Five ways to boost your savings

 

 

LONG-term investments are not always a good idea: many people who are sold 25-year plans soon realise the folly of their ways.

Having a disciplined monthly savings or investment plan and sticking to it over a long period of time is always advisable, but some contractual schemes should come with a wealth warning.

Non-residents in the Gulf region are often well advised to hold their money offshore. Typically run from well-known tax havens such as the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Ireland – where a higher proportion of your money is protected by law – investment accounts are predominantly made up of two types of plans: contractual and flexible (non-contractual).

Flexible investment plans are the ideal place for people looking to make hay while the sun shines, and are not very active investors after making their initial deposit. Here, you still receive returns on your money, in line with how underlying investments perform, but can withdraw funds within allowed limits penalty free.

However, these may not be the most ideal vehicle for longer-term investors. Contractual plans reward investors with generous bonuses for tying their money up.

In many cases, though, these people are encouraged to set a term for as long as 20 or 25 years, often with false assurances that you can take your money out early without penalty.

Be particularly aware of an ‘18 month plan’ with a 25-year term: if you sign up for this, you’ll have agreed to make every payment due from the date of inception until the specified maturity date and not simply for the first 18 months.

If you don’t meet this requirement, you will most likely be liable to pay penalties and these could wipe out any investment returns – and some of your initial capital – upon encashment.

Follow cashy’s five-point guide to avoiding the pitfalls and making the most out of regular savings:

Invest regularly to achieve objectives
A disciplined savings approach leads to optimal benefits. Take for example, an endowment policy for the purpose of repaying a loan or a property purchase upon maturity.

You keep up your monthly contributions for the full term of your policy to maximise your chances of achieving this goal rather than discontinuing the endowment policy with potential exit penalties.

Similarly, an offshore investment plan can create the incentive to maintain the payments and, therefore, achieve the original objective.

… and boost your returns
In addition, saving regularly can significantly boost your returns. This is due to what is known as ‘dollar cost averaging’.

World stock and bond markets inevitably go up and down, but by regularly drip-feeding money into your chosen investments, you are able to smooth volatility and mitigate risk.

This is for two reasons: when markets plummet, you’ll merely be getting more for your money, and as you’ll be committing funds on a regular basis you don’t need to worry about investing all of your savings at the top of the market.

In this way, dollar cost averaging means that you don’t have to concern yourself with fluctuating markets or identifying the best time to invest.

Know what you can afford
In financial planning terms, it’s important to cover short-, medium- and long-term objectives. Here, much is based on what you can afford.

If you know you’re going to need some of your money in the shorter-term, then don’t commit to investing large amounts over the longer-term or the penalty may outweigh any benefits.

Don’t lock in for too long
Offshore contractual investment plans can be a good option for those who can view long-term savings with a degree of certainty.

This type of product, with its locked-in commitment to long-term savings, is incentive in itself to build wealth for the future.

However, in many cases, a five, 10 or 15-year term is long enough to commit for.

Seek sound advice
It’s best to be aware of all the risk factors when taking out a contractual plan and understand the commitment. Always ask to see your adviser’s qualifications and how long they have been qualified for within the offshore market.

Find out the reputation of the company they work for, and make sure that it has all the correct licenses in place to be providing financial advice.

1st Mobile 3D without glasses

1st Mobile 3D without glasses

Sharp comes to manufacture and market the first smartphone without 3D glasses.Currently available in the land of the rising sun at the operator Softbank, the mobile phones of the future run on Android OS 2.2, and provide a 3D touch screen 3.8 inch WVGA (800 × 480), Intel Snapdragon 1GH, APN 8 and 9.6Mp, video player, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and more.
Available in December under reference Sharp 003SH and 005SH Galapagos, these new phones are currently not intended for Europe.

Sharp LCD Has Double Vision

Display is capable of showing two different images simultaneously.

Sharp has developed a new LCD panel that is capable of showing different images when viewed from the right or left hand sides.
The panel, prototypes of which were shown in Tokyo on Thursday, will go into production later this month and make possible television sets on which two people can watch different programs simultaneously, or computer screens capable of giving battling gamers different views of the same game.
The principle behind the technology is simple but putting it into practice required two-and-a-half years of research and development, says Grant Bourhill, director of optical imaging technology at Sharp Laboratories of Europe, where the early development work was carried out. The Sharp lab, in Oxford, England, has been working on three-dimensional viewing technology since 1992 and the new panel is based on similar technology, he says.
3-D screens work by separating images so the left and right eye see slightly different images. The new LCD does much the same thing but the direction in which the two images are sent is wider and means that, for example, a car navigation display can show a map when viewed from the driver's seat and a TV show when viewed from the passenger seat.
The two-image screen displays parts of each in alternate columns of pixels, so that the odd numbered columns contain one image, and the even-numbered columns the other. Thin black vertical lines printed on a sheet of plastic in front of the display obscure the even-numbered columns when viewed from one side, and the odd-numbered columns when viewed from the other, so the image seen depends on the viewing position.
If the same image is displayed on both odd and even columns, the screen resembles a normal LCD panel. While the vertical black lines can make the display appear darker than normal, Sharp says this can be overcome by using a more powerful backlight.
There is one drawback: as alternate columns are used for each image the resulting pictures have a lower resolution.

Product Plans?

Thursday's announcement didn't include details of any products that will use the panels, although Sharp says it is considering using the panels in its own products and also talking with other companies who may want to use the panels in their own equipment. Pricing details were also not disclosed except to say that such panels should cost less than double the price of a current panel.
At the same time, Sharp also announced a second panel based on a similar concept. This has a switching liquid crystal material that makes it possible to control the viewing angle of the screen. In normal use the display appears as a conventional screen but when switched it restricts the viewing angle so the image can be seen from more-or-less directly in front. From the sides people see a pattern that obscures the main image.
Sharp expects such displays, which will also go into production in July, to be popular in bank ATMs, cell phones, and laptop computers to prevent nearby people from reading what's on the screen.

Hollywood Walk of Fame star for Christina Aguilera (AP)

LOS ANGELES - It's no Mickey Mouse thing. Christina Aguilera has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

With some 1,000 fans jamming a Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk to watch, Aguilera gushed with delight Monday as the star was unveiled in front of the Hard Rock Cafe.

"Oh my goodness! How amazing it is to see all of your fabulous faces. This is a huge staple in my life. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart," said the 29-year-old pop diva, who was dressed in a white halter dress and leopard Loubatin heels.

Aguilera was just a child when she broke into show business nearly 20 years ago as a member of "The New Mickey Mouse Club," a show that also counted Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake as cast members.

On Monday, the singer-actress thanked her mother, Shelly Kearns, "for getting me around to all these auditions."

"My family has been very supportive," she said.

Aguilera won her first Grammy for best new artist in 1999. She has collected three more in the years since, including awards for best pop vocal in 2003, for "Beautiful," and in 2006 for "Ain't No Other Man."

Her star, the 2,432nd on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was unveiled nine days before Aguilera's first film, "Burlesque," is to reach theaters. Aguilera, who stars opposite Cher, plays a small-town girl raised in foster homes who chases her dreams to a Los Angeles burlesque club.

"Dream big, everybody!" she told her fans Monday.

 

Animated Oscar race to feature only 3 nominees (AP)

LOS ANGELES - Only three nominees will be in the running for best animated feature film at this year's Academy Awards.

Oscar organizers announced Monday that 15 animated features have been accepted for consideration, one short of the minimum 16 needed to expand the category to five nominees.

Among the films accepted for consideration are "Toy Story 3," which was the year's top-grossing movie, along with fellow hits "How to Train Your Dragon," "Despicable Me," "Shrek Forever After" and "Megamind."

Also in the running: "Alpha and Omega," "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore," "Idiots and Angels," "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," "My Dog Tulip" and "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue."

The final four of the academy's 15 accepted films still need to start a one-week run at a Los Angeles theater by Dec. 31 to qualify for this year's Oscars: "Tangled," "The Illusionist," "The Dreams of Jinsha" and "Summer Wars."

Nominations come out Jan. 25, with the Oscar ceremony following on Feb. 27.

 

Oral sex often a prelude to intercourse for teens

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Engaging in oral sex may be a gateway to intercourse for some teens, indirectly raising their risks of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, according to a new study.

California researchers found that only 9 percent of high school students who started having oral sex at the end of ninth grade had abstained from vaginal sex through the end of 11th grade.

Oral sex is the most common sexual activity among teens, with one in five high school freshmen and more than half of 15 to 19-year-olds reporting they've tried it.

Yet many sexual education programs address only abstinence from intercourse or safer sex practices, ignoring the role oral sex plays in teens' sexual behavior, senior researcher Dr. Bonnie L. Halpern-Felsher of the University of California, San Francisco, told Reuters Health in an e-mail.

"In a past publication, we showed that adolescents perceived that oral sex was more acceptable and more prevalent compared to intercourse," she said, "and that adolescents believe that oral sex carries less risk of health consequences -- sexually transmitted infections, HIV and pregnancy -- as well as social and emotional consequences than does vaginal sex."

While teens may be correct that oral sex is somewhat safer than intercourse, it doesn't come without risks, noted the researchers. And the act could carry indirect consequences as well, particularly if it leads teens to participate in more risky acts such as vaginal sex.

In the new study, Halpern-Felsher and Dr. Anna V. Song of the University of California, Merced, followed more than 600 students attending two northern California high schools from 2002 to 2005, in order to better understand the role oral sex has in the progression of teen sexual behavior.

The teens filled out questionnaires every six months between the start of ninth grade and the end of 11th grade.

More than 90 percent of ninth grade students said they had not yet tried vaginal sex, while 40 percent of 11th graders reported the same.

Over the course of the study, most teens first reported having intercourse within or after the same six-month period as their first oral sex experiences. Overwhelmingly they tried oral sex before trying intercourse rather than the other way around.

Further, the researchers found that initiating oral sex in ninth or 10th grade greatly increased the likelihood that a teen would engage in vaginal sex by end of 11th grade. In contrast, the kids who started sexual activity before ninth grade or after 10th grade had a much lower chance of progressing to intercourse by the end of high school. Teens who abstained from oral sex all the way through 11th grade had an 80 percent chance of also avoiding vaginal sex.

There were no differences in the progression of sexual behaviors between boys and girls, or among Hispanic, Asian and white teens, report the researchers in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

Halpern-Felsher and Song note that further research is needed to better clarify the relationship between oral and vaginal sex among teens. For example, it might be that early initiation of oral sex acts as a gateway to having intercourse for some individuals, while others may use the behavior to postpone vaginal sex.

"These findings highlight the need for healthcare providers, health educators and parents to include discussions of oral sex within a comprehensive sexual education curriculum," said Halpern-Felsher.

"Teens often do not consider oral sex to be sex," she added, "and thus might discount these messages as not applying or relevant to their own behaviors."

 

Michael Douglas Wins Lawsuit Against Ex Wife for 'Wall Street' Sequel Earnings

NEW YORK - A Manhattan court on Monday threw out a bid by Michael Douglas' ex-wife Diandra to get half of the money he is earning from reprising the role of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the New York Post reported.

Manhattan Supreme Court judge Matthew Cooper ruled that a New York court was not the proper venue for the suit without ruling on the merits of the case.

"He's thrilled," Douglas' lawyer, Marilyn Chinitz, told the Post about the star's reaction to the judge's decision. "This action should have never been brought in the first place." She added that Douglas "sounded great" when she called him about the news.

His ex-wife had sued, claiming that their 2000 divorce settlement entitled her to 50 percent of any money he receives from movies that he did during their two decades of marriage or related spinoffs.

Douglas' lawyer had argued that the new Wall Street movie was a sequel and not a spinoff.

Diandra Douglas can now re-launch the lawsuit in California, where the couple divorced, or appeal Cooper's decision. Her lawyer, Nancy Chemtob, said: "We respectfully disagree with the decision, and intend to appeal. Both parties are residents of New York, and the case should be decided here."

The Wall Street sequel made nearly $52 million at the box office.

 

One in four Bali prostitutes 'HIV-positive'

AKARTA (AFP) – The number of known HIV/AIDS cases on the Indonesian resort island of Bali is soaring, with one in four prostitutes there reported to be HIV-positive, an official said Sunday.

A new report by the National AIDS Commission said the number of HIV infections on the island had jumped almost 19 percent to 3,778 this year, with another 597 cases.

"The figure is only the tip of the iceberg... we estimate the actual number of cases to hover around 7,000 as many cases were unreported," said the commission's spokesman in Bali, Nyoman Mangku Karmaya.

"Many people are reluctant to go for medical check-ups as there's still a stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS," he told AFP.

The number of cases this year has risen sharply from 1,253 cases in 2006 and 590 in 2004.

Karmaya said about 25 percent of the estimated 8,800 sex workers in Bali were infected with HIV this year, up from 23 percent last year, adding that the virus was transmitted from clients who refused to use condoms.

While describing the trend as "worrying", he said most tourists visit Bali for the culture and scenery, not for sex.

"There might be some who get acquainted with the sex workers, but they're aware about using condoms," Karmaya said.

However, he warned that there could be more than 840 new infections in Bali every year if the spread is not contained.

"We will increase our efforts to provide more information and educate the sex workers as well as the public. We'll also intensify campaigns promoting condom use," he added.

More than a million tourists visit Bali every year to enjoy its surf beaches, nightlife and Hindu culture.

 

Green Day Concert Film Marks First European Simultaneous Theatrical Delivery to Cinemas

LONDON -- A concert movie from U.S. indie rock combo Green Day pogoed into movie theaters across Europe via satellite in what is claimed to be an European first for simultaneous digital satellite delivery.

The theatrical release of Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown, marks the first time cinemas have been able to receive a film inmultiple countries simultaneously without the need for the transportation of a physical print, according to digital distributor Arts Alliance Media (AAM). The movie is being beamed out in conjunction with Cinema Events, MTV World Stage, Warner Bros. Records and Reprise Records.

AAM, in collaboration with partners Arqiva Broadcast & Media, transmitted the feature to over 50 sites in the U.K. and France, including theaters in the U.K.’s second largest chain Cineworld.

“Being able to transmit films by satellite is not only technologically exciting, it’s also tremendously efficient, and we’re thrilled to be the first to achieve this milestone. Being able to deliver the film DCP (Digital Cinema Package) to the cinema for it to be available for every screen without the need of a physical DCP hard drive saves both the distributor and the exhibitor time, effort and money,” AAM content and distributor services director Victoria Galloway said.

AAM first used satellite technology to transmit features two years ago, when the Palme D’Or winning film Entre Les Murs was sent to CGR Villenave d’Ornon in Bordeaux as a test transmission.

The release of Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown marks the widest release to date in Europe to be sent to cinemas in this way.

Recorded by MTV at the OlympiaHalle in Munich, Germany during the band’s 21st Century Breakdown tour, the movie features hits including “21st Century Breakdown,” “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams” and “American Idiot.”

 

Gibson Out! Clinton In?! 'Hangover 2' Adds Former President To Cast?

 

Mel Gibson is out - but former President Bill Clinton is reportedly in the cast of "The Hangover 2."

According to People and TMZ (which first reported the news), Clinton shot a cameo for the comedy on Saturday in Bangkok, Thailand, where the sequel is currently filming.

PLAY IT NOW: Liam Neeson Talks ‘Hangover 2’ Cameo: Did He Speak With Mel Gibson?

People reported that the former President will play himself in the movie. Clinton was in Bangkok over the weekend speaking about clean energy.

TMZ reported that extra security was added to the movie's set to accommodate Clinton's presence.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Access’ Top 10 Movies We Can’t Wait For In 2011!

"The Hangover 2" is directed by Todd Philips and stars original cast members Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha. Liam Neeson also shot a cameo, reportedly playing the role of a tattoo artist; a role which Gibson was originally slated to play.

"The Hangover 2" is scheduled to hit theaters on May 26, 2011.

Scientists propose one-way trips to Mars

Scientists propose one-way trips to Mars

PULLMAN, Wash. – It's always cheaper to fly one way, even to Mars. Two scientists are suggesting that colonization of the red planet could happen faster and more economically if astronauts behaved like the first settlers to come to North America — not expecting to go home.

"The main point is to get Mars exploration moving," said Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a Washington State University professor who co-authored an article that seriously proposes what sounds like a preposterous idea.

At least one moon-walking astronaut was not impressed.

"This is premature," Ed Mitchell of Apollo 14 wrote in an e-mail. "We aren't ready for this yet."

Also cool to the idea was NASA. President Barack Obama has already outlined a plan to go to Mars by the mid-2030s. But he never suggested these space travelers wouldn't come home.

"We want our people back," NASA spokesman Michael Braukus said.

The article titled "To Boldly Go" appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Cosmology, which featured more than 50 articles and essays on Mars exploration.

Schulze-Makuch and Paul Davies, a physicist at Arizona State University, argue that humans must begin colonizing another planet as a hedge against a catastrophe on Earth. They believe the one-way trips could start in two decades.

"You would send a little bit older folks, around 60 or something like that," Schulze-Makuch said, bringing to mind the aging heroes who saved the day in the movie "Space Cowboys."

That's because the mission would undoubtedly reduce a person's lifespan, from a lack of medical care and exposure to radiation. Radiation could also damage reproductive organs, so sending people of childbearing age is not a good idea, Schulze-Makuch said.

Mars is a six-month flight away, possesses surface gravity, an atmosphere, abundant water, carbon dioxide and essential minerals. The two scientists propose the missions begin with two two-person teams, in separate ships that would serve as living quarters on the planet. More colonists and regular supply ships would follow.

The technology already exists, or is within easy reach, they wrote. By not taking the extra fuel and provisions necessary for a return trip to Earth, the mission could cut costs by 80 percent.

Davies and Schulze-Makuch say it's important to realize they're not proposing a "suicide mission."

"The astronauts would go to Mars with the intention of staying for the rest of their lives, as trailblazers of a permanent human Mars colony," they wrote.

They acknowledge the proposal is a tough sell for NASA, with its focus on safety, and suggest the private sector might be more fertile ground.

"What we would need is an eccentric billionaire," Schulze-Makuch said. "There are people who have the money to put this into reality."

Indeed, British tycoon Richard Branson, PayPal founder Elon Musk and Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos are among the rich who are already involved in private space ventures.

Isolated humans in space have long been a staple of science fiction movies, from "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" and "2001: A Space Odyssey" to a flurry of recent movies such as "Solaris" and "Moon." In many of the plots, lonely astronauts fall victim to computers, madness or aliens.

Psychological profiling and training of the astronauts, plus constant communication with Earth, would reduce debilitating mental strains, the two scientists said.

"They would in fact feel more connected to home than the early Antarctic explorers," they write in their article.

The mental health of humans in space has been extensively studied. Depression can set in, people become irritated with each other, and sleep can be disrupted, studies have found. The knowledge that there is no quick return to Earth would likely make that worse.

Davies' research focuses on cosmology, quantum field theory and astrobiology. He was an early proponent of the theory that life on Earth may have come from Mars in rocks ejected by asteroid and comet impacts.

Schulze-Makuch is the author of two books about life on other planets. His focus is eco-hydrogeology, which includes the study of water on planets and moons of our solar system and how those could serve as a potential habitat for microbial life.

Both men contend that Mars has abundant resources to help the colonists become self-sufficient over time. They write that the colony should be next to a large ice cave, to provide shelter from radiation, plus water and oxygen.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm from NASA, Schulze-Makuch believes many people would be willing to make the sacrifice.

He and Davies believe a Mars base would offer humanity a "lifeboat" if Earth became uninhabitable.

"We are on a vulnerable planet," Schulze-Makuch said. "Asteroid impact can threaten us, or a supernova explosion. If we want to survive as a species, we have to expand into the solar system and likely beyond."

Stylist's day off?!

Stylist's day off?!

 

 

 

Um ... what is that?! Sometimes even the beautiful people look like they got dressed in the dark. From bad '80s fashion to tacky tie dye travesties, take a look at the Hollywood stars who must have given their stylist the day off ...

Leighton Meester says she loves fashion, but this bizarre crocheted dress (with a gold breastplate to boot) doesn't deserve to sully the good name fashion. But, sadly, this isn't the first time the 'Gossip Girl' star has committed a style no-no ...

NYPD officer Andre Menzies killed by wrong-way drunk driver on way home from work

NYPD officer Andre Menzies killed by wrong-way drunk driver on way home from work

 

 

 

An off-duty NYPD cop was killed early Monday when his car was struck by a boozed-up Brooklyn man driving the wrong way on Long Island, authorities said.

Officer Andre Menzies, 35, was heading home from work on the Northern State Parkway in Suffolk County about 12:05 a.m. when Michael Bowens - heading west in the eastbound lanes - barreled into him, authorities said.

"It was a head-on crash," Tom Magno, assistant chief of the Dix Hills Volunteer Fire Department, told the Daily News. "He was probably killed on impact."

Magno said New York State troopers got a report of a wrong-way motorist on the parkway, but could not track him down before tragedy struck.

Menzies, is a nine-year NYPD veteran, was assigned to the Housing Bureau in Queens. He lived in North Babylon, L.I., with his wife and two children, ages 9 and 7.

"On behalf of the entire Police Department, I express my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Police Officer Andre Menzies," NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. "His young children are left without a father as a result of a senseless accident."

Bowens, 50, of Brownsville, was busted for driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, authorities said. He flunked a field sobriety test, Mayor Bloomberg said at City Hall.

Bowens, who was operating a Ford van, was treated at an area hospital for minor injuries.

"He had very few scratches," Magno said.

The deadly crash occurred in Dix Hills, just east of the exit for Wolf Hill Rd. State police are investigating where Bowens got onto the highway.

Menzies was the second NYPD officer killed in a traffic accident on Long Island in as many weeks.

Officer Fred Barraza, 33, died early Thursday when he lost control of his car and slammed into a tree in Westbury, police said. His passenger, Jose Valdevenito, 35, was ejected from the car and suffered serious injuries.

Bloomberg railed against the dangers of drunken driving, and also referred to the City Island, Bronx, crash on  Saturday night that seriously injured Emily Sexton, 17.

Emily was standing on a sidewalk about a block from her home when cops say a liquored-up Florida man pulled a U-turn in a pickup truck and jumped the curb, slamming into her and pinning her against a building.

"This is just another tragic reminder of the deadly danger of drunk driving," Bloomberg said.

"So make no mistake about it: We are determined to stop drunk driving now - before the holiday season gets into full swing," Bloomberg added. "We don't want any more of this kind of carnage."

Funny Animal Video " A Horse On A Backseat Car "

When a Man Takes His Best Friend In A Ride !!

7 Celebrity Movie Deaths We Enjoyed Way Too Much

7 Celebrity Movie Deaths We Enjoyed Way Too Much

The only thing America loves more than an underdog success story is seeing a powerful, amoral asshole get his comeuppance. This is especially true for celebrities. The success of magazines like People, Star and Us Weekly isn't predicated on how interested humanity is in Blake Lively's new dress, the issues sell because dental patients and grocery shoppers want to see if Blake Lively has caught on fire yet. Watching famous people fall (particularly into fires) is a special indulgence for most of us, and the gratification only intensifies when the star never deserved such a high perch in the first place.

Sweet Recompense

I aim to capitalize on this hatred. I've collected footage from seven films in which unacceptably famous celebrities play characters that die horrific deaths. Even with an audience willing to grant the suspension of disbelief, these stars still can't help but drag their big, stupid personalities into every role, and humanity collectively cheers when a killer bleeds it out of them.

#7 David Caruso-King of New York

I'm still holding out hope that David Caruso is playing an elaborate hoax on the world. Somewhere between NYPD Blue and CSI Miami he was clearing out some old things and decided he didn't need functional social etiquette anymore. He has lost all context for how regular people interact with one another, which is a crucial skill set for actors. Perhaps in a very literal attempt at avoid insulting co-stars, he refuses to talk down to anyone; instead he stoops as low as he possibly can and then looks up like a dog that just defecated in the study again. It's especially absurd to watch when he has to talk to children.

"Unlike you and me, not every murder case...black and white."

Despite the hail of insults and fast food I'm assuming he's pelted with daily, David Caruso maintains remarkably high self esteem. It's nice to see him knocked down a peg once in awhile, or more literally, shot in the face.

#6 Paris Hilton-House of Wax

When humanity turned against Paris Hilton it wasn't prepared for her to live so long. There was an early and hard sprint of hatred with no consideration for how exhausting it would be in the later laps. In recent years she hasn't done anything to redeem herself but it's almost too tiring to offer her any more attention.

"I'm serious, Paris. Get the f*ck off of my lawn. This is getting old."

Still, I'm doing it. Quiet hatred is still hatred. Each time she climbed out of a car vagina first, or answered her phone during sex, or wept like a child in the back of a cop car, everyone cried "rehab!" but only for the shame it would bring her, no one actually wanted to see Paris Hilton get better. On the inside, the world was whispering a prayer that that someone throw a stake through her face instead. House of Wax answered that prayer.

#5 Steven Seagal-Executive Decision 

Actor-performer is a generous term for Steven Seagal, it feels more applicable to call him a pretend-Native-American-who-does-martial-arts-while-cameras-roll. He has acted in over 35 films and stubbornly refuses to get any better at it. Yet, even with his illustrious career making movies and his labored musical persuits, Steven Seagal still finds time for love. He made headlines this year when his assistant accused him keeping and abusing sex slaves. The assaults described, while horrific, were considerably more lumbering and awkward than anyone anticipated from an accomplished martial artist. Then again, there are few elegant ways to choke a sex slave. So, on the scale of human decency, Steven Seagal sits squarely behind the chimpanzee that ripped that woman's face off a while back.

"Damnit ape, you're on deadly ground."

What his death in Executive Decision lacks blood or dying gasps, it makes up for in hilarious prematurity. He dies in the first half of the movie after getting sucked out of a jet midair. He doesn't get to roundhouse anyone or dole out any Native American wisdom; leaving him only with acting to justify his presence onscreen, something he presumably hates because he only does it while wincing. His death is particularly gratifying to watch given the back story of the film's production. Steven Seagal didn't want his character to die, concerned his fan(s) wouldn't like it. Eventually he was forced to do the scene as it was written with the studio threatening a breach of contract lawsuit. Knowing that his death was also a stab at his ego is its own special reward.

#4 Tara Reid-Urban Legend

There's a scene in The Shining when Jack Nicholson kisses a beautiful naked woman in a bathroom before her body decays instantly and she becomes a bloated, festering corpse in his arms. I imagine that's how a lot of teenage boys felt about Tara Reid while using her as masturbation fodder in the late 90s. 

You know, I think I'll just do my homework.

Not even meth can destroy a human body as quickly as Tara Reid has destroyed hers. Like a walking D.A.R.E. scare tactic, she is the end result of a life of over-stimulation, except she achieved it in only a few years. Her tireless dedication to impulse earned her the reality show Taradise for a year before audiences lost interest in watching a pie-wagon shaped drunk chicken fight in a pool over and over.

Since the end of her show, she slipped off the radar of intense celebrity hatred. Still, the appeal of watching her hacked to death by an axe still holds up after all this time.

Adsense – The Powerful Passive Income Generator

Adsense – The Powerful Passive Income Generator

Webmasters have a revolutionary new method of collecting income from their websites.
Whereas in the past advertising revenue was reserved for those sites with large a coming and going of visitors, now even teenagers are making a quick buck with their online hobby blogs. People place adsense on their online family photo albums, their blogs and their business sites. The minimum you would get, even with a small amount of traffic, is for adsense to pay for your hosting costs.

Adsense revolutionized the world of paid advertising; banner advertising is based on the number of visitors you attract to your site, so the number of “banner impressions” dictate the revenue you receive. Google Adsense is quite different; it is the number of visitors that actually click on the advertising that determine how much you earn.

There is also a great disparity between payouts; because advertisers bid up the price for certain keywords, some ads pay more than others. As such, a site with few visitors but expensive keywords in their google ads can potentially still pull in a hefty payout.

Google really has taken the web by storm; attracted to passive income, more and more people are seriously capitalizing on their Google adsense advertising. Some of the highest earners manage to attract enough visitors to make a four figure monthly income, just from using adsense alone! This is not one of those get-rich-quick schemes and Google’s adsense success is largely thanks to the fact that Google already enjoyed a fantastic reputation before introducing the program. They are a publicly traded company with physical headquarters. This, and the fact that anyone can apply to use adsense for free, has caused millions of people to sign up. For google it was a smart move, because now they extend their presence to countless websites and generate millions of dollars in advertising revenue. People were never reluctant to sign up, because the program is free. Google benefits by more people using adsense, so offering it for free was the best thing they could do.

One of the driving forced behind the program are its relevance to each and every page on a website; the program picks up keywords appearing in the website copy and automatically displays relevant ads. This increases the chances of people clicking through, and the webmaster collecting more revenue.

People are leveraging their income by operating several websites and attempting to attract as many targeted visitors as possible; in many instances we can observe that people work hard at a site, then once it is established they can largely leave it alone, yet still collect significant checks.

A major concern for entrepreneurs was the danger of a competitors ads showing up on their site; thanks to the adsense feature where it only displays relevant advertising. However this problem was solved by offering webmasters the option of filtering out unwanted ads. They can submit the URL of the competing site in their account, and any ads from the website will be blocked.

Google recently came out with a new feature: small targeted keywords based on the site’s content are displayed; then as people click on those, a page opens showing a variety of pay-per-click ads based on that keyword. This gives webmasters the chance of displaying more advertising in less space.

Adsense also adds creditability to your website; the more focused the content, the better the ads will be and this encourages people to built high quality websites. These make the net a better place and generally provide a free service; site owners can afford to share their expertise or passions because they can receive indirect revenue’s. The visitor does not pay for the information; instead the advertisers do, making the website’s existence possible in the first place.

It is no surprise Google adsense is the most widely used form of advertising; they have created a program that is beneficial to both advertisers and users with their “no click no pay” mechanism, or more popularly called “pay-per-click”. Advertisers do not pay for ads that are not drawing visitors, and website owners are paid more for each click than they would if the system were based on the number of people viewing the ads, instead of clicking on them.

All in all Google adsense has developed itself into a powerful tool, used by large corporations and the kid next door. They have truly revolutionized how the web thinks about advertising and made the process more profitable for site owners, while less costly for advertisers.

Treble your Adsense Income in 60 Minutes

Treble your Adsense Income in 60 Minutes

Google's Adsense is one of the most powerful weapons in website publisher's arsenal. It enables you to monetize your sites easily and if used properly can generate a very healthy income. However, if you're not using it properly and maximizing the income you squeeze from it, your leaving money on the table – something we all hate doing.

Boosting your return from Adsense can be done very easily and quickly, and you'll be amazed by the results.

I ran Adsense on my sites for over a year before I discovered these techniques, and like many people, I though I was doing pretty well. My clickthrough rates and CPM figures were very healthy, and I didn't honestly think that they could be improved a great deal. How wrong I was. Immediately after I implemented a few quick changes my clickthrough rate more than doubled, and by doing some fine tuning I manged to get nearly three times as many people to click on the ads as had been previously doing so.

The first technique is one that was 'discovered' by the amazingly helpful Debs, on SiteSell's SBI! forums. When I read it originally, it made sense and I decided to goive it a go, but I wasn't prepared for the immediate impact it would have on my income. It involves making only a few simple changes to the format and positioning of your Adsense ads.

Firstly, forget about using banners or skyscrapers. These ad formats are almost universally ignored by surfers. Why? Because we've all been conditioned to recognise a skyscraper or banner as an advert and as these adverts are rarely of any interest, we ignore them. What's needed is a way of integrating Adsense ads into the editorial on your site as seamlessly as possible. To do this you need to do three things:

1. Use the 250 x 250 rectangle format 2. Make the background color of the ad the same as the background color of your site, or as close to it as possible. 3. Make the ads borderless by setting the border color to be the same as the background color of the ad.

These changes can be made by logging into your Adsense account and creating a custom format. Just select the 250 x 250 ad format, and create a custom color palette. Use the color picker to pick the coor you want. The Javascript is automatically generated at the foot of the page, ready for you to copy and paste into the pages on your site.

Now, you need to position your ads where surfers are most likely to click on them. Research using retina scanning technology has shown that the place that surfers tend to look at first and most often is the top left. I don't know the reasons for this, perhaps it's because that's where we're used to seeing the most useful search engine results (at the top of the rankings) and search engines are the sites we most often visit, so we automatically look at the same place on other sites.

Whatever the reasoning, as soon as I made the above changes to my Adsense ads, clickthrough rates doubled, immediately.

The second technique is much newer and one which is entirely based on my own experience. Google has recently added a new type of Adsense format, called Adlinks. This displays a series of links on your page in the same style of Ad unit as regular Adsense ads. When a user clicks a link they are taken to a page of adverts that resembles regular Google search results. As a publisher, you are paid every time a user clicks one of those ads.

Adventurous soul that I am, I jumped in with both feet and started to trial Adlinks on my most visited pages as soon as it was launched. I'm using the four links in a square box format, positioned top left of my page content. After a few weeks of running Adlinks alongside regular Adsense ads, it's clear that the return on Adlinks is about a fifth to a quarter higher than regular ads. There's no clear reason for this but one explanation may lie in the fact that clicking on an Adlink takes the user to page of 'results'. When a user clicks on one of these, you are paid for the click. If the user finds what they want, great, if not, it seems that they hit the Back button on their browser and try again, just as you would for normal search engine results. Then they click on another result, and you get paid again. So it's possible to be paid more than once from the same Adlink click. Now, this reasoning is speculative, but it does make perfect sense in the light of my Adlinks results.

Finally, Adsense has some excellent tracking statistics that allow you to track your results across a number of sites on a site by site, page by page, or just about any other basis you choose. This is a very powerful tool and you should use it to find out which ads are performing best for you and fine tune your Adsense and Adlink ads accordingly.

So you see, by spending an hour or so of your time making a few adjustments to the Adsense ads on your sites, you can very quickly treble your Adsense income. Give it a go, you'll be amazed by the results.

Adlink Success - A New Advertising Style From Google Adsense

Adlink Success - A New Advertising Style From Google Adsense

There is a new advertising style from Google Adsense that is available in your Adsense panel, it is called “Google Ad Links.”

This new ad system presents a list of 4 or 5 vertical links(you can pick either 4 or 5 and Google will supply the actually links) to your site visitors, when the visitors click on one of the targeted contextual words it displays a results page from Google listing ten Adwords advertiser’s ads for this related topic.

Here is what Google says Adlinks are: “What are Ad Links by Google?

Ad Links are a new form of text advertising that we're offering to our AdSense publishers. Using the same contextual targeting algorithm that targets Google ads to your content pages, Ad Links units display a list of topics that are relevant to your page. Each topic, when clicked, brings the user to a page of related advertisements.

The result is advertisements that are closely targeted to the interests of your users. By selecting the topics through interaction with the ad unit, users are presented with useful information in the form of related advertisements. Their direct involvement with the evolution of the ad unit guarantees an interest in the ads that are presented.”

Positive Aspects of Adlinks:

They allow you to blend this in with sections of your links which will get more visitors to click on them, inevitably increase your Adsense revenue.

The Adlinks ads display 10 ad results when clicked without cluttering you page.

Google’s rules allow you to place three Adsense code block on a website. If you are doing this near say a 500 word article it can distract the visitor from viewing the article. With Adlinks you can still display 1 block of normal Adsense code and the Adlinks block and it keeps your page relatively nice looking while still giving you revenue potential.

Negative Aspects of Adlinks:

Adlinks requires your visitors to make two clicks. One on the original Adlinks block and one when they view the Adlink results. As any marketer knows the more actions you need a visitor to take the less the response rate.

Where are the best places to display Adlinks ads?

The best place to display them are within your navigation menu. Try to make them blend in as best as possible.

Another great place to put them is at the end of an article suggesting an interested reader view these resources. When doing this the reader is very targeted since they red your whole article and if they are likely leaving your website, why not let them leave through Adlinks and make some money?

Are Adlink ads as effective as the normal ad blocks?

Well some have seen positive results while other have not. Personally I am going to test it some more to see what kind of results and make my decision then.

When AdSense Goes AWOL

When AdSense Goes AWOL

No matter how hard you work to optimize your page, there are going to be times when Google just can’t figure out which AdSense ad to deliver, so it defaults to delivering a PSA (Public Service Ad) instead.

Now I don’t have any problem with charities, but I give to the ones that I choose to give to. Since I don’t have a non-profit license of my own, the goal of my web site is to make money and I depend on Google AdSense revenues to help pay my bills. Someday I want it to fund my retirement as well, so I can’t afford to have non-revenue PSAs showing up on my site.

The good news is the Google understands the human’s basic greedy nature, so it provides us with an alternative to donating our precious web real estate to charitable organizations. That alternative is known as AdSense Alternate Ads.

As strange as it seems, this feature allows you to let Google competitors into your site. Don’t worry, Google is allowing it with their eyes wide open. They even tell you how to set up the alternate ad code to work on your site and they let you do it right in your AdSense control panel.

Once you add the code to your site, Google will pull ads from whatever service you defined rather than serve a PSA. Google will do that even if those ads are coming from Yahoo, or Overture, or your grandmother’s attic.

This goes a long way towards ensuring that you never lose an opportunity to monetize a visitor’s time spent on your site. How nice it is of Google to gives us that opportunity.

Who do you choose?

Ah, now that’s the big question. Most people head straight for Overture or Yahoo, but there are other fish in the sea worth considering. In fact, some of these fish make their living almost solely by serving replacement ads for PSAs. Run this search (http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official_s&hl=en&q=google+psa+alternatives&btnG=Google+Search) on Google and you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.

Why bother?

Sometimes Google doesn’t have any ads in its inventory to match your site’s keywords. Sometimes Google gets confused and can’t figure out which ads to deliver, so it grabs a PSA ad.

Google also has a not-so-readily-available list of what it calls “stop words”. When the Google AdSense spiders detect these words on your page they automatically trigger PSAs. Some of the more commonly known words include severe profanity (think: George Carlin’s 7 Words You Can’t Say on T.V), as well as other words which may very be quite legitimate for your site such as pharmaceutical, drugs, death, dying, abortion, and the list goes on and on. At least we THINK that it goes on and on but no one really knows for sure outside of a trusted few Google staffers.

But no matter what the reason, you don’t want non-revenue ads running on your site. There’s no excuse when Google makes it so easy to keep the revenue flowing.

Google AdSense and Blogs

Google AdSense and Blogs

If you have a blog, or are thinking about starting a blog, then you are definitely going to want to read this article. It’s all about how to line your pockets with money that’s just waiting to be made without working much harder than you already are.

No only are blogs the hottest thing on the ‘net right now, but they are custom-made for Google’s AdSense program. Why? It’s simple. Blogs represent constantly changing and fresh content to Google’s search engine spiders. Feeding fresh content to those little spiders is just like tossing raw meat to a tiger. They just gobble it up. The more pages of your blog that get indexed, the more traffic you get. And the more traffic you get, the more exposure your AdSense ads get. Are you beginning to see where I’m heading here?

It’s not just Google that loves new content, all of the major engines do. In fact, some web-savvy bloggers are testing Google ads on one page and Overture ads on the other. It doesn’t take too long to see which ads are doing the best when you have nearly side-by-side comparison statistics to look at. Just don’t make the mistake of putting Google and Overture ads on the same page together. While they won’t kill each other like a pair of Siamese fighting fish in the same bowel will, you will be violating both sites’ Terms of Service, and it isn’t worth killing the goose (geese) that laid the golden egg.

It’s a snap to set up Google AdSense ads on your blog. Everything you need to know is right inside of the Google control panel. What’s not so easy is figuring out what ads are going to appear on each page. Since Google targets your key words, and your blog articles could possible wander towards any subject, you never know what you’re going to get.

Well, “never” is a strong word because there actually IS a way to pre-test your blog’s ads before you post your newest edition. Here’s what you do:

• Write your blog article like you normally would
• Plug in your AdSense code and then post your newest page to a sub directory that’s not part of your blog.
• Click refresh a few times until Google wakes up and starts sending ads.
• If you don’t like what you see then fine-tune the article until you see the types of ads that you’re looking for.

With some ads paying as much as $5 per click or more, I’d certainly spend an extra 30 minutes or so tweaking my blog. That’s for sure.

If you’re working hard to get your blog in front of visiting eyeballs, then it doesn’t make any sense at NOT to be using Google AdSense to draw every penny out of your site that’s possible. OK, that’s the end of the article. Now get busy tweaking your blog and checking your ads. You’ve got money waiting to be made!