How to Become an Influencer with Live-Streaming

Smart Content Marketing
Does your company belong to the skilled craft and trades? Such as cabinet maker, hairdresser or pastry chef? In one sentence: are you creating or designing something? Then your business is perfect to lifestream your working day and shows viewers your skills and craftsmanship. This way they will even more appreciate your products or services - and you can earn additional funds. 
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One of the emerging mediums of connecting with social media users is live streaming. It enables businesses to stream video footage and receives real-time feedback from followers. 
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Businesses can increase their perceived trustworthiness by using live streaming - which leads to greater influence across the social sphere and better conversions when promoting a product.
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Skilled business professionals understand that they must remain in frequent contact with their followers and are constantly looking for new ways to improve that connection.

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For companies, this results in undreamt-of access to special circles.  Agencies such as WeHype or HashtagLove help them to find suitable live streamers.  Christina Walden, a live streamer receives a fixed salary from a cooperation partner.  Another one, a farmer who life-streams his whole working day, gets advertising fees.  Currently, he cooperates with two manufacturers of computer and gaming accessories, whose logos, stuck to the tractor, are almost universally visible in the stream.  A two-week promotion campaign in which he advertised a product in the stream including a discount code for the viewers recently earned him 1,000 Euros.
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Where the live-streaming trend can go is shown in China.  It became already part of the daily business of traders to advertise their products via live stream apps and also sell them directly (think TV-shopping).  There are also companies that send ambassadors on the air around the clock.  They then entertain non-stop with live content marketing.

A great way to build up a large audience of followers! Don’t forget: 80% of people would rather watch live-streamed content than read an article or blog post.

This is an excerpt of our latest business guide:

To the TOP - Smart Free Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Start-Ups

e-Book Special: $ 9.95    -  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08957T6XN/

Print Version    $19.95    -  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1988664381

Also available worldwide at Barnes&Noble, Apple, Kobo and dozens of other retailers: https://books2read.com/u/mqv8Z1 

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Video Conferencing Etiquette

Video Conferences: How to look and act your best in video conferences or media interviews. Remote working these days often involves video conferences - here are some tips to go through it in a professional manner.

Video is not always the medium of choice. The question is: What is the purpose of the conference? Getting to know each other? Then video makes sense because it builds up closeness faster. Is there a joint discussion?
Be Prepared
Have all your talking points and documents ready beforehand. If your colleagues need to see a document, send it before the call and make sure everyone has access to all the necessary data prior to the video meeting.

• Check Your Background
  Try to turn your working space, especially the background from which you talk, into a more professional area. Move plants to the side and let not everyone peak into your bookshelf, filled with romance or political and religious books. If you’re using Zoom, you can even switch to a virtual background.
• Be on “Eye Level” With the Camera Lens
  No one looks good when filmed from underneath, showing mainly chins and noses… Always look at the camera whether you are listening or talking.
• Lighting
  An important aspect of any successful video meeting will be proper illumination with minimal glare. Poor lighting could leave your audiences in the dark. Go for natural illumination; however, make certain that it will not distract the participants on the opposite side.
• Dress Accordingly
  As the representative of your organization, dress in a way that will not jeopardize the prestige of your company. For example, no large patterns, loud colors, and t-shirts.
• “Public Appearance”
  Never say or do anything near a camera that you wouldn’t want broadcast to millions. Avoid political, religious, or risqué topics. After all, you are on the Internet, which means video might stay there forever
• No Distractions
  Make sure that your cell phone is kept in the silent mode, that your kids are kept away, as well as dogs or cats, during the conference.  Eliminate background noises while the conference is going on, and minimize any echo from the microphone. Practice patience and refrain from speaking while others are expressing themselves.
  
  
  More Tips:
• Make sure to adopt a LAN cable that will help guarantee a stable Internet connection.
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• Top-quality video conferencing software such as ezTalks Cloud Meeting will aid in facilitating proper business communication.
• Before your video conference, take some time to save your work, close any apps and programs you won’t need or contain personal data, or use too much CPU power.
• Clean up your screen: If you’re going to share your screen during a video call, take extra precautions so people can’t see anything private or potentially embarrassing.
• Test your internet speed with Fast.com or Speedtest.net. If you’re not getting enough speed, move closer to your Wi-Fi router.
• If you’re going to be a part of online meetings every day, you might want to consider buying a better camera and/or headset.
• Use headphones or earbuds when you’re on a video call. Because of the close proximity to your mouth, it will sound better than using your laptop’s built-in microphone.

• Only one conversation at a time, let people finish, otherwise, no one will understand anything in the end.
• Start videos! This way everyone can see themselves, experience reactions, and feel part of the team.
• If you look at the screen, everyone feels personally addressed and involved
• Working remotely can be tiring: schedule more but shorter breaks

Start the day with a short online meeting, a so-called check-in. Here the tasks of the day can be discussed, but also personal matters. End the day with a final meeting, the checkout. This clearly defines the border between work and leisure time.


Video is also useful - the voice is complemented by facial expressions. Is it just about communicating something? Then it is enough if the presenters are visible - the rest listens without video. Personal conversations are often most effective simply as a phone call, especially if you already know each other.

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111 Tips to Create Impressive Videos:
How to Plan, Create, Upload and Market Videos 
https://www.books2read.com/u/3GYnpa
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BYDH41S/


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How People Read Web Content - Might Surprise You...

Infographic:

How People Read Online Content? 

They don’t read at all - they only scan…

6 Facts About Reading Online:

• Web-users focus 80% of their time ABOVE the page fold - barely any scrolling…
  
• Most web visitors look at 100% of the visuals (photos, slides, graphics)
  
• While the average adult reads about 250 words per minute (one page) - the average person will read less than 62 words on a web page
  
• Use high-quality, large images on your website - and place the most important content ABOVE the fold
  
• On your website use bold, italics or pops of color to highlight important content.
  
• Use numbered and bulleted lists on your website to structure your content

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See the complete Infographic here:

https://www.slideshare.net/BoostTheNews/how-people-read-online


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Books by Doris-Maria Heilmann:

Audiobooks for Success

Valuable guide book for authors, audiobook publishers, narrators, voice-over artists, and audiobook listeners. Learn how to create, produce, publish, and market your audiobooks.

https://books2read.com/u/bPRRyJ

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W81MN2Z

111 Tips to Create Impressive Videos:
How to Plan, Create, Upload and Market Videos
https://www.books2read.com/u/3GYnpa

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BYDH41S/

111 Tips To Make (More) Money With Writing
The Art of Making a Living Full-time Writing -
An Essential Guide for More Income as Freelancer
https://books2read.com/u/bWZMjz

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1988664187

111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free:
Detailed Plans and Smart Strategies for Your Book’s Success
https://books2read.com/u/bMre1a

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018RA72LY

111 Tips to Get Free Book Reviews:
Best Strategies for Getting Lots of Great Reviews
plus 1,200+ reviewer contact links
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5nx5

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018RA72LY/

111 Tips to Create Your Book Trailer
How to Create, Where to Upload and How to Market Your Videos
https://books2read.com/u/mVZkjr

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CHWX6X2/

Book Marketing on a Shoestring:
How Authors Can Promote their Books 

Without Spending a Lot of Money
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5gdp

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1988664225

Hello Friends, visit my Author Page here:

https://books2read.com/ap/n4EYY8/Doris-Maria-Heilmann

How to Choose the Best Web Hosting

Most site owners shop their web hosting by price.  A budget might be certainly an important thing to consider, but since the differences in hosting prices are negligible, there are other features and more important factors when choosing the perfect hosting.

PRICES

Many web hosting services let you choose from several types of packages, each with a different price and slightly different range of offerings. Prices can range from $4.25/month to over $40/month. These price differentials can be attributed to the different features included within each plan and to the eagerness of some newer hosting companies, to grow their brand by offering extremely low rates. 

CUSTOMER/TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Customer support in a web hosting service should be efficient and effective, as well as polite and responsive. Your hosting service should quickly answer when contacted and be able to solve your problems right away. 

CONTROL

Do you have all the access you need, and can you find all the functions you require for running your website?  Is there proper documentation and help articles?  Do you have a user-friendly control panel? 

The situation is ideal if you have full control of your site and can manage it on your own – most of the time.

SERVER FEATURES

A good hosting service offers both Linux and Windows servers and enables you to move between when necessary.

BACKUPS

Choose a hosting service that backs up your web content regularly.

BANDWIDTH AND DISK SPACE

Even if your site is small at the moment, you should look for a minimum of 5 GB of disk space and 250 GB of bandwidth from your web hosting plan. Many web hosts are offering an unlimited amount of both at a very favorable price. 

EASE OF USE

Choose a web host who‘s control panel is easy to use. 

RELIABILITY

Look for hosting services that guarantee uptime, and will tell you exactly how they implement this promise.

Four Popular Hosting Services:

  

iPage 

Best for: Small business owners and bloggers looking for a low-priced, feature-rich service to get their sites up quickly and affordable.

Best Value: $4.50/Month

Bandwidth: Unlimited

Disk Space: Unlimited

  

Just Host 

Best for: Inexperienced webmasters looking for a hosting provider with a well organized, easy-to-use user interface at an affordable price.

Best Value: $4.45/month

Bandwidth: Unlimited

Disk Space: Unlimited

BlueHost 

Best for: Webmasters looking for instant website setup, an intuitive control panel design and the option to purchase additional professional-grade site builders.

Best Value:$6.95/month

Bandwidth: Unlimited

Disk Space: Unlimited

  

Host Monster 

Best for: Professional or novice webmasters who require speedy customer phone support and are looking for a plan offering unlimited email accounts.

Best Value:$5.95/month

Bandwidth: Unlimited

Disk Space: Unlimited

  
The features offered by each provider, as well as the cost of their services, changes over time, so it is important to do your own vetting before deciding which service works best for your business.

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5 Essential Tools Helping Your Social Media Presence

Almost all business owners and marketers include social media marketing techniques in their mix - no matter if they have a mom-and-pop operation or a multi-national conglomerate. 

As an entrepreneur, you have a responsibility to connect with your potential and current customers. The following tools will help you create a more productive social media campaign:
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Pixabay 
Social media users are mostly attracted by visual content, so you are expected to post creative images on a daily basis. That doesn’t mean you can use any image you find on Google; a serious business owner has to be mindful about copyright issues. Pixabay is a website where you can find free high-quality images and use them in any way you want. You will certainly find something that fits into your needs in the huge collection of over 320,000 free photos, art illustrations, and vectors.

Canva
You can easily capture the attention of your fans and followers through simple graphic design associated with your business. You don’t need to possess advanced design skills to achieve that; Canva will help you create awesome Facebook covers, invitations, business cards, flyers and presentations without much effort.

Twtrland
Twitter is becoming more influential by the day, so you need to establish your reputation there and create a solid base of followers. With Twtrland, you can discover influential Twitter users who can promote your brand. In addition, you can also see a visual snapshot of your presence on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Mention
This real-time monitoring app will provide you with information on what’s being said on the web about your business. If someone leaves a positive or negative comment about your products and services, you can react quickly and benefit from the situation.

Topsy
You can’t spend all day going through Twitter feeds to understand what’s trending at the moment. With the help of this free analytics tool, you can search, monitor and analyze tweets, photos, links, shares, and videos on a specific topic or by a certain user.

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When you started a business, you didn’t expect it would demand so much activity on social media.  With the above-listed essential tools, you’ll make your social media campaign more productive and less challenging! 

Get More Tips Here:
http://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2015/02/infographic-social-media-tools-that-will-massively-improve-your-business.html

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The 100 Best Companies to Work from Home

As more and more companies accept and integrate telecommuters into their business models, 2018 is an ideal time for job seekers to pursue their search for a better, more flexible job.  Some of the fastest-growing remote career categories are therapy, virtual administration, client services, tutoring, and translations. Get lots of tips for freelance working in 111 Tips To Make Money With Writing.

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FlexJobs released its annual list of the top 100 companies with the highest number of part-time or entirely remote job openings:

https://www.vipkidreview.com/tag/applying-to-vipkid/

https://join.appen.com/

https://www.conduent.com/

https://www.rev.com/freelancers

https://www.liveops.com/

https://www.ttecjobs.com/

https://www.amazon.jobs/

https://www.sykesassistance.com/

https://jobs.dell.com/

https://workingsolutions.com/

https://www.languageline.com/

https://careers.kellyservices.com/ca/en/


See the complete Flex list of 100 companies here: https://www.flexjobs.com/

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Books by Doris-Maria Heilmann:
111 Tips to Create Impressive Videos:
How to Plan, Create, Upload and Market Videos
https://www.books2read.com/u/3GYnpa

111 Tips To Make Money With Writing
The Art of Making a Living Full-time Writing
An Essential Guide for More Income as Freelancer
https://books2read.com/u/bWZMjz

111 Tips on How to Market Your Book for Free:
Detailed Plans and Smart Strategies for Your Book’s Success
https://books2read.com/u/bMre1a

111 Tips to Get Free Book Reviews:
Best Strategies for Getting Lots of Great Reviews
plus 1,200+ reviewer contact links
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5nx5

Book Marketing on a Shoestring:
How Authors Can Promote their Books Without Spending a Lot of Money   
https://books2read.com/u/mZ5gdp

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Google Docs as an Alternative to WORD

There are many word processor alternatives to Word, but Google Docs is proving to be the most popular choice. Everything is absolutely free, including 15 GB of storage space on Google Drive.

How to set up Google Docs to be available offline: For many people, you will probably have most of the necessary setup steps already done.

• Sign into your Google account.
  
• You will need to have the Chrome browser
  
• Install the Google Drive app on your computer.
  
• Ready to set up Google Docs to be available offline

Read more of Derek Haines Instructions and see all the screenshots.
https://justpublishingadvice.com/using-google-docs-offline-as-a-microsoft-word-alternative/

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How to Fight Back Against Privacy Breaks!

When installing apps, for example, to be able for readers to share your posts or blog articles to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook... you name it - a window shows up wants you to allow access for a number of functions:

This application will be able to

• Read Tweets from your timeline
• See who you follow, and follow new people
• Update your profile
• Post Tweets for you

Will not be able to:
Access your direct messages.
See your email address.
See your Twitter password.
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A High Privacy Price, Social Media Users Have to Pay... 
and all these companies make money with your work, and on top of this, selling the data.
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Google and Facebook are at the heart of today’s personal data extraction industry, and that this industry defines (as well as supports) much of our lives online.

Our data and data about us is the crude that Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google extract, refine and sell to advertisers.  This by itself would not be a bad thing - if it were done with our clearly expressed (rather than merely implied) permission, and if we had our own valves to control which personal data flows around.
And if we could scale across all the companies we deal with, rather than countless different valves, many worthless, buried in the settings pages of the Web’s personal data extraction systems, as well as in all the extractive mobile apps of the world.
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It’s natural to look for policy solutions to the problems.  There are some good regulations around already. Most notably, the GDPR in Europe has energized countless developers to start providing tools to individuals (no longer just “consumers” or “users”) in order to control personal data that flows into the world, and how that data might be used.

Even if surveillance marketers find ways around the GDPR (which some will), advertisers themselves are starting to realize that tracking people like animals only fails outright, but that the human beings who constitute the actual marketplace have mounted the biggest boycott in history against it.

These companies benefitted from the corrective influence of fully empowered individuals and societies: voices that can be heard directly, consciously and personally, rather than mere data flows observed by machines.

That direct influence will be far more helpful than anything they’re learning now - just by following our shadows and sniffing our exhaust, mostly against our wishes.  A Must-Read is "The Tradeoff Fallacy: How Marketers are Misrepresenting American Consumers and Opening Them Up to Exploitation', a report by Joseph Turow, Michael Hennessy and Nora Draper of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Our influence will be most corrective when all personal data extraction companies become, what lawyers call second parties.  That’s when they agree to our terms as first parties. These terms are in development today at Customer Commons, Kantara and elsewhere. They will prevail once they get deployed in our browsers and apps, and companies start agreeing.  Which will in many cases give them instant GDPR compliance, which is required by next May, with severe fines for noncompliance.

Meanwhile, new government policies that see us only as passive victims will risk protecting yesterday from last Thursday with regulations that last decades or longer.  So let’s hold off - until we have terms of our own, let's start performing as first parties (on an Internet designed to support exactly that), and the GDPR takes full effect.  Not that more consumer-protecting federal regulation is going to happen in the United States anyway under the current administration: all the flow is in the other direction.

By the way, I believe nobody “owns” the Internet, any more than anybody owns gravity or sunlight. 

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WiFi - Wherever You Are?

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This once mega-idea of creating a virtual airborne worldwide web has turned into a monumental reality: Commercial aircraft are used as “mini-satellites”.  AWN’s primary target customer-base will be worldwide data and communications service providers.
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Airborne Wireless Network has created a network that will provide live streaming to monitor the health of systems on planes, locomotives, ships, help emergency responders and produce a WIFI service that allows for passengers to have a better uninterrupted “WIFI” experience while they travel. In addition, the onboard hardware can support aircraft to aircraft awareness and monitoring, bringing far more safety to the skies.
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Patented Technology
In 1998, during the pioneering days of wireless data-connectivity, the Network's inventor submitted a patent application to the US patent and trademark office, and on September 4, 2001, US patent #US 6,285,878 B1 was granted.  A few days later, an event occurred, which changed the airline industry and which would delay development of this disruptive technology for a number of years.  In 2016, AWN acquired this patent and intends to further develop and deploy this technology.
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A Virtual Airborne “Worldwide Web”
Because it is a meshed network, it is like a web where all nodes are connected via multiple links. With traditional “single link-systems”, such as most cell-tower and satellite systems. There are no single points of failure as there is nearly always another aircraft, ship or earth-station within range of an aircraft.
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Easy to Update, Upgrade or Servicing
As new software becomes available, the system can be easily updated.  When new and more efficient data-transmission technologies emerge, upgrading AWN’s system can be as easy as replacing a single module, and the system is ready for “the future”.  The Network is never obsolete.  Satellite technology, on the other hand, in most cases, has already been surpassed by the time a satellite is launched.  These cannot be upgraded or serviced once launched.
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No Space Junk
Unlike satellites, which can be disabled or knocked out of orbit by space-junk, AWN’s system operates in a safe and controlled environment, typically between 20,000 and 40,000 feet (6,000-12,000 m).  Space junk has been known to cause serious damage to commercial and military satellites.
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Airborne Wireless Network are working to provide you with something that will have the world of technology “soaring” into the future.


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How Silicon Valley Could Take Down Trump

Tech leaders in Silicon Valley know from personal experience how damaging Donald Trump’s immigration ban is for the United States because many of them were born somewhere else themselves. A 2016 study found that 51 percent of billion-dollar U.S. tech start-ups were founded by immigrants. Here are 11 chief executives and founders of tech companies who immigrated to the United States. See them all:
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/photos/2017/02/12-immigrants-behind-some-of-silicon-valleys-biggest-companies

What exactly could these companies do? The better question is: What couldn’t they? Google could ensure that search results around important topics, like immigration and the environment, point to the work of factual nonpartisan groups, not the nonsense from "fake-news" Web sites, or even messaging from the White House. For example, when people search “Is crime at an all-time high,” which Trump has falsely asserted, Google could ensure it sends users to F.B.I. data that shows that crime, in fact, has fallen steadily for decades.
Apple, likewise, could push an update out to Americans’ iPhones giving them an option to add contact information for their local and state officials. When you open Twitter in the morning, the social network could figure out how to marry contentious tweets with corresponding viewpoints. Amazon could mail everyone a copy of the U.S. Constitution. (At the very least, they could send a couple of copies to the White House.)

These are not partisan issues, but democratic ones. And modern brands, which purportedly stand for things, should be allowed to express a viewpoint in our post–Citizens United world—and they should also have the courage to do so confidently without fearing reprisals from investors on Wall Street.

For some tech companies, even the biggest ones, going up against the Trump administration is probably a little daunting. Take, for example, Trump’s taunts toward Amazon and Jeff Bezos.  “Believe me,” Trump said about Amazon during one of his public fulminations last year, “if I become president, oh, do they have problems; they’re going to have such problems.”

With Jeff Sessions as the attorney general and his alleged history of unethical statements and actions, you could easily imagine anti-trust threats being used to fend off a tech giant like Amazon. But at the end of the day, Trump isn’t going to want to do anything that could hinder his job growth. 

And going after a company that employs more than 268,000 people won’t be a smart move.

Read the whole article at Vanity Fair:

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/02/how-silicon-valley-can-take-down-trump

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Your FREE month of Amazon PRIME Membership

. Amazon Prime Membership FREE Trial: You will receive free two-day shipping year-round, including right before the holidays.  Not a member?  You can still reap the benefits of the deal when you sign up for a free one-month trial.  At the end of the Amazon Prime free trial or your chosen membership period, your card will be charged automatically for the next membership period.  Which means, as long as you order by December 22, your gifts should arrive in time.  Here are all the benefits of the membership:

• Free Two-Day Shipping
• No-Rush Shipping Credit
• Guaranteed Delivery (Which Can Result in Free Prime)
• Same-Day Delivery (in certain areas)
• Restaurant Delivery: Get FREE one-hour delivery
• Prime Video: unlimited streaming of movies and TV episodes
• Kindle Owners’ Lending Library: access to members in the U.S.
• Free Audible Channels for Prime
• Music and Video add-on Subscription
• Streaming Music, Movies, and Television Shows
• Unlimited Cloud Photo Storage
• Free Kindle eBooks
• Early Access to Deals
• Prime-Only Prices and Coupons
• Prime Pantry
• Amazon Family
• Amazon Household

Best of all about Prime is that you can share nearly all the perks with another member of your household. Read also: Christmas Gift Shopping in 15 Minutes?
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Today Nov 25 only - HARRY POTTER 8-Film Series

Today only, save on "Harry Potter" film collections
while supplies last and ends at 11:59 PM (PT) 
on Friday, November 25, 2016

Run Time for these bestsellers: 1180 minutes (almost 20 hours)

See more offers:

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Surprising Facts About Your Mac Computer

After a year, using my MacBook Air, got slower and slower, and the browser even froze. I checked out "All my files" and found out that most of my images where double, triple and some were even seven times stored! For hours and hours, I deleted images and files. Learning about your Mac computer, and using these tips from CleanMyMac will save you time and space on your Apple device - that I had wasted. Learn here about your Mac:
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Your Mac computer has huge “ghost” folders
System files on your Mac’s hard drive take up easily 60 gigabytes on average, according to MacPaw engineers. These files are mostly useless — logs, caches, and application leftovers (like iTunes junk). And what’s even sadder, you can’t access them even if you have admin rights. Due to system errors OS X may sometimes lose permission and needs a cleaning.
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Mac stores just everything
Every picture you viewed on Facebook or elsewhere on the web may stay on your Mac forever. Until you clean it manually. For instance, Twitter alone stores an image cache of many gigabytes within the depths of your Mac.  Even the most innocent websites store their cache in virtual memory, which means your Mac eventually gets slower.  And, the longer your apps work in the background, the more cache it generates.
Browsers are meant to collect cache data to give you a quicker access to the websites you’ve already visited. But very often this turns into real mess, resulting in browser freezing, persistent notifications, and pop-ups. Your Mac remembers everything you clicked, watched or even typed to your friends. Think of the chat history in your messengers. Some of them store data remotely on their cloud servers. To sum it up, a regular browser cleaning is a practice worth thinking about.
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Some Apps Drain the Battery
Junk applications or a stealthy malware running in the background can drain your Mac’s battery faster. Surprised? Yes, Macs do get infected with junkware and there’s no easy way to get rid of it. Ironically, this may happen after you’ve downloaded an antivirus software (some free antiviruses can be a nightmare to delete).
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Battery Issues:
Every application which heavily exchanges data with an online server is a potential battery-drainer. The same goes for numerous opened tabs in browser.  But if your battery dies too fast you shouldn't immediately rush to a store to buy a new one, there's still something you can do. First, go to Activity Monitor app and check which programs are using more power. Quit and uninstall all the unused vampire applications.
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Your Mac Loves Copies.
iTunes and Photos being generally superb tools, but have a strange habit of creating excess copies of files whenever they can. For example, if you keep your photos in the iCloud library, all your images are stored in the cloud.  But when you view these images on your Mac, Photos creates cached copies locally.  So even if you keep all your photos in iCloud, their local copies are still wasting space on your Mac.
iTunes has long-established reputation of a tricky application because of the Library issues.  After many years of use and back-uping, it may be out of order.  The music folders you deleted years ago may still be indexed and contain useless artwork and playlist files.  And, if your music collection is big enough, these junk files may result in gigabytes taken from your memory.
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Your Mac Stores Too Many Extra Languages.
Your Mac can speak nearly all Earth’s languages, but all those hundreds of localizations are taking a whole lot of space. Why keep these 150 language versions forever in your system?
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To keep your Mac cleaner and faster, consider using CleanMyMac 3  
Everyday it cleans 1 million Macs worldwide being installed on every 3rd Mac on the planet.  It helps you clean your entire Mac, runs basic Mac maintenance, monitors its hardware health, frees up gigabytes of memory on your drive by going through hidden system folders.  It wipes away large and old files, fixes errors and makes Mac work faster.  MacPaw offers free download for trial which gives users only one free scan and one free cleanup rather.  This means you can clean your Mac for one time, then you’d have to buy the license key for further using.
Some cautions however:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5672608?tstart=0

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Sign in to Social Networks on iPhone & iPad

Isn’t it great that you can take a picture or shoot a short film with your phone and immediately post it on Twitter, Vimeo, Flickr or Facebook?  Schedule posts on-the-go...  No need to download it first to your computer.  You can post a picture to social media without leaving the Photos app. Have more fun on social media save a lot of time with these features!

Apple explains on their support page how to share content from iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Use the “Settings” menu of your device to connect to your social-media accounts.  Sign in, share content, or update your contacts and calendars with information from social-media profiles.


Apple explains how to sign in to a social media account: 

Tap Settings, then scroll down and tap a social network, such as Twitter.  Sign in with your username and password for that social-network account.  If you forget your username or password, visit the company's help page.  For example, Facebook and Twitter offer online support to help you with your account.

Share and post content without switching to a social-media app:
After you sign in to your social-media account from your device's Settings menu, you can share content on social media right from Safari, Photos, and some other apps.  For example, open Photos, tap a picture, and tap Share icon. Then tap a social network, like Facebook, to share the picture from your Facebook profile.


Update your contacts with social-media usernames and photos:
Follow these steps to update your contacts:
Tap Settings.
Scroll down and tap the social network that you want to use. 
Tap Update Contacts.


Today's best-known social platforms began on the web, the iPhone — by putting social media in our pockets — is what helped the industry explode. As a user enjoy the simplicity and ease of use.

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Do you own a Small Publishing Business?

If you are a small business person, not only in publishing, but also in other fields - from trades, retail, media, to all the consulting businesses, such as lawyers, architects or accountants - and do not have a blog, LinkedIn offers a sensational platform that can be used for free. 

If you DO have a blog, you have the opportunity to connect your LinkedIn platform with your existing blog to drive new traffic and attention to your platform!  Posts on LinkedIn which you publish will appear as part of your professional profile

More and more Social Media sites open publishing platforms to all its members.  Every member has these publishing privileges.  Posts you publish will appear as part of your professional profile. From there they can be shared with your immediate networks.

As one writer said:  “Just another thing to keep traditional media awake at night.”
What about you?  Are you going to publish/duplicate your blog on LinkedIn? 

Read more: 
http://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/own-a-small-publishing-business/

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Google donates 25,000 Chromebooks for War Refugees

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It might be the largest donation so far: US$ 5.3 Million for the 1,1 Million war refugees (infants, children, parents and single teens):  It’s called the “Project Connect” - set up four months after Google pledged to match $5.5 million in donations to help with the refugee crisis.  “As they make it through a dangerous journey, the first thing refugees need is to find shelter, food and access to care.” 

Chromebooks are generally low-cost laptops that use apps running in the cloud, meaning they require Internet connectivity for most of their functions.
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VentureBeat.com wrote: “Millions of people have been fleeing countries across the Middle East and Africa in the past year, and Germany has been the most welcoming host country, with more than one million migrants registered in 2015 alone.  And this is why Google and NetHope — an organization specializing in connecting nonprofits with technology — are focusing specifically on Germany with this latest initiative.”

“Preference will be given to “applications that demonstrate the impact that Chromebooks with Internet access will have in providing direct assistance to refugees, and facilitating access to critical programs and resources,” said NetHope.
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Many municipalities and organizations work hard to have Internet installed, so that refugees don’t need to use libraries, coffee shops and other places anymore.  It will help refugees to access education, information, and contact with their families. 

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Prime Membership for only $73 / year Until Jan 17

Amazon cut the price of its Amazon Prime membership from $99 to $73 for a little over a day this weekend. The company says it's feeling good about winning two Golden Globes for "Mozart in the Jungle," one of its original shows, and wants to celebrate. 
The discount begins Friday at 9:00 p.m. PT and ends at 11:59 p.m. local time on Sunday. Only new customers can take advantage of the deal.
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There is also FREE streaming of seasons one and two of Mozart in the Jungle for everyone—not just Prime subscribers.

Amazon Prime, the e-commerce giant’s subscription membership service, is now being used by 38% of American households, according to Investor's Business Daily.  Amazon Prime subscription service, users can access for $99/year among other perks:

• streamed movies, and TV shows

• Amazon’s original movie productions, 

• free book lending 

• substantial discounts for many products,
•  unlimited photo storage,
• early peeks at upcoming sales,

• free two-day shipping on orders (even 1-day in certain areas)
• Membership Sharing: Two adults living in the same household can create an Amazon Household to share certain Amazon Prime benefits.
• See the whole list of benefits at their Help & Customer Service page

Prime had 41 million members in December 2015, a 32% increase from December 2014. Estimates are Amazon’s worldwide Prime membership is at 80 million and Amazon’s sales grew 23%.

Amazon Prime members are also reportedly higher earners than the average Amazon, Walmart, and Target customers. According to last month's Cowen report: Amazon Prime Members have an average household income of $69,300.  It is also 25% higher than Walmart shoppers’ average income and 4% above Target’s.

During a three-months stay in California's Silicon Valley last year, I was stunned to see Amazon packages at my neighbor's door steps almost every day, and UPS / Fedex delivery trucks bustling in the area. It seemed as no one has time to go shopping and they order everything from Amazon...

Click here to get the Offer:

http://amzn.to/1RrY4wQ

Important Shipping Deadlines for Online Orders

Amazon Shipping Deadlines for Christmas 2015

FREE Shipping  -  Wednesday Dec 16
Restrictions apply (varies by item).



Standard Shipping  -  Friday Dec 18
Or get FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon PRIME.



Two-Day Shipping  -  Tuesday Dec 22
Or get FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon PRIME.



One-Day Shipping  -  Wednesday Dec 23
As low as $2.99 per item with Amazon PRIME (varies by item size and weight).

Same-Day Delivery  -  Thursday Dec 24
Available in 16 metro areas, on over a million items. Or FREE on qualifying orders over $35 with Amazon PRIME.

Last-Minute Gift Ideas  -  Friday Dec 25
Give the gift of PRIME. or an email a gift card.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL

Edward Snowdon's Security Advice for Internet Users

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Journalist Micah Lee met Edward Snowden in his exile in Moscow, Russia.  Lee described in an article their meeting and what advice Snowden has for the average digital user.  In most of Snowden’s interviews he speaks broadly about the importance of privacy, surveillance reform, and encryption. 

Here are some easy, but important snippets from their conversation. It will help people of all technical backgrounds understand and begin to strengthen their own security and reclaim a level of privacy:

Step 1: Encrypt your Phone Calls and Text Messages. 
You can do that through the smartphone app SIGNAL, by Open Whisper Systems.  It is free, and you can just download it immediately.  And anybody you are talking to now, their communications, if it’s intercepted, can’t be read by adversaries.  SIGNAL is available for iOS and Android, and, unlike a lot of security tools, is very easy to use. 


Step 2: Encrypt your Hard Disk.
This way if your computer is stolen the information is not obtainable to an adversary — pictures, where you live, where you work, where your kids are, where you go to school. Micah Lee wrote a couple of months ago a great article how to encrypt your laptop. 
Snowdon: “At every page that you land on, information is being stolen. It’s being collected, intercepted, analyzed, and stored by governments, foreign and domestic, and by companies. You can reduce this by taking a few key steps.”


Step 3: Use a Password Manager, such as KeePassX. 
One of the main things that gets people’s private information exposed, are data dumps. Lee: “Your credentials may be revealed because some service you stopped using in 2007 gets hacked, and your password that you were using for that one site also works for your Gmail account. A password manager allows you to create unique passwords for every site that are unbreakable, but you don’t have the burden of memorizing them.  Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, GitHub, Battle, and tons of other services all support two-factor authentication." 


Step 4: Use Tor, a Free Software  
Snowden: “I think Tor is the most important privacy-enhancing technology project being used today. I use Tor personally all the time. Tor provides a measure of security and allows you to disassociate your physical location.  Tor Browser is a great way to selectively use Tor to look something up and not leave a trace that you did it. It can also help bypass censorship when you’re on a network where certain sites are blocked.”


“You don’t need to hide everything from the adversary.  You don’t need to live a paranoid life, off the grid, in hiding, in the woods in Montana.  What we do need to protect are the facts of our activities, our beliefs, and our lives that could be used against us in manners that are contrary to our interests.  Everybody doesn’t need to know everything about us. The idea here is that sharing is OK, but it should always be voluntary.”


Read the whole interview with Edward Snowdon on Micah Lee’s site, and get lots of more in-dept information about all things internet security.  And don’t miss all the other valuable tips in the articles at Lee’s site. 

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