News Skill Shot Zine

The technology world is a fun and ever changing world. Today, there are literally thousands of products in the marketplace. We are simply swarmed by the sheer number of products that we can choose from. And these are not big ticket items. They could be just small little gadgets like a mobile phone, a portable printer, or a digital camera.

Of course, if you have the budget, a seemingly small item may end up costing you a small fortune. When making a buying decision, you need to be discerning enough to strike a balance between the price and your own needs and wants. One way to achieve this balance, is to rely on technology news to help you come to a better decision.

How technology news can help you.

Make a quick visit to any technology news website. There are a plethora of tech sites out there on the Internet. Some are well established websites (think CNET), and others are run by small publishers. Both have their merits.

A big publisher usually releases tons of tech related news on all sorts of products. The problem is, due to the huge scope of coverage, the focus is usually diluted. You will find different types of content – reviews, product releases, specifications, etc. Some of these content are written by paid tech writers, so there is a commercial element involved. Perhaps some writers are more inclined to write positive things about the products? Maybe.

Smaller publishers tend to be more focused, and they usually release news on hand picked products only. Being small, they can’t possibly cover everything under the sun. So it’s a wise strategy to adopt. Often, you find articles that are much more in depth. The owners are also more likely to be very passionate about the tech products they are writing about.

When buying a tech gadget, you usually pay more for newer technology. The important here is to remember that everything new comes with a much heftier price tag. The technology may not be necessarily better (e.g. buggy since it’s new), but you still end up paying substantially more for the product anyway.

If you want to save some money, just be patient. Keep browsing the tech news to keep yourself abreast of the changes. For instance, how is the technology improving? What are others saying about the brand new gadget? If you read nothing but great reviews on the product, that is a good sign.

You may need to suppress your own desire a little, so that you don’t end up rushing to be the first in line to buy that new camcorder, new television, or new mobile phone. Just wait a little. The price will come down soon enough as soon as the masses start to adopt the new technology. That way, you get a more stable device, at a much lower price.

The next time you see a snake, don’t kill it or drive it away. That slithering serpent may save you from the pain of arthritis.

This bizarre revelation comes from Dr. Naftali Primor, research and development manager for Shulov Institute for Sciences Ltd (SIS) in Israel, who said that certain chemicals in snake venom may help treat arthritis – a condition that affects over 46 million people in the United States alone.

“The scientific team that Primor heads at SIS has identified the chemicals in the snake venom of cobras, vipers and rattlers. The company is using this knowledge to make a potent analgesic against chronic pain such as arthritis, and secondary pain caused by other diseases such as cancer. Primor suspects that the venom has therapeutic properties also, but more studies need to be done,” according to Britain Israel Communications and Research Center (BICOM).

As early as 2002, there have been reports of people who were mysteriously cured of arthritis after being bitten by snakes. Jose de Casa, 66, a longtime arthritis sufferer from Northamptonshire in England, was cleaning his garden when an adder bit him. For the next few months, he was pain-free.

“After the bite I noticed that the usual pain that I have in the joint of my finger had gone completely and this lasted for three or four weeks. Then the pain was reduced for a couple of months, although it is now back to normal,” he told the BBC News.

Primor believes the bad publicity surrounding snakes is unfair, considering that these creatures occupy an importance place in medicine. As far as he can remember, he has always been fond of snakes. Little did he know he would bring back his slithering friends into the limelight again.

In 1986, his friend the late Professor Aharon Shulov of the Hebrew University and Aviv Marx founded SIS that currently produces an antiserum for yellow scorpion stings that is used in many hospitals.

The idea that snake venom might be useful in treating arthritis occurred to Primor in the early 80s when Shulov told him that Russian immigrants used a healing salve supposedly made of viper venom to treat body aches and pains.

Following this lead, Primor set his sights on the Palestinian viper – a common snake in Israel – and extracted its venom. He found that the venom contained about 1,000 molecules of which only four or five are poisonous. He then isolated an analgesic molecule and made a synthetic copy called VeP-3.

“About 99 percent of the venom is non-toxic, which leaves us with a great source of possible drug components,” said the 62-year-old snake specialist and biochemist.

With this discovery, Primor hopes to create a snake venom pain-reliving cream that will hit drugstores in the near future. He intends to use the same technique used by pharmaceutical company Merck & Company in mimicking the beneficial effects of the deadly venom without its toxic effects.

“Snake venom has already led to several new drugs used by Britons. Take for example, Aggrastat, a ‘super aspirin’ introduced by Merck to prevent blood clots and to help prevent heart attacks in people hospitalized with severe chest pain. The drug came about through the knowledge that some victims of snakebites bleed to death because the venom contains proteins that prevent blood clotting,” said BICOM.

“Researchers from Temple University in Philadelphia and Merck isolated molecules from actual viper venom, then Merck built a synthetic molecule to mimic the viper’s anti-clotting effect but without the toxins. Through a similar process, SIS is attempting to create an arthritic pain reliever,” BICOM added.

As Primor and his colleagues continue their research on snake venom, don’t make the mistake of seeking snakes and hoping their bite will spare you from the misery of arthritis. You might kill yourself in the process. A better way is to use a non-prescription product like Flexcerin that helps lubricate and repair diseased joints without the nasty side effects of other prescription painkillers. For details, check out http://www.flexcerin.com.

Viral Marketing Techniques Every Web Site Should Be Using

Viral marketing can work wonders for any business, web site or product. It can be a great source of sales leads, one-way links and targeted traffic. Yet, many marketers are not taking full advantage of this ‘viral factor’ in their marketing efforts.

How about you? Are you using any viral marketing methods with your web site? Or does the word ‘viral’ make you cringe?

Many people believe ‘viral marketing’ is a myth, one of those Internet follies that only happens on rare occasions when some fantastic product or site comes along.

In reality, viral marketing techniques can be used by any web site – big or small. They can be used by any marketer who takes the time to put some simple steps into place. Viral marketing ‘done right’ can have many benefits. It will: – increase your link popularity (often one way links) – increase targeted traffic to your site – build your brand recognition – create targeted leads for your products – automate your marketing efforts

Here are some simple viral marketing techniques you can try with your web site, product or business:

1. Word of Mouth – We have all seen this phenomenon displayed with many products . People spread the word about some great movie or gadget and suddenly everyone knows about it. Human nature dictates we tell our friends about some great product we have bought or found. Nature of the beast, it’s just the way we are – so why not take full advantage of it?

If you have a web site – put up a simple ‘tell a friend’ form so your visitors can easily tell others about your great site. Easy and very simple to do but many webmasters don’t do it. Similarly, if you have a newsletter, service, product or with any aspect of your site – just include a few sentences at the end of your copy – asking very politely, “if you found this service, product or web site helpful – why not tell your friends, family and colleagues about it.”

2. Branding – Make sure you have a logo on your site or product. Branding your site is very important if you want your site or product to be noticed and talked about. For that matter, a catchy brand name can be a ‘viral technique’ in itself – so try and come up with one that springs from the lips with a distinctive ring to it!

People recognize brands, it gives them a clear image of your site or product. Include your brand or logo on every page of your site and on every product, service, material coming from your site or business.

3. eBooks – Savvy marketers jumped on this new invention very quickly, they knew the ‘viral’ power of these little ebooks. Ebooks are electronic files that can be downloaded from any web site and distributed easily around the web. You can also have other webmasters or marketers, ‘re-brand’ these ebooks with their own links. High quality ebooks get passed along very quickly and are great viral tools.

Anyone can write a simple ebook on the topic of their site. If you can’t write, just get permission to use a collection of articles from the numerous ‘article directories’ on the web such as www.ezinearticles.com or www.goarticles.com . Ebook compiling software (in both .exe or pdf format) is relatively cheap or can be found for free on the net. Just Google to find it!

4. Viral Software – Some simple software products or applications can be very viral, often passed around or downloaded from the web by thousands each day. These have to be useful or handy products that the users will desire – ecalendars, organizers, personal planners, link checking software, and so on. Many are desktop products that sit on the computer user’s desktop – prime location in the marketing arena.

And the best examples of this kind of viral software have the company logo, sales message and contact email – with LIVE LINKS to all of the above – conveniently displayed within the product. These simple software programs can be great viral promotional devices that spread like wildfire across the web. (get an example of this below in the author’s resource box)

5. RSS – Newest player in the viral game! RSS which stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’ and just by the nature of what it does; RSS is an awesome viral tool. Originally used by news organizations to syndicate their news stories, it is usually associated with Blogs because blogs use an RSS feed to distribute their content. Good quality RSS feeds are picked up and displayed by different web sites all across the web.

Since Microsoft has announced the next version of Windows will have RSS integrated into its operating system, new RSS applications will take viral marketing to heights that have not been witnessed before. Alert marketers are already gearing up for this viral explosion.

You should also be gearing up for RSS if you haven’t already. Using a simple site like blogger.com (owned by Google) will give you a basic blog and RSS feed to spread your message or product to all interested parties.

These are just some viral techniques that will help increase your web presence. They will also boost your traffic and increase your links. Used properly, these viral techniques will also spread your web site, product or service around the globe.

What more can you ask for