Rob Steele

2006-09-17T22:20:00.000-04:00

New website

2006-03-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

theBobbySteele.com Check out my new deals !!

Adobe Completes Acquisition of Macromedia

2005-12-07T11:43:00.000-05:00

Combined company to deliver software platform that redefines how people engage with digital information
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 5, 2005 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the completion of its acquisition of Macromedia, Inc. The transaction was finalized on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2005. As a result of the acquisition, Macromedia common stock is no longer being traded and shares of Macromedia common stock were converted into the right to receive 1.38 shares of Adobe common stock.

The combination of Adobe and Macromedia creates one of the world's largest, most innovative and diversified software companies. The acquisition brings together some of the industry's strongest software brands and most ubiquitous technologies for creating, managing and delivering compelling content and experiences across multiple operating systems, devices and media. The move also accelerates Adobe's strategic initiative to advance a powerful software platform, based on PDF and Macromedia® Flash® technologies, that scales from mobile devices to high-end servers.

"The explosion of digital content, combined with the accelerating proliferation of mobile phones, wireless devices and the growth of broadband are transforming the way the world engages with information," said Bruce Chizen, chief executive officer of Adobe. "Adobe and Macromedia are at the center of this trend, and together we will build on our combined heritage to redefine the way people and businesses communicate."

This week the company will begin executing the planned integration of the two companies' operations, networks and customer care organizations to ensure a smooth transition and immediate value for customers, partners and investors. As part of the initial integration of product portfolios, Adobe today announced three new product bundles that combine the design and publishing power of Adobe® Creative Suite 2 and Adobe video tools with the interactive strength of just-released Macromedia Flash Professional 8 and Macromedia Studio 8 software (see separate press release).

Management of the combined company includes executives and board members from both organizations. Bruce Chizen continues as chief executive officer and Shantanu Narayen remains as president and chief operating officer. Macromedia's Stephen Elop has joined Adobe as president of worldwide field operations. Murray Demo remains executive vice president and chief financial officer. Dr. John Warnock and Dr. Charles Geschke remain co-chairmen of the Board of Directors of the combined company and Macromedia's chairman, Rob Burgess, has joined the Adobe Board.

XBOX 360 Out of control !!!

2005-11-23T11:12:00.000-05:00

With the super out of control prices for XBOX 360 on ebay, I can only imagine how bad it will be for the PS3. Playstation 3 Preorders.

Ever Wondered How Ebay works ?

2005-11-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

In 2004, a South Florida woman listed a partially eaten grilled cheese sandwich on eBay. The sandwich sold to the highest bidder for $28,000. She believed, and showed in the auction's photos, that the sandwich had the image of the Virgin Mary in one of its slices of bread.

eBay is a global phenomenon -- the world's largest garage sale, online shopping center, car dealer and auction site with 147 million registered users in 30 countries as of March 2005. You can find everything from encyclopedias to olives to snow boots to stereos to airplanes for sale. And if you stumble on it before the eBay overseers do, you might even find a human kidney or a virtual date.

In this article, we'll find out how you can buy and sell items on eBay, examine how the bidding process works, look at ways you can protect yourself from auction fraud and take a look at the business and technology of the largest auction site in the world.

eBay Basics
eBay is, first and foremost, an online auction site. You can browse through categories like Antiques, Boats, Clothing & Accessories, Computers & Networking, Jewelry & Watches and Video Games. When you see something you like, you click on the auction title and view the details, including pictures, descriptions, payment options and shipping information. If you have a pretty good idea of what you're looking for, you can search for it using simple keywords, such as "Apple iPod," or using more advanced search criteria that helps narrow the results, such as keywords to exclude, item location, price range and accepted payment methods.

Search results for keyword "Apple iPod"

If you place a bid on an item, you enter a contractual agreement to buy it if you win the auction. All auctions have minimum starting bids, and some have a reserve price -- a secret minimum amount the seller is willing to accept for the item. If the bidding doesn't reach the reserve price, the seller doesn't have to part with the item. In addition to auctions, you can find tons of fixed-price items on eBay that make shopping there just like shopping at any other online marketplace. You see what you like, you buy it, you pay for it and you wait for it to arrive at your door. There are also auction listings that give you the option to "Buy it Now" for a price that's typically higher than the auction's start price. If you choose to buy the item for the "Buy it Now" price instead of bidding on it, the auction ends instantly and the item is yours.

In this auction, the Starting Price is $8.99,
and the Buy it Now price is $9.99.

You can pay for an item on eBay using a variety of methods, including money order, cashier's check, cash, personal check and electronic payment services like PayPal and BidPay. It's up to each seller to decide which payment methods he'll accept. PayPal is the easiest way to buy something on eBay, because eBay owns PayPal. The PayPal payment process is already built into any auction listing on eBay.

Just as you can buy almost anything on eBay, you can sell almost anything, too. Using a simple listing process, you can put all of the junk in your basement up for sale to the highest bidder. Lots of people sell their old laptop once they've upgraded, the clothing their kids have grown out of or the brand new couch they bought on final sale without realizing it wouldn't fit in their den. Some people even make a business of eBay by opening their own "eBay store." When you sell an item on eBay, you pay listing fees and turn over a percentage of the final sale price to eBay.

Once you register (for free) with eBay, you can access all of your eBay buying and selling activities in a single location called "My eBay."

You can view all of your eBay activities in My eBay.

eBay is a massive operation with something like 4.8 million new listings per day. Before we learn more about how to buy and sell on eBay, let's find out how eBay manages this level of activity.

eBay Infrastructure
Speaking the Language
Most of the code that makes up eBay is Java. See How Java Works to learn about this programming language.

A series of service disruptions in 1999 caused real problems for eBay's business. Over the course of three days, overloaded servers intermittently shut down, meaning users couldn't check auctions, place bids or complete transactions during that period. Buyers, sellers and eBay were very unhappy, and a complete restructuring of eBay's technological architecture followed.

In 1999, eBay was one massive database server and a few separate systems running the search function. In 2005, eBay is about 200 database servers and 20 search servers.

The architecture is a type of grid computing that allows for both error correction and growth. With the exception of the search function, everything about eBay can actually run on approximately 50 servers -- Web servers, application servers and data-storage systems. Each server has between six and 12 microprocessors. These 50 or so servers run separately, but they talk to each other, so everybody knows if there is a problem somewhere. eBay can simply add servers to the grid as the need arises.

While the majority of the site can run on 50 servers, eBay has four times that. The 200 servers are housed in sets of 50 in four locations, all in the United States. When you're using eBay, you may be talking to any one of those locations at any time -- they all store the same data. If one of the systems crashes, there are three others to pick up the slack.

When you're on the eBay Web site and you click on a listing for a Persian rug, your computer talks to Web servers, which talk to application servers, which pull data from storage servers so you can find out what the latest bid price is and how much time is left in the auction. eBay has local partners in many countries who deliver eBay's static data to cut down on download time, and there are monitoring systems in 45 cities around the world that constantly scan for problems in the network.

This infrastructure lets millions of people search for, buy and sell items simultaneously. On the user end, it all works seamlessly. Let's try it out.

Using eBay: Browsing for Items
The best way to learn how to use eBay is to dive right in. What do you feel like looking for today? A surround-sound system? A mink stole? HowStuffWorks could use a Homer Simpson Pez dispenser. Let's look for one.

There are two ways to go about finding a Homer Simpson Pez dispenser. We can browse, or we can search. Let's start by browsing -- it's the slower, more round-about method, but it's a good way to get a feel for eBay's category system. The most popular categories are listed right on the eBay homepage, on the left side.

Pez dispensers are typically considered collector items, so the Collectibles category is a good place to start browsing. If we click on the Collectibles link on the homepage, we end up at a page listing all of the Collectibles subcategories.

At the very bottom of the page, you can see that there's actually a subcategory called Pez, Keychains, Promo Glasses, and within that subcategory is another subcategory called Pez.

That seems like a good fit. Clicking on "Pez" brings us to an auction-level page:

On this page, you can see that:

There are 3,355 listings in the Pez category.
The listings are currently sorted by time, with the newest auctions first.
We can search within Pez listings.
Since we're looking specifically for a Homer Simpson Pez dispenser, "Homer Simpson" is a good term to use to narrow the results. If we enter "Homer Simpson" in the search box directly above the listing, it's only going to search the Pez subcategory, not all of eBay (although you can search all of eBay using a dropdown menu in the category field). Here's what comes up:

Thirteen items isn't bad, but we might be able to find more. When you enter a search term and there are fewer results than you'd like, the first thing to do is go back up to the search field and check the box for "Search title and description." The first search we did checked only the auction titles for the term "Homer Simpson." Searching only titles is a good way to narrow your results if you know exactly what you're looking for and what most people call it -- for example, if you're looking for a GPS receiver, it's a pretty safe bet that anyone selling one would put "GPS" in the title. On the other hand, someone selling a Homer Simpson Pez dispenser might not put "Homer Simpson" in the title -- she might put "Simpsons" or only "Homer." So now we're going to search entire auction descriptions, which typically returns more results:

We now have 23 listings to look through. But there is a much faster way to get to the place we've ended up at. If you're just looking for a bargain on some type of collectible, browsing is the way to go; but if you're looking for something specific, the eBay search function is the quickest way to it.

Using eBay: Searching for Items
At the top of the eBay homepage, there's a search box where we can enter what we're looking for.

Here's what comes up in our simple keyword search:

Our simple keyword search delivered nine matches.

When you do a simple search, the auction results page also tells you which categories your results are in. You'll notice that there are matches for Homer Simpson Pez dispensers in other places besides the Pez category. So when we search both titles and descriptions, we end up with 25 results -- more than we did when we were browsing.

There's a listing about halfway down the page for a full set of Simpsons Pez dispensers, including Homer, with a starting price of just 99 cents.

That seems like a good deal. Here's the top of the auction page, where you'll find the basic auction stats:

The starting price is low, the shipping price is reasonable, and the seller has 99.6% positive feedback. Always check the shipping price, as some sellers mislead buyers by selling the item for cheap and then making up the difference by severely overcharging for shipping, and always check the seller feedback. The feedback is how you know if you can trust the seller (and your feedback is how the seller knows he can trust you). We'll talk more about feedback in the next section, but for now, we just need to know that 99.6% positive feedback is a good sign.

Since we're interested in this auction, we'll click on "Watch this item in My eBay" (top right of the auction page) so we can get back to it easily. Now it's in our watch list:

In the next section, we'll bid on this item.

Searching Titles and Descriptions
While searching titles and descriptions usually delivers more options, some of those options may be slightly off topic. This has to do with the way many sellers market their items. If a listing for a Batman Pez dispenser has a line in it that says "I'll also be listing several Homer Simpson t-shirts some time next week, so check back if you're interested," that's going to show up in our results, too. Some sellers also use a trick called "keyword spamming" to get more people to look at their auctions. They put a long list of the most popular search terms in their auction description so it turns up in the search results for any one of those terms.

Using eBay: Buying Items
To look for an item, you don't need to register -- you can browse, search and watch items (up to 10) as a guest. You can't bid or buy as a guest, though. So the next step is to register with eBay here. It's quick and free.

Now we can place a bid on the set of Simpsons Pez dispensers. If we click on the link in our watch list, we end up back at the auction page. There are four main sections to any auction page:

Title/Overview - This is where you see the basic information, like auction title, price, shipping price, seller information and how many bids have been placed so far.

Description - This is where the seller provides details about the item.

Shipping, payment and return policy - This is where you can find full shipping information, any details the seller wants a bidder to know about making payment (including which methods are accepted) and what the seller's return policy is.

Bidding - This is where you place a bid on the item.

eBay's bidding process works like this: You enter the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the item, and eBay bids incrementally on your behalf until the bidding reaches the maximum amount you entered. So if we decide we are willing to pay $2.00 for this set of Pez dispensers, we enter $2.00 in the bid slot.

When we click "Place bid," the next screen is a confirmation screen where we can see the bid price and commit to it. Once we place and confirm our bid, here's what the auction page looks like:

We are now the current high bidder.

The top portion of the page with the blue background is for our eyes only -- no one else can see what our maximum bid is. Why is the current price $0.99 and not $2.00? It's because when you're the first bidder, no matter what you enter as your maximum price, your first bid is always the starting price. If someone bids against us, eBay will bid on our behalf up to $2.00 in $0.05 increments (low-price auctions use very small increments, while high price auctions use larger increments). So if another user comes along and enters $1.25 as his maximum, eBay will bid $1.31 on our behalf, and we'll still be winning. But if another user places a maximum bid of $2.01, we've been outbid (and eBay will send us an e-mail to this effect in case we're not watching the auction). At this point, if we still want these Pez dispensers, we have to enter a new maximum bid.

This is where eBay's bidding process doesn't work exactly like it's supposed to -- and starts to get exciting. If every bidder truly entered the maximum he was willing to pay, auctions would end with little fanfare. The person who entered the highest maximum bid would quietly win. But humans being human, the actual maximum amount they're willing to pay is usually "a tiny bit more than what everyone who's bidding against me is willing to pay." If we still want our Pez dispensers, we'll enter a new maximum bid of, say, $3.00; and as long as the other bidder's maximum amount is less than $3.00, we'll be winning the auction again. Our coup might be temporary, though, because if the other bidder wants these Pez dispensers as much as we do, he's going to bid again until he outbids our maximum. And now we have a bidding war.

Bidding wars are a rush -- and they're sometimes very expensive. If this war continues for the three days until the auction ends, we could end up paying a hundred bucks for these Pez dispensers. It happens. The adrenaline takes over and people start bidding to win -- not necessarily to win a few Pez dispensers, just to WIN. For this reason, most of the bidding happens in the last two minutes of an auction. People wait to place a bid until an auction is about to close -- this way, they can catch other bidders off guard, and hopefully no one will get the chance to outbid them. The last 10 seconds of a bidding war often becomes a battle of bandwidth. Someone using a dial-up connection will never be able to place a winning bid in 10 seconds. Someone using a cable modem can place a winning bid in two seconds.

There is at least one reason why someone would place a bid very early in the auction: to remove a "Buy it Now" option. Remember that when an auction item also has a "Buy it Now" option, if someone decides to "Buy it Now" the auction is over. But the opposite is also true: As soon as someone bids on the item, the "Buy it Now" option disappears. If someone comes across an item she wants but she's not willing to pay the "Buy it Now" price, she'll enter the minimum starting bid just so another user doesn't come along and buy it out from under her.

Feedback
When talking about eBay or any other online auction site, one of the most common questions is "How can I trust the person I'm buying from?" The answer is "feedback." Buyers leave feedback for sellers and sellers leave feedback for buyers whenever they complete a transaction. Feedback can be positive, neutral or negative, and your feedback score is listed beside your username whenever you're involved in an eBay transaction. If you buy an item and never receive it, and the seller doesn't answer your e-mail regarding the lost item, you leave negative feedback. If you sell an item and the winning bidder never pays, you leave negative feedback. If everything goes well, you leave positive feedback. When you're involved in a transaction with someone who has 99.9 percent positive feedback, you can be confident you're not going to get swindled. To learn more, visit the eBay Feedback Forum.

Using eBay: Paying for Items
If we win our Simpsons Pez dispensers, the next step is to pay for the item. The seller in this listing accepts two forms of payment: PayPal electronic payment or money order/cashier's check. Overall, there are typically four methods of payment you can use on eBay:

Cash
Personal check
Paper money order or cashier's check
Electronic payment
Cash is simple but dangerous, because you have no recourse if it gets lost in the mail, and sending it by registered mail is just going to cost you more money. Personal checks are safer to send in the mail. The downside to paying by check is that once the check arrives, the seller usually waits for it to clear the bank before shipping your item, so it'll probably take you an extra couple of weeks to receive it. With money orders and cashier's checks, the wait time is shorter because there's nothing to clear. Electronic payment is the fastest method -- practically instantaneous. Using sites likes PayPal, BidPay and WesternUnion.com, you can draw money from your bank account or credit card or purchase an electronic money order and send the payment to your seller over the Internet. The downside to e-payments is the risk factor involved in any online transfer of financial data.
Once we complete payment, the seller will ship it to us. The auction states the shipping method as "Standard Flat Rate Shipping Service," which doesn't tell us much, so if we want to know more we'll have to ask the seller. We can do this using the "Ask seller a question" link in the Seller Information box at the top of the auction listing.

Once we receive the item, our next step is to leave feedback. If the seller has met all of her obligations (If the auction stated a shipping timeframe, did the item arrive accordingly? Does the item match the seller's description?), then our feedback should be positive. If we are not satisfied that the seller met the standards for positive feedback, the next move is contact her to try to resolve the issue. Always let a seller try to fix the situation before leaving negative feedback. Most of the time, all it takes is a simple e-mail exchange to solve a problem, and you can't retract negative feedback once you submit it.

eBay Etiquette: Buyer Do's and Don'ts

Do:

leave feedback for every transaction
pay within the seller's preferred timeframe
read the entire listing before asking questions
Don't:

leave negative feedback before contacting the seller
leave rude feedback
So far, we've searched for, bid on and paid for an item. Our next step is to sell one.

Outcome: We Got Cocky
Three days later, we were still the only ones bidding on these Pez dispensers, and the author let her guard down. She left eBay and started working on her next article. But it turns out there was competition out there waiting to strike. In the last minute of the auction, three additional bidders turned up, and our set of Simpsons Pez dispensers sold to the highest bidder for $7.50.

eBay Resources
Buyer Resources
Searching Overview
eBay Glossary
All About My eBay

Using eBay: What Can I Sell?
You can sell almost anything on eBay -- almost, but not quite. You can't sell illegal items, like illicit drugs, or government-controlled products like liquor, tobacco, guns or prescription drugs. You can't sell lock-picking tools or surveillance equipment like wiretaps or hidden cameras. You can't sell human body parts or remains, like your extra kidney (that's been tried) or your dead uncle's foot, and you can't sell something that doesn't exist in some concrete form -- for instance, you can't sell your soul to the highest bidder. An eBay user named David Finn tried that and got shot down. Just for a glimpse into the complex nature of running a site like eBay, here's an excerpt from the letter Finn received from an eBay representative regarding the decision to pull the plug on his auction:

If the soul does not exist, eBay could not allow the auctioning of the soul because there would be nothing to sell. However if the soul does exist, then in accordance with eBay's policy on human parts and remains we would not allow the auctioning of human souls. The soul would be considered human remains, although it is not specifically stated on the policy page...
Source: http://www.randi.org/jr/121203jref.html

For a complete list of no-no's, see What items may not be sold on eBay?. If your item is not listed anywhere in that section, it's probably okay to sell. The author has a refurbished Samsung Yepp MP3 player that she bought on eBay a couple of years ago and never uses. That's definitely OK to sell. In the next section, we'll list this MP3 player on eBay.

Using eBay: Selling Items
We going to try to sell a refurbished Samsung Yepp MP3 player on eBay. To sell something on eBay, you don't need much -- a few descriptive details is about all it takes. And if your item is in tangible form, it's good to have a picture of it. If we click the "Sell" button at the top of the homepage, we arrive at the first step in the listing process:

We don't have an eBay Store, so we're not going to be selling at a fixed price. And we're not advertising real estate. So we're going to choose "Online Auction." The next step is to choose the category we want our item in. MP3 players definitely belong in the consumer electronics category.

At the bottom of this page, we can choose to list our item in a second category for an additional fee, but Consumer Electronics is the obvious place for buyers to look for an MP3 player, so we'll just stick with that. On the next page, we'll choose "MP3 Players" as our subcategory, "Samsung" as the brand and "Yepp" as the model.

Now it's time to describe the MP3 player we're selling.

Spelling Counts
When writing titles and descriptions, watch your spelling. If we misspell "MP3" as "MP#" by holding down the shift key for too long, the only people who will find our auction are the ones specifically searching for misspellings. People who find these items can get them for super-cheap because no one's there to bid against them. There are Web sites and programs whose sole purpose is to find misspelled auctions on eBay. There's a spell-check button on the "Describe Your Item" page.

The field for the freestyle item description is at the bottom of the page. You don't need to know HTML unless you want to do something fancy with your description (see How Web Pages Work to learn HTML). If your description will look fine as a block of text, you don't need any HTML tags at all. If you want any font changes or spaces between paragraphs, you can use this simple HTML template, which includes a header setup and a few paragraph tags:

AUCTION TITLE

ITEM DESCRIPTION

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

This is what we're going to paste into the description box:

Samsung Yepp 64 MB MP3 Digital Audio Player REFURB

Up for auction is a refurbished Samsung Yepp model YP-30S MP3 player with 64 MB onboard memory. It's also a digital voice recorder. It measures about 2.5 inches tall, 1.75 inches wide and just over 0.5 inches deep. I bought it on eBay a couple of years ago but didn't end up using it much. On the outside, the player is immaculate, and as far I know it works. You can definitely load and listen to music and navigate through your MP3 files. Aside from that, I'm not sure because I never read the manual or tested its various functions.

Along with the player, you'll receive the user manual, installation CD, USB cable (not shown in picture) and carrying case with belt clip.

Next, we'll set a starting price, decide if we want to provide a "Buy it Now" option and set the auction duration. A little research tells us that a brand new Samsung Yepp YP-30S is selling for about $90, and a refurbished one is selling for about $40. Since we can't say for sure that every function on this player works, we'll start the bidding low -- at $9.99. This is a good idea for several reasons:

It provides incentive for someone to buy this MP3 player even though the seller is somewhat uncertain as to its condition.
It lets people consider buying it just for parts.
It cuts down on the listing fee we'll be paying to eBay, because part of the listing fee is based on the starting price.

Setting a reserve price, which is the lowest price at which you're willing to sell your item, costs extra, and it really only makes sense to set one when you're selling a high-value item. In that case, starting the bidding at the lowest price you're willing to accept would mean a very high listing fee, so you might start the bidding low but pay a small fee to set a reserve. We've chosen not to set a "Buy it Now" price because auctions are fun, and we've gone with the standard, 7-day auction that will start as soon as we submit our listing. Next, we're going to scroll down a bit and add a picture.

We're using eBay Basic Picture Services because we only have one picture to load, and the first picture is free. All we have to do is click "Browse," locate the picture on our hard drive and double-click the file. If you have only a few pictures and you're not selling 50 items a week, it makes sense to use eBay's system. Otherwise, you might want to look into the cost-effectiveness of going with your own image-hosting service.

The rest of that page is filled with additional features that you can purchase for a fee, including bold-face type for your title, a fancy frame for your listing and a spot in the "Featured Items" box that begins any list of search results. We're going to pass up those extras in order to keep our listing price down.

On the next page, we choose our payment methods and set our shipping fee. We're going to make this a PayPal-only auction to keep it simple (and because the author already has a PayPal account), and we'll estimate our shipping cost so buyers know up front what they'll be paying if they win. We could also wait and send the winning bidder the shipping cost once we know his zip code, or we could set up a shipping calculator that allows the buyer to enter his zip code and find out the exact shipping charge. A seller can ship using any carrier, including the U.S. Postal Service, UPS and FedEx, or the seller can let the buyer choose the shipping method once the auction ends.

At the bottom of this page, we establish our return policy and provide any additional payment instructions if we have them:

If we had other items up for auction at this time, we might use the "Payment instructions" box to let buyers know we'll combine shipping costs if they win another one of our items. Combined shipping is a good promotional technique.

The final step is to review our listing details on the next page and make sure everything is correct. If not, we can makes changes and review it again. The bottom of this page shows our total listing fee:

eBay charges an insertion fee of $0.35 for starting prices between $1.00 and $9.99. We didn't purchase any additional features, so that's all it costs us to list this item. When someone buys the MP3 player, we'll also pay eBay a final-value fee. If it sells for $25.00 or less, the fee is 5.25 percent of the final sale price. For a complete list of seller fees, go to eBay.com Fees.

Once we're satisfied that everything is correct, we officially submit the listing. Since we chose to start the listing immediately, it immediately shows up on the eBay Web site:

Now we have an item for sale on eBay. The area with the blue background only shows up for us. We can make changes to the listing by clicking "Revise your item" as long as no one has placed a bid and there are more than 12 hours left in the auction.

If at least one person places a bid before the auctions ends in seven days, we've got ourselves a buyer. When the auction is over, we'll send our buyer an invoice through eBay -- it's basically a one-click process. We click on the "Send Invoice" button either on the auction page or in the sale-confirmation e-mail we receive from eBay, enter any payment details we did not already include in our listing, and hit "Send Invoice."

Once we receive notification from PayPal that the buyer has sent his electronic payment, we'll ship the item to the buyer's confirmed PayPal address and leave positive feedback. Hopefully the buyer will also leave positive feedback once he has received his MP3 player in a timely fashion and finds it to be as we described it in the listing.

Feedback is the best tool available for weeding out the bad sellers and backing up the good ones. Still, with all of the buying and selling that happens on eBay, all of it based on pictures and descriptions, fraud does happen. In the next section, we'll talk about some ways you can protect yourself from common schemes.

Outcome: Second Time's the Charm
On our first attempt, the MP3 player didn't get any bids. But all is not lost. We can relist it -- and if it sells the second time, we don't pay any relisting fee (but we do pay the final-value fee). If it doesn't sell, we have to pay the second $0.35 listing fee.
Most likely, the problem is the sheer number of MP3 players listed on eBay -- on October 24, 2005, there are almost 17,000 listings in the "MP3 Players" category, many of them brand-new items in the gigabyte range listed by high-volume sellers at a starting price of $0.99. It's hard to compete with that. Since our player is a low-value item (ancient in consumer electronics terms, refurbished and somewhat of a gamble), it's not cost effective to add any of the fee-based features that might make it stand out, such as bold-face type or gallery status. So we'll give it another shot using some other techniques.

For the second listing, we shortened the title a bit so it's easier to read and dropped the starting price down to $4.99. We made it clearer in the description that its basic functions do definitely work. This time, our item received three bids from two eBay users and sold for $15.50.

eBay Resources
Seller Resources
Feedback Tutorial
eBay Acronyms

Using eBay: Security
The Internet in general is a hotbed of fraud schemes, and eBay is certainly a microcosm of the Internet. Anonymity provides an easy path to cheating people out of money. But while eBay users are anonymous on the surface, eBay almost always knows who they are. In most cases of fraud committed through eBay, the victims do have some recourse.

In order to make buyers feel safer when making purchases on eBay, all tangible items are automatically insured for $200. A recipe that was supposed to be delivered to you via e-mail is not considered a tangible item. But if you purchased a set of speakers that never arrived, and you go through the dispute process and eBay determines you were defrauded, you can get your money back up to $200. As an incentive to use eBay's PayPal payment system, most items purchased through PayPal are covered up to $1,000.

Buyer fraud is typically less damaging than seller fraud. The most common type of fraud a buyer can commit is simply not paying for an item. Sellers can deal with non-paying bidders by filing an Unpaid Item dispute. eBay will then attempt to contact the buyer and get her to pay. If she does not respond to eBay's attempts after eight days, the seller is reimbursed for eBay's cut of the final sale price and can relist the item for free. If the buyer does respond, the dispute can end in one of three ways:

The buyer decides to pay, and everybody's happy.
The buyer and the seller decide together to abandon the transaction, the seller gets reimbursed for the final-value fee and relists the item for free, and everybody's happy.
The seller decides not to deal with the buyer, the buyer gets an unpaid-item strike against her, and the seller gets reimbursed for the final-value fee and relists the item for free.
In the end, the damage to the seller is relatively small. Another type of buyer fraud occurs when a buyer sends false payment. In most cases, this is in the form of a bounced check, and the seller finds out about it before shipping the item. Bounced checks are as common on eBay as they are in the rest of the world, and many sellers choose not to accept personal checks for this reason.
Tips to avoid buyer fraud:

Always check the feedback of your bidders. If a user has excessive negative feedback, you may be able to cancel the bid.
If you accept a personal check as payment, never ship the merchandise until the check clears.
If your buyer doesn't pay, always leave negative feedback so the non-paying bidder has a harder time striking again.
Seller fraud is what what most people think about when they worry about using eBay. There are two main ways in which a buyer can be defrauded by a seller: The item the buyer purchased is dramatically different from how it was described in the listing; or the item simply never arrives.

One thing to keep in mind when you think you've been defrauded is that miscommunication is common on eBay. For instance, if you didn't read every word of the auction listing for your item, you may have missed the part the said the seller would be out of town for three weeks and wouldn't be able to ship the item until she returned. This could be why you don't have your item and the seller isn't answering your e-mails. Also, e-mail is not the most straightforward form of communication. If your item hasn't arrived after two weeks, and you've e-mailed the seller but haven't heard back, it's a good idea to check your junk mail folder. Your seller may have sent a response e-mail that just never made it to your inbox. If there's nothing from the seller in your junk folder, you can request that eBay reveal your seller's phone number so you can give him a call and see what's going on.

If you don't get an answer to your phone call (or if your seller lives in another country and it would cost too much money to call), your next step is to start the dispute process. When a buyer believes he has been defrauded, he can file a complaint, and eBay will work to solve the problem. (If you used PayPal, you should file a complaint there first, because your item is probably covered under PayPal's buyer protection policy and there's a separate system for that.) When you file a complaint in eBay's "Item Not Received or Significantly Not as Described" system, eBay will act as middle man between you and your seller to try to settle the dispute. If that fails, you can file a claim to get reimbursed for your purchase (but if you made your purchase using a credit card, you need to file a claim with your credit card company first -- eBay won't reimburse you if your credit card company is willing to).

Tips to avoid seller fraud:

Always check seller feedback before placing a bid.
Ask all relevant questions before bidding on an auction. Some sellers think that if they don't say what condition the item is in, it's the buyer's fault if he bids on the item assuming it's in good condition and it turns out to be a piece of junk.
Always leave negative feedback for unscrupulous sellers -- this makes it harder for them to continue committing fraud.
Fake escrow services are another way in which both buyers and sellers can be defrauded. See eBay Help: Using Escrow to learn about the safest way to use escrow for expensive purchases.
These are the main methods of fraud committed through eBay, but there's another kind of eBay-related fraud that happens outside the eBay Web site. If you receive an e-mail from eBay asking you to update your account information, it's a good idea to be suspicious. Identity theft resulting from spoof e-mails that look like they're from eBay is a big problem. Many people know this scam as "phishing." These e-mails typically tell you that there is a problem with your credit card number stored on eBay, and unless you update your account information you won't be able to use the site. Sometimes there's an account information form in the e-mail itself, and sometimes there's a link that directs you to what looks like eBay's account information page but in fact is a spoof Web site. When you submit your account information, the scammer gets his hands on your credit card information and your eBay password. (PayPal spoofing is just as common as eBay spoofing, so you should be on the lookout for those e-mails, too. See PayPal: Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Emails to learn more.)

If you're aware of the problem, it's actually pretty easy to avoid getting scammed in this way. First, e-mails from eBay never include account information forms; second, even though the link in the e-mail looks like an eBay URL, once you click on it, you can see in your browser's address bar that you're not at eBay at all. One fairly surefire way to avoid this type of scheme is by downloading the eBay security toolbar, which will simply tell you when you're at a fake site. For a full list of ways to determine a spoof, see eBay: Spoof Email Tutorial.

If you find yourself the victim of one of these scams, and you've submitted your account information in a non-eBay form, you should immediately cancel the credit card number you provided and change your eBay password. In addition to using your credit card, these spoofers can use your eBay identity to cheat people, ruining your eBay reputation in the process.

It's worth noting that you can also become the victim of identity theft simply by providing your credit card number in a seller's own checkout process. Most sellers who have their own checkout process are high-volume sellers with plenty of positive feedback (in the thousands). If you come across a seller with a low feedback number, be wary of providing your credit card information outside the eBay checkout system.

Tips to avoid identity theft:

Know what a spoof looks like, and always check for the signs before providing any information.
Always report spoof e-mails to eBay (see What to do about spoofs). eBay will confirm that it's a spoof and investigate the incident.
Carefully check seller feedback before providing your credit card information in a seller's private checkout form.
If you're diligent and careful, eBay can be a safe place to shop. Millions of people buy and sell on eBay with no problems at all, and as a result, eBay is thriving. In the next section, we'll take a look at the business of eBay, find out how it began and see what competition is out there.
eBay Tutorials
Security & Resolution Center
Spoof Email
Discussion Boards
Answer Center

The Business of eBay

Courtesy eBay

In 1995, computer programmer Pierre Omidyar set up a Web site called AuctionWeb as a place for people to auction off their collectibles. The story goes that his girlfriend needed a place to sell her Pez collection, and thus eBay was born. A little bit closer to the truth is that Omidyar, like every other innovative thinker in the computer industry in the early '90s, saw the potential of the Internet and was determined to utilize it. His girlfriend's trouble finding collectors who were interested in buying her Pez collection helped reveal the bid idea that would eventually become eBay. Omidyar advertised AuctionWeb primarily through postings in Usenet groups. Some of the first items on AuctionWeb included a pair of underwear autographed by Marky Mark, a Superman lunchbox circa 1967, an old Sun-1 workstation, a 35,000-square-foot warehouse in Idaho and Omidyar's own broken laser printer (which sold for $14). In 1996, AuctionWeb became eBay.

In 2004, eBay hosted 1.4 billion listings with a total of $34.2 billion changing hands. In September 2005, eBay purchased Skype, a global VoIP service with 54 million customers, for $2.6 billion. It also owns PayPal.com, Half.com, Shopping.com, Kijiji.com, ProStores.com and Rent.com, and it has a 25 percent stake in CraigsList.com. By all financial measures, business in eBay world is good.

eBay Growth
Nov. - Dec. 2004 Jan. - Mar. 2005
Consolidated Net Revenue $935.8 million $1.032 billion
Gross Profit $759.4 million $845.4 million
Number of Listings 404.6 million 431.8 million
Gross Merchandise Volume $9.8 billion $10.6 billion
Confirmed Registered Users 135.5 million 147.1 million
Source: eBay earning reports, Q4-04 and Q1-05

The rise of eBay stores, where sellers can create their own store fronts and sell items just like they had their own Web site -- except that they pay eBay for each listing and a cut of every sale -- is bringing eBay into the mainstream consumer market and giving people a new revenue stream. A 2005 survey found that approximately 725,000 people living in the United States earned all or part of their income from eBay sales, and another 1.5 million regularly use eBay to earn a little extra cash. The eBay juggernaut has spawned an entire industry that revolves around its platform. Software developers are creating applications to help people find misspelled listings on eBay so they can win items for less than they're worth. Other auction-related software includes "sniper" programs that automatically place a user's bid at the last possible second and programs that alert users to outbids and soon-ending auctions on their cell phone or PDA. Brick-and-mortar eBay consignment shops exist solely to sell people's unwanted items on eBay if they don't feel like doing it themselves.

eBay isn't the only online auction Web site, but it's by far the biggest. Yahoo!, Amazon and Overstock all have their own auction services, and others include uBid.com, AuctionFire.com and PoliceAuctions.com (where you can bid on government-seized property). There are also dozens of fledgling auction sites that offer free listing and other incentives to draw customers from eBay, but eBay continues to break records. Some people think eBay's success will ultimately lead to legal problems. With almost 5 million new listings per day, it's impossible for eBay to make sure none of them breaks a law. In 1999, eBay cancelled an auction for a human kidney (which had reached a bid price of $5.7 million) and several auctions for large firearms, including a rocket launcher and a bazooka. That year, eBay had 6 million registered users. Now it has 150 million. Although eBay prohibits the sale of human body parts and firearms, it's unclear what type of legal responsibility the company might have if one of those auctions were successfully completed. As of October 2005, eBay is looking at possible fines resulting from the alleged sale of prescription contact lenses on the site, even though "Prescription Drugs and Devices" are on eBay's list of prohibited items.

Its astonishing reach may ultimately be its downfall, but for now, eBay remains the poster child for Internet success.

Yahoo Hosting

2005-11-17T11:02:00.000-05:00

Domains Yahoo!, the best register in this moment!!

Domains Yahoo ! : $4.98 for a Year
Domains Yahoo! have an offer where you can get a .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, or .us for $4.98 a year. Domains Yahoo ! include 24/7 support, web page and forwarding. The second best deal on the net was $6.95 from GoDaddy . But where is the trick? you can only sign-up for one domain and the offer is only available during this session (you can't buy in the same computer, or you have to clean your cookies).

PC Magazine says: "domain registration through Domains Yahoo! is the easiest."

Reliability - Domains Yahoo !
Domains Yahoo ! provide a world-class infrastructure and superior network so you can avoid costly investments in hardware, software and IT staffing. We build redundancy in every part of our network to ensure your web site stays up and your customers find you.

Price Value Domains Yahoo !
Yahoo's packages are more expensive when compared to the other top web hosts. But this is Domains Yahoo ! and they offer a complete support team to help you get started, as well as tools (such as website builder) for free. Domain name is included and setup fee is waived.
One thing Domains Yahoo ! has always done well is web-based applications, and this is no exception. If you are new to site building, they are a safe place to go.
Reliability and Security Domains Yahoo !
Domains Yahoo ! web hosting Reliability and Security is the best on the Internet, no question asked. Domains Yahoo ! monitors its systems 24 hours a day and devotes significant time and resources to maintaining highly reliable facilities for hosting web sites. Yahoo web hosting also offers snapshot backup, which makes backing up your site easier than ever.

Scalability Domains Yahoo !
You can easily add disk space, bandwidth, and e-mail accounts to your site as your business grows. Starting an online store with Domains Yahoo ! is easy because they will set you up with credit card processing, a Domains Yahoo ! store in a Domains Yahoo ! mall, catalogue, inventory, etc. and help you along the way.

Control Panel Domains Yahoo !
Domains Yahoo ! exceptional ease-of-use offers clear instructions and guides to get you up and running. The web control panel offers extensive features and functionality that integrate directly into Yahoo's other applications and services. That really helps to keep you on the right track.

Customer Support Domains Yahoo !
Not only does Domains Yahoo ! features excellent trained technicians that will help you along the way, but customer support is open 24/7 for toll free-support desk in multi-languages.

MyStatus

2005-11-08T12:29:00.000-05:00

Wow, I am full of ideas today ! Just came up with a new presense-based client idea. It will allow tracking of your friends / businesses / clubs all from your mobile phone or desktop. (There are more details but I cannot disclose them here. I will keep everyone updated.) I call the project MyStatus. I think I will obtain the trademark and roll with it. www.MyStatus.com

Ipod Videos

2005-11-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

With all of the hype surrounding the new Ipods with video capability I decided to create a website specifically for the Ipod Video. It is called www.ipodfilms.com Since apple is charging 1.99 a download I figure if I am able to create a website with similar content and value for free or for a lower monthly service charge, that it could possibly be, more successful then apples endeavor. Here is an article about apples success:

Apple iTunes Hits One Million Video Sales

Strike up another win for Apple’s iTunes as the entertainment download store as issued a statement that over one million videos have been purchased & downloaded from iTunes over the past 19.5 days. n October 12, 2005 iTunes began offering video content for download and playing on the Applie iPod Video.

Apple iTunes Video has been limited to about 2,000 partner video shorts and unedited television programs at the price of $1.99 each. Once Apple’s catalog of iPod Video ready offerings has more of a selection than ABC’s Desperate Housewives, Michael Jackson & Kayne West videos, and Pixar shorts - the video downloading market should really heat up.

Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs thinks that such a positive download response from iTunes customers warrants a stable market for legal video downloads : “Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings, so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods.”

Halloween son !!

2005-10-28T10:58:00.000-04:00

Its that time again !! Time to get latered !!!

Video content set free on Web

2005-10-17T16:42:00.000-04:00

Suddenly it seems that everyone on the Internet, from corporate giants to nonprofits, wants to host your bulky video content--free of charge.
For independent filmmakers and video moms, the trend promises to provide venues for distributing the videos that have made easier than ever to produce by a new wave of tiny cameras, inexpensive editing software and more powerful computers.

But the dot-coms and dot-orgs offering to host these works for free are in it for something potentially far more valuable--the chance to control a Web of the not-so-distant future, one that's overflowing with moving pictures the way that the online world of today teems with text and still images.

What's new:
Nascent sites abound for distributing video online, free of charge--as businesses and nonprofits look to ride the wave of the public's enthusiasm for podcasting and video.
Bottom line:
Ourmedia and others are hoping to make vast multimedia libraries and archives accessible through any number of social networks, blog tools and media-sharing sites--and to ward off a multimedia power grab by big computer and software vendors.

"We see an opportunity to help kick-start the grassroots media revolution," said J.D. Lasica, CEO of recently launched Ourmedia, which hosts video for free. "We're still at an early stage of the multimedia-rich Web. The Web is not going to be Web logs and text; it's going to be people posting video and podcasting and taking part in the citizens' media that's just starting to explode."

Ourmedia's ultimate goal is not to amass a huge collection of video, but to establish open standards that will make vast multimedia libraries and archives across the Internet accessible through any number of social networks, blog tools, portals and media-sharing sites.

Ourmedia, which uses storage capacity donated by the Internet Archive, hopes to establish open standards in concert with other nonprofits and like-minded companies in order to ward off a multimedia power grab by computer and software vendors.

"We're ultimately competing with Microsoft and Apple," said high-tech veteran Marc Canter, one of the original developers of Macromedia Director, who spent somewhere south of $50,000 of his own money to get Ourmedia going.

Since its launch two months ago, the site has collected more than 5,000 videos. Founders say they're in negotiations with Google, RealNetworks and Open Media Network, another video-collecting nonprofit started by Netscape pioneers Mike Homer and Marc Andreessen that aims to establish common protocols for sharing media.

Ourmedia and Open Media Network are hardly alone in soliciting video from the masses. Google since April has been taking submissions for videos it will archive. America Online last year launched Member Movies for sharing short movies.

Yahoo disavows interest in amassing and distributing content produced by consumers, but its Flickr photo site acquisition suggests otherwise. Among start-ups, Brightcove is a video distribution site gearing up for launch.

Marc Canter
Founder, Ourmedia Lasica said that both his group and Google welcomed the multiple entries into the free video market.

"Google told us that they see a lot of these sorts of services springing up, and the more the merrier," Lasica said. "We're all in it, in a sense, for the same reason: to help enable the grassroots media revolution. I love Google and think they are doing this because it's not just a business opportunity but where the entire Internet is headed."

Google declined to comment for this story.

The free video bonanza comes as part of a broader shift toward free online storage of various content types. Where Internet companies like Yahoo and Microsoft once tried to get people to pony up $20 yearly subscription fees for a few extra megabytes of e-mail storage, for example, Google changed the paradigm and crafted an advertising-based business model by offering a gigabyte, and then more, free of charge.

Yahoo last month published Media RSS 1.0, an open protocol based on Really Simple Syndication that lets content authors describe their work and syndicate it over the Internet.

Beyond a description and syndication standard, Ourmedia is pushing for a standardized playback format that would cut through the confusing array of technologies--such as RealNetworks' Real, Apple Computer's QuickTime and Microsoft's Windows Media--that confront people trying to play videos posted to the Web.

"One of our goals is to create an open format for video so that there are no more format wars," Lasica said. "It's crazy right now. It's confusing to people when they can't play video, and it's very frustrating."

Previous Next Canter acknowledges that Ourmedia could help his own business, Broadband Mechanics--just as the Open Media Network serves in part to promote Homer's Kontiki peer-to-peer service. Broadband Mechanics designs what it calls digital lifestyle aggregators, which combine video, social networking tools, and communications device management.

In the coming weeks, Ourmedia will form a board of trustees and apply for 5013c nonprofit status. Lasica said the group was seeking funding from CommerceNet, the Ford Foundation, and the Omidyar Network.

In addition to bringing an end to the video format wars and establishing common protocols for sharing files, Ourmedia says it wants to help bring back an era of looser copyright restrictions by accepting content under the Creative Commons license. That license allows producers to retain and yield a range of rights rather than the standard "all rights reserved."

"The Internet Archive is playing a role for those who would like to give things to the public," said Internet Archive Chairman Brewster Kahle. "We're interested in supporting broad use of materials, and Creative Commons licenses have helped return to the copyright system we had when we were growing up."

Lease Management Software

2005-10-12T12:14:00.000-04:00

I recently used and abused some software from Link Systems, here are some excerpts from their website:

ProLease is a web-based solution providing real estate executives with access to critical data concerning their leased, owned and subleased properties. Its powerful reporting tools and critical date email alarms allow organizations to proactively manage their real estate portfolios, mitigate risk and make more informed business decisions.
ProLease is used by a wide variety of companies from retailers with 40 stores to Fortune 100 companies with over 1,000 locations. Please take a look at a few of our representative clients or contact link sales for a more comprehensive client list.

For Corporations:
Lease administrators can easily enter data for all property types through ProLease’s intuitive data entry wizard. Executives can view their entire portfolio at a quick glance in our GIS Mapping section or through one of the 70+ standard reports. Departments such as Legal and Finance will also benefit from real-time access to lease contract and expense data.

For Retailers:
ProLease can easily track your store openings, closings and pending deals. Administrators can manage critical data such as lease expenses, term dates and important clauses. Key benefits include risk aversion with critical date email alarms and time/cost savings with the automation of rent payments and financial reporting.

For Commercial Real Estate Service Providers:
ProLease is a very effective tool for strengthening relationships with existing clients, as well as improving offerings to prospective clients. Service providers and their clients can work together in the same database, over the Web, with many security level options. Our professional services staff is available to work closely with service providers to assist with client presentations and ongoing support.

Celebrex Lawyer Deals

2005-10-12T12:12:00.000-04:00

But what does it all mean bazzle ?

Celebrex (generic name: celecoxib) have been linked to an increased risk of blood clots, heart attacks and strokes. Celebrex is used to treat arthritis. Bextra is a COX-2 inhibitor, marketed by Pharmacia Corporation and Pfizer Inc. in the United States. The drug is prescribed for the treatment of osteoarthritis, adult rheumatoid arthritis, and the pain associated with menstrual cramping. Celebrex was the first of Pharmacia's COX-2 inhibitors. The FDA is asking two outside advisory committees if Celebrex and Bextra offer enough benefits to stay on the market, if any pain relievers need stronger warnings and what further research is needed. The advisers are due to meet from February 16, 2005 through February 18, 2005. Studies "strongly suggest" the entire class of drugs called COX-2 inhibitors elevates the chances of cardiovascular problems, Dr. Ned Braunstein, senior director of Merck Research Laboratories, told the panel of FDA advisers.

A study from the Cleveland Clinic appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association and was based on an analysis of previous clinical trials. Celebrex and Vioxx are projected to produce U.S. sales greater than $6 billion this year. In a study of more than 8,000 patients that compared the COX-2 inhibitor rofecoxib (Vioxx) with the traditional NSAID naproxen, the risk of cardiovascular problems, including heart attack, chest pain related to heart disease, stroke, sudden death and blood clots, was more than two times higher in the rofecoxib group than in the naproxen group.

Merck voluntarily withdrew Vioxx in September after a study showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who took it for at least 18 months. Since the Vioxx recall, questions have arisen about similar pain pills from Pfizer Inc., Celebrex and Bextra, as well as non-prescription drugs such as Naproxen (Aleve). All pain drugs in the class known as cox-2 inhibitors increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, a top scientist told a US regulatory panel. Dr Garret Fitzgerald, a cox-2 expert and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, said the body reacts in the same way to drugs including Merck's Vioxx and Pfizer's Celebrex and Bextra. Dr Fitzgerald said the drugs create an imbalance in the body's cardiovascular system that leads to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The annual rates of heart attack in both the Celebrex (celecoxib) and Vioxx (rofecoxib) studies were increased compared to a review of studies containing a total of more than 48,000 patients. In those studies, 0.52% of patients taking an inactive placebo pill had a heart attack each year. The annual rate of heart attack was 0.74% for patients taking rofecoxib and 0.80% for those taking celecoxib.

Guide to Vasectomy Reversal

2005-10-12T12:05:00.000-04:00

If you ask me... Its pretty dickscusting, but some people like that kind of shit.

1. What is a vasectomy?

A vasectomy is a safe, simple, quick and effective method of contraception.
To understand what a vasectomy is, a little knowledge of normal male anatomy is needed. The testicles are continually producing sperm even after a vasectomy. The sperm is stored in the epididymis, located directly above the testicles. Sperm moves from the epididymis through each vas deferens to the prostate, located in front of the bladder. When ejaculation occurs, sperm is expelled from the penis.

A vasectomy is a surgical procedure that disrupts the flow of sperm through the vas deferens. The surgeon actually cuts through the vas deferens and then places a clip or suture

2. What is a vasectomy reversal?

A vasectomy reversal is, a surgical procedure that restores the flow of sperm through the vas deferens. It is usually performed by an experienced microsurgeon using specialized instruments, including an operating microscope. The sutures used in vasectomy reversal are finer than human hair.

There are two types of vasectomy reversals: vasovasostomy and vasoepididymostomy.

A vasovasostomy is the operation most frequently performed for vasectomy reversal. It entails stitching the cut ends of the vas deferens together.

A vasovasostomy is the surgery of choice for vasectomy reversal. However, if excessive inflammation or scarring has occurred in the epididymis, sperm may be blocked from getting to the vas deferens. If a blockage has occurred in the epididymis, merely connecting the two cut ends of the vas deferens (as is done in a vasovasostomy) will not solve the problem. To bypass the blockage in the epididymis, a vasoepididymostomy must be performed.

A vasoepididymostomy is performed by connecting the vas deferens directly to the epididymis. One end of the vas deferens is stitched directly to the epididymis.

Does health insurance cover vasectomy reversal?

It is important to check with your health insurance plan to identify what costs of vasectomy reversal may be covered.

The costs of vasectomy reversal will include: the surgeon's fee, the hospital's fee for the use of the operating room and ambulatory care facility, and the fee for anesthesia. These costs can range from approximately $5,000 to $15,000.

The hide-and-seek game of benchmark lending

2005-10-12T11:01:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, there was a king who did not wish his feet to get dirty while walking on the streets. So he announced a hefty award for somebody who could devise a way to keep the king's feet clean.

First, it was the turn of a gentleman from a neighbouring state who was eyeing the hand of the princess as part of the award.

He promised to do the job within a few days. He employed thousands of sweepers to keep the kingdom clean and free of even a spec of dust.?

As the broom-wielding brigade swooped on the royal roads, a cloud of dust enveloped the king's palace and the entire royal family fell ill with a severe allergy. In no time, the young man was shown the door.

Then came a neighbourhood butcher with a radical idea. He started killing millions of cows and goats. The objective was to cover the entire kingdom with hide so that king's feet would not need to touch the dust.

The roads had a blood bath and the dust turned into thick mud but the butcher could not accomplish his job because angry animal activists drove him away.

When a dejected king lost all hope, an old cobbler walked in with a sling bag dangling from his drooping shoulder, carrying few nails, a bottle of glue and a small piece of hide. He sat on the floor of the royal court, took the king's feet on his lap, measured them carefully and within hours produced a pair of sandals. The king's feet would never get dirty again!

This apocryphal drama is now being enacted on Mint Road, albeit in a different context. Banks are not transparent in fixing their lending rates and some of them are taking their customers for a ride.

The solution, the Reserve Bank of India feels, is to have one benchmark prime lending rate for all loans irrespective of their profile or maturity.

This is as good as the use of a million brooms to make the kingdom dust-free or killing of animals to cover the kingdom with hide so that the king's feet can remain dust-free.

The simple solution could have been to allow banks to have sectoral PLRs and force them to put the rate cards on the table.

The trigger for the RBI's move is possibly the anarchy that rules the home loan market.

Home loan rates are coming down every day and there is no method in the madness.

Even though the banks refuse to admit it, the fact remains that some of them have delinked the home loan rates from their PLR.

So far, however, only the new customers get advantage of this fall because the old customers continue to pay the higher rates at which they had raised their loans. Logically, with every rate cut, all floating rate customers should get the benefit but that has not been happening.

Some of the players have even gone to the extent of making the rate charts redundant and allowing their front desk to fix the loan rates, depending on the profile of the customers.

In other words, the rates have become negotiable depending on the bargaining power of the borrower and cost of money and liquidity chest of the lender.

This has largely been happening because there is only one PLR now for industrial loans as well as home loans and other personal loans. The products as well as the underlying securities that back the loans are entirely different.

The cost structure too is different as the levels of non-performing assets in different segments are radically different.

For instance, credit card and personal loans are unsecured loans with high delinquency rates while home loans are fully secured and the NPA level is below 1 per cent.

Ideally, there should be different PLRs for different loans, depending on their profile and maturity. But the regulator wants the banking industry to have a benchmark PLR for all products.

If this is forced down the throat of the industry, it can certainly achieve transparency but at what cost?

Clouds of information will envelop the reasoning of the customers and may even end up killing the fledging floating rate loan market.

How can that happen?

Once this is put in place, a bank will first announce its benchmark PLR for all products, then load term premiums (which will vary depending on the maturity profile of the loans), product premiums, risk premiums and another half a dozen premiums or discounts (depending on the product and profile of the borrowers) to arrive at the final rate.

All this jargon will hardly make any sense for an average borrower. With every rate change, the jargons will increase explaining the rationale behind the change.

So banks will be transparent but customers may refuse to get tired by reading the fine print.

The RBI in its?April Credit Policy had first hinted at creating a benchmark PLR.

According to RBI, banks should take into account their actual cost of funds, operating expenses, a minimum margin to cover regulatory requirement of provisioning on account of NPAs and profit margin while arriving at the benchmark PLR. But the ground reality is a bit different.

For instance, what is the actual cost of funds? Is it the blended cost of a bank's outstanding liabilities or the marginal cost of new liabilities? What about transfer pricing mechanism? Or, for that matter, capital allocation to different products?

Most importantly, how can there be one benchmark for all products of all maturities. Globally, PLR is applicable to overdrafts. Project loans and retail loans are a different kettle of fish and there cannot be one-size-fits-all approach.

If the RBI wants market forces to have a say in the entire exercise, then commercial paper, treasury bills and even Mibor (Mumbai inter-bank offered rate, an Indian counterpart of the London inter-bank offered rate) can influence the short-term rates while long-term loans can have different benchmarks.

Ironically, the intense debate on the benchmark is taking place at a time when the three-legged animal is on the verge of extinction.

Technically, only the prime borrowers can avail of loans at prime rates but it has not been happening because triple-A- rated borrowers can always raise money from the market at a price cheaper than a bank's cost of funds.

This is a global phenomenon as there are more triple-A-rated corporations than triple-A-rated banks. As the twin factors of abundance of liquidity and lack of credit offtake burden the banking industry, even lesser rated corporations have started raising bank loans at below PLR.

Ever since tenor-linked PLR was allowed, most of the banks switched to three sets of PLR for short term, medium term and long term. The dividing lines are getting blurred as PLR itself is turning into an anachronism.

The best possible way of bringing in transparency could be either abolishing the concept and allowing market forces to take over or introducing sector-specific PLRs.

The National Housing Bank can be roped in to frame a separate PLR for home loans.

The RBI also must ask the banks to be transparent in their disclosures in balance sheets. In its present format, a bank balance sheet is like a black box.

It hides more than it reveals. For instance, no Indian bank publish segmented results on the lines of global banks.

This is because they are not required to do so. Let them disclose the results of each segment of their business with every minute detail like profit, cost of fund, net interest margin, allocation of capital. Let them also make public the transfer pricing mechanism.

Since most of the Indian banks are listed, they owe this to the public. This will make abundantly clear how they are performing in each areas of business and whether they are compromising margins in certain segments like home loans in the mad scramble to acquire customers.

Once this is done, the hide-and-seek game on PLR will automatically end

Wisconsin's lemon law

2005-10-12T10:56:00.000-04:00

If the motor vehicle you buy or lease in Wisconsin turns out to be a "lemon," the manufacturer has to replace it free or refund the price (minus a reasonable amount for mileage).

What is a "lemon"?
A new vehicle - no more than a year old and still under warranty - is a "lemon" if

It has a serious defect the dealer can't fix in four tries, or
It has one or many defects that prevent you from using it for 30 days or more (the 30 days need not be consecutive)
What is a defect?
A defect covered by the Lemon Law must seriously affect the use, value or safety of your vehicle and must be covered by the warranty. An irritating rattle may not be "serious" enough to make your car a lemon. Stalling probably is.
What vehicles are covered?
The law covers any new car, truck, motorcycle or motor home you buy or lease in Wisconsin, even if you register the vehicle in another state. It also covers a demonstrator or executive vehicle.
How long are you covered?
The lemon law includes no deadline for filing a lemon law suit; a court would decide if your case were too old.
Is your vehicle a lemon?
Your vehicle is a lemon if all of the following statements are true:
You bought or leased a vehicle in Wisconsin.
The vehicle is a car, truck, motorcycle or motor home.
The vehicle developed a defect or defects during its first year and before the warranty expired.
The defect seriously harms the vehicle's use, value or safety.
One of the following happened during the vehicle's first year and before the warranty expired:
The dealer failed four times to fix the same defect; OR
The vehicle was out of service for 30 days or more due to defects
What should a lemon owner do?
Get a repair order for every repair visit, even if the shop doesn't diagnose the problem or attempt a repair. A repair order should show the problem you report, and the dates your car is in the shop.
Keep purchase contracts, warranties, and repair orders to prove you have a lemon. Don't keep repair orders in your car where they may get lost.

I strongly urge you to use the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's Motor Vehicle Lemon Law Notice form to ask the manufacturer for a refund or replacement vehicle. The Lemon Law Notice includes important language required under the lemon law. Send the form to the manufacturer at the address in your owners manual. Your refund should include the full purchase price, sales tax, any finance charge, and collateral costs (for example, repairs, towing, alternative transportation), minus the mileage deduction allowed by law. If you get a replacement vehicle, the manufacturer should refund your collateral costs and charge nothing for mileage.
If you return to the manufacturer a vehicle that has missing equipment or unrepaired damage beyond normal wear and tear, a manufacturer may want to negotiate a damage deduction. You should not be responsible for paying for normal wear and tear, such as minor dents, scratches, pitted glass, soiled carpets, minor stains or tears. Feel free to have the damage appraised at a location you choose, or to have it repaired rather than paying a deduction.
If you don't get a refund or replacement by writing the manufacturer, consider using your manufacturer's arbitration program. If your manufacturer has a program certified by WisDOT, you must use it before you can sue under the Lemon Law. If your manufacturer's program is not certified, you do not have to use it. However, if you do use it, you might get a decision you like. You can reject any decision you don't like. See the list of arbitration programs listed below.
Talk to an attorney if the manufacturer doesn't help you. A court may need to decide if your vehicle is a lemon and what settlement you deserve. If you sue the manufacturer and win, you could get double the vehicle purchase price, plus other costs and attorney fees. To find an attorney who handles Lemon Law cases, contact the State Bar of Wisconsin Attorney Referral Service toll-free at (800) 362-9082, or at (608) 257-4666 or WisBar Lawyer Referral and Information Service.
Who can you call for help?
WisDOT's Dealer Section licenses and regulates dealers and manufacturers and helps resolve disputes about vehicle sales and warranties. Contact the Dealer Section if you have a complaint against a dealer or manufacturer.

How Hair Removal by Laser Works

2005-10-12T10:44:00.000-04:00

Laser hair removal works by sending a beam of laser light to a group of hair follicles with enough power to disable or destroy the root, but not enough power to harm the surrounding skin. This process is called selective photothermolysis. It is selective because it targets only the hair and not the skin. Photo means light and thermolysis means destroying with heat. The surrounding skin is usually cooled. Some methods include a gel, a spray, or a cooling tip.

The Laser beam finds the hair follicles by targeting the substance that gives skin and hair dark color - melanin. Therefore, the ideal candidate for laser has dark hair and light skin. The laser will not work on people with red, white, gray or true blond hair. The hot laser light will also be attracted to the melanin in the skin, so people with suntans, or dark skin types are at more of a risk for discoloration of pigment and other side effects.

Hair Removal by Laser is NOT ELECTROLYSIS. Electrolysis is a method of removing individual hairs one-at-a-time by directing an electric current into each hair follicle. This is the high tech/modern day method of destroying massive amounts of hair follicles with a simple trigger pull.

Laser only destroys hair in its active growth phase, the anagen phase. This phase lasts several years, and up to 85% of our hair is in that phase at any given time. The good thing is that during this phase, the hair has an abundance of melanin and the hair follicle is easily targeted.

Mesothelioma Lawyers

2005-10-12T10:29:00.000-04:00

Mesothelioma is a disease that, until recently, was uncommon and little was known about it. However, as cases of the disease have started to increase, a new breed of lawyers – those dealing specifically with mesothelioma lawsuits – have stepped in to the limelight. These lawyers and law firms deal, sometimes exclusively, with mesothelioma victims and their families who wish to claim compensation from the companies that were responsible for their exposure to asbestos. These mesothelioma lawsuits provide millions in compensation for the victims and a commission for the lawyer or law firm.

Those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma have every right to file a lawsuit. Many of the companies responsible for exposing their employees to asbestos were well aware of the dangers and effects, but still saw fit to let their workers continue with little or no protection against the dust and fibres that emanated from this hazardous material. Now, decades later, the effects of this exposure is taking its toll on the workers just as they reach or are enjoying retirement. Quite rightly, the workers want to see justice done in the form of compensation, although this will never make up for the pain, suffering and loss of life that many of them have been sentenced to.

There are now many mesothelioma lawyers to choose from, and the number of specialist lawyers and law firms that deal with lawsuits filed by victims of this disease is on the up. Many of these lawyers have dealt with numerous mesothelioma lawsuits and have a good deal of experience and knowledge about the disease. Those looking for a mesothelioma lawyer should hunt around for someone that has proven experience in the field. Most reputable lawyers will be only too happy to provide facts and figures on pervious cases. They cannot, of course, name names and intricate details as this would be a breach of confidentiality. They can, however, provide you with details on how quickly cases were resolved, how much compensation was successfully obtained and how many mesothelioma lawsuits they have dealt with.

It is also worth finding out about the mesothelioma lawsuits that were not successful, and why they were not successful. It may be something as simple as a missed piece of evidence to failure to comply with timescales that made the difference between and successful and unsuccessful claim for compensation. By finding out why some lawsuits resulted in no compensation, you may be able to avoid making the same type of mistake.

It is important that you find a good, experienced mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after you have been diagnosed with the disease. Most states have a set time limit in which you can file your lawsuit, and it is very important that you do not miss that deadline otherwise you may find that you are ineligible to make a claim. You also need to give your lawyer as much time as possible to do the necessary research and put together a solid and watertight case. So, the earlier you get to a mesothelioma lawyer, the better your chances of success.

Many people are concerned because they do not know exactly where and when they were exposed to asbestos. Some people may have worked in several different places and been exposed to asbestos, making it difficult to pinpoint who was responsible. However, your mesothelioma lawyer can help. If necessary, your mesothelioma lawyer will hire the services of a private investigator (for which the law firm will foot the bill) to find out where the exposure took place. With some research and digging, the lawyer is generally able to pinpoint the company or companies responsible for the exposure and can then put together you case.

Again, this can take time and is another reason why it is so important to find a mesothelioma lawyer as soon as possible after the diagnosis of the cancer has been confirmed. Understandably, patients who have just been told that they have mesothelioma will have a great deal on their minds and filing a lawsuit may not be one of their priorities. However, the timely process of selecting a lawyer and filing your lawsuit can make all the difference between a multi-million dollar compensation claim to secure the future of your family once you are gone, and getting nothing at all for your pain, suffering and loss of life.

Yahoo Web Hosting Review

2005-10-12T10:19:00.000-04:00

Yahoo hosting who knew? Turns out they are a major player in the hosting game, in addition to their other product offerings, which include search, directory, malls, auctions, shopping…Yahoo! in fact offers a full suite of hosting products for small businesses; hence the name Yahoo Small Business. The best part about dealing with Yahoo! is that you know that this host is not to suddenly disappear. They are the safest pick on the Internet and are a great start for beginners.Yahoo hosting packages do not offer robust features when compared to other web hosts, nor are they cheap, but they are the most reliable host on the Internet. In addition, they have complementary services, such as malls and e-commerce, that you can use to market your products to the millions who go to Yahoo! everyday.

Price Value

Packages offered by Yahoo Web Hosting are not really designed for power web users, but are more geared towards beginners. Their packages are very expensive when compared to the other top web hosts. But this is Yahoo! and they offer a complete support team to help you get started, as well as tools (such as website builder) for free.
One thing Yahoo! has always done well is web-based applications, and this is no exception. If you are new to site building, they are a safe place to go. If you are experienced, you may find their packages to be extremely limiting.
Starting an online store with Yahoo small business hosting is easy because they will set you up with credit card processing, a Yahoo! store in a Yahoo! mall, catalogue, inventory, etc. and help you along the way.

Reliability
The best on the Internet, bar none.

Yahoo Deal

2005-10-12T09:52:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to mention how good yahoo business hosting is. I also use 1and1 for hosting and love them. But Yahoo is more popular and cheaper, almost like most of the hookers I come accross.

Shameless Plug

2005-06-21T15:26:00.000-04:00

check out www.hoodiatea.com

Cable is now installed

2005-02-04T14:45:00.000-05:00

Last night Steve and I moved into our new apartment, right down the road from work. The place is very nice, and we spent a couple hundred getting some cleaning supplies and bathroom deals.

At lunch today brighthouse networks came by and hooked up our digital combo package. We now have high speed road runner and also we now have on demand TV. Basically I worked out a deal where we get a DVR for 6 months. It is incredible ! It allows us to pause and record TV shows on the fly. The dude says the box sports an 80 gig HD which will give us about 500 min of high quality recording.

I'm stoked, now we just need to get the rest of my shit, and steves bed into the apartment.

RHAPSODY Link

2005-02-04T14:40:00.000-05:00

If you use Real Rhapsody, click this link and you can jam out to what I'm jamming out to !

RHAPSODY Link

Hydrogen and Oxygen powered car, the FCX

2005-01-06T11:31:00.000-05:00

I want a Honda FCX immediately ! No gas, this thing runs off of hydrogen and oxygen, and it outputs water as waste, lol. NICE !

Only bad part is, Honda only plans on leasing 30 of these within the next several years. So it may be awhile until I get mine. :(

Popping My Blog Cherry

2005-01-05T16:32:00.000-05:00

wow, this happens to be my first blog, I'm not too thrilled.... but I think this should ease the boredom.