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Many of us have spent some time on sites like YouTube watching that short funny film that your friend emailed the link too. Maybe you have even taken the time to watch some full length independent films which can be found on sites like Jaman or CinquestOnline. If it's just a little entertainment that your looking for there are literally hundreds of free sites that house video for us to watch. What about when you want to watch the latest Hollywood blockbuster that you missed while it was in theater?

This article briefly looks at some of the top video rental/purchase site that are online today. It is no longer necessary to run down to your local movie store to rent or buy your movies. With new online digital rental/purchase services available you can rent and watch movies right on your PC. Although the picture quality varies between the sites, as does the availability of the latest movies, renting movies online ads gives you the convenience of watching what you want now without a trip to your local video store. Best of all there are never any late fees!

There are many sites that allow you to purchase or rent movies for digital download. For brevity, I am just going to talk about the three that I found the best and the reasons why.

My favorite online movie site is CinemaNow. The site -- although it doesn't always have the most current selection like your local video store -- has a huge selection of movies, ranging from some of the latest blockbusters to free independent films. With most newer films you have the option to either purchase or rent the movie. The thing that I liked best about CinemaNow was that, when you purchase a movie, they give you the option of burning to a DVD that you can watch on your television. Of the sites I looked at CinemaNow seems to be the only one that will let you do this. The picture quality is good for paid content (some of the free or subscription content is lower quality), and the site overall seemed to be the best that I could find.

The next site that I found which topped the pack is Amazon's new service Unbox. Of the rental sites I talk about today Unbox is the both, the easiest to use, and has the closest to DVD quality video. Movies become available as they are released to DVD, so the selection at the Amazon owned site is great. The best thing I found with Ubox was how easy the site was to use. Movies are properly categorized and easy to find. Being the largest online book retailer in the world has given Amazon experience in organizing an online storefront, and it shows with their new Unbox service. Great quality and ease of use make Unbox a viable contender for the best movie house online.

The last site that I would place in the top three is Apple's Itunes. With itunes it isn't picture quaility or ease of use that bring it to the top. In fact I find the itunes player clunky and the interface hard to use. What the Apple owned service does have going for it however, are the gadgets that you can buy to replay your purchased movies (no rental option on itunes). Movies downloaded from itunes can be played on your PC, through your video ipod, or through your television set with the new Apple TV unit. Combine the hardware with the up to date selection of movies and itunes stays in the top three on my list.

Tyler Ellison is a successful entrepreneur who teaches free internet traffic secrets and internet video marketing tricks

# posted by digg63835 : 9:35 PM  0 comments

"....the idea is that no society is ever complete, neither are its needs exactly the same as those of other societies." -Idries Shah, The Way of the Sufi

Varun (or Victor for work purposes) declares: 'An air-conditioned sweat shop is still a sweatshop. In fact, it is worse because nobody sees the sweat. Nobody sees your brain getting rammed.'

-Chetan Bhagat, One Night @ The Call Centre

Unless we recognize the present low state of our society as contrasted with our ancient progressive civilization, and unless we soon introduce such reforms into our social institutions as are calculated to bring about our regeneration, there will be no salvation for us, the Hindus, as a race. We should try and remove all causes of our degeneration. Whatever encrustations have gathered themselves in the lapse of time round our social fabric, we should carefully scrape them away.

-A. Mahadeva Sastri, The Vedic Law of Marriage

On September 15th, 2006 C. Mann, a representative of the Voices NGO, delivered a lecture at Global College's South Asia Center about how communities throughout India are seemingly benefited by their ability to access the newfound global communications infrastructure. He pressed the idea that traditional India is strengthened through its inclusion into the "global" culture and economy and that the Indian people are empowered through this new system of commerce and, subsequently, thought. It is my assertion that this single "globalized" pattern of living, business, and philosophy, in essence, forms the foundations of a faith in commerce that cannot fit within the cultural bounds of all societies congruously and without drastic social consequence.

It is my understanding that the main theme of C.Mann's lecture was that, in this "modernized" world, all people are drawn into one collective spear of commerce and, by extension, culture. In lieu of this fact, he seemed to heavily imply that all people of the world need to be "wired-in" to global information technologies in order to continue making a living. He went on to assert with confidence that, with this new technological ability, small-scale subsistence farmers will not only be able to sell to places that they have never sold to before but they can also watch Hollywood movies, American sitcoms and professional wrestling on the TV. His position went on to directly state that the adaptation and, in many instances, appropriation of local customs into the common milieu gave strength to the communities from which these traditions arose. His delivery was curt, well-groomed, and with the fervor of someone who had something to sell. But I could not buy it.

Globalization can be defined as a practice of ideology that envelopes all the people of the world into a single frame of economics, consumption, and thought which finds its beacon in the model set forth by the multi-national corporation. The people of the world are now grouped together in two lump sums- the haves and the have-nots- while such inconveniences such as national and cultural lines are disintegrated. What is left is a dominant global mono-culture which revolves around the tidings of capitalistic consumption, exploitation, and expansion. In his summation of C.T. Kurian's work on the subject, Dr. Sakhi Athyal asserts that, ". . . this globe has been integrated by capitalist practices and ideology and has largely removed ideological polarization." The dilution of cultural distinction and polarization is of absolute necessity, as the ideal of this system is the complete restructuring of societies for the construction of commercially fertile ground. The blemishes of cultural variation have no place in the "modernizing" structure, as the formation of the 'two class one culture' system is universally implemented globally. Athyal continues, ". . . in summary India has embraced a market economy, and as a result it has lead to unequal distribution of income and wealth which in turn leads to unequal distribution of power and hence to the exploitation of those with economic power over those who lack sufficient economic power." Globalization is not a process of cultural hegemony but is, conversely, the institution of a world- wide social system that grinds out any pre-standing cultural congruency's in the pursuit of profit. In the words of the famous economist, Milton Friedman, "the corporation cannot be ethical; its only responsibility is to turn a profit." Globalization is the culture of the corporation.

The particular manner of inter-cultural communion that is the hallmark of the globalization process is much less a blending of varying cultures than the imposition of one single cultural frame- the culture of commerce. This particular social order is created and maintained through a belief in monetary acquisition that is tantamount to a faith. In such a system, people, animals, and the environment are degraded to their barest essentials, and are given value judgments base upon how much monetary "worth" they contain. Things of beauty are not appreciated solely as such, but are qualified with remarks of their approximate value. To observe someone going through the rituals of recreational shopping is very similar to that of an individual in the mist of religious rigmarole. Under this commercial belief system, money represents time and time represents life; to make a purchase is to recognize an equivalent portion of your life as related to the object's projected value. To purchase is to sacrifice the life/time that it took to earn the money that was paid for the object. To purchase is to worship life itself. This capitalistic way of viewing the world permeates into all strata of the social fabric and, consequently, into the very psyches of all involved members. Capitalism is not simply an attribute of a society that can be easily separated from the mainstay of the culture; as capitalism is the culture itself. The South Asian Voice asserts that:

India has been lulled by the mantra of "liberalization" and "privatization". This mantra has delivered home appliances and electronic gadgets galore. But it is also time we realize what this mantra has not delivered. It has not delivered a modern infrastructure that keeps pace with growing demands and consumption of a still rapidly growing population. India is now able to satisfy the demand for items of individual consumption. But it seems completely unable to satisfy the demand for items of collective consumption - such as clean air or clean water or a smooth transportation network.

The pressures of this commercial culture upon foreign communities has had the effect of enacting a gross manner of cultural dilution, in which opposing inter-cultural ideas seem to simply cancel each other out or, at most, absorb each other; leaving a pale frame in the place of what was once vibrant color, dare I say- distinction. This is not a melting pot in which the riches of many cultures are joyously mixed together and kept intact, but rather a centrifuge in which a gyroscopic force serves to throw the beauty of cultural distinction out to the periphery, before dissolving it all together. What remains are cultures with no roots, communities without communication, and people with no direction. I am from the United States; I know this corporate culture intimately.

I come to India because it is traditionally a world apart from this commercial culture and I find vicarious substance from the ideal of her people, places, traditions, and cultural distinctions. It seems as if the essence of the traditional Indian social system lays in piety and family role, which appears to be qualities that should completely contradict the individualized, western perspective that breeds excess and consumption. But this seems to be changing due to the recent influx of western companies that must, due to the nature of their business, enact a policy of cultural indoctrination that seems to be ideal fodder for young Indians looking to stake out their own place in the social sphere. This is due to the simple fact that the type of businesses that are currently being brought to India are that which provide information services to people of predominantly western origin. In this particular dichotomy, Indian-ness is not encouraged and is, in fact, covered up with learned "western" forms of behavior and speaking that are pan-inclusively carried out in all aspects of the workplace. As the journalist George Monbiot wrote, "The most marketable skill in India today is the ability to abandon your identity and slip into someone else's." This particular brand of workplace indoctrination is no better exemplified than in the anthropologists Carol Upadhya and Sahana Udupa's documentary satire, "Fun @ Sun."

In this twenty minute video on the workplace environment of Sun Microsystems' Bangalore center, Upadhya and Udupa slyly show how a preparatory "neo-corporate" mind-set is created and maintained throughout all spheres of the workday. It showed scenes of "hunky-dory" celebrations in which employees all gather together in designated locations, laugh at designated prompts, and speak in designated tongues in the name of "fun," interdependence, and corporate trend. On this phenomenon, Makarand Paranjape, an English professor at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University says, ". . . [we are] seeing an attempt to eroticize the [IT] industry, an attempt to make it a culturally exciting place, hip and cool. Of course it's a bit of a fantasy: there is nothing glamorous about call centres; they are dehumanizing, decultured places." This system of deculturation seems to be enforced with a sort of gang mentality in which there is a set social line that is enforced by all involved members rather than a sole "boss" figure. This "same paging" seems to be a tactic of cultural subversion that is as subtle as the industrial revolution was direct; with an end result that is quite the same- programmed, acculturated employees.

The hallmark of this employee programming is found in the fact that there seems to be a set image and way of acting that is projected upon the employees within this new corporate work environment. During a visit to a Dell call center in Bangalore, I was able to make surface observations of this new work culture first hand. Whilst baking beneath bright florescent lights and sitting inside of cubicles, the young workers all wore western clothing, spoke intentionally neutral English (deficient of as much Indian accent as possible), and interacted with each other openly. The average age of an employee was around 22-25 years old, and there were a comparable number of women as men. The walls of the center were lined with posters showing parody scenes of Indians and westerners interacting and doing business together, complete with slogans of workplace solidarity and team work. The dress and disposition of the workers is this environment were very distinct from that of the average Indian and one could easily distinguish an IT/ BPO employee in the streets of an Indian city. I found out that the average salary of an employee in this sector is around $3,000 US a year; which enables them to live the rather extravagant, western-like, lifestyle that goes along with the profession's social image (while at the same time saving the company the cost of hiring westerners at ten times the cost). In an article on the cultural impacts of the IT industry, Amelia Gentleman describes the call center scene as a place where, "thousands of young male and female college graduates spend the night confined in close proximity (breaking down the traditional distance between the sexes), working to US-time in smart, modern offices, adopting alien American identities, performing mindless tasks but earning salaries larger than anything their parents could aspire to."

These particularities form the making of a new sub-culture that will have a great impact on subsequent generations. As an anonymous author put forth in the May 2001 issue of the "South Asian Voice:"

For the IT-literate, job opportunities have been plentiful, and there are also opportunities to live and earn abroad. For the English-speaking upper middle-class, this has come as a boon. With greater access to disposable income, the seduction of consumerism becomes hard to resist, and the demand for unrestricted globalization inevitably follows the attraction for new and ever more advanced consumer goods. This new and more prosperous class of Indian consumers associates India's progress with the availability of the latest automobile models and consumer goods. The local availability of imported European cosmetics and fashions, imported drinks and confectioneries - these have all become important to those who have sufficient disposable income to purchase such items.

The macrocosmic cultural impacts of this newly appropriated "corporateness" are multi-faceted and extend deep into the Indian social environment. It seems as if traditional values and roles are being severed in a single generation and the overlaying, trickle-through impacts are affecting all spheres of South Asian culture. I asked a BPO public relations official, who has made international sales and marketing his career, if he lived a life that was similar to that of his parents. He, of course, told me that he did and that the recent subterfuge of western companies has no great impact on Indian society. But he was paid to tell me this, and the fact that he was in his mid-40's and could not find a marriage partner, in a country where parents arrange their children's marriages at relatively young ages, due to his profession told me a very different story. There seems to be a deeply seeded identity crisis in which India is making believe to itself that it is still Indian while at the same time co-opting the apparent fruits of this neo-colonial mono-culture. How can a culture hold itself up in depth when it needs to adapt its very face to exist in the modern economy? I do not know the answer to this question, but the cultural impacts of this transformation have already made a running tear in the Indian social fabric.

The cultural changes that have resulted from this influx of western technology, employment, and ideals were not more apparent to me than on a visit to a nursing home just outside of India's IT capital, Bangalore. The thought of a nursing home in India is a completely foreign concept as, traditionally, the elderly are taken care of by their children and/ or relatives. But in "modernizing" India the dilution of family role seems to be part of the corporate package; as employees in the IT/BPO sector, due to work requirements and their 'western' acculturation, are oftentimes not able to provide adequate care for their elderly parents. I fell into fertile conversation with one woman whose son was an engineer at a German technology company. She told me that she had to come into the nursing home because her son's mindset did not allow any room for her traditional ways of home rearing. She told me that he was a modern man and attended to modern things and how he thought that his new western ways were superior to that of her time-honed Indian folk wisdom. Her elderly friends to her left and right eagerly agreed with what she was saying and shook their heads in disbelief about the predicament that they found themselves in. She spoke with distain when she said that, "People today make more money but they also spend more. They do not save. They do not listen to the lessons of the old. They have nothing." This seems to be the theme of the elderly everywhere, but this woman was heavily hit by the westernizing wreaking ball, and she knew that her traditional Indian values would not be carried into further generations. The chain of folk knowledge was broken at this juncture and the impacts of such are forever stretching. There is no going back; there can be no retrieval, as soon as the great line of generational knowledge is disrupted, thousands of years of tradition are, proverbially as well as literally, gone in the years.

We are all entering upon a pale, pale plastic world, and with each day new societies are eagerly embracing changes that ultimately dissolve their heritage. The mono-cultural blankness of the western corporation is taking hold everywhere and communities are losing their time-honed distinction and identity as a result. As the American folk musician Robert Blake sings, "Hollywood movies are cultural degradation." The popularizing of a traditional folk song in a Bollywood movie does nothing to preserve the culture from which it arose. Rather, all this accomplishes is the caricaturizing of a deep meaning folk song into a medium that is sellable. When this happens, the tradition is not enhanced but is lost altogether. To put something as pure and heartfelt as a folksong into a chintzy Bollywood jingle is to severe the song from its roots and leave an artificially packaged frame in its place.

There is something in this world more meaningful than price-tags, more solid than the numbers on currency, and more human than television. There is substance beyond the reach of corporations and a human spirit that is indomitable by neo-colonial indoctrination. I recently heard a professor rhetorically ask what the good is of tribal people making jewelry for themselves outside of the realm of commerce, and I must answer with a single word: 'everything.' The standardized corporate modal of commerce and living simply cannot be absorbed by every society of the world without the severe dilution of the attributes that make cultures distinctly themselves. To "modernize" is to leave a culture stripped of substance; to "globalize" is to impose a corporate derived mono-culture upon distinctly unique human societies. If this movement continues unabated we will find that a world paved in pale, blank, strip malls and people who know nothing other than that which is televised is all that will remain.

*Written in the autumn of 2006 in Southern India

Wade P. Shepard is on year eight of his journey around the world. So far he has wandered into the outback of Mongolia, lived in a monastery in Tibet, ate a puppy in China, danced with mystics in India, thought he was a gardener in Ireland, and got really lost in Patagonia. He has now run aground in Morocco, where he is braving the magnificent souqs and wide open landscape. Throughout all of this, he has been working diligently on his travelogue Song of the Open Road and his homepage Vagabond Journey.com

# posted by digg63835 : 6:22 PM  0 comments

According to a recent Nielsen/NetRatings survey, 46 million people visited MySpace in July 2006, each spending an average of two hours and 15 minutes on the site. So what makes MySpace so popular? First it lets users create their own free profile, including photos, videos, and music. Users can also completely customize the layout, colors, and text of their profiles including blogs, event announcements, bulletin posts, and more.

Extremely popular with teens and young adults, MySpace is part of a growing new trend on the Internet of social networking sites. Although there are multiple social networking sites online including Friendster, Facebook, and Xanga. MySpace is the most popular. It also has the most celebrities as real members. MySpace is so popular, in fact, that News Corp. bought it for $580 million.

Celebrities know that one of the benefits of being on MySpace is that when they make a post to their MySpace blog talking about something they're working on or announce an event such as a live appearance or autograph signing, their messages will be viewed directly by their fans without having to rely on email lists, spend a lot of money on advertising, etc. that may or may not get their message out in time.

To being contacting celebrities using MySpace, first set up your profile. Then you invite your friends to link their profiles to yours -- and thats when the fun begins! Most of the people linking to you and to your friends will have the same interests, live in the same town, etc. So it's a great way to keep in touch with old friends and also make new ones, which is why MySpace is called a "social networking" site. Think of it like six degrees of separation (but in actuality it's more like three degrees online!).

Although MySpace is currently used mostly by teens, more young adults and adults are signing up every day (including celebrities). So despite what you may have heard about old men setting up profiles on MySpace to lure young children, most people use it to keep in touch with other people like themselves and to make new friends. You can search for peope by zip code, city, high school, college, networking category (marketing, publishing, etc.), and more. This lets you find other people you already know or would like to meet, because they share either the same background or the same interests, career, or hobbies you do.

MySpace allows its users to share intimate details about their life (sometimes a little too intimate!) that you would perhaps never learn without it since most people put on airs in person. As society becomes more and more socially cut off with technological advances like caller id, email, and text messages, people are now looking for more and more ways to connect on a personal level while still utilizing "cool" technology. MySpace lets them do just that, and celebrities are no exception. They can now communicate with their fans without having to give out their personal information. Now when they meet their fans they can say "look me up on MySpace and send me a message!"

Larger-than-life celebrities use MySpace to promote themselves. Madonna, for instance, posts news about her latest album releases, song downloads, screen savers, and more on her profile. Recently it linked to MTV.com so fans could vote for her in the five MTV Video Music Awards categories she was nominated for. Celebrities like Madonna make no qualms about using MySpace as a savvy marketing and promotional tool. As of this article she had 71,752 friends linked to her profile and 19,214 comments! And that doesn't even count the hundreds if not thousands of messages and new friend requests she probably receives on a daily basis.

However, many celebrities actually set up their profiles themselves, read their messages, and respond to fans directly. Janice Dickinson, the former "love her or hate her" judge on "America's Next Top Model" has her own profile. She used it to announce casting calls for her reality show "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" on Oxygen, and lists Jose Canseco as one of her top friends. Adult star Jenna Jameson uses her profile to blog about her life and show off photos of herself with stars like Paris Hilton. And yes, Paris has her own profile too (with sister Nikki Hilton as one of her friends, of course!).

To set up your own MySpace profile, visit http://www.myspace.com and click on Sign Up in the top right-hand corner. From there, fill out the information it asks for and follow the rest of the instructions. After you've set up your profile, you can download profile templates from sites like MyGen. Do a search on Google for myspace profile templates to find other similar sites.

After you've set up your own MySpace profile, you can send private messages to celebrities you find after you add them as friends. Since most celebrities understand that when you add them as friends to your profile they may gain additional fans among your friends as well, they'll usually approve your friend request even though they don't know you. You can also post a comment on their page that includes your picture. In fact, a great way to request a free autographed photo from the star is to send he or she a message. Simply ask for an autographed photo, and be sure to include your name and address!

For a list of constantly updated celebrity profiles on MySpace, visit our profile at http://www.myspace.com/celebrityaddresses

Jordan McAuley is the author of The Celebrity Black Book and the Founder of http://www.ContactAnyCelebrity.com located in West Hollywood, California. His exclusive online database provides accurate celebrity contact information including the best mailing address, agent, manager, publicist, production company, and charitable cause for over 54,000 celebrities and public figures worldwide to fans, businesses, authors, nonprofits, and the media.

Feel free to copy and distribute this article online as long as you link it back to Contact Any Celebrity at http://www.contactanycelebrity.com You can also link back using our Affiliate Program at http://www.contactanycelebrity.com/affiliates and earn 50% monthly recurring commissions!

# posted by digg63835 : 3:09 PM  0 comments

Thirty years ago the fledgling video game business was struggling to make a name for itself as it competed with toys, playing cards and board games for customers. The early games like Pong, Pac Man and Donkey Kong were very basic in terms of technology, and they had very little creativity involved with their designs and functions. Today, the computer game industry is a multi billion dollar extravaganza that has progressed dramatically, and it is starting to steal some of the spotlight from the glitzy and glamorous motion picture industry.

With technological advances like next generation motion capture systems, high definition graphics, Dolby Sound and Motion Sensor Remote controls that enable the players to actually get up off their chairs and get some exercise as they kick, swat, punch, jump, fish, golf and dance their way through sessions, video games have become more than just toys. They are an escape that offers a whole new reality. Kids and adults alike are playing Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii and PSP games (Playstation Portable) more than ever before and the industry itself is growing bigger every day.

You only need to look at the recent Video Game Awards on Spike TV to see just how far they have come. This televised show was an awards ceremony much in the spirit of the Oscars or Emmys, but with more attitude. It was hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, a major Hollywood movie star, and throughout the show several other celebrities like Michael Irvin, Method Man, Eva Mendez and Seth Green showed up as presenters. James Gandolfini even showed up on the live satellite screen to accept an award for the Sopranos computer game.

Celebrities are starting to notice that video games are getting a lot of attention these days. If there is an awards ceremony that is televised, you can be rest assured that they will show up to get some face time. They are like moths to a porch light with that sort of thing. While the celebrities at the recent Video Game Awards were not quite on the Hollywood A-list, it will not be long before the ones that are will be showing up. They are already starting to license their names for the games, so it only makes sense that they will all be showing up at this event in the future to accept their awards.

The Video Game Awards show began this year with a big-budget open that looked like something out of a Jerry Bruckheimer film. Samuel L. Jackson made his way from his dressing room to the stage as he encountered various strange characters along the way, much like a video game. When he arrived on stage he picked up a laser gun and began to shoot the members of the classic rock group Kansas as they played their signature song Carry On My Wayward Son. There was impressive choreography, elaborate lighting and laser effects. Guys were being shot with laser guns and flying off the stage on harnesses, and the whole thing looked like a high-tech computer game that had come to life.

While the format of the show was very much like a Hollywood award show, it had a certain independent feel to it with a bit of a raw edge. Presenters and award winners were constantly saying things that needed to be bleeped out, edgy, young bands played loud music and Samuel L. Jackson seemed like he was infused with the energy of the crowd as he scream-talked his way through the night.

Being true to the Hollywood awards ceremony format, there were clips of video games that were played throughout the show. This was one of the highlights of the show, for it allowed the viewers to see glimpses inside the worlds of these games. I am quite certain that many viewers who had never seen any of these new games before suddenly had a new found respect for them. They even had clips of games that have not been released yet, like the new one by Tom Clancy called Ghost Recon and another new one called Big Shock that is due out in the spring of 2007.

It is not by accident that the video game industry is starting to look like the film industry. Sony, who makes Playstation 3 and PSP (Playstation Portable) also makes movies for Hollywood. The film industry has been very good to Sony, and they definitely had this in mind when they created Playstation 3. In order to utilize the format and features of this console the designers of the games have incorporated many Hollywood filmmaking techniques into the production process of their video games, as have the makers of the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii games. The result is that you get games that seem like movies.

The camera angles, storylines, lighting and sound effects of todays video games are very similar to what you would see with a big budget Hollywood movie that plays in theaters. The commercials that you see on television and on the internet for the latest games are produced like movie trailers. They even have televised award ceremonies now for the video game industry that look very much like the Oscars or the Golden Globes.

All of the old classic movies like Scarface, The Godfather and Star Wars have all been turned into video games. A lot of the old actors like James Caan and Al Pacino were actually involved with the making of these classic movie games in which they offered their voice-over talents.

But there is one great advantage that video games have over movies, and that is that they offer interaction. You can actually be involved with what is happening on the screen, instead of just watching it like you do on television or at a movie theater. This gives one a feeling of empowerment that one just does not get from simply watching a movie. These games offer more than an escape, they offer a journey into another world where your actions have no real negative consequences.

Video games have come a long way since the days of Pong, Pac Man and Donkey Kong. While the Video Game Awards are not quite the Oscars yet, they are certainly on a pace to give them a run for their money in the future in terms of publicity. Celebrities are starting to notice that the spotlight on Hollywood is being shared by a newcomer to the world of entertainment, and they are following the light, as they do naturally. It is an inevitable natural progression, much like the relationship between a whale and a pilot fish.

Bigger and bigger celebrity names are starting to integrate into the computer game industry, and as this happens it only means more publicity for both parties involved. This is also ultimately good news for those who play Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii games or even PSP downloads, for as the industry gets bigger and bigger, the games and the consoles will only get better and better.

Michael P. Connelly is an Author, Artist and award-winning Filmmaker who writes on a variety of topics that effect people in their every day lives. CLICK HERE For More Information on the topic of this article

# posted by digg63835 : 2:08 PM  0 comments

When a company or a person decides to have an online presence or other internet based project they will use a service called web hosting. Sometimes it is part of the service an internet service provider supplies as part of their package when you sign up with them and can be supplied at no charge.

People first starting out with free hosting should consider if having a free package is what they need because although these supply almost everything needed to create and host a site, they are not a match for a service that is paid. For more storage space, better email facilities, sub domains and more you really need top look at paid web hosting plans; this is particularly pertinent for business customers.

Most people and companies start their hosting by using a shared server system which means your files are on the system with other peoples. When the need for more space and security is required then a dedicated server at extra cost can be used. A web hosting plan is no good unless you have a registered domain to use, then you can use this in conjunction with the storage space to save your files, website etc.

When you have a paid web hosting package it will allow you to have an email address using your domain name unlike those that are offered free with the likes of Google, Yahoo or MSN for example where their name is at the end of the email address. It always looks like the user is more serious about their internet presence if they have their own email and domain name, it increases credibility. Then you have bandwidth, which refers to how much data is being transferred over the internet, this is something that many people overlook simply because they're enamored with the low prices of hosting packages and don't consider how quickly bandwidth is used up.

Sites that contain mp3 audio tracks or video files require more storage and a greater bandwidth allocation (amount of data that can be sent) if they are to be used. While it is possible to use your own home PC as a web host, this is not advised as the number of security issues involved will make it a risky proposition and it is far easier to pay another company for their web hosting service.

Francisco Segura runs http://www.salessoftwareguide.com
Sales Software

# posted by digg63835 : 1:04 PM  0 comments

In another of my articles, I talked about how common sense and awareness are two of the most important tools you have in your personal safety and security toolkit. While that article concentrated on staying safe in shopping mall parking lots, here are also some practical tips that you should be practicing when traveling around by car. Remember, the first step to personal safety is prevention and here are more tips to help you stay safe:

Safety Tip 1) When you are entering your neighborhood or area where you are staying, especially at night, be aware of whether someone is behind you. Are you being followed? This may sound like paranoia, but I know from FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE how important this piece of advice is and why I feel so strongly about awareness and safety. I was a victim of a robbery in MY OWN FRONT YARD because I DID NOT PAY ATTENTION TO WHO WAS BEHIND ME!!! If you see a car behind you that you are not familiar with, DO NOT STOP at your house or destination. Drive past to see whether you are really being followed. If you suspect you are, drive back out to a populated area and see whether they keep following you. Look for a fire station, a police station or somewhere else that is populated. Still being followed? Call 911 and let them know what is happening and where you are.

Safety Tip 2) Are you involved in a fender bender in a questionable or unpopulated area, particularly a minor collision where you are not at fault? Stay in your car and call 911. If it is a real accident with innocent people, they won't mind waiting. If they look dangerous, pull away from them (but stay in the area in case it was legitimate) and call 911.

Safety Tip 3) Leaving items in your car in plain site is just an invitation to thieves. Especially if you own a convertible! Not only do you lose the item, you lose your roof too. Take valuables with you or put them in your trunk out of site.

Safety Tip 4) Do you live in a cold climate? Don't leave your car warming up in the driveway with the doors unlocked and you inside the house. Sounds cozy, but how easy are you trying to make it for car thieves?

Safety Tip 5) Another hint for cold climates - carry an emergency blanket, a pair of snow boots and a couple of cans of SlimFast or food supplement in the trunk. Usually the best advice is to stay put if you are stranded on the side of the road in the snow. But you may want to have the snow boots if you absolutely have to get out and walk or if you just need to use the outdoor facilities...

Safety Tip 6) NEVER, EVER, leave your child in the car unattended while you run into the store. Not even to a convenience store or the dry cleaner. Seems like too much work to get them out of the car seat? Too bad. Do it now or you may regret it later. Or do your quick errands with them safely at home or with a baby sitter.

Safety Tip 7) NEVER, EVER, leave a child in the car with the windows closed in the heat. It seems a repeat of above and it kind of is, but if you accidentally get locked out and your child is still in the car with the windows closed and unable to unlock the doors, IMMEDIATELY call 911. Car interiors can get extremely hot and it doesn't take long for your child's body heat to rise above safe levels. It breaks my heart everytime I hear of a child dying due to being left in an enclosed car in the heat.

Safety Tip 8) This is a corollary to Safety Tip 7 - don't leave your beloved pet in the car with the windows closed in the heat. Depending on how hot it is, you may not want to even leave them in the car with the window slightly open. The opening may not be big enough to allow enough of the heat to escape.

By staying aware and prepared, you are well on your way to being in charge of your own and your family's personal security and safety.

Big Red Security is dedicated to information to help you maintain the security and safety of your greatest assets - you, your family, and your finances.

# posted by digg63835 : 9:57 AM  0 comments

If you have an online marketing business outsourcing is something that is becoming increasingly popular. In fact its popularity is increasing across the board when it comes to Internet applications and Internet content. Outsourcing provides many benefits for small and large businesses alike. With outsourcing a significant amount of skill and expertise is instantly available. No matter whether there is a lack of the skills within a business, or a huge work overload, outsourcing is one way to gain the needed skills in an affordable manner.

Many small businesses cannot afford to keep people on staff to create web pages, to meet product fulfillment demands, to create content, or to complete other tasks such as transcribing. It is often easier to locate a freelancer who can provide these skills at a reasonable rate.

Businesses of all sizes can normally maintain their websites once they have been created. It is the basic design and all the coding that often creates most of the need for staff members. By outsourcing the basics of web design and coding for your websites not only can you choose the professional but you also often have the opportunity to get the work completed for a flat rate. That flat rate is typically much cheaper than having a qualified employee on staff to do the same work. This is one of the greatest benefits of outsourcing.

Outsourcing the product fulfillment process is another way an online marketing business that can greatly benefit. There are a number of companies available to provide this type of service. They remove the need for people to handle receiving, pulling, packing, shipping and maintaining product inventory. All the marketer does is submit the shipping information and pay any fees associated with shipping the item. In many cases the outsource company has warehouses dispersed in several locations. This makes it possible for people to get their items quickly.

Transcription is something that many companies use. This is especially true in the medical industry. Freelance transcribers are becoming more and more common. You can easily create the content you want, record it and then have it typed up exactly how you want it done. Records can easily be converted into digital form. Transcription is not just recording vocal to word processing anymore. Transcription can be converting any sort of document that is written into a digital format as well. Having a staff to take care of this can be expensive especially if you have only a few records or in cases where there are a huge number of records. It is often less expensive and faster to outsource to a company, which specializes in handling this type of work.

The company can come to your location and handle the files for you. In this case you provide the work space. The other option is for you to scan or ship the actual documents to them for conversion to digital format. This provides a great advantage to companies that need to be able to search through records.

In this day and age of technology, it is not difficult to find someone who can do almost anything for you and your online marketing business for a small fee. In fact many times, it is actually more cost effective for a company to hire someone from outside to do the job for them. Outsourcing is the perfect solution in those situations. By using the outsource company, work is performed on a contract or work for hire basis. As a result there is not the expense of space, nor the expenses of benefits, taxes and supervision.

To Your Online Marketing Success!

Interesting in learning more about this topic? Download my free ebook on internet marketing.

Bob Hamilton is an entrepreneur, author, writer, business consultant and trainer. http://www.OpeningADollarStore.com

# posted by digg63835 : 6:51 AM  0 comments