Technology Reviews | Internet Startups | Social Media

In the current economic climate, more people are choosing non-traditional finance options instead of banks. Because banks can be more expensive, and have more restrictive credit requirements, consumers are finding more flexibility for their financial needs with products like prepaid credit cards.

A prepaid credit card is an ideal solution for a) someone without a bank account, b) someone with a moderate to low credit rating, c) someone looking for the convenience of a credit or debit card without high fees and interest rates. Prepaid credit cards also make great gifts. Instead of choosing a gift card at a specific store, prepaid credit cards can be used almost anywhere.

Some prepaid credit cards offer an option for direct deposit, giving the customer immediate access to their paycheck or other sources of income. Often there are additional options for adding cash to the card, including wire transfers and even PayPal. The convenience of having multiple ways to add cash to the card is one of the best benefits of using prepaid credit cards.

For people who do not have or prefer not to have a bank account, prepaid credit cards are much easier and less expensive than check cashing services. They are also easier to use for paying bills than mailing money orders. For those with poor credit scores, many prepaid credit cards offer the ability to build back a good credit history. When using the card to pay bills, reports are made to credit bureaus and credit scores can begin to rise.

Almost any prepaid credit card will also have the ability to associate your balance with your name and account number, so that in the card is lost, your money is not. Most cards will also offer ways to access your account on the go, so that you always have access to your balance information.

In 2007, Technorati announced that the blogosphere was growing at a rate of 120,000 new blogs per day.  Every 1.4 seconds, a new blog is created.  Many of these new bloggers are hoping to ride the wave that has made many bloggers some part time money.  Others began blogging as a way to let off some steam.  An even smaller contingent decided to blog about their lives, in hopes that someone, somewhere will read.  Whatever the reason, bloggers integrate certain technologies with their lifestyle as they make their blog entries each day.  I have outlined the most popular and essential ones below. [click to continue...]

Twitter has long been heralded as a valuable marketing and lead generation system for businesses, and for all practical purposes it is.  Business or marketers seek out and follow other people with similar interests or tweet subject matter, and slowly work their way into a relationship which may or may not result in sales.  The great thing is, this whole process works in reverse and often to the benefit of the shopper/service seeker.

I have been thinking about switching things up soon webhost-wise, and so decided to tweet about it making sure to contain the key words “web hosting”.  Sure enough, within 5 minutes I had the first hosting company contact me in an effort to promote their service and sell me some hosting.  Not long after I got a second hit, and then a third.  The trick is to turn these marketer’s solicitations into deep discounts and product trials.  With just a little pushing and interaction I was able to manage a 10% discount – nothing too much, but it could be much more if you are into haggling and deal hunting.  The key is to make yourself the target rather than becoming one at the mercy of a pushy marketer.

And with that, I will try to come up with some content that is a bit less twitterish…

In terms of search engines, Google is Old Faithful.  Since 1996ish, Google has managed to guide internet users through the interwebs to answer queries and find nuggets of knowledge.  While Twitter has been around and fully functional since 2001, it wasn’t until late 2008 going into early 2009 that users and popular internet personalities pointed out the extreme value of the real time twitter search engine.  WolframAlpha was released this week to much fanfare and while it is not a search engine in the traditional sense of the word, it is sure to make certain regular queries much easier to answer.

Google. Google has been the go-to search engine for all queries – common, niche specific, or otherwise.  Trendwise, Google can expect more of the same.  Their large search portfolio including trends, blogs, [click to continue...]

It was not too long ago that FaceBook overtook MySpace as the most popular and used social networking website.  FaceBook was a breath of fresh air to the social networking scene and stole the hearts of college students who in turn passed it on.  FaceBook has also enjoyed an almost complete measure of success in the age 30+ group of social networkers – a virtually non-existent group of users on MySpace.

Twitter enjoyed moderate success and a growing momentum for the past several months.  In the past two weeks Twitter has completely exploded thanks to a couple of celebrities and a national news network.  Twitter’s user group is similar to that of FaceBook as they enjoy [click to continue...]

As the national economy continues to falter, many families and individuals have understandably fallen on hard times. In July 2010, the official unemployment rate had topped 9 percent nationally, a number which is actually underreported due to discouraged job seekers who eventually fall off the unemployment ranks. More than 12 percent of the population may actually lack employment. Millions more have taken significant pay cuts. The situation has forced families to cut spending.

Before this period of hardship began, the country was experiencing an unprecedented buildup of household debt. This was due in part to high levels of confidence in future economic conditions by the public and to an easy-money situation spurring lower lending standards. High levels of credit card debt became the norm, and the lenders continued to encourage people to spend more and more money.

So what happens to those who incurred household debt over the last decade yet can no longer afford to manage the outstanding balances because of job loss or pay cuts? Many of them end up in bankruptcy court due to their inability to service their debts. Individuals should reserve bankruptcy as a last-resort option, as it will severely damage credit reports. It will take the average person years to undo this damage.

For anybody in these dire financial situations, debt consolidation is often the most prudent and effective alternative to bankruptcy. Debt consolidation is a credit-friendly way to lower your total monthly payments to manageable levels. It can help you get creditors off you back. Debt consolidation and debt counseling can provide you with the pathway to work out past due loans and lower interest rates, leaving you with less monthly payments to deal with. If you are one of the countless Americans who have experienced job loss or some other financial catastrophe, you should meet with a credit counselor to talk about debt consolidation before considering bankruptcy.

Around Christmas time, many middle aged adults talk about the fond memories they have of looking and searching through the Sears and Reobuck Christmas Catalog.  While some big department stores still put out the big Christmas editions, many have traded in the catalogs for websites and online stores.  Online stores have provided a practical solution for companies looking to expand their reach, without having to mail 200 page catalogs to every household in the nation.

Almost any product or service a person can think of can be ordered on the internet.  Pizza chains like Dominoes and Papa Johns have even started selling their pizzas for takeout on the internet.  Online stores include small home businesses selling personal greeting cards, to the big box stores like Target and Macy*s.  Along with those, are the internet only megastores like Amazon.com, Overstock.com, and Buy.com.  These stores make it ultra convenient for the Christmas wish listers as well.  Rather than sit around and copy down the items from a catalog, kids can now add items to their Christmas or birthday wish list at the click of a button. [click to continue...]

This is the first ever Techsplosive Showdown.  Techsplosive will take a look at two competing services and decide on which one clearly comes out on top.  So here it is – Gmail v. Yahoo! Mail.

The Radicati Group reported in the year 2007 that an estimated 1.2 billion people use email. This number is expected to grow to 1.6 billion by 2011. Of these 1.2 billion email users it is estimated that 254.6 million of them use Yahoo mail, or a Yahoo owned mail system to accomplish their email needs. Only 91.6 million users have adopted Gmail as their email service provider. The mere fact that Yahoo enjoys almost three times the membership that Gmail possesses does not make it the better service. Yahoo is able to have 3 times the membership because they began their email services a few years prior to the launch of Gmail.

Google’s email service launched with much anticipation in the summer of 2004. Prior to the launch of Gmail, the most common email services were AOL, MSN (and its properties such as HotMail), and Yahoo. Users of these electronic mailing platforms were growing increasingly bored with the features and complexity of the user interfaces. In response to the consumers need, Google launched Gmail. Gmail has proven itself superior to all email programs including Yahoo mail during the past four short years of its existence. [click to continue...]

Since a good majority of our audience are techies, we decided to do a fun post of the best tech related t-shirts. Below you will find an assortment of t-shirts just for techies:

For Techie That Knows He God

Sometime you find yourself in a sea of n00bs and you need to remind them whose God

Error 404

Sometimes you just don’t want to be bothered, just return a 404 error with this t-shirt

Programming Mistakes

Programming relates to real life pretty often, sometimes when you don’t wait it to

I Survived Y2K

Remember 1999, when everyone expected every piece of technology to completely fail? Well it didn’t happen, so hears a t-shirt for it.

Got Root?

Show off those l33t h@x0r skillz with this nifty Got Root? t-shirt

I am not Anti-Social!

Tired of speaking to people and having them wonder “Whats this guys problem?” Well this is the shirt for you.

A Shirt For Your Kids

Show those other tech Dad’s how cool you really are

Input & Output

Show your technical understanding of the Human body

Try This!

Tired of those annoying computer/network questions? Let them ask you and just point to the shirt

Have A Zombie Issue?

We are all familiar with the Apple app commercial, here is a nifty t-shirt for those Zombie emergencies

The Real Internet

This shirt tells the truth about the people who are actually on the inter-webs

Don’t see a t-shirt that you like? Got a better idea for one? With the explosion of online t-shirt printing companies you now have the ability to make your own. Just choose your favorite slogan, user icon, or image and throw it on a shirt.