Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
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First Look: Twitter Peek Dedicated Tweeting Device
Mar 10th
Seems like the Twitterverse is expanding at break neck speed these days.
If you’re tweeting from your cell phone using text messaging, most likely you’re on an unlimited texting plan. Or so we hope.
Tweeting is fun, and it sure is convenient to tweet on the run via your phone.
BUT if you’re anywhere close to being an ubertweeter, or just someone that has come to embrace the Tweetworld, tweeting via text messaging ain’t going to be enough.
You need something that can store and easily shuffle through the hundreds of tweets you received daily. You’d also need a quick way to scan your own @ messages and DM (direct messages) received via Twitter so that you could respond.
Enter the Peek Inc’s Twitter Peek device. Billed as the world’s first (and only so far) dedicated Twitter device, it is a simple do-on-thing-only device. And did we mention there’s no contract, or expensive billing plans either? They even have a lifetime service plan so you can forget about costs for the rest of your life!
Here’s a first look at the product I received from Peek Inc recently to review for you here on essistme.com. Over the next weeks you’ll hopefully see more of the TwitterPeek as I tweet with it and find out what it’s good at . . . and NOT.
I’m looking forward to trying out this device since I get A LOT of Tweets on just one of my accounts and have lots of interaction with the thousands of tweeps on my following/follower lists.
GOT A TWITTER PEEK? Leave a comment below with your own thoughts about the device and share your experience.
CONTEST: 2 Free Tickets To Any Show Of Your Choice @ Nokia Theater
Sep 9th
I recently tested the Nokia e71x smartphone on the AT&T Wireless network for Nokia UK during the recent summer months. The e71x is a solid cell phone and I will have a blog post compiling reviews of the phone to be published here shortly.
But in the meantime, Nokia has offered the readers of www.essistme.com TWO FREE TICKETS to ANY SHOW IN SEPTEMBER 2009 — AT ANY of the NOKIA THEATRE venues in the US.
You can check out the www.nokiatheatre.com site for the latest updates on show schedules, but here’s a quick look at what’s available as of now.
NEW YORK CITY:
Sept 16, 2009, 8:00 PM
Stratovarius with Pagans Mind and Ethereality
Sept 25, 2009, 8:30 PM
KISS FM presents Sinbad
Sept 26, 2009, 9:00 PM
SUPER DIAMOND (A Tribute to Neil Diamond) w/ Special Guests ALMOST QUEEN
GRAND PRAIRIE, TX:
Sept 19, 2009, 8:00 PM
Arnez J. with Earthquake and Damon Wayans Jr.
Sept 21, 2009, 8:00 PM
Chickenfoot with Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony, and Chad Smith
Sept 25 and 26, 2009, 8:00PM
Jamie Foxx
LOS ANGELES, CA:
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Australian Pink Floyd Show
Friday, September 25, 2009
Paulina Rubio
Saturday, September 26, 2009, 12PM, 3PM, 6PM
September 27, 2009, 12PM, 3PM
New Disney LIVE!
Here’s how to WIN a free pair of tickets to the show of your choice (based on availability of course):
- Simply enter a comment below telling us A) which cell phone or smart phone you own and B) the most common feature you use on the device — Make sure you enter your name and email address in the appropriate fields when commenting so that I can contact you if you’re the winner!
- Subscribe to my blog posts via email: CLICK HERE Once a winner is chosen from the comments below, I will verify that you are subscribed to the essistme.com email list (you can unsubscribe anytime of course)
- If you are not on the list, we’ll go back to the comment section and pick the next random winner.
You have until 5pm Eastern Time on Monday September 14th to post your blog comment below and subscribe to the list. We’ll pick a random winner at that time.
Once I contact you if you’re the winner, you’ll be able to pick any of the remaining shows in September at any of the Nokia Theater venues. Nokia will arrange for the two free tickets so that you can pick them up the day of the show at the will call window.
All I ask is that you send us a photo of you at the show (even use your cell phone camera!) and we’ll post it here as a follow-up. 
GOOD LUCK!
P.S. I’ve already had some questions. NO, you don’t have to have a Nokia brand phone (although I’m sure Nokia would like it if you did). But it will interesting to see the types of phones the readers of this blog do carry.
Stop Reinventing the Wheel
Aug 31st
Most business owners wear many hats. . .
You’re the accountant, janitor, marketing guy, sales guy, employee counselor, boss, friend, mentor, etc, etc.
Do you feel like somedays you didn’t do any “work” — but a lot of unnecessary time-sink activities that prevented you from doing what’s really important? Somehow as each day passes, you may feel like more items just get added to that LONG To-Do List.
Do you sometimes just want to drop it all and let out a big scream?
It’s time that you look for incremental gains and realize that there are free resources out there that actually will help you achieve your goals, not deter them. For example, how about that website you are supposed to design or get produced? What if you could find a way to build a website quickly that was A) professional, B) quick to create, and C) presented your company in a clear, easy to read & understand way?
Now you have some help. . .
Read the rest of this entry »
Get a Wize Opinion Before You Buy
Oct 17th
These days, the web is full of great ideas that harness the power of the internet and aggregation.
Shopping is one of the tasks where the power has shifted to the consumer with shopping comparison sites and others like Wize.com which features real-life customer reviews. This size gives a consolidated score to each product in it’s database so that you have a quick understanding of a product’s worth and merits.
Cell Phone Model
Oct 15th
I love my Samsung cell phone. The i607 is everything I need right now, although there’s rumours of a Samsung Blackjack 2 coming out, the i617 with a 2 megapixel camera and perhaps wifi connectivity.
In the meantime, there’s another phone to drool over from Samsung, who’s been seriously integrating elegant design into all of their consumer products successfully. Samsung is positioning this phone as a sexy cell phone that models would want to carry. Read the rest of this entry »
Cheaper Ink for Inkjet Printers
Apr 25th
CartidgeWorld just popped up in my town. The store basically sell re-filled inkjet printer cartridges for less than the same thing from the original manufacturer (OEM). For example, the original HP brand “HP45″ black inkjet ink for my HP OfficeJet G85 costs $32 at Office Depot. But I bought a refilled cartridge for $19 including tax last week. So I saved $13.
If you can wait 2-3 days, you can order them on the internet for less. There are online inkjet ink stores that sell the same ink jet cartridget for $11.95, like InkForCheap.com, one of the sponsors. Others are CarrotInk.com and 123Inkjets.com
.
Most of these online stores also carry the OEM versions of the ink at discounted prices too. For example, InkForCheap sells the HP brand black ink above for $27.95.
How to Start Accept Credit Cards Online At Your Website
Apr 12th
If you’re an entrepenuer that owns an off-line store that’s now just getting onto the web to sell online as well, you will need a couple of critical tools to succeed. One of them is the ability to accept credit cards.
If you haven’t been accepting credit cards at your offline store, you will have to get a merchant account to accept credit cards online. Of course, you can set-up a PayPal Business Account (free) which allows you to take any major credit card and e-checks. PayPal now even has the option of accepting credit cards at your website WITHOUT the customer knowing about PayPal — thus they become just like any other merchant account credit card processing company in the background.
The other option is to open a more traditional merchant account like from a sponsoring company called Advantage Processors. There are plenty of companies that offer services to e-merchants specifically as well. One option that might be important when you’re choosing is to find that that does both online and offline sales, so that you can start to accept credit cards at your own store as well.
That’s the 1st step before you set-up your site — get a merchant account so that you can get paid. Otherwise, why set-up a website store if you can’t sell?
I love tech, gadgets and the web. Hope you pick-up a useful tip or two here today that helps you use technology to your advantage! Better yet, why not share your own expertise in a comment on a post today to help the other readers that land here for answers!