For less then $10 you can become part of incredible Virtual Teleseminar sessions with board of speakers reads like “who is who” of Internet Marketing and Mark Joyner headlining with his presentation!

Perhaps the best part of the event is that it is all virtual and done over internet with your participation over the phone or via Webcam! Well worth the investment if you haven’t done so already.

Ross Goldberg was part of the Expert Interviews on this blog before and he has an incredible story to tell himself, if you haven’t heard the interview I got with him - do so here: Expert Interviews - Ross Goldberg. But he managed to get lineup of people to speak on this virtual event that you simply can’t afford to miss! I apologize in advance for short quotes taken from Ross’s sales page but you simply need to know the people who will speak there - $10 is a joke for opportunity to listen to anyone of them:

• Mark Joyner - also known as “The Godfather Of Internet Marketing” due to his massive success as an online marketer.
• Ross Goldberg - from coma to Internet Marketing super stardom in less then 3 years. Traffic master shares it all
• Ray Edwards - is an insanely successful direct-response copywriter specializing in online sales copy and direct sales websites.
• Yanik Silver leads the ultimate “Internet Lifestyle” of fun, freedom and financial independence funded by the Internet. He is recognized as the leading expert on creating automatic, moneymaking web sites
• Joel Comm - is the author of many popular books, including the NY Times Best-Seller, The AdSense Code, and  Click Here to Order. Joel is a staple of the Masters Seminar Alumni.
• Michel and Sylvie Fortin - not only partners in life, they are also secret weapons to some of the most successful Internet marketers in the world. Business owner and copywriters
• Matt Bacak - Lead generation master, at the Idea Incubator Matt will show you how to quickly promote your business and yourself (even if you are on a tight budget)
• Lee and Robin Collins built their business by taking smart marketing and customer support tactics to levels that nobody was applying. By doing what others weren’t willing to do, Lee and Robin built a business that anyone would be proud of and let them both walk away from lucrative 6-figure corporate jobs – all while maintaining a successful balance with family.
• Deb and JP Micek - new media masters are going to show you how you can take advantage of the ways the web is changing to have massive impact on your bottom line today!
• Simon Leung - will be providing real insight to how you can conquer Adwords, save on every click, and drive more targeted traffic to your site for less
• Warren Whitlock is a best selling author and book promotion expert. He has transformed average individuals into experts by spreading their books from one side of the globe to the other.
• Carrie “Barefoot” Wilkerson will be sharing effective ways to grow your customer list without busting your budget
• Kevin Riley will reveal how you can create products that are specifically built to meet the needs of your customers and make you more cash, fast
• Alan Bechtold and Erik Stafford will be revealing the single largest business opportunity since bottled water
• Brad Semp is “The Systems Guy” and is an expert helping people and businesses to take action that produces results
• Lynn Terry is going to show you how you can increase your affiliate commissions dramatically by building a true relationship with your website visitors and your readers
• Colin McDougall is going to show you how optimizing for your customers benefit will have them begging to pay you and Google handing you as many as you can handle
• Howie Schwartz is going to reveal his secret tricks and tactics that have him taking over the search engines in any niche
• David Wilkinson is a social media expert, someone who’s generated thousands of Diggs, tens of thousands of dollars and HUNDREDS of thousands of visitors on his websites
• Kevin Nations is the Ultimate Profit Mentor who likes to have fun and make a ton of leveraged money in the process.
• David Preston is an author, speaker, and top rated consultant
• Mari Smith is a Relationship Marketing Specialist and Social Media Business Coach.

I’m in and would love to see you join me, yes I get an affiliate cut from the $10 but it is not why I post it here, price is too low to consider it profitable but the sheer value I anticipate from this event will be incredible and I hope as many of my readers as possible will join me!

Do You Have 4 Minutes? Than Allow me to give you Web 2.0 Enabled, Search Engine Optimized, Cash Sucking WordPress Blog! Create a Blog in 4 Minutes (Video Proof).

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You know an Internet craze has jumped the shark when it makes its way into that most traditional of Thanksgiving ceremonies: the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Here we are watching the “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” float drift by when suddenly the Rick Roller himself pops up for that most irritating of YouTube pranks.

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De-friending has always been awkward. Social networks offer one click “remove a friend” options, but it still doesn’t make the decision any easier.

What follows is a collection of stories about de-friending. In summary, what I discovered is that everyone approaches their social network differently and it’s impossible to communicate all those nuances when you choose to de-friend.

As you read, keep in mind that these are all one-sided stories. The interviewees made their best guess as to why the de-friending happened or how the offending party felt after being de-friended. I purposely didn’t include stories of de-friending romantic exes because those de-friendings are obvious. If you see a real name and in some cases a link to their profile page, I received permission to publish. In all other cases where people wished to remain anonymous, I replaced their name with the first name of one of my ex-girlfriends or one of my wife’s ex-boyfriends.

1. Squashing opportunists trying to grow their network

Andrew Bouchard is a member of the Nashville swing dance scene and it’s reflected among his Facebook friends. One day a request came from Jane Dubuffet (not real name), who happened to be friends with five other of his swing dance friends. He couldn’t remember her, but friended her anyway.

Soon after, Andrew received an invitation to join the group “Who is Jane Dubuffet?” Having all fallen for Jane’s friendship requests, the group of 50 members quickly discovered that this mystery woman had infiltrated the Nashville swing dance scene just to grow her business network. Unimpressed, Andrew decided to scratch Jane off his dance card.

2. Getting laid off can be embarrassing, especially if you were bragging about your job

Liz’s college friend Dave wouldn’t shut up about his new high powered consulting job. After a few quick promotions that inflated his head, the bubble burst. Dave got laid off. Ashamed, he quickly closed up his social network so certain people, like his ex-girlfriend, wouldn’t find out and take pleasure in his misfortune. So he began de-friending all those connected to his ex, like Liz, who worked with his ex.

3. Parents can be embarrassing exhibitionists

On Facebook, Lauren leaves outrageous status updates about her mock drug use. Her mother, new to Facebook, wasn’t in on the joke. After seeing an update announcing that Lauren’s superpowers might be tempered by PCP, her mother responded and laid into her. In turn, Lauren looked at her mother’s profile and saw that her mom posted a photo of herself in the pool, nude! While Lauren couldn’t actually see any of the naughty bits, it was obvious to Lauren that her mother was nude. Lauren called her mom on it, de-friended her, and ever since their relationship has been strained.

4. Take a hint. I don’t want you in my show

Coordinating an arts management program, Aaron accepts friend requests from more artists than he puts in his shows. While Aaron accepted Dustin’s MySpace friend request, he let him know that he wasn’t good enough to be in one of his art shows. Retaliating, Dustin began leaving nasty messages on Aaron’s blog and MySpace profile. Aaron de-friended Dustin on MySpace and Facebook only to discover that even if they weren’t friends, Dustin could still leave nasty personal messages through his Facebook profile.

5. Guilted back into re-friending

Denise V.’s kickball teammate had a little too much to drink one night after a game. His obnoxious behavior really got to her. She had enough. Not wanting to see his updates anymore, Denise de-friended him to which he quickly responded, “Whoops, I may have de-friended you accidentally when I was removing some coworkers. Or else you de-friended me on purpose because you are a hater…” Caught, Denise felt obliged to re-friend him because they have so many mutual friends and they see each other once a week. Having told her friends the story, Denise is often jokingly referred to as the “hater.”

6. De-friending can regress mature women into a high school gossip mob

Jill received a message from her friend Megan asking, “When are we getting together? Miss you.” Moments after that message, Jill discovered that Megan had de-friended her on Facebook. That was odd. She gets a “let’s get together” message, the two of them hang out twice a week, and they have lots of mutual friends. All signs that made Jill believe she was Megan’s friend. Jill didn’t realize that Megan was on a rampage, a three day de-friending bloodbath, cleaning out her Facebook friends list.

The behavior was so strange that all the mature 30-something women who were in Megan’s original friend pool turned into gossiping teenagers. Why did some of them make the cut and others didn’t? Turns out some friends who stayed on were told by Megan that they were being left on because they could be valuable to Megan’s professional network. One friend was told that she was kept on because Megan thought if she de-friended her, which apparently she wanted to do, she would lose her social standing in the group.

7. I really love the Minnesota Vikings, and I don’t care if that ends our friendship

On Sundays, David Erickson goes into full “I love the Vikings” Twitter mode with his MST3K-like running commentary throughout the game. Most people follow him for his marketing advice, but often get fed up once a week on Sundays. David doesn’t get upset that people stop following him. He knows it’s not personal. He just really loves the Vikings.

8. Don’t leave or we’ll all de-friend you

Steven Ortley gave his 2-week notice to his small 35 person PR firm. He was going to leave for a larger competitor, Weber Shandwick. The move came off as a personal insult to his coworkers. As he walked out the door, 18 of his former coworkers immediately de-friended him on LinkedIn. He hasn’t spoken to any of them since, but expects he will since he’s in such a small community. Until then, Steven prepares himself for the inevitable by having awkward conversations about his 401K transfer with his former office manager.

9. Don’t use my personal life as leverage in business negotiations

Doug Cone works hard and plays hard. After getting a little behind on a project, Doug’s colleague took advantage of their social networking friendship at work by using Doug’s posted Facebook photos of his weekend rafting adventures. In team meetings, his jealous colleague would complain, “…and you are sending pictures having fun in rivers with a bunch of girls.” Now de-friended, the colleague doesn’t seem so distracted by Doug’s weekend adventures.

10. I’m ok with your race and religion, but not your political beliefs

I was not surprised to hear that many people de-friended during the political season. Here’s a quick roundup of the offending issues that pushed people to pull the de-friend trigger:

- An argument about abortion rights ended with Jay Ferrari being called a baby killer.

- A good friend of Allison Nazarian called the candidate he didn’t like a “Nazi.” After the de-friending and a discussion, Allison re-friended him, but they don’t discuss politics online anymore.

- Marsha became scared of one friend who announced on his status updates that he hoped all the candidates died in a plane crash.

- Marianne had enough of her friend’s political propaganda harassment. Unfortunately, de-friending didn’t stop the harassment as it continued on email where she had to block him.

- Claire Kiefer had to pull the plug on a friend who announced, “I don’t really HATE Mexicans, but I am sick of all the immigration rallies” and another who photoshopped an Obama campaign sign with an Islamic flag in the “O.”

11. Trying to de-friend your best friend’s ex-girlfriend

Chris de-friended his best friend’s girlfriend during their breakup. Even though the de-friending was unprompted, Chris got roped in with the ex-girlfriend complaining, “How can you say, ‘Let’s be friends’ and then ask Chris to de-friend me on Facebook!”

12. Keep your online flirting to one woman at a time

Michelle Reynolds began cautiously dating David, a guy she met on MySpace. While they were dating Michelle noticed that David was also sending flirtatious messages to some other random woman online. The pick up lines were identical to the ones David had been using on Michelle. He said things like, “Thinking about you,” “Let’s get together,” and “When can I see you?”

While in full blown multi-flirt mode, David began telling Michelle he wanted a relationship. In addition, Michelle saw David send a message to the other woman announcing he was going to take the next plane out to see her. Having seen enough, Michelle finally confronted him, and David began begging and defending himself, “Gimme another chance…I flirt with all my friends like this…I have no interest in that woman at ALL…” Michelle didn’t believe him so she deleted him.

Three weeks later Michelle looked at David’s MySpace page and the other woman’s. Turns out they both had publicly professed their undying love to each other and had moved in together.

I’m sure you’ve been de-friended or had to de-friend someone. It’s always uncomfortable. Please share your story. I’m sure we can all learn from your misfortune. For more insight, please check out “When technology tells us we have no friends,” and “The awkwardness of de-friending.”

David Spark (@dspark) is a veteran tech journalist and the founder of Spark Media Solutions, a storytelling production company. More importantly, he has lots of great friends. Read more of Spark at his blog Spark Minute or listen and subscribe to his “Be the Voice” blog and podcast.

Imagery courtesy of iStockPhoto, swilmor, dolgachov, 7nuit

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Let me tell you a story. It’s entirely about myself. I’ve been with my girlfriend for ten years now. We’re not married yet, not even engaged. Actually I gave here an engagement ring about eight years ago, but that was more of a joke than an actual proposal. That ring was pretty much like one of those free metal rings that you find in candy boxes. As I said, ten years went by, we are living together, and I am thinking about giving her a “serious” engagement ring. Most people that I know give gold or silver rings, but I don’t like gold and silver might look cheap.

That’s how I thought about a platinum engagemet ring. There are actually quite a few advantages that platinum rings have over gold or silver rings. First of all, they are more durable and retain their color over time, they don’t fade over the years. The platinum ring will show the brilliant white luster for years, even if you wear it every day. And secondly, platinum is 30 times more rare than gold, so that will make the ring even more precious and more of a symbol of everlasting love. And last but not least, platinum holds precious gems securely, so you won’t have any problems with the gems falling of or stuff like that. I really think I’ll go for one of these platinum rings, ten years might be just enough.

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Full debate here. Some highlights below.

On the transformation to a "conversation":

Bastholm: In [the old] days...there was usually more of a brand monologue. Your brand would just spout whatever values you were trying to instill in your consumers. If it worked, great. People would talk about it around the water cooler.

Hitt: And that doesn't work anymore?

Bastholm: Right. That process became too transparent. Now our job is to have a conversation with your consumers about whatever story it is you want to tell about the brand.

Hitt: Which companies do you think are having that dialogue successfully?

Bastholm: EA Sports, the video-game company, is a good example. On YouTube, someone posted a clip of himself playing the company's Tiger Woods golf game. He put it up as a joke, laughing at EA Sports, because he had discovered a glitch in the programming that allowed Tiger to walk right out onto a pond next to the golf course and shoot his ball from there. So the company saw the video, and in response, it uploaded this ad to YouTube that said: 'It's not a glitch. He's just that good.' The ad showed the real Tiger, in live action, actually walk on water and shoot a ball. That's a great example of responding to how consumers interact with your brand.

Palmer: It used to be that companies would commission a study at great expense to find out what people thought about their product. Now you just go online and find out. It's really scary at first. You realize there's a whole dialogue going on outside your brand, and you can't control it.

Bastholm: The feedback you get, though, is so much richer and more immediate than what we used to get. In focus groups, there's always one guy who sort of steals the room, so you wind up getting his opinion and no one else's. On YouTube, you put your ad up, and right away you can read the comments. It's such a democracy.

Rasmussen: Online marketing is kind of like a video game that way. You can keep track of precisely how many people see your content and exactly how much they relate to it. As soon as you put it out there, you can keep score.

On advertiser denial:

Hitt: Are there brands that are resisting this kind of change?

Palmer: Sure. Almost any household brand you would find under your sink or in your medicine cabinet. The macaroni-and-cheese products of our daily lives. They assume their business practices will carry on forever. A couple of years ago, I decided that I wanted to do some bleach advertising. I wanted to do something that everybody has in their house and nobody ever talks about. I remember meeting some people from Clorox and being like, 'Man, we should do some cool stuff and get people talking about bleach.' And I doggedly stayed with it for a while, but it just didn't fit into their consciousness.

Rasmussen: It's not just Clorox. Even brands that are doing very well are resistant to this change. They want to take advantage of all these new media channels, but they're afraid.

Read full discussion here

Mocking people online might be a fun idea and many of us do enjoy taking some time off laughing at those videos by those trying to be something. But recently, the online world has got a more realistic air with reports of a woman filing a divorce as a husband cheats her in Second Life, to the latest news of 19 year old Abraham K. Biggs from Florida committing suicide. The reason being that he was perhaps sick of being mocked and eventually threatened to overdose on pills live at Justin.tv. It must have sounded like a joke, but after hours of watching his body without motion some people called the cops who broke into his house only to find him dead.

This is yet another sad chapter to add the rising problem concerned with people making fun of others and the targets eventually doing something as horrific as this. CEO of Justin.tv, Michael Seibel spoke about the matter saying:

As for the broadcaster incident last night, we don’t comment on individual videos, however, our policy prohibits inappropriate content on Justin.tv. We rely on the community to flag videos that they feel are objectionable. Once a video is flagged, it is reviewed and quickly removed from the system if it violates our Terms of Use.

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Federated Media, which sells ads across a boatload of top-tier tech sites, has slashed ad rates at all of the above. TechCrunch's rate-card CPMs, for example, have been cut 35%, from $36 to $23.40:

Rate card rates are a joke, of course: If an ad has ever been sold at the price on the rate card (except at SAI), we're not aware of it. But the new rates will at least reduce the amount of time advertisers spend laughing when they first see them. Federated also points out that these are prices for self-serve, low-service ads, not the major campaigns the company runs across multiple sites.

Here's the good news on SAI's rates, by the way. Advertisers are now getting a lot more for their money:

SoundCloud is one such service. Previously in invite-only beta, SoundCloud launched publicly in October. The service lets you “move music fast & easy. The platform takes the daily hassle out of receiving, sending & distributing music for artists, record labels & other music professionals.”

Anyone can sign up for a free SoundCloud account that includes five track uploads a month. They’re already distinguishing themselves by simplifying the process of sending demos to record labels, something which has historically been done by sub-optimal “attach an MP3″ email or form submission. I’ve done a lot of multimedia compilation, and all those extra steps to sort files gets tiring and dampens the joy of listening.

Beyond the usual…

Here’s where it gets really exciting: SoundCloud is exceptionally blissful to use. Not just pretty, but practical. Beyond the usual AJAX and Flash touches that reduce page reloads and imbue a sense of sheen, there are helpful features that are often found on desktop music apps but seldom on web ones.

For example, after a song’s uploaded, you can tap BPM (Beats Per Minute). Part of the reasoning behind this is because SoundCloud has started holding remix contests, where knowing the tempo is essential to syncing parts, also known as “stems”, with others. Even better, you get a true waveform with your beautifully embeddable widget — a pleasure to navigate, especially if you’ve ever been disappointed by all the pseudo-volume meters and fake waveforms out there (which is a Flash dev’s inside joke in some circles).

Even the upload process is a pleasure. While there’s no batch uploader yet — which would be highly time-saving for musicians with large catalogs who’ve upgraded to the somewhat confusingly-named “PRO Max” account @ €60/month — the uploader is as close to a practical flow as I’ve seen: you use a standard browser to select a file, a progress bar with countdown appears, and there are a few required fields.

Not just MP3s are uploadable: WAV, AIF, AAC, FLAC and OGG are supported. This is great news for professionals concerned about lossless fidelity. If desired, you can add genre details, and being forward-thinking, they’ve included Creative Commons as a licensing choice. The only unfriendliness I came across was getting a weird “(-280)” error after uploading that I wasn’t able to reproduce.

Feature request: as your music collection builds, it’d be great to mass-set permissions. And keywords should be clickable to find other stuff tagged similarly, as the similarly orange-and-purple Jamendo allows.

If you run a site and want to accept music, you can embed a SoundCloud DropBox in your sidebar, as Synthtopia has done. The first time I saw it, my first reaction was to drag an MP3 from my desktop to it — unfortunately that didn’t work, as it’s really just a button you click to get to the standard upload form. Nonetheless, I’ve noticed more of these popping up, suggesting they’re catching on.

What about the social aspects of SoundCloud?

You can add timed comments to a track, which is handy for calling out highlights like “OMG THIS BREAKDOWN ROX!” A few video-sharing sites like Viddler have a similar feature, and it’s not unlike adding markers or hit points in a full-fledged DAW.

You can choose whether your uploaded tracks are public or private. Interestingly, even if you’re on a free account, I discovered you can go above the five tracks/month limit by uploading to your own or other people’s DropBoxes, and I’ve asked SoundCloud about how this is intended to work. There’s a public gallery of Hot Music and Latest Tracks, and mandatory social networking features like adding friends are present. In this Rickroll Era, even MC Hammer is getting in on the fun:

And suitably, when they can’t build their own solutions, SoundCloud piggybacks on complementary companies, using Seesmic for video blog comments and Get Satisfaction for support. I’ve also noticed they have a running Flickr stream of photos tagged “soundcloud.” Observing what other companies SoundCloud is aligned with gives glimmers into their philosophy on creating community. I haven’t extensively tested their help yet, but have seen numerous positive experiences.

Kudos to SoundCloud for their excellent screencasts. They communicate well and compel you to try it out firsthand — with so many sites competing for your attention, a good video tutorial can really “sell” you what it’s all about in a couple minutes and drive your decision to get started.

3 things to look out for:

1. SoundCloud touts their API for plugging in custom apps to their tech. Well-documented, open APIs helped spread Flickr and Twitter’s popularity, so it’ll be intriguing to see what it does for this burgeoning audio service.

2. Copycats of their design by other sites. SoundCloud’s taken the usual “Web 2.0″ staples (starburst graphics, share-this buttons) and done an exemplary amount of going further and leading by unique example. But even if you can bite their style, you can’t steal their community.

3. Will SoundCloud’s freemium business model succeed in the long run? They currently don’t accept PayPal, but say it’s “coming soon.”

Give SoundCloud a go and share your experiences in the comments. Have a fave site that combines the best of substance + style? Let us know!

Torley amplifies your awesome with the useful and fun. He loves life, wife, and watermelons. You can check out his music at Torley.com

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Thankfully, though, there are a ton of ways to find to do computer-like things when you’re not at your computer. Different places are creeping up that will help you read emails, make plans, win bets, find pointless information, and generally do things you’d do on the computer, without it.

I’m going to assume that you have your cell phone with you when you’re away from your computer. With just your cell, and for most of these, any cell will do, you can do many of the things you always do on the computer.

Here are 9 of the many ways you can use a computer with just a cell phone, beyond just accessing mobile sites (which most sites have by now):

Disclaimer: with these products, you will start texting - A LOT. If you don’t have an unlimited texting plan, prepare to see your bills go up more than slightly!

1. Texting, Google-style with Google SMS

You name it, Google SMS can do it with a text message. By sending a text message to GOOGLE (466453) you can find information like restaurant listings, weather, sports scores, calculator, conversions, and the like. Here’s the full listing, from Google, of all the things they can do with your text message.

But of course there are some risks to using Google SMS…..

2. Ask, and You Shall Be Answered

Got questions? Text them to ChaCha (242242). A real-live human being will answer your question in 160 characters, and send you the answer.

ChaCha is great because it’s a real person on the other end, which means you can ask a real question instead of trying to nail down search terms. If you don’t want to send a text message, call 1 (800) 224-2242 (2ChaCha). ChaCha can also send you a random joke or weather information, but the question and answer service is their bread-and-butter. It’s a great way to settle bets, or find answers to the irritating questions you just can’t seem to figure out.

3. Get your Wikipedia On

Wikipedia, in the words of The Office’s Michael Scott, “is the best thing ever.” Trouble is, for anyone who’s tried to use it from a cell phone browser, it’s tough to read. The formatting is bad for a cell phone, and using Wikipedia is much harder. Wapedia fixes that by taking Wikipedia and formatting it in a way that’s much easier to read on your cell phone. It strips away all the unnecessary stuff like the sidebar links, and puts everything into a one-column view that’s much easier to read on your cell phone. For an information-phile like me, Wapedia’s a great way to keep an easy-to-use Wikipedia in your pocket.

4. Go to the Movies

Want to go to the movies? Despite their terribly annoying ads, Fandango’s still the best place to buy movie tickets. In addition to their mobile site, you can use their relatively new SMS service to make buying tickets from your cell phone even easier. Send your zip code and a movie title to FNDGO (36436), and Fandango finds all the results for you. With an increasing number of carriers, you can even buy tickets with a text. Spur-of-the-moment movie craving? You’re all set.

5. Find a Starbucks and some Wi-Fi

I love Starbucks. There’s one on the ground floor of the building where I live, and I may personally be keeping it in business. Odds are, wherever you are, you’ll be able to find a Starbucks just by turning around. If not though, text your zip code to MYSBUX (697289) and Starbucks will show you their three nearest locations. Plus, with more and more Starbucks offering Wi-Fi, you’ll be able to get back on your computer.

Don’t want to go to Starbucks? Send “wifi” and your location to US411(87411), and you’ll get a whole list of free Wi-Fi hotspots nearby. That way, you won’t have to miss your computer any longer.

6. “Hello, Operator?”

Google search, for your voice and phone. Most 411 services are ridiculously expensive, but Goog-411 isn’t. You search Google with your voice, for a business or personal listing, and it connects you for free. You can even request a text message with all the contact info, for free.  Just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-6446411). For more, check out Karl’s post.

7. Never Miss a Thing

Let’s say you’re looking to buy something on Craigslist. A boat, say. If you want to know when a boat comes onto Craigslist that’s in your price range, check out Notify.me. Set up notifications for everything from your friends’ Twitter statuses to breaking news stories, and Notify.me sends you an alert every time something matches.

They can be sent to your IM, email, desktop client, or cell phone via SMS. This one’s the one that will kill your texting bill, but if you’re sitting at your computer waiting for something, or just don’t want to be behind, Notify.me is a really useful tool.

8. Never Miss the Important Stuff

So, you’re kind of a big deal. People know you. Sometimes you get important email, even when you’re away from your desk. With AwayFind, you don’t need to worry about missing crucial email when you’re not at your computer. Using AwayFind, you can set up an “Out Of Office” email to auto-respond every time you get email, and include a link to your AwayFind page.

If someone needs to get in touch with you, they can fill out the AwayFind form, and their email comes through to you on your phone. It gets trimmed to one message, and helps you rest easy that if someone really needed to get through to you while you’re on vacation, they could. Plus, it gives you something to check as habitually as you do your email.

9. Buy, Buy, Buy

Let’s be honest: half the fun of the Web is the random, unneeded impulse buys. If you’re away from your computer and decided you’ve just got to have that cool thing you saw this morning, never fear, Amazon is here!

Using their “TextBuyIt” service, you can send a text message with a product name to AMAZON (262966). You’ll get two results from Amazon, with more coming if you reply with a text saying “m”. If you decide to buy something, reply with the result number, and you’ll get a call from Amazon to create and confirm your order. It’s so simple, it’s a little scary.

Who says you need to be at a computer all the time? Just by using your cell phone, you can free yourself from its grip.

Which cellphone numbers or mobile services do you use to grab information off the internet?

(By) David Pierce is a geek for simplicity- he loves to figure out how to make everything in life easier and more efficient, because then he gets to sleep more. Check out his blog at The 2.0 Life, where he shares tips and apps to help everyone make the most out of the Web.

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