Don’t buy bottled water

Bottled water, or as one academic recently called it in The Journal of Consumer Culture, “the pure commodity in the age of branding,”

Bottled water industry been experiencing exponential growth and is now a $10 billion a year industry in America alone. Why?

Today, bottled water costs more than gasoline, bottled water provides no extra nutritional value, is proved to be environmentally unsound.

Also most American residences have perfectly potable water coming out of the tap, and the entire industry based on simply pulling water from the ground has been called a scam.

Save money: Drink tap water!

How to donate your car?

What's the Benefit?

If you choose to donate a car to charity, it is a an easy way to get rid of a car when you don't have the time to sell it or don't think you can get what it's worth. While not every car is acceptable, donating a car to a charity lets you deduct its fair market value from your taxable income.

Steps:
1. Find a charity that accepts cars without charging a large removal fee. Make sure the organization is a registered 501(c)(3) charity or qualified religious organization that can lawfully accept your donation and from which you can lawfully claim a deduction.

2. Determine the fair market value of your car. According to the IRS, you are responsible for determining this; use the Kelley Blue Book or IRS Publications 526 ("Charitable Deductions") and 561 ("Determining the Value of Donated Property"). If it's worth $5,000 or more, have the car appraised by a certified professional.

3. Be sure to get a tax receipt which includes the charity's name and federal tax ID number, donor's name, date of donation, as well as the year, make and model of the donated car.

4. Notify the DMV and your insurance company that you no longer own or insure the vehicle. Follow your states regulations on what to do with the title and plates. Keep your receipt and completed IRS Form 8283 for tax time.

General Things Worth Knowing:
Religious organizations aren't required to apply for an IRS tax exemption in order to be qualified.

The tax break or refund may be the same amount as if you'd sold the car, but without the hassle. IRS Publication 78 (at irs.gov) can verify for you if an organization is qualified to receive deductible contributions.

Summary of What to look for:
No or low removal fee
501(c)(3)-classified charity
Fair market value of car
Tax receipt from charity
Completed forms

How to Share and Use Wii Game Saves

If you are one of those gamers who love to rent games from Blockbuster and try out all the levels, here is a site for you - Blog of Wii Games Save Downloads.

You can download any game with the desired level and powers and then your on your way to playing the Save file.

Here is how to hack the Wii Games save files

After downloading a save, you'll either get a plain old data.bin or a zipped file.

If you have a data.bin, you have to place it in a folder structure on your SD card like so: \private\wii\title\GAME\data.bin (replacing GAME with it's corresponding game code from the game code list).

If you get a zipped file, it most likely has all of it's folder structure in tact, so all you have to do is extract it to your SD card so it shows up like the above folder structure.

Once you have the file in place on your SD card, you can then put the SD card in to your Wii and go to your saved game(s) on your SD card (Wii Options > Data Management > Save Data > Wii > SD card tab), select the saved game that you want and select Copy. Keep in mind that if you already have a save on your Wii that you're trying to replace, it wont overwrite it, so you'll have to backup your save, then delete it off your Wii internal memory to be able to transfer the new one on.

Last day of Bill Gates & Bill Clinton

My blog is not only about serious money making ideas. I want to introduce you also another side of life. And from time to time, I want to also show you some funny things. Today I found two very interesting short movies. It is possible that a lot of people, these movies knows. I have never seen these movies before, and I love these them. It is fine that also serious people like Bill Gates and Bill Clinton are doing funny things. I hope you will love these movies also. I promise that, when I will be famous as Bill I will also record similar videos.

The last day of Bill Gates


The final days of Bill Clinton

Why did I flush AdBrite from my Blog ?

I was running Kontera ContentLink™ ads along with AdBrite and hoping to Maximize my AdBrite Income. But an email from my Kontera Account Manager had me realize that this is against the TOS of Kontera. Here is the detail from their memo. I took immediate action and got rid of AdBrite from my blog to avoid getting banned from Kontera. If you are running both AdBrite and Kontera, make sure to keep only one of them and get rid of the other because greed is not good. Good luck!

Memo follows:
I've noticed that you are running AdBrite alongside our ContentLink™ ads on ghostrider30.blogspot.com.

I wanted to remind you that that when you signed up to have Kontera ContentLinks™ on your site, our Terms of Service stipulated exclusivity as the in-text provider:

Exclusivity: Publisher will not use any other provider of ‘in-text’ advertising links anywhere on his web-site/s.

When analyzing a webpage, our algorithm searches to find the most relevant and highest- paying keywords. Having another In-Text Ads provider on the same page, disrupts this process, and prevents you from experiencing ContentLink's full monetary potential. Kontera has absolutely no objection to using other non In-Text ads alongside ContentLink and in fact the majority of our publishers do so.

Please remove all competitive In-Text products from ghostrider30.blogspot.com, as we are not willing to have ContentLinks work in conjunction with any other In-Text providers.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Save LDW on retal car using your credit card coverage

All of the biggies - Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover offer some sort of coverage.

The main difference among the four credit card companies listed below is that MasterCard and Amex cover collisions, theft, vandalism and weather; Visa covers collisions and theft, but omits vandalism and weather; while Discover covers only collisions. However MasterCard is not useful in areas with dirt or gravel roads [paved roads only].

However, details can still vary depending on the specific type (Classic, Gold, Platinum, etc.). Look for specific wording in the paperwork that they mail you with the tiny print on amazingly thin paper. Here’s an excerpt from MasterCard coverage:

MasterRental will pay for covered damages on a secondary basis for which you are, or any other authorized driver is, legally responsible to the rental agency.

Covered damages include:
–Physical damage to and theft of the vehicle, not to exceed the limits outlined below.
- Reasonable loss-of-use charges imposed by the vehicle rental company for the period of time the rental vehicle is out of service. Loss-of-use charges must be substantiated by a location- and class-specific fleet utilization log.
- Reasonable towing charges to the nearest factory-authorized collision repair facility.

If you have, or an authorized driver’s primary automobile insurance or other indemnity has, made payments for a covered loss, MasterRental will cover your deductible and any other eligible amounts not covered by other insurance.

Secondary insurance means that they will cover what your primary insurance doesn’t. Together, this seems like a pretty solid combination. Of course, I’ve never made a claim through any of these card companies so I have no idea how easy they are to deal with. (Anyone have stories?)

Yahoo Announces Open Search Platform

It's business as usual over at Yahoo, despite the histrionics surrounding the potential Microsoft acquisition and recent layoffs. As part of the company's ongoing efforts to showcase its search differentiation, Yahoo has unveiled an "open search platform," which gives publishers the ability to customize their results as they appear in search engine results pages (SERPs). For example, a publisher such as Conde Nast (used in Yahoo's analyst presentation) can add Miss America photos *shown on this post* , links, maps and so on to a search result. A consumer searching on "cheesecake" would see the result from Conde Nast stand out from the pack, with a photo and links to recipes and videos. Yahoo says that these customized results in no way affect algorithmic results in terms of page rankings. Translated, a customized result will not inherently elevate your ranking, but you have to figure that a more visually appealing result on a page will get more clicks, so indirectly the message is "customize or wind up below the fold."

Yahoo's open search platform leaves a few questions unresolved. It's not abundantly clear the degree of difficulty in creating these customized search results. If the ability to create a standout customized result is as simple as using Microsoft's Popfly mashup tool, then it puts all publishers on a level playing field. On the other hand, if this task requires more-advanced development skills to create something elegant, the open platform grossly favors those with more technology resources. Additionally, search results pages containing these customized results could result in a confusing experience to the consumer. Not only do SERPs with a mix of customized and noncustomized results look somewhat catawampus, highly customized results with photos and links look like enhanced Yellow Pages ads. I doubt that was Yahoo's intent here.

While there is some modest innovation here, one has to wonder whether Yahoo's announcement here is more to show the world it's alive and doing fine than to truly showcase a bold step forward in search.

How to make $40,000 in a day ?

Welcome to my profile page at Qassia, the most amazing resource ever. Wanna join Qassia? All you need to do is click on "Sign Up".
Qassia is fantastic because you get credit for sharing your intelligence. The more credit you earn, the better your websites will rank. And you get a backlink to your website for every intel you add - only Qassia gives you unlimited quality backlinks.

Last but not least, Qassia also has the best ad revenue sharing system on the Internet, so in effect you get paid for promoting your websites. Qassia rocks!

The more people join Qassia, the more everyone will benefit, so give Qassia a spin. Signing up takes less than a minute, so you've got nothing to lose. See ya around!

This is the easiest money to be made on the web. In the first 12 hours after you join (for free) everyone you refer pays you $500 Qassia Dollars. You can’t spend this money at the Sharper Image. It is only there to help you rank higher in their directory, sorry. The more money you generate with referrals AND by posting and screening content, what they call “Intel,” the higher you will rank in their directory.

PlaceMyProduct.com was a scam ?

PlaceMyProduct.com did not meet their promises and our expectations to make money with private advertising.

Although I got one advertiser in a day, now they are reluctant to pay me the money.
Its really frustrating to get a mail like this from the owner saying they have to cancel the payments. If any fellow blogger is interested in pursuing this with them to get our payments back, do send in your comments.

Hi,

I just wanted to send you an email to let you know that I'm deleting
all
current auctions on PlaceMyProduct.com. The reason is that I'm
transferring
the site to a new owner and in transition, I have to cancel anything
that
might cause a payment. I'm transferring it to someone that will have
better
success at marketing the site which will be better for you. I'm sure he
will send you an email to advise you of the relaunch.

Thanks


--
Tino Buntic
416-737-0919
www.placemyproduct.com

Top Blogs On Google Reader v/s BlogPicks

On December 25, 2007 this blog was ranked #1 on BlogPicks.Net, and today I am proud to report that my record #1 position has been retained for more than two months. This was possible only due to the support from readers like yourself.

Google made it fairly easy to determine the number of Google Reader subscribers around a particular blog. This isn’t perfect because you have to think of the blog and then do a search for the stats; so some blogs may be left off. Also, some of these stats are aggregate numbers from different feeds for the same blog.

Thats the reason I find BlogPicks directory helpful as compared with Google Reader as it gives me easy access to the stats like IP uniques and also in turn gets traffic from users surfing BlogPicks.

You can help me maintain my #1 rank by voting my blog from the BlogPicks banner on the top of this post. Thanks again for your support.

Protect $$$ from Phishing IMs

It seems there has been a wave of phishing attacks using instant messaging recently. ‘Phishing’ involves the use of spoofed IM and websites to entice unsuspecting individuals into divulging personal or financial data.

Recent phishing attacks have included well crafted Instant Messages that appear to be sent from Yahoo! Instant Messenger, notifying the recipient to follow a link within the message with the following comments:

see this comedy joke click on this link [URL]
Ha ha ha click on link to laugh ... [URL]
what a joke ...... [URL]
nice one see this .... [URL]
what a joke .....click to see [URL]
what a joke ...... [URL]
nice to listen .......... [URL]
what is this ? ......see [URL]
i am busy you click on a link and see ... [URL]
what is this ? ...... see [URL]

25 Ways I Save Money

I've written about my saving strategies before, but I've decided to write an updated post in a numbered list format on the various ways that I save money on a day to day basis. This post was inspired by similar posts on FrugalForLife and CashMoneyLife.

Included below are 25 ways that I save money:

1. I drive with gas efficiency in mind.
2. I try to save energy around the house with CFL's, programmable thermostats and proper insulation.
3. We do laundry once / week.
4. I brown bag my lunch to work.
5. I prepare my lunches in bulk and store them in individual plastic/glass containers.
6. I cook at home whenever possible.
7. I perk my own coffee.
8. I use a points/cashback based credit card that gives me the best return for my spending.
9. When buying consumer items, I try to separate my "needs" and my "wants".
10. When I find something that I "need", then I do comparison shopping or wait until it goes on sale.
11. I don't smoke, do drugs, or drink (too much). :)
12. I use basic cable instead of the fancy cable packages.
13. I combine my cable/internet/telephone with the same provider to take advantage of the discounts available.
14. I watch movies at home instead of going to the movie theater.
15. I use term insurance instead of universal life or whole life insurance.
16. As with anything else, I shop around for my insurance products. Tools like Kanetix.ca and other online tools help.
17. I pay a higher deductible on insurance products to reduce the premiums.
18. I buy with quality in mind in the expectation that it will last a long time.
19. To please my reading habit, I go to the library (or get publishers to send me free books for review) :)
20. I make my deposits into my high interest rate savings account and RRSP automatically on a bi-weekly basis. Basically when I get my paycheck.
21. When it's time for a new mortgage, I shop around for the best rate. This will save you thousands in the long run.
22. When purchasing a home, I save for a large down payment to reduce mortgage insurance fees (CMHC).
23. I buy clothes when they wear out, not when they go out of style.
24. I track my spending/budget with Microsoft Money.
25. I arrange my banking so that I don't pay any fees and use a discount brokerage that minimizes my trading expenses.

There you have it, 25 ways that I save money. There are actually more that I'll leave for another post.

What are some ways that you save money?

Make money from Ford Mustangs Airbags Recalls

Ford Motor Co. says it is recalling 470,000 Ford Mustangs from the 2005-2008 model years to recalibrate how forcefully the air bag deploys on the front passenger side of the car.
Ford spokesman Wesley Sherwood says internal testing showed the air bag could injure a small, unbelted passenger. The recall was posted Wednesday on the Web site of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Sherwood says there were no reports of injuries or accidents tied to the recall.

The Dearborn automaker will notify customers by mail in early March. Owners can take their vehicle to a dealer to have the air bag recalibrated to deploy at a lower force.

Tution FREE Education at Stanford University

Attending Stanford University next year will be a lot more affordable for some undergraduate students.

The university said Wednesday it plans to eliminate tuition for students with annual family incomes totaling less than $100,000. It also will pay most room and board for students with families making less than $60,000.

Financial aid director Karen Cooper says the move comes as middle-income parents express concern about paying for a Stanford education.

Stanford tuition is expected to rise to $36,000 in the fall. Room and board will cost about $11,000. About a third of the university's 6,700 undergraduates are expected to qualify for the tuition break.

Electron filmed in motion for the first time

Swedish researchers have captured their first clear view of an electron riding on a light wave. Technique use short pulses of light called attosecond pulses. It takes about 150 attoseconds for an electron to circle the nucleus of an atom. An attosecond is 10-18 seconds long, or, expressed in another way: an attosecond is related to a second as a second is related to the age of the universe.

A peel way ad on your blog for FREE!

Just this afternoon I discovered the new free page peel banner. Basically you used to have to buy it, I found it free with instant signup/code too! If you want one, sign up here direct link :

http://blog.dahh.net/free-peel-away-ad-script/

I think it's definitely a cool new way to monetize your blog! What do you think? If it's not that new, it's new to me!! I saw John Chow post about it on Tuesday (12th Feb) and he's selling it for $37! I've got it for free!

Features:
1. Place it on the left or right upper corner
2. Open and close automaticly after X seconds
3. Speed of the small pageear could be changed
4. Flashcheck (Adobe© Flash Detection)
5. Reflecting image on corner
6. Color of the pagecorner
7. Link target on external side or own (self, new)
8. Downwardcompatibly up to Flashversion 6
9. Runs on nearly all Browser (FireFox, InternetExplorer, Opera, Safari, etc.)

It is easy to install. Just Unzip it, upload the files to your wordpress plugin directory and activate it.

Then, just edit the options, create your images to use (a 100×100 and a 500×500 jpg image), and there you have. A peel way ad on your blog for free!

Make a Fortune by Finding Lost Money

Here's a money-making tip that most people don't think of but that can be quite profitable:

Dig up what’s owed to you. There are billions of unclaimed dollars in America. They’re held by federal and state governments, as well as private companies, in the form of pensions, bonds, tax refunds, real estate and savings accounts.

Unclaimed Funds is a company that supposedly helps people find their missing funds (I don't know anything about them, so I can't comment on their services either way). Their take on the situation is as follows:

"There is over 400 billion dollars in unclaimed money in the United States. Each year billions of dollars become lost and unclaimed when banks, companies and governments lose track of the true owner of the money they hold due to: post office mistakes, misspelled names, business and banks that go bankrupt, unplanned changes of address, marriage breakup, unexpected job relocation, death, etc. Most adults are owed some of this money and they don't even know it."

There are two points I want to make on this topic:

It's likely that there's some money, property, etc. owed to you or someone you know out there.

There are a lot of questionable companies that want to "help" you find it -- for a fee of course.
My recommendation is to research the process for finding such funds and then proceed carefully.

Lemon or fecal bacteria served at restaurants?