InfoPedia

Microsoft Office 2010 Puts Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on the Web

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:42:00 +0000

In an expected and inevitable move, Microsoft has announced that the next version of Office will include Web-based versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote.

Not to be confused with Microsoft Live Office Workspaces, which lets users of the desktop Office suite collaborate online, Office Web Apps will be full lightweight versions of the products, allowing users to create, edit, save, and share docs on the Web. And, like obvious competitor Google Docs, Office Web Apps will be available for free.

Like Docs, which requires a Google account, it seems the only requirement to use Office Web Apps will be a Microsoft Windows Live account, with two other options as well:

“Office Web applications will be available in three ways: through Windows Live, where more than 400 million consumers will have access to Office Web applications at no cost; on-premises for all Office volume licensing customers including more than 90 million Office annuity customers; and via Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase a subscription as part of a hosted offering.”

Unfortunately, there isn’t anything to try out yet – Microsoft says that the new version of Office and its accompanying Web version won’t be available until the first half of next year. For now, the company has launched a preview site and a series of videos, introduced below:

See What’s New in Microsoft Office 2010
Update: The embed from Microsoft seems to be loading sporadically. Here’s an interview that Robert Scoble has with Office 2010 Product Manager Chris Bryant demoing some of the Web features (more on his blog):

9 Must-Try Adobe AIR Apps for Better Productivity

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Adobe AIR came along and changed the application world overnight. Developers could now use their web app knowledge and translate that to an application that ran on a PC, Mac or Linux desktop. For users, such as myself, we all of the sudden had the ability to find desktop apps that we loved, and use them across all of our systems in the exact same way.

With this new age of “application neutrality,” I wanted to take a brief look into some Adobe AIR apps you have to at least try. Each one is focused on increasing an area of productivity.

1. Tackle Tweets With TweetDeck

For the business owner, blogger, or developer, Twitter has become a must-use tool to maintain a healthy network and customer base. TweetDeck is, in my opinion, the top of the line when it comes to Twitter interaction.

View your feed, all replies, trends, and even searches in just a single window! Another great feature of TweetDeck is the ability to sort your contacts into Groups. I have a group for work and a group for Madison, WI that keeps my peep-tracking on easy street.

Tip: Instead of using the standard reply section in TweetDeck, setup a search for variations of your username, full name, business name, etc. This allows you to capture ALL mentions to you! My reply search looks like this: @ielliott OR @ielliot OR “Elliott Kosmicki” OR “goodplum.com” OR “Good Plum.”

2. Stay Focused

If you’ve used WriteRoom for Mac, Q10 for PC, or PyRoom for Linux (all of which I use), you will more than likely find Focused of interest.

Focused allows you to write in fullscreen mode. This removes distractions while writing and is now the only way I write (as I am far too easily distracted). So instead of using a different program, depending on your platform, you can simply install Focused on Adobe AIR on each of your systems.

3. Time Tracking With Kronos

For those who use 37signals’ Basecamp product, you might want to take a look at Compuccino instead, as it integrates directly into your tasks there. For the rest of us who want a simple way to track time on projects, there’s Kronos.

Simply setup projects and start tracking how much time you’re spending on them! It’s a great way to either find out how you’re spending (a.k.a. wasting) your time, or just as a simple way to stay on task.

4. Moderate WordPress Comments With Moderator

This is an early but very delicious release. If you have a blog that receives a regular stream of comments, it’s always in your best interest to moderate them as often as possible (as well as reply and build relationships, of course).

Moderator allows you to do all this right from within an Adobe AIR program window. Know in advance you’ll also have to install a plugin on your WordPress site for this to work, but it’s worth the few extra minutes of time spent!

5. Google Reader in ReadAir

I don’t know if Google Reader needed improvement, but this Adobe AIR app called ReadAir has me hooked. Essentially, the application allows you to read your feeds in an email-like interface - I love having my reader open in a separate window anyway. The OSX-like theme is just icing on the cake (they’re working on Windows themes, too).

6. Text Snips With Snippely

If you’re a programmer or writer that constantly re-uses bits of texts, this may interest you. Snippely allows you to categorize bits of text information that you can easily recall at any time.

The interface and organization of Snippely is awesome, I just wish they would allow two things: keyboard shortcuts to auto-enter a snippet, and some type of server-sync so I could access my snippets from any computer. Nevertheless, a great product.

7. Task Alerts With RTM Notifier

If you use Remember The Milk, RTM Notifier may be a handy add-on you’ve missed. It adds some basic functionality to your RTM workflow in a simple, small application you can leave open in your system tray.

Check it out, but as it did with me, it may leave you wanting more.

Note - Toodledo users, there is also a very basic Adobe AIR app for you too. Check it out here.

There REALLY is a glaring hole in to-do apps for Adobe AIR. Anyone have anything planned you’d like to share?

8. Lifestreaming With AlertThingy 3

A late entry into my list comes AlertThingy 3. Version 1 was a FriendFeed-only application and I just never tried version 2. Version 3 integrates Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Yammer, and many more tools I use daily into one interface. Similar to TweetDeck (#1 on this list), you can expand the program to see multiple lists of information such as your Twitter feed, a Twitter search, plus your Facebook news feed. You can update all of these services right from AlertThingy as well.

I’m not sure if this will replace TweetDeck for me, but it really is nice to look at and seems to do much of what I need (except groups). Now if it could only add Digsby-styled instant messaging and run to Starbucks for me!

9. Google Analytics in Desktop Reporting

Please note, this is NOT yet released. However, the developer had previously released an Adobe AIR application to digest your Google Analytics which is now unavailable. The success of that product has spawned an entire suite of new products, soon to be released.

Imagine having all your Google Analytics data sucked-in to an AIR app that will allow you to pick it apart and analyze it in all new refreshing ways.

If you’re interested (as I am), be sure to find out more at the Desktop Reporting site.

Remember, YOU Are the System!

No matter what you do, there will always be a never ending stream of applications released. Whether it’s for Adobe AIR, the web, or the latest mobile phone. Go ahead and try things, but if there’s one tip I can recommend the most it’s to pick something and stick with it - at least for a while. Otherwise, you might end up needing an app for your Attention Deficit Disorder, which isn’t in beta until winter of 2012.

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The Four Mandatory Buckets Of Personal Finance

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:31:00 +0000

I have already written about the financial necessity of saving a portion of any income payment that you receive. This means that a percentage of every single source of income is set aside, marked, or tracked as money that you cannot spend. This task isn’t optional if you want to have some basic financial stability or start growing some serious wealth. Saving is the first step and it is the easiest, simplest, but the most emotionally difficult step. I know that starting to save money is emotionally painful because spending money is easy and pleasurable, while saving money feels difficult and challenging. But like any behavior, it becomes easier and natural the more you do it.

As a review, the billionaire John Templeton started out working during the Great Depression but he saved 50% of his income. This guy was serious! OK, you may have a lot of fixed expenses that you just can’t cancel immediately, but at least enroll in financial nursery school by saving 1% from all the income that you receive. Or start with only $3 a month and then ratchet up your savings rate continually until you are at least over 10%; or if you are ambitious get it over 30%. (If you are trying to find the loophole, this savings is your after-tax income that you can spend – don’t count your 401K or medical savings accounts or any other qualified money that you don’t have full/immediate access to spending).

The remainder of this article is about what to do with that savings. Economics is the study of allocating scarce resources. Personal economics are similar, but I think that it is better described as: The allocation of your income that you can’t spend. If you don’t spend this money, and maybe have it setting aside in savings account, what do you do with it? Do you pay down on a credit card, save it for a car, donate it to a worthy cause, or purchase a bank certificate of deposit? How do you go about deciding?

Well, I have given this some thought and have reached a few conclusions. It is my view that your monthly savings needs to be divided among four mandatory categories. By this, I mean that among the zillions of things you can do with savings, it is my view that four of them are absolutely mandatory. For example, if you earn a paycheck (and after all of the taxing authorities take their share) of $1,000 that you can deposit into your checking account and you’ve chosen a personal savings percentage rate of 8%, then you move $80 ($1,000 X .08) into a separate savings account. Now, you will take this $80 and divide it up into at least the four mandatory categories I am going to discuss, along with any other categories that you value. In this way you’ll have the whole $80 assigned to specific financial duties to meet your financial goals.

Here are the four categories in priority order:

1. The Vault – this is your wealth account. Money gets deposited into this account and it never leaves, like a one-way valve. The Vault is invested and the principal is never spent. It will grow into the largest part of your net worth, generating nearly all of your investment income. If you don’t start creating wealth penny-by-penny, you’ll never have any.

2. Soft Savings – a delayed spending account. This money is marked for things that you want to buy, but can’t afford to purchase with normal pocket money. For example, a house, car, boat, vacation, college fund for kids, planned medical care, clothing, jewelry, etc. But this also includes maintenance to your home, like a roof, new appliances, new siding, paint, landscaping, remodeling, etc.

3. Paydown Debt Balances – making extra principal payments on your credit cards, car loans, and your mortgage. By chipping away at these expenses you will eventually eliminate them all, and then have more money available for other categories. Personal debt is the opposite of financial freedom and dramatically makes it more difficult to reach your financial goals. If you doubt this, look at the interest charges you pay each month and imagine if that money had been invested instead.

4. Financial Education – books, magazines, newsletters, seminars, software, investment memberships. Also, hiring professional financial advisors, tax accountants, estate attorneys, etc. (Avoid free advice a buddy, your cousin, or a friend’s neighbor – buy the best, most expensive professional advice you can afford).

As I mentioned before, you can put your savings into places that are only limited by your creativity. But it is my view that these four areas are so important that they need to be continually fed money in a systematic manner.

If you are missing the first account, The Vault, you’ll never have the money to start investing so you’ll never receive any investment income. This is pretty much the goal of all personal finance, to help you generate the most investment income. That is why this is the most important of the four categories, to get your money earning money so that you don’t have to. (I do not consider any retirement accounts or qualified accounts to be Vault money. This is because you do not have direct control to invest the money or receive any investment income until the government decides that you can).

If you are missing the second account, Soft Savings, you either can’t buy what you want, or you have to increase your personal debt. This is moving in the opposite direction of financial freedom – you are reducing the amount of money that you can spend each month by the amount of the debt payment, and you are reducing your net worth by the principal and interest that you’ll be charged. Another symptom of a lack of Soft Savings is disrepair to your car, home, and health because you don’t have the money for upkeep. Everything physical needs to be maintained, from your teeth to your vacuum, and it costs money to do so. This depreciates the financial assets that you own, and puts at risk the most important quality of life – your health.

If you are missing the third account, Paydown Debt Balances, you are simply going to be the patsy in the financial game of life. People that are building their wealth collect lots of little interest payments from the people that are destroying their wealth by making lots of little interest payments – money is transferred every month from one group of people to the other. Which group do you want to be in? Well, your Vault can automatically put you into the group of wealth-builders and your Paydown Debt account starts to extract you from the group of wealth-destroyers. The Paydown Debt account puts you on track to permanently extinguish all of your personal debt. The sooner a personal debt is paid off, the more rapidly you can take all of this money and put it into the other categories.

If you are missing the fourth account, Financial Education, you won’t know how to captain your Vault, and you may run it straight into the rocks. Only you will manage your money in a manner that will be to your maximum benefit. So it is best if you pay to learn how to handle money and learn where to put it. But not everyone has an interest in these subjects, and that is fine. For them, instead of personally managing your money, you are going to personally manage your financial advisors. You’ll be spending money and time to hire and manage the advisors to attend to financial details.

By allocating your savings into these four categories you are addressing the four most important elements of financial management. You’ll be making certain that: Your investment income will always increase by adding to your Vault; you’ll have money available for extra expenses with your Soft Savings; your net worth will always be increasing with a Paydown Debt account; and you’ll intelligently learn how to lower your investment risk, raise your investment returns, and lower your tax liability with your Financial Education account. The only source of money to build these critical financial functions to increase your income, net worth, and stability is your savings – you simply have to do it.

I recommend you fund these accounts simultaneously – do not focus only on debt or only on education because I have seen how it is financially detrimental to do so. For example, let’s say that you really want to paydown your debt so you don’t contribute anything to The Vault. I have found that if you don’t have any investments, your investing skills will be under developed. You will not know how to invest once your debts have been paid off, you’ll have no investment income to manage, you won’t be looking for investing opportunities because that is something you can’t afford right now, etc. And as a result, it will be harder to get into the investing game later, you’ll have more to learn in a shorter amount of time, and may just avoid it altogether and put Vault money into a low paying account.

How much do you allocate among the four categories? Anything more that zero! It is up to you, and your financial situation will fluctuate and be different from others. Just to get some starting percentages, below is my allocation. It is not a recommendation for anyone, it is just what works for me right now.

My current savings rate = 20% of all after-tax income.

(This does not include 401K, medical savings accounts, or other deferred/qualified withholding). This means that 20% of all cash income that hits my checking account each month is set aside into these categories:

1. The Vault receives 50% of total savings each month.
2. Soft Savings receives 20% of savings each month.
3. Paydown Debt receives 20% of savings each month.
4. Financial Education receives 5% of savings each month.
5. And that leaves 5% for other categories each month.

You may receive continual, ongoing income, in addition to some rare, one-time inflows of money. The percentages detailed above are how I allocate regular income savings. But if there is any one-time inflow of money (garage sale, bonus, extra project), then I take 90% of the proceeds and split it among the four accounts, and the other 10% is just spent. You can create your own money rules for different types of income; you can tell by my allocation percentages that my primary focus is to build up the balance of the Vault.

The amount of money that you can save from every source of income is your key to a brighter financial future. Contrarily, a risky and dimmer financial future awaits those that refuse to systematically save money. So be sure that you take the steps necessary to set savings aside and then simultaneously divide it among the four mandatory accounts by consistently allocating money to them. You don’t have a financial foundation without these four accounts, but with them, you can build as high as your ambition takes you.

TimeRadarTrees: Weighted Dynamic Compound Digraphs

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:04:00 +0000

The TimeRadarTrees [uni-trier.de] data visualization technique can be used to represent weighted dynamic compound digraphs, which express a sequence of directed and weighted graphs where the nodes correspond to leaves in a hierarchy.

The TimeRadarTrees approach shows the information hierarchy as a traditional node-link diagram, but in a radial style. Each graph is represented as a slice on the inner circle and corresponding slices on the smaller outer circles, which are called thumbnails. The inner circle shows the incoming edges, the thumbnails represent the outgoing edges.

The available example screenshots center around various soccer statistics.

Via Visual Complexity.

Make Money Using A Free Viral Ad Network

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:29:00 +0000

There are many ways to make money on the internet. And as far as I am concerned, multi-level viral marketing, when properly implemented can be a great way to skyrocket your income. Of course you can join programs that have a monthly fee associated, and that's fine if you have the time and the ambition to promote to friends, colleagues, even strangers.

But to me, I like those programs that you can just set and forget, and then just watch the cash start trickling in. For instance, there is an internet viral ad network called CBClicks . It is free to join, and by pasting a simple line of code into your web pages you can start to get free viral traffic to your web site. Check out for the link to join.

You will have to do a little promotion, lets say an email to your opt in list, post a banner on your website, maybe even do a google adwords campaign. But once you get a few signups, the wave will just start growing.

Imagine... Your Clickbank® Affiliate ID on Thousands of Pages All Over The World making you big money 24 hours day 7 days a week - 100% absolutely free.

This is the exact type of high powered profitable opportunity you have in front of you right now. You can never say you didn't have the chance or opportunity to succeed, as you are looking at your chance right now.

First off...

Let me ask you a question. Can you say "geometric progression"?

This one concept will instantly give you the ability to take 100% full advantage of the Internet and the power of viral marketing and use it to its full potential, while creating you a massive network of people ready willing and waiting to place your ad on their website.

Viral Marketing is the most powerful tool on the Internet
Advertising has created many dot com millionaires
People flock to anything FREE

Combine all 3 of these truths and you have a powerful system, working for you.

This System is called "CBClicks", and it is a way to get your Clickbank® Affiliate ID on thousands of web pages all over the world. Do you think if your Clickbank® Affiliate ID was literally on thousands of pages that you could make sales and earn
ccommissions? Plus... its all on 100% autopilot and free.

Here's How CBClicks Works:

You sign up at for free. All you need is a Clickbank® ID which also free.

Login to CBClicks and get your Ad Codes. Your Clickbank® ID Number is now in position #6. As you refer other people to CBClicks your ID moves up in position.

Place the Ad Code on your website either:
On the page itself.
On a popup on exit
Or a Modal Popup

Refer other people to CBClicks to build your Ad Network.
Let me give a quick example of the power of CBClicks:

You Signup to CBClicks - Your Clickbank® ID is in #6 position on your website.
You refer "John" to CBClicks - Your Clickbank® ID is in #5 position on John's website.
John refers Sue to CBClicks - Your Clickbank® ID is in #4 position on Sue's website.
Sue refers Mary to CBClicks - Your Clickbank® ID is now in #3 on Mary's website.
Mary refers Bob to CBclicks - Your Clickbank® ID is now in #2 position on Bob's website.
Bob refers Matt to CBClicks - Your Clickbank® ID is now in #1 position on Matt's website.
Position #1 is the most wanted position in the program. People seeing the ads on any page will most likely click on ad #1 before any other ad.

I won't do the numbers for you know, but if you referred just 3 people, and each of their websites received 1000 visits, then your ad would be seen hundreds of thousands of times per day.

CBClicks displays ads using Clickbank's® Marketplace. These ads are ranked in order to what sells best. So you are always showing top quality, high converting products and websites. Here's another example of a CB Market place implementation:

This one can be customized to be targetted, but CBClicks is significantly different from a Clickbank storefront. It utilizes ad targeting you specify by using a "keyword". You choose the "keyword" which best relates to the products and services on your website.

Example:

Lets say you have a site on ebooks. You would select "ebooks" as your keyword since people coming to your site are already interested in this topic. Now the ads shown in your Ad Code will be about ebooks.

These ads are the top selling ebook products from Clickbank®, so your chance of converting that lead to a sale is highly likely. When a person clicks on an ad with your Clickbank® ID and purchases a product, you earn the commissions from that
sale. This is how you make money.

The most important competition

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:06:00 +0000

The most important competition is the one between you and your own imagination
"Somebody much smarter than me once said that pessimists are usually right, optimists are usually wrong, but all the great breakthroughs in history were done by optimists." - Thomas Friedman.

Storyline:
Thomas Friedman, the author of the famous book "The World Is Flat", is a real "out of the box thinking" (OBT) practitioner. He provides excellent views about the world that should be read and pondered by any parent, teacher or manager.
Here are some excerpts with links to the complete articles:
Friedman: I’ve added something I got from my friend Ramalinga Raju from Satyam, the Indian company. We decided that the greatest economic competition in the world going forward is not going to be between countries and countries. And it’s not going to be between companies and companies. The greatest economic competition going forward is going to be between you and your own imagination. Your ability to act on your imagination is going to be so decisive in driving your future and the standard of living in your country. So the school, the state, the country that empowers, nurtures, enables imagination among its students and citizens, that’s who’s going to be the winner.
Friedman: In the latest edition, I added a whole section on why liberal arts are more important than ever. It’s not that I don’t think math and science are important. They still are. But more than ever our secret sauce comes from our ability to integrate art, science, music and literature with the hard sciences. That’s what produces an iPod revolution or a Google.
Pink: It’s the combination of the left brain and the right brain. Left-brain thinking — rule-based, linear, SAT-style thinking — used to be enough. Now right-brain thinking — artistry, empathy, narrative, synthesis — is the big differentiator.
http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=9736&snItemNumber=950&tnItemNumber=
But where does imagination come from? Ah, now we come back to the liberal arts. My friend, Marc Tucker, who heads the National Center on Education and the Economy, answers the question this way: “One thing we know about creativity,” he says, “is that it typically occurs when people who have mastered two or more quite different fields use the framework in one to think afresh about the other.” Intuitively you know this to be true. Leonardo DaVinci, Tucker notes, was a great artist, scientist, and inventor and each of his specialties nourished the other. He was a great lateral thinker but if you spend your whole life in one silo, you will never have either the knowledge or mental agility to do the synthesis, connect the dots, which is usually where the next great breakthrough can be found.
So I don’t know how many art, music, or literature courses you have been able to take while you have been here (in school) but I hope it was more than zero and I hope even more that after you leave here today you will expose yourself to the richness of liberal arts because the imagination that gives birth to great ideas, products, designs, and intellectual breakthroughs often happens when people who have mastered two or more quite different fields use the framework of one to think about the other.
http://www.rpi.edu/academics/commencement/address07.html

Reflection: For people who have taken "Out Of The Box Thinking" (OBT) classes or are involved in such practices will find Tom's message very familiar. And as we all know, the best part of learning is doing, so ...........

Source...

Project 2012: Predictions Coming True? Nuclear War Begins Soon?

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:30:00 +0000

1411 days left for Age of Transition to begin!
If the Third World War is fought with nuclear weapons, the fourth will be fought with bows and arrows. —Lord Louis Mountbatten

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. - Albert Einstein

There are prophecies and oracles from around the world that all seem to point to December 21, 2012 as doomsday /New World Age . The ancient Mayan Calendar, the medieval predictions of Merlin, the Book of Revelation and the Chinese oracle of the I Ching all point to this specific date as the end of civilization. A new technology called “The Web-Bot Project” makes massive scans of the internet as a means of forecasting the future… and has turned up the same dreaded date: 2012. Skeptics point to a long history of “Failed Doomsdays”, but many oracles of doom throughout history have a disturbingly accurate track record.

Prophesies from many traditions from all over the world over speak of a great transformative shift that is happening in the years around 2012. The Mayan calendar comes to a close on December 21st 2012. The Q’ero Shamans of Peru speak of this same timeframe in their prophecy called Pacha Kuti which is the time in which they say that the luminous ones will return and the world will be turned right side up again. The Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Cherokee, Maori, Jews, Christians and many others have ancient prophesies that speak to the nature of this very crucial and amazing moment in time. We are documenting much of this traditional knowledge and more in this research project.

Collection of important documentaries on 2012 and End of Days:

Video: End of Days and Islam - The Coming of Mehdi

Video: Nostradamus predicts 2012

Video: The Doomsday Code

Video: Esoteric Agenda - Symbolism, 2012, Mystery Religions, and Illuminati Bloodlines

Video: Decoding The Past - Doomsday 2012

Video: The 2012 Enigma by David Wilcock

Video: 2012 Where History Ends

Video: The Mayan Calendar Comes North 01 - Ian Xel Lungold


World Political Map

Many analysts and experts are now saying that something BIG is coming… Greatest Depression , rising tensions in Middle East (Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine….) and South Asia (India –Pakistan), Russia is getting stronger and making strategic moves, China silently emerging as a serious threat to the Super Powers.. all fully prepared and loaded with Nukes for a possible War! Ready to take avenges (cold wars and WW2). The World War 2 ended by the Nuclear explosions ( Hiroshima and Nagasaki ) and now experts predicting that the WW3 (The Greatest War) will start by a Nuclear attack on Israel, Iran or Pakistan… near 2012 that will transit this Age/Civilization into the New World Age on 21st Dec 2012!

The majority population in the world is not involved in politics.. they are simple, innocent and common people.. this is not the matter of any country, any nation or any religion now… not any more! If this happens, each and every being on this earth will be affected!

We have launched “Project 2012″ to research this topic and investigate the facts in the light of current global geo-political developments , astrology readings and sacred prophecies about End of days/ Age transitions and try to authenticate the possibility of a Nuclear War/ Armageddon before 2012. Considering the VERY LIMITED time left, we are also researching to understand how we can practically and quickly create low cost nuclear protection bunkers for civilians, preserve and store agri stuff, seeds, dry food, gold/silver ( start buying gold now!) and all other pertaining factors to survive after Nuclear Armageddon. Our objective is to educate people about what devastation a nuclear war could bring and how we can help each other to save ourselves from a possible attack…this is not just about 2012 prophecies .. but this makes perfect scene in the presences of thousands of nuclear and other weapons around the globe wholly for the purpose of Mass Genocide and Destruction! We will start publishing our research reports soon.

We all should gear up now and start thinking about our survival! There is no harm in keeping this thought in mind, live normal life but plan future more cleverly!

We sincerely hope that WE ARE WRONG!

Current Affairs & Relevant Research Material:

Video: Prelude to Death; The End of the World - World War III (FINAL CUT)

Video: THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

Video: Gerald Celente the 2009 Collapse

Video: Is Global World War III Coming?

Video: Zionist false flag attack to kickstart World War 3

Video: The March to Armageddon

Video: Coming Inevitable Future US Russia World War 3, Heavy Russian Army Buildup Near US Soil and Threat of Retaliation if US and Israel Attack Iran

Video: The Last War , Armageddon , The End Of The World , Hidabroot

Video: Obama = WAR in Pakistan, Military Draft

Video: Illuminati Exposed!

Dajjal Illuminati Satanism 1 of 8

Dajjal Illuminati Satanism 2 of 8

Click here to see all parts

THE THIRD WORLD WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH

Sheikh Nazim, Cyprus

Very soon there is going to be a Great War that will destroy three out of four parts; three-fourths is going to be destroyed and out of seven people, six are going to be destroyed. The most terrible and the greatest war is coming now, and that is the bridge or mediator between the small signs and big signs; when that war breaks out, the little signs are going to draw near to the big signs. The people of this world are waiting; everyone is awaiting that war, morning or evening. There is a fear on the whole world.

When that begins, finished. The big signs will follow the war, and during the war the Mahdi (alai) will say Takbir, “Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!” and will appear for Muslims, and then the great sign, the Dajjal, will come. After the second great sign, “Isa (alai) (Jesus) will come. Then three parts of this dunya will sink into the earth; then Yajuj and Majuj, then Dabbat ul-Ard. Then dukhan; this whole world is going to be covered by thick smoke; then fire; then the sun rising from the place of its setting, the West. When it is all complete Qiyamah will come.

When that begins, finished. The big signs will follow the war, and during the war the Mahdi (alai) will say Takbir, “Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!” and will appear for Muslims, and then the great sign, the Dajjal, will come. After the second great sign, “Isa (alai) (Jesus) will come. Then three parts of this dunya will sink into the earth; then Yajuj and Majuj, then Dabbat ul-Ard. Then dukhan; this whole world is going to be covered by thick smoke; then fire; then the sun rising from the place of its setting, the West. When it is all complete Qiyamah will come.

As believers of the Traditions, we believe in a Savior who will come first before Jesus. Yes. He must come before Jesus. We have this in our Traditions. His name is Muhammad al Mahdi (alai). He is coming, but his arrival will be after a Great War (Armagaddon). Our Traditions tell us that the Great War will be the last war. It will be

fought by the big powers with each other. Don’t say that Switzerland is a neutral country or Austria or Luxembourg or Sweden. No! When the storm comes, it will come from the East to the West, totally and wholly. Also from the West to the East. From the continents to the oceans and from the oceans to the continents. That must be so. Read More

An Islamic View of Gog and Magog in the Modern Age

I began my study of Gog and Magog more than fifteen years ago in the early 90’s while resident in New York. My subsequent public lectures on the subject never failed to provoke keen interest from my Muslim audiences in several parts of the world. The evidence and arguments presented in the chapter on Gog and Magog in my book, ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an’, succeeded in convincing many who read the book that we now live in a world dominated by Gog and Magog. They were easily convinced that the ‘town’ mentioned in the Qur’ān in Sūrah al-Anbiyāh’ (21:95-6) was Jerusalem and hence, that Gog and Magog (and Dajjāl) explained the ominously unfolding ‘war on Islam’ with slaughter and destruction of Muslims in so many parts of the world. As a consequence, such readers also understood Israel’s mysterious imperial agenda, and many have been making efforts to extricate themselves and their families from the embrace of Gog and Magog – an embrace that will take 999 out of every 1000 of mankind into the hellfire.Despite my best efforts, however, I failed miserably, again and again, to convince my learned peers, the scholars of Islam, that Gog and Magog were even released into the world. I earnestly hope and pray that this book might make a difference Insha’ Allah.Download Ebook ( PDF 1.4MB )

Israeli Professor:’We Could Destroy All European Capitals’

By Nadim Ladki

(IAP News) — An Israeli professor and military historian hinted that Israel could avenge the holocaust by annihilating millions of Germans and other Europeans.

Speaking during an interview which was published in Jerusalem Friday, Professor Martin Van Creveld said Israel had the capability of hitting most European capitals with nuclear weapons.

“We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets of our air force.”

Creveld, a professor of military history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, pointed out that “collective deportation” was Israel’s only meaningful strategy towards the Palestinian people.

“The Palestinians should all be deported. The people who strive for this (the Israeli government) are waiting only for the right man and the right time. Two years ago, only 7 or 8 per cent of Israelis were of the opinion that this would be the best solution, two months ago it was 33 per cent, and now, according to a Gallup poll, the figure is 44 percent.”

Creveld said he was sure that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wanted to deport the Palestinians.

“I think it’s quite possible that he wants to do that. He wants to escalate the conflict. He knows that nothing else we do will succeed.”

Asked if he was worried about Israel becoming a rogue state if it carried out a genocidal deportation against Palestinians, Creveld quoted former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan who said “Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.”

Creveld argued that Israel wouldn’t care much about becoming a rogue state.

“Our armed forces are not the thirtieth strongest in the world, but rather the second or third. We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that this will happen before Israel goes under.”

Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP)

http://www.iap.org

The following was predicted by Nostradamus in 1555 about World War 3 - End of Days which is strangely linked with what the Prof. Creveld trying to convey above:

Crazed leader launches nuclear bombs on Mediterranean and Europe

http://www.nostradamusonline.com/sample_chapter.php

(Century II, Quatrains 3 and 4)

During a period of continuing unrest, the leader of a Middle Eastern country will be able to obtain a nuclear weapon. He will go to the greatest lengths over the smallest things and will not hesitate to use the weapon because of his obsessions with deadly warfare. The people he is warring against retaliate with a nuclear weapon. The country has a coast on the Mediterranean.

One of the bombs will land in the Mediterranean instead of the land, poisoning all the fish. The passages of trade in the region will be disrupted so that the people on the other coast will be desperate for food and will eat the fish anyway. It will happen near the east coast of the Mediterranean in a region of dark-colored cliffs.

(Century III, Quatrain 83)

The nuclear weapon being dropped by one of the Middle Eastern countries will spark off yet another war on top of that war. European nations will try to interfere to diminish the threat to oil supplies. When the European countries try to interfere, the crazed leader will use the rest of his arsenal on Europe, most striking the Italian Peninsula.

The European Mediterranean coast, particularly that of Italy and France, will be almost uninhabitable, and Italy will get the brunt. This leader is not the Antichrist but helps to set the stage for the Antichrist to rise to power with little or no opposition.

Learn more about Nostradamus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostradamus

Trend Alert: Deadliest False Flag Terror Attack Soon!

Recently, a deadliest terror attack on Christianity’s holiest site has been predicted by a former Israeli prime minister who also predicted 9/11 attack in 1995. This terror attack, if happened, will cause a deadliest conflict between Christians and Muslims while Zionist Jews would be grinning and watching the destruction of their two biggest historically religious enemies. It seems that now things are moving very fast towards final religious showdown which could spark the last world war /Armageddon!

Benjamin Netanyahu, the favorite to win the upcoming Israeli election, says al Qaeda terrorists will destroy Jesus Christ’s burial site. Netanyahu, who claims he had predicted an Islamic extremists attack on the World Trade Center six years before the actual attack, said terrorists will target Church of the Holy Sepulchre also known as the Church of the Resurrection - Christianity’s holiest site.

“This will incur a chain reaction we can’t even envision. We will witness an escalation of religious conflict above and beyond the regional conflict we have now,” Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying. Read full article here

Zionist Israel has very dangerous plans for the world. It is acting like a “mad dog, too dangerous to bother”. The world recently witnessed cold-blooded Gaza massacre by Israel and the level of atrocities have no examples in the modern world. See Gaza massacre pictures here

Israel’s refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its nuclear weapons program should be the cause of serious concern for the world. Israel refuses to admit it has nuclear weapons or to describe how it would use them, an official policy of nuclear ambiguity, also known as “nuclear opacity.” This has made it difficult for anyone outside the Israeli government to definitively describe its true nuclear policy, while still allowing Israel to influence the perceptions, strategies and actions of other governments. As early as 1976, the CIA believed that Israel possessed 10 to 20 nuclear weapons. By 2002 it was estimated that the number had increased to between 75 and 200 nuclear weapons.Kenneth S. Brower has estimated as many as 400 nuclear weapons. These can be launched from land, sea and air. This gives Israel a second strike option even if much of the country is destroyed. See “SAMSON OPTION” ISRAELI NUCLEAR THREATS AND BLACKMAIL

Lately an Israeli Professor said in an interview said that Israel had the capability of hitting most European capitals with nuclear weapons. “We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets of our air force.” Said Professor Martin Van Creveld. Read full article

In the doomsday scenario of Israeli’s Samson Option, Israel would use its nuclear weapons against its enemies in the world, turning the region into irradiated wastelands.

Gerald Celente, the world leader in trend forecasting, forecasts that major trends are brewing that if not quickly corrected or stanched, will lead to disaster, citing fears among Israel’s neighbors that they could be the next victims. An attack on Iran by either Israel or the US will spark the onset of World War III, predicts Celente. Read full article

Majority of the world now believe that 9/11 was an inside job to push Zionist neocons agenda. Al Qaeda is nothing but a propaganda machine that is being used followed by false flag terror attacks to invade nations, implant puppet governments, sabotage rising world powers, take geo-strategic military controls and capture natural resources. This is the design of the final game plan being executed for One world Government/New World Order. In addition to the on going wars in Middle East and Asia, the 21st Century’s economic decline is under process and the ripple effects are yet to be seen. The economy gurus are forecasting blockage of global cash flow cycles, food crises, riots and world wide civil anguish by the end of 2009.

It is not hard to see that we are heading towards toughest times, we all should be prepared for the worst to come!


Israel’s nuclear arsenal ready to fire!

Video: Israeli Australian Ambassador Slips Up - Iran War this year!

After ordering a cameraman to turn off his camera, Israeli Ambassador to Australia Yuval Rotem engaged in a very frank discussion about the recent Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, calling it “a preintroduction” to an attack on Iran that Israel apparently expects within the year.

Before the camera was turned off, Ambassador Rotem said “the best thing to do is to have a very open dialogue if there are no reporters or journalists here,” adding “I am far more reserved in the way I am saying my things (on camera).” Unbeknownst to him however Sarah Cummings, a reporter for Australia’s Seven News service, was actually in attendance at the meeting after having been “accidentally” invited.

Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran, and while its officials have repeatedly attempted to tie the Iranian government to its war on the Gaza Strip this is the first time one of their officials has publicly (if inadvertently so) suggested that the attack on the strip was a warm-up to its long talked about attack on Iran.

Relevant Read:

Updated: THE THIRD WORLD WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH

Trend Alert: Deadliest False Flag Terror Attack Soon!

Trend Alert: Israel War To Ignite World War III

Video: Israeli Australian Ambassador Slips Up - Iran War this year!

Israeli nukes threaten world

The Post-Gaza World

Israeli Professor:’We Could Destroy All European Capitals’

Israeli warlord vows face-off with Iran

US Warships to steel Israel for New War!

Obama ‘will give green light for Iran war’

US-Russia tensions escalate over closure of Afghan supply base

Moscow Reacts to US Buildup in Afghanistan

Video: George W Bush Threatens World War 3

Israel Warns World War III May be Biblical War of Gog and Magog



By Zverejnil Hezy Mordehaev

October 27, 2007

US President George W. Bush said a nuclear Iran would mean World War III. Israeli newscasts featured Gog & Magog maps of the likely alignment of nations in that potential conflict.

Channel 2 and Channel 10 TV showed the world map, sketching the basic alignment of the two opposing axes in a coming world war, in a manner evoking associations of the Gog and Magog prophecy for many viewers. The prophecy of Gog and Magog refers to a great world war centered on the Holy Land and Jerusalem and first appears in the book of Yechezkel (Ezekiel).

On one side were Israel, the United States, Britain, France and Germany. On the other were Iran, Russia, China, Syria and North Korea.

US President Bush said Wednesday during a press conference that Iran attaining nuclear weapons raises the risk of “World War III.”

“If Iran had a nuclear weapon, it’d be a dangerous threat to world peace,” Bush said. “So I told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested [in preventing a nuclear Iran]…I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously.” Read more

Bush and Putin suggest potential for World War III

Saturday, October 20, 2007



George W.Bush and Vladimir Putin

United States President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been in a war of words this week, with Bush suggesting that the Iranian nuclear program could be the lynchpin for launching World War III.

“So I’ve told people that, if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon” and “we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. My intent is to continue to rally the world, to send a focused signal to the Iranian government that we will continue to work to isolate you in the hopes that at some point somebody else shows up and says it’s not worth the isolation,” said Bush during a press conference.

The Tehran Times responded to Bush reporting that “either Bush has gone totally mad and now makes statements without consulting his advisors, or the neo-conservatives are dreaming of a new world order and no longer feel compelled to hide their goal and U.S. officials should put a muzzle on Bush to prevent him from giving people the impression that the United States is the main threat to world peace.” Read more

Zionist Neocon Plans for the World:


Click on image to see larger version

World War III

From Wikipedia

World War III (also WWIII, or Third World War) denotes a successor to World War II (1939–1945) that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would likely be nuclear and devastating in nature.

In the wake of World War I, World War II, the commencement of the Cold War and the development, testing and use of nuclear weapons, there was early widespread speculation as to the next global war.

This war was anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities, and explored in fiction in many countries. Concepts ranged from limited use of atomic weapons, to destruction of the planet.

In a 2006 interview, US President George W. Bush labeled the ongoing War on Terror as “World War III”.

Historical close calls

Before the end of the Second World War, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill expressed concern that given the enormous size of Soviet forces deployed in Europe at the end of the war, and the perception that the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was unreliable, there existed a Soviet threat to Western Europe. In April-May 1945, British Armed Forces developed Operation Unthinkable; its primary goal was “to impose upon Russia the will of the United States and the British Empire.”^[6] However, the plan was rejected by the British Chiefs of Staff Committee as militarily unfeasible.

With the development of the arms race, before the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War, an apocalyptic war between the United States and the Soviet Union was considered plausible. The Doomsday Clock has served as a symbol of historic World War III close calls since the Truman Doctrine went into effect in 1947. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 is generally thought to be the historical point at which the risk of World War III was closest. Other potential starts have included the following:

1948
Berlin Blockade. Soviet military forces stopped all commerce into West Berlin which caused a humanitarian and political crisis. In response, Western allies sent in air lifts to supply West Berlin.
August 29, 1949
Soviet Union successfully conducted tests with nation’s first atomic bomb, RDS-1.
1950–1953
Korean War. General MacArthur planned to invade and bomb China to eliminate the threat of communism in eastern Asia.
August 12, 1953
Soviet Union successfully conducts tests of nation’s first hydrogen bomb, Joe-4.
July 26, 1956 – March, 1957
Suez Crisis: The conflict pitted Egypt against an alliance between France, the United Kingdom and Israel. When the USSR threatened to intervene on behalf of Egypt, the Canadian Ambassador to the UN Lester B. Pearson feared a larger war and urged the British and French to withdraw. The Eisenhower administration, also fearing a wider war, applied pressure to the United Kingdom to withdraw, including a threat to create a currency crisis by dumping US holdings of British debt. Lester B. Pearson later received a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
June 4 – November 9, 1961
Berlin Crisis of 1961.
October 15 – October 28, 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis: The conflict pitted the United States against an alliance between the USSR and Cuba. The USSR was attempting to place several launch sites in Cuba in response to the United States installation of missiles in Turkey. The United States response included dispersal of Strategic Air Command (SAC) bombers to civilian airfields around the United States and war games in which the United States Marine Corps landed against a dictator named “ORTSAC” (Castro spelt backwards). For a brief while, the U.S. military went to DEFCON 3, while SAC went to DEFCON 2. The crisis peaked on October 27, when a U-2 (piloted by Rudolph Anderson) was shot down over Cuba and another U-2 over the USSR was almost intercepted when it strayed over Siberia, after Curtis LeMay (U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff) had neglected to enforce Presidential orders to suspend all overflights.

Juliana Redding Murder

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:36:00 +0000

Juliana Redding was 21, an aspiring actress and model who, like so many others before her, had moved from Arizona to southern California in pursuit of the Hollywood dream. She wound up the victim in a real life murder mystery — one few people are willing to talk about in any detail.
By the age of 18, Redding had earned her first film credit, appearing in a 2005 independent film called “Kathy T Gives Good Hoover,” about college students and the graffiti culture.

In 2006, she moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica, California, with her pet Yorkshire terrier.

She was also taking college courses while working part-time in a trendy Venice Beach bar.

Friends grew worried in March when they couldn’t reach Redding for a few days. They called her mother in Redding’s hometown of Tucson, Arizona. Her mother called the Santa Monica police.

Police found Redding dead inside her apartment. “The manner of death is homicide,” said Sgt. Rinaldi Thruston of the Santa Monica Police Department.

Although there are unconfirmed reports that the cause of death was blunt force trauma, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office denies that. “Those media reports are not accurate. The cause of death was not blunt force trauma. The file has been sealed by police, so we cannot disclose the actual cause of death.”

Police also would not disclose whether a weapon was used or whether Redding’s apartment had been broken into, which would give clues as to whether she knew her assailant and opened the door for him or her.

Thruston also refused to say whether Redding had been sexually assaulted.

“We have made no arrests in this case nor do we have any suspects or persons of interest at this time,” Thruston said.

He said police have collected evidence from the crime scene that could link a potential suspect to the crime. Police are hoping they will continue to get tips and leads from the public.

According to friends, Redding had been dating another actor for two years and they had broken up about six months before her slaying, but remained friends.

It is unclear whether she had a new boyfriend, but police have been interviewing all of Redding’s known friends and neighbors.

“We believe the police are doing what they can to solve this case, but we really prefer no media attention,” her mother said.

Early in the investigation, there were reports of blood found on the sidewalk or wall outside Redding’s apartment.

Police will not comment on the forensic results of that blood or any specific evidence at the crime scene. They also will not reveal whether any of Redding’s neighbors heard screams or other sounds of a struggle.

At this point, there are more questions than answers.
If anyone has any information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for Juliana Redding’s death, please call the Santa Monica Police Department tip line at (310) 458-8449.

ROBERT STANFORD ACCUSED OF `MASSIVE FRAUD’ BY SEC

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:00:00 +0000
Washington, D.C., Feb. 17, 2009 - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Robert Allen Stanford and three of his companies for orchestrating a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme centering on an $8 billion CD program.

Stanford’s companies include Antiguan-based Stanford International Bank (SIB), Houston-based broker-dealer and investment adviser Stanford Group Company (SGC), and investment adviser Stanford Capital Management. The SEC also charged SIB chief financial officer James Davis as well as Laura Pendergest-Holt, chief investment officer of Stanford Financial Group (SFG), in the enforcement action.

Pursuant to the SEC’s request for emergency relief for the benefit of defrauded investors, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor entered a temporary restraining order, froze the defendants’ assets, and appointed a receiver to marshal those assets.

“As we allege in our complaint, Stanford and the close circle of family and friends with whom he runs his businesses perpetrated a massive fraud based on false promises and fabricated historical return data to prey on investors,” said Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “We are moving quickly and decisively in this enforcement action to stop this fraudulent conduct and preserve assets for investors.”

Rose Romero, Regional Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, added, “We are alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude that has spread its tentacles throughout the world.”

The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges that acting through a network of SGC financial advisers, SIB has sold approximately $8 billion of so-called “certificates of deposit” to investors by promising improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates. These rates were supposedly earned through SIB’s unique investment strategy, which purportedly allowed the bank to achieve double-digit returns on its investments for the past 15 years.

According to the SEC’s complaint, the defendants have misrepresented to CD purchasers that their deposits are safe, falsely claiming that the bank re-invests client funds primarily in “liquid” financial instruments (the portfolio); monitors the portfolio through a team of 20-plus analysts; and is subject to yearly audits by Antiguan regulators. Recently, as the market absorbed the news of Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme, SIB attempted to calm its own investors by falsely claiming the bank has no “direct or indirect” exposure to the Madoff scheme.

According to the SEC’s complaint, SIB is operated by a close circle of Stanford’s family and friends. SIB’s investment committee, responsible for the management of the bank’s multi-billion dollar portfolio of assets, is comprised of Stanford; Stanford’s father who resides in Mexia, Texas; another Mexia resident with business experience in cattle ranching and car sales; Pendergest-Holt, who prior to joining SFG had no financial services or securities industry experience; and Davis, who was Stanford’s college roommate.

The SEC’s complaint also alleges an additional scheme relating to $1.2 billion in sales by SGC advisers of a proprietary mutual fund wrap program, called Stanford Allocation Strategy (SAS), by using materially false historical performance data. According to the complaint, the false data helped SGC grow the SAS program from less than $10 million in 2004 to more than $1 billion, generating fees for SGC (and ultimately Stanford) of approximately $25 million in 2007 and 2008. The fraudulent SAS performance was used to recruit registered investment advisers with significant books of business, who were then heavily incentivized to reallocate their clients’ assets to SIB’s CD program.

The SEC’s complaint charges violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act, and registration provisions of the Investment Company Act. In addition to emergency and interim relief that has been obtained, the SEC seeks a final judgment permanently enjoining the defendants from future violations of the relevant provisions of the federal securities laws and ordering them to pay financial penalties and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest.

The Commission acknowledges the assistance and cooperation of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in connection with this matter. FINRA independently developed information through its examination and investigative processes that contributed significantly to the filing of this enforcement action.

The SEC’s investigation is continuing.

Adobe: Full Flash coming to smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:23:00 +0000

The GSMA World Mobile Congress, which is being held in Barcelona this week, is sure to be packed with lots of surprises from the different mobile manufacturers and their partners and one of the first announcements to come from the event is that Adobe will be bringing the full PC version of its Flash player to most smartphones from 2010.

Flash Player 10 will work with smartphones including Google's Android, those running Nokia's Symbian OS and Windows Mobile, as well as the newer Palm OS smartphones.
Unfortunately, and not so unexpectedly, Flash Player 10 will not be on Apple's iPhone.
According to Cnet News, Murarka, director of Technology Strategy and Partner Development for Adobe said: "We would love to see it on the iPhone, too.
"But it's Apple's decision on when and how they support any new technology. So we will continue to work on it."
Currently many smartphones use Flash Lite, made especially for the mobile platform to play rich media content from site like YouTube.
By Marie Boran

Miracle Fruit | Miracle Berry | Magic Berry | Flavour Berry | Miraculous Berry

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 09:18:00 +0000

The Miracle Fruit plant Synsepalum dulcificum produces berries that when eaten first causes sour foods like lemons, oranges and limes to taste sweet. The berry, also known as Miracle Berry, Magic Berry, Miraculous Berry or Flavour Berry. It was first documented by explorer Chevalier des Marchais who searched for many different fruits during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa.

It contains a molecule called miraculin that binds to the tongue’s taste buds, causing sour foods to taste sweet. It is now being told to be a hope to fight against obesity, I hope so.

Doodle 4 Google — tell us what you wish for the world

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Google Official PR here:

Today, we're announcing our second annual Doodle 4 Google contest in the U.S. Google doodles are the special "dressed-up" logos we run on our homepage for holidays and other events, and Doodle 4 Google is an opportunity for one child to have his/her artwork displayed on our homepage as a doodle for hundreds of millions of people to see. This year's theme is "What I Wish for the World," as we really want to tap into not only children's creativity but also what they want their future to look like.

We're very excited this year to be partnering with the Smithsonian's, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Since Cooper-Hewitt is focused on design and education and fostering the brightest design minds of tomorrow, they were a natural partner for Doodle 4 Google. Their partnership also means that this year's prizes not only include having your artwork on the Google homepage for a day, a college scholarship, and a technology grant for your school, but also having your work (and that of all 40 finalists) exhibited at a Smithsonian museum!

Most of this year's contest remains the same as last year's. (For inspiration, you can see Grace Moon's beautiful winning doodle "Up In the Clouds" in our Doodle Gallery). However, there are a few changes. First, we've increased the college scholarship prize for the national winner to $15,000. We've also added a $10,000 prize for the school district that submits the most high-quality entries. Finally, in partnership with Cooper-Hewitt, we'll be celebrating the 40 finalists and announcing the national winner in New York City, to coincide with the opening of the exhibit. Please visit the official competition website for a full listing of all contest rules and requirements.

Only students from registered schools can enter, so teachers, if you want to participate please register your school by March 17, 2009. All doodles must be submitted by March 31, 2009.

Google Latitude Makes It Easy To Stalk Friends

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:30:00 +0000

Next time you are in the neighborhood you may not be able to avoid getting drinks or a coffee with someone you have been promising for a while.

Google has launched a new feature in Google Maps called Latitude that allows users to share their location with friends and family. The service won't pinpoint the exact location but it offers a good idea of where your friends are, says Google.

Location aware services are becoming increasingly popular among smartphone users. For instance iPhone users can download Loopt, a map sharing application for cellphones that pretty much works along the same lines as Google Latitude.

Google users have to opt in to use the Latitude feature and invite friends to join. If accepted, users can spot friends in the same neighborhood through the maps and text, IM or email them.

Naturally, all this raises questions about privacy. Google says it has plenty of settings in its latest feature to take care of privacy concerns. Once you've shared your location, you can hide it from individual friends or all of your friends at once, says Google. Users can also turn off Google Latitude completely at any time.

Google Latitude is available for Android phones, the iPhone and iPod Touch, most color BlackBerry phones, Windows Mobile and Symbian users.

Groundhog Day 2009 Preview

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:06:00 +0000

Monday February 2nd is Groundhog day, and here are some facts about Punxsutawney Phil and Groundhog Day you should know.

WHO IS PHIL?:Punxsutawney Phil has been making weather prognostications every Feb. 2 in Punxsutawney, Pa., since 1886.

THE ORIGINS: Groundhog Day grew out of what had essentially been a German superstition. German settlers brought with them the idea that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow Feb. 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says spring will come early.

WHERE IT HAPPENS: Punxsutawney is a town of about 6,100 people located about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

MORE INFORMATION: http://www.groundhog.org/

WATCH PHIL LIVE?
You can have a front-row seat to see the celebration of Groundhog Day with Punxsutawney Phil without leaving home.

The Pennsylvania Tourism Office is offering a web cast from Gobbler’s Knob so you can see if Phil feels lucky live from your computer. Users will be able to control three cameras so they can zoom and pan over the action.

Go to the tourism office’s website for live pictures as well as the history of Groundhog Day and how it evolved from its European roots.

Live footage of Phil’s appearance will be show beginning at 7 a.m.

Yahoo! Added IM and SMS to Classic Mail

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:03:00 +0000
Yahoo! team integrated IM and SMS to Yahoo! Mail Classic worldwide. Already a popular feature in the new Yahoo! Mail, Classic Mail users can now instant message or SMS a friend right from the Mail interface.

When you sign into Mail Classic, your IM contact list will appear on the left hand sidebar below your main folder list. Once you click a contact and start a conversation, a window pops up in the lower right corner of your Mail Classic page. The conversation window includes a tabbed interface so you can have multiple conversations at once without cluttering up your Mail page.

Within your contact list window you’ll see two groups: online contacts and mobile contacts. Online contacts are available friends that are in your Mail address book or your existing Yahoo! Messenger list (including Windows Live Messenger contacts). Mobile contacts are friends in your address book for whom you have a mobile phone number. You'll be able to send a free SMS text message to your mobile contacts.

Screenshot of Chat on Classic Mail :

Yahoo! Added IM and SMS to Classic Mail

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:03:00 +0000
Yahoo! team integrated IM and SMS to Yahoo! Mail Classic worldwide. Already a popular feature in the new Yahoo! Mail, Classic Mail users can now instant message or SMS a friend right from the Mail interface.

When you sign into Mail Classic, your IM contact list will appear on the left hand sidebar below your main folder list. Once you click a contact and start a conversation, a window pops up in the lower right corner of your Mail Classic page. The conversation window includes a tabbed interface so you can have multiple conversations at once without cluttering up your Mail page.

Within your contact list window you’ll see two groups: online contacts and mobile contacts. Online contacts are available friends that are in your Mail address book or your existing Yahoo! Messenger list (including Windows Live Messenger contacts). Mobile contacts are friends in your address book for whom you have a mobile phone number. You'll be able to send a free SMS text message to your mobile contacts.

Screenshot of Chat on Classic Mail :

Google Flags Entire Internet as Malware

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:39:00 +0000

Sometime late Friday/ early Saturday morning, Google flagged the ENTIRE internet as malware. Had you been awake and Googled anything during this time FROM ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET, every result would have included a link that said "This site may harm your computer".

Everything appears to be back to normal now, so feel free to go back to Google image searching all of the tentatcle porn you can eat again, just make sure your Mom doesn't walk in on you again. That last time was AWKWARD.

Sailing in the Northern Dodecanese Islands

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:19:00 +0000
The Dodecanese is a complex of over 163 islands and islets, set in the Aegean Sea, of which only 26 are inhabited. The islands form part of Greece's eastern border with Turkey. The largest islands of the Dodecanese are: Rhodes, Kos, Astipalea, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kassos, Kastelorizo, Leros, Nisyros, Patmos, Symi and Tilos.

In the summer the prevailing wind is the Meltemi that blows from the N � NW. It blows from June through to October and at its peak may reach a force 7. The spring and autumn sees winds from the SE, usually with strengths between 2 � 4. Summer temperatures can rise to 35 deg C. The winters are mild.

The Dodecanese have been inhabited since prehistoric times. They were ruled first by the Minoans and then the Achaeans. But their economic and intellectual development began with the arrival of the Dorians in 1100. Kos prospered in the 4th and the 3rd century BC because of the School of Medicine founded there by Hippocrates. The Romans occupied the islands in 146 BC to be followed by the long Byzantine period till the time of the Crusaders. In 1309 the Knights of the Order of Saint John became the rulers of Rhodes and then extended their sovereignty to the other islands as well. In 1522 the islands fell to the Turks and in 1912 by the Italians. The islands of Dodecanese were united with Greece in 1948.

Patmos is in the north of the Dodecanese. Skala Patmos is the natural harbour on the eastern side of the island. Care is needed when approaching Skala, as there are several reefs. When the Meltemi is blowing the approach is subject to fierce gusts off the surrounding high land. Yachts can go bow or stern to the quay. The bottom is sand and weed and holding is good. There is reasonable shelter from the Meltemi but strong SE winds make the harbour untenable. Water is available on the quay and fuel can be delivered. Most provisions ca be obtained at Skala and there are good waterfront tavernas.
A visit to the monastery of St John is worthwhile but appropriate dress should be worn. Other anchorages on Patmos include: Ormos Meloyi, Ormos Livadhi, Ormos Kambos, Ormos Stavros and Ormos Grikou.

Arki lies 6 miles to the NE of Patmos. Yachts can anchor at Port Augusta. The bottom is good holding in mud and weed and the shelter is good. The only facilities are a couple of tavernas on the waterfront.

Nisos Lipso lies 2 miles to the S of Arki. There is a small harbour at the village of Lipso. Yachts can go bow or stern to the quay on the W side. Alternatively anchor of in the bay. The bottom is sand, mud and weed and the holding is bad. Water and fuel are available on the quay. Most provisions can be obtained in the village and there are several good tavernas on the waterfront serving fresh fish. The village is attractive and unspoilt by tourism. There are several bays on the south coast that yachts can anchor in.

Nisis Gaidharos is the northern most of the Dodecanese and lies only 8 miles of the Turkish coast. Ay Yeoryiou lies on the south coat of Gaidharos. Yachts can go bow or stern to the northern part of the ferry quay. Holding is good as I shelter from the Meltemi but strong southerlies make the harbour untenable. Provisions are limited and there are 3 tavernas.

Leros lies just to the north of Kalimnos. The island has spring water and parts of Leros are wooded and green. Lakki is in the SW of the island. Yachts can go bow or stern to in the marina and pick up a laid mooring line. There is water and electric at every berth. Most provisions can be obtained and there are tavernas nearby.

Ormos Parhteni is a large bay on the coast of Leros. Yachts can anchor in the eastern end of the bay. The south coast is a military installation and yachts are prohibited, as is photography of any part of the bay.

Ormos Alindas is a deep bay on the eastern coast. In the absence of a northerly wind yachts can go bow or stern to the mole. Alternatively anchor off on the western side of the pier. There is water near the quay and fuel in the village. Most provisions can be obtained and there are some tavernas on the waterfront.

Pandeli lies to the south of Ormos Alindas. Yachts can go bow or stern to the outer part of the mole or alternatively anchor off the beach. Good holding on a bottom of sand and weed. There is water on the quay and fuel can be delivered. Some provisions can be obtained but Platanos, a 15 minute walk away, provides better shopping. The setting is most attractive with bougainvillea, oleander and tamarisk growing everywhere in the village.

Kalimnos lies just to the south of Leros. It is in the main a barren island though there are some green valleys.

Pothia is the capital and is the centre of what remains of Greece's sponge fishing industry. Although most of the sponges are now taken from the North African coast. Yachts can go bow or stern to the quay in the SW just N of the ferry quay. The bottom in mud and weed and the holding is only moderate. There is good shelter from the Meltemi. There is water on the quay and fuel can be delivered. All provisions can be obtained and there are plenty of tavernas to choose from.

Vathi lies on the eastern side of Kalimnos. Yachts can go bow to the pier or the quay. The bottom is sand and weed and provides good holding. There is water on the quay and limited provisions can be obtained in the small village. The valley inland is very attractive with orange and lemon groves.

Pserimos is a small island just to the E of Kalimnos. Pserimos village is on the SW side. Yachts should anchor of where convenient. There are tavernas on what is a fine beach. This attracts tripper boats from the surrounding islands and the place gets packed in the summer.

Offline Business Promotion Tips

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:19:00 +0000

Even though the abundance of opportunities for promoting a business online can make it seem like online marketing is the only way, using offline methods for promoting a business can be a very important and effective way to increase your bottom line.
The point of all of your marketing efforts is to make money. Am I right? It goes without saying that to make money with your business you first need to have your act together in having the right message for your target audience and being able to convey that message to your target audience. OK, so where do you find your audience? Do you really think your target audience does nothing more than look at a computer?
Think about your daily activities and the offline business promotion ideas will surge quicker than Michael Phelps swimming laps. When you woke up in the morning and were getting ready for work, I'm pretty sure you were drinking coffee, juice, or some other beverage. Mugs can be printed with a business logo, website, slogan that your potential customer can have in front of them. The message on a mug can be seen up to 10 times a day, meaning that a $5 mug gets a Cost per Impression of less than three-fifths of 1 cent throughout its one to two year lifespan. People will see your message whenever they're thirsty. And how often do people get thirsty? Hmmmm....
Moving along in your morning, odds are you're one of the millions who drove to work today. As you're puttering along in traffic, the idiot who just cut you off has some bumper sticker about the pride he has in his honor student. Bumper stickers are a great way to get someone's attention while they are driving. Yes Virginia, even though we may one day make personal loans to buy gas, millions of drivers times millions of bumpers make millions of chances to get your message out this way.
Now you're at work. Called into yet ANOTHER meeting, you're scribbling away furiously. Pens are used at some point in time by practically everyone who communicates. These pens can have your company information on them, which would be seen over and over and over. Plus, pens are cheap so you can get more bang for your buck.
And, lest I forget, what about your schedule? Do you have time for that meeting next week? You'd better check your calendar. Calendars are used all year, every year. They are referred to several times daily, which means potential customers can see your message often. Assuming that someone looks at a calendar three times daily, a $3 calendar brings the cost per impression to $.002 cents! Calendars are a necessity and make great Christmas Gifts. Here's the real kicker. A same size ad in the yellow pages costs $4,000 a month or $50,000 a year.
Moving along to your ride home, you are heading out of the office and while carrying some extra work to bring home, your keys fall on the ground. Key chains are another commonly used item that you can place a business message on to advertise yourself or your business. Key chains go everywhere and are seen an average of 10 times a day and have a marketing life of five years which means 18,250 impressions for a $2.00 key chain. This equates to a cost of .00010. Advertising doesn't get any better than this.
I've given a few offline business promotion methods here. This certainly is not the entire list - I encourage you to expand your business promotion horizons beyond the rectangular shaped screen you're looking at now. The offline world of promotion provides an array of opportunities that you may be missing.

Aston Martin One-77 - More Details, More Image

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:39:00 +0000

In the primeval days of August 2008, we armed you with a response if anyone were to ever ask you what you’d buy instead of a Maybach: Aston Martin’s £1,000,000 (AU$2,227,215) One-77 supercar.
A couple of new images, and a wee bit more detail, has since emerged. The inside word is that we should expect to see the One-77 loaded with a 7.3 litre V12, shoving 522kW out the back and you into your seat with 750Nm of torque. All of that power will be put down courtesy of a mid-mounted six-speed semi-automatic manual transmission, with Auto Shift Manual (which means you can’t blow it up as easily) and Select Shift Manual.

The two-seater One-77 will be available in both left- and right-hand-drive (hallelujah!), and, to make the most of the phenomenal power, the body panels will be crafted by hand from the finest aluminium, and the monocoque frame from carbon fibre. This will help the supercar maintain a respectable 1496kg.
Other neat features include a deployable rear spoiler (no word on whether you’ll need a Veyron-like key to activate the function), adaptive suspension, carbon ceramic brakes (of course), as well as stability/traction control.
Only 77 units of the One-77 will be offered.

Most Wanted Boys Halloween Costumes

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:31:00 +0000

Boys Costumes are also strongly influenced by television programmes this year,with one cartoon character taking 3 of the top 5 places, and the other 2 places also being TV characters boys are easily pleased this year.

Number 5

The Incredibles cartoons and movies are popular with most boys and girls and a lot of boys this year will dress up as Dash, this costume is popular with boys from aged 4 to aged 10.

Number 4

Is the first of the boys costumes to come from the popular cartoon Ben10, The Ben Tennison costume means that boys can dress up like their hero this year, maybe they will see off a couple of aliens as they go trick or treating this year.

There is an added bonus with the ben10 costume, Without the sneakers the costume becomes a pair of pyjama's.

Number 3

This costume although not from television, comes from one of the most popular films this year Wall-E The lovable robot is now available as a Halloween costume and it is just as popular as the movie itself.

Number 2

Back to the Ben10 cartoon for this favoured boys costume, Heatblast isn't only a favorite character on the cartoon but pardon the pun the costume is also hot hot hot.

Number 1

As the most popular character from the Ben10 series it comes as no surprise that it is also the best selling halloween costume this year, Four Arms is the costume most boys want to wear this year.

5 Most Wanted Mens Halloween Costumes

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:31:00 +0000

Men are creatures of habit and can wear the same costume year after year, but this year is different and sales of mens costumes have increased rapidly fun seems to be the theme for men this year as the are dressing up as some very zany characters.

Number 5

The Genie of the lamp, we wont go into too much detail about this costume as it is a little rude, lets just say that apart from raising some eyebrows wearing this costume will certainly get you noticed this halloween and be warned there will be a lot of inuendo flying around if you choose to wear this to your Halloween party.

Number 4

The movie has been around for some time now but the edward scissorhands costume is still as popular this year as it ever was, it is cutting up the opposition, and should be considered a classic Halloween costume.

Number 3

Hippie dude a throwback from the sixties is very popular amongst the men this year and are becoming more and more difficult to find in the stores, wearing this costume to a halloween party will have you chilled out and swinging all night.

Number 2

It takes a braver man than me to even consider wearing this costume, yes it is fun and you would get some funny looks all night especially if you were standing in a dark corner. count dracula has always been popular at this time of year but his blow up friend will turn a few heads (no pun intended).

Number 1

The simpsons characters have been popular at Halloween for many years now and this year is no exception, the number one character costume for men this year is Krusty the green haired clown,expect to see a lot of clowns this year at halloween as he is out selling any other costume by 3-1.

Most Wanted Girls Halloween Costumes

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:31:00 +0000

This years Girls are heavily influenced by television with four out of the top five selling costumes coming from their favourite TV shows, which leads us nicely to our list.

Number 5

On this years top selling girls costumes list, High School Musical and High School Musical 2 have given girls a new Heroine to look up to and aspire to be, Gabriella is a big favourite amongst girls of all ages and the Gabriella costumes are flying off the shelves.

Number 4

Hannah Montanna, was a hit last Halloween and the costumes are still selling like hot cakes this year hence the number 4 position, this T.V character is a popular figure for girls from 4-16 and I am sure this costume will be featured in the top 5 next year.

Number 3

Going away from T.V for this one the little Princess costume, has always been popular amongst younger girls and at number 3 this year is no exception.

Number 2

Back to television and surprisingly a lot of girls this year want to be a male character this character is yellow square wears brown shorts and lives in a pineapple under the see, yes it's Sponge bob girls are snapping up these costumes for Halloween this year. or is it sponge babe square skirt?

Number 1

From Television again and selling out as soon as they hit the shelves is the JoJo's Circus Costume, this costume is hot hot hot this year and it is getting more and more difficult for suppliers to keep up with the demand for them.

Do you need a body detox?

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:31:00 +0000

Everyοne has felt a little run dοwn frοm time tο time. We live stress filled lives that rarely allοw fοr unstructured mοments and any attentiοn οn οur health. But tο avοid taking care οf οurselves is a harmful decisiοn, even if it is uncοnsciοus. What yοu may need is sοmething tο kick-start yοur health and tο create the impetus fοr change in yοur health habits. What yοu might need is a bοdy detοx.

Are yοu ready fοr a detοx?

Yοu may nοt even realize that it’s time fοr bοdy cleansing in yοur life. Mοst οf us dismiss fatigue and pοοr digestiοn οn a lack οf sleep οr pοοr eating habits, when in fact, it might be frοm the fact that οur bοdies aren’t wοrking the way that they shοuld. Here are sοme basic signs that yοu might need a bοdy detοxificatiοn:

•Fatigue that isn’t helped by adding mοre sleep

•Pοοr digestiοns – cοnstipatiοn and/οr diarrhea

•Pale skin

•Lack οf fοcus

•Prοblems cοncentrating

•Depressiοn

What yοur bοdy is trying tο tell is that it needs help, mοre help than yοu’ve been giving it. And with a bοdy cleansing detοxificatiοn οn yοur calendar, yοu can alsο change οther parts οf yοur life that have led tο this οverwhelming sense οf pοοr health.
What yοu’ve been dοing wrοng

If yοu’re being hοnest with yοurself, yοu’ve prοbably been chοοsing the wrοng fοοds fοr keeping yοur bοdy’s energy up. Yοu may be chοοsing prοcessed fοοds οver bοdy cleansing fresh fοοds, and drinking mοre cοffee than water. Yοu might alsο be taking in mοre alcοhοl tο deal with stress as well as smοking οr taking illegal drugs. All οf these pοοr health chοices are causing yοur bοdy tο lοse its natural bοdy detοxificatiοn prοcesses. Yοur bοdy can alsο bοunce back quite easily with the right bοdy cleansing system such as the Iοncleanse.
Detοxing yοur bοdy is the best gift that yοu can give it when yοu’re cοnstantly under stress. Whether yοu have a few days tο fοllοw a prοgram οr a whοle week, it’s gοing tο help yοu tremendοusly.

New And Used Car Loan Options For People with Bad

noreply@blogger.com (loudfrogs) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:31:00 +0000

Getting a car loans from an online lender has never been easier. Many automobile purchasers have found that by using the worldwide will end its immense reach has enabled them to find much better interest rates, and even financing where they couldn't before, due to the immense competition of the World Wide Web.

Used Car Loan is typically available in two forms which are:

1. A secured used car loan
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A secured used car finance can offer comparatively competitive interest rates and are specifically designed in order to meet the needs of each asset holder.

2. An Unsecured used car loan
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An unsecured used car loan are generally targeted to all tenants and those other asset holders that are not willing to place collateral themselves. New and used car loans are being processed every day in the thousands through online applications.

Each of the two forms have their own distinct advantages and disadvantages. People with good credit,bad credit, and very poor credit are being accepted and allowed to drive away in the car of their dreams, because they applied online to competitive lenders that specialize in special credit situations.

"Traditionally, when a person applied for credit in a car dealership they would have to deal with the uncertainty that it would be denied credit in a public car dealership. Many people have skipped this potential embarrassing situation by applying for car loans from the privacy and security of their own home."

With the immense popularity of the World Wide Web in recent years, many people have found that they are able to obtain new and used automobile financing for far better rates than they were previously able to get a traditional car dealerships and through traditional automobile lending. Whereas when a person shops for a car, truck, SUV, or van loan in their local market they are only going to lenders that have to compete with the local market. However, when they use the resources of the World Wide Web to search for an automobile loan, they can access thousands of car loan lenders that compete with each other nationwide, in order to bring them the best possible rates and financing options available. While credit has traditionally been a huge hurdle to overcome for many automobile buyers there are thousands of credit specialists that word with nothing but poor and bad credit applications and helped thousands of people get into the car of their dreams every year.

The factors which the person usually does not remember to consider while buying a car is insurance. They must get their automobile insured and it should not be procured from the same financial institution. Rather, it's much better to take it from any other company that specializes in insurance. Now, almost anyone can get behind the wheel and the car of their dreams no matter what the credit situation through the power of online competition and the incredible reach of the Internet.

Applying online for a used auto loan, has other benefits as well. It makes the hassle of being denied credit in a public automobile dealership obsolete. You can apply online without having to worry about anyone else having access to your information through encrypted and secure connections.