every AJAX request. ( ActiveControl.ClientSide.PostState=”false” )

III. Other tips

a) Optimize your code by using TBrowserLog

By adding this line to application.xml

You can track performance on some of your functions directly in browser.

b) Enable gZip compression in your server

Lower bandwidth usage, faster page load for users.

c) Enable query_cache if your are using MySQL

Read: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/query-cache.html

d) Performance for end user

Remember, that server’ performance isn’t most important. Your visitors must feel, that the site is loading fast. Read: http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html .

Topics index from that article:

Any comments are welcome.

Follow the Sraight Line to your goals

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

The quickest way from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be, your goal or dream) is in a straight line.

And the most efficient way to stay on the straight line is to focus your energy, and attention, and to practice a consistent set of actions.

What that means, is you choose thoughts, feelings, and actions that will move you closer to that goal.

Unfortunately, what really happens is we get motivated and start taking action towards our goal and we get side tracked, or the results aren’t quick enough so we lose our momentum. Suddenly our line from point A to point B looks more like Lombard Street in San Francisco, a very crooked one. I think we’ve all spent a lot of time on this crooked road.

For example, if you have a goal to “get in shape” as many of my clients do, that’s a pretty vague goal. A straight line would be to get very clear on the goal and the action steps you need to take in order to achieve it. “I want to lose 5lbs in the next 60 days by eating three healthy meals plus two nutritious snacks everyday as well as 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, 10 minutes of stretching daily and weight lifting 3 times a week. That’s a pretty clear goal (and it can get even more specific by when, where, what times, etc). …..Many of us however, start to bargain & rationalize with ourselves “Well, I ate really healthy yesterday so I can cheat a little today.” Or “I don’t have time to eat healthy; I have to just grab something quick.” Or “It’s too cold, wet, windy, to exercise.” Well, you get the point. One day we’re following our plan on the straight road, the next day we’ve taken a detour again. 60 days later the goal has not been met.

The same holds true for all our goals, business, personal, financial, family, etc.

So, how do you stay on the straight road? – Clarity-become very clear on what it is you want to achieve. – Action steps- What action steps can you take this week that will move you closer to your goal? (You don’t need to know the whole picture on how you will achieve your goal. Just take the next obvious step.) – Visualization-visualize reaching your goal, how will you feel? What will life be like once you’ve achieved that goal? – Motivation- You shower and brush your teeth everyday, you have to motivate yourself to achieve your goals everyday. – Acknowledgement- Notice what you are doing that is working for you to achieve your goal & give yourself a pat on the back. – Never, Never, Never, Give up!!!

Where in your life are you taking the crooked street towards a goal? What action can you take today to stay on the straight road towards your goal?

About the Author

We all have a core desire to Feel Good. So why don’t we feel good more often? When you work with Char you will learn how to break through unresourceful behaviors, & beliefs that prevent you from Feeling Good. Using her expertise as a Nurse Practitioner, Life Coach & Yoga Instructor, & integrating a mind, body, spirit approach, Char empowers her clients to Feel Good every day! Visit http://www.TheFeelGoodCoach.com & start Feeling Good now!

How to make a great presentation

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

As a human beings we have to communicate our thoughts and share them with others. Sometimes it has to be public statement. And probably each of us had to do at least one public presentation in his life. For some it was easier and for some harder. Especially those who had problems with doing it right think that it is something hard to learn or a kind of gift that you born with. But being a good speaker is a kind of skill that you can learn and practise. Just few tips will help you!

Know what you are speaking about

This is very important to have wide knowledge about the subject you are suppose to speak about. Read books and search information on the internet. Prepare yourself a short notes about most important issues and than read them free or four times. Well prepared notes are the key to organized knowledge. It’s obvious that you can’t remember all the facts that you want to talk about (and it is even not recommended to learn them by heart). But when you have good notes they will be a sort of network that will show connection of one item with another. In case of problems with remembering something you can always take a quick look and get back immediately on track.

Prepare some unusual facts

From my practise from university I’ve learned that there is nothing less interesting than boring lecture. I was a listeners of many lectures and presentations but only some of them left in my mind. I probably remember only those one which made my eyes open wider, made me wonder about the world and wanted to learn something more about the subject. Usually the most interesting were not facts that can be easily read in books but those that aren’t widely known. So make your listeners wonder about the subject. Surprise them and left with a little bit of unsureness.

Be confident

I’m sure that this point might be hardest of all. But don’t worry: if you are well prepared and have something interesting to say you’ll be all right. Remember that no one is really 100% confident while speaking in public. And even if you made a mistake think that it happens to all of us. Even the professional speakers, managers and businessmen who ended up courses named ‘ management training uk ‘ or ‘be the best leader’ have sometimes doubts if they are correct or have something interesting to say. Bare this in mind and it will help you stay calm. And what can you do to be more confident?

Have a nice look

Wearing clothes in which we look and feel good makes us more comfortable and of course confident. Especially it is very important when it comes to women. When we are certain that our hair looks good, make up isn’t to expressive, shoes are clean and clothes are elegant, smart, classy and fits us we can pay all the attention on the subject of presentation, not wondering ‘Am I look good? Do they listen to me or look on the stain on my skirt?’.

Smile and be funny

If it’s possible and it is not very formal meeting try to interest your audience with a joke. If your presentation is first in a block of lectures your listeners might be a little bit sleepy. Few interesting and funny facts will totally wake them up and leave a good impression after you speech. And while listening many lectures before your audience might be a little bit tired and not willing to hear what you want to tell them. Opening joke will gain you their attention and make you more likable. If you aren’t sure about the level of jokes you’ve prepared practise your speech with a friend – it will show you someone else reaction.

Take a course

If the theory is not enough for you sign up for a practical course. Such presentation skills training might have a wonderful impact on you. It provides participants with the skills required to present effectively and most importantly to develop confidence which makes presenting so much easier and therefore more successful. When you combine this course with a sort of a communication training that will help you use the body language and control your gestures effects might be really amazing!

Good luck!

Mandriva Linux Compendium – MDV is Very Easy-to-Use and Advanced

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

Mandriva Linux

Very Easy and Advanced OS

The newest Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring (2008.1) is the 22nd release of Mandriva Linux. It was released on April 9th, 2008. Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring is available in three editions: One (LiveDVD), Powerpack and Free, for both i586 and x86-64 architectures. One and Free can be downloaded free of charge from official Mandriva mirrors and via BitTorrent. Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring marks ten years of Mandriva Linux, the leader in innovative and easy-to-use desktop Linux. Mandriva 2008 Spring automatically runs on a wide range of hardware configurations, automatically detected and configured out of the box by the Mandriva tools. Mandriva has a deserved reputation for following the cutting edge of free/open source software development, introducing exciting and interesting new applications and technologies almost as they are developed. The Mandriva build system is one of the more sophisticated in the Linux distribution industry. It was adopted from Conectiva after the Mandrake / Conectiva merger.

Mandriva, formerly known as Mandrakesoft, is the publisher of Mandriva Linux, an easy-to-use and innovative operating system. It is one of the most popular Linux editions in the world. Dedicated to making open source technologies accessible to all users, the company offers a full range of products and services to individuals, enterprises and government organizations. Mandriva products 2008 are available online in 80 languages and in more than 140 countries through dedicated channels. Headquartered in Paris, France, the company is publicly traded on the Euronext Marche Libre. Mandriva Linux formerly known as Mandrakelinux or Mandrake Linux is a Linux distribution created by Mandriva – formerly Mandrakesoft. It uses the RPM Package Manager. The product lifetime of Mandriva Linux releases is 18 months for base updates and 12 months for desktop updates. The first release was based on Red Hat Linux (version 5.1) and KDE (version 1.0) in July 1998. It has since diverged from Red Hat and has included a number of original tools mostly to ease system configuration. Mandriva Linux was originated by Gaël Duval, and intended to focus on ease of use for new users. Duval was also a co-founder of Mandrakesoft, but was laid off from the company in 2006.

From its inception to version 8.0, Mandrake named its flagship distribution Linux-Mandrake. From version 8.1 to 9.2 it was called Mandrake Linux. In February 2004 MandrakeSoft lost a court case against Hearst Corporation, owners of King Features Syndicate. Hearst contended that MandrakeSoft infringed upon King Features’ trademarked character Mandrake the Magician. As a precaution, MandrakeSoft renamed its products by removing the space between the brand name and the product name and changing the first letter of the product name to lower case, thus creating one word. Starting from version 10.0, Mandrake Linux became known as Mandrakelinux, and its logo changed accordingly. Similarly, MandrakeMove became Mandrakemove. In April 2005 Mandrakesoft announced the corporate acquisition of Conectiva, a Brazilian based company that produced the leading Linux distribution for Portuguese- speaking (Brazil) and Spanish- speaking Latin America. As a result of this acquisition and the legal dispute with Hearst Corporation, Mandrakesoft announced that the new company name would be Mandriva, and that Mandriva Linux would be the new name covering products.

RPM Package Manager

RPM Package Manager (originally Red Hat Package Manager, abbreviated RPM) is a package management system. The name RPM refers to two things: a software package file format, and software packaged in this format. RPM was intended primarily for Linux distributions; the file format RPM is the baseline package format of the Linux Standard Base. Originally developed by Red Hat for Red Hat Linux, RPM is now used by many Linux distributions like Mandriva and Fedora. It has also been ported to some other operating systems, such as Novell NetWare (as of version 6.5 SP3) and IBM’s AIX as of version 5. “RPM” as it is used today is an example of a recursive initialism. Working behind the scenes of the package manager is the RPM database, stored in /var/lib/rpm. It consists of a single database (Packages) containing all of the meta information of the installed rpms and multiple databases used for indexing purposes. The database is used to keep track of all files that are changed and created when a user (using RPM) installs a package, thus enabling the user (via RPM) to reverse the changes and remove the package later. If the database gets corrupted (which is possible if the RPM client is killed), the index databases can be recreated with the rpm –rebuilddb command.

Mandriva Features

Mandriva Linux – Free of cost versions include Mandriva Free (open source version) and Mandriva One – Live CD with some proprietary components. Paid versions currently include Discovery (for beginners), PowerPack (for advanced users), and PowerPack+ (for power users), but Mandriva 2008 will have only one commercial edition because the Discovery and Powerpack+ editions will be merged into Powerpack. Mandriva has, like other Linux distributions, created several applications that give it a distinctive feel. The urpmi package management tools and the suite of graphical system configuration tools contained in the Mandriva Control Center are probably the most notable, along with nspluginwrapper which allows x86-32 plugins to be used within a x86-64 browser. Another example is transfugdrake, a tool designed for easy migration of documents and settings from Microsoft Windows to Mandriva Linux. It is a front end to Migration Assistant with a unique interface and several improvements and bug fixes. The major features of Mandriva Linux are:

Installation, control and administration

Mandriva Linux contains the Mandriva Control Center (MCC), which eases configuration of some settings. It has many programs known as Drakes or Draks, collectively named drakxtools, to configure many different settings. Examples include MouseDrake to set up a mouse, DiskDrake to set up disk partitions and drakconnect to set up a network connection. They are written using GTK+ and Perl, and most of them can run in both graphical and text mode using the ncurses interface.

Mandriva Desktops

Mandriva Linux is geared to use KDE or GNOME as the standard desktops, but includes others such as Xfce and twm.

Mandriva Themes

A unique theme provides consistency between applications and desktop environments. Mandrakegalaxy debuted in version 9.1 and Mandrakegalaxy II appeared in 10.0. A variant of Mandrakegalaxy is “Mandrakegalaxy Squared”, which uses square window buttons rather than round ones. A new default theme named “Ia Ora” was introduced with the release of Mandriva Linux 2007, but “Galaxy” remains available as an option for those who prefer it.

Package Manager

Mandriva Linux uses a package manager called urpmi, which functions as a wrapper to the RPM package management system. It is similar to apt-get in that it allows seamless installation of a given software package by automatically installing the other packages needed. It is also media-transparent due to its ability to retrieve packages from various media, including network/Internet, CD/DVD and local disk. Urpmi also has an easy-to-use graphical front-end called rpmdrake, which is integrated into the Mandriva Control Center.

Remote sources for urpmi / rpmdrake can be added during the installation of recent Mandriva Linux versions. After installation, they can be added through an option in the Software Sources Manager, or by using console commands generated either manually or by one of several helper sites such as Easy URPMI. This functionality allows the user to choose some or all of the various software repositories available for their version of Mandriva Linux and can greatly expand the amount of software that the user can install through the urpmi system. Instructions on adding repositories and installing software can be found on the Mandriva Wiki.

Availability

Mandriva provides multiple editions of Linux. Some are freely-distributable, while others are sold online and via a network of authorized resellers. Mandriva also provides the Mandriva Club, which allows paying members to download commercial editions at no additional cost (depending on membership level).

Versions & Cooker

Since 2007, Mandriva is released on a 6-month fixed-release cycle, similar to Ubuntu and Fedora. The first release of the year is known simply by the year of release, while the second release of the year is known as Spring in order to distinguish it from the previous release of the year. However, while newer features are added per release, the core internals of the Spring release are the same as the first release, so as to ensure the stability of a yearly release. The latest stable version is Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring (2008.1), released on 2008-04-09. The development tree of Mandriva Linux has always been known as Cooker. This tree is directly released as a new stable version. The current release is named 2008.1 (or Mandriva 2008 Spring) and was released in April of 2008.

Relese Table:

Year Number Name

1998     5.1     Venice
1998     5.2     Leeloo
1999     5.3     Festen
1999     6.0     Venus
1999     6.1     Helios
2000     7.0     Air
2000     7.1     Helium
2000     7.2     Odyssey (called Ulysses during beta)
2001     8.0     Traktopel
2001     8.1     Vitamin
2002     8.2     Bluebird
2002     9.0     Dolphin
2003     9.1     Bamboo
2003     9.2     FiveStar
2004     10.0     Community and Official
2004     10.1     Community
2004     10.1     Official
2005     10.2     Limited Edition 2005
2005     2006.0     Mandriva Linux 2006
2006     2007     Mandriva Linux 2007
2007     2007.1     Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring
2007     2008.0     Mandriva Linux 2008
2008   2008.1     Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring (Free, One, PP and special Xtreme2.1 in Poland)

MDV Editions

Each release of Mandriva Linux is split into several different editions. Each edition is derived from the same master tree, most of which is available on the public mirrors: all free / open source software, and all non-free software which is under a license that allows unrestricted distribution to the general public, is available from the public mirrors. Only commercial software under a license that does not allow unrestricted distribution to the general public (but for which Mandriva has negotiated an agreement to distribute it with paid copies) is not available from public mirrors.

Mandriva Linux Free

Mandriva Linux Free is a ‘traditional’ distribution (i.e. one that comes with a dedicated installer, named DrakX, which is first used to install the distribution to the hard disk of the computer before it is run). It is ‘free’ in both senses: it consists entirely of free and open-source software, and it is made available for public download at no charge. It is usually available in CD (three or four discs) and DVD editions for x86 32- and 64-bit CPU architectures. It is aimed at users to whom software freedom is important, and also at users who prefer a traditional installer to the installable live CD system used by One. The package selection is tailored towards regular desktop use. It consists of a subset of packages from the ‘main’ and ‘contrib’ sections of the master tree.

Mandriva Linux One

Mandriva Linux One is free to download. It is a hybrid, being both a Live CD and an installer with an installation wizard that includes disk partitioning tools. Several Mandriva Linux One versions were provided for each Mandriva Linux release preceding Mandriva 2008. Users could choose between different human languages, select either the KDE or GNOME desktops and include or exclude non-free (as in speech) software. It is not possible to fit both KDE and GNOME desktops, or more than a few languages, on a single live CD. The ‘lead’ version is the KDE version with non-free software included. The One images consist of a subset of packages from the ‘main’, ‘contrib’ and ‘non-free’ sections of the master tree, with the documentation files stripped from the packages to save space. Mandriva Linux One 2008 has a smaller range of versions. There are KDE and GNOME versions with the default set of languages. There are also two KDE versions with alternative sets of languages. All versions include non-free software.

Mandriva Linux Powerpack

Mandriva Linux Powerpack is a ‘traditional’ distribution (i.e. one that comes with a dedicated installer – named DrakX – which is first used to install the distribution to the hard disk of the computer before it is run). It is the main commercial edition of Mandriva Linux, and as such, requires payment for its use. It contains several non-free packages intended to add value for the end user, including non-free drivers like the NVIDIA and ATI graphics card drivers, non-free firmware for wireless chips and modems, some browser plugins such as Java and Flash, and some full applications such as Cedega, Adobe Reader and RealPlayer. It is sold directly from the Mandriva Store website and through authorized resellers. It is also made available via a subscription service, which allows unlimited downloads of Powerpack editions for the last few Mandriva releases for a set yearly fee. It consists of a subset of packages from the ‘main’, ‘contrib’, ‘non-free’ and ‘restricted’ sections of the master tree. In Mandriva Linux 2008, the Discovery and Powerpack+ editions have been merged into Powerpack, which will become Mandriva’s only commercial offering. Users will be able to choose between a novice-friendly Discovery-like setup or an installation process and desktop aimed at power users.

Discontinued

Mandriva Linux Discovery

Mandriva Linux Discovery was a commercial distribution aimed at first-time and novice Linux users. It was sold via the Mandriva Store website and authorized resellers, or could be downloaded by some subscribers to the Mandriva Club. Mandriva Linux 2008 does not include a Discovery edition, having added optional novice-friendly features to the Powerpack edition. In releases prior to Mandriva Linux 2007, Discovery was a ‘traditional’ distribution built on the DrakX installer. In Mandriva Linux 2007 and 2007 Spring, Discovery is a hybrid “Live DVD” which can be booted without installation or installed to hard disk in the traditional manner.

Discovery was a DVD rather than a CD, allowing all languages to be provided on one disc. It consisted of a subset of packages from the ‘main’, ‘contrib’, ‘non-free’ and ‘non-free-restricted’ sections of the master tree. The package selection was tailored towards novice desktop users. A theme chosen to be appealing to novice users was used, and the ‘simplified’ menu layout in which applications are described rather than named and not all applications are included was the default (for all other editions, the default menu layout was the ‘traditional’ layout, where all graphical applications installed on the system were included and were listed by name).

Mandriva Linux Powerpack+

Mandriva Linux Powerpack+ was a version of Powerpack with additional packages, mostly commercial software. Like Powerpack, it was sold directly from the Mandriva Store website and through authorized resellers; it was also a free download for Mandriva Club members of the Gold level and above. Powerpack+ was aimed at SOHO (small office / home office) users, with the expectation that it could be used to run a small home or office server machine as well as desktop and development workstations. The package selection was tailored with this in mind, including a wide range of server packages. It consisted of a subset of packages from the ‘main’, ‘contrib’, ‘non-free’ and ‘restricted’ sections of the master tree. Mandriva 2008 no longer includes a Powerpack+ edition; instead, the Powerpack edition includes all the available packages.

Derivatives

Derivatives are distributions that are based on Mandriva Linux, some by Mandriva itself, others by independent projects. Some maintain compatibility with Mandriva Linux, so that installing a Mandriva Linux RPM also works on the offspring.

Current Derivatives

Mandriva Flash

Mandriva Flash is a pre-installed Mandriva Linux distribution on a 4GB USB key. The user can choose how much space is used for system files and how much is reserved for user files. An earlier version of Mandriva Flash was 2GB in size with fixed ratios. It can be booted directly from the key on systems that support booting from USB devices, or from a ‘kickstart’ CD (the image for the CD is provided with the Flash) on systems that do not. Flash runs faster than live CDs due to the relative speed of flash memory, and the read/write nature of the medium allows users to save files, configuration options and even to install new packages.

Mandriva Corporate Server

Mandriva Corporate Server is a distribution specifically tailored for enterprise-level general purpose server usage. Development is started from the basis of a previous Mandriva Linux release, with the package selection altered, important packages updated, certain extra configuration tools and applications added, and some extra support for enterprise-level hardware. The maintenance lifetime of each release is five years. The current release of Corporate Server is 4.0.

Mandriva Corporate Desktop

Mandriva Corporate Desktop is the desktop counterpart to Corporate Server. Again it is based on a Mandriva Linux release with enterprise-specific modifications and a five-year maintenance lifetime. The current release of Corporate Desktop is 4.0.

Discontinued Derivatives

Multi Network Firewall

Linux Mandrake 7.2 had a version tailored specifically for use as a firewall, known as Single Network Firewall (SNF). Its successor, based on Mandrake 8.2, was titled Multi Network Firewall (MNF). The third iteration is named MNF 2 and is based upon Mandrakelinux 10.0. These firewall distributions are designed to provide security for computer networks, and can be administered remotely via a browser-based interface or Secure Shell. MNF 2 is now counted as part of the Corporate product line and can only be bought, with support, from Mandriva.

GlobeTrotter

GlobeTrotter is a LaCie mobile USB drive loaded with a specific version of Mandriva Linux. Like Move, it can boot most PCs into Linux without installing first. The 40 GB hard drive makes it a convenient way to carry a Linux workstation around. GlobeTrotter was launched in August 2003 and can be ordered through Mandriva’s online store. It is now superseded by Mandriva Flash and Linutop.

Gaming Edition

Mandrake Linux 8.1 had a Gaming Edition, which was a game oriented Linux distribution. It had a port of The Sims using the Transgaming WineX technology.

CLIC

CLIC aka “Cluster Linux pour le Calcul” is a dedicated version of Mandrakelinux created by MandrakeSoft specifically for clustering environments. It was sponsored by the RNTL, other partners were ID-IMAG, Groupe Bull and Mandrakesoft. This project’s aim was to produce a HPC Linux Distribution for 32- and 64-bit processors. The objective of project CLIC was to allow the realization of large scientific computers while being based on free software. The objective consists of the realization a Linux distribution for clusters of machines, meeting the needs for deployment, administration and programming of clusters within the framework of exploitation for intensive calculation. It features an automated installation of a full cluster using the Ka tools, urpmi and the clusterscripts. This project was finished on 1 December 2003 and Mandrakesoft decided to continue that project with a product called Mandrake Linux Clustering. This product included Drakcluster (GUI) for improved usability. It was dedicated to the HPC market but it could also be used (with some modifications) to all kinds of clusters (such as High Availability, applicative or grid). It features parallel commands (bash, copying tools), deployment (disks), software upgrade/downgrade (urpmi parallel), monitoring (ganglia), etc. Clustering was available on x86 and x86-64 architectures.

Mandrake Move

A LiveMove is the set formed by a Live CD and a bootfloppy or USB flash drive. Mandrake Move was a Mandriva product that benefits from a Mandrake Linux Live CD which doesn’t need to be installed to run on a computer, and a USB key that automatically records bootloader, hardware configuration and personal data. The first version of Mandrake Move was released in December 2003 but only distributed to customers in January 2004, due to production delays. It brought two main innovations compared to competitors:

* ability to eject the cdrom if the machine has 256 MB of RAM or more (Knoppix also can, but needs to copy the whole cdrom into RAM, therefore needs a machine with 1 GB of RAM or more), and continue to operate in a “downgraded” mode allowing only to play multimedia files
* transparent save of any user modification of his/her own files and system configuration files, if operated with a USB key

The second version, simply called Move, was released in October 2004. Hardware support and stability have seen much improvement. Move is now superseded by Mandriva One and Mandriva Flash.

MANDRIVA INSTALLATION

The most common method for installing Mandriva Linux is from CD or DVD, either bought in a box set from the Mandriva Store, or created from images downloaded from a Mandriva mirror site. In most cases, starting an install from CD or DVD is as simple as putting the disc (the first disc, in the case of multi-disc sets) into the drive and rebooting. Sometimes Mandriva Linux installation does not start when system is booted with CD or DVD in the drive. If you place the disc in the drive, reboot, and the system simply boots up as normal into whatever operating system is already installed, the problem is that your system is not configured to try booting from the CD / DVD drive before booting from the hard drive. To fix this you must enter the system (BIOS) setup utility. This is usually achieved by pressing a special key at the very start of the boot process, while the system is checking the memory. The key is often a function key, or the Delete key. The key will be displayed on the initial boot up screen and / or listed in your system manual. The exact process to change the boot device order will vary depending on the BIOS used by your system; if you cannot find the setting, please refer to your system manual. For one commonly used BIOS – Phoenix / Award – you should go to the ‘Advanced BIOS Features’ page and set the first boot device to be CD-ROM. Make the hard disk the second boot device.

Installation from Mandriva Linux One

Mandriva Linux One is a combined Live / installation CD edition of Mandriva Linux. When you boot from a Mandriva Linux One CD (by placing it in the drive and rebooting the system), Mandriva Linux One will run in live mode: it will run directly from the CD without installing anything to the hard disk. There is an icon on the default desktop which can be used to install Mandriva Linux One to the hard disk.

Installation Problems

If you are confident that your installation media are not corrupt, but you still experience problems during installation, then you are most likely either experiencing hardware problems or an installer bug. These can sometimes be resolved by running the installer in a different way. If you are installing from CD / DVD, the very first installer screen gives you several choices for different installation methods. If you are using one of the other installation methods described above, the first installer screen describes how to choose other installation methods. If you are experiencing graphical problems, try the vgalo, vgahi, vga16 or text install methods. If you are experiencing other problems, try the Installation–ACPI Disabled install method. Problems not resolved in this way are outside the scope of this document, but may be handled by the “Errata page” on “http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Releases/Mandriva/Errata” for the release you are trying to install.

MANDRIVA CLUB

The Mandriva Club began several years ago as a combination of several commercial services and a user community. It was initially very successful and very supportive for distribution. The Mandriva Club now no longer has any paid memberships: being a member of the Club is as simple as signing up for an account at my.mandriva.com. All Club services are now available to all members, and so available for free. The one commercial offering the Club was really still providing in its final years was download access to the Powerpack commercial edition of Mandriva Linux for paid-up Club members. This has been separated out into a standalone Powerpack subscription service which is not mixed up with the concept of Club membership. It has just one price and one service: you pay a simple fee of €59 or US$69 per year for the right to download the Powerpack edition of Mandriva Linux. One year covers two releases of Mandriva Linux. No other services or community membership ‘privileges’ are tied to the Powerpack subscription, it’s a simple one-feature service. We hope that this new change will result in a more positive impression of the Mandriva community, more participation in the Mandriva Club, and an end speculative to the confusion over ‘paid memberships’ of the Mandriva community. Mandriva also has a Mandriva Corporate Club for larger organisations.

Mandriva Linux 2008.1 Spring

Unveiled

LINUX DISTRIBUTOR MANDRIVA, has announced Thursday, 9 April 2008 the release of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring. the major new release of Mandriva Linux, featuring hundreds of improvements which make for a quicker and more powerful distribution that is easier to use than ever. The latest release of Mandriva, the leading European Linux distributor, includes features like full support for the Asus Eee, has synchronization with Windows Mobile 5, Blackberry and Nokia handsets, a program called Codeina for automatically installing necessary media codecs, PulseAudio and quite a bit more. Included in their new software updates are:

- Linux kernel 2.6.24.4,
- KDE 3.5.9 (4.0.3 is apparently available too),
- GNOME 2.22,
- OpenOffice.org 2.4,
- X.org 7.3
- Compiz 0.7.2 – important bugfixes, standards compliance improvements, support for multiple displays, native KDE 4 window decorator, session management support.
- Mozilla Firefox 2.0
- Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.
- Updated IcedTea Java implementation, including browser plugin

As well as having what Mandriva calls its “new, simplified user interface”, there is also a new function allowing for parental control, which lets parents spy on their children’s internet activity, block certain sites, and even put time limits on computer use. It apparently took six months to come up with the new version, and Mandriva CEO, François Bancilhon, seems proud of his team’s work. “Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring is the most advanced distribution we have ever produced”, he gushed.

Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring is available in several different editions:

* the One edition is an installable live CD integrating the latest proprietary drivers, available free of charge
* the Powerpack edition includes support, services, a wider range of packages, and exclusive third-party proprietary applications like Cedega, Fluendo codec pack, Scilab and 03 Spaces
* the Free edition is a pure free / open source software edition, without any of the non-free packages bundled with other editions, available as a free download

Mandriva Linux Spring 2008 Release on the Asus EEE PC

Gadgets & Tech – After the success of Ubuntu 8.04 on my Asus EEE PC it was brought to my attention by Klopus there are interesting happenings going on over at Mandriva. Mandriva noticed Asus’s excellent Eee PC low-cost, miniature notebook taking the world by storm. Thanks to MDV team work on the Intel Classmate PC, we already had extensive experience of working with this type of system, and it was simple to make Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring 100% Eee-friendly. The Eee comes with a capable Linux distribution, but should you reach its limitations or prefer to install your favourite distribution instead, Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring is ready. It supports all the Eee’s hardware out of the box, with no configuration required, and the Mandriva configuration tools and applications have been tweaked to be friendly to the Eee’s lower resolution screen. We have also reduced power consumption to allow longer use on battery by dynamically handling processor frequency and adding a keyboard shortcut (fn+f6) to enable or disable the webcam. It’s easy to install Mandriva even without a CD or DVD drive.

Improvements to Installation

The Mandriva installers – both the traditional installer used by the Free and Powerpack editions, and the One live installer – can now detect other Linux distributions installed on your system and add them to the boot menu, just as they have been able to do with Windows for many years. Now you can install Mandriva Linux on a system along with other popular Linux distributions and it will set up a boot menu so you can boot to any of them.

Changes to Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring include:

* A new parental control utility, giving parents greater supervision of their children’s activities on the Internet by automatically identifying any improper content before authorizing access to a website, allowing manual blocking of sites, and time limits on computer use,
* The Elisa multimedia center, a cutting-edge application which gives you a beautiful graphical interface to manage your photos, music and videos
* Easy support for synchronizing many mobile devices with the GNOME and KDE environments. Windows Mobile(R) 5, 6 and 6.1-based devices, Blackberry devices and many Nokia phones are supported,
* The Codeina framework has been introduced, providing automatic installation of codecs to play media files for which support is not already available,
* The PulseAudio audio framework has been adopted by default, making sound management at the same time easier and more powerful than ever before in Mandriva,
* Significant improvements to the Mandriva software installation tools, in the design of the interface, the available sorting and layout options, and the way extended package information is handled,
* A completely new graphical design, including a dynamic KDE background which changes according to the hour of the day,
* Coherence, a media server which allows you to share video and audio files between either two PCs or with a gaming console or a media center,
* Customized support for the popular Asus EeePC: Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring works perfectly on the EeePC with no modifications, including wireless networking, native resolution, Mandriva tools tweaked to fit the small screen, suspend and resume support, and full support for the special and multimedia keys
* KDE 4.0.2 available in repositories /contrib.

Mandriva Linux Kernel 2.6.24

2008 Spring includes the latest version of the Linux kernel, 2.6.24, with notable Mandriva patches including ALSA 1.0.16 and several other updated or additional drivers for various types of hardware. This ensures Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring will be compatible with the widest possible range of hardware. Mandriva kernel 2.6.24 kernel provides:

* AppArmor integration
* Xen DomU support by default in kernel-server flavor
* Many additional ALSA fixes from upstream ALSA branch
* out of the box Asus Eee PC support, notably in the asus-laptop module

AppArmor built into the kernel

AppArmor is no longer a kernel module: instead, it is built in to the kernel. To enable it, you can pass the apparmor=1 parameter to the kernel command line. Kernel parameters can be added with the drakboot utility, Mandriva’s boot configuration tool, available from the Mandriva Control Center; by editing the bootloader configuration file – /boot/grub/menu.lst for GRUB or /etc/lilo.conf for LILO – manually; or by entering the kernel parameter after selecting the desired kernel on the boot menu screen.

Kernel-multimedia Removed

The kernel-multimedia alternative kernel is no longer available with Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring. It was previously an alternative kernel along the same lines as kernel-tmb, incorporating experimental or bleeding-edge changes that were not appropriate for the official kernel. Despite its name, it has not been specifically targeted towards multimedia use for some time. Its maintainer is now unable to commit the necessary amount of time to maintaining it, so it has been removed. Kernel-tmb will continue in its role as the main alternative kernel for Mandriva, the venue for experimental changes that are too dangerous to include directly in the official kernel. It contains most of the features kernel-multimedia had, including support for the reiser4 filesystem. The major exception is realtime support, which kernel-tmb does not have. A realtime kernel is available – kernel-rt – but please note that it is a completely unchanged build of the upstream kernel-rt branch, with no Mandriva patches or customization, so it does lack considerable functionality compared to the official Mandriva kernel.

NVIDIA graphics cards

All NVIDIA graphics cards available at the time of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring’s release are supported. The NVIDIA GeForce 9300 and 9600 GT are not currently supported by the NVIDIA proprietary driver, and thus there is no support for 3D acceleration on this card. All other NVIDIA cards have 3D acceleration support via the nvidia proprietary driver which is available in the One and Powerpack editions, and in the public non-free repository. Free software support is provided by the nv driver, which offers full support for basic 2D operations for all NVIDIA cards.

ATI graphics cards

All ATI graphics cards available at the time of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring’s release are supported. Support for pre-Radeon X1xxx series cards (r400 and lower cores) has not changed since the release of Mandriva Linux 2008. 3D acceleration support for Radeon X1xxx, X2xxx and X3xxx series cards (and equivalent Mobility and motherboard-integrated chips; r500 and r600 cores) is provided via the fglrx proprietary driver which is available in the One and Powerpack editions, and in the public non-free repository. Free software support for these cards is now provided by the radeonhd driver, which offers full support for basic 2D operations for these cards. The Radeon HD 3870 X2 card is not supported by the proprietary fglrx driver, so no 3D acceleration is available on this card. This card will use the radeonhd driver for basic 2D support on all editions of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring. The Radeon HD 3200 onboard chipset is not supported by any of the native open source drivers in Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring. It will use the vesa generic driver for basic (unaccelerated) 2D support if the proprietary fglrx driver is unavailable, or if you choose not to use it.

Please note that Mandriva’s graphics card detection system considers all cards which use the same set of drivers and driver options as a single group, and your card will be detected as a member of one of these large groups: the graphics configuration tool will not display the exact name of your card, but a wider and more generic group name. This does not indicate that sub-optimal support is being provided for your card, but simply that your card uses the same driver and options as all the other cards in that group. An effort has been made to make these group names as accurate as possible, but due to ATI’s usage of different numbering schemes for its three different product lines – desktop, mobile, and integrated chips – it is not always possible to make the category name exactly fit all the hardware that belongs in it. If you have a mobile or integrated ATI chipset it is possible that it may appear to be detected in the ‘wrong’ group (for instance, the integrated Radeon 1100 and Radeon 1200 chipsets are detected in the Radeon 9500 to Radeon X1050 group). The group detected is usually in fact correct for your hardware, and if your hardware appears to be working correctly, you should not attempt to change the group.

HDA-based sound devices

Many recently built systems include integrated sound based on the HDA codec, supported in Linux by the snd-intel-hda driver, a part of the ALSA project. Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring includes the latest available version of ALSA along with several dozen patches to provide or improve support for specific implementations of the HDA codec. We hope this will make the 2008 Spring release compatible with the widest possible range of these integrated sound chipsets.

MAIN DEFAULT DESKTOP

KDE 3.5.9 and 4.0.3

Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring includes the final release of KDE 3, KDE 3.5.9, as its default desktop environment. This release brings the most successful free software desktop environment series ever to a close with many useful bug fixes, particularly to the kdepim suite, including import fixes for IMAP account handling and mail filtering, background emails filtering, improved korganizer calendar abilities. Mandriva-specific improvements have also been included, such as the ability to switch dynamically between standard flat menu layout and Kickoff, time based wallpapers and Metabar for easy access to files information and tasks. KMyMoney replaces GNUcash as the default personal finance application.

The new KDE4 series is not yet considered quite complete and bug-free enough to become the default desktop for Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring: it will make its debut as the default environment in Mandriva Linux 2009 later this year. However, this revolutionary and impressive new desktop will still be available to Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring users as an optional extra. A full set of KDE 4.0.3 packages will be available in the /contrib repository for Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring, and the entire desktop can be installed simply by installing the task-kde4 package or task-kde4-minimal package. KDE 4 then becomes available as a choice of desktop from the login screen. KDE 4.0.3′s main features are:

* KDE 4 overhauls many fundamental KDE components and introduces several entirely new ones, including the Phonon multimedia framework.
* The Plasma desktop shell offers a new desktop interface, including panel, menu and widgets on the desktop as well as a dashboard function.
* KWin, the KDE Window manager, now supports advanced graphical effects to ease interaction with your windows.
* Existing KDE applications have been revised and improved, and new ones introduced, like the Okular document viewer and Dolphin file manager.
* A huge amount of new artwork has been introduced throughout the desktop.

GNOME 2.22

Of course, Mandriva isn’t just a KDE distribution. For those who prefer GNOME, 2008 Spring includes the freshest release, GNOME 2.22.

* Major revamp to GNOME’s underlying infrastructure: the old GnomeVFS virtual filesystem is replaced with the new gvfs system.
* Major improvements have been made to GNOME’s Bluetooth module, improving the interface and adding several new features so you can now interact with Bluetooth devices in many ways from this single point.
* Metacity, the GNOME window manager, now has optional compositing support, enabling some advanced graphical effects such as dynamic drop-shadows on windows and a live view in the task switcher. This feature will not be enabled by default in 2008 Spring as pre-release testing indicated it caused problems in several situations, but it can easily be enabled by changing a single Metacity gconf setting.
* Totem, GNOME’s media player, now has full support for DVB digital television and is used as default video player plugin in Firefox.
* Abiword 2.6 is also available with many new features and bugfixes like new experimental collaboration support, experimental OpenDocument and OOXML support

Three new applications are also introduced to Mandriva’s default GNOME desktop. The Transmission client handles BitTorrent files with a simple, easy-to-use interface, fitting in well with the GNOME ethos. The Brasero CD/DVD writing application provides more advanced functionality than Nautilus’s ultra-convenient but simple built-in CD/DVD writing capabilities. HomeBank replaces GNUCash as the default personal finance application.

Mandriva Xfce 4.4.2 and other

Mandriva isn’t even just a KDE and GNOME distribution! Thanks once more to the work of the Mandriva Xfce development community, the full, latest version of the popular alternative desktop Xfce is available for 2008 Spring, seamlessly integrated into the Mandriva environment: an Xfce version of Mandriva’s Ia Ora theme is used by default, and the standard Mandriva links and desktop launchers are included in the Xfce environment. As with KDE 4, Xfce 4.4.2 can be installed simply by enabling the /contrib repository and installing the task-xfce package. Thunar, is a Xfce filemanager. Of course, beyond even KDE, GNOME and Xfce, Mandriva provides a huge range of desktop environments and window managers with Mandriva customizations, including IceWM, Fluxbox, EDE and more. Whatever your system’s capabilities or your preferred type of desktop, Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring will have an option for you.

Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring Xfce LiveCD

Thanks to the efforts of the Mandriva Linux Xfce development community, an Xfce version of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring One is now available. Just like the KDE and GNOME versions of One, this is an installable live CD edition of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring, but this time featuring Xfce as the desktop environment. As with the other One versions, three images are available, with different sets of languages on each. This is an unofficial release, but the Xfce development volunteers will attempt to address any problems or questions about this release. You can get the default language set version (i586) or (x86-64), the alternative language set version (i586) or (x86-64), and the Asian language set version (i586) or (x86-64). The images may also be made available on the official Mandriva mirrors in future. Any problems you find in these images can be reported as normal to Bugzilla.

PulseAudio New Sound Infrastructure

MDV 2008 Spring is the first Mandriva Linux release to feature the PulseAudio sound infrastructure by default. If all you want is hassle-free working sound on your system, PulseAudio has you covered: it makes the sound experience on Mandriva easier than ever, with more applications than ever before able to play audio together. PulseAudio also provides some advanced features that make it a boon for many users. Those with multiple sound devices – an increasingly common situation these days, with many USB audio devices available – will appreciate PulseAudio’s ability to move sound streams from one device to another – even on-the-fly. It’s also easy to designate a single device as the default and have all applications respect this – something that was difficult without PulseAudio. PulseAudio can even with a little extra configuration, necessary for security reasons let you use a sound device in another machine – you can start playing a song on your desktop, and then move the playback over the network to the sound card in your living room computer, all without the music even pausing. Mandriva’s development community has worked extensively to ensure the PulseAudio experience on 2008 Spring is as bug-free as possible.

The release comes with the PulseAudio sound server installed and enabled by default in all new installations and upgrades performed via the official installer. PulseAudio’s benefits include much improved handling of multiple sound cards, the ability to control the audio outputs of different applications separately, and advanced network capabilities. We have worked hard to ensure that the widest possible range of applications works correctly with PulseAudio. However, it is possible that some users may wish to disable it. Some of the known drawbacks of using PulseAudio are:

* PulseAudio uses a higher quality but more CPU-intensive resampling algorithm than ALSA. If your sound hardware is incapable of playing certain sampling rates natively, PulseAudio will resample the audio before sending it to the card. Resampling is also necessary when you are playing two audio streams with different sampling rates at once (for instance, playing a CD – 44.1KHz – and a DVD – usually 48KHz). When resampling is needed, PulseAudio will use around two to three times as much CPU power as ALSA would in the same situation. On most reasonably modern systems this will not be noticeable, but on older systems in can represent a significant percentage of available CPU power.
* PulseAudio is not really compatible with the JACK server used for professional audio applications. If you need to use JACK, you should disable PulseAudio first.
* There may still be some applications that do not work correctly with PulseAudio, despite out efforts to minimize the likelihood of this.

You can easily disable PulseAudio or configure 5.1/surround settings via Mandriva’s sound hardware configuration tool, draksound.

Elisa

Elisa is a sleek, cutting-edge media center based on the Gstreamer media framework. Elisa concentrates on presenting an attractive, sleek and simple to use interface that makes it both easy and visually appealing to watch videos, listen to music, and browse pictures from a dedicated interface. Elisa has a heavy emphasis on internet integration, with support for media sharing services like last.fm, Flickr, Youtube and more all built in. Its architecture makes it easily extensible through the use of plugins. Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring’s /contrib repository includes the latest version of Elisa, 0.3.5, and its associated plugins, making it easy to try out, and new versions of Elisa will be made available following 2008 Spring’s release through Mandriva’s extensive /backports repository system.

Avant Window Navigator (AWN)

Avant Window Navigator is an OS X Dock-inspired task manager and window list applet whose modular architecture and extensive configurability make it more flexible and powerful than its inspiration. Like the Dock, AWN displays an icon for each open application and also lets you add launchers in the same format, letting you use the same simple, intuitive, compact interface for launching applications and switching between them once launched. AWN’s appearance is also extensively customizable, letting you choose from flat or pseudo-3D appearances, change colours and effects and even set a background. AWN takes advantage of the compositing features of Compiz (or GNOME’s Metacity window manager, with its compositing support enabled) and modern graphics card drivers to produce a range of visually pleasing effects that also make the interface simple and easy to use. AWN’s architecture makes it easy to create applets for a wide range of functions, such as an applet that lets you control several different media players, an applet that displays battery power, weather and clock applets and many more, all of which can take advantage of the AWN engine to use advanced graphical effects. Both AWN and its official plugin package, awn-extras-applets, are available from Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring’s /contrib repository, and new versions of both will be made available following 2008 Spring’s release through the /backports system.

Conduit

Conduit is a general-purpose synchronization application for GNOME. It aims to provide a single interface for synchronizing all sorts of data between applications, internet sites and services, and devices. Its interface makes it extremely simple to set up arbitrary synchronization groups, letting you – for instance – synchronize photos from a photo management application on your computer to Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, and a backup folder (on a local or remote computer) all in a single operation. New services for Conduit are being added all the time, but it can already make a wide range of synchronization operations as simple as a single click. Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring’s /contrib repository includes the latest version of Conduit, 0.3.9, and new versions will be made available following 2008 Spring’s release through the /backports system.

Miro

Miro turns your PC into an internet TV. Choose your favorite podcast or browse the Miro guide containing a wide range of free video broadcasting sites (ranging from nature movies to music clips and from news to trailers) in many languages, then play them all in one go! As soon as it starts (which can be at the same moment your desktop is started), Miro auto-downloads all your favorite channels and continues downloading them while you’re watching one so you can sit and relax enjoying a continuous flow of your favorite videos. Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring’s /contrib repository includes Miro 1.1.2, and new versions will be made available following 2008 Spring’s release through the /backports system.

Wireless networking hardware

Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring includes the latest version of a wide range of wireless drivers, to provide native support for as many devices as possible. In addition, a bug from the last few releases which prevented the Mandriva graphical network configuration tool from properly configuring the ndiswrapper driver has been corrected. If your wireless device does not work with the native drivers available in Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring and you must use ndiswrapper for it to work, you can now configure this entirely through the Mandriva graphical network configuration tools.

New LAMP metapackage

A metapackage (task package) – task-lamp – has been added to this release to allow easy installation of a complete set of LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP / Perl / Python) packages, making it simpler than ever to set up a typical web server on a Mandriva Linux system. This package and all its dependencies are present on the Free edition of this pre-release.

Mandriva Linux 2008 Powerpack

Commercial extras

The commercial extras are the only thing that’s unique to the Powerpack. They are pretty cool, though. Cedega is a fork of wine, the Windows compatibility layer, that’s specifically aimed at playing Windows games on Linux. You get Cedega in the Powerpack plus we can give you a code for a few months of updates from Transgaming (the makers). There’s info on Transgaming’s site about what games are playable and supported on Cedega, so give it a shot. Works best with NVIDIA graphics cards. Fluendo is a media company. They licensed rights to various problematic audio and video formats and created legal Linux codecs for them (Gstreamer codecs). These are available as a pack for €28 from the Fluendo store, but they’re bundled in the 2008 Powerpack, and installed and configured out of the box. As they’re Gstreamer codecs, we made the Gstreamer version of Totem the default audio / video player on 2008 Spring Powerpack, even in KDE. Try it out – install 2008 Spring Powerpack and immediately try playing back some WMV and WMA files, and MP3 files. The codecs included are Windows Media and MP3 decoders.

Pricing and Availability

Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring is the result of six months of hard work by both our developers and our community. All these efforts allow Mandriva to produce a distribution true to Mandriva’s values of openness, simplicity and innovation, -said Anne Nicolas-Velu, Mandriva Director of Engineering and Community. Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring is the most advanced distribution we have ever produced – conluded Mandriva CEO François Bancilhon, and everybody can benefit from the Powerpack version with all the latest applications and services, including exclusive commercial applications, for only 59 euros.

All the Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring editions are immediately available. Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring Powerpack is available in boxed, slim pack, download and one year download subscription versions at the Mandriva Store and Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring One and Free are immediately available for public download. The Powerpack boxed version is available for 69 euros, or US$89. The slim pack version (containing just the DVD, no documentation) is available for 59 euros, or US$69. The direct download version is available for 49 euros, or US$59. The Powerpack subscription, allowing Powerpack download access for twelve months and so covering two Mandriva Linux releases, is available for 59 euros, or US$69. All these versions can be ordered from 9 April 2008 at the Mandriva Store. Boxed and slim pack editions will be pre-ordered and delivered when available, in around 2 weeks.

Managing Languages in Mandriva Linux

Mandriva Linux is translated in about 70 different languages. You will find them on all versions of distribution. One CDs, due to space question, is providing 3 flavours of languages packs, where you will be able to find most current languages:

Extra-i18n

* Arabic (ar)
* Bulgarian (bg)
* Czech (cs)
* Danish (da)
* Greek (el)
* English (Australia) (en_AU)
* English (Canada) (en_CA)
* English (en_GB)
* English (Ireland) (en_IE)
* English (New-Zealand) (en_NZ)
* English (American) (en_US)
* Estonian (et)
* Euskara (Basque) (eu)
* Hebrew (he)
* Hindi (hi)
* Hungarian (hu)
* Lithuanian (lt)
* Swedish (sv)
* Ukrainian (uk)
* Uzbek (uz)
* Uzbek (cyrillic) (uz@cyrillic)
* Zulu (zu)

Int

* German (de)
* English (Australia) (en_AU)
* English (Canada) (en_CA)
* English (en_GB)
* English (Ireland) (en_IE)
* English (New-Zealand) (en_NZ)
* English (American) (en_US)
* Spanish (es)
* French (fr)
* Italian (it)
* Norwegian Bokmaal (nb)
* Dutch (nl)
* Norwegian Nynorsk (nn)
* Polish (pl)
* Portuguese (pt)
* Portuguese (Brasil) (pt_BR)
* Russian (ru)

Asian

* Chinese Simplified (zh_CN)
* Chinese Traditional (zh_TW)
* English (Australia) (en_AU)
* English (Canada) (en_CA)
* English (en_GB)
* English (Ireland) (en_IE)
* English (New-Zealand) (en_NZ)
* English (American) (en_US)
* Indonesian (id)
* Japanese (ja)
* Korean (ko)
* Malay (ms)

EDUTIVE

Mandriva and Novatice Technologies present Edutice, The ready to use solution dedicated to educationand multimedia spaces. Edutice enables work spaces to be automatically deployed on schoolroom, archive centre or library computers. Mandriva, the leading European Linux publisher, and Novatice Technologies, are developing in partnership information technology solutions to permit the management and dynamic creation of work environments. The Edutice solution has been put together to adress the specific demand of schools and universities: to facilitate the management of their IT services and their digital welcome structures. Mandriva and Novatice Technologies have joined together to propose a ready to use solution to teachers facilitating the management of their IT set-up and encouraging the use of Information and Communication Technologies. Edutice enables teachers to configure a class or a work station in just a few clicks. The configurations can be prepared in advance or stored on a USB device. The solution integrates the latest software enabling users to fully exploit the various options: office, multimedia, Internet, electronic mail messages, … as well as educational games.

« Because of the many problems linked to use by the general public (deconfiguration, work environments, insecurity linked to Internet use, work stations unadapted to the user) we have developed Edutice to simplify and secure access. Thanks to Edutice, teachers and multimedia space heads can finally commit themselves fully to Information and Communication Technology use and not the technical problems», said Novatice Technologies President Christophe Terrassoux.

«Edutice was born out of the successful collaboration between Mandriva and Novatice Technologies. This work led to the development of an innovative solution based on free software meeting the needs of all IT users, » added Aurélien Goll, head of Mandriva’s Training and Education department.

GOODRAM with Xtreme2

Any user who decides to buy a GOODRAM memory module will also be able to order a fully-functional operational system Mandriva Linux with bonus pack Xtreme2 features. Mandriva, its Polish partner and Wilk Elektronik team up to offer an OEM solution combining a GOODRAM module packaged. Mandriva S.A, is delighted to announce it can now offer its local distribution a personalized Mandriva packaged with GOODRAM modules. Wilk Elektronik SA, the manufacturer of GOODRAM modules, and Mandriva have partnered together to produce a new solution for Poland and for other European customers. This OEM solution comprises of memory module, Mandriva latest version and a bonus pack Xtreme2. This solution was created for users who either want to assemble their new PC or make an upgrade from propriety OS to a personalized open source OS based on Mandriva Linux. Wilk Elektronik S.A., established in 1991, has specialized primarily in RAM semi- conductors for use in computers, printers and other industrial computer devices.

“The main advantage for customers is pricing, which is hardly above the market price for memory, and which offers customers any memory modules packaged with an operating system”, explains Tomeq Ćwienk Communication Manager at Wilk Elektronik SA.

“Mandriva’s partnership with a growing OEM like Wilk Elektronik is a demonstration of the end-user appeal for the Mandriva Linux operating system. It also demonstrates Mandriva’s continual drive to become a global Linux desktop. This agreement in Europe validates Mandriva’s strategic investment in Eastern Europe that it will be a growing market for Mandriva”, said Gaurav Parakh, Vice President, OEM Business Unit, Mandriva S.A.

The bonus pack consists of memory ram and a robust operational system which is addressed both to companies involved in the production of computers and individual customers who want to enjoy the benefits of a legal and highly functional OS.

“This offer will not only create more value for customers, but it also meets the requirement of selling a computer with an extremely rich featured operating system. Our offer is ideal for all companies looking for a product which makes their current offer much more attractive”, confirms Agnieszka Okoniewska, OEM Sales Manager at Mandriva Poland.
___________________________________________________

MANDRIVA S.A.

Mandriva S.A. is a publicly traded (symbol:MDKFF) Linux and open source software company with its headquarters in Paris, France and development center in Curitiba, Brazil. Mandriva, S.A. is the creator and maintainer of Mandriva Linux, describing itself as a “project initiator and a skills organizer in the Open Source arena”, and a founding member of the Desktop Linux Consortium (DLC). Mandriva, S.A. began as MandrakeSoft in 1998. It currently has about 130 employees (80 of whom are engineers) and has offices in France, the USA, and Brazil. The company sells its products in more than 140 countries and estimates the number of Mandriva Linux users to be in the 6-to-8 million range. MandrakeSoft was forced to change its name as a result of losing litigation to the Hearst Corporation over the name Mandrake (MDK). The litigation concluded in February 2004, and appeals expired in early 2005. The litigation arose because of Hearst Corporation’s claim to the name “Mandrake”, inspired by the comic Mandrake the Magician; forcing MandrakeSoft to change its name. In 2005, MandrakeSoft acquired the assets of Lycoris, and purchased Conectiva. As a result of the forced name change, the name Mandriva (MDV) was selected to reflect the combination of MandrakeSoft and Conectiva. On 2008-01-16, Mandriva and Turbolinux announced a partnership to create a lab named Manbo-Labs, to share resources and technology to release a common base system for both companies Linux distributions.

Acquisitions

On October 4, 2004, Mandrakesoft acquired the professional support company Edge IT. Edge IT focused on the delivery of services and support to the corporate market in France and had 6 employees.

On February 24, 2005, Mandrakesoft acquired Brazilian Linux distributor Conectiva for €1.79 million (2.3 million US dollars at the time).

On June 15, 2005, Mandriva acquired Lycoris (formerly, Redmond Linux Corporation).

On October 5, 2006, Mandriva signed an agreement to acquire Linux enterprise software infrastructure company Linbox. The agreement includes the acquisition of all shares of Linbox for a total of $1.739 million in Mandriva stock, plus an earn out of up to $401,000 based on the 2006 Linbox financials.
________________________________________________

LINK About Mandriva

Mandriva Store and Download:
http://store.mandriva.com

Download Free and One edition:
http://www.mandriva.com/download

Torrent Download:
http://torrent.mandriva.com/public

Mandriva SVN – Subversion Serwer:
http://www.svn.mandriva.com

English Wiki-Mandriva
http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/2008.1

MANDRIVA CONNECTIVA
http://www.conectiva.com.br/

MANDRIVA CLUB
https://my.mandriva.com/

This article will be actualized with some news.

Last actualization: 23 May 2008 by

PREMA DHARMIN

Do you know what you’re drinking? – Alcohol and Units

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

I think many of us have no idea what we are drinking, because the system the UK uses for measuring alcohol in beverages is slightly complicated, so I’ve put together a helpful and easy to use guide so you can drink safely & responsibly!

The alcohol content of drinks is measured in units, with one UK unit containing eight grams of pure alcohol. Now, you can’t just count each drink as one unit of alcohol unfortunately, as the number of units depends on the different strength and size of each drink, so it can vary a lot.

Know Your Units – How do I calculate what I’m drinking?

There’s a whole load of alcoholic beverages on offer; wine, fortified liquers, beer, lager, spirits, ready to drink bottles, stout etc and each drink has a different alcohol content, you can see from the examples below just how the unit content of alcholic drinks actually differ…

Small Glass of Wine – 175ml – 12% abv = 2.1 Units

Spirits – 35ml – 40% = 1.4 units

Pint of Standard Beer or Cider – 568ml – 4.1%abv = 2.3 Units

Bottle of Beer or RTD – 275ml – 5% abv = 1.4 Units

To figure out how many units your alcoholic beverage is worth, there’s a simple formula:

[Volume (ml) x abv]/1000 = Unit content

Small Glass of Wine – 175ml – 12% abv = 2.1 Units

175ml x 12/1000 = 2.1 Units

Can you guess the units of alcohol for the glasses below? Scroll down to find out.

Psychology of men

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

No relationship is perfect, and many arguments happen with a lack of understanding of what a man is really trying to tell us. This could save your relationship! This article really digs into a man’s path of thinking… Here are a few tips on what he could really be saying to you.

He says: ‘’I don’t love you, but I like you’’

What he really is saying: ‘’I’m not really ready to fall in love right now, but I am still willing to give this relationship a chance to see where it leads us. I am scared to fall in love quickly for fear of getting hurt again, and I don’t want to give you false hopes, if I’m not feeling it.

He says: ‘’Nothing has changed’’.

What he’s really saying : ‘’I wish you’d stop being insecure, it really is pushing me away from you. I may not show my emotions, but it does not mean that I am not willing to still be with you.

He says : ‘’That’s a stupid thing to say’’

What he’s really stating: ‘’I didn’t like how that came out, but if you said it in a different way, I may have responded with a better note.

He says: ‘’I’m really upset right now, one guy quit on me from work, and I had to do his job’’.

What he’s really stipulating: ‘’I need alone time right now. I don’t want to take out on you, because things could get ugly. Please leave me alone, I will come around when I am feeling up for a chat’’

He says: ‘’ I will be late picking you up, I have a few things I need to accomplish before meeting up with you’’.

What he’s really saying : ‘’ I need some alone time to think, and I don’t want to be distracted by you while I am on a mission. So I really need to get things done before we can spend some quality time together, and later on my mind won’t be so distracted.

He says: ‘’ I want to quit smoking’’.

What he’s really saying: ‘’I need your support on this, because I cannot do this alone. I need you to help me the best you can.

He says: ‘’ I’m so tired, and really sore’’.

What he’s really saying: ‘’It would be nice to have a long back rub. Can you do that for me? I know this will make me feel better, and it will give me energy to give you quality loving later on’’.

He says: ‘’ It’s not you, it’s me’’

What he’s really saying: ‘’ I need to think things through, I am not ready to be in a relationship right now. So this is not going to work out between you and I’’.

He says: ‘’I will call you’’

What he really means: ‘’I am testing you, to see how independent you are, I don’t need someone to be calling me every day and all hours of the day. If I don’t call in a few days, try calling me but if I don’t call in a week after talking with you, I am not interested.

He says: ‘’I don’t want anything for Christmas, I don’t expect you to get me anything’’.

What he’s really saying. ‘’I don’t want to disappoint you, but I a testing to see what your taste is like in gifts. However I do want something though. So surprise me.

He says: ‘’Let’s go back to my place’’

What he’s really saying: ‘’I want to spend some quiet time with you, without other people around.’’

He says: ‘’I don’t eat fast food’’

What he’s really saying: ‘’ I’d rather spend my money on good quality food, and treat you right’’.

He says: ‘’don’t worry about it’’.

What he really means: ‘’ Pay me back when you can, I’m really not all that worried about it. I am here for you’’.

Now the ladies, what we say and what they think…

Woman: ‘’I love you’’

What he is thinking: ‘’ I’m scared she is going to hurt me, I’m not sure if I should say it back. Do I really feel the same way, and if I do how do I express myself toward her’’?

Men have a hard time expressing their inner emotions because they were raised to be al macho like as a child. They were taught to not be a wimp in school and to fight back, when pushed. When it comes to love ad relationships, he is unsure how to really respond, as he really needs to feel it first in order to give you the response you are looking for.

Woman: ‘’I want to be with you forever, you are my everything’’.

What he is thinking: Same notion as above. He may have never experienced a woman to fall head over heels for him before, and this perhaps is new to him. He possibly is thinking. ‘Maybe this is it, maybe I finally found the one I want to be with, but I got to make sure that I love her first. But I don’t want to hurt her either’’.

Men want to take things slow, it does take a longer time for a man to fully come around. Though be careful some men are liable to be scared off.

Woman: ‘’ It just feels like you don’t want to spend as much time with me anymore’’.

What he is thinking: ‘’ Nothing has changed, but I wish you’d stop telling me this. Though I will make it up to you the best way that I can. I am not trying to avoid or ignore you, I have been extremely busy’’.

Men do NOT want to hear this kind of talk. It will push them away. They may have been busy and trying hard not to ignore you, but sometimes a lack of help from work, does cramp the relationship style.

Woman: “Are we fading away?’’

What he is thinking: ‘’I just need time for myself now and then. I am not choosing to ignore you, however, when I am distracted with work and other things in my life, I find it hard to concentrate on this relationship sometimes’’.

The stipulation is the same as above. He may need to concentrate more on his goals instead of just one thing.

Woman: ‘’I have a fear of abandonment’’

What he is thinking: ‘’ I cannot promise you eternal love, as nothing lasts forever. I will do my best to not hurt you. Though I will test you, to see how independent you really are, if I don’t call you for a few days. I want to see how you react. Though this phase will not last, it’s just a run test’’.

Men are not willing to hurt a woman in a relationship, though they are willing to test you and push your buttons, just enough to see if you’re willing to be apart for a few days. He will probably only do this a few times, in order to find out what you’re really like when there is low communication. Especially if he goes away on business trips, where he may not be able to communicate as much with you.

Woman: ‘’ You are everything I have ever dreamed of’’

What he is thinking: ‘’I try my best, to make you happy. I want to make you feel this way because you are special.’’

A man may not show how he really feels when you say this to him, but really he is gloating. Don’t boost his ego up too much his head might pop ;-)

How to Successfully Navigate Your Business through an Economic Downturn

Posted by Search Here on March 22nd, 2011

An economic downturn is a phase of the business cycle in which the economy as a whole is in decline. This phase basically marks the end of the period of growth in the business cycle. Economic downturns are characterized by decreased levels of consumer purchases (especially of durable goods) and, subsequently, reduced levels of production by businesses.

While economic downturns are admittedly difficult, and are formidable obstacles to small businesses that are trying to survive and grow, an economic downturn can open up opportunities. A well-managed company can realize the opportunity to gain market share by taking customers away from their competitors. Resourceful entrepreneurs capture the available opportunities, from an economic downturn, by developing alternate methods of doing business that were never implemented during a prior growth period.

The challenge of successfully navigating your business through an economic downturn lies in the realignment of your business with current economic realities. Specifically, you, as the business owner, need to renew a focus on your core clients/customers, reduce your operating expenses, conserve cash, and manage more proactively, rather than reactively, is paramount.

Here are best practices that will help you to successfully navigate your business through an economic downturn:

Goals:

The primary goal of any business owner is to survive the current economic downturn and to develop a leaner, more cost-effective and more efficient operation. The secondary goal is to grow the business even during this current economic downturn.

Objectives:

• Conserve cash.

• Protect assets.

• Reduce costs.

• Improve efficiencies.

• Grow customer base.

Required Action:

• Do not panic… History shows that economic downturns do not last forever. Remain calm and act in a rational manner as you refocus your attention on resizing your company to the current economic conditions.

• Focus on what YOU can control… Don’t let the media’s rhetoric concerning recessions and economic slowdown deter you from achieving business success. It´s a trap! Why? Because the condition of the economy is beyond your control. Surviving economic downturns requires a focus on what you can control, i.e. your relevant business activities.

• Communicate, communicate, and communicate! Beware of the pitfall of trying to do too much on your own. It is a difficult task indeed to survive and to grow your business solely with your own efforts. Solicit ideas and seek the help of other people (your employees, suppliers, lenders, customers, and advisors). Communicate honestly and consistently. Effective two-way communication is the key.

• Negotiate, negotiate, and negotiate! The value of a strong negotiation skill set cannot be overstated. Negotiating better deals and contracts is an absolute must for realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions. The key to success is not only knowing how to develop a win-win approach in negotiations with all parties, but also keeping in mind the fact that you want a favorable outcome for yourself too.

Recommended Best Practice Activities:

The Nuts and Bolts… The following list of recommended best practice activities is critical for your business’ survival and for its growth during an economic downturn. The actual financial health of your particular business, at the outset of the economic downturn, will dictate the priority and urgency of the implementation of the following best practice activities.

1. Diligently monitor your cash flow: Forecast your cash flow monthly to ensure that expenses and planned expenditures are in line with accounts receivable. Include cash flow statements into your monthly financial reporting. Project cash requirements three-to- six months in advance. The key is to know how to monitor, protect, control, and put cash to work.

2. Carefully convert your inventories: Convert excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory items into cash. Consider returning excess and slow-moving items back to the suppliers. Close-out or inventory reduction sales work well to resize your inventory. Also, consider narrowing your product offerings. Well-timed order placement helps to reduce excess inventory levels and occasional material shortages. The key is to reduce the amount of your inventory without losing sales.

3. Timely collection of your accounts receivable: This asset should be converted to cash as quickly as possible. Offer prompt payment discounts to encourage timely payments. Make changes in the terms of sale for slow paying customers (i.e. changing net 30 day terms to COD). Invoicing is an important part of your cash flow management. The first rule of invoicing is to do it as soon as possible after products are shipped and/or after services are delivered. Place an emphasis on reducing billing errors. Most customers delay payments because an invoice had errors, and therefore, will not pay until they receive a corrected copy. Email or fax your invoices to save on mailing time. Post the payments that you have received and make deposits more frequently. The key is to develop an efficient collection system that generates timely payments and one that gives you advance warning of problems.

4. Re-focus your attention on your existing clients/customers: Make customer satisfaction your priority. A regular review of your customers’ buying history and frequency of purchases can reveal some interesting facts about your customers’ buying habits. Consider signing long-term contracts with your core clients/customers which will add to your security. Offer a discount for upfront cash payments. The key is to do what it takes to keep your current customers loyal.

5. Re-negotiate with your suppliers, lenders, and landlord:

i) Suppliers: Always keep your negotiations on the level of need, saying that your company has reviewed its cost structure and has determined that it needs to lower supplier costs. . Tell the supplier that you value the relationship you have developed, but that you need to receive a cost reduction immediately. Ask your supplier for a lower material price, a longer payment cycle, and the elimination of finance charges. Also, see if you can buy material from them on a consignment basis. In return for their price concessions, be willing to agree to a long-term contract. Explore the idea of bartering as a form of payment.

ii) Lenders: Everything in business finance is negotiable and your relationship with a bank is no exception. The first step to successful renegotiations is to convince your lenders that you can ultimately pay off the renegotiated loan. You must point out to your lenders why it would be in their best interest to agree to a new arrangement. Showing them your business plan and your action plan that includes your cost-savings initiatives, along with “the how” and “the when” of the implementation of your plan is the best way to achieve this goal. Explain to them that you will need their cooperation to insure that you can survive, as well as, grow your business during the economic downturn. Negotiated items include: the rate of interest, the required security to cover the loan, and the beginning date for repayment. A beginning date for repayment could be immediate, within several months or as long as a year. The key is to realize that your lender will work with you, but that frequent and continual communications with them is critical.

iii) Landlord: Meet with your landlord. Explain your need to have them extend the term of your lease at a reduced cost. Make sure you have a clause in the lease agreement that entitles you to have the right to sublet any or all of the leased space.

6. Re-evaluate your staffing requirements: This is a very critical area. Salaries/wages are a major expense of doing business. Therefore, any reduction in the hours worked through work schedule changes, short-term layoffs or permanent layoffs has an immediate cost saving benefit. Most companies ramped up hiring new employees in the good times, only to find that they are currently overstaffed due to slow sales during the economic downturn. In terms of down-sizing your staff, be very careful not to reduce your staff to a level that forces you to skimp on customer service and quality. Consider the use of part-timers or the current trend of outsourcing certain functions to independent contractors.

7. Shop for better insurances rates: Get quotations from other insurance agents for comparable coverage to determine whether or not your present insurance carrier is competitive. Also, consider revising your coverage to reduce premium costs. The key is to have the right balance-to be adequately insured, but not under or over insured.

8. Re-evaluate your advertising: Contrary to the other cost-cutting initiatives, evaluate the possibility of increasing your advertising expenditures. This tactic realizes the advantage of the reduced “noise” and congestion (fewer advertisers) in the marketplace. The downturn period a great opportunity to increase brand awareness and create additional demand for your product/service offerings.

9. Seek the help of outside advisors: The use of an advisory board comprised of your CPA, attorney, and business consultant offers you objectivity and provides you with professional advice and guidance. Their collective experience in working with similar situations in past economic downturns is invaluable.

10. Review your other expenses: Target an across-the-board cost-cutting initiative of 10-15%. Attempt to eliminate unnecessary expenses. Tightening your belt in order to weather the downturn makes practical, financial sense.

Proactively managing your business through an economic downturn is an enormous challenge and is critical for your survival. However, through well-planned initiatives, an economic downturn can create tremendous opportunity for your company to gain greater market share. In order to take advantage of this growth opportunity, you must act quickly to implement the above best business practices to continue realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions.

Tips for Packing and Traveling Lite

Posted by Search Here on March 16th, 2011

8-Tips for Packing and Traveling Lite

How-to Pack and Travel Lite

In this day and age of traveling cephalalgia, there are a few packing tactics to employ. To cut out an extra thirty to forty minutes at the arriving airport, start with packing small luggage. Since carry-ons can not exceed a linear dimension of 45 inches, you can escape the fiasco of the baggage terminal by simply packing and traveling light. To learn how to pack all your needs into one suitcase, read more.

Use the following pithy packing tips to make your travel light:

Make a list. Compose a pack list. Be sure to coordinate shirts and blouses with bottoms. To maximize your traveling wardrobe fashion savoir faire, stick with solids and versatile basics. Rule-out any clothes that do not match other items.

Roll ‘em up please. The best way to fit all your clothes is by rolling pants and shirts. First fold each item in half. Then simply roll. To try to maintain any creases, start on the bulkiest end of the article of clothing.

Gear up. How to make an awe-inspiring impression out of a basic or mundane outfit? For the most glam appeal, accessorize with a vibrant tie (for him) or a florid scarf (for her). Multihued accessories can liven up just about any attire.

Minimize bulk. After you check for space, edit outfits – ruthlessly. Try to pack microfibers with wrinkle and stain free comfort. With most of your attire, stay in the same color scheme – in case you have to layer up for warmth.

Employ shoe smarts. For men, any leather rubber-soled shoes can make the day and night transition, easy. For woman, a pair of flip-flops, strappy sandals and comfy wedges can serve all casual – chic dressing needs.

Put under garments on the top. To reduce the embarrassment of under garments becoming the side show attraction of the open luggage scan, place all panties in a plastic bag free of any clippers, lighters or other questionable paraphernalia. For expedient security review, place the transparent bag on top of your other items so security can access the bag without ruining your efficient packing method.

Lose Extra Baggage. Leave the heavy travel guide at home. Duplicate important resources to keep your luggage free of extra pounds. Since most hotels and resorts provide irons and blow-dryers –leave yours at home for light travel.

Leave restricted items at home. If you want to make it through security extra fast, avoid any firearms, weapons, box-cutters, scissors, razors, lighters and any other item that may be used in a terrorist situation.

How-to Pack and Travel Lite
In this day and age of traveling echolalia, there are a few packing tactics to employ. To cut out an extra thirty to forty minutes at the arriving airport, start with packing small luggage. Since carry-ones can not exceed a linear dimension of 45 inches, you can escape the fiasco of the baggage terminal by simply packing and traveling light. To learn how to pack all your needs into one suitcase, read more.

Use the following pithy packing tips to make your travel light:

Make a list

Compose a pack list. Be sure to coordinate shirts and blouses with bottoms. To maximize your traveling wardrobe fashion savoir faire, stick with solids and versatile basics. Rule-out any clothes that do not match other items.

Roll ‘me up please

The best way to fit all your clothes is by rolling pants and shirts. First fold each item in half. Then simply roll. To try to maintain any creases, start on the bulkiest end of the article of clothing.

Gear up

How to make an awe-inspiring impression out of a basic or mundane outfit? For the most glam appeal, accessorize with a vibrant tie (for him) or a florid scarf (for her). Multihued accessories can liven up just about any attire.

Minimize bulk

After you check for space, edit outfits – ruthlessly. Try to pack micro fibers with wrinkle and stain free comfort. With most of your attire, stay in the same color scheme – in case you have to layer up for warmth.

Employ shoe smarts

For men, any leather rubber-soled shoes can make the day and night transition, easy. For woman, a pair of flip-flops, satrapy sandals and comfy wedges can serve all casual – chic dressing needs.

Put under garments on the top

To reduce the embarrassment of under garments becoming the side show attraction of the open luggage scan, place all panties in a plastic bag free of any clippers, lighters or other questionable paraphernalia. For expedient security review, place the transparent bag on top of your other items so security can access the bag without ruining your efficient packing method.

Lose Extra Baggage

Leave the heavy travel guide at home. Duplicate important resources to keep your luggage free of extra pounds. Since most hotels and resorts provide irons and blow-dryers –leave yours at home for light travel.

Leave restricted items at home

If you want to make it through security extra fast, avoid any firearms, weapons, box-cutters, scissors, razors, lighters and any other item that may be used in a terrorist situation.

Marketing lessons I learned in chicago

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

I was in the fine city of Chicago this week to speak at a marketing conference. And I learned some interesting things:

1 – Traffic in Chicago is much worse than the allegedly bad traffic in Atlanta where I live. We left the hotel downtown at 3 p.m. and were parked on the “highway” a few minutes later.

The Lesson Learned:

I am thankful – as I know many of you are – that I don’t have to leave home and fight through this terrible traffic on a daily basis. Life’s too short to
suffer like this regularly. The stress level of doing this would take years off my life.

2 – Despite the traffic, I arrived at the airport early enough to rebook my ticket (by paying the $25 fee) on a flight leaving 90 minutes earlier than my original schedule. That was the good news.

The bad news turned out to be that this flight would leave 45 minutes late so I didn’t gain very much for my $25.

Obviously, I can afford the $25, but that’s not the point.

The Lesson Learned:

It’s not about the money. It’s about the perception of value received for the money. When I made the deal with the airline to book the earlier flight, I did so with the specific understanding that I was investing $25 to buy 90 minutes.

But, I ended up only getting 1/2 that time – 45 minutes. So, I felt like I’d gotten screwed in the deal.

People – like us and our customers – invest money with us based on the perception of the value they’ll receive in exchange. If you don’t deliver on your promise, then the customer is not going to be happy with the deal.

If you deliver more, the customer should be ecstatic. That’s why you’ll usually find extra – unadvertised – bonuses when you purchase my products.

It doesn’t matter that I probably would have spent the $25 to get the 45 minutes anyway – that’s not the deal I bought.

3 – When I booked my hotel reservation, the website promoted the fine history of the property. When I was standing in the lobby, they had an interesting wall display listing the famous people and many presidents who had stayed there years ago. And they specifically mentioned how they had upgraded the hotel with the latest in electrical, plumbing, etc.

I’m not sure how long ago someone wrote this fiction, but it must be at least 30 years ago – maybe longer. Perhaps the reference to Diamond Jim Brady should have clued me in.

I won’t bore you with the sordid details about the sagging mattress and matted down carpet, but it was depressing to enter my room. Especially when I opened the curtains so I could look 15 feet across the air shaft at other rooms.

The Lesson Learned:

Next time I’m booking a reservation in a “historical” hotel, I need to be certain to ask if they’ve stayed true to their history or entered the new millennium.

Of course, for $39 a night, I might have expected something like I got. But, when I’m paying $120 for the discounted conference special rate, I’m not seeing the value in the deal.

For many products and services – like hotel rooms – we have an understanding of what we think we should get for the money we spend. It doesn’t matter whether our preconceived notion is correct – we’ve got it in our heads already.

As marketers, we have to deal with the public that has these preconceived ideas. When we’re not going to fit with them (like charging way too much for a crummy room), we should be fair and make that clear. But we’ll obviously want to do this in a fashion that will show why this is a still a fair, if not great, value proposition.

4 – But this story gets even more interesting…

I was chatting with Paul Hartunian (the PR expert who once sold the Brooklyn Bridge – legitimately) and mentioned that I was not happy with my room. He remarked that other people had also voiced similar opinions, but he loved his room.

Turns out he had asked the hotel about upgrade options and, for $20 more, you could get a completely updated room with a wonderful view of the city and Lake Michigan.

Of course, no one volunteers this when you call to make reservations. And it’s not mentioned at all on their website.

But I’ll bet the people that work in this hotel are wondering why more people don’t choose the upgrade option.

The Lesson Learned:

Don’t hide your light under a bushel basket!

Think about this…the hotel could have turned many unhappy people into raving fans simply by mentioning the $20 option. Plus, they could have been grabbing an extra $20 a night from dozens of people for doing absolutely nothing.

Sure, we’re sitting here in judgment thinking how stupid this is. But…unfortunately, we occasionally make the same kind of silly mistakes and don’t make the really fine benefits of our product or service crystal clear.

To sum up:

1 – Don’t play in traffic. It’s hazardous to your health.

2 – Explain the value in your offers and deliver what you promise (preferably more).

3 – Don’t hide your best benefits and offers. Put them right out front so your prospects will become happy customers.

Yours in success,

Shawn Casey

P.S. If you missed the incredible Jeff Paul teleseminar this week – or just want to review it and take some more notes (Jeff talks fast and delivers a lot of info), you can hear the recorded version here:

http://www.ShawnsNews.net/JeffPaulRecording. html

(Scroll down a little when you get there)

Internet Millionaire Shawn Casey’s “Mining Gold On the Internet” is one of the best selling Internet books with over 85,000 copies sold. In “Mining Gold”, Shawn reveals the same step-by-step strategies he uses to create millions in Internet sales =>http://www.ipcgold.com/ad/100/CD3839 Benefit from Shawn’s 7 years of Internet experience and learn from someone who has actually made millions online.

In advertising Bigger is always better

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

In Advertising Bigger isn?t Always Better

If you have been following the recent advertising news you will notice that more and more major advertisers are looking to smaller ad agencies to handle their campaigns.

Is it because they feel bad? Is it because they are cheaper? Or is it because they see the level of creative talent of smaller agencies?

Lets take a quick look at why this is happening and how this is good for the consumers and the advertisers. When I use the term smaller it doesn’t mean that it’s a one-man show, but that they aren’t part of the “BIG 6″. Now with that said lets continue, smaller agencies have a hunger to succeed, they have a need to be customer service oriented, they have a desire to be more creative without the fear of upsetting upper management. Take these points into account and you have an agency that will be tenacious and with the number one goal of showing their clients results.

At New Age Media Concepts, we believe that major advertisers deserve better results from their campaigns, don’t get me wrong there have been great campaigns launched but who are going to be the new creative minds to develop the next memorable moment in advertising history?

If advertisers like General Motors, Ford, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Microsoft, Burger King, Toyota, Home Depot, Wendy’s, ConAgra Foods, Wal-Mart Stores, American Express, Colgate Palmolive, Intel and the many others are looking beyond what agencies they are accustomed to working with and are looking towards connecting with their consumers in a big way, then they have to look beyond the brick and bring in a creative team that can help them do that.

Consumers today aren’t ignorant and in this age of reality television and the shock factor mentality, advertisers need to step up to the plate and shed their skin to be able to reach the new age of consumers, the ones that are their core audience, the ones that will have brand loyalty.

By Louis Victor ? New Age Media Concepts, August 31, 2004
info@namct.com

Louis Victor has been involved in the investment, advertising, marketing and public relations indutries for close to two decades. Through various articles he looks to give some insight on various topics as it relates to these industries.

Better understand how the banners on the internet

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

Banner advertising is an effective way of getting your advertising message seen on the Internet. Banner ads should not be your only online form of advertising, but they are an essential part of your online advertising mix.

This article assumes that the reader knows what a banner ad looks like, but do you know how they work, and how you can derive benefit from them? Let’s define a few terms before answering these questions.

1. “Page views” or “page impressions.” These terms are interchangeable and they refer to the number of times that a page within a website has been displayed on a website.

2. “Banner view.” Like a page view, a banner view is the number of times that a banner has been displayed on website.

3. “Click through.” A click through is the number of times a website visitor has “clicked” on a particular banner ad and was transferred to the website of the banner advertiser.

4. “CTR.” CTR is the acronym for “click through rate,” which is the ratio of the number of banner view versus the number of times visitors have “clicked through” to your website. CTR is expressed as a percentage, so a click through rate of 1% means that for every 1,000 banner views, 10 visitors have clicked through to your site.

5. “CPM.” CPM is an acronym for “cost per M,” where “M” is the ancient Roman numeral for 1,000. Translation: CPM is the price your business will pay to have its banner advertisement displayed 1,000 times on a website, e.g, the cost of 1,000 banner views. So, for example, if the CPM to advertise on a site is $80.00 your business will pay $80.00 for every 1,000 banner views.

6. “ROS.” ROS is the acronym for “run of site,” which simply means that a banner ad is displayed on every page in a website, as opposed to being displayed only in a particular category of a website or only when a particular keyword is entered into a search engine.

Everyone who is in charge of a advertising or marketing department (that’s you if you’re the sole shareholder of the company) knows that advertising is, in large part, a numbers game. The more frequently your message is seen or heard, the more likely the consumer is to purchase your service or product. Take Mattress Mac with Gallery Furniture , for example. If you live in the Houston area, or if your radio can pick up the signal of almost any Houston area radio station, you cannot go a single day without hearing or seeing an advertisement for Gallery Furniture. Peppering your senses with constant reminders that “Gallery Furniture Saves You Money!” has enabled Mr. McIngvale to build his single location furniture store into an empire. (Of course, advertising alone won’t do it; you still must have a quality product or service). I have no scientific data to support this assertion, but I’ll make it anyway: I’m willing to bet that Gallery Furniture is known to more people in the greater Houston area than any other single business. How did that come to be? Mattress Mac understands the advertising numbers game and plays it better than anybody else.

Banner ads are a numbers game. The industry standard click through rate for online advertising in general is around .5%. Not 5%, but .5%. Doesn’t sound very encouraging for your banner ad campaign, eh? Well, there are ways to significantly increase the CTR of any given banner. The best way is by targeting a particular banner ad to a narrow audience, an audience that is looking specific for a product or service just like yours. Highly-targeted can boost your CTR to as much as 2%-3% or higher and significantly increase the traffic to your website.

Another valuable purpose of the banner ad is branding. Intertwined with the messages Gallery Furniture delivers about particular sales events or types of furniture is the company’s consistent and recognizable logo, color scheme, and tag lines. Your banner advertisements can, and should, perform the same function; they should be designed using your company’s logo and colors, at a minimum. Sometimes incorporating the tag line is the way to go, but other times you may want to advertise a particular special offer, product, etc. The important thing is that you take advantage of the numbers game by continually displaying your name, logo, and colors. The more visitors that see you, the more they will come to associate your name with your type of product or service, and the more likely they will be in the future to buy from you.

Henry J. Fasthoff, IV
Principal & General Counsel
HoustonBusiness.com

How to get a Publicity located? Ad Distribution Door-To-Door on the fly!

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

Have you ever had to distribute door-hanger advertisements for your business?

Have you ever employed door-to-door sales techniques to increase your brand awareness?

Have you ever had to walk mile-after-mile repeating the sales pitch, over and over?

Have you ever had to stand outside of an arena event and pass out flyers to exiting patrons?

If you stop to think of the cold calling technique of door-to door advertising, you would discover how sometimes humiliating it is to have a disinterested and irritated individual slam the door in your face, yell insulting things toward you, or be escorted off of their property. To combat this instantaneous humiliation, the idea of door-hanging advertisements gives the sales person a means of getting the word out to more people faster than before but more importantly, it saves the person the anguish of the advertised becoming irate over the interruption. Having been in situations were I have used these techniques either selling for other companies or trying to gain customers for a newly opened business, I came up with the idea of trying a door-to-driveway or door-to-doorstep advertising campaign to build brand awareness for a national car sales corporation that needed grass roots advertising for the local area around their dealerships.

Basically, I was a car salesman that was responsible for bringing in customers to buy cars, and my pay was determined by how many people actually came in and bought. Since I have leg injuries from an auto accident, I needed to find a way to cover the same amount of territory as my competing sales people. The company already supplied a few thousand door hangers; however, the advertisement brought awareness to all of the local 11 dealerships and I wanted to build awareness just to the dealership that I was at, and more specifically, I wanted the traffic created to come specifically to me.

Keeping in mind the flyer campaign I was apart of at a professional basketball game in which the sales team handed out 7,000 flyers to build awareness of a local college basketball season, I designed a half-page flyer text advertisement-therefore, two ads can be printed on every page-that put emphasis on my name, my contact information, and schedule. You can substitute any advertising design on this half-page ad.

I chose a colored card-stock weighted paper for printing because I needed paper weight for the distribution method used and a lower cost than the cost of printing in color. Printing black and white on colored paper is easier and cheaper than printing expensive color ads, unless you can afford it. But for the purpose of this campaign, you do not need to spend a fortune making your company look good in print.

Once the printing is done, cut the full-page printed page in half, which produces two half-page ads. Next, take the ads and roll them into a cigar shape and secure with small rubber bands. Tiny rubber bands can be purchased at the local office supply company, but the best bet for the appropriate size can be located at a local beauty supply company-ask for small hair braiding bands, usually kept in 500 and 1000 count. Keep a large box handy to place the rolled ads in until it is time to distribute.

Now it is time to distribute. Normally, door hangers would take about 2 ½ hours to distribute 500 hangers and would receive a few inquiries for the effort; so being limited to the amount of walking I could do, I decided to drive a car and throw the ads onto the edge of the driveway at peoples houses. I wanted the advertisement to be in the same placement as the local newspaper so the ad had the best chance to be noticed, picked up, and acted on by the potential customer.

As a homeowner, I myself have had numerous advertisements thrown in my driveway, and as the homeowner I am responsible for picking up the ads in my yard. I have seen ads for grass cutters, electricians, Avon sales, donations to thrift stores, and many more, so any kind of message can be placed on these ads.

Now with the new way to distribute, I could get 2000 ads out in approximately 1 ½ hours and had responses before I returned to the dealership. It makes me wonder how many people really do watch the front of their house and wonder what a slow moving vehicle was throwing at their house. After seeing the instant results of my effort, every sales person at the dealership enacted the same door-to-driveway campaign for the shear fact of the number of ads distributed for the time distributed was achieved with far less effort than before. Results we quicker and slightly higher; but, I do not know the exact increase numbers because I did not do any kind of analysis on exact number of responses for the number distributed. I do know that I got a lot out a lot quicker than before and I didn’t have to walk anywhere except to the car.

A few things to keep in mind:
? Make sure it is NOT going to rain on the day that you distribute.
? Try NOT to distribute after 2:00 PM because of children being released from school and them walking and playing in the streets.
? Try NOT to distribute during the weekend because that is when you want people to be acting on the ad that has been delivered, and the kids are in the streets again.
? The perfect time seems to be between 10 AM and 12 PM, a two-hour break in morning commute traffic and the beginning of lunch hour traffic.
? Keep a map and mark the streets covered as to not deliver in the same area too often.

How to write articles more powerful, advertisements and catalogs

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

Probably the most interesting thing about brochures and leaflets is that they’re seldom read in what we’ve come to know as the right order – as you would read a book. Rather in the same way that many people read magazines in dentists’ waiting rooms, they will flick through brochures and leaflets and stop to take a longer look at bits that grab their attention.

Alternatively they’ll flick all the way through and then go back to bits they’ve noticed and that have interested them. They’re just as likely to flick through from back to front as they are from front to back.

What all this teaches us is that despite seeming logical, writing for brochures and leaflets in the form of a story that starts at the beginning, goes through the middle and finishes at the end, is not necessarily the best way forward.

Obviously you can’t make every page stand alone with a message on it that says “in case you’re flicking through backwards or only want to read this page, here’s a summary of our corporate profile again.” But there are some tricks you can use to get this random reading pattern to work a bit more effectively for you, rather than against you.

A lot depends on the type and style of brochure or leaflet you want to write, of course. In my experience, generally speaking the more specific the purpose of a brochure or leaflet the more likely readers are to read it properly and thoroughly.

If a leaflet contains assembly instructions, or a brochure contains technical specifications of equipment, there’s a good chance that readers will start at least near the beginning and then work through towards the end. Once again, that’s because readers will only get their full value from the leaflet or brochure – the “what’s in it for them” – by reading it properly. Where you get the worst random grasshopper reading, however, is with the less specific documents like “welcome” leaflets or “corporate” brochures. So let’s look at how we can minimize the problems with those.

Despite all of the above, often it is still worthwhile to organize your content in a reasonably logical order. Many people do absorb brochures in the usual order, and even if they don’t they still expect to find the introduction at the beginning, the substantiations in the middle and the conclusion at the end. This approach is useful for the moderately subject-specific document, like a leaflet about a new service or a brochure about a new line of garden furniture.

The trick here is to put the main points in as crossheadings (some people call them sub-headings) in bold type, so that someone scanning the document will get the gist of your message even if they don’t have time to read the body text.

You should also ensure that the crossheadings make sense in their own right and that understanding them is not wholly dependent on their being read in any particular order. Body text should support and expand on each crossheading and lead the reader towards the next one, but without creating a “cliffhanger” (in case the reader is going in the wrong order).

For the more general subject matter – the most likely to be skimmed, scanned, flicked through, read upside down or otherwise not absorbed properly at all – here’s some advice from US writer John Butman from “Writing Words That Sell” which he and I co-authored some years back. This is what John calls “chunking:”

“Chunking means that the story you are writing is not, in fact, a story at all. It doesn’t have a sequential flow. It’s a string of tiny stories, each with its own message. Each chunk is relatively separate and each page or page-spread is also reasonably separate. This approach means that you need to be careful about antecedents – you can’t refer to something mentioned on page one, because the reader may have started reading on page twelve.”

I find that John’s “chunking” approach works particularly well when there is a lot of visual material, with the “chunks” of text acting almost like expanded captions to illustrations. With “chunking” you may also use crossheadings, but their importance in telling the story by themselves is not as critical. Crossheadings here, then, can be more cryptic or abstract provided that they are relevant.

And a quick word about style, particularly if you are writing a “corporate” brochure or leaflet: this medium, equalled only (perhaps) by the “corporate” website is the most prone to suffer from the curse of “corporate speak.” Sadly it would be very easy for me to illustrate what I mean just by including excerpts here from corporate brochures I could find in the offices of both small and large companies based in the city where I live. The curse of “corporate speak” lurks everywhere regardless of the environment, rather like cold viruses or headlice.

Catalogues

Many people fail to realize that catalogues should be written. Often their objective in creating a catalogue is to cram in as many products as they can with descriptive copy kept to a few mis-spelled words in tiny type squashed into a corner. These people are the on-paper equivalent of the “stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap” species you encounter in retailing.

However in a retail environment customers can usually pick up the products, have a good look at them, read the on-pack copy and find out all they need to know, so the fact that they’re in a no-frills environment doesn’t matter too much. When a product is pictured in the small, two-dimensional environment of the printed page it’s not only no-frills but also very lonely, unless the product has the support of some well-chosen words to inform readers and encourage them to buy it.

Considering that for many businesses and other organizations their catalogue is their only shop window – or at least represents, potentially, a very significant revenue stream – you would think that everyone’s attention and skill would be focused on its written content as much as its other elements. But no. All too often catalogues look as though their copy has been written by a well-meaning high school pupil who can look forward to a glorious future as a street sweeper.

Yes, of course some products that get sold via a catalogue do not need a lot of description and the only words you need to include are choice of colours/sizes/quantities etc.

But what about the “how to order” messages?

I don’t know about you, but if I’m thinking of buying something from a catalogue there’s nothing that puts me off faster than having to spend a lot of time figuring out how to fill out the form, who to make the cheque out to and where to mail it, etc. The same applies if I have to hunt around for website details.

It’s not difficult to get the process right. Simply work out the steps you want customers to take, write them down simply, rough out the order form itself, and then try it out on your mother, your brother, your neighbour, the milkman, or anyone else – provided they are not involved with your organization. That’s a cheap and fast way of discovering any flaws in the system, especially small goofs that can get overlooked so easily if you’re too familiar with them.

And here’s another one. How many times have you looked at a catalogue only to find that crucial information you should keep (like contact details for ordering, delivery information etc) is placed either on the order form itself or on the back of the page the order form is on? The result is when you mail off your completed order form you’re obliged to mail that important information away with it. Stupid, huh.

There is no mystery about creating good catalogues – only common sense. It’s perfectly okay in my view to keep your writing crisp and concise because it helps to use the space more efficiently. But whatever you do, never lose sight of the fact that the way a catalogue is written and designed says a lot more about your organization than you think. If it is cluttered, unclear and illogical, customers will think your company is too. If it is busy but accessible, clear and easy to understand and logically planned, well – need I say more?

Retailers spend fortunes on the design, layout and flow of their instore displays. Supermarkets can increase or decrease their turnover by thousands, simply by moving the fresh produce from the back wall to the side wall or by putting the bakery beyond the delicatessen or by increasing the aisle width by a few centimetres. Think of your catalogue as a paper-based store or supermarket, and you’ll find it easier to give it the consideration and respect it deserves.

Instruction leaflets and manuals

A few years ago I bought a new computer, printer, keyboard and monitor all at the same time. I heaved all the boxes into my office at home and unpacked each piece enthusiastically. There was metal and plastic and cabling and cardboard and polystyrene and bubble wrap all over the floor. My two dogs picked their way through it, sniffing suspiciously as if all these items were chickens lying dead and headless after a fox attack.

I sat cross-legged in the middle, leafing anxiously through the instruction booklets, desperately trying to find the English language pages. When I did, I couldn’t understand a word, largely because the instructions a) had been compiled by technical people who assumed substantial prior knowledge even though it was a “home” computer and b) whoever had written the UK version must have been taught English by Donald Duck.

And do you think the manufacturer might have supplied a simple instruction sheet telling me how to bolt it all together? No. Every piece had its own awful instructions but as far as the manufacturer was concerned, each item was on its own.

So I phoned my dear computer guru Jason and booked him to come over the next day and sort it out, despite him telling me it was easy and I could do it myself.

“Just read the instructions,” he said.

“I can’t understand the ****ing instructions,” I shouted back down the phone. “You come and do it, I’ll watch what you do, then I’ll write it down and send the text to the manufacturers with an invoice for my time. At least that way poor so-and-sos who buy this kit in the future will find out how to get it working without having a nervous breakdown.”

There’s one very strong point that emerges from this true story. When people read, listen to or watch a set of instructions, they often do it in fairly stressful circumstances, in uncomfortable surroundings, in poor light, etc. Accessibility, simplicity, visibility, and clarity are vital.

People who buy products that require instructions, need to know how to use the product as easily as possible. And because many people are technodorks like me, instructions need to be understood by the lowest common denominator.

Logically then, you might think, the best person to write instructions for technodorks like me is someone who knows every last detail about the product, how it was made, how it works, what it does, and what its inside leg measurement is. In other words, an expert. This could not be further from the truth.

Instructions should never be written by experts, because they know too much. What this means is that they are very prone to making the mistake of assuming the reader knows a little bit about the subject matter already. To an expert, the fact that before you begin assembling the bookcase you need to align sections A, B and C with each other may be so blindingly obvious it’s not even worth mentioning. To someone like me it’s not just worth mentioning, it’s absolutely essential if I’m not to spend the next three hours wondering why on earth I can’t find any bolt holes that line up.

Wherever practical, instructions should be written by someone who knows as much as, but no more than, the audience. For any form of instructions to be followed by non-technical users, the writer should assume zero prior knowledge and the best way to ensure s/he does that, is if s/he doesn’t have any prior knowledge her/himself. Provided that the writer has a logical mind and the ability to write clearly and simply, s/he can’t fail to work out and then write good, usable instructions – because if s/he understands them so will everyone else.

Equally, instructions should not be written by the sales people, the marketing executives, the guys in the lab, the production staff, or anyone else – even you – if there’s a risk they might have become familiar with the subject matter. Familiarity can breed if not contempt, at least wrongful assumptions about the audience’s existing knowledge. For any product to be used by ordinary folks in the street, try to get the instructions written by someone from a totally unrelated department or even from outside your organization. Failing that, get them tested by one or more typical users who have no prior knowledge of the product, and edit them carefully on the strength of the feedback you get.

There is nothing that will blacken the name of your product and your company faster than a customer like me not being able to put your product together easily.

Although customers like me will get over it after taking a cold shower and asking the brainy next-door neighbour to interpret the instructions, we’ll probably remember all those bad things next time we’re shopping for the sort of products you sell. And we’ll buy your competitor’s.

Canadian-born Suzan St Maur is an international business writer and author based in the United Kingdom. In addition to her consultancy work for clients in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia, she contributes articles to more than 150 business websites and publications worldwide, and has written eleven published books. Her latest eBooks, “The MAMBA Way To Make Your Words Sell” and “Get Yourself Published” and available as PDF downloads from BookShaker.com.

T o subscribe to her free biweekly business writing tips eZine, TIPZ from SUZE,

The who happens to be the score?

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

You may be aware that in a basketball game the assistant coaches keep an almost unending list of personal statistics for each player. Rebounds, assists, points, minutes played, etc.

Why is that?

Because they know that these individual statistics all add up to the bottom line.

The final score.

If they can achieve even a small incremental improvement in these individual statistics for each player this will have a compound affect on the final score.

And of course, it helps them know which players to give the most playing time too.

In marketing your business you should be just as disciplined. Which products and which ads and which media should you give the most playing time? Do you know?

What’s the point of designing and implementing an advertising campaign if you don’t know if it worked or if it was better than the last one?

What a waste.

How do you know where the best place is to spend your advertising dollars?

By tracking everything.

Incoming calls, emails, walk-ins, website visitors, etc.

Train yourself and your staff to always ask these questions. Where did they come from? How did they hear about you? Which ad did they call on?

Here is an example: Let’s say you place a classified ad in the newspaper at a cost of $135.00 offering a free report on your product. You could track the incoming calls in many ways (for instance by directing them to a free recorded message with a unique extension number or simply by asking them where they heard about the offer when they call).

Let’s say you receive 12 calls on this ad and 2 of them end up as completed sales.

What is your cost per prospect?

(Cost of Ad) / (Number of Calls) = Cost Per Prospect

$135.00 / 12 = $11.25

Your cost per prospect is $11.25

What is your conversion rate of prospects to sold clients?

(Number of Sold Clients) / (Number of Prospects) = Conversion Rate

2 / 12 = .17 (or 17%)

Your conversion rate of prospects to sold clients is 17%

What is your cost per sold client?

(Cost of Ad) / (Number of Sold Clients) = Cost Per Sale

$135.00 / 2 = $67.50

Your marketing cost per sale is $67.50.

Now let’s say you place a display ad in a large local corporate newsletter and it costs you $450. You get 27 calls which turn into 4 sales.

Which ad is performing better?

What is your cost per prospect for this ad?

(Cost of Ad) / (Number of Calls) = Cost Per Prospect

$450.00 / 27 = $16.67

Your cost per prospect is $16.67

What is your conversion rate of prospects to sold clients?

(Number of Sold Clients) / (Number of Prospects) = Conversion Rate

4 / 27 = .15 (or 15%)

Your conversion rate of prospects to sold clients is 15%

What is your cost per sold client?

(Cost of Ad ) / (Number of Sold Clients) = Cost Per Sale

$450.00 / 4 = $112.50

Your marketing cost per sale is $112.50.

Depending on your products and profit margin both of these ads may be performing well enough to merit continuation. However, based on this information we would want to look for other opportunities to expand our use of the classified ad first.

This may seem a little basic but this information is extremely valuable and often overlooked.

The outcome of most athletic contests is normally decided by a very small margin, sometimes by as little as tenths of an inch or hundredths of a second, missing that pass completion by half a step or missing one basket.

One would suspect that most winners and losers in business are also determined by very small margins.

Not giving that extra little bit of caring and customer service. Not having your presentation skills honed, not including testimonials with your sales information. Not having the most effective headline in your ad or not having a headline at all.

And worst of all, not knowing which ads are working and which should be put on the bench.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no use being a damn fool about it.” – W.C. Fields

Shawn Meldrum has spent the last two decades marketing everything from almonds to landscape lighting. He currently specializes in marketing for mortgage brokers, loan officers andreal estate agents. For free mortgage marketing articles and much more visit: http://www.MortgageMarketingTips.com/

Juice – the great opportunity of the century

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

If you are an ardent web surfer and MLMer like I am, then I am sure you would have seen the sales pitch “Give away free broadband and earn £27 GBP each time”.

Depending on which side of the fence you are, this product is either God’s gift to freebies enthusiasts, MLMers and all paying ISP subscribers or it is the biggest scam yet, bar none.

For those still in the dark, let me fill in the blanks for you. A new ISP service will be launched in October 2004 that will be offering its subscribers internet connections at speeds “Faster than Broadband”. This service will be available worldwide and get this, you can now get a free connection just by submitting your name and email address.

Among other things, JUICE:

- Will work with any PC or Mac with 9600 kbps modem upwards.

- Will work with any Internet connection including dial-up,
ISDN, BROADBAND, GSM, GPRS and wireless connections in
any country as long as you have a telephone line.

- Requires no cabling, engineers and no need to alter your
PC in any way.

- Guarantees connection speeds 40 times faster than dial-up
and 4 times faster than broadband.

- Promises that you will never have to pay for this service
if you sign up before October 1, 2004.

For those who are not too technologically savvy, I guess you will ask “What’s wrong with that? Sign me up!”

Here is where the detractors of “JUICE” smell a SCAM – and I will excuse your outright laughter at these claims.

- You will never see another dead, blank or irrelevant page
ever again and if you do, they will pay you £500 GBP.

- You will NOT get another Spam email EVER, but if you do
they will pay you £100 GBP in compensation.

- You are guaranteed to get a minimum connection speed of 2MB
with 100% uptime. If Juice fail to meet either or both they
will pay you £500 GBP per failure.

- YOU will NEVER receive a virus or worm in your email inbox
again as Juice operate up to the millisecond software to
stop the same, but if you do get one they will pay you £500
GBP compensation.

- JUICE will be able to block every porn and adult site on
the Internet if you choose to filter it and if they fail,
you will be paid £200 GBP per reported instance.

- JUICE can STOP your child from chatting to people who
pretend to be children in chat rooms by using amazing
breakthrough IP filtration and parenthesis technology.

Amazingly, this company promises to pay you £27 GBP for every person who you introduce to this service and they are accepting 80 million free subscribers by October 2004. They will also pay each affiliate £1.79 GBP for each person their downline introduces for ten levels down. Assuming they meet their target and my math is correct, that is in excess of £ 2 billion payment even before the product is launched!.

Scam, or the opportunity of the century? You can decide for yourself by visiting these two websites for more details. The first promotes Juice while the second expresses opinion of its detractors.

http://www.juiceboosted.com/inde x.php?RequestId=2&Id=qky5uxt

http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/51529

If you find this opportunity too tempting to ignore you may wish to take the precaution of not providing Email addresses you have used to set up your Paypal, Stormpay or other secure transaction account.
Similarly, it may not be advisable to provide details of bank accounts and credit cards if in doubt.

As one MLMer promoting JUICE points out, if you take the right precautions you can only be scammed out of your email address. His advice for the ultra-cautious, open a throwaway email account.

Eservices & Globalsales Inc.

The Gold and can Luck Charms

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

We already know this from our history books. If you want to make money today, you must first look back in time to the first time in history that a large portion of our country all tried to get rich at the same time in the same place. The first discovery of gold was at Sutter’s Mill by James W. Marshall in 1948, Mr. Sutter’s mill contractor and builder. This discovery sprang thousands upon thousands of ambitious individuals to get rich which we refer to as the “Gold Rush.”

As you can imagine, these people were not that much different from the thousands of new entrepreneurs trying to get rich on the Internet. But out of all those thousands of people seeking their fortunes, only about 4% to 6% of them even found enough gold to feed themselves. And history books tell us that less than 1% ever became wealthy. This is so similar to the Internet of today that the two are worth comparing.

BUT Wait! A completely different group of people became extremely wealthy in those exact same gold fields…

Who were these people who managed to get rich during those hard times?

They were the people who opened little stores not far from where all the people were digging and panning for gold! These people were the smartest group because they chose to sell the tools that they knew all those gold diggers were going to need. This special group of individuals some how knew that it was a waste of time to dig and pan for gold. This amazing group of people wanted something with better odds. They wanted a sure thing!

They knew that the miners couldn’t mine unless they had clothing, tools, and food. So these genius store owners made their fortunes selling the shovels, jackets, pants, wheel barrows, picks, pans, beer, food, hats, medicine and etc. So it didn’t matter to them if a miner found gold and got rich or whether that miner couldn’t find an ounce of gold. It just didn’t matter to the men and women who owned the stores because no matter what, all those people in search of gold still needed massive amounts of supplies to live and more tools to keep trying. The shopkeepers were always there to sell all these supplies!

Whether gold was found or not, during any given day, the shop keepers made the same consistent amount of solid income!

Below you’re about to find out why all this is relevant to you and your Internet income.

You now know that history has proven that if you do exactly what the masses of people are doing to get rich, you’ll most likely fail. And you now know that if you provide products or services to that large group of people that are all trying to get rich, you’ll most likely become wealthy. It’s simple! Turn those gold diggers into your customers!

Just for a moment, separate yourself from the rest of them – sit back and relax. While sitting there, watch what they are doing; pay attention to what they are looking for and what they are using to get it. Once you have figured these things out you will know what to do to turn them into your customers.

But in case you don’t, here’s the simple answer to how you’re about to turn all of today’s Internet gold diggers into your own customers. First of all, you must ask yourself this question: “What is the single most important thing to all of today’s Internet gold diggers? What do they crave and desire the most?”

The answer is “Traffic.” In case you’re new to the Internet, the word “Traffic,” of course, means visitors to your web site. It doesn’t take Internet marketers long to figure out that even though they have a professional web site up, not a single person is ever going to visit that web site unless it gets advertised. You have to know where to get traffic and generate MORE traffic.

With all that in mind, I’m about to discuss a very important subject and it may be very controversial to some, and even cause me to lose a few customers but I MUST make my point.

You hear this from people around you, your teachers, your advisors, even television, “knowledge is power.” Do you agree?

Please explain.

I’ve asked a few people this same question and some have explained, “Well, yeah, without knowledge you have no authority.”

“Well, it’s obvious, without knowledge you have no power.”

“Knowledge is what gets the job done in your everyday task.”

While these are good explanations, I disagree. You’re baffled. Totally understandable because I’m probably the only person on Earth standing up to this worldwide, coined phrase. So I better begin explaining myself before I start receiving hate mails. Allow me to explain by using an example.

Electricity.

Can you agree electricity is power? It has the power to turn your lights on, it’s what plays your radio, and it’s what starts up your car. Or does it? Electricity doesn’t just magically turn your light on, automatically play your radio nor does it mysteriously start your engine. No. The electricity HAS TO BE APPLIED.

Like electricity, knowledge doesn’t magically write your sales letter, knowledge doesn’t automatically file your folders and knowledge doesn’t mysteriously tune up your car. It has to be “APPLIED.”

“Where are you going with this,” you might ask.

Simply this, “knowledge” is only POTENTIAL POWER. All the knowledge that you hold within you is nothing unless you put it to use. That’s it. If after reading this article and you decide to do nothing then you will have wasted your time and effort. Unless you apply what I’ve taught you, you will have thrown away your money. You can learn from my 4 years of experience or you can ignore it, the choice is yours.

I’m not here to change your mind about anything, I’m just pointing out important aspects to consider and I can only hope it has opened your mind and drive you to take action.

Van Lam is a business opportunity reviewer who speaks his mind and shares his thoughts. He has written a new ebook called, “The Hidden Secrets Revealed.” Visit his web site to read the reviews and register at his Private Forum for plenty of free products to download and to chat with other network marketers and online opportunity enthusiasts.

The ads are bad because of

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

Question: What do you think the most important part of any ad is?

Your company name? Your telephone number? Your offer?

Look at your own advertising. What stands out? What is in the largest print? If it’s your company name or logo hold out your wrist so I can whack it with a stick.

What’s the answer? THE HEADLINE!!

You see, without a good compelling headline it won’t matter much how great your copy or you offer is, because few will ever read it.

REMEMBER: The Only Job Of A Headline Is To Get The Reader To Read The First Paragraph.

It should be big, bold, dark and easy to read. But more importantly, it must force the reader to read on.

“HEADLINE TEST”

How do you know you have a powerful, effective headline?

Here’s a great acid test: separate the headline from everything else, out of context, and treat it as a classified ad; nothing but the headline and a response instruction….then ask yourself if people would respond.

So if your headline is, say, the name of your company, the classified ad would read:

“Acme Mortgage, No. 1 in service
and reliability. For more info,
call 1-800-000-0000.”

Trust me, that does NOT work.

But if the headline is;

“6 Things You Must Know Before Getting
A Home Mortgage. Free Report Tells All.
Call 1-800-000-0000″.

That does work.

Put every headline you use in your ads, letters, flyers, brochures to this test.

Tips For Stronger Headlines

1. Telegraph a dynamic benefit or promise.

(You want to evoke emotion in every advertisement, always answering the reader’s questions, “What’s in it for me? And why should I continue reading this?”)

Example: “You Can Laugh At Money Worries — If You Follow This Simple Plan”

2. Add “How To” to the beginning.

Example: “How To Escape the Debt Rat-Race And Get Debt-Free, Fast…..”

3. “Flag” your targeted prospects. Let them know who the ad is talking too.

Example: “Credit Card Payment Sufferers: How To End The Pain In 3 Days!”

4. Arouse curiosity.

Example: “What Your Banker Doesn’t Want You To Know”

5. Use meaningful specifics.

(3 days is more “specific” than “in days”).

Example: “I Instantly Saved $103,239.83 and Never Took The TV Remote Out Of My Hand”

6. Use powerful attention-grabbing words.

(Like “Warning”, “Guaranteed”, “New”, “Now.”)

Example: “WARNING: Credit Card Users May Be Paying To Much”

For a free instant reference guide that reveals time tested formulas to create dynamite, attention-getting headlines visit:http://www.leadgenerationadvertising.com/

Shawn Meldrum has spent the last two decades marketing everything from almonds to landscape lighting. He currently specializes in marketing for mortgage brokers, loan officers andreal estate agents. For free mortgage marketing articles and much more visit: http://www.mortgagemarketingtips.com

Advertisements profitable long and short term

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

New Age Media Concepts issues its first article of many that will focus on the advertising and marketing industry.

“If a young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he’s saying the right things to the right person and that’s marketing. If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is — that’s advertising. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is — that’s public relations.” By S.H. Simmons.

Welcome to New Age Media Concepts, Inc. where we understand your needs and how to maximize your marketing dollar.

Marketing is your strategy for allocating resources (time and money) in order to achieve your objectives.

People have their own unique perceptions of the world based on their belief system. The most innovative ideas, the greatest products, or a superior service succeed only when you market within the context of people’s perceptions. This is true from something as simple as the pet rock craze of the 1970s to the marketing muscle of Wall Street and the Internet boom of the 1990s.

Context can be many things, singly or simultaneously. To name a few, you may market to your customers within the context of their wants, needs, problems solved, or situation improved. Current and potential advertisers need to be aware of many other contexts, such as social and economic trends or governmental regulations.

People don’t just “buy” a product or a service. They “buy” the concept of what that product will do for them, or help them do for themselves. People just don’t “buy” a laundry detergent, they buy the perceived notion of what that laundry detergent brand says it can accomplish for them. Otherwise every brand in the supermarket will be a no-frills. This is not to say that if a product fails to meet the customers’ expectations that product will be successful in the long haul. No amount of advertising and marketing will help a failed product succeed in that scenario.

To have a successful campaign a product or service must understand that they need to start out with something a consumer needs, wants, or improves their situation and that product or service actually does help the consumer for the long haul.

The New York Times said it best in a recent article, “Companies can’t Buy Love with Bargains” Building brand loyalty is more than just hyping the consumer into buying a product, it’s gaining their trust and the trust of their family both today and for years to come. One example of great brand building is H.J. Heinz, (NYSE: HNZ) they have been around for decades and they gained the loyalty and trust of the consumer spanning generations, now that is great brand building.

Anyone could hype a brand for short term gains but that doesn’t accomplish the goals of the advertiser or the consumer. It looks good initially but what happens when the product isn’t flying off the shelves any longer and the consumers have lost trust in the product or the company?. Of course you need new and innovative ways to get your message to the consumer but this message has to be geared to building consumer loyalty and not just hype. Even the largest companies make this mistake and pay for it with decreased sales and profit margins.

So whether a consumer is buying a car from Ford (NYSE: F) , a can of beer from Anheuser Busch (NYSE:BUD) or software from Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), the advertiser needs to cater to the needs of the consumer.

Louis Victor has been involved in the investment, advertising, marketing and public relations industries for close to two decades.

combat the bacteria that produces acne

Posted by Search Here on September 14th, 2010

All life forms strategize to survive and procreate. Weeds, worms, birds, fungi and bacteria all work to sustain their own lives on this planet. In fact, we humans survive because of the biological games constantly unfolding in our mist.

Propionibacterium acnes, or p acne bacteria, are no different. They want and need to survive. Skin bacteria perform an important function. Bacteria use the secretions of our sweat and sebaceous glands (sebum is the oil that makes our skin look shiny) as nutrients. P acnes that are in balance with your body prevent colonization by more harmful bacteria.

P acne bacteria only encourage acne formations if the production of oil on the face is excessive. This surplus of oil of prompted by hormonal, nutritional, environmental and/or psychological changes in the body. So to prevent acne, you do not what to kill bacteria per se, but keep the amount of bacteria on your skin at an optimal balance. You optimize your oil secretion by understanding and controlling your response to hormonal, nutritional, environmental and/or psychological changes.

If we upset the balance of bacteria in our bodies by taking antibiotics, our resident flora is upset and this enables harmful bacteria (such as Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii) to colonize our skin. What’s more, antibiotics can destroy the balance of intestinal flora and cause constipation.

In short, using antibiotics on bacteria is a battle amongst intelligent parties involving the bacteria, the body, and the human mind. If we fail to appreciate the bacteria as bodily maintenance workers and continue dousing them with antibiotics, the bacteria just become more resistant to our antibiotics. The bacteria are practiced at playing dead as a tactic for survival. Even people who have used the strongest acne drug on the market, Accutane, have witnessed the cunning behavior of bacteria as zits reappear some months after using this course of acne treatment. These people have discovered that bacteria do not die; they silently and strategically multiply. If you do not want your bacteria out of balance, do not provide them an environment conducive to acne

Naweko San-Joyz writes health and beauty articles from her home in San Diego. She recently published “Acne Messages: Crack the code of your zits and say goodbye to acne” (ISBN: 0974912204). Naweko is presently working on title called “Skinny Fat Girls, Why we’re still not getting this diet thing” (ISBN: 0974912212) for release in May of 2005. To challenge and verify her research, San-Joyz trains for figure competitions.