I've got a TomTom ONE. Since getting my new car, the suction pad holder keeps falling off from the windscreen, which fortunately has only fallen into the front passenger footwell or on the seat. I have cleaned the windscreen and still does this. I don't want the satnav to fall off and go into my footwell and esp under the pedals.

I would love to use a non slip mat. Problem is that the jack for the power cable to fag lighter is at the bottom, not on the side or back. So it doesn't sit flat. The only charger I have is the car charger.

Any ideas as how to keep the TomTom cradle sitting on the windscreen until I remove it myself or other suggestions. I know of friends who their satnavs died on them whilst driving because the battery life is rubbish.

I have read the reviews and am amazed that so many people are clueless as to the origins of this story in Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy.

The original story Master of the Universe was based off of the characters of Twilight Edward and Isabella and the description of some of his mannerisms is based of a real live human Robert Pattinson. The author was another fangirl of the actor and the saga.

If you are not a twilight fan and you are repulsed by the whole Twilight genre then you wont even begin to understand this relationship, or where this author is coming from. Yes she changed the names for legal reasons but that isn't going to change the characters they were built from and will only confuse most even more.

This is a classic Edward/Bella fanfiction written about their unrealistic love. They fall so hard and its so deep that NO one can ever understand that kind of love because they are human and this kind of love isn't realistic when both are human to an average outsider.

Edward was originally a vampire in Twilight and had no sexual experience for over a hundred and nine years and when he meets Bella and falls its VAMPIRE love that you are witnessing. NOT human love. It is fiction people it isn't real and I am surprised that men are expecting this awesome story when deep down its just another harlequin romance novel without the har.

You can call the characters TOM and JERRY and you will still never understand the true deeper meanings that the Twilight fans do understand that you all are not privy to. The twilight fans are the majority and there are a ton of older women in the fandom that do not reveal their obsession for this saga because Stephenie Meyer classified it as a YA book even though it was written for adults originally.

I am sure the raving reviews are coming from the closeted twihard women who have respectable jobs and images to uphold and fear ridicule from friends, co workers and family so that is probably why you are all a little confused as to why this book is so well received.

I don't care one way or the other if you find my taste in stories unacceptable, this is what I like and you can bad mouth the Twilight series all you want. I liked the ORIGINAL story and followed it religiously when it was MOTU. I bought the book and have to admit...I haven't been able to read past page twenty because it simply isn't acceptable to bother even trying to see this Fifty character as anyone other than Edward even with the name changes, it just doesn't work.

James had a huge following ranking number one in the fanfiction fandom at the height of the mania, and then pulled to publish.

In doing so, the story does not or will not make sense to the rest of the world who is diving into a trilogy that is without the saga it was originally based on. You will never get it or understand it so don't bother if you aren't going to invest you heart into it and read the Twilight saga first and then read the fanfiction version the way it was meant to be read. Then just maybe you you will get it, but there are no guarantees, because she had many haters of this falsely misleading genre.

I highly recommend that Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy story also be classified as Adult Erotica and remove the BDSM title. Never at any time does she submit to him and for those that call it porn, welcome to the new millennium of women enjoying a little kink in their lives. It is too bad that so many lack the desire to embrace sexual pleasure as a good thing versus taking us back to the 1950's where the word sex was hush hush....*rolls her eyes*

Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy is classic Romeo Juliet stuff...one would die without the other...and if you didn't understand Shakespeare you will never understand Fifty or Edward.

Being a fan of erotica, I was looking forward to reading this, considering how much publicity and praise it has received. Wow, was I disappointed. The writing of the book, along with the dialogue, is absolutely awful. I can handle that, as long as the actual sex is hot, but I felt those scenes left much to be desired, with the exception of the first one.

The actual BSDM, is tame compared to other erotica I have read. Erotica is fiction, but when the characters are put into a modern, everyday setting, I find it incredibly hard to believe a college graduate has never even masturbated. The notion of it is so distracting, it completely took me out of the story. Ana's conflicted feelings and tears over a BSDM relationship is what bothered me the most and left me unable to enjoy the story.

Ana wants to have a traditional relationship without the BSDM aspect, but seems to go along with it because she has fallen in love with Christian. That type of relationship, whether it is onlymwritten in books or in real life, is based off of a mutual want of that type of relationship.

How Christian pushes Ana into it doesn't float my boat. The way he dominates her outside of the sexual aspect is something I didn't enjoy. Women who are sexually submissive, does not mean they enjoy being submissive in other aspects of their life, even to the person they are submitting to sexually. Perhaps if this had not been in modern times, I would have liked it more, due to suspension of belief being greater.

Fifty Shades of Grey is completely the Twilight of erotica. It is poorly written, over-hyped,and is only enjoyed by people who rarely read erotica, or read in general. Like Twilight, it also features a heroine who had no self-esteem until she meets the hero, who also believes it okay to stalk her.

For anyone who enjoys erotica, skip this one.

First thing first - It is important that you do not watch illegally - we recommend that you either subscribe to watch or check how your local service provider charges for sport channel subscriptions. That said, whatever you do don't get anyone of these credit cards. Instead, go for these low interest credit cards for those looking for very cheap loans.

With the new season about to start in just a few hours time, most Formula One fans are desperately looking for ways to watch their beloved sport. Some of them prefer Formula 1 live streaming on their computer or internet enabled TV. But if you are lucky enough to be living in some of the countries where they still show the races live on terrestrial television, then you're in luck.

But for others, the luxury to watch formula one live on TV is no more. For example those in the UK have can no longer watch all the live formula One races on the BBC, this is due to the latest contract signed between the BBC, SKY and Bernie. What this means is that only a handful of the 21 formula one live races will be streamed on the BBC. But there will be extended catchup show in the evening after the race.

SKY, however, will be showing showing all the races. Formula 1 live streaming is something they will also be providing their customers with smartphones and iPads. So if you are a Sky customer you will be able to watch all the Formula 1 live streaming straight from your handheld devices or online.

So, how to you watch Formula One - F1 if you don't have Sky or other digital TV subscription? Well, you have a very few option:

1. 1 You could look around for some none English speaking broadcasters and see if they have any Formula 1 live streaming available on their site. I've seen a few myself and won't mind sharing it.
2. This follows on from point 1. If you are in the UK and watching one of those foreign channels, you could turn the volume off and tune your radio to 5Live sport. That way you can listen to all the Formula 1 live streaming commentary in English.
3. You could decide to just get Sky and watch all the live races.

I'm afraid you haven't got much choice. Things have changed and in the very near future all major sports will move to pay tv. But for now it looks like Formula One is the first to make that move.

Be sure to visit this article to see how this beautiful girl is making passive income online - I highly recommend it.
In the mean time, if you know of any better way to watch Formula 1 live streaming please let us know and we will be more than happy to share it with others.

Formula 1 live streaming

The first time I heard about this book I thought "interesting.. not sure I am into the whole BSDM thing, but what the heck". I am SO glad my subconscius, who yelled "oh come on, just give it a try" won the argument. I LOVED the story.

Anastasia Steel and Christian Grey as as different as two people can be, except for the fact that they are meant to be together. She is innocent and has saved her herself for her true love; He is well-versed in carnal desires to the point that his life-style is one of dominant-submissive relarionships. He has a kinly sex life and has no intention of changing...until he meets Anastasia. The first book, and really all three, focus on the evolution of their relationship. He is a difficult man to deal with, but deep inside he has reasons for being that way. Anastasia has a good heart and sees through him as no one else can. They argue, they make up (boy, do they!) and they show us that they are truly complimentary to one another.

I love the sense of humor. The plot kept me captivated. I could NOT put the book down, especially on their more intimate moments! Heck, made me want to get into a fight with my husband just so we could make up the way Christian and Anastasia do. :-)

I highly recommend the book, and I also recommend you get the second and the third as you WILL want to know how this turns out. I won't tell you, so find out for yourselfe. You will be captivated!

It’s been three days since Tim Cook unveiled the new iPad, but you’re still stuck with your trusty old iPad 2. You’re keen to get rid of it so you can buy the new one, but you forgot to log in to one of those buy-back sites before Wednesday’s launch. Predictably, the announcement sent trade-in values plummeting—before the launch, some of these sites were offering close to $300 for your entry-level iPad 2 (the 16GB Wi-Fi model), provided it was in “good” condition. Now they’re willing to part with far less: As of Saturday morning, if you’ve got a well-cared-for iPad 2, NextWorth will give you $241 for it. BuyBackMac is offering $224. eBay’s Instant Sale will net you $200. And Gazelle, the most popular of the buy-back sites, will only part with $185.

Sure, if you’re hurting for cash to subsidize your early adopter lifestyle, $200 is nothing to scoff at. But if I were you, I’d skip by all of these sites and instead log in to Amazon. As of right now, its trade-in service is offering $351 for a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2 that has “normal wear,” and up to $390 for one in “like new” condition. Indeed, Amazon Trade-In’s lowest offer for an iPad 2 is $300—if your tablet isn’t water-damaged and is at least in working condition, you’ll get that baseline amount.

What’s going on here? Considering that Apple is selling new iPad 2s for $399, how can Amazon afford to shell out up to $390 for your old one? What’s it doing with all the iPads it’s buying? Is Jeff Bezos running a charity?

Nope. There’s one catch to Amazon’s trade-in program, and it’s brilliant. While other sites will give you cash for your old goods, Amazon will only give you store credit. Thus, the “extra” money you get from Amazon compared to other trade-in services isn’t a total loss for Bezos. All that cash will be plowed back into Amazon’s own business. Depending on what you buy with your newfound wealth, the company may be making a nice profit on the deal.

To see why Amazon’s trade-in service is so clever, let’s try to think through the economics of an iPad trade. Say Amazon gives you $350 for your iPad 2. A company spokeswoman says that when people send in their gadgets, the company farms out the devices to a variety of third-party merchants, who then inspect, erase, and package  device for reselling. (The company says it does not harvest your devices for parts.) Where do these merchants resell your iPad? On Amazon, of course!

At the moment, good-quality used iPad 2s are selling for about $360 on Amazon. (That’s higher than the $335-or-so that used iPad 2s are selling for on eBay, but Amazon’s customers may be OK paying extra for the convenience of skipping the auction process.) Amazon doesn’t get to keep that full resale amount; it’s got to split it with the third-party seller, and the company doesn’t disclose the terms by which it distributes trade-in revenue to its merchants.

We can assume, though, that the split will be highly in Amazon’s favor, since it has done most of the work to get the deal: It procured your iPad, it paid for shipping, and it’s handling all the resales on its own site. Let’s assume that Amazon gets to keep 85 percent of the resale price—so let’s say it gets $306 on an iPad it sells for $360. This means that after giving you $350 for your iPad 2 and then reselling it, the company is out $44.
Remember, though, that Amazon didn’t pay you cash. It only loses $44 if you spend all the store-credit in your account. If you don’t spend it—which sounds unlikely, except that Americans leave billions of dollars of gift card money unused every year— Amazon doesn’t lose anything on your old iPad.

And if you do spend it, you’ll spend it buying stuff from Amazon, which means that it keeps some of the money for itself. How much Amazon keeps depends on what you buy with your trade-in money. The company’s margins are notoriously low, so it’s not a whole lot: If you spend your $350 on a wide range of goods, Amazon will likely net 1 to 5 percent in profit, so somewhere between $3.50 and $17.50. So now the $44 it’s “lost” on your trade-in shrinks to something between $26 and $41.

There’s a chance, though, that Amazon could get very lucky on you. If you use your trade-in money to buy a device or service that keeps you locked to the company for a long time, Amazon might end up making money on you over time.

What kind of purchase would yield that sunny scenario? There are a couple obvious ones—purchases that might be especially appealing to the sort of early adopters who trade in their old iPads to buy new ones: If you use your trade-in cash to buy a Kindle or subscribe to Amazon Prime, Amazon wins. Each of these services are long-term revenue generators for the firm. After people get Kindles, they start buying ebooks at a ferocious rate—and, of course, they can only get them through Amazon.

Prime, meanwhile, changes how people think about shopping; after joining Prime, people look to Amazon as the first place to buy everything. One analysis says that after joining prime, the amount of money that a customer spends at Amazon jumps from $400 per year to $900 per year. Thus if Amazon loses a small amount on a trade-in now but gets you addicted for the next decade, you’re the chump, not Bezos.
It’s true that not all trade-ins will turn out so well for Amazon. If the price of old iPads drop significantly between your trade-in and the eventual resale—or if Amazon pays slightly more to third-party resellers than I’m assuming—then it could be losing a lot more on the deal. But Amazon has always been willing to risk a lot in the short term for long-term value. Or, as Bezos once put it, “We are willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.”

That’s its plan here. At first, Amazon’s high-dollar trade-in prices look like generosity. But by using the release of a new iPad to lock in new customers for itself, Amazon may be riding its rivals’ coattails to a long-term victory. Clever, clever Bezos.

I love it when authors construct a whole new world for their characters to inhabit. They go as far as writing spin-offs to successful series that are still set in the same world. Even writing guides/encyclopedia and making it feel authentic. JRR Tolkien exemplifies this beautifully with his invention of Middle-Earth used not only in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, but in everything else he wrote.

It looks like JK Rowling is going down the same path. After ending the hugely successful and much loved Harry Potter series, she released The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a supplement especially to the 7th book. It is a collection of five short stories for children that tells tales of bravery, wit, tragedy, and survival of wizards and witches. It even has notes by the late professor Albus Dumbledore at the end of each story. And I also must mention that this particular edition was "translated from the original runes" by former Hogwarts student, Hermione Granger. Haha, see what I mean? A huge Potter fan will get a major kick out of this. I know I did.

My personal favorite is The Tale of Three Brothers which is narrated in full by Emma Watson in the seventh movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part 1) as Hermione Granger. Dumbledore said in his will that his copy of the book will go to Hermione on the event of his passing. This story is directly connected to the 7th book for it explains what the "deathly hallows" are.

This book says something about JK Rowling's imagination. She gave the readers seven books to enjoy. And then she goes on and releases actual Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. She is so creative and it makes me appreciate her so much more.

Overall, it is an easy read. I am not sure how non-HP readers will take this but if you loved the seven books in the series, you will definitely love this.

Recommendation: Every Harry Potter fan will love this.

The wifi on the Kindle Fire is inexcusably dysfunctional. I wish to do three things with my Kindle Fire (in order of importance to me):
(1) watch Netflix,
(2) browse the web, and
(3) read comic books.
When I watch a video on Netflix, I have approximately one hour of uninterrupted, glitch-free viewing time. After this hour, I will get a "Buffering" message. If I leave the device alone, 9 times out of 10, I will watch the buffering message for about 2 minutes, and then get a message that Netflix is experiencing network problems (the 10th time, the buffering will end, and the video will resume). Then, I must shut off the wifi on the Kindle Fire, wait 30-60 seconds, and restart the wifi.

I will then have anywhere from 5-20 minutes more viewing time before I must go through the entire process again.

When I browse the web, I have a similar problem, minus the predictability. At any time, the wifi will decide to no longer function, and I must restart the wifi on the device in order to get back to browsing. Even worse, occasionally, the Kindle Fire will simply refuse to reconnect to my home wifi network. The only way to resolve this problem is to unplug and power cycle my router. I have to cut off internet access to all my devices in my home for one minute, so that the Kindle Fire can reconnect.

For my final use, reading comic books, the Kindle Fire works quite well. However, its screen is not the same size as a comic book page, and thus I am forced to view panel by panel, and full or multi-page spreads can only be viewed at a lower zoom level. This limitation is something I knew going into my purchase of a Kindle Fire, but, at the time, it was a compromise I was willing to make in order to get a web-browsing, Netflix-streaming, comic-book-displaying tablet for $199. Sadly, that compromise has not worked out in my favor.

I've been using the Kindle Fire now since December 2011, and I am thoroughly disappointed. I have given it two stars because (1) it works as an e-book reader, and (2) it works as a comic book reader. I consider my $199 wasted, and I will now be buying a tablet that uses iOS, because that operating system has worked flawlessly for me on my phone - for each of the functions I've mentioned - for several years already.

Behold the World's Worst Timepiece. If you are like me, you are probably searching for a cute, inexpensive but fairly reliable clock. You are endeavoring to disregard the negative reviews and pin your hopes on the positive. Don't kid yourself, and don't buy this clock.

As soon as I extracted the timepiece from it's box, I knew something was terribly wrong. It was disturbingly light, even with the battery in. The backlight consisted of one microscopic bulb located at 3. The body was loose, flimsy, and rattled when jarred.
The battery being installed, the second hand ticked erratically for less than a minute, then stalled, alternating between two positions. I re-wound the clock, adjusted the battery, tapped, and pleaded to no avail. I earnestly believe it is incapable of working properly.

In short, run. This clock certainly won't.

"The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" concludes Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" series of three sex crime books featuring the hacker/detective Lisbeth Salander and her journalist friend Mikael Blomkvist. (A fourth novel reportedly was left unfinished on Larsson's laptop when he died of a heart attack.) While the first two books ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "The Girl Who Played with Fire") may be read independently of the other, "Hornet's Nest" requires reader familiarity with both of the earlier volumes.

"Hornet's Nest" picks up right where "The Girl Who Played with Fire" left off. At the end of that second book, Salander was awaiting transport to a hospital with a bullet in her head after being shot by her sociopath father, Alexander Zalachenko. "Zala," as it turns out, was a Soviet agent who had defected to Sweden. When Salander was only 13, and after Zala had brutally beaten her mother, Salander tried to kill him with a Molotov cocktail; she succeeded only in severely burning him.

Much of "Hornet's Nest" is concerned with Blomkvist's uncovering the rogue Swedish security police element that had protected Zalachenko and kept Salander locked up and mistreated in a mental institution through her teens. Late in the book, the story takes up the trial of Salander for the attempted murder of her father--or so it was presented, but after the testimony focuses on Lisbeth's mistreatment by the state, the attempted murder gets lost as the conspiracy unravels.

This points to a weakness (or a charm, depending on how you look at it) in Larsson's writing: his expository sections tend to go on ...and on. We don't really need all the background history of the Swedish Security Service, for instance, but we get it, seamlessly blended in with the fictional events of the novel. Also, the account of the trial, after slaking the reader's thirst for justice, drowns the reader in continued court dialogue. When the judge offers to let Salander go if she promises to return to court and Salander admits that she would flee the country if he did so, you're ready to go with her. When she at one point does leave Sweden for Gibraltar, the chronology becomes confusing, and in any case the sequence seems pointless. An editor needed to take scissors to manuscript, methinks.

A rather substantial subplot involves Millennium editor-in-chief Erika Berger's decision to accept a position with the prestigious if stodgy newspaper, Svenska Morgon-Posten. Once ensconced in her new job, Berger is threatened by a mysterious rival and detractor. This entire story line, though, aside from underscoring the overall men-who-hate-women theme of the series, appears to be a plot device to allow Berger's frequent lover, Blomkvist, to take up an unlikely affair with a security service officer.

The denouement is made for the movies: it is suspenseful, dark, and grim. The payoff is big, with a violent but satisfying finish. (One might say Larsson, ahem, nails the ending.) The coda, too, wraps (most) things up nicely.

All in all, it is the characters that make the story work so well. Salander is a compelling character: an anti-social, counter-cultural, almost idiot savant, technogeek, woman warrior. Blomkvist, too, holds great appeal, despite his lack of any apparent personal integrity in his intimate relationships. The three books have well-constructed stories, if overripe exposition, but it's the smart, strong and occasionally vulnerable characters that draw the reader in.

I can't praise the reader, Simon Vance, highly enough. His interpretation of the material really made this story come alive. I know I've elsewhere criticized his Count Chocula version of private security chief Dragan Armansky, but all of his other voices, including Salander's, are superb. He is the rare male reader who can convincingly do women's voices. Vance's reading is definitely worth springing for the audio book.

I received the Special Edition Keurig as a Christmas gift, and fell in love with it instantly. I used to hate brewing coffee in my work office every morning, it made such a mess every, single time! Having the Keurig makes coming to work honestly exciting, because I am just so excited to brew my coffee so quick and easy with no messes! I even set the clock on it and the auto on/off feature is great! The Keurig is ready to brew my coffee the moment I walk in my office every morning!

I did start having problems after a month of use. The machine would brew partial cups of coffee, and then started giving me the Prime message. After following the trouble shooting provided in the user's guide, I had to call customer service, as the issue was not going away. Customer service said they would have a technician call me back in 24-48 hours, and they actually called back in about 6 hours.

The technical support person was very helpful, and funny enough my machine worked fine while she was on the phone with me. However, she said that if the problem came back to simply call again, that she had documented all the issues and the trouble shooting we had done, and that they would replace my machine. It stopped working after a couple more days again, so I called them about the replacement.

They had my new machine to me within the week I called that last time, and I don't even have to ship back the old one, which I was super worried about! I just have to send back the K-cup part, to prove ownership, and that's that! Best customer service and replacement policy I've ever encountered.

My new brewer is working like a pro, and I'm so glad to be back to brewing! I love Keurig!

I have had my S100 for close to a week now and have probably shot about 1000 frames. Let's make no mistake, this is not a DSLR but it's a great little camera, takes great pictures and fits in my pocket. It will never take the place of my Nikon D90 but with this I always have a camera with me!!!

Canon did a nice job with this unit and they continue to be the king of the point and shoot.

I have used the camera outside for nature and scenery, inside for people and pets. It produces very nice results in auto and messing with the different functions allows me to fine tune the photo.

It does not work well for moving objects but that's why I have the D90.

I captured several images that I would not have simply because I had it with me. That the real value of this unit.

Normally when I purchase products on Amazon I usually ignore the "suggested products" they try to batch with your primary purchase as a package deal. In my case I was buying the heavy duty occidental leather suspenders to support my gun belt that's weighed down with two 1911's and several mags.

In the suggested product section was Leather Honey, and I figured at best it would do what it claimed and at worse it would at least serve as some protection for the leather. When I got the suspenders they were exactly what I expected, extremely heavy, ultra thick and leather so stiff you could have broken brick with them. So I followed the directions on the Leather Honey hoping it could work some magic on the leather and 2 days later the results were beyond belief.

What had been hard saddle grade leather had been transformed into supple beautiful leather without losing it's ruggedness. As other reviewers have noted the easiest way of working with Leather Honey is to warm it first before applying it to the leather you're working with. In my case I heated it by placing the bottle in a pot of boiling water, which it should be noted this worked well, but I forgot to remove the inner seal so my bottle warped. If you remove the cap and seal it shouldn't do this.

Also as is implied by its name, Leather Honey is exactly the same consistency as thick honey. So while it is suggested that it should be applied with a rag or sponge, just grab a pair of rubber gloves and use your hands to work the honey into the leather. Remember a little goes a LONG way, for rock hard heavy leather, just 1/10th of my bottle turned it into very flexible soft leather. The only draw back I could think of to say about this product is that it will in fact darken your leather.

On my suspenders it turned them from a light natural leather color to a rich dark walnut or even oak color. In my opinion this was a vast improvement in the color of my leather, but if you love the light color of your leather item then this might not be the product for you. Needless to say if you have a black leather couch or anything already dark color, this won't be an issue for you.

Overall if you own anything made of leather that you want to protect, especially if it's brand new and you don't want to wait years for it to be "broken in" from use, then you can't pass Leather Honey up.

We all know the first book of a series is almost impossible to beat. I won't lie to you - that's true for the Hunger Games, too. But, all things considered, this is an unusually strong example of a second installment. (To be honest, I still like it much better than the final installment.)

The beginning is a bit slow as we're thrown into the slightly distanced aftermath of the 74th Hunger Games. Our main characters are living at home. And...well, for a little while, that's it. They are not engaged in their relationships or their lifestyles. Understandably, they're scarred; annoyingly, especially in Katniss's case, they are too lazy and uncaring to try and rebuild.

Nevertheless, it's a realistic start. As the plot progresses, things begin to change and we become increasingly suspicious. Katniss and Peeta should be finished and living easy lives, shouldn't they? But, of course, this is Panem and the Hunger Games, and nothing is quite that simple. Our conspiratorial dystopia can't just let that happen. So things change, deals are struck, threats are made.

I don't want to give anything away here, so I'll try to be vague. To put it simply, this book took exactly the turn I dreaded. I feared repetition; I was afraid this plot would become a dull, replicated version of the first. But honestly, just after that twist turned, I was proven wrong. It was dynamic and it was different, and the consequences were new. The secondary characters were wonderful and I adored Katniss's new acquaintances. The suspense wasn't hard to keep an investment in (although it simply couldn't match that of the first book), and the details were all fresh and original. What a relief that was.

Now, I do think there was a bit too much "middleness" happening here. In writing, you want every scene to have its own story arc and fit into the broader arc of the overall tale. The same should go for installments in a series; each, I believe, should have its own unique storyline with its own progression and climax and conclusion, all of which fit smoothly into the overarching story. I wish that was better done here. There are climaxes, but they are smaller than I'd like; the conclusion is a cliffhanger, which we accept as readers of a trilogy, but not a very satisfying one. Our story arc stays too high; it moves right into the next plotline without fully coming down from the one we just endured.

That's an exhausting way to read, if you ask me. I appreciate the newness of everything - but I wish it wasn't thrown in there just to confuse us and make us desperate for the next instalment. That's great and all, and it needs to happen for a series to be successful, but we can't ignore the needs of each book along the way.

To conclude: a steady increase of risk and twist for the overall series plot and a great new approach to our characters' experiences, but a bit too reliant on building the stakes for the future and not reliant enough on the now.

It seems that the camps are divided on this book, but I think this is rather unfair considering its main purpose is as a great place to start with SEO. For someone who has only recently begun to learn about the intricacies of SEO, I found this a useful way to extend my link-building repertoire, with some great tips on what to avoid as well (not just black hat techniques but simple things like not exceeding the optimal amount of links to use).

I would have been interested to find out more about why exactly some of these techniques work, perhaps an elaboration of some of the features Google's algorithm is looking for. Obviously the general points are covered concerning authority and relevance, but it would be great to have a little more detail so that I could react to situations with confidence that perhaps would not be described in the book.

Saying that, I do not detract away from the merits of this book; for me, this is a great place to start and combines a lot of useful techniques in one place, reinforcing what I already knew. If you are serious about SEO and concerned that this book does not go over absolutely everything then you will continue to learn more about the coding and web development side of SEO and on-page optimization elsewhere.

No one expects a 100 page book to be exhaustive on any important and intricate topic, so why should this be any different?

With all the swivel-store commercials that I see, and my disorganized spice cabinet, I went on Amazon to look at them only to find they had bad reviews about their flimsy and overall ineffectiveness. Then I found this thing, and while it is a little pricier than the swivel store, it was rated much better.

The box does take up all of the space where my spices were littered about in my cabinet, but now I can actually find them within seconds as opposed to rooting around and looking through all of them. You can double (maybe triple) the little spice bottles in one slot, and there are bigger slots for things like a big bottle of onion powder.

It also comes with pre-printed and blank labels to cover all your bases for organization.

With all that said, if you own your home (or can otherwise make permanent changes to your dwelling) and have a pantry with a door, I would suggest getting one of the racks that you can mount to the inside of the door. It will hold more spices and other miscellaneous things and is easier to grab things quickly. A friend of mine has one of these and I liked it a lot, but since we are renting we don't want to put holes in the doors.

However if all your spices are just shoved in a cabinet right now, pick up one or two of these so you can organize and go right for the chili powder the next time you need it.

This is my 2nd pair of Klipsch IEMs. I also own a set of Promedia in-ear phones. Bass is a bit deeper with the S4i vs. the Promedia (maybe it's my imagination) and having the iphone control on the earphone cable is great. The sound is a bit bright/harsh at high volume but at moderate/low volume it's exceptional; smooth and balanced. For the price these Klipsh phones are a steal for the sound they produce.

The same can be said about the overall sound quality of the Klipsh Promedia phones too, excellent sound for a great price. The main thing you get with the S4i over the Promedia is identical control of your iphone as with the Apple earphones (minus the lousy Apple earphone sound quality and better background sound isolation).

I was looking at some of the pics posted here about cables falling apart at the plug. I have to wonder if those images are from an older model (or a fake) since my connector is different. There's a definite strain relief on the cable and it looks like only abuse would fray in my unit I've had the Promedia IEMs for 4 months now (same strain relief) and they've done wonderfully so far.

I expect the same from the Noise-Isolating  S4i.

The first chapters of American Sniper are a perfectly suited introduction to the aw shucks, God, Country Family school of American kickass manhood. It is mind-bendingly simple to understand exactly why this nation will continue to be greatly defended for generations to come, because anyone who reads Chris Kyle's book and knows where Kyle is coming from (I do!) will recognize in a heartbeat the kind of Texas cowboy we will always have millions of. Kyle himself would never tell you that he's a one man army, but he is just the kind to fill the top ranks of the best army on the planet so long as it's funded.

There's only a little to say about the metastory here, as I will be slightly intrigued but much informed and entertained by the story to come. That is that you see in Kyle's story, the new soldier - the prototype by which humanity will be defended for generations to come.

He is not an outsider. He is not from the dregs of society. He loves his father and his family - his is not desperate for approval. He rises to the challenges of defending his country, and it makes all the difference that he is a volunteer and that this remains a free country. So long as our military institutions retain their transgenerational links, then they will be the fuel that will power militaries of the future. We must hope and indeed pray that armies comprised of such free men will remain victorious from here on.

It's corny. It's easy to understand. Because of that we are most fortunate. We retain the formula. He's just a fighter and he hates to lose. He understands that he has become a weapon and he is serious about his patriotic committment. His mission is a job and he is remorseless and relentless. He understands the deal of morality he has made, and he values an American life first. That is the kernel of it. The rest is training and experience, and now his knowhow is plowed back into instruction. That, my fellows, is a professional, and that is what we want our military forces to be.

One more thing. I would compare this book unfavorably to Wasdin's SEAL Team Six. I must confess that I like Wasdin's sense of himself as a warrior and as a person better than I like Kyle. Kyle is his own worst enemy talking about the kind of man he might have been if he were better. It's the kind of explanation those who are apt to respect him don't ask for and the kind those who are apt to disrespect him will find ridiculous. He's a soldier. Period. I'm sure it comes off much better in person than it does in the book. At any rate, we are fortunate to have all sorts on our side.

With the world of social media dominating high volumes of b2b and b2c communications, what’s happening to email?

There is no doubt both the use and success of email has been in decline over recent years. What this means to marketing professionals is that of you want your email campaigns to succeed, then they need to be exceptional.

For me, email campaigns simply don’t work in isolation, especially in the b2b world. Perhaps that’s due to the nature of the business I work in but I believe to get the best results, email must be one dimension of a multi-touch strategy.

Anyhow, here are my top 5 tips for successful e-mail campaigns.


1. Subject Line
I believe around 80% of writing and design time should be spent on a compelling, engaging subject line and 20% on the rest of the content. If the subject line doesn’t scream ‘READ ME NOW’ then the content is pretty irrelevant.

2. The Hook
I can honestly say I don’t think I have ever replied to a ‘marketing’ email that did not have a great hook. We need to engage our audience with a great subject line the POW, give them an offer of something they can’t refuse. Take Tesco as a good example, I have used the £10 off your next shop voucher countless times.

3. Personalisation
Which brings me onto one of the most important factors. Personalisation is not just about adding the recipient’s name to the top of the email. It’s about understanding you target market. With a good knowledge of your customers needs and wants, your emails should render dynamic content based on the segment of people you are sending it to. Do not underestimate the important role CRM plays in marketing.


4. Screen Real Estate
People receive and read emails in different ways and as the sender you need to be acutely aware of this. Some recipients open their email fully in Outlook, others use the preview pane, others on iPhones etc etc. This means that you need to get you key message in the top left corner of your design so it has the beat chance of being seen, no matter what device the recipient is using.

5. Follow Up
Sadly, in my experience this is rare. I must get 30+ marketing emails a day and perhaps only 1-2 followed by a phone call. It is however those 1-2 that get my attention as they usually prompt me to revisit the email in my inbox. It’s the lack of professional follow-up that is usually at the centre of failing campaign, invest the time to do this properly and you will be more successful.

Next time you create a campaign review these 5 steps and see if you have them covered. Good luck

For those looking for a nice and free way to start 2012, there's free MP3s to download right now on Amazon.com. You will need to hurry though as the free download offer ends this week.

You don't have to buy anything - just select the whole CDs or any of the songs you are interested in and start downloading. If you are not familiar with any of the songs, there's a sample player on the site to help you listen before you start downloading. Who cares anyway, the whole thing is free so if you are not happy with the songs, just delete.

I have downloaded some of the songs myself so I thought I would put it up here in case anyone is interested. I believe in sharing - especially when it's online and free.

Why pay for something when you can get it for free - I say.

Hurry over here and start downloading NOW.