7 Key Tests to choose the right Auto Insurance Company - Part I
Whenever I think of any insurance, a common phrase pops in my mind,
“Any insurance is only worth dollars, if and only if the insurance company is strong enough to pay you when needed”
We feel safe by having insurance so it doesn’t really worth a dollar if the insurance company won’t be able to pay for your claims. It will be a mere waste of money and can cause a financial turmoil in our life. That brings an important point, you better select the right insurance carrier for your insurance needs. It is totally our responsibility to do so.
Even with as many cars in the road, insurance companies still fight to get your business in whatever way they can. They always market their products like any other business person by buffing it up to attract you, the consumers. But it is us, the consumers who need to research about the insurance companies and make a sound decision to avoid getting trapped. It is not an easy task to judge a company but there are few simple tests that can help you determine which insurance company is better or best.
If you are currently looking to buy auto insurance, first list down all the companies you short listed in a paper. Then try out these test criteria’s one by one and see how they score out of 10 points.
Test 1: Cost/Premium check
Cost (premium) is the key factor in many of our buying experience and one among many important parameters in our decision making process. As the saying goes, “You get what you pay for”, which holds true in insurance too. Lot of small insurance company’s charges little bit more compared to nationwide companies. But they work very closely with the insured taking care of their needs especially process the claims timely. At the same time, big insurance companies which charges hefty premium and promises to offer premium service, fail to deliver them in the long run.
So don’t just make the decision solely based on the premium or cost of the insurance because premium is not just only based on the insurance company’s expenses. It is also computed taking lot of other factors into consideration like your credit rating, driver’s history, your age risk pool and many others. Keeping that in mind, try to use the cost as a benchmark to compare against different companies for the same level of coverage and give a score for your list of companies.
One more important thing, almost all sates have insurance commissioners who monitor the insurance rates to keep them under certain limit. It is regulated to certain extent so you won’t see a big difference.
Test 2: Complaints Index
Every business always has good and bad customers. Some really like the 
service and happy with it whereas others who had bad experience complain all about it. Insurance companies aren’t an exception. The best kept secret is the compliant records of the insurance companies. Your state, and every state, has a department of insurance. Here is the link for State of Texas. Due to lack of marketing, not many of us know about it. Most of them even have web sites, and many publish "consumer complaint ratios" for all of the insurance companies that sell policies in their state. This ratio tells you how many complaints an insurance company received per 1,000 claims.
If you can't get complaint ratios for your state, you can get an idea by looking how a company treats it’s customers by checking the complaint ratios published by other states. High number of complaints surely makes you pause for a moment, even if the company is financially appealing.
Check out the complaint ratio by visiting this site which has links for every state's department of insuranceand see how your insurance companies scored according to their complaint ratio.
Additionally, the department of insurance websites often provides basic rate comparison surveys like the one by Texas. It sheds you another clue about insurers who might suit your budget avoids taking trouble getting quotes directly.
Look out for other Tests in next blog post...
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Tis the Season of giving - Ways of Giving and Tax Tips
In the last blog post, we saw the essence of true giving and free tools available to find an organizations that suits your lifestyle or passion to start thinking about donating. This post, we are going to see few different ways one can give and help. Also we will look at some Tax Implications of gift giving.
There are variety of ways to contribute, donate or give. A donation doesn't have to be big and it doesn't have to be money either. It is giving heart that matters. Let's categorize charitable gift giving into two ways as Direct and Indirect.
I. Direct Donations
Cash is king whether it comes to businesses or non-profit organizations. At this tough economic juncture, it is not just the individuals and corporations which are feeling the pinch. Many non-profit organization are experiencing big hit in their donation dollars. This year Good will, Salvation Army and many other organizations has reported a decline in their donation. They need our help more than ever in this tough times. Giving Cash is a great way to show your support and it has a direct impact to the cause. Many organization now accept credit cards for donation. But there are certain limitation to cash gifts in regard to Taxes. We will look at them later below.
II. Indirect Giving
1. Give by Gift Cards
You can buy charity gift cards at sites like http://www.tisbest.org/, www.charitygiftcertificates.org and www.JustGive.org. and give to the reciepent. He/she can spend or use the gift card and donating to their favorite society. It is a great feeling for both you. You give him the gift, he/she gifts to the favorite charity. Also there are lot of webistes which accepts unused store giftcards and donate the proceedings to charities. If you have a macy's gift card which has balance of $2 or something. Many of us just threw it away because we won't be able to buy anything using the small money left over. Instead, you can just give it away to charities by using these websites.
2. Don't donate but Lend or Loan
I don't believe in just giving away money unless it is tipping somebody. Because the recepient will be back again to street asking more. It is better to help them find a job and make them work feed themselves. Like the chinese saying, "Don't give them fish, instead teach them how to fish". There are few organizations like Kiva.org and UnitedProsperity.org which provides the platform to do just that. They help the donor to lend/loan money directly to aspiring Entrepreneurs in the developing countries. I started myself few months ago in both these websites and started lending and helping people.
3. Shop and Donate
It is called Cause related Marketing and are Selfish giving. Starbucks is helping to fight AIDS in Africa. Macy's is giving to the Make A Wish Foundation. And Toys "R" Us is giving to Toys For Tots Many more retailers and manufacturers are partnering today with not-for-profit organizations in cause-related marketing campaigns. On one hand, these campaigns raise awareness, support, and donations for social causes such as global hunger relief. On the other hand, they enhance corporate reputations, customer loyalty, and financial gains for companies.
An example of cause-related marketing is an effort organized by Macy's, Pfizer, and other businesses on behalf of the American Heart Association. The program has raised over $32 million in donations for the charity, while generating over 1 billion media impressions for corporate sponsors. So just buy shopping in these stores, you are indirectly benefiting some non-profit organizations. Whether you call this has selfish giving or not, it is at least benefiting somebody thats what matters. There was an article/report posted in npr about this cause related marketing. Check it out.
III. Volunteer your time
Time is precious and it has value. If you strapped with cash, you can also give your time. There are lot of local charity organization like hospitals, resale shopes which migh need help during this holiday times. You can always take time to volunteer and even claim those hours in your Tax returs. Talking of taxes, now its time to check what are the ways we can benefit from gift giving.
Tax Advantages
Giving not only satisfy our inner soul but also helps to save and get some money in return as an appreciation from Uncle Sam. Tax incentives is an added bonus encouraging many to contribute.
For charitable contributions of less than $250, you must keep a canceled check, credit card receipt or electronic funds transfer receipt. Or you must have a letter from the charity acknowledging receipt of the contribution and stating its date and amount. For charitable contributions of $250 or more, you'll also need a written receipt from the charity substantiating the amount of cash contributed and a description (but not the value) of any property -- other than cash -- contributed.
And you must disclose whether the organization provided any goods or services (such as a theater ticket or dinner) in return for the contribution.
If you donate property, such as clothing, valued at less than $250, you must keep a receipt from the charitable organization showing the charity's name, contribution date, physical location of the contribution and a detailed description of the property (but not its value).
For larger donations, you'll need even more documentation, including a description of how you acquired the property (purchase, gift, inheritance), the date you acquired the property and the original cost of that property. Donated property worth more than $5,000 requires a qualified appraisal, as do lesser-value objects that aren't in "good" condition.
Conclusion
“Giving from a full heart is one of the most joyous things you can do...", – from the book "The Secret".
Make this holiday season special by donating your time or money in any above ways. It will surely sooth your soul and even make your pocket happy by getting some back so you can continue giving.
Happy Holidays!!
Sources: Internet website relate to charity giving
Photo source: www.oregon-crna.org
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Tis the Season of giving - But wait...
It is the time of joy and merriment. The festive season is all about fun family time, holiday parties, gift exchanges and giving gift. Gift giving has been a tradition for many decades. But how many of you really get the gifts which you really like and how many of you really know what you want to buy for your cousin this christmas.
According to Waldfogel, an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, gift giving is a Holiday waste.
He makes the case in his book, Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays
It's not so much that people shouldn't give gifts, period. It's that you should give gifts when you have a fair shot at doing well. And so those are the people you know well and, frankly, the people you care about. He recommends, it's often better (more efficient) to simply give cash or pre-paid gift cards. You can read more about this Holiday Gift waste in his book, Scroogenomics.
At the sametime, Holiday season is not just about giving gifts to friends and family, it is also about giving the gift of hope and happiness to most needed ones. Charitable giving is a big aspect of the holiday season. Whether you make a difference in one's life or just make one smile by showering gifts in this holiday season, it will surely piles up good karma in you.
"What you think about and thank about, we bring about” – Dr. John Martini in the book, "The Secret".
An inspiring quote from an excellent book which I recently read and strongly recommend. It just reforces the fact that "Think and Do good things, it will bring good things to you". This very thought is the prime reason for many millionairs who spend millions in philanthropy. By doing so, they continue to attract more money and become more rich while many of us are worrying about living pay check to pay check. That's the difference in mind set.
We worked hard and devoted all our attention in making money, saving money and investing money all this year for the future. It's hard to think seriously about giving money away. It is even harder for many without job in this tough and challenging year 2009. But the good news, the year is almost over and recession has come to an end at least in papers. That's big sign of relief. We all can only hope for the next year to bring greater perspectives in both job and economic front through outall over the world.
While we wait to welcome the New year, many of us should be lucky and grateful to have a reasonable job and a decent life. Instead of cribbing about not enough money to donate or give way, we should open our heart and show our gratitude by giving and helping others in need.
How can you contribute?
Whether it is small or big, capacity doesn't matter. What matters the most is the Charitable thought. There are lot of ways you can give especially suiting your life style, you life goals, your passion and more. If you are pet lover, you can give to Humane Society to protect animals. If you want to encourage kids education, you can donate to globalgivingeducation funds. If you care about developing nations, you can give gift to world relief. With webspace loaded with gift giving advices, you better do your research to find the right option and avenue to route your money to the right place. Here is some help to do some true gift giving.
Tools - Charity Finder
It's easy to check on a charity's business practices to make sure the bulk of your contribution is going toward the cause you select, instead of being spent on fund-raising expenses or salaries. There are web sites like www.CharityNavigator.comand www.GuideStar.org allow you to search for a charity by name or cause, as well as view and compare their annual IRS filings under Form 78, which details their expenses and costs.
Websites like http://www.goodsearch.com/and http://www.searchkindly.org/are search engines that donate a portion of their revenue to the charities and schools designated by its user.
We will see more about different ways of gift giving and possible Tax Implications in the next blog post.
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Mail In Rebates and Your Money!
Alright, Blackfriday is come and gone. It is time to send in the Mail-In Rebate forms(MIR). I am sure many of you bought items on sale especially with Mail-In Rebates(MIR) hoping to get your money back and prove yourself that you really saved some money by getting up early and waiting in line for hours.
In order to be successful in getting your MIR's, you need apply properly. I always had 100% redemption rate in my Mail-In rebate claims because of proper planning and applying without giving chance for any errors
Mail In Rebate Facts
According to wikipedia.com report, PMA, a marketing firm, estimated that in 2005 $486.5 million worth of rebates were redeemed. The redemption rates averaged only 21.1% when calculated as a percentage of total sales, and 67.6% when calculated as a percentage of incremental sales. That is not an encouraging news but MIR system has come a long way since 2005. Now you have option to apply your MIR either by mail or online to get your money faster.
Most rebates are handled under contract by rebate clearinghouses that specialize in processing rebates and contest applications. The source of their fees is not readily discernible with conflicting reports from different sides. There is always a concern about rebates being rejected and invalidated by these clearinghouses to show more savings to the company to earn more fees.
Young America, a rebate clearinghouse claims that "Young America receives the same fees whether a submission is valid or invalid," giving them no incentive to unfairly invalidate customer rebates. Whether it is true or not, we cannot verify but if you do your part right and apply correctly, they can never reject or invalidate your claim. Let's work towards that goal.
How MailIin Rebates works?
Lets say the item usually costs $100. Retailers put a tag on it for $75 with $25 Mail-in Rebate. You will pay the full $100 at time of check out and apply MIR to get back $50 via mail. In most cases, you need to apply for the rebate via mail with all the required things like original reciept and purchase proof(UPC). Nowadays you can also apply online to get it faster with any retailers like bestbuy, staples, officemax etc., It takes 4-8 weeks to process and you will eventually get your money back.
Retailers and Manufacturers play with the psychology of the buyers and try to gain by taking advantage of lazy people who forget to send rebates or don't send the required proofs. Also the retailers use this opportunity to get rid of the items which doesn't sell well as freebies and change them to money.
Tips and Tricks for Quick Rebate Redemption
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Before leaving the store, check whether you got all the mail-in rebate forms and seperate original reciepts to send with those forms. Some stores would give seperate reciepts but others you need to either send copy or original reciept. Check the requirement.
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Unpack the item and save the package materials. Check and make sure whether the item works as expected. If not you have the option to return the material with the original package. Try it out for few days and if it is all good, then cut out the UPC code required for rebate and trash the package material. The reason, you cannot return the material without UPC code. You need the original package with the UPC to return it. If you cut it out and sent the Mail in rebate and want to return it, you will have tough time doing so.
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Now sort out the reciepts to seperate out the rebate form and rebate reciept for each item which is on rebate. Read the requirements carefuly and try to do one item at a time. Some rebate might require you to send the original UPC Bar code and some don't. They will all specify a time frame for the rebate to reach their office. If you can submit online which saves postage and time, just do it. It will also help to track the status. If not, you might have to do via mail.
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Collect all the requirements for each item and put them in a envelope. Don't paste it yet. Do rebates in batches instead of doing all together to avoid any confusion.
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Use address labels on the envelopes for clarity and save time instead of writing.
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Once you are done with all the items to send, don't forget to make copies or scan (save paper) of all your documents for each rebate which is CRUCIAL! It will come handy when companies disqualify rebates for missing document. You can always reapply with the copy. So, make sure you copy everything including UPC code.
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Next save the scanned copy in proper computer folder with right naming to identify later. If you copied, file them in your cabinet folder for future purpose. Also make an entry in text file or journal about the rebates like product, date rebate sent and how much is expected for future reference.
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Finally, put all the document back in the envelope after cross checking the requirement last time and apply proper postage (first class) and mail it out. That completes the applying process.
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Once you sent it out, you need wait patiently for minimum 4 weeks and see whether you hear any feedback from them via email. Nowadays many companies send out email status or directions via email to check your status online. If not you can visit the retailers website and check the status using rebate code. Track them periodically and if they are having problem, call them up and resend any proof needed.
Hope these points will help you to make the rebate process bit easier. They work almost all the time. Final word, don't give up if they reject or disqualify your rebate. You can always reapply with your rebate copy and don't forget it is your money and you better try to get it back.
If you have other tips to add, please don't hesitate to share it.
Photo source: wikipedia.com
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Hot Gizmos and Gadgets - Holiday Shopping 2009 - Final
We been talking about Top 10 Hot Gadgets and Gizmos for this Holiday Season. Digital readers topped the listed and we did one seperate article talking about it. Last article covered the list from Top 2 -5 and this one will cover the rest in the list.
Hot Gadgets #6: Gaming Consoles
As many of you know, video games have come a long way from Pac man to PS3. If you’re a gamer, you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to Black Friday s neat deals at many stores. If you're looking to pick up a cheap console next Friday, there are actually 5 good options starting from PS3 slim for $299 to Nintendo DS for less $100. Many stores plan to carry bundles of them bundled with exotic games. You can check out the consumersearch.com for more details and also go to blackfriday.com for gaming console deals.
Hot Gadgets - #7: GPS/Portal Navigation Systems
GPS has emerged in the consumer market few years ago. The market has matured and evolved remarkably in the last couple of years. Portable navigation device or GPS, today has more features than ever to help you get from point A to point B quickly and safely--features such as audible driving directions with text-to-speech (TTS), spoken street names, real-time traffic updates, Internet connectivity for points-of-interest search, and large easy-to-read screens, to name a few. It has also become cheaper to afford starting from $50 which has all the basic things to direct your route. You can check cnet again for the best gps for today's life. Check out bfads.net for black friday deals on GPS.
Hot Gadget&Gizmos #8: Touch Screen&Smart Phones
Keeping tabs on the latest cell phone models can be a full-time job, especially given the number of cell phones announced by Apple, Palm, Nokia, and HTC (including, most recently, the BlackBerry-like T-Mobile Dash) over the past few months. Nothing beats a stylus and a touch screen for true on-the-go productivity. Check cnet for review on top 5 smart phones.
Hot Gadget&Gizmos #9: External Harddrives
A portable or external hard drive is quite a useful piece of equipment. It allows the user to back up or store important information separate from the main internal hard drive, which could become compromised by online or offline activities. Sensitive documents, large music files, DVD images, movies, disk images, and even a backup of the contents of your main internal hard drive, can all be kept securely and safely on an external hard drive. When you are online, you can even leave the external drive turned off. Check blackfriday.info for online sales.
Hot Gadget&Gizmos #10: zhu zhu Hamster
Last one a gadget/gizmo for kids. It is a most wanted Toy of this season, Zhu zhu Hampster.
It made news all over the nation and sold out in few days. It is out of stock in Toyrus website but Toysrus is promising for the first 100 shoppers in line at each store on Black friday will receive a ticket for the opportunity to purchase one of the season's hottest toys - the Zhu Zhu Pets Hamster. The $10 toys are out of stock on the retailer's Web site. But the company says thousands of additional Zhu Zhu Pets will become available in stores throughout Friday, with regular new arrivals through December.
A word of advice, don't buy things you ain't need them. It is like the saying "Don't fix it if it ain't broken". If you do plan to buy things you need for this holiday, do proper reasearch and plan properly for the purchase. Avoid impulse buying.
sources: pcworld.com, cnet.com, inquist.com
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Hot Gizmos and Gadgets - Holiday Shopping 2009 - II
We started this series of articles with Blackfriday trends moved to list out 5 step strategy to get ready for Blackfriday and continued with a shopping plan. Yesterday we moved on to real meaty stuff talking about hot gizmos and gadgets which are currently attracting consumers in this holiday season. It is Digital Readers tops the list with new demand from book readers. We will continue the list in this article and see more gadgets people are waiting to get hold of.
Hot Gadgets #2 : BluRay DVD Players
Blu-ray has been growing in popularity since around 2007. Both Blu-ray players and discs have substantially dropped in price since last year. This Black Friday will be the first time that many stores will be offering enticing deals on Blu-ray Players, and the first time we will see a Blu-ray player sold well under $100.
BD Live is a Blu-ray disc feature that brings content from the Internet to your Blu-ray movies. This has previously included games, downloadable features, quizzes, and movie trailers. Notable feature which you might want to check out on Blu Ray players is to connect to the Internet from your home and watch movies using Instant Streaming offered by Netflix and others. You can check buyers guide at bfads.net.
Hot Gadgets #3: High Definition TV's
One of the most sought after items this Black Friday is high-definition televisions. High-Definition televisions are often on the list of big-ticket sales at many Black Friday retailers. A good television should hopefully last you for 
several years, so this is not a decision to rush into! Big discounts on these expensive sets can tempt you into a quick purchase, but do your homework beforehand and you'll wind up with a great TV for a great price. Check out the buyers guide from CNET to educate yourself before you hunt down for the right set.
You can also check out the comparison between Plasma and LCD at cnet.com, two different HDTV technlogy and decide which one suits your need. You can check the current Black Friday deals on HDTV at blackfriday.info. Deals ranging from $125 to $1000 according to the models.
Example:
Sansui 19" LCD HDTV Model #: HDLCD1909 - $128.00
Samsung 40" LCD 1080p HDTV Model #: LN40B500 - $597.99
Hot Gadgets #4: Fully powered, Cheap Laptops and Netbooks
Black Friday deals on laptops are usually among the best values a shopper is likely to find. If you're in the market for a laptop this year, you'll probably see a lot of great offers on netbooks in particular. Not to be confused with a notebook, which is just another name for full-sized laptops, a netbook is basically the compact car of the laptop world. It's smaller, it's lighter, and it can get you where you want to go for a lot less money. The trade off is that netbooks generally pack less power and fewer features than their full-sized counterparts
Most netbooks do not have a CD/DVD drive, some come with non-Windows operating systems like Linux instead of the more common Windows XP or Windows 7. Netbooks often have less RAM, and a slower processor than full-sized notebooks. Most netbooks are intended for web-surfing and basic office work (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc). They usually carry enough hardware to handle these activities, but not much beyond that. You can learn more about netbooks at bfads.net buyers guide. Check out blackfriday.info for laptop deals for this holiday.
Hot Gadgets #5:
Digital cameras just took over the photography from still cameras long time, almost 5 years now. It has become so common to see digital cameras in everybody's hands mainly because of easiness, flexibility and more capabilities. It can be very confusing if you haven't spent hours researching what each term means. To make your life easier, bfads.net has put together buyers guide to educate and enrich your information.
For this black friday, there are humpty number of deals out there for digital cameras starting for just $59.99 going to $569 and more. Check out the deals at blackfriday.info
Don't forget to come back and check out the last five Hot Gizmo and Gadget Picks.
Content sources: cnet.com, msnbc.com, inquist.com, bfads.net
Photo sources: promoteyourself.com, letsgodigital.com
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Hot Gizmos and Gadgets - Holiday Shopping 2009 - I
In the Black friday article series, we looked at trend of Black Friday, 5 step strategy and final shopping plan. This article and few other upcoming articles will feature hot gizmos and gadgets which many consumers are thinking about shopping this holiday season.
This holiday season is different in many ways and as I previously mentioned Black friday sale is also going to be different. It might not have the same glitter and gloom like past but will still showcase some new products and will not fail to impress the gadget lovers who plan to hit the retailers door steps on the Black Friday or clog the internet on Cyber Monday.
Every year new gizmos and gadgets garland the holiday season to attracts and dominate the techno saavy consumers mind and make them go running on the sale days to wait for hours to buy them. In 2004, it was Free USB drives and Flash memories cards, Cheap digital cameras and camcorders in 2005, iphone and ipod's in 2006, GPS and Ipods in 2007, HDTV's, Wii's in 2008. This year also we will see some new products like eReaders, handy camcorders and many more to shake up the market. Obviously cheap laptop computers, netbooks and gaming consoles like Xbox, Wii will continue to interest many parents and younger generation this year too.
Store Openings
On Thanksgiving,
Walmart - Open for 24 hours Thanksgiving Day and BlackFriday
Gap - Open at 9 a.m.,
Banana Republic at 11 a.m.,
Old Navy at noon
On BlackFriday
Target - Opens at 5pm
Staples - Opens at 6pm
OfficeDepot - opens at 6pm
OfficeMax - Opens at 6pm
BestBuy - Opens at 6pm
Toys "R" Us - Opens 12am
Hot Gadget #1 - Digital Readers
Amazon Kindle
Amazon's launched the Kindle reader on Nov 2007. It took the amazon few years to spread the fire and get more consumer attention in the market. 
Economy melt down is part to blame. Currently, it captured the interests of college students and young adults and becoming one among must to have gadgets. Witnessed the growth of the users pool, many manufactures like Sony and competitors like Barnes and Noble are on the roll with their own products to get piece of the pie.
|
Kindle
(Global Wireless)  |
Kindle DX
(U.S. Wireless)  | |
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Display |
6" diagonal E Ink® | 9.7" diagonal E Ink® |
|
Size |
8" x 5.3" x 0.36" | 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38" |
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Storage |
1,500 books | 3,500 books |
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Books in Under 60 Seconds |
 |
|
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3G Wireless |
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|
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Wireless Coverage |
Global | U.S. |
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Text-to-Speech |
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|
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Whispersync |
|
|
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Rotating Display |
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Sony Reader Touch - PRS600
The Sony Reader™ provides a new way to experience reading. Take your library on-the-go and access your favorite books from anywhere. For added versatility, the Reader supports multiple file formats including ePub and PDF, offering access to more books from more places, including over one million free public domain titles from Google books.
Benefits of the Reader Digital Book
- It's Portable — It's lightweight and easily fits in a purse or jacket pocket.
- Long Battery Life — Enjoy up to two full weeks of reading on a single battery charge.
- Large Capacity — Holds up to 350 books with 512MB of onboard memory.
- E Ink® Vizplex™ Screen — Provides easy, natural reading from a paper-like display.
sdf
Full-featured reader with a good music player
A tad heavy and pricey
Bottom Line
With the addition of ePub support, the Sony Reader Touch Edition shapes up as a formidable competitor to Amazon's Kindles.
Sony also got inexpensive and lighter version Reader PRS -300. Check out this link for more details.
BN Nook
Barnes&Noble's new Nook e-reader has a simple task: Win over the die-hard tree killers. The Nook must convince e-book skeptics that this is the time to start moving from Gutenberg to gigabytes.
Android -- Most people won't care which OS their e-readers run, but the choice of Google's Android makes the Nook hackable and opens the door to third-party applications.
The "Loan" Feature -- This is the big win, the ability for Nook users to loan books they own to other Nook users, as well as to Mac, PC, BlackBerry, iPhone, and iPod touch users.
The New York Times, quoting a publishing consultant, says about 945,000 Amazon Kindle e-readers have been sold, as well as about 525,000 Sony devices. There is quite a big demand raising for these ereaders with many libraries switching to digital mode, they might be popular gadget like ipod in few years to come. We have to wait and watch. My 2 cents, if you are not hard pressed to get them. Don't get them. Wait for a year and they will surely bit more cheaper.
Deals on this readers:
Many retailers like Best Buy, Staples got great deals on the Sony readers. Check them out at blackfriday.info. You can buy one for $199 a pot. You can only get Kindle from Amazon and nook from Barnes&Noble online.
Photo and Content Sources: amazon.com, sony.com, pcworld.com
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Blackfriday 2009 - Final Shopping Plan
Are you excited about the Black Friday shopping deals with all the hype around?
If you are a first timer, you better be. In the last two articles, we saw the trend of Black friday, how you can put together your buy list under the budget using the 5 step strategy.
You have one last thing to do which is plan for the big shopping day. In this article you will see a simple plan that makes your life easier with safe shopping. Whether you are going to start your shopping season on the Black friday or later, the plan filled with tips will surely come-in handy.
1. Prepare a plan
With families around, it might be hard to find time to draft a plan on the Thanksgiving day. Either involve your family in preparation or do it before Thanksgiving day. It is important to have a plan on which store you want to go and when you want be at the store. For example, if you want an unbeatable deal of fully powered, high peformance Sony laptop for just $399, you should be at the store at least 5-6 hours early so you one among first 5-10 people for the chance to get this deal. These hot deals are mostly limited in quantity so you have to be among first 10-20 people. If you only plan to get not so hot items, you can plan to be at the stores couple of hours early before the door opens.
Also with your finalized buy list, you should have an idea which stores you want to hit. Check their opening times and see whether you can go one store after another if they are not opening at same time. Otherwise you might want to decide which item is important to you and go to that store first. If you can join hands with your family and friends it makes easier and fun.
2.Partner with Friends and Families
Divide and Conquer method works very well for Black friday. Partner with family members or ask them to join with you. You can pair up and take different routes and hit different stores. This way you have chance of getting more things on sale instead of hitting them alone.
3. Things you need to take
- Print outs - Don't forget to take print outs of your buy/wish list of items and store flyers if you
- Cash and Credit cards - Obviously don't forget to take enough cash or credit cards to purchase the items. As I mentioned in the previous article, avoid using credit card unless you can pay full next month. If you do plan to use cc, choose the
4. Retailers going High Tech
This Black friday in many ways different from the past as we discussed in the first article of this series. Most importantly, many retailers like Staples, Toysrus are using social networking media like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace to advertise last minute deals to their subscribers. Don't forget carry your iphone or cellphones equiped with text messages to the track and avoid the latest minute deals.
5. Fast Check out is key
Another trick for faster shopping is to check out faster. You will lose more time in checking out/billing the items at the cash register than picking up the items. So if you are going to shops as a pair, ask one person to stand in check out line as soon as possible when you are crabbing the things. This way as soon as you are done shopping, you can bill your items and on your way to next store.
6. Mail-In Rebate(MIR) reciepts
Don't forgot get the mail in rebate coupons and reciepts to go with your items. Most of the stores are avoiding MIR this season to reduce cost involved in MIR's but if you happen to buy an item with MIR, do collect all paper work needed to claim it.
7. Know retailers dirty secrets
Look at the fine print that appears next to an advertised "doorbuster deal" at the bottom of the page in this year's circulars. It will either say "While supplies last," "Minimum 2 per store," "No rainchecks" or "All items are available in limited quantities." If it says any of these jorgans, you either plan properly to be at the store early to get them or plan to get in different store if it cost bit more.
8. Avoid rush'in
After last year stampede at a Wal-Mart store in New York that led to an employee's death they are planning to keep it open for 24 hours. The stampede happened because so many of the deals were advertised as limited supply. Plan properly to be at store early and avoid rush'in or try to avoid congestion.
9. Don't give up
Many times you can go late to the store even after thee actual opening times and get items on sale if you are lucky. How? Some stores put out the doorbusters in batches and your might be lucky to get them. In other case, many people who crabbed sale items decided not to get them and throw them in other shelfs, you can just browse the store and might endup getting what you wanted. So don't give up if you are going after all the opening time.
10. Drive Carefully and Safe shopping
Black Friday is also one of days for many accidents. Everyone is trying to rush to get things. So be careful and watch out. You don't want to get into an accident and lose more than what you want to save to start with.
Hope the shopping plan with tips and tricks were helpful. Come back for Hot picks for this blackfriday and more on mail in rebates.
Photo source: ehow.com
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Black Friday 2009 - 5 Step Strategy to get ready
Yesterday, we started this Black Friday article series with an outlook from last year and what to expect for this year. Whether you are planning to hit the road on Black Friday or going to wait out to shop later, these things to do will come in handy. For easy purpose, it is categorized as Things to do before, on the day and after Black Friday. You should be able to apply these tips for any shopping season.
1. List down
If you haven't started already, start the list now. Jot down every shopping item in your mind to avoid forgetting them. List all the needy and wanna items for you, your family or gifts to others. Whether it is an expensive Tool kit or wife's big pan set or kid's Wii game console or last year movie dvd's, put them all down in one list. It is not your final list, so just don't worry about scratching anything yet. One list helps you to avoid duplication and guides you to plan in order to accomodate under your budget.
2. Check and Track
"ON SALE" is a very tricky and tacky word and it is a powerful markeing tool especially in America. You can see big SALE sign everywhere during this holiday season. You would never know whether it is actually on sale unless you track the price for a period. Start tracking the prices of all items in your list in the normal market which is few months early or atleast few weeks before black friday. It helps you to avoid false marketing gimmicks and make a decision on the particular product to buy on sale or not. Let's take an example, if an item's actual price was $25 and they increased to $40 with 25% sales. You will end up paying($30) which is more than the actual price. If you don't track the actual price and on sale price, you won't find out the true savings. So don't rush to buy anything just because they put a sale on an item.
Few websites which can help you to list and track the items by creating your own shopping list and print them out before you head out.
blackfriday.info - Need to register to create your shopping list
bfads.net - Don't need to register. Start searching and add to the list.
theblackfriday.com
gottadeal.com/blackfriday
3. Compare
Now you have the of items you wanted and been tracking the actual price and current sale price. It's time to compare the products and prices. Sometimes you might not find the exact item you are looking and similar item may be on sale in different stores. In that case, you need to compare their quality and price. For example, I want an external hard drive with storage capacity 500 GB - 1TB. I like to be slim and portable. I saw Seagate 1TB hard disk will be in sale for $69.99 in Staples. A similar product's actual price currently is $114.99 in costco. I also saw 500GB western digital my passbook sleek harddriveone for $69.99 as well. Now I need to compare and see which one is better. You should do the same thing.
4. Shortlist and Finalize
You have the comparison of products but you have to make a decision which one to buy or whether to buy now. It is totally a personal choice depending on your preference. Someone like to go for quality whereas other's would like to opt for affordability and priority of the need. Be your own judge and make a decision. In the above example, I am thinking of going for Seagate 1TB from staples since it is from reliable company and I am getting more space for the price.
The websites listed above already started publishing black friday deals. It makes your life easier to compare the prices of the items now and on the sale date and make a decision where and when to buy them. It saves you lot of time and money on the day and protect you from making spot decisions.
5. Start Scrambling...
Alright now you gotta the narrowed down list of items, next comes the tough part. You need to fit them within your budget. You better set you budget and fit in your purchases by priortizing your list giving importance to your much needed items first than your wants.
It is not a good idea to scramble for money at the last minute and I am not a big proponet of it. Usually I recommend to save early for your needs and want. If you already budgeted and saved certain amount, that will come real handy. If you haven't, there is no better choice than scrambling now from place than worrying later.
If you are planning to use your credit cards, think again. Many credit card companies have increased their rates in the wake of new credit card bill. If you can pay full within a month, go ahead and swipe otherwise think again. You better come up with the amount by slashing your monthly expenses like cutting starbucks coffee or daily expenses.. Try to pay by cash or debit card to avoid future interest charges.
These 5 step strategy worked very well for me all these years. I am sure it will help you to have relaxing Black Friday shopping. Come back tomorrow for the things to do on the day of Black friday.
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Blackfriday 2009 - Ready, Set & Go or wait...
Are you going to one among millions who is getting ready to beat the crowd and crab whatever you want on the Black Friday sale?
Or many who are planning to wait out and avoid the blackfriday sale this year? .jpg)
Either way, you are thinking about Blackfriday sales like me, a 10 year veteran Blackfriday shopper. Black Friday is just less than a week away.
It is the biggest shopping event of the year happens next day after Thanksgiving. Like Thanksgiving, Blackfriday shopping has became a tradition to many Americans and American families. It actually kick starts the Christmas shopping season for many and serves has a good marketing platform for retailers and manufacturers to introduce new products, get rid off old ones through rebates and special deals so they can write it off from their balance sheet.
This year, it is going to be yet another different but dull year compared to past.
Blackfriday 2008 - A look back
Last year, the recession just started and credit crunch was hitting the market as many big banks were going solvent. A quite lot of mergers were happening in all industries including many bankruptcies. Circuit city, one of the big electronic retailers filed bankruptcy and went away from the scene.
Many manufacturers and retailers faced a challenging shopping season as the economy was heading to wards worst recession. They don't know what is in the stake for next year, so they slashed prices to get rid of their stock levels and reduced their inventory. It triggered more sales even after the Blackfriday event than usual. Also there were not many attractive products in the market as manufacturers were cost cutting and waiting for the direction in the market. They just wanted to sell their old products with some improvements to retain their market cap.
From the consumers front, it was very cautious effort as many concerned about jobs and lot worried about the investments since the stock market was heading to wards downtrend starting to see the fall like deck of cards. All played it safe but still many consumers continued their shopping spree with their stashed away cash taking the rare opportunity and got things on heavy discount.
Blackfriday 2009 - Dull and Different
It is going to be totally a different year than past years and more importantly than last year. It is the first Black Friday after a long recession. The nations unemployment rate is in the record high of 10.2% and economy is still dragging its feet waiting to make a turn towards an uptrend.
At this time, shoppers are thinking about breaking their tradition by avoiding the Black friday sale altogether. The reason, they don't want to go through the hassle of getting up early, standing in big line for hours or camp out if the same product will Be sold much cheaper after black friday like last year. In many blackfriday forums, they were discussions about missing this year's fun sale event. This change in mind set is happening with many Americans especially because of last year experience.
However, many veteran Blackfriday shoppers were saying, this year is different for many reasons and won't be same as last year. Because of slow economy and less production which means less supply of products. Manufacturers don't want to over produce and take the chance at this tough times. Also many consumers are in the saving mode after a long time. Americas saving rate has gone up in the past few months. Basicaly less supply and less demand so products might be limited on the stores shelf. It is better to hurry up and get things instead of waiting because of the uncertainty. Check out this video from news channel which talks about this year scenario.
It is better sometimes to wait out for the right time and right price but it depends on the importance of your need. If you really need the item and been waiting for this sale event, you better plan to buy after researching the sale price.
Ask yourself which camp you wannabe this year. Are you going to be in the blackfriday line or just going sleep in?
On the other hand, if you are among many millions who don't bother to even blink for the blackfriday, I would recommend to at least try out once for the sake of experience and fun.
Go ahead and share your Blackfriday experience. How long you been doing the Blackfriday shopping? Also come and check out tomorrow, I will be posting more tips, tricks, hot sale items, good websites and more things to do just before, after and on the day of Blackfriday.
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