Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

Starting December 3rd Win a copy of Antiquitas Lost: The Last of the Shamalans a rollicking fantasy. Authored by Robert Louis Smith M.D., MSc by entering at Azure Dwarf on December 3rd or on the Interview with the Author that will be posted at Azure Dwarf on December 6th. The Contest runs from Dec. 3 to Dec. 10 and shipping has been restricted to the U.S. or Canada.

One of my pet peeves is the hidden costs of shipping. I’m guessing that the retailers hope you will ignore the cost of shipping once you get to checkout. I just was on the Walmart site and was going to buy something that seemed to be aggressively priced. It had free shipping to the store. If I wanted to go to the store I would not have been shopping on line. Duhh! It would not give me the price with shipping until I went through the checkout procedures. Guess what! Not worth my trouble when I think they are playing head games. Give me the full price before I have to put in my credit card not after! Lost sale due to annoyance! You would think these guys would learn by now that annoyance probably costs them far more sales than sneaking in the shipping costs at the end earn them in sales. Grinch me not!

This post is a repost from bestonlinecolleges.com . and is just a brief summary. Click on the link to get the real skinny on the 10 apps they have researched.    Thanks to Rose King from bestonlinecolleges.com for the link and post.    This is not an endorsement of their services or products just a repost of an interesting post .   So much of our time is spent using a device to keep us connected to the world, so why not use these gadgets to manage our money as well? The iPad's portability and user-friendly features make it the perfect tool for managing your cash flow and accomplishing your financial goals in one convenient place. All you have to do next is load up on a handful of reliable financial apps, and you've got yourself a portable and personal financial adviser. Get your money in check with these 10 iPad apps. 1.      Mint.com 2.      Shoeboxed Receipt Tracker and Reader 3.      Pageonce 4.      powerOne Financial Calculator 5.      Ace Budget 6.     

First of all I love the form factor of the microSDHC memory cards.  It goes into  so many things.  I have converters to make it into a standard SD memory card or a USB drive.   So the form factor gives it great versatility.  This specific card was appreciably faster than one that was two years old.  Sadly I have no specs on the 2 year old one.  I did a relatively unscientific but practical test of the cards speed.   I copied a 10gb file from my hard drive to the new AmazonBasics card and it showed up in substantially less than a second.   I copied the same file on my 2 year old card and it took 4.5 seconds.   So from a layman’s point of view this card is seriously faster.   I liked it.  I was provided this card at no charge for testing and review.  

This drive set up beautifully.    No issues, three different users on three different computers accessing the drive through a wireless router.   It was $89.99 with free shipping from Buy.com.    The following is copied directly from their site.   The accolades above are due to a product that set up easily out of the box with no calls to tech support necessary.   With smart phones and tablet PCs becoming essential tools for business, healthcare and education, LG’s Super-Multi NAS N1A1 is able to stream information and media directly to portable devices. Open up new possibilities of distributing information to clients, doctors, patients and students. The LG NAS lets you go beyond the storage limitations of handheld devices and gain access to videos, music and presentations via the internet. Whether streaming video seminars to students or sharing medical information with patients, the LG NAS delivers a new level of interactivity. Features: Access Data or Stream Media via

Summary: this article takes a look at the importance of budgeting when investing in realty and who can help you establish and stick to a budget. (I accept guest posts.  This is a guest post and I am not recommending the companies that are represented by the links.  I have not researched them in more than a cursorily manner to just determine they are not offensive to my personal taste.  Posting the article is not to be seen as a endorsement of any kind except I thought it was worth reading.) Propertyinvestment can be a huge financial risk, especially to those who haven’t established a well-planned budget.  In fact, having a well thought out budget is an essential component to owning and keeping and investment property. Detailed below are the reasons why you should plan out a budget, those professionals who can help you establish a budget and some helpful tips on how to stick to your budget. The Importance of Budgeting Bad financial decisions are the root ca

 Etonic Stabilizer Golf Shoes 2011 I wrote about my dissatisfaction with a pair of Etonic golf shoes back in July.   Last month the CEO of Etonic World Wide called me and apologized for my experience.   My complaint wasn’t that quality control could miss a bad pair of shoes but that customer service appeared to be non-existent.    I was told that the customer service issue had been addressed and I was thanked for making Etonic a better company.  Tom Elwell (the CEO) is a man of his word.   There is now a wealth of contacts on the Etonic website.   In addition he asked if I would be willing to review a new pair of Etonic Stabilizers.   I agreed to try them and he sent me a pair.   First there is a bunch of spikes on this puppy.   What I like is that there is a spike in the center of each spike for increased stabilization.  (I think this is where the name came from.LOL)   In addition to that is a block in the insole that helps to prevent foot collapse on the turn and on the t

Sophia Global Remanufactured Ink Cartridge Replacement for Canon PG-40 and CL-41 (1 Black and 1 Color) I'm always hesitant to use 3rd party ink.  When I was still in the computer business, we had a client bring in a printer that looked like a small animal had been butchered inside it.  His refilled ink cartridge had leaked and the fast back and fourth left an astounding mess.  These ink cartridges still are not recognized by my Canon printer so the convenient low ink warning is missing. However the pair of cartridges are a better price than the single cartridge from Canon.  I have printed out some photos and they are not quite as good as the Canon cartridges but so close that I needed a magnifier to tell the difference.  I recommend them. I purchased them at Amazon.

Summary: What are some essential tips for new home buyers? Read on to find out! (I accept guest posts.   This is a guest post and I am not recommending the companies that are represented by the links.   I have not researched them in more than a cursorily manner to just determine they are not offensive to my personal taste.   Posting the article is not to be seen as a endorsement of any kind except I thought it was worth reading.) Buying your first home or first investment property is a huge responsibility. Your personal financial future is often heavily invested in the value of your home. While a real estate agent can guide you through the process of buying a home, having a bit of knowledge beforehand can really help you avoid many of the costly pitfalls new home owners make. Here are nine essential tips for new home buyers: Know Your Limits Before you do anything, you have to know how much you can afford to pay. While you can easily get this information from banks a