The Boston-based company is offering students across the country a free discount program that works through existing debit and credit cards. Students can register up to five cards online at Edhance.com by entering basic information, including a university email address and the name of the school.

Once they’re registered, they can use those cards in-store and online with registered merchants. They pay full price upfront, Edhance software verifies the consumer is a student, and when the money saved on various discounts reaches $10 or $25, that money is deposited back into their bank accounts.

“Today’s young consumers are more demanding than ever before, and asking them to pay for having a discount card mailed to them didn’t seem like something that would fly in a couple of years,” said Bjorn Larsen, president of Edhance, in an email. “So, we developed a free service where students don’t have to show anything, and merchants know that discounts are only given to verified students.”

Stores can customize their discount rates and even create specials offers like a “Tuesday Night Special” or “Back-to-School” promotion, Larsen said. The Edhance website will also utilize Google Maps to help students locate participating stores in their area. An Edhance iPhone app is also in the making.

Edhance is also beneficial to the merchants who sign up to offer discounts. Currently, stores can’t always trust a student ID card or university email address as verification – alumni can use old IDs, students can share their email address with non-students, and so on. Edhance automatically verifies the card holder is a student when the card is swiped, and it’s done without any additional machines for the store to buy. Plus, it’s free for them to sign up too.

“We only charge a commission when we drive business to our merchant partners, so everything is pay-for-performance. If it doesn’t work for them, it doesn’t work for us either,” said Larsen.

The first in-store discounts will be offered in Boston in September, but they will then expand nation-wide.

“We recently signed a deal with a national financial services company that issues debit cards to over 700,000 students,” said Larsen. “These are located at schools across the country, but we’ll focus on cities like Boston with a heavy college concentration, such as Ann Arbor, MI and Austin, TX.”

Some companies that have already signed up are Apple, Barnes&Noble.com, Toshiba, Puma.com and select New England locations of Qdoba.

Matt Weiss, marketing director for Chair5, the company that operates Qdoba in New England, said they’re going to start offering discounts within a few weeks at some college locations in Boston.

“It’s a really seemless way to engage with this demographic. There’s no heavy lifting on our end,” he said. “The nature of it is just so simple and easy, not only for us but for the customer.”

Before you unwittingly commit social (network) suicide, you need a springboard of ideas, and fast—enter Plinky. Plinky asks you a question or prods you to give some sort of a statement—today’s is “Tell us a secret,” while a prompt form last week asked what your first memory is—and then posts them blog style. All of your responses are collected on your own personal page, and you can answer as many prompts on a day as you want. Depending on the prompt, the site will allow you to upload a photo, insert a Google Map, or any other appropriate illustrative means.

Home screen at Plinky.com.

Like every other Web 2.0 outfit though, you can also read everyone else’s responses. Now because the blogging generation is apparently almost entirely 14 year-old girls, you might have to wade through many responses to find something interesting, but the entire site is as entertainingly voyeuristic as reading a stranger’s Twitter or, yes, even photo stalking a stranger on Facebook.

Because the value of any social network is mostly valued only the number and quality of the people who use it, Plinky offers tight integration to the major blogging platforms—Twitter, Tumblr, or any site that will allow you to use an embed code—and will add your post to the site, attracting readers, commenters, and more of your friends to follow along and do the same.

If Plinky reachs a critical mass, it could take off on its own, adding yet another productivity drain to our day. Right now, most prompts average about 100 responses, but this will likely grow with time. Until then, it will still allow the ones of us with, shall we say, less than exciting lives, to at least appear to be a bit more interesting.

Sure, backups will protect you, right? Technical errors in this day and age are at least uncommon due to redundant servers and offsite backups, but they’re still not unheard of. Delicious competitor Ma.gnolia experienced a massive database corruption last February, and users forever lost all of their saved links overnight. On the other hand, human error ended up labeling every site on Google’s searches — even their own homepage — as potentially malicious. Can you imagine if an earthquake were to tear though Netflix’s California data center erased your history there, forcing you to go though and rate the thousand movies you’ve seen over the last few years and rebuild your carefully curated queue ?

What would happen if your blog were to disappear overnight? We have a blog that we used to attend to daily in high school, and while we’ve certainly moved past it, it’s always fun to go back and remember the times when we would post horrible pictures of our friends as an “idiot of the week.” To borrow the analogy of our forever techno-geek crush Gina Trapani, the potential loss of an online blog is almost akin to someone burning your diary.

But on top of accidental loss, there’s the planned destruction of your digital data. Remember a few years ago when your Facebook wall was a highly editable wiki? And then do you remember when it disappeared overnight? We know we wish we could go back in time and look at it one last time, but alas, it is gone forever. Or what if you use an online backup service that decides to shutter its doors? You could very well be out of luck.

Likewise, Twitter’s system is set up only to hold 3200 tweets per user. Come tweet number 3201, and tweet numero uno is gone forever, and no amount of searching or API hacking will bring it back. In era of near infinite email storage, the fact that Twitter keeps only the equivalent of 3200 text messages is, quite frankly, absurd. We send and receive twice that every month, and our iPhone happily keeps track of every single one. Luckily, with some command line-fu, you can back up your Tweets if it’s that important to you, but in the case of your Facebook history, and many other sites, that’s mostly gone forever.

Either way, until site developers allow us a simple way to backup the data we’ve imputed to a website, the moral of this story is backup, backup, backup. Obviously you know to keep your Time Machine updates frequent or just to copy your files to an external every now and then, but now, you need to make sure to add your online data to that list as well, lest you lose something infinitely more personal to you than the pdf of your tax return from last year.

A new start-up coming to Boston hopes to revolutionize the bike-rental market in much the same way Zipcar has revolutionized the car sharing market. BikeNow hopes to set up a series of solar powered bike stations in and around Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge, where users can swipe a membership card, pick up a bike, and ride off into the sunset. When you’re done, drop it off at any dock, and you’re all set.

Many cities — Amsterdam and Paris spring to mind — have implemented a similar bike sharing program, and it has changed the face of those cities. Many more people have left their cars at home and hopped onto their bikes to travel, cleaning the air and unclogging the roadways. Now, with technology supplied by B-cycle, BikeNow wants to do the same state-side, starting here in Boston.

Vélo'v in Lyon, France

The company intends to generate revenue through membership sales, helmet sales, and by selling advertising on the stands and bikes. Provided it can get the venture capital it needs to get off the ground — right now, about $2 million — the company intends to roll out about 1,500 bikes at about 150 locations. And with founders who represent entrepreneurial and financial professors at Boston University, Cambridge councilmen, and the owner of Boston Pedicab, they just might get the money they need.

Anyone who wants to use the bikes will be able to as long as they have a credit card to insure the bike, although discounts are surely to be had through the membership program. The company also plans to GPS tag the bikes, allowing users to look at all the data they generate on the bikes, from distance traveled, to their carbon offsets, which fits neatly into our data obsessed generation.

Certainly a cool idea, and one we hope comes to the city sooner rather than later. While Cambridge (.pdf) and Brookline have a healthy network of bike lanes, Boston has exactly one which spans Commonwealth Ave at BU — hardly all that useful. A program like this one could work with our city to drive Mayor Menino to actually live up to his pledge to make Boston a truly bike friendly city.

We would embed the company’s infomercial below, but it auto-plays, so head to their site to see it.

Netflix uses a movie rating algorithm called Cinematch to predict what users will rate movies, based on their previous rental and rating history. This tool is crucial to the Netflix experience, which keeps users happy by suggesting new movies for them to rent and enjoy. Users then continue renting movies, and Netflix continues making money — it’s win-win.

The Netflix Prize is very similar to the X-Prize, which offered $10 million for the first private group to build and launch an aircraft that could leave the atmosphere, or the Archon X-Prize, which offers the same amount to the first group who can sequence an entire human genome for under $1,000.

Netflix started the Netflix Prize program in November 2006, offering a cash prize to anyone who could better their Cinematch by 10%. Hundreds of groups have signed on, and have posted their scores on the page for the Netflix Prize. While many of the groups have been flirting with the 10% goal, until now none have scored sufficiently high enough. In interviews, some group members have expressed that the task might prove impossible.

Sensing this, PragmaticTheory and BellKor in BigChaos combined their efforts, and have posted a combined algoithm which represents a 10.05% improvement, which, pending verification, should prove sufficient enough to clinch the prize. When and if Netflix will incorporate the group’s method  into (or instead of) Cinematch is still up in the air. Still, this is an exciting time for movie lovers everywhere.

Updated 4:06PM: Corrected prize money amount. Thanks Shawn!

As opposed to all the choices offered now, you can only watch older free movies from the limited catalogs, or you’ll have to pay to watch newer ones on demand. Epix will offer movies during this pay-for window, but you won’t have to pay for them directly. Instead, the joint venture of Lionsgate, Paramount, and MGM Studios will package their content, and sell it to cable providers who in turn will add a channel to the standard line up. As an added bonus, the content will also be available online for streaming in all of it its 720p HD glory.

Warning viewers receive if their cable provider does not offer access to ESPN 360.

If Epix gets their way, you won’t pay any fees to take advantage of this, and you won’t have to watch any advertising either. These costs for the operation will be recuperated by requiring users to subscribe to both the cable providers’ TV and Internet services. This is similar to the deal that ESPN has inked with some providers to allow streaming of live sports events via ESPN 360. It works like this: if your cable provider pays for access, you can watch all you want. If they don’t, there’s essentially nothing you can do, other than beg and plead with your cable provider to purchase it. Deals like this never sell content directly to the end user.

Epix has yet to announce its cable partners, so one has to wonder if they have any or will even be able to get them. It would be sad for this venture not to get off the ground, because it’s certainly promising. Epix is currently in a private only beta, though you can follow them on Twitter to try and gain access.

Starting at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday, June 13, you can sign up for a username that can be any combination of letters, numbers, and periods — but it should probably just be your real name. Facebook isn’t permitting anyone that joined the site after May 31 to get a username to prevent people from squatting on names.

Notification on Facebook users' profiles.

Why is this all happening? Facebook wants your profile to be your identity online. This is why they have Facebook connect, which allows you to log into websites as your Facebook self instead of creating a new username/password combination. Ever since Facebook started to allow Google to index user profiles, it’s been possible to find your Facebook profile via Google search. Since Google’s PageRank algorithm weighs the URL of a site pretty heavily, it will become important to get a good username.

Screenshot of username choices.

This is all, of course, assuming you want to be Google-able. If you’re looking to leave a minimal electronic footprint, you’d probably continue hiding behind your anonymous ID number. Or just never sign up for Facebook in the first place.

Launched last month to much fanfare (but, unfortunately, to less critical acclaim), Wolfram Alpha is a computational search engine that crawls the Web to collect, parse, and curate all the data on the Internet — certainly a lofty goal. The data used by Wolfram Alpha comes from government and public databases (think CIA Factbook, the NCBI, and Wikipedia). The power behind Wolfram Alpha comes from Mathematica, which helps it graph mathematical functions, maps, musical staves, and stock quotes among a seemingly endless list of possibilities.

While this sounds all well and good, it’s better just to look at some results. Try, for example, a search for the Boston Red Sox which returns a neatly formatted page of historical data as well as current standings. Or for the opposite end of the spectrum, something like a ham and cheese sandwich. (Who knew that a ham and cheese sandwich contains more riboflavin than 93% of foods out there?) For the molecular biologists among us, I highly suggest looking at amyloid beta precursor protein (known as APP) results. The financiers would likely be more interested in the stock quote for APP. Aerospace engineers, check out this NACA airfoil model. It truly is sheer data pr0n.

But Google is never one to be left out — remember that time they’re went head to head with Amazon by selling e-books? — and today they released Google Squared, which produces your results in a spreadsheet format. Spending a few minutes with it, you’ll quickly realize it’s nowhere near as powerful as Wolfram Alpha, but it has potential. For example, the Google square for the Sox lists how the players bat and throw, along with some images. You can add a category to the results as well from the suggestions (Pedroia only makes $500k a year?), or try picking a totally new one on your own. The pages for cheeses and planets are equally informative.

The major downside to these tools is that all the facts are represented in your results without their supporting websites. Every time you look at a website, you’re subconsciously judging the validity of the site. The more typos and blink tags you see, the less you tend to believe the fact presented there. While Google allows you to mouse over to see the specific source of the data, Wolfram Alpha offers only aggregate source listings. Considering the fact that Wikipedia is sometimes used as source, this is disconcerting. Of course, you can always go search the source information on your own, but you would probably use Google to do that, which will make you wonder why you didn’t just start there.

In any case, there any many searches on both sites that return no results at all. Google Squared fails particularly in most science and math related pursuits while Wolfram Alpha will pick seemingly random searches that it will have no idea what to do with. These tools are clearly in their infancy, but also could change the face of search in the future. For now, they’re mostly fascinating gimmicks.

They will also certainly decrease my productivity for a long time to come.

After a few matched test searches, Bing is a decent search engine; its results are relatively similar to Google’s for most searches. The site provides an auto-suggest before you search, terms to search within your results on the left bar, and related searches on the right side. Image and video searches are included when appropriate, though be careful what videos you’re searching for because the results auto-play when you mouse over them. If you mouse over the right side of a search result, a nifty summary box will pop-up. Also, the home page features a daily rotating wallpaper with related facts, which is certainly interesting if not entirely necessary. In essence, you could probably do worse than Bing.

As for real advantages to using Bing though, we found none. The subpage links that Google provided are certainly much more useful than Bing’s. A search for “iPhone” on Google turned up the Apple page, the Wikipedia page, shopping results, and video results. Bing’s results had images, but its suggested related searches were “iPhones software” and “iPhones accessories,” which basically made the results feel spammy and dirty, not to mention grammatically incorrect.

When I “binged” myself — don’t you see how odd that sounds, Microsoft? — we had to get to the fourth page before there was a web result related to me. Googling us turned up our Google profile on the front page. Google also found our Twitter before Bing did. Granted, we have a name that’s relatively common in the Western Hemisphere, and we haven’t really done anything to merit much Internet fame, so your mileage may vary. And yes, we know, searching for yourself isn’t the most necessary use for a search engine, but it is fun, and everyone does it anyway, so the search engine we use should do it right.

Overall, to us, Google wins on the sheer integration it has with all of its services. When one search turns up images, videos, a stock quote, a search within the site box, and considers my vast search history, searches my desktop and my email, all on top of good results from the Web at large, what use is there for another search engine? Google also has a decent partnership with many social networking sites that return results from those sites. With your Internet identity becoming almost as important as your real one, this is quite a boon.

Maybe Bing will prove useful one day when Google fails us or to those who don’t know how to reset their default search engine in Internet Explorer, but until then, we won’t hold our breath.

First, the problems with what we have now. Instant messaging works well for very small groups of people, but becomes cumbersome in larger groups. Emails allow for dialectical conversation, but don’t occur in real time, and can become fragmented with side emails that spin off into their own conversations. Newer people are brought into the fray, and often don’t have the complete conversation before them.

Google Wave is sort of like a chat-room on steroids. Equal parts group-instant messaging, document collaboration, and wiki, Wave allows users to edit the rich media that makes up our Internet today. Users start a wave by adding text, dragging and dropping photos, documents, videos, and any other embeddable media into the wave. All edits are visible in real time; you’ll watch as your threaded conversations expand word by word, letter by letter. Once the wave is complete, it’s stored for future reading or even playback, so you can watch as the wave develops and unfolds.

The technology even comes with an open API, so other programmers can embed Google Wave into their own sites and projects or build their own extensions to add functionality to Google Wave itself. Possible extensions suggested by Google include robot-style automated participants. (Maybe this is just our hope, but could this be the best customer support tool ever devised?)

Currently in a developer-only release, Google is eyeing a public beta in the near future.

No really. You should run far, far away.

Although Circuit City won’t be returning in a physical capacity anytime soon, last month Systemax purchased the Circuit City brand and website, and they’ve since developed it into an online retail venture. The website has a wide selection of electronics, as would be expected, and some of the deals aren’t half bad. The website looks very familiar and is rather easy to shop.

What you actually need to watch out for are the same horrible consumer practices that drove Circuit City into the ground in the first place. For example, the Consumerist points out this quote from Circuit City’s return policy.

Products from manufacturers such as Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Epson and others are not returnable to CircuitCity.com FOR ANY REASON.

(Emphasis ours, distasteful caps theirs). Basically, this little caveat means that Circuit City can refuse any return for any reason. Do we need to explain why this is bad? What about if you want to sue them for crappy service? Good luck — you also agreed to binding arbitration. You may as well just bend over for them — it would probably be easier.

Compare this policy with those of sites like Amazon or NewEgg and you realize that Circut City is alone in their draconian policies. You know, maybe that great deal at Circuit City won’t turn out to be such a deal at all as soon as you need help with it. Just do yourself a favor and purchase your gizmos and gadgets from a respectable retailer that hasn’t recently filed for bankruptcy.

The world wide web has revolutionized they way we do things today, and that includes archiving. Now with a simple search and click of the mouse, primary documents, sometimes fragile, are right at our fingertips. Here’s a listing of some of the most useful and interesting archives or databases we’ve come across.

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

The LIFE photo archive hosted by Google ranks as one of my favorites. There are over a million photographs available by simply going to the Google images page. Also, LIFE archived photos will automatically generate when you add :life to any keyword. Some of these photos have never been published before and date back to the 1750s. The photos are organized by decade or category. and are further broken down into subcategories such as people, places, events, sports or culture.  The LIFE photo archives are simple to navigate and include a wealth of iconic images.

Library of Congress – Digital Collections

The Digital Collections of the Library of Congress are more than just photo archives. One can search through historic newspapers, over 1 million digital photographs, first person veteran accounts of their service, international materials and presentations, legislative records, historic maps, audio and video from American History & Culture, collections of performance art materials, and archived web sites.  Each set of archived material is divided into categories, which makes a specific topic easy to locate. In this dismal economy, who needs to take a trip to Washington when they can access the same treasures online?

Reboot Stereophonics – Archived music, discussions & articles

Reboot Stereophonics collects information pertaining to the Jewish culture. One section of the site, Stereophonics, exhibits lost Jewish audio from music archives as well as long-forgotten albums that were discovered in obscure thrift shops. Reboot Inspired is a collection of articles defining the Jewish identity and “rebooting” the traditions to make that identity resonate in people’s lives today. Another section of the site, Guilt & Pleasure, is a collection of different discussions that occurred regarding Jewish issues and the community. The entire Reboot Stereophics archives help to promote the healthy conversation about the Jewish identity today.

Internet Archive

Another great starting place is the Internet Archive. This is like the hub of all archives. There are sections for moving images, live music, texts, audio, software and even web pages. Using the Wayback Machine, you can surf through 85 billion web pages archived from 1996. Related projects and additional archive websites are also listed. Another great tool is the open education resources. Lectures, videos, free courses and supplemental videos are all available for personal use. There’s also a database of legal downloads including audio books, poetry, collections of the Grateful Dead and more.

IMDb

Although more of a database instead of archive, Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is the Internet’s largest collection of movies, past and present. IMDb has rapidly grown over the years and now includes more than 6,000 full-length feature films and TV episodes that can be watched for free. Up-to-the minute news stories are also generated in their news feeds from a wide variety of entertainment publications. This is my go-to archive when I can’t remember what actor stared in what movie,etc.

Archives.gov

Archives.gov is a good starting place if you’re looking for archived material. The National Archives Records Administration is the organization that is charged with holding Federal Records including those famous documents such as the Declaration of Independence along with public records such as military records. On the site you can access special online exhibits and featured documents such as the Emancipation Proclamation and the Magna Carta. There are also links to genealogy sites if you’re looking to search your personal history.

Enter Sam Yagan. He understands my conundrum, shared by “millions out there,” as he explains. Sam is one of the creators of a different type of dating site. A site where people don’t pay a subscription; fill out witty questionnaires that help them draw down their list of possible love matches; and can have, pretty much, no expectations in a good way.

“At OkCupid.com we don’t promise to find you a partner or your money back, the time you spend in the site reflects results, we are not pressuring you to use that membership for all its worth” said Sam, CEO and co-founder of OkCupid. At the same time, Sam said that the time people spend on the site could be entertaining, because their profile and formatting styles are much more nonchalant. In the hopes of improving services he has done personal research, finding a way to make online dating even more entertaining.

“I talked to users and friends who are single and debating about online dating. Many women have complaints about traditional online dating, because it’s too much work. You need a profile, a photo, a quiz, all these things, and at the end you don’t get a date. Guys argue that there is no spontaneity in online dating, there’s no chance to say ‘lets go on a date tonight!’ So, we though of how to create a site that’s not a lot of work and has spontaneity.”

The Eureka moment came with CrazyBlindDate.com, and since its launch last November the site is becoming popular. As the name implies the new site under OkCpid.com is about, well, blind dating. Crazy blind dating, to be exact. People in the major cities served by the site at the moment, log in their contact details, likes and dislikes, length of the blind date, and a time and location where the date can take place. After that the system takes over and tries to match the requested types of persons with the time and location given to set up a date, cutting the middle friend who is known to ask, “wanna go on a date with this friend of mine?” There is nobody to blame, and maybe much to gain.

“We wanted a site that got you off the site and outside dating. There’s nothing to do except log in info for the date and get out, it’s revolutionary because it turned the model out of itself. With 5 minutes of work you could have a date tonight or tomorrow,” added Sam.

Although it can be unnerving, going on a date with a total stranger you can’t even get basic facts on, the concept is indeed revolutionary. As Sam puts it, this new site is like going to the bar and meeting a stranger you set up a date with. Because contact information is only used by the computer system to set up dates and text or email users about the confirmation details, the fear of getting calls from that odd individual you met with is not present.

“The concern for safety or comfort is a very common first reaction. Upon reflection users consider that they are in public setting and can say for how long they want to meet,” said Sam. “We are the only ones that use and know the user’s cell number and we protect users by making their information private as well. People can also see other’s date reviews so that they decide not to go if the person is ruled as rude, for example.”

If the fear of getting paired with your total opposite is still present, there are also double-blind dates you can set up with a friend. Finally, there are “either” dates where you can join a previously scheduled double date that’s missing a couple. Since the launch of the site, Sam said the response has been tremendous. The system has already set up over a thousand dates.

Thanks to date reviews people share their experiences and word of mouth has accounted for new users. One of the users has even been on 16-plus dates since she joined at the end of November.

“We don’t see it as competitive site for OkCupid.com because it’s our task as a company to innovate as much as possible in the online dating world. If this is the future of dating we want to lead it,” added Sam.

The two sites compliment each other since CrazyBlindDate.com uses the database of users from OkCupid.com to match people, having the ability to choose from thousands of users. So far, 20% of users said they have gone on a second date with the person they were set up with, and many feel “a connection.”

Our voluntary guinea pig, Elizabeth*, tried the service and was amazed by the quick process and date setup. Overall she had a good experience. “I had a good time, it was an exciting way to meet someone and although there were no sparks we still enjoyed the coffee!” our brave tester added.

Although, in her second try our tester had to cancel, due to scheduling issues. ‘I felt so bad because the texts are encouraging. But, I cancelled and got this sassy e-mail saying, ‘Guess you already knew it because you did it! It was shocking and amusing and it made me want to set up a new date to make it up.”

For Sam, defining success is relative. What he is most happy with is the fact that people are going out and meeting others all over. The goal for this new project is to go live in more cities and be widely accepted as the “off-line” dating site.

“Me and my partners checked what we could offer for free because that’s what I love to do, offer things free. People pay for porn, gambling and dating as top three online things. I’m married so porn is out and I can’t offer free gambling; so dating was or thing and there was nobody offering free services so we came up with a good product and its been immensely popular since. Now, we just keep innovating,” Sam aid.

*Our tester’s last name was omitted to protect anonymity and privacy.

Using software developed by Florida-based MediaClick Inc., anyone can create a “PocketBook.” This zero-cost self-publishing format groups all kinds of multimedia into an interactive package.

There are a ton of possibilities with these visual podcast-slash-multimedia learning guides, ranging from the simple one-chapter quickies to complex volumes. The textual content has the ability to link to both graphic and media files.

Each chapter of a PocketBook ends with a short quiz. All of this is done with the help of a simple interface that compiles the data and generates the PocketBook.

The concept of a PocketBook is to “provide instructional content in an interactive format that facilitates comprehension of the material and provides the patron with validation that the information is understood correctly,” says MediaClick. With the inclusion of interactive features such as video lectures and quizzes, the company hopes to parallel the learning experience of a physically attended lecture.

In addition to instructional e-books, PocketBook Maker also allows authors to publish their own books without the hassle of traditional publishing methods and costs.

“PocketBook authors can bypass (these) costs,” said Steve Cox, president of MediaClick. “This is a publishing model that will allow a new breed of authors to showcase their work without risking or paying anything.”

Butch Hamilton, author and search engine optimization specialist, concurs with Cox’s outlook. “Self publishing services usually cost a few thousand dollars, however, PocketBook publishing is basically free and my books will be exposed to millions of potential eBay buyers. This is too good of an offer to pass up,” he said.

Authors can publish their work via the eBay PocketBook download store, which charges a 30 percent selling commission but lists the items for free. After purchasing a PocketBook from the eBay store, the package is digitally transferred to the buyer’s computer, along with the PocketBook Library management system to allow playback of any of the multimedia books.

The upgradeable Library also has the option of formatting the PocketBooks into file types playable on iPods. MediaClick is also looking to expand its outreach in the future to other successful media playback devices.

Authors will still be subject to market demands and reviews of their material. Cox said that the key to an author’s success will depends on buyer feedback. “We intend to drive huge numbers of potential buyers to our eBay store and buyer satisfaction is guaranteed so it is very important that the author publishes quality material.”

Yep, you’re stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic again, and you only have five minutes to get to your girlfriend’s house.

The traffic excuse – true or not – will not subside her whines for your tardiness. Pull out your TrafficOne Mobile and you won’t have to stop at the drugstore on the way home for a pair of earplugs, but flowers still wouldn’t hurt.

Traffic.com, a leading website with traffic solutions for stress free drives, joined forces with NAVTEQ, a leader in digital maps to create TrafficOne Mobile.

TrafficOne Mobile issues subscribers immediate traffic reports in high definition. The downloadable software sends traffic reports in 3D via mobile messaging. Easily and efficiently, TrafficOne Mobile enables users to access reports through any wireless browser and includes a voice activator to give commands while on the road.

For more information, please log onto Traffic.com and click on TrafficOne Mobile. The few minutes it takes to log in can save you hours on the road.

Mary McPhail, cofounder and creative director of WonderfulGraffiti.com, built her entire company around the art of lettering for home interiors. “I think personalization of anything is an important trend right now, and in a nation of 277 million households, everyone’s looking for ways to make their homes one of a kind.”

The centerpiece of McPhail’s Web site is a virtual wall that lets you customize your own typography in the form of Wonderful Graffiti. The ultra-thin, matte vinyl text mimics the look of printing on walls. It transfers easily to hard, smooth surfaces yet peels away completely without harming the underlying finish. Your lettered design is delivered to you, exactly as you designed it on your virtual wall, pre-positioned on a single sheet of transfer paper. Tape the sheet of transfer paper into position, rub down the text and peel away the transfer paper. Only the individual letters remain.

Wonderful Graffiti expanded their concept of interior typography this year with three new media: BlankCanvas is a collection of semi-customizable artists’ canvases featuring unconventional monograms and type designs in black and white. The Graffiti 3D collection offers a variety of three-dimensional letters in enamel, Lucite or metal. Graffiti Ghost is a semi-transparent vinyl transfer material for more subtle lettering effects.

“All of our stuff is fun to work with,” said McPhail, “but if you want to integrate typography into your home, you can do it just as effectively with stencils, paint, paper, ink, markers, chalk, embroidery–whatever tools you’re most comfortable using.”

Are you brave enough to write on your walls?

We’ve all been taught since toddler-hood that writing on anything besides paper is “bad.” If it’s done at all, it’s only by artsy-craftsy types. What will the neighbors think? And what about resale value?

McPhail says to take a deep breath and open your mind. “Once you give yourself permission to let go, you’ll discover that the possibilities for ‘writing’ on your surroundings become exhilaratingly endless. And while you could begin by stenciling an inspirational quote on a wall or a child’s name on a bedroom door, why stop your thinking there? Imagining beyond what first comes to mind is the really fun part of decorating with typography.”

Think favorite recipes. Borders that tell stories. Poetry. Inside jokes. Motherly advice. Political statements. Even holiday greetings.

McPhail points to endless examples of how beautifully designed text can be integrated into a room’s design. You can put it to work welcoming guests, showing the way, organizing chaos or inspiring the kids. Or use typography to add an element of emotion anywhere in the house, whether it’s an upbeat phrase on your bathroom mirror to kick-start your day, a definition of family, a spiritual message that wraps around you and your guests at the dinner table, or a few sweet nothings to create a romantic mood in the bedroom. McPhail says that what her clients really gravitate to, though, are ways to personalize their spaces, say with a family monogram, or a sentiment that ties into a special interest like travel or fine wines.

For more information, log on to www.WonderfulGraffiti.com or call (877) 557-5675.

Since launching their site two years ago, Allen and Boote have grown Unearth Travel to a 30,000-user Web site. Now 25, the South Londoners came up with the idea of developing an online guide after travel books did not meet their expectations.

Unearth Travel heavily relies on user contributions, like a Wikipedia for travel. The main feature is “The World Guide,” which includes a planner and guides written and monitored by users and team members. Other features include an itinerary builder, gallery and reviews.

The site’s advice section offers information on responsible tourism, tours, travel networking, itineraries, books and gadgets. It also features a place of destination, which gives basic information like when to visit and what sights to see. All the content is based on user contributions.

For avid travelers constantly on the move and who are not wary of identity theft, Unearth Travel offers a personal storage area to save an electronic copy of your passport and travelers checks. The team is in the process of sending this vital information to a more secure data storage area on their private servers.

According to Bennett, the most popular tool on Unearth Travel is the itinerary builder, but Londoners flock to the blog area. The popularity may come from the section’s weekly “London Top 10 List,” a roundup of local events.

While the layout is user-friendly, Unearth Travel is difficult to navigate at times because there is so much to offer and the site’s databases are in constant development as new applications are added. The developers hope to eventually expand the itinerary section so that it does more than just draw the route across a map, Bennett said.

Australia is the most written-about destination, and travel tales from Southern and Western Africa are beginning to surface into the guides, Bennett said.

These are just a few of the reasons our generation has seen a dramatic decline in the popularity of traditional movie rental stores.

Over the past couple years the most influential element in the demise of the local Blockbuster and Movie Time has been technology. Netflix introduced the world to the online movie rental service. Since its creation it has blown up in popularity and continued to provide its users with an easy, cheap, and efficient method of renting movies. As great as Netflix has proven to be, its focus on motion picture delivery has ignored the needs of a very important demographic who also remember their weekly trips to the rental store to check out not the latest DVD or VHS tape, but console game.

A few companies have recognized this gap in the online video game rental market and attempted to capitalize on the idea and success.

Using the same basic idea as Netflix, users on these sites can sign up for an account which is charged a monthly subscription fee as opposed to paying per game. For about 20 bucks a month, a gamer can order one game at a time. This means the subscriber can keep this game for as long as they want, and return it whenever, no late fees, no worries. When they do return the game, the next title on their account queue will be sent to them. For a few more dollars a month, the user can order two games at a time.

Right now, gamers in the know have probably heard of Gamefly, the premiere online rental service exclusively focused on games. However, a new company is on the scene, threatening to take hold of this huge market with new ideas and a fast delivery system. Enter, Gottaplay.com. In an exclusive interview with the CEO of Gottaplay, John Gorst tells Blast Magazine what separates them from the competition, and what their plans for the future entail.

Cody: The gaming community has recently witnessed the relaunch of Gottaplay.com, what separates Gottaplay from its competition?

Gorst: We just opened our eleventh distribution center in Miami. These strategically placed centers help the users get their games quickly.

Cody: I heard their are some social networking tools in development at Gottaplay, whats going on with that?

Gorst: Soon our users will be able to interact with each other and utilize networking tools with other gamers.

Cody: A unique feature Gottaplay has in its arsenal is its trading option, how does it work?

Gorst: Games will be ranked on a point system and users can trade amongst themselves, we work as the middle man in making sure the games get where they are supposed to be in working order.

Cody: With the popularity of Gamefly.com, do you think there is room for Gottaplay in this market, or is it already saturated?

Gorst: There is definitely still room, almost half of every household in America has at least one gaming console in it. I’m not very worried about other subscription services.

Cody: Are you worried that the growing online marketplaces in consoles like the Xbox and Wii that allow users to download games directly to their consoles will eventually render your business obsolete?

Gorst: I think we are still a long way off from all console games being download-able from the net, and when that happens we will have to adapt to the market and change the way we do things.

Cody: Has Gottaplay considered expanding its market to Bluray and HDDVD disks, who’s players are featured on some next-gen consoles?

Gorst: Definitely.

Cody: And finally, what is your favorite video game?

Gorst: This is going to sound geeky, but I love Wii Golf.

And there you have it.