Let’s face it – our American economy sucks right now. Big businesses are floundering, small businesses are struggling … let’s not even talk about e-commerce. The ‘average Joe’ is broke and it’s hard to keep afloat.

Research from The Harvard Business Review proves that face-to-face meetings can make or break business. But since a lot of businesses have to keep within a budget, meeting clients or associates face-to-face, especially if they are overseas, can be a huge financial drain. But there is one company who would like to help.

British Airways (who have – in my own humble opinion – the single best airline service I’ve ever flown on) is running a contest where 100 small-to-medium size U.S. businesses (who prove they are deserving) will be awarded a year of free Business Class travel and valuable business services and products to help increase their face-to-face meetings and hopefully – grow their business.

"Business Opportunity Grant" recipients will be awarded 10 British Airways roundtrip transatlantic Club World business class tickets to be used at their business’ discretion in 2010. British Airway partners Regus, Courtyard by Marriott, Canon will provide five Businessworld Gold Cards offering access to its business lounges worldwide, $1,000 toward accommodations, and a PIXMA MX860 Wireless Office All-In-One Printer, specifically designed for small businesses. British Airways World Cargo will also offer each winning company five free global shipments of up to 1100lbs, including fuel and security fees, shipped from any British Air World Cargo U.S. gateway.

Pretty sweet huh? Well – there are only a few more days to enter – so please visit the website and apply!

With about half of all Americans on social networks, the glass is either half-empty or half-full. 50% the country has embraced these new tools, using them in their work and lives with increasing confidence and skill.

And the other 50%? They include entrepreneurs, corporate professionals, and key players in mission-driven organizations, who haven’t been ready to adopt these platforms into their marketing activities. Some don’t see the value. Others can’t see when they’d fit it in to their routine. And still others don’t know how to use them in a way that serves their message, mission, and vision.

To help success-minded professionals in that "other" 50%, social marketing firm Epiphanies, Inc. is offering a free audio program, “The 6-Step Social Media Kick Start: How to Get More Leads, Clients, and Results (and Have a BLAST Doing It).” It’s an hour-long digital recording (MP3), available for immediate download at their website.

Lani, along with her business partner Allen Voivod, reveal the #1 Rule, #1 Truth, and #1 Success Strategy for using social media. They also share their own shortcuts for saving hours a day while remaining active on multiple social media sites, and how the six steps became the model for their six-week Social Media Kick Start Virtual Boot Camp, which they’re running for the second time beginning October 5th, 2009.

“The previous Boot Camp attendees included both entrepreneurs at the start-up stage and experienced business owners, plus representatives of non-profit organizations and academic institutions,” notes Allen Voivod. "We’re thrilled to have designed a program that’s proven useful across so many different situations, and look forward to seeing another diverse group of professionals in the Boot Camp starting next month."

Lani & Allen Voivod, the Content Lovers of Epiphanies, Inc., help entrepreneurs, global brands, and mission-driven organizations learn and use social marketing and success strategies to boost visibility, community, competitive edge, and profits through workshops, speaking, and consulting. Get their free 6-Step Social Media Kick Start audio program, designed to help savvy professionals get a convenient, no-nonsense overview of how to put social media tools and platforms to work for their own goals, vision, and careers.

ROCKWORLDEAST.com has officially launched its blog/website sponsorship campaign! ROCKWORLDEAST Merchandise Wholesalers will be supplying various Music & Entertainment blogs & websites with T-shirts from their in-house line of ‘Sick T-Shirts’ and from their massive inventory of officially licensed band merchandise.

Supplying product for these blogs and websites is an alternative to the traditional method of paying for advertising based on a cost per click or a cost per impression. The sites that will be hosting these contests/giveaways will simply display a banner provided to them by rockworldeast.com. Based on the traffic received through these banner links, these websites and blogs will be provided with various prizes including t-shirts and merchandise found on the RockWorldEast website.

Holding Contests and Giveaways is an excellent partnership strategy for both blog owners and RockWorldEast. This method is a reader friendly way to draw new traffic to an already existing website or blog in addition to being a targeted promotion for RockWorldEast. For rockworldeast.com, traffic and sales go up, for the sponsored blog/website readership, marketability and value of the blog/website increase.

The ROCKWORLDEAST Sponsorship program is an ongoing program. Any website can join this program upon approval. It’s as simple as posting a banner link which can be provided to you by emailing the rockworldeast.com marketing team using the contact information below.

This is not only an opportunity to gain free products to give to users of your website and readers of your blog, but an opportunity to build a strategic relationship with a major website in the music merchandise retail and wholesale industry.

For more information contact Melissa Buhagiar at melissa@rockworldeast.com
Website: http://www.rockworldeast.com
Blog: http://www.rockworldeast.blogspot.com

Hellooo everyone! I am Pinkylee … Diva Laptop Extraordinaire! I have a few things to say about my owner, so pay attention!

Sometimes, I feel so used by my owner Christine. She uses me the same way most people use big ugly desktops! Every day it’s “email this” and “blog that” – she even uses me for physics homework! Imagine! Me? A delicious pink laptop – being used for physics!

As soon as she got me she was ready to upgrade me! Wasn’t I good enough for her? My “memory” was apparently not fast enough for her – and my hard drive space wasn’t nearly big enough for her. It was a nightmare being taken apart like that! Christine didn’t even have the decency to do it herself either – she let her HUSBAND do it for her! The shame! She still tries to run software on me that I just can’t keep up with. All those graphics and websites she makes with that Adobe Creative Suite she installed! All those Sims she creates! Don’t even get me started on the streaming video and music! Ugh! It’s enough to make any computer scream!

I guess I just got tired of it all. At least … my poor screen did. Now after two years of this ABUSE I can’t hold myself together! My screen fades out to white and Christine tries to bend me to get my picture back! It’s terrible! Now she’s talking about replacing me! I heard her saying just the other day to someone that she’s “never had any trouble with HP laptops” – can you believe it? She also said that the only reason she bought me was because HP didn’t have “pink computers” yet!

I guess now she wants a pretty pink flowery HP computer. I mean, they have coupons and all where she can save $30 off orders of $150 or more at the HP Home Store (valid through 10/31 or while supplies last. Restrictions and exclusions apply). Some of those computers are under $500! How can I ever compare with that? I know I cost more than I was worth … but … I’m so beautiful! What’s a laptop to do? Le sigh!

According to Amazon.com - The Da Vinci Code sold 80 million copies in 51 languages. The books author, Dan Brown, is about to release his newest novel: The Lost Symbol. The book is supposed to be set in Washington, DC and that the symbols, secret rituals and rich history of the Freemasonry movement are involved. All rumors aside - the character Robert Langdon is back and leading the action!

You can pre-order your very own copy of The Lost Symbol off of Amazon.com and they will deliver it to you on the very day it comes out - September 15th (which also happens to be MY BIRTHDAY!). The book is also available for pre-order on the Kindle!

Oh and while you have the Kindle on your mind - why not check out what I had to say about it on my other blog - geared towards Military members and their families!

I really enjoyed “The Da Vinci Code” as well as “Angels and Demons” … I look forward to this new book!

The newest incarnation of Internet Explorer - IE 8 - is now available for download. Will it follow the “rules” of website design? Or follow the “rules” of its predicessor, IE6, and muck up every site it browses? For those of you who are fans of Internet Explorer - here are the Top Eight Reasons to upgrade to IE 8.

1. It’s Fast - surfing the web is now quicker than ever, thanks to performance enhancements that reduce how long it takes you to do a task. For example? A more intuitive address bar.
2. It’s Easy - you don’t have to open up a new window to find information like driving directions—now you can get that info easily using one of our Accelerators. [No more stupid "IE needs to open a new window" windows?! Huzzah!]
3. It’s Safe - no matter what you’re doing, you’ll stay safer using the SmartScreen filter. You’re instantly better protected against malicious software that can compromise your privacy and identity.
4. Easily Keep Up with Sites - whether it’s news, stock quotes, or even auction items, now you can stay on top of sites that update frequently using Web Slices.
5. Backward Compatibility - view sites with ease, even if they were designed for an older browser, with one click on the Compatibility View button.
6. Crash Recovery - came across a site that caused a tab to crash? No worries, your browser session is stable, thanks to new tab isolation and crash recovery features.
7. Surf in Private - InPrivate Browsing gives you the option to prevent browsing history, cookies, usernames and passwords from being retained by the browser.
8. Customization - customize your browser by choosing from an ever growing collection of handy and easy-to-use Internet Explorer 8 add-ons from the Internet Explorer Add-ons Gallery.

Still not convinced? Well - go visit the Microsoft website and see for yourself!