Tom's Blog - Featuring  Internet Tips, Tricks and Rants

Every so often I get the urge to share some of my Internet secrets with my esteemed brother, Nick. After a few hours of Yahoo Messenger talk time he convinced me to compose a few blog articles that he thought you would be interested in. As for me, I am not so sure that's true but you can decide. You can make your comments here
You can also visit my WordPress Blog here. http://www.netnewsjournal.com

The End OF Thomas A. Edison's light bulb
You may have seen it on the news; GE will close its light bulb factory in Winchester VA. IKEA announced it will stop selling light bulbs. Toshiba will also stop production.

I am certain that Mr. Edison never felt that Mr. Tesla's florescent light bulb was ever going to be a real competitive threat. Edison never bumped heads with the EPA. Had the EPA been around during Edison's day
he may have been shut down.

The United States, Energy Act of 2007 established efficiency standards that doomed the energy hogging light bulb. You can read the act here - Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007/Title III/Subtitle B "We are from the government and we are here to help you lower your energy bill" (LOL). I hope you remember our Presidents talk on his plan to raise energy cost.

I don't think that our government really cares about our eclectic bills; it's more about burning coal and oil to light our homes. When we, the consumers, did not voluntary switch over to the compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) or LED's the government simply did not ban them as that would have caused a public outcry, it just regulated them out of existence. And that is the key to government's control over industry and commerce. Its kind a like smoking regulations: it's not illegal to smoke and they don't want a public outcry by making smoking illegal so the special interest groups moved in to get city governments to pass civil "ordinances" to "prohibit" smoking in all public places. And now the FDA is in charge of the tobacco industry.

I am proud say that I was an "early adopter" of the CFL. Yes I admit it. I used them in my garage door lamps and front door lamps. I noticed that the "going green" claims do not measure up to the 6 to 8 year longevity and brightness standards (in cold Michigan winters). I used these CFL because I was always replacing burnt out bulbs caused by the shuttering and slamming of doors and not for the 80% energy savings.

At this point I am not sure that an affordable and viable light bulb will come along soon, but judging from the NYT article, you may have no choice but to buy the CFL bulbs or stock up now on the ILB. Oh yes, you can but those fancy LED's but you may have to get financing or a "go green" federal grant. When you drop a standard light bulb, you just clean it up a drop it in the trash. BUT, our EPA regulators have a solution for the mercury CFL disposal, Only the government would replace the light blub with one that could injure you and your family. You can read it here:

Cleanup and Disposal Guidelines

EPA recommends that consumers take advantage of available local recycling options for compact fluorescent light bulbs. EPA is working with CFL manufacturers and major U.S. retailers to expand recycling and disposal options. Consumers can contact their local municipal solid waste agency directly, or go to http://www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling or www.earth911.org to identify local recycling options.

1. Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
2. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
3. Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

1. Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
2. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass pieces and powder.
3. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place towels in the glass jar or plastic bag.
4. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

1. Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
2. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
3. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
4. Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

1. If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.
2. You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that have been exposed to the mercury vapor from a broken CFL, such as the clothing you are wearing when you cleaned up the broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not come into direct contact with the materials from the broken bulb.
3. If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from the bulb, wipe them off with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels or wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag for disposal.

1. Immediately place all clean-up materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area for the next normal trash pickup.
2. Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.
3. Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states do not allow such trash disposal. Instead, they require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.

1. The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window before vacuuming.
2. Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

ATM Fees Going Up
Get ready for the Banking Industry to reach deeper in to your wallet (bank account). They claim that the new government regulations are taking 20 billion in profits away in favor of the consumer. JP Morgan Chase is testing the $5 ATM fee in Illinois and a $4 ATM fee in Texas for non-Chase debit cards. It appears that in the near term, you will see your own bank charging more for your debit card swipe. Most people know that any time the government regulates, there are always unintended consequences; and in the end the consumer loses!

There are some things you can do to avoid these fees. I see a time when folks will opt out of auto deposit in favor of a standard paycheck or stay in and make one withdrawal, leaving only enough cash in their checking accounts to cover their checks. If the banks charge a swipe fee every time you use your debit can, then you can save a lot of money by simply paying in cold hard cash. Why pay more to spend your money? 

There will come a point in time when the debit card is not longer a convenience. I sure some of you know that gas stations charge more per gallon of gas when you use your credit card or debit card. This should tell you that these cards are no longer a convent way to pay. Credit cards are getting to expensive to use and now the ATM debit cards are are seen by banks as a way to increase profits. Why pay a fee to use your own money when you can carry cash to pay for your purchases.

Read more here - from Yahoo Finance

San Francisco Bans Happy Meals
The folks in San Francisco no longer have a choice when it comes to feeding their children at McDonald's restaurants. Kids love Happy Meals because the meal comes with toys. The city's board of supervisors voted to forbid restaurants from giving away toys with meals that have high levels of calories, sugar and fat. All restaurants must provide fruits and vegetables with all meals for children that come with toys.
I interpret this edict as a slap to parent’s ability to control their child’s diet while eating at McDonald’s.

If your kid wants a happy meal in order to get the toy, the government demands that your child must eat his veggies in order to get their toy. This assumes that the children WILL eat their veggies and by doing so the epidemic of “childhood obesity” will be solved or at the very least slowed.

This is not a cure for childhood obesity and can easily be defeated by ordering other food items from the menu and toss the happy meal and keep the toy or skip the happy meal altogether. I wonder how many happy meals parents feed to their child in a day. The real key to reducing adult and childhood obesity is through education and not by government food restriction regulations.

If you grew up in the 50’s or 60’s (we were a lot skinner then) you may remember being taught the food pyramid in home economics classes and going to gym for exercises. Now you can only find the food pyramid on the Internet, or so it seems. Diet and excise is the real key to keeping your weight under control.

I would rather see the government educate than regulate. At present the government can’t force us to eat what they mandate. But, they can and will control what we eat by regulating the food industry. So don’t be surprise if your tasty snack food is no longer permitted in stores and restaurants.

I am hopeful that some one in the government will take on a study to determine why we were skinny kids in the 50’s and 60’s as compared to today. I am sure that the results will indicate that we were much more physically active then.
 

Do Social Media Buttons Really Work?
Does the Share Button Drive Traffic to Your Blog or Web Pages?

I took some time to see first hand how these social media buttons (aka Share) really worked to drive traffic to my humble web site blog and product pages. So I signed up with Addthis. I installed their code onto most of my web pages and tested the Share button. The Share button worked fine for FaceBook and Twitter. It accurately posted my URL title and link to both sites. Addthis will also collect some data or analytics to give you some idea of "who" shared your web paged or blog with FB and Twitter and other social media sites.
They will send you an email report depicting Share activity.

Don't get your hopes set too high for a ton of traffic caused by your Share button. You still need to use conventional traffic driving techniques - in addition to your Share button. Of course you have to have a web visitor to like your web page strongly enough to want Share it. But, don't give up sooner or later someone will give your Share button a go. And, that could start generating visitors you would have not otherwise have received.

Your Share button will take some time to pull traffic. As for my attempt to use the Share button, I could not wait for them to email my Share stats. My web hosting company stats are too unwieldy to make quick sense of my traffic. So I used StatCounter's free real time traffic stats to solve that problem. And within a matter of seconds they tell you where your traffic is coming from along with what page they visited.

So far I've seen very little traffic generated by my Share button. But, I am not willing to give up on it just yet. I think that "every little bit helps" and sooner or latter it will kick in. I'll just have to wait and see. At this point I would recommend installing a Share button on your web pages and you, like me, will have to wait to see just how much traffic it's generating.

If you are already installed a Share button on your web site, let us know if it is generating traffic - in the comments
 

Ines Sainz, Allegedly Harassed By the New York Jets

If you have been following this big NY Jets news story then you know why most men are eagerly searching the web for her pictures. The NFL officials are on the hunt for the truth. They want to know (I would think) who said what and exactly what they meant by what they said or did with that football. I wonder if we (or they) will ever know the truth for sure. In today’s PC world most men who have had some HR sexual harassment training know it’s best not to “stare” at a beautiful woman in the PC work place . You must always look at her eyes (sorry no peeking allowed) and avoid one major pit fall which in most cases is totally unavoidable, but extremely understandable, at least for some.

No, I am not touting an anatomy lesson! Just use your vivid imagination to interpret the word “unavoidable” Yes I know that a picture is worth a thousand words, you will just have to search the Internet for it or watch cable news. It’s there, some where. While I was watching the “news” channels I noticed that there is less talk or news about what all the fuss is about and more about Sainz’s anatomy and her every day dress code. Okay, you guys stop peeking nothing here to see today. Hey you, stop with the cat calls! You, over there you are not to get that close to your TV set.

Is the NFL running for cover? You bet they are. But do you really think Ms Sainz is. Not a chance, this is the show of shows. You may have never seen her before, now she is a big news NFL star story of the day. What I want to know is which Jets receiver caught the football on the sidelines? I want an instant replay of that pass. The men’s locker room was a private place to get dressed for the big game and a hot shower after a game, well now it’s a movie set for the Woman in Sports Media. I wonder if they stare at the men or stay focused on the true meaning of sports. Hard to tell these days,

How to Avoid Internet Get Rich Scams

A few days ago I received a request to write about “how every day folks can earn money using the Internet”; I really don’t know the answer to this question, except to say that I have tried to figure it out. Earning money from the Internet is not going to be easy! But if you want to try, here are some pit falls to avoid. I think most folks searching the net, looking for a quick way to get a buck; will quickly learn that there is an overwhelming number of websites claiming that you can get rich by just pushing a few buttons. You will find tons of websites offering you a “new” money making systems for just pennies.

Get Rich ebooks
Savvy Internet marketers were quick to learn that novices were eager and gullible to try any thing that would generate an income. What I’ve learnt is that the only ones making money are those who sell to gullible folks. They display a phony set of income facts to convince you that their system works. Their web pages are a mile long filled with a bunch of phony testimonials from other Internet marketers or shills. When you see the results from your web search you will be amazed by the number of outrages claims. All of these phony websites sell ebooks that you can download after you make your payment. I have fallen victim to this get rich schemes a few times.

When you see or read these sites, don’t be fooled by their “step by step” systems. If these claims were indeed true, then why would anyone sell their most prized money making secrets to you. The why is easy to answer: Their money making secret is convincing you to buy an ebook.

Affiliate Programs
The next money making pit fall is signing up to become an affiliate, which gives you the right to sell so called business opportunities to more gullible folks and get rich in the process. When you sign up you receive a special URL (web address) with your ID embedded and made part of the web address. You use this URL to promote their get rich schemes. These marketers are very good at drumming up affiliates as they offer a commission for each ebook sold and you can log into your affiliate account to determine how much you sold and earned in real time. They can offer web sites for a small hosting fee and a great deal of promotional materials such as banners, email text, Google Ad Words promotional text and so on.

Sounds good, don’t it? Unless you have a great deal of Internet marketing experience, you will quickly become frustrated. Here is why. They want you to sign up for Google Ad Words. This is a pay per click (PPC) classified. When some one clicks on your affiliate ad you pay Google for that click. People see your ad when they do a Google keyword search. The more popular a keyword is (a keyword is what folks use to find stuff) the more you pay for that keyword. This means that you have to budget how much you are willing to pay for a click. The most popular money making keywords can cost $1.50 or more just to get your ad on page one.

When some one clicks on your ad you pay for that click, but this does not mean that you will made a sale. It may take 100 to 300 clicks before you make a sale. They call that return on investment (ROI) or sales conversions per 100 clicks. You have very little control on who clicks on your ad and that means that your competitors can click you out of business. These guys know that they can run your PPC budget dry. Google attempts to control this, but don’t count on it. Why would they want to run your PPC budget dry? So they can get to the top ad on page one by eliminating competition for that slot.

Learn More First
Okay, so now you know that you pay for ads, just multiply this by several hundred or more affiliates and you can see how they get rich by just recruiting gullible folks to join their affiliate programs, If you are new at this game, my advise is not to do it. Instead learn from others who have done it successfully, by joining Internet forums founded by Internet marketers. Google Ad Words has a very good training program to teach how to profit from PPC.

Open an Online Store
A quick Internet search will find many merchandising companies offering website stores which you can stock with their products. Most will require you to pay hosting fees claiming that you can recover your hosting fee costs as you make sales. The easy part is selecting hot items to sell. The hard part is making a decent commission while you are paying your monthly hosting fees. But, the most difficult part is promoting your store and getting sales. The company will most likely do your back office work by taking orders and shipping products to your customers.

Promoting your store and making sales will be a never ending process that will demand most of your time. Most web stores pay low commissions and need high volume to make a decent income. I am not saying "don't do it" just make sure you do your research and be prepared to invest time and money.

How to use Windows Note Pad or Word Pad to Improve Your Memory

Ok, you're right, this article may be boring to some if it does not peek your interest. So many folks out there in Internet land never take the time to learn something new. Most folks search the Internet seeking products, services and how to information. When they find what they're looking for they simply bookmark the URL.

But, what if you only want to copy the information for use later? If you don't have MS Office Suite your only text editor is Note Pad and maybe Word Pad. Did you know that you can "pin" Note Pad to your Start Menu. Pinning Note Pad to your start menu eliminates scanning your Program Files each time you want to copy some information. 

Here's how: In your Start button click on "All Programs" then click on "Accessories"  then click on "Note Pad". After Note Pad has opened it will automatically place a Note Pad icon to your Start Menu. Now click on your Start menu and right click on the Note Pad icon. You will see "Pin to Start menu" click on it and Note Pad will always be pinned to your Start menu. You can also unpin. You may have one other text editor called "Word Pad". Word Pad works the same way but has a very basic text editor. Note Pad is good for copying and editing but is more limited than Word Pad.

I suggest that you work with both Note Pad and Word Pad and then settle on the one you favor. You now can copy and paste only the web content you want. Keep in mind that some website are copyright protected. Ok I know your question, "how do you copy and paste?" I assume that you know how to use your mouse. The first this you do is highlight the text you want to copy. Place your cursor on the first letter in the text and then right click and drag the highlight to the end of the text. Then use control "C" to copy the text to your clipboard. Open Note Pad and place your cursor on the text block then use control "V" to paste your text. Save your Not Pad to your desktop. Make sure you use a file name that helps to describe what's in the file.

Now when you are surfing the Internet you can quickly save the content you have an interest in with out bookmarking the site. There is one other reason to use a text editor when copying formatted text from a website. That is, all text formatting will be removed when you paste it to Note Pad. This works fine when you have some HTML code you want to copy. Place the HTML code in Note Pad and then copy to your web site.

Should you care to comment on this article or want to make a suggestion, you can email me here or you can use our web form

This Week's Tip - How to use Google Search

Most everyone uses Google to search the Internet, but not everyone gets the best results. Some folks use generic search term like "shoes", hotels", "baseball" and so on. They spend a fair amount of time plowing through page after page. I am sure that's a frustrating experience. I can remember a time, so long ago, when I did my first Google search, I got so wrapped up in clicking on links I thought had the information I was seeking.  There is a better way to get exactly what you're looking for. Here are a few examples:

If you are searching for shoes, think about the color, manufacturer or what they're made of and then say to yourself  "I am looking for a pair of size 5 red leather shoes. The keyword phase is - size 5 red leather shoes - this will yield about 321,000 results. To shorten the number of results use quotation marks - "size 5 red leather shoes" this search term will yield about 8 results. Why is there a big difference in the number of results? When you use quotation marks Google will search their web index for only those site that use the keyword phase you typed in. While the keyword phase with out the quotations marks will fetch all sites that have "shoes" "red" "leather", So all the websites that sells shoes will be listed. Try it!

Well lets say you want to find out what the weather forecast is for a trip you are planning to Boston, MA. Type weather: Boston, MA and you will instantly see the weather forecast for Boston. Try it! What going on here is the when you type weather followed by the punctuation mark [ : ] and a space Google interprets that as an "operator" and knows that you want a weather forecast.

Here is a very cool one you can use when you need to look up a word. Let say that you heard someone say, "hoe-cake" what the heck is that? type in define: hoe-cake. Try it! Okay, here is one more trick then I'll give you a link that will explained all of Google's operators.

Let say that you forgot to bookmark a website but remember only part of it. You can use the inurl: to help you find it again. You were looking for a polo shirt, so you can type in inurl: polo shirt. Try it!

Here is the link that will give you all of Google's operators