LG's foray into the mobile space: An excellent media device

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of LG Chocolate Touch. All opinions are 100% mine.

In the past, most of us have bought at least one MP3 player of some description. And then when that one fills up, and is supersceded - another one. And then there's the phone. And for emails and internet, the laptop. And a still camera for candid shots, plus a video camera for grabbing a few clips here and there. It's really quite ineffecient to have so many different devices - they waste energy, you have to keep track of dozens of different power adapters & chargers, and synchronising data between devices is, at best, painful.

That's where an all-in-one device such as the LG Chocolate Touch comes in handy. The aim of a device like this is to combine all your traditional electronic devices into one box, which makes it easy to organise and share your data over an internet connection.

The LG Chocolate Touch has all your traditional phone functionality - voice, text, and multimedia messages. It's also got a 3.2MP camera / video recorder, plus a built-in image editor so you don't have to transfer photos to your computer for simple touching up and cropping. Of course, the device is internet enabled, with a "One-touch Social Network Message Key" for easy use of Mobile Blogging (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.)

But perhaps the biggest feature of this phone is it's multimedia capabilities - Dolby Mobile technology is built in for crystal clear sound quality. An adjustable EQ allows you to setup the best sound experience for your environment, and there's even a "Rythmical Beat" feature that vibrates the phone in time with your music! On the LG website you can hear the difference between EQ modes on the phone - it's quite amazing.

This little phone is certainly worth a look - it reminds me quite a bit of the MyTouch 3G, and in more than the name. This device however, has significantly better multimedia capabilities, which may put it ahead if that's what your looking for. All in all, a solid all-rounder phone, with an edge in the multimedia environment.

Bidazzled - entertainment auctions (with a charitable background)

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Bidazzled. All opinions are 100% mine.

Today I heard about yet another online marketplace, amongst the plethora already available online (the most popular being Ebay). But this marketplace is different - 70% of the profits go to charity.

Bidazzled was launched in early November, and has already gained quite a following. This site is classed as Penny Auction or Pay-per-bid, where bids are purchased in advance and then used to bid on merchandise. This is very different from Ebay, where bids are free and you only pay if you win the item. Every time somebody bids with some of their pre-bought credit, the price goes up by a few cents, and a few seconds are added to the countdown clock to allow other people to bid.

An interesting feature is that if you don't "win" the action, you still have the opportunity to buy the item, minus the investment you made in it. So basically, you can't lose! Most of the time, people will save 80% off the retail price of an item. In the early days of this site, some people were even buying Nintendo Wiis for only a few cents!

Bids cost $1 at Bidazzled, and can be bought in packs from $25. I have an exclusive offer though for readers of this blog - 15 bonus bids, if you redeem this offer before 15th January 2010. Just enter the following code when signing up - no obligation!

BBP1202A

Bidazzled also has a pretty good referral program. If:
*A refers B. A receives 5 Bonus Bids
*B refers C. A receives 4 Bonus Bids
*C refers D. A receives 3 Bonus Bids
*D refers E. A receives 2 Bonus Bids
*E refers F. A receives 1 Bonus Bid.

I suggest you check out Bidazzled - it just might be the thing for you. It's certainly worth a look - and remember, the profits are used to fund a charity, so if you spend too much - it's all in a good cause! =)

Hyundai moves toward "greener" cars

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hyundai. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hyundai have just won the Global Green Challenge for energy-effecient cars. Personally, I had heard of Hyundai before but had never associated them with green cars. However, their latest model the new Hyundai Santa Fe, has just done a test from Darwin to Adelaide and came out with some pretty impressive fuel efficiency stats.
According to their website:

The Challenge includes two demanding urban loops and covers a total distance of 3,147 kilometres from Darwin to Adelaide. At the finish line in Adelaide’s CBD, after seven days of intense competition, the new Santa Fe R diesel had consumed a total of just 160.46 litres of diesel fuel and achieved a low 137.67 grams of CO2 per kilometre.

Apparently this car can get up to 1,200km on a single tank. With all the climate change & global warming talks (such as those at Copenhagen recently), cars like this are really what people will be looking for in the upcoming months and years. We want something lean, grean, fuel effecient and with low CO2 emissions. And it looks like Hyundai have just become the global, or at least-Australia-wide leaders in this field.

The Santa Fe R Diesel also has a few other impressive-looking features:

• GreenR - 27% more power and 7% less CO2 emissions*
  *ADR 81/02 static laboratory urban cycle test for manual
• SmartR - with push button start and safe reverse technology
• LongR - up to 1,200km on a single tank
• SafeR - 5 star ANCAP safety with rollover sensors*
  *5 star ANCAP applies to all Santa Fe variants built from October 2009
• StrongR - 27% more power and 10% less fuel consumption*
  *ADR 81/02 static laboratory urban cycle test for manual

As you can see, 'R' seems to be the keyword here, implying that this care is only the start, as they get 'bett-R'. If we keep seeing increases in the 10% range we're going to get very fast, very efficient cars very soon.

CarsGuide have a good overview of the Global Green Challenge on their website. Also checkout the Hyundai website for more info on their energy-effecient cars.

"Spellcasting Soda" D&D Potions at your next BBQ?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Jones Soda. All opinions are 100% mine.

Many of you may be familiar with the classic board game Dungeons & Dragons. Perhaps you've even played one of the plethora of online or PC-based computer games based on this same game. Well, now you have the chance to buy D&D potions - thanks to Jones Soda.

The new Dungeons and Dragons Jones Soda comes in multiple flavours - "Potion of Healing", "Sneak Attack", "Illithid Brain Juice" and others. I'm extremely curious about how the Brain Juice might taste - haven't tried brains before myself!

At the moment, the Limited Edition Soda can be ordered online for $10.99 for a six-pack. There are 5 flavours advertised on the website, and you receive a variety in each pack. This could definitely be an attention-grabber for your next BBQ or party - "Hey, who wants a Dwarven Draught?" Just remember that there could be a two week for your order, wait as the hand-made bottles are in high demand.

I'd suggest you check out the website, and let me know if you get to taste any of these. Leave a comment here with your favourite flavour! I'd personally go for the Potion of Healing - sounds safest to me, but hey, if you're more adventurous and want to try a Sneak Attack or Bigby's Crushing Thirst Destroyer, let me know how it tastes. =)

I spy Eye-Fi - Intelligent SD Cards spark a camera revolution

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Eye-Fi. All opinions are 100% mine.

Photo management is currently my biggest time-waster on the computer. Yes, even worse than Facebook. Often I will be looking for a photo that I took months ago, only to find it's still on the camera. Then I have to find a USB cable, memory card reader, and download the photos, search for duplicates from previous downloads, before finally getting back to the photo I was looking for.

Then what happens if I want to access those photos and my camera isn't accessible, or I downloaded them to another computer? There's no easy way to access the photos without uploading them to a web photo sharing service, and all this takes time and effort. Photo management has rapidly become an time and effort-intensive operation.

All this is set to change with the new wireless-enable memory cards from Eye-Fi. These 4GB SD cards come with built-in WiFi capabilities, as well as the smarts to automatically upload your photos from the camera to a suitable computer or web service which you have preconfigured.

Basically this card looks and acts just like a normal SD card. Stick it in your camera and shoot as normal. You can configure up to 32 wireless networks, and whenever the camera (with the memory card inside) comes within range of one of these networks, it will upload the latest photos to your selected destination - which could be folders on your computer, or one of 25 different locations online.

I definitely want to get one of these cards - it could save me hours of photo transfer time, and at just $60USD for the geo-tagging version it's quite cheap for the features.

Here's a video explaining the service in more detail:

SocialSpark.com is live!

SocialSpark is the latest big thing in the blogosphere. Moving on from the negative aura that has often surrounded PayPerPost, SocialSpark ushers in a new era in paid-for blogging. Or rather, one might call it a new era in Advertiser-Blogger relationships, because SocialSpark is all about relationships.

Firstly, there's this thing called "props". It's basically the same as a diggs. You see somebody you like, you "give them the props" (click the "prop" button). Someone with lots of props is well-reputed, somebody with less props fades to the background. Besides this, there is the ability to make (and break) friendships. This has the potential to become a powerful tool - if the advertisers make friendships only with the people whose posts they are happy with, then this will be a reasonably accurate measurement of how well a person writes. Only time will tell whether or not this comes to fruition or not.

SocialSpark's slogan is "Get Everyone Talking". My profile certianly lives out this goal: in the 12 days since I joined my profile has received 26 props, and I've got 33 friends! That's certainly a powerful connection machine, it only needs to be seen how to utilize that power for a useful purpose.

There is certainly great potential in SocialSpark. At the moment, it is lacking the leverage of big-name advertisers, but no doubt these will come as the site expands. For now it might be worth checking it out - you've got nothing to lose, and you could end up making a few bucks in the process!

This post is sponsored by SocialSpark

Looking upwards....

I've always been an astronomy fan. Even before I built my first computer, I was lying out on the ground looking upwards through a small pair of binoculars, pinpointing the constellations and trying to find Orion's nebula. Unfortunately I was hampered to some extent by lack of proper optical instruments. The binoculars were fairly cheap so I didn't get a very clear view. Now I've found OpticsPlanet, which seems to offer good quality optical instruments online.

The site claims to offer a "great place for people to explore, learn about their hobbies and find the best gear to suit their needs". When I first visited I expected to see a flashy, graphics covered store, but was surprised by the clean-ness of this site. It loaded in no time, but certainly doesn't skimp on content.

The pages are clearly SEO'd, with many terms highlighted in bold, lots of specialized pages and lots of content on each page. But this is good for me as well, because I can find detailed information about practically anything on the site. Almost every second or third word is linked, so if you want to find more information, it's not far away.

Verdict: OpticsPlanet offers a wide range of products, and with the best price guarantee offers the lowest prices around. If you don't mind the SEO'd site flavour, and you're looking for hunting, astronomy, or other optical equiptment, this site is for you. Otherwise, you can try looking at the site through Lynx!

More links: OpticsPlanet Microscope

Music Lyrics

We all have to take a break sometimes. Even us tech people. Yes, you do need a break!
For those who like rap, check out Rap Music Lyrics. They've got a pretty good range of artists, and although I'm not into rap myself it looks pretty good to me. Has anyone else tried this site yet?

Furniture from home (Website Review)

You might think that this post is a little off-topic for a technology site. Well, in a way it is. But what I'm reviewing about this site is mainly it's functionality as a web site, not a furniture site. Although the market is part of it, I'm a tech reviewer more than a furniture sales person. So, without further ado, let me introduce Furniture From Home.

My first impression: this is a very well designed site. Not only the design itself, but the HTML and CSS is clean, and consistent. The site doesn't take long to load on my 256K connection, which is also a bit consideration for many users. Website design professionals could learn from this site.

Diving deeper, the site continues to live up to this standard for the most part. One of my favourite features about this site is that it displays perfectly on smaller screens, while not compromising on the bigger screens. The breadcrumb navigation at the top is also extremely useful.

Overall I would definitely recommend this site to a friend, knowing it is easy to use and functional. Well-designed and coded sites are rare across the web, but this is one of them in my opinion. Certainly if you're a web designer I would take a look, and if you're looking for furniture you can be sure that you won't run into many issues navigating the site.

Further links: Bedroom Furniture | Home Office Furniture | bedroom set for sale

Build your own Sign - Online

I've been looking for a service for quite a while that will design and print signs online. Build A Sign.com provides exactly what I have been looking for. They have low prices from what I have seen across the web, and a huge range of pre-made signs for such purposes as country flags and real estate signs. I highly recommend you check out this site, especially if you live in America where the postage is cheaper. The prices at this site make it worthwhile for me to purchase signs for home usage, not just business. And the online facility makes this a lot easier than going into town (yes, I know, I'm lazy!). Definitely worth a look.

Web Hosting Choice

Choosing a web host is a very difficult decision now-days. There are so many hosts out there, it's nearly impossible to decide which one is best. And even worse, most web hosts promote themselves so that it's hard to tell whether you've got an unbiased opinion or not.

So how do you begin to sift through all the web hosting providers? This is where Web Hosting Choice comes in handy. Web Hosting Choice provides an unbiased, and comprehensive list of some of the top web hosting sites available. An easy table compares features, and a link is presented to the details page for each one.

This site is supported by sponsored links. Each web hosting site featured pays Web Hosting Choice for any paying customers sent from their page. You might think this presents an issue, but really it doesn't - no matter which web host you choose, Web Hosting Choice will get paid! If you are really unsure of the details, you can always check what is shown in the tables with the host's website. All the details are easily obtainable, Web Hosting Choice just aggregates all the information in one place.

Web Hosting Choice is certainly a worthwhile service if you're looking for a quick and easy start on choosing a web host. Just remember, there are more options, so if you're not happy with the ones listed, google some more!

This post sponsored by Web Hosting Choice

I signed up for Pay Per Post

Today my application for Pay Per Post was accepted. I know that PPP is a controversial service in the blogosphere, and I certainly don't intend to compromise the quality of my blog's results with advertising. My intention in signing up is to earn a bit of extra cash, while promoting any products which I happen to like already.

So far, PPP looks like being a great success. This post, in fact, stating why I signed up for PPP and what I hope to achieve with it, will earn me $20! It does seem strange, that I would be writing something to be paid. But in reality, I would have written this exact same post whether I was paid or not. It's simply a matter of connections - which is what PPP is all about.

Overall, Pay Per Post will enhance this blog by providing a means of support for items such as hosting and maintenance. I will only post about sites I actually endorse, so have no fear of the posts being biased. If I can't truthfully say anything good about the company, I won't post at all!

If you have any thoughts about the Pay Per Post blog network, or have suggestions for my blogging, please leave a comment. I'm excited about this new opportunity for revenue, and I'd love to hear your thoughts too.