Archive for February, 2008
Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Feb 28th
One of the leading causes of death in the United States is from sudden cardiac arrest, it has struck in my family and the families of many friends as well.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest can be accompanied by an Irregular Heartbeat or a pre-existing case of heart disease, as is the case in my family. Some of the risk factors associated with SCA are:
- Stress
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Cigarette smoking
- Excess weight
- Drug or alcohol abuse
- High fat diet
- Sedentary lifestyle
There are many things you can do to minimize your risk of Sudden Cardiac Arrest and the risk assessment at InsideCardiacArrest.com. You’ll find a great deal of useful information and links to websites related to heart health inside the pages of InsideCardiacArrest.
EU Fines Microsoft Record $1.4 Billion
Feb 27th
The European Union sure does have it out for Microsoft. The EU has imposed a record setting fine against the world’s largest software maker in retaliation for what it considers unreasonable prices being charged to companies seeking to design software compatible with the Microsoft Windows Operating System.
Microsoft is trading down only slightly at the open, although the stock is down over 10% since its attempted deal with Yahoo was announced a few weeks ago. I am hoping the news of the EU fine drops Microsoft a little more to create an ideal buying opportunity for the stock. I would really like Microsoft stock around $25 per share to begin establishing a good sized position. The stock is currently trading around a 52 week low and the $25 share price hasn’t been touched since 2006.
Technorati Tags: microsoft, windows, operating system, shaun carter, eu, european union, anti trust, fine, vista, investing, stocks, tech
George Soros Reveals 5% Stake In RF Micro Devices
Feb 26th
RF Micro Devices, a stock I wrote about as a good buy about a month ago, has seen investment interest from a fund controlled by George Soros. The fund has announced a 5.15 percent stake in RF Micro today. It is unclear when the shares were accumulated and at what price, but it is certain that the purchase established a passive position in the company with no active participation expected from Soros.
RF Micro was up nearly 7% today on the news, closing at 3.55 per share. I was picking up more shares of RF Micro this past week just above $3 per share and continue to see this stock to be worth 5-10 per share in 12 months, especially now that Soros has shown interest in it. I will be interested to see if Soros’ fund makes any sort of announcement about their reasoning for the purchase.
Technorati Tags: rf micro, stocks, investing, shaun carter, george soros, market
Proxy Updates
Feb 24th
February has been a good month for my two web proxies – Unblock YouTube and Rasta Proxy. I switched webhosts because of stability problems I was having with the VPS (Virtual Private Server) I was utilizing initially. Tech Entrance Hosting offers shared proxy hosting, which I have found to be very fast, easy to use and manager and most of all, affordable. I was able to use a 50% off for life coupon that was being offered on the Digital Point forums to make my hosting even cheaper. I pay about $25 per month for 200GB of bandwidth per month and a dedicated IP address.
So far during the month of February, the amount of traffic has been increasing until the last week. I think that Unblock YouTube has been blocked by web filters in the schools, which were the most frequent users of that proxy. I am currently searching for a way to get the site unblocked, as I have seen a method advertised on a forum but haven’t been able to track it down since. UnblockYouTube.com has ranked #1 or #2 on Google for the term “Unblock YouTube” for the last month and that alone brings in a good amount of free traffic.
The revenue generated during February so far from the various advertising on my proxies is as follows:
Adsense – $27.40 (this alone covers hosting)
Adbrite – $24.61
Adversal – $19.85
Net Audio Ads – not fully functioning yet, but could generate another $25-50 per month.
Total Revenue- $71.86
Expenses – $25
Profit so far this month = $46.86
I don’t really spend any time updating or working on my proxies. I will probably start doing a little more promotion of them since traffic is slowing down. But for two proxies, that’s not a bad level of earnings for about 24 days. Now extend those numbers out to about $50 per full month or $25 per proxy per month and you can see how high earnings can build up to with a 50 or 100 proxy network ($1,250 – 2,500 per month). Domain registration and dedicated server costs would erode some of that, but it would make a nice side income for sure.
Technorati Tags: proxy, web proxy, proxy hosting, unblock youtube, unblock myspace, unblock bebo, unblock facebook, shaun carter, phproxy, adsense, adversal, net audio ads, adbrite
Tax Rebate 2008
Feb 22nd
The tax rebate that most American’s are expecting to arrive sometime this year will hopefully spur the economy, my check will not. I don’t plan on spending my tax rebate, instead putting the full amount ($600 as I calculate it) toward paying down student loan debt and boosting my savings.
But, many people will be spending that check the moment they get it in their hands, or worse, they’ve already begun charging extra to their credit cards and plan to use the upcoming rebate to pay it back. The worst example a person can have for their own personal spending habits is the Federal government, an organization that willfully spends far more than it takes in every year. So when the government sends me money and President Bush tells me to spend it, I’m definitely not going to listen.
Call my actions un-American or un-patriotic and I won’t care, because anyone taking money lessons from the government deserves what they get. The thing that bugs me is that the government then bails these individuals out at the expense of the more intelligent budgeters of this country.
So what are you going to do with your rebate? If you do decide to spend it, please do the right thing and buy a good or service that was derived solely from the United States, that is the only way to make your purchase fully count toward our economy and its recovery.
Technorati Tags: tax, tax rebate, 2008, finance, budget, shaun carter, spending, government, president, bush, american, united states, IRS
VistaPrint Address Labels Coupon Code
Feb 22nd
I’ve come across a great coupon code for address labels from VistaPrint recently. This coupon code entitles the user to 75% off their order of address labels.
BlogAddress75 – 75% off address labels
VistaPrint offers a wide variety of products including business cards, direct mail postcards, stationary, address labels and more and is geared toward the budget conscious consumer and small business owner.
VistaPrint’s address stickers begin at $7.99 for 140 and offer many design choices. Remember, with the 75% off coupon you can pick up an order of 140 labels for only $2.00! If you’ve been waiting to try VistaPrint, now is a perfect time to go for it because you won’t find that this offer lasts long.
The address labels are standard size, measuring 2.66″ x 0.83″ and can be designed right on the VistaPrint website using their templates or you can choose to design your own label and upload it to their site and have your custom designed address labels shipped to you.
My previous VistaPrint purchases have included many different business cards, stationary, rubber stamps and related accessories. Be on the lookout for great offers when you visit their website, such as free business cards or samples of products that you haven’t purchased before. VistaPrint will also offer you some great one-time deals right after you get ready to finish the checkout process as well.
eBay Boycott Begins Today
Feb 18th
eBay’s new CEO recently announced an overhaul of site fees and policy shifts that greatly reduce the profitablity and safety for sellers. I recently blogged about the large increase in Final Value Fees being assessed by eBay that began recently and now eBay is also not allowing sellers to leave negative comments on deadbeat buyers profiles, making selling on eBay that much more difficult. This decision has led to a boycott by many powersellers who are encouraging all sellers to cease listing new auctions for a period of one week.
PayPal, an eBay owned payment processor, will now begin holding some auction payments in escrow for up to 21 days. This will make doing business on eBay for sellers very difficult as it will severely disrupt their cash flow.
I have been selling quite a few items on eBay this year and will be honoring this boycott because these new rules truly hurt sellers, while eBay continues reporting growing profits. I am now looking for a permanent alternative to eBay as I think many online sellers should do until eBay gets its act together.
Technorati Tags: ebay, seller, auction, shaun carter, meg whitman, powerseller, boycott, paypal
Identity Theft Solution
Feb 15th
Identity theft is affecting more and more people every year and you don’t have to be one of them. For the seventh year in a row, identity theft tops the Federal Trade Commission’s complaint list, accounting for 36 percent of the 674,354 complaints received between January 1 and December 31, 2006.
Identities can be stolen by dumpster divers that dig through your garbage, or that of businesses where you pay by credit card or personal check, and the identity thief can piece together your vital information until they have all the items required to apply for and receive credit for themselves, but in your name. Other methods of obtaining your personal information includes computer viruses and worms, stolen wallet or purse, and employment documents in your employer’s personnel file cabinet, among others.
But there is a company that has been created amidst the Identity Theft problem that promises to safeguard your identity and even offers up a $1 Million insurance policy to cover any costs associated with clearing your name, should a criminal be able to steal your identity while using their service. That company is lifelock.
For a small monthly fee, LifeLock will “lock” your credit file so that only you are able to establish new credit in your name. This could save you a tremendous hassle should your personal information end up in the wrong hands sometime in the future. The founder is so sure of the service LifeLock provides that he prominently displays his social security number and name all over the company’s website and in all of their national television ads.
If you are concerned with identity theft, LifeLock can keep you from worrying whenever you disclose your personal information in a non-secure environment.
Warren Buffet on a Spending Spree
Feb 15th
You know that the market is down when Warren Buffet begins to see opportunity around every corner. An announcement was made Thursday about Berkshire Hathaway’s purchase of a very large stake in Kraft Foods, making it the largest shareholder of the maker of many consumer staple food products.
The Kraft purchase is only one of the many recent Buffet acquisitions which have also included Burlington Northern, Trane and GlaxoSmithKline. Buffet is also increasing his stakes in many other name brand companies.
I’m sure that when we are on a path to recovery from this downturn, Warren Buffet’s cheap purchases today will begin a steady climb in value into the future.
Technorati Tags: warren buffet, berkshire hathaway, shaun carter, investing, stock market, burlington northern, trane, glaxosmithkline, kraft
Yahoo to Reject Microsoft Buyout Offer
Feb 9th
On Monday, Yahoo will be announcing that they are rejecting the unsolicited $44.6 Billion buyout offer they received from Microsoft earlier this month.
This is exactly the move I was hoping for. Depending on how traders take the news on Monday, Yahoo shares could climb if they believe Microsoft will make a counter-offer or they could plummet and create a terrific buying opportunity, as I hope they do.
Yahoo will state that they are unwilling to accept any offers lower than $40 per share. If shares do fall to pre-buyout levels of $20/share, then a buyer at that price could double up on news of an increased offer of $40 or more per share from Microsoft or another bidder. Another problem with Microsoft’s original offer was that it was a cash and stock deal, and Microsoft shares have fallen more than 10% since the offer was announced, further diluting its value.
There is talk that Yahoo would be better off signing up Google to serve sponsored search links on Yahoo.com to generate increased revenue, but I doubt that an arrangement like that would win over regulators.
Technorati Tags: yahoo, google, microsoft, search engine, buyout, takeover, shaun carter, jerry yang, stocks, investing
