Tab Or Music Notation For Classical Guitarists

Lets take a look at how we see classical guitarists and standard musical notation. My perception of a classical guitar player is someone who is tied to the sheet music from day one. He will not play a note unless it is written on the page. Furthermore, he probably belongs to the school of thought that says that tablature is an inferior form of written music. Incomplete and useless for learning new pieces.

My perception of the classical guitar player cant be entirely accurate because there are lots of classical guitar tabs available on the internet, so maybe attitudes are changing gradually.

Tab is not a bad thing in itself. It is a perfectly good way to quickly find the notes on the guitar as you learn a new piece. The fact that tab does not include all the information you need to play a piece has given birth to a widespread prejudice against tab simply because many musicians think that the written notation should be the sole source of information needed to learn the piece.

Where guitar tab falls down is if you use tab to learn which notes to play, you also need to have an audio record of the piece to refer to in order to play the notes in time. So yes, tab is an incomplete source of music notation but if people want to use tab anyway, then that is their concern.

Back in the nineteen seventies classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin collaborated with sitar player Ravi Shankar on some records. The resulting music was fantastic but Menuhin had to have his music written for him whereas Shankar was able to improvise his parts. So, music notation gives us a more complete representation of the music but if we rely on it too much we learn music in an environment that does not foster musical creativity. The classical guitarist, at least in my mind, is concerned with expressing the composers music through his relationship with the guitar. Improvisation and creativity of any kind are not necessary.

If you want to learn classical guitar and to read standard musical notation then there are a number of books you can work through to get a grip on sheet music written for guitar. If you work at it for a month or so you will have an understanding of single note melodies written to be played in the first position. There is a number of pieces by Sor, Carulli and Carcassi for example, which you can get a great deal of satisfaction from playing using your new grasp of sheet music.

There are some great books available for learning classical guitar through music notation, the tutors by Aaron Shearer, Fred Noad and Christopher Parkening are obvious examples. These books will give you the full story to learn a piece of music but learning tab as well gives you access to a broader appreciation of music and the opportunity to discover parts of your musical self opened up by the work of learning music through tab.

Of course, it gets more difficult as you begin to learn pieces that contain chords in the melody and more than one melody line. The task of learning which finger to use to play the notes as well as the left hand fingering begins to make learning new pieces more tedious.

10 Ways to Save Money When Your Automobile Lease Ends

Paying excess mileage charges when an auto lease ends is something most consumers take care to avoid.  But many of these same careful lessees get an unhappy surprise at turn-in because of other charges and costs they failed to think about.

Carefully considering things such as best length of lease and residual value and then taking a few simple steps at the beginning of the lease and during the lease term can pay big dividends when the lease ends.  The first thing is to read the lease document carefully and clearly understand the sections covering excess mileage, wear and tear, and processing fees.

Then consider what steps you can take to avoid charges when the auto is turned in. What you consider minor dings, dents or scratches can end up costing you a lot.  “When you lease a car, the sticker shock comes at the end, not the beginning,” said Jack Gillis, a spokesman for the Consumer Federation of America and author of The Car Book, a buyer's guide.

A Changing Market

Consumers love auto leasing because it offers an easy way to get into a new car with a lower down payment and lower monthly payments than financing a vehicle to be purchased.  This is because the lessee is only paying for the amount of the car's value that is used.  Typically, people lease for three years, so they only pay for the first three years of a car's life — which are definitely the car's best years.

Before tighter credit and lower residual values, car dealers also loved leasing because it brings customers back into the dealership at the end of the lease, every two or three years.  Also, because many consumers are confused by leasing terms, dealers can more easily take advantage of them.  Particularly in difficult economic conditions, leasing companies are looking for every way possible to improve their revenues.

Unfortunately, leasing which was once a way for car dealers, customers, and manufacturers to all get a decent deal is the latest victim of the economic downturn.  Chrysler, Ford, BMW, GMAC and several major banks have announced reductions, if not complete elimination, of lease programs.  Automobile dealers and experts expect more to follow.  So a consumer who leased in the past should not assume the same rules apply today.

These changes and tighter credit conditions make it more difficult to lease and have caused leasing companies to be more stringent in their lease-end requirements.  Lease contracts typically run 24 to 36 months, and consumers usually turn in their vehicles at the end of the term.

That leaves the auto maker on the hook to sell vehicles that may have declined significantly in value compared to assumptions made at the time the original lease was signed.  And that means lessors are going over returned vehicles with a fine-tooth comb to get all the extra charges they can.

Major Problem Areas

Unexpected shocks and charges at turn-in are primarily associated with three areas of the lease, according to industry reports.

Disposition fee:  This is a charge levied by the leasing company if the lessee chooses not to buy the vehicle at the end of the lease.  This fee is set as compensation for the expenses of selling, or otherwise disposing of the vehicle.  It typically includes administrative charges; the dealer’s cost to prepare the car for resale and any other penalties.

Lessees need to make sure this fee is stated clearly in the contract and is agreeable before signing on the dotted line.  At lease-end, the lessee is left in no position to negotiate as the dealer can apply the refundable security deposit towards this fee.

Excess mileage charges:  Almost all leasing companies will charge a premium for each mile over the agreed upon mileage stated in the contract.  This penalty can be as high as 25 cents per mile and can add up quickly.

To avoid the risk of running thousands of dollars in excess mileage penalties at the end of the lease, always check the “per mile” charges in the contract and be realistic about mileage before signing any contract.  If the limit is unrealistic given the lessee’s driving needs, then negotiate with the dealer to get a higher mileage contract.

Excess wear-and-tear charges:  Another potential major cost at the end of the lease is any incidental damage done to the car during the lease.  This is deemed any excessive damage done to the normal tear and wear of the vehicle.  Notice the use of the terms “deemed”, “excessive” and “normal”.  There is no standard formula to define what’s “excessive” and “normal” and it’s up to the leasing company to assess – or deem – the damage and determine what they are going to charge.

This leaves the lessee at the mercy of unscrupulous leasing agents who set stringent tear-and-wear standards.  Dings, dents, scratches and windshield chips are a major area of unexpected large charges. Lessees need to carefully read the description of these standards, understand them and agree to them.  If the leased vehicle is damaged prior to the end of the lease, the lessee may find it cheaper to repair the damage than pay the excessive charges of the leasing agent.

How Do You Avoid Extra Charges at The End of The Lease?

Many consumers are anxious about leasing's Judgment Day — when the vehicle is returned to the dealer and its condition is inspected for extra charges.  At the top of problem areas discussed above are excess wear-and-tear charges.

These fears are not unfounded, according to Tarry Shebesta, president of Automobile Consumer Services Corp., “As the leasing market tightens up, banks are looking for a way to make money from returned cars.  They will be more critical about wear and tear and any deviations from the lease contract.” 

Bottom line:  Keep the car at a condition above and beyond “average wear and tear” to avoid penalties.

10 Ways to Save Money at Turn-In

Here are ten useful tips to keep in mind before and during the lease to prevent dings to your wallet as you say goodbye to your leased vehicle:

• Choose a car with a naturally higher residual value.  If the vehicle holds its value — or surpasses its expected value — there may be an option to buy it and make money at the end of the lease. This is particularly important in market conditions where the residual value of certain types of vehicles is dropping dramatically.
• Don't go into a lease longer than you would normally keep a car.  If you keep a car about three years, do a three-year lease.  A four- or five-year lease will be harder to get out of and more difficult to turn in without extra fees.  Don't lease longer than the warranty period that covers the car.
• Purchase auto lease protection at the beginning of the lease.  Cigarette burns or tears in the upholstery, certain dents, scratches, windshield chips and mechanical flaws can cause big charges if the leasing company considers them beyond normal wear and tear.  Auto lease protection covers repair of dings, dents, scratches and stone chips that occur during the term of the lease.
• Stay within the mileage limit.  The best way to avoid having to pay for excess mileage is to take the time to estimate how much you will drive the car, including any weekend and holiday use, before you sign the lease.  Then purchase extra miles up front.  Typically, it is less expensive to do this than to pay extra mileage at the tail end of a lease.  If you have really high mileage fees, consider selling the car yourself rather than paying the penalty.
• Treat the car like it was your own.  Elaine Littwer, legislative coordinator of the National Vehicle Leasing Association, says that it’s important for consumers to understand that damage reduces the resale value of a vehicle.  “The 'I don't own it and I don't care' attitude ends up costing them money.”
• Have the vehicle washed and detailed on a regular basis.  Maintaining the vehicle’s appearance conveys that it has been well cared for.
• Make sure the vehicle is serviced at the required intervals.  Keep all maintenance records to provide proof of service and repairs.
• Document the condition of the car.  Research by Tom Incantalupo of Newsday recommends that, just before turning the car in, lessees take clear photos of the interior and exterior, including the odometer, for their own records should a dispute arise over mileage driven or whether specific damages are excessive - and also to protect themselves against damages that occur after the car was turned in.
• Have the vehicle serviced just before you turn it in.  This will ensure that it has no major problems and will provide a final third-party record of condition.
• Any dents should be removed by a body shop rather than turning the car in with the damage.  Repair charges covered by lease protection or paid privately are not subject to some of the expensive mark-ups charged by leasing companies.

Following these simple steps and Investing a little time and money during the course of your lease can ensure your peace of mind and protect your bank account when your leased car’s Judgment Day arrives.

Find Cheaper Cars

If you are planning to buy a new or second hand car, but not able to afford a brand new model, in this brave new, greener world you can look for more economical cars, second hand cars that suits your requirements and budget.

Before you rush to buy a car, carry out the research on the car being sold, their features, strengths, weaknesses, and green issues etc. It will help you decide which type of car matches your requirements and budget. Also, consult with people that you know, to have another viewpoint for the price of the car you are researching, to judge if the real price and running costs are reasonable.

Researching cheaper cars is more than the initial purchase cost as just looking at this can work out to be much more expensive on the running costs. Lots of financial overheads may occur if a wrong car is purchased. So before you start shopping, do take into consideration following tips:

Look at the Fuel Type Used

There is no use of buying a green car at a low price with high operational costs. With ever-increasing prices, it will be best to avoid cars that use costlier fuels like petrol or diesel rather look for cheaper sources such as electric cars or LPG. Look for greener models that are more environmental friendly as car tax is also directly proportional to CO2 emission as per UK car tax rates.

Take time to find good car insurance quotes. It can be significantly reduced by choosing appropriate car model, and maybe using named drivers as insurance policy holders for example. You can contact companies directly or access information online. A good way to obtain cheap car insurance is by using a service that forces insurance agents and brokers to compete. You can contact multiple agents to have a good idea of the insurance range you might expect to pay. Applicable premiums can be reduced considerably by undertaking advanced driving courses. Young drivers face higher insurance charges since they are more like to have an accident.

Maintain your Car

Maintaining your car will keep its maintenance charges to the minimum. Avoid speeding, car and keep a regular checks to keep it in a good condition. Also, check the amount to weight the car carries.

Choose Greener Cars

Applicable car tax rates are directly proportional to the volume of Co2 emitted. For this purpose cars are divided into bands A, B, C and so on, with cars emitting up to 100 gm/km of Co2 placed in band A. Band B contain vehicles falling in the range of 101-120gm/km and so on. Also, prefer smaller cars if possible as big engines emit more gas. So, prefer environmental friendly cars which will help both, your pocket and our environment.

Consider all the important factors before you choose the car. Also, inspect the car very carefully or bring an expert or mechanic with you. This will help in accurate inspection of the car and ensure that the price you are paying in the deal is fair and justified.

Cheap Auto Insurance - Tips and Ways to Get It!

How many of us actually know the ways to get cheap auto insurance? Seriously, majority of us might not even know that cheap auto insurance actually exists! We have been depending on insurance agents to recommend and advise us when we are purchasing our auto policy. Obviously, the agents are the ones who know best about insurance, but they are also interested in making more profit and getting higher commissions. Therefore, we could not blame them if they are trying to talk us into getting expensive policies.

What we can do is to shop around and compare prices between companies before we take up policies with any of the companies. The rates between the companies can vary a lot depending on their profitability and other issues. Try to get several quotes from different companies in advance and compare them in terms of coverage and price. You should always choose the company which is able to offer you low rates with sufficient protection. There are also sites which enable vehicle owners to determine the best cheap auto insurance available in the market easily.

Next, we should always try to make our car as safe as we can. This will not only protect us and our car from accidents and damages, it would also help us to obtain cheap auto insurance. Protected cars have lower risks of getting damaged or stolen, hence lowering the possibility of the car owner to file claims. Therefore, we can consider fitting in some safety features like automatic seatbelts and steering wheel locks.

Besides that, we should not be shy to ask for discounts for our policy. Insurance companies usually do not voluntarily offer discounts to us if we do not ask for them. There are actually many types of discounts available. For example, there are discounts for good grades if you are a student, and also discounts for senior citizens if you have reached the age of 55. These discounts might not be a lot sometimes, but they would definitely help us to lower the cost of our auto insurance in the long run.

Lastly, we should always remind ourselves to drive carefully. Good driving record is a very important determinant when it comes to obtaining cheap auto insurance. No matter how adequate our cars are equipped with safety features, we would still be charged with very high rates if we have very bad driving records over the years. This is because we are directly raising our chances to get into accidents when we drive recklessly. Therefore, if we want to get cheap auto insurance badly, we should always try to maintain an excellent driving record. Your opportunity to learn more about secret tips to get cheap auto insurance has finally arrived!

There are still many ways to get cheap auto insurance quote. The key point is whether you are committed enough to find out the ways to lower rates. One of the easiest things that you can do is to visit my website. There are many tips and tricks available there for you to get the best deal of cheap auto insurance in town!

Google's pay-per-clicks now free

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to get your Google AdWords pay-per-clicks FREE!

A gentleman from New York discovered what he calls an "oversight" on the part of 99.9% of all marketers that allows him to get otherwise paid-for advertising at Google as well as all other search engines that allow sponsored ads.

And no, nothing about his "secret" is illegal - nor does it require that you know someone on the "inside" at Google, Yahoo, MSN, Overture and others.

Instead, the New Yorker boasts proudly "...this is something that I caught onto just before 2000 when there was so much search engine craze running around, and started doing small just to test things at first ... but which I later expanded on after getting the hang of it."

This same fellow went on to start and operate sixteen separate online companies selling everything from pet food, DVDs, children's toys & games, books, software, and sold not only his own manufactured products but became an affiliate for other web businesses - all the while applying his mastermind secret.

Over the course of nearly eight years the New Englander confesses "I've actually gotten over $87 million in advertising that using my secret I never had to pay for ... and the largest share of which was more recently in Google pay-per-clicks as well as other forms of pad advertising at search engines ... all of which I got for free ..."

So powerful is his secret that he's able to monopolize any niche online, and can always secure the top premium spots just above the usual organic results featured at most search engines.

He still has to set up an account with the search engines - but after applying his secret he is removed from having to pay for all the costs otherwise involved. Again, nothing about his secret is either illegal or robs from the search engines.

One spokesperson from one of the most popular search engines said chuckling after being made privy to this amazing secret "Wow! Ha! This is really unique

... and in my expert opinion it would only serve to enhance and bring more business to us at [name of search engine withheld for legal & confidentiality reasons] and not cause us to lose business in the slightest. Amazing!"

The northerner revealed that in this nearly eight years' period of time since applying his secret he's done well over $300 million in sales revenue with a most diverse line of products, and most recently in the last two years netted nearly $166 million after really "buckling down and pressing my secret to its fullest potential."

Now to everyone else's fortune, the city slicker is releasing his secret for getting an unlimited amount of pay-per-click ads to the general public. But he 's not promising any of us for how long.

A bit of an eccentric, the gentleman says "We'll see just how long I can make it available before it saturates things."

One famous public web guru pointed out that although this man may gain economically more so as a result of the publication of his secret "he's already so amazingly rich that whether he continues or discontinues its sale will neither make nor break the man, but not grabbing it for yourself while it 's still available could prove disastrous for you as you may only have one chance, and a very limited one at that, to get this."

Find out How to Get Started In Affiliate Marketing to Make Some Quick Cash

Here are some great ideas you can use to find some affiliate programs to get started in making some money online.

Firstly, you can check inside the private members area on my site where I list a bunch of affiliate locations for you to go to. However, whether you are a member of my site or not, you may want to also check out CommissionJunction.com or Clickbank.com. Those are some other great places for you to access existing affiliate programs to make some quick cash.

However, there are a couple of things that you will want to look for in these affiliate programs. You want to make sure that the individual running that particular affiliate program makes it as simple for you as possible. You’re looking for programs that have emails pre-written and ready to go, so that all you have to do is just send them out to your list to begin making the sale. You don’t want to have to write these yourself. That would take time. If they are already written, you’ll be up and running quicker and on track to begin making some money fast. If the affiliate program you’ve joined also has sales letters created and other marketing tools available and ready for you to use, than this sweetens the deal even more. Why? Well, all you want to do is have all of the marketing tools at your disposal so that you simply need to just push the send button to your list and have them click on links to sales pages so that you can start making some quick cash!

What you also want to do is get on other people’s mailing lists that are in your niche. Why would I tell you to do something like that? Well, the reason for this is because if you were on a couple of different lists and you’re noticing everybody’s promoting the same thing, that means there’s probably a lot of money to be made by you promoting those specific products as well. And if everyone is promoting that product in your niche, then you need to get on board too.

You can find out if that by going to the website of that particular product and then scrolling down to the bottom of their sales letter to see if there’s an affiliate program. You may also want to go another route by consider contacting the list owner and saying, “Hi, I was trying to get in touch with the person in charge of the affiliate program for X product that you are promoting because I’m also in the same niche.” Hopefully, they’ll connect you with that individual to get you started.

However, let’s just say that you’re looking at affiliate programs and you have no list. Well, here’s exactly what I’d suggest doing. You want to throw up some articles. You want to throw up a squeeze page really quickly inside that niche, and you can throw up some articles really quickly and have people sign up through your opt-in page. Then as soon as they sign up, have them redirected straight to the affiliate page that you want them to go to. Then make sure you set up email sequences inside there to drive them back to that page.

It’s a fairly simple process to begin making money with affiliate programs. If you simply have a bit of time to commit to setting up some opt-in pages to capture your audience’s names, you have to freedom to sell them as many products as possible from these affiliate programs in the same niche. Just think, you’re already saving a ton of time in creating your own product. But affiliate programs allow you to leverage other people’s time and money to make things happen for yourself. It really doesn’t get any better than that!

Questions and Answers About Internet Affiliate Programs

Thousands of people go online every day looking for ways to make money. This brings up many questions about Internet affiliate programs as one way to do it. I thought I might answer a few of those questions in this article.

1. What is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is where you get paid to sell other peoples products. It is an agreement between the merchant and a salesperson.

2. How do I make money? You earn a commission whenever you get the desired result. For example, if you make a sale you would earn a commission based on the agreed percentage between the merchant and yourself. You can also make money when people fill out leads, or click on ads, and these are known as pay per lead and pay per click affiliate programs.

3. How often do I get paid? Each affiliate merchant will have a different pay schedule. Some will pay on a monthly basis on the previous months sales. Others will pay two times a month, and its even becoming possible now to earn instant commissions and get paid immediately after you make a sale.

4. Do I need my own website? This is one of the great things about affiliate marketing on the Internet. The merchant will take care of everything and provide everything you need to make money. This includes giving you your own website, collecting the money on all sales and shipping the product.

5. How difficult is it to do affiliate marketing? It will take some effort because you have to master traffic generation skills. Even though much of the initial setup work is done for you, you still get paid to bring visitors to a website and sell products to them. At this point, if you do not have a skill level, then you will have to learn how it is done. The sooner you do that the quicker you will be making money.

6. Where do I find good affiliate programs? You can do a Google search for the words "affiliate programs" and come up with directories that have multiple affiliate products you can sell.

If you are looking for something specifically, you can Google search those words plus affiliate programs after them. For example, "cooking affiliate programs" will bring up some of the top results in that niche and you can then go and visit those websites.

These are six common questions and answers about Internet affiliate programs. It is a simple business model, even though it is new for most people. If you have a lack of knowledge, dont let this be a barrier to you getting involved in this evolving industry.

Affiliate Programs: The Best Ideas for Starting Internet Based Business

Affiliate programs have many great advantages that make it one of the best business ideas for starting your own internet based business. Im going to delve into reasons why you may want to get started on this path.

If you were to create your own product there could be major costs to develop it or if you went with information products there still are a lot of costs that are overlooked besides just coming up with content for an info product. Affiliate program solve this dilemma because there arent any cost to produce them. You are simply promoting a product that is already on the market and earning a commission on every sale.

Starting an internet based business has very low setup costs compared to a traditional brick and mortar business. You most likely have some sort of office setup and a computer connected to the internet if you are reading this or better yet a laptop you can take anywhere. Those are the main tools you will need to get started with affiliate programs, everything else can be downloaded for free.

Being an affiliate is similar to having your own product line with out all the hassles of actually owning and operating the business. With someone that owns the business they usually have to have a business license and pay fees. Affiliate marketing avoids that, you simply promote the product and get your check.

These days you can find pretty much anything on the internet that is sold in the real world. This means that out of all those products there is most likely an affiliate program you can sign up for to sell those items. That gives you and almost unlimited potential for choosing a niche to become an affiliate in.

The majority of people that get started with affiliate marketing dont have any sales experience. Most programs you signup to be an affiliate with will provide you with marketing material that is proven to work already. This means all you have to do is copy and paste the ads they give you.

One of the biggest expenses for companies is paying their employees. If sales dont cover the cost to pay an employee than the business will fail. This doesnt apply to your affiliate marketing business because you wont need to hire anyone. If there ever is anything beyond your scope of knowledge than you can easily outsource a project out to someone and pay them a flat fee for their work completed.

How to Choose Laptop Computers

Laptops are an increasingly popular product catering to professionals and casual users alike. However, it can be very difficult choosing which laptop is good for you and with so many specifications, as well as such a variety of choice, picking the right one can be a very difficult task. This short guide aims to help show you how to choose a laptop computer.

Think about your needs

Some people may think they need a laptop when really a desktop PC would do just as well. The benefit of buying a desktop over a laptop is price - desktops are far cheaper. However, if you need something portable then a laptop is the definitive solution.

It's important to take the time to work out what you really need to get from your laptop. There's no point in spending $2000 on a top of the range laptop when all you need to do is check emails on it.

If your needs are primarily checking emails and writing documents then a low cost laptop will be all you need. If you plan to watch movies and burn files to disk then a middle-range laptop would suit you better. Top of the range laptops are only really necessary for playing games with advanced graphics or for handling programs which need a lot of computer power such as graphical design packages.

Important features

The key features of a laptop are

• Battery life
• Processor speed
• RAM memory
• Hard drive storage capacity
• DVD Player/Burner
• Size and Weight
• Finally, in high end laptops graphics cards are also important. You may also want to take note of whether MS Office applications (or equivalent) are bundled with the computer or not if you intend to create written documents.

Buying the laptop

It's really important to shop around when you look for a laptop. Deals vary greatly from place to place, but as a general rule the Internet is a great place to start your search.

Are Netbooks The Perfect Student Laptops?

Netbooks are everywhere, on buses, on trains, on planes... and in the classroom. It seems the little netbook has come out of nowhere to become extremely popular overnight.

But what is a netbook?

Netbooks usually have screens of 10 inches or less, runs Windows or Linux and generally sell for well under $500. As its name indicates, the netbooks main purpose is to keep its owner conveniently connected to the net - anywhere, anytime.

First introduced by Asustek when it launched the first Eee PC in the fall of 2007. But it was only in the last year when we saw the explosive growth of these so-called mini-laptops. Now we have many computer companies such as HP, Dell, Lenovo... all jumping on this craze for a small portable laptop. So much so, that netbooks now is the fastest growing segment of the laptop industry and is expected to reach 139 million units by 2013.

Why is there a sudden popularity for the small netbook? Perhaps the answer lies mainly in our constant quest for mobility. We want a portable device that will keep us connected to the Internet and yet be small and light enough to be carried around all day. A truly ultra-portable device that keeps us connected with family, friends and the web.

The next question you have to ask: why do netbooks make for great student laptops? If the above reasons arent enough, try the following:

Size

Netbooks are small with 10 inch displays or less, which make them ideal for students. Plus, they are usually very lightweight - around 2 or 3 pounds. They are compact enough to tuck into your school bag or backpack, and small enough to carry around all day without developing a hernia.

Portability

As mentioned above because the netbook is so small and compact, it is very portable. A very mobile device that we can use to stay connected to the web and friends. Connectability is one of the main features - you are connected to the web at all times.

Sturdiness

Most netbooks are designed to be sturdy and tough. They can take a few hard knocks and still keep on working. Students are not exactly the most gentle creatures on the planet, so a sturdy tough machine is needed to handle the demands put upon it.

Battery Life

Because of their small size, you will usually get better battery life than with a regular sized laptop. This is important to the student since you may have to go all day without a chance to re-charge the battery. Long lasting battery life makes the netbook the perfect student laptop.

Performance

Although small, these mini-laptops still sports some very impressive specs. Many now come with at least 1 Gig of RAM and Intel Atom processors. There are even some with Solid State Hard Drives which make them more durable and less likely to be damaged. Most use Windows XP - newer models debuting this year with the Nvidias Ion platform may have Vista or Windows 7, but still dont expect the kind of performance you would get from a regular laptop.

Storage

While storage on netbooks is constantly increasing, it is still nowhere near the kind of storage you will find on a regular sized laptop. Usually, most devices have around 30 or 60 Gig hard drives which should be adequate for most students needs. Many newer netbooks have 160 Gigs of storage.

Price

Perhaps, the main reason netbooks make the perfect student laptops is the low price. Students are usually on a very limited budget and the low price-tag is a perfect fit. Many perfectly adequate machines are now priced in the $300 to $500 range - while many good ones go for well under $300. Plus, prices are steadily dropping so almost any student can now afford a netbook.

As you can plainly see, the netbook does have many features to make it a perfect student laptop: small size, very portable, excellent connections, very sturdy, long battery life, good performance, adequate storage and most of all, a very affordable price almost any student can take advantage of. Overall, netbooks are well suited for the classroom and the student.

Laptop for Gaming - 5 Must Have Features

Gaming laptops are a very popular and hot market for mobile computers. The world of gaming includes games that are played on a computer and many people really love it. Some of the most popular computer games include, Call of Duty, Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto, Burnout Paradise, Fallout 3 and Halo, which as was originally made for xBox360 and is now available in a computer version.

Many use laptop computers to satisfy their gaming needs. They are portable and highly efficient for the hobby and several of them are especially designed for gaming.

Important Laptop Features for Gaming

Several elements are crucial if you are buying a laptop that will be primarily used for playing games. These are crucial to the best gaming experience and will definitely provide the best performance to satisfy even the most finicky and advanced gamer.

Graphics:

Superior graphics are a must have for the best gaming experience on laptops. It is also important to make sure you can upgrade the graphics card as the need arises and thankfully for most laptops this is a standard feature. Some of the best graphic card chipsets include, NVIDIA, ATi Mobility Radeon 9700, Intels Graphics Media, or ATIs Mobility FireGL V3200.Some other good ones are, Trident S3, STMicro, 3D Labs, Matrox, and SIS.

RAM Memory:

Adequate RAM memory is one of the most important features for gaming as is a crucial factor because if it is too low then games will freeze up mid play, as they are very large programs that use up a lot of space. RAM, or random access memory, refers to the amount of or size of programs you can run on a laptop without running into slow or crashes. Enough RAM is needed for the serious gamers as this allows for flawless running of the comprehensive game graphics, video and especially for 3D games. 2GB is great, 3GB is better and 4GB is really best.

VRAM Memory:

For gamers it is also important to look at the laptops dedicated video RAM (VRAM) that is memory, which usually comes with a graphics card and has its own memory in MB which includes 32MB, 64MB, and 128MB.

Processor:

The processor quality and speed is also crucial for a great gaming experience. The Intel Core 2 Duo is top of the line processor right now and is definitely one of the best for gaming laptops.

Screen Display:

Obviously the larger the screen the better the experience, a 17 inch wide screen will deliver a magnificent gaming experience. The resolution and display quality should be able to handle the graphics for 3D gaming.While there are several display resolutions available, one of the best one today is WXGA, which stands for Widescreen Ultra eXtended Graphics Array and is a display resolution of 1920×1200 pixels with a 16:10 screen aspect ratio. Gaming laptops are by no means cheap laptops and retail prices are high, looking for deals online can save a great deal of money.

Job Interview Tips 6 Essentials to Do the Day Before the Job Interview

Job interviews can make you anxious! You have twenty-four hours to go before your interview and you need to know what to prepare. Following these 6 essential job interview tips the day before the interview will greatly increase your confidence and your chances of success.

Directions, Map, Contacts

Prepare the day before to make sure you get to your interview on time. Find out exactly where you have to go and who you must ask for once you are there. Get good directions, look on the map and make sure you know the best route. Work out how long it will take you, allow for traffic and parking time. Have the full name and position of the person you will be seeing and a contact number in case you need to call. Put all this information into an interview folder to take with you.

Conduct Background Research

You have time to search for company information on the internet. Find out relevant details about the employer and use these prepare your interview answers and questions. Having background information on the company helps to set you apart as a prepared and informed job candidate.

Prepare your Portfolio

Another job interview tip is to get all your documentation together the day before. Make a couple of copies of your resume and a list of your references including name, position and contact numbers. Include copies of any written references you want to give the interviewer. You may want to include work samples that are relevant to the position. Include details of the research that you have conducted on the company. Let the interviewer see that you have done your homework! Put all these into a neat, simple portfolio to give to the interviewer. Have a notebook and pen ready to jot down details during the interview.

Review your Resume

Go through your resume the day before to re-familiarize yourself with the information the interviewer has about you. Be aware of any red flags such as gaps in employment or reasons for leaving previous employers that you will need to address during the interview. Highlight these and prepare answers to any questions that may arise.

Practice your Answers and Questions

A couple of days before the interview you will have prepared answers to common job interview questions such as "What are your strengths?", "Why are you the right candidate for this job?", "Tell me about yourself?" Go through these answers and practice saying them out loud. You also should have prepared at least five good questions to ask the interviewer about the job, the company and the management, such as, "Please describe the company's management style and the sort of employee who fits in well with it?" Go through these questions, feel confident about asking them, and include them in your interview folder.

Dress for Success

Find out the expected dress code for the job interview. You can call the company and speak to Human Resources or even Reception. It is usually advisable to dress more formally for the interview than the actual position requires- this shows respect for the interview process. Select the appropriate clothes the day before and make sure they are clean and pressed. Shoes should be polished. Decide on any accessories you want to wear. Lay your interview clothes out ready for the next day. This saves rushing around just before the interview and getting into a spin!

Six simple job interview tips that you can do the day before. They will make the difference between feeling prepared and confident or anxious and flustered about your job interview! Job Interview Tips and Techniques.

Ten Ways to Get Ready for Your Next Interview

Like preparing a great meal, interviewing requires preparation. Get good ingredients and give yourself time. Prepare the food on the plate to make the meal attractive. All of these go into a great meal. Taking the time to prepare for an interview will give you a huge leg up on your completion.

1. Schedule interviews at times that work for your metabolism. Are you a morning person? Why would you accept a 6PM interview? If you are a person who functions best in the afternoon, try not to accept early morning appointments. If you are a person who needs to be conscious of their blood sugar, try to schedule your appointments at times when you are at your peak. If forced to accept one of your less ideal times, have a quick bite prior to the interview to avoid "fading." Avoid overeating.

2. Give yourself extra time to get to their offices. There are few things worse than getting to an interview late.

3. Arrive at the office building 7-10 minutes early. If it is summer, you want to wait in the lobby to cool off; no one likes shaking sweaty hands. If its winter, warm up; you dont want someones early impressions of you formed by shaking a cold hand. Take a few minutes in the lobby to get focused on what you will say. Allow a few minutes to get through building security so that you actually arrive at your interview on time and ready to go.

4. Properly introduce yourself to everyone you meet by saying. "My name is __________ and I have a 1:30 interview with ________________."

5. If you are asked if they can hang your coat, accept the offer; if offered a beverage, accept a beverage. You dont have to drink coffee or tea. Soda, bottled water or water is fine. Thank whoever helps you. Declining the offer may be rude in some cultures.

6. Take your seat in order to face the greatest number of entry points into the room so tat you can see someone approaching you. Being startled is not a good way to start a meeting.

7. If you are given an application, complete it and complete it accurately and neatly. Do not attach your resume and write, "See attached resume." An application is a legal document and failure to complete it accurately can be grounds for termination.

8. If you are not sure about the month you started a job or your exact salary, write "approx" (for the word approximately) next to the item. If asked, indicate you are not absolutely certain of the exact month and dont wish to deceive anyone. Obviously, if you can ascertain your salary or starting date prior to interviewing, do so; for some people, the date or salary may be so far in the past to make it impossible to determine.

9. Write legibly (or as legibly as you can). This may be the twelfth application youve completed, but it is the first of yours that theyve seen. In many professions, sloppiness is seen as a flaw.

10. When you hear your name announced, stand, and smile, shake the hand of your interviewer and immediately size them up as a person. Are they smart (or not). Aggressive (or not). If you were meeting this person socially, Im sure your instincts would be right. Unfortunately, because people think interviews are important, they think they have to feel the interviewer out. Doing that is a mistake. Hard and fast impressions of you will be formed during the next ten minutes that will be difficult to change. If you tend to be right in social situations about the people you meet, trust your instincts in professional ones, too.
Using these ten steps as a check list will get you started well than your competition. What you do after that is up to you. Good luck.

Introduction to Group Interview

Group Interview is also known as Assessment Center. There are usually 6-10 interviewees and two or three interviewers sitting opposite to evaluate the performance of the interviewees.

The interview is generally processed in this way: Representation (about 3 minutes, to introduce yourself or your temporary partner), Narration (5 minutes with a random topic), and Discussion (40 minutes, to discuss and debate on a given topic, and draw a conclusion).

Some companies group interviews may cover all the above process or may cover only part of the process, the detailed process can be acquired in the companys recruitment talk

1. Why Group Interview?

Compared to the forms of traditional interviews, such as one to one or multiple interviewers to one interviewee, a group interview gathers many interviewees to discuss about a certain topic, in which way the interviewer can inspect the comprehensive competence of the candidates, such as leadership, language and teamwork skills, etc. The interviewer will decide whether or not to recruit the candidates after evaluating their comprehensive competence and skills based on their performance. Many famous companies, like Johnson, Nestle, usually arrange group interview in their recruitment.

2. What kind of skills and competence are valued?

• Leadership

During group interviews, a good leader can control the rhythm of the discussion, stimulate the enthusiasm of the team members, and give effective solutions with all the circumstances considered.

• Teamwork

In a group interview, a winner does not have to be a leader. He can be a collaborator. If he shows enough respect to other team members, puts forward his own ideas appropriately, considers others opinions, reasonable results can also be achieved. Teamwork skills can be greatly shown in group interviews.

• Presentation Skills

Which kind of narration is acceptable? Are you a clear thinker? Is your speech well organized? All these can be evaluated through the performance in a group interview. Do you have confidence in your opinions? Are you an aggressive person or a mild collaborator? The interviewers can decide whether the candidates are good for these positions through their performance.

3. Types and Features of Group Interview

There are mainly two forms of group interview: Free Discussion and Teamwork.

Free Discussion: It usually involves five or six persons and includes two parts, free speech and discussion. During the free speech, the candidates tell about their opinions on the given topics to the interviewers, while the interviewers just sit silently and observe their appearances, manners and opinions; during the discussion, the candidates should communicate with others and do free debates as in debate competitions.

Teamwork: The interviewees are required to cooperate based on certain roles and backgrounds given by the interviewers, so as to achieve specific tasks. The tasks might be about running for the position, or some recent events.

Nokia 888, Target and Design Concept

Design concept

“Form follows you”
A personal mobile communication device which lets you be free and fun. It is light, simple and carefree. You can change its form according to your needs during the day.

Target

It is targeted to the young consumers who are likely to be active and take place in a lot of different activities.

Why this target ?

Because they move and change place too much. They do a lot of different things during the day. So that’s what my design offers : to adjust to the moment, the place and the function.

Technologies that are used

It uses liquid battery, speech recognition, flexible touch screen, touch sensitive body cover which lets it understand and adjust to the environment. It has a simple programmable body mechanism so that it changes forms in different situations.

The functionality of design

You dont have to carry it in your pocket or on your wrist. You can carry it anywhere, in anyform. You can roll it, bend it, put on your clothes like a clip. It also makes some form changes that makes it more ergonomical: i.e. when you want to talk on the phone, the body form turns into the form of the good old telephone. You can personalize these forms and record them. So it fits you the best in the way that you have chosen. The functions that it has also create a feeling of electronical pet, as it senses your moves, understand what you want, respond you in the best way. It learns you, to fit you better.Also e-motions lets you send forms to the other 888 users. It could be the shape of a heart or a small dance. This way you can talk without words.

How the user interacts

E-motions… It means electronical motions that 888 has. You can send and receive forms from / to friends. You can send a heart shape to your girlfriend, so her telephone turns into an icon of heart. Or you can send a dancing form to your friends to call them to the party tonight. This is the fun side of the product. If we look from the functionality side, 888 is quite flexible. You can put it into your pocket, roll it and make it smaller, or put on your wrist when you want to make a video call on the go. If you want to talk like a normal telephone, there you have your telephone shape. We go through a lot of places and situations in the daily life, so it seems like one form is not enough.

What is unique ?

You can change the form of the body. Not just the color. And you can do the same by sending an e-motion to your friend.

Profits from Google Adsense or how does Google make their Money.

Have ever wondered how Google or any other Search Engines makes their money? Well, Googles main income is from advertising. Google Adsense is basically ads that Google places on websites and gets paid per click. Aha! So, now you know. Or maybe you knew that already? Hmm ok. Well, you better read on then, cos in a sec you will find out how YOU can cash in on that.

That takes us to the important part. How to make money with Google Adsense? It is simple really, but only once you know, so I'll tell ya:

• You sign up with them. Go to www.google.com/adsense
• You need to have a website. If you don't, you can experiment without it to start with. Go to www.blogger.com and open up a blog in there. When Google asks you for your website when signing up, use this blog. They don't normally allow for free sites to put up their code, but this one is owned by them (aha!), so they actually want you to do it, hence it will simplify the process of opening an account, as they will favour you (sometimes it takes long time to get it right).
• Pick the right keywords and produce keyword-rich content to display the right ads.
• Get traffic and test/tweak your Click Through Rate (CTR).

If you follow the above, you will get everything set up and will get $$ every time someone clicks on your ads. There is more to it however. You need the right keywords. You see, each keywords pays different amount of $. So what you need to do is find topics like Car Insurance, which pay you at least a dollar per click. The better your content and the more clicks you get, the higher the payout will be. I have currently experienced and nice steady 2 dollar payout with most of my keywords. So, if you achieve only 10 clicks a day, that is 20$! Now 100 clicks is 200$!! Easy.