Free Backgrounds for Twitter
Thanks to the nice folks at Twitter Patterns you can dress up your Twitter profile with their free background patterns to reflect your personality! Click on the pattern, download it and unzip it. Log onto your Twitter and choose “Design.” Select “Change background image,” browse for your unzipped file and upload. Make sure “tile background” is checked and SAVE!
Sometimes it’s the little things and nice people like Olivemanna, the creator of the Twitter patterns, that make the internet the fun, social experience it should be!
That reminds me, I have tons of backgrounds and tiles I have made over the years. Stay tuned for more Twitter backgrounds!
E-mail Safety 101 Reminder
In addition to the obvious e-mail netiquette of using BCC when sending to multiple recipients, deleting all the “TO”s and “FROM” before you forward e-mail, and use discretion before choosing to forward every single email you get to others, please remember to be very careful before opening any e-mail even if it looks like it is from a legitimate company. Microsoft and other legitimate companies do not send you e-mail notices to download or ask you to click on a link from within an e-mail regarding upgrades/updates. Quality software and browsers contain their own “Update” button and/or set via options/preferences - always use that method for updating software and browsers.
Of note this week regarding e-mail scams and viruses:
1. DO NOT open or click links within any e-mail with the subject “CNN.com Daily Top 20″ or any other subject from CNN. Delete it immediately. This is a new and very high-volume scam. Opening the email will not infect your computer, but clicking on links in the body of the e-mail, you will be infected with an extremely malicious trojan.
2. DO NOT open an e-mail with the subject line “Internet Explorer 7″ which “looks like” it appears to have come from admin @ microsoft.com - it is NOT from Microsoft. Do not download anything or click any links in this email. You risk infecting your computer with a trojan that can turn your computer into part of a spam-sending botnet - or compromise your security or personal information, or both. Delete the email immediately.
If you do not have a strong anti-virus program that updates daily, get one!
PayPal Alternatives
PayPal, which is owned by eBay, is very popular but if you are a small-business owner there are a few things you should know. PayPal is not a bank and is not regulated by federal bank regulations. PayPal will not defend you nor really “investigate” complaints but rather sends you boilerplate responses and 99.9% of complaints filed are denied. PayPal’s main income is making interest from the balances in PayPal accounts. If your business deliver services as opposed to tangible goods, they do not defend you at all. Google the phrase “PayPal alternatives” or “PayPal problems” and you will find thousands of horror stories.
So what are the alternatives if you do not want or cannot afford a merchant account? This list contains various alternatives to PayPal.
Google Checkout - When you use Google Checkout to process your sales, you’ll only be charged a low 2% + $0.20 per transaction. With Google Checkout, there are no monthly, setup, or gateway service fees. If you advertise with Google AdWords, you will also be eligible for free transaction processing for some or all of your Google Checkout sales each month. For every $1 you spend on AdWords each month, you can process $10 in sales the following month for free through Google Checkout.
2Checkout - In 2007 Inc. Magazine named this as one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S.
AlertPay - Offers personal and business accounts. Works and feels like PayPal.
E-junkie - Shopping cart for selling downloads and tangible goods. Great pricing - upload 10 products (50 MB) for $5 a month, up to 999 products (999 MB) for $125 a month.
ProPay - Registered agent of Wells Fargo Bank and MetaBank. Offers fixed rates on all transactions. Processes credit card transactions via internet and phone.
NETELLER (U.K. based) - Want to move your money? Maybe kick a payment over to your favourite site or send some to a friend? Or do you want to load up a prepaid card for your next trip? You can do this and a lot more. Instant deposits, withdrawals, transfers to merchants and other NETELLER members.
WorldPay - Accept payments via internet, phone, fax and mail. Major credit cards are accepted and they have also included debit cards and local payment schemes like Maestro, Laser and Electron.
ClickBank - If you have a digital product or service to sell, consider the benefits of becoming a ClickBank publisher.
Escrow - Both parties agree to terms, which includes a description of the merchandise, sale price, number of days for the Buyer’s inspection, and shipping information.
Is there a good PayPal alternative not listed here? Let me know!
Hyphenation and Nonhyphenation Rules
I’m often asked what the rules are regarding when and what to hyphenate. Here are two easy rules of thumb to use when writing:
Rule 1: ALL pre-, post-, semi-, multi-, non-, and anti- words are NOT hyphenated.
EXCEPTIONS:
- all pre-e words (as, pre-engineered) and pre-owned
- all semi-i words (as, semi-indirect) and semi-antique
- all multi-i words (as, multi-indented) and multi-ply (confused with multiply)
- non-oil, non-euclidean, no-nonsense (adjective), non-U, and no-no (noun)
- all anti-i words (as, anti-inflammatory), anti-art, anti-utopia, and anti-utopian
- post-Kantian and post-obit
ALL words involving a proper noun MUST BE hyphenated (as, pre-Columbian, post-Stalin, semi-Impressionist, multi-European, non-American, and anti-Albanian)
Rule 2: ALL sub-, super-, ultra-, un-, under-, counter-, hyper-, hypo-, inter-, intra-, mega-, micro-, mini-, mis-, over-, para- are NOT hyphenated.
EXCEPTIONS: intra-arterial, para-aminobenzoic, para-aminosalicylic
When the prefix “ex-” denotes former, hyphenate (as, ex-child actor, ex-husband, ex-wife, ex-president)
