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8 Ways Your Wireless Carrier is Gouging You How-To Geek http://www.howtogeek.com/164490/8-ways-your-wireless-carrier-is-gouging-you/ Wireless carriers are gouging us – particularly in North America, where the USA and Canada have the most expensive cell phone plans in the world. We’ll look at the many ways cell phone companies are taking advantage of us. Carriers don’t stop at just having the most expensive plans in the world. From long contracts to fees upon fees, carriers have set the system up to take advantage of customers. 1. SMS Message Costs Carriers can transmit SMS messages for free (or almost free), but they may cost ten to twenty cents or more for you to send. Various reports have pegged the markup on text messages at anywhere from 6,500% to 7,314% – that’s quite the profit margin and would be unheard of in many other industries. Of course, you can opt to save money by paying a monthly fee for an unlimited texting plan. This seems like a big savings, but the fee you’re paying is still pure profit for the carriers. Better yet, carriers will bundle unlimited texting in expensive plans – unlimited texting, unlimited calls, and a small amount of data for only $80 per month! The texting is free for carriers and they know you’ll use much more data than cell phone minutes, so they can include it in your monthly plan to justify a higher price and distract you from the fact that you’ll be paying more for additional data. Given such high mark-ups, it’s no surprise that apps allowing people to text for free are becoming so popular. http://cdn.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/texting.jpg 2. Hidden Fees Carriers make additional money by adding hidden fees. AT&T recently added a new $0.61 fee to its customers’ monthly bills. It’s called a “Mobility Administrative Fee,” and it will bring AT&T hundreds of millions of additional dollars. AT&T told The Verge that this fee will “help cover certain expenses, such as interconnection and cell site rents and maintenance.” In other industries, this would just be considered the cost of doing business. When you buy something from a store, you pay what the item is priced at. There’s no hidden fee to “help cover certain expenses, such as the cost of shipping the good to the store and the cost of renting the property.” The additional fee just goes towards AT&T’s bottom line. 3. Contracts That Make Phones More Expensive Want a new phone? You’ll probably walk into a carrier’s store and buy it there. Phones are advertised very cheap – often “$99? or “$199? for the latest smartphone, with some phones even being advertised as “free.” There’s just one catch: You’ll have to sign on to a long contract to get that cheap phone, committing to pay a certain amount of dollars every month for the next two years (or three years in Canada, which has the longest cell phone contracts in the world.) Sounds pretty good, right? Sure, you’re committing to pay a certain amount every month for a few years, but you’re getting the phone cheap up front. Well, it isn’t a good deal – it’s a terrible deal. Buying a phone on-contract is a mistake for the same reason buying a television on an installment plan is a mistake. When you buy any product and pay a monthly fee for it, you’re paying more than the cost of that product over the long term – it’s better to put the money down up-front. You’ll pay less in the long run. Wireless carriers have trained people to buy phones on-contract and pay extra for the phones over the long run. People who would never buy electronics or appliances on installment plans do the equivalent for cell phones. 4. No Discounts for Bringing Your Own Phone The only thing worse than buying a phone on-contract is buying a phone off-contract. Many carriers don’t actually give you a discount if you bring your own phone – you’ll still be paying the same amount every month. The carrier hasn’t given you an almost-free phone so it has no reason to charge you extra, but that charge is bundled into the normal monthly fees so you can’t avoid it. 5. Long Contracts But hey, if you’re going to be paying the same amount of money, why not get one of those cheap new phones and sign on for a two-to-three-year-long contract? This also gives you a reason to immediately sign up for a new contract every time their contract expires – you might as well get a new phone if you’ll be paying the same monthly fees anyway. When you’re locked into a contract and facing hefty cancellation fees, you can’t be lured away by cheaper cell phone plans elsewhere. You’d have to pay an early termination fee to pay back the subsidy and perhaps even pay a separate cancellation fee. Long contracts also mean you can’t upgrade as frequently. A customer on a three-year contract in Canada may only be able to upgrade their phone every three years – not every two years – or they’ll have to pay additional upgrade fees. 6. Tethering Fees Want to use that mobile data you’re already paying for on your laptop? You’ll probably have to pay an additional fee to add tethering access to your account. You’ll still use just as much data as before, so it won’t cost the cellular carrier anything extra, but it’s another opportunity for them to ding you with a fee. Sure, you could try to tether using third-party apps, but this traffic could theoretically be detected and your carrier could ask you to pay up or be disconnected. They could also just helpfully add the tethering fee to your monthly bill if they notice you’re tethering. http://cdn.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/phone-tethering-to-lapto p.jpg 7. Making Service Providers Pay to Send You Data North Americans already pay the most for data service, but that’s not enough for carriers. Carriers want service providers to pay to send data over their networks. ESPN is in talks with carriers and proposing that it will pay them so ESPN’s traffic won’t count towards customers’ data caps. This is a win-win for carriers: They won’t have to increase data caps as people want more data. They’ll just keep data caps low and encourage each service provider to pay them to make their service available. Your bill will stay high, your data will stay low, and services will have to pay so you can access them. Pity the poor startups and small companies who can’t afford to pay off the carriers – people won’t be able to use those services. This is the sort of reason why people push for net neutrality – greedy wireless carriers and Internet service providers want to charge service providers extra so their data becomes privileged. 8. Roaming Fees When you leave the country, you’ll have to deal with other wireless carriers gouging you. Be aware of roaming fees or you may become the next person on the news with a bill for $22,000 or more Checkout this article: http://www.howtogeek.com/163464/bill-shock-how-to-avoid-22000-or-more-in-int ernational-roaming-fees/ because you dared to use your phone’s data connection outside the country. Cellular carriers are generally free to add as much mark-up as they want when negotiating roaming agreements, and they take advantage of this. You can mitigate many of these problems by opting by purchasing a phone up-front and opting to go with a prepaid carrier, so it’s not a surprise that prepaid carriers are becoming more popular in the USA. +++++++++++++++ Smartphone ‘saturation’ fears hurt device makers Shares of Samsung, HTC down over worries market can’t grow much more CBC News, July 5, 2013. 10:50 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 5, 2013 9:35 PM ET Many analysts are worried sales of Samsung smartphones, like the Galaxy S4, won’t be able to maintain rapid growth as we approach what they call ‘smartphone saturation.’ (Timothy Neesam/CBC) Despite registering a 47 per cent jump in profit and selling a large number of Galaxy S4 smartphones -10 million in the month of May – Samsung saw its stock fall after the South Korean company warned it won’t be able to grow sales as quickly as it has in the past. Samsung shares are down 16.75 per cent this year. HTC, which makes the popular HTC One smartphone, reported its sales for June were down 26 per cent from a year ago, citing increased competition. The Taiwanese company’s stock is down 32 per cent this year on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Fewer wow features Companies and analysts are increasingly concerned that sales of high-end smartphones can no longer grow at the rate they have over the past few years. It has become harder to impress buyers with new features in upgraded models as most smartphones offer similar functions. Fewer wow factors in new smartphones mean people will not upgrade as quickly as they did when the devices were still a novelty, forcing device makers to spend more on splashy advertising and marketing. With year-to-year improvements seen as marginal, it can be difficult to convince consumers to break a contract early or switch from a phone they’re comfortable with. Meanwhile, emerging market sales are increasingly dominated by lower-cost phones from China’s Huawei and ZTE, as consumers in those markets cannot afford phones costing hundreds of dollars. Smartphone makers feel the pinch All five major smartphone makers – Samsung, Apple, HTC, BlackBerry and Nokia – have seen their stocks drop this year, while the S&P 500, a broad index of U.S. companies, is up by nearly 14 per cent. BlackBerry’s stock has dropped 19.5 per cent on the Nasdaq, as sales of its new BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 failed to meet expectations. It also expects more losses in the future. Apple, long seen as the leader of the smartphone market, has cut the number of iPhones it intends to make this year from 40 million to 25 million, according to analyst Peter Misek. With files from The Associated Press _________________________ From the pages of Donna’s travel diary The hotel that got it just right By Donna J. Jodhan As a regular traveler I am always happy whenever I can stay at a hotel that has gone out of its way to be accommodating to me as a blind customer and I am always more than delighted to put in a plug for said hotel. In late April 2013 I had the pleasure of staying at the Cambridge Suites Hotel on Richmond Street in down town Toronto. I was there to attend the 2013 AGM of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians and I stayed from April 25 to April 28. This hotel went out of its way to accommodate our group and their facilities and amenities were extremely accessible. They went out of their way to ensure that Blind persons were made comfortable. Their elevator buttons were well labeled in Braille. The doors of our luxurious suites were also labeled in Braille and guess what! All of the bottles containing the various liquids in our bathroom were also labeled in Braille. The shampoo, body wash, body lotion, and conditioner bottles were all labeled. This hotel really got it when it came to accommodating us as a group of Blind persons. Their conference rooms were also very accessible and their waiters and waitresses were absolutely top class when it came to serving the meal. Give them a try the next time you visit Toronto and tell them that I sent you! Kudos to the Cambridge Suites on Richmond Street in down town Toronto Canada. I’m Donna J. Jodhan enjoying my travels. On your next trip you could enrich your down time with some of my audio mysteries. Take them with you wherever you go! In the car, on the plane, on the bbus or train, at the beach, anywhere! Affordable, portable, (computer or i device) and you could either purchase or Subscribe for unlimited access to my library at www.donnajodhan.com/store.html _________________________]]>

http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/a… to see if you have the latest version of Flash installed on your computer. If you do not have the newest Adobe Flash, that may be the solution.]]>

4 Ways To Factory Reset Your Windows Computer 4 Ways To Factory Reset Your Windows Computer A reset to factory conditions is the quickest and easiest way to return to normal, whether your system has been running slow or caught a virus. Not only does it get your computer clean, but it will also run at optimal performance. Here are four different ways you can reset your Windows computer. 1. Use the Recovery Partition Modern computers come with the operating system pre-installed and a recovery partition to restore it. A partition is a portion of the hard drive that is sectioned off. Primarily, they’re used to limit the amount of space that can be used for certain data. For example, a hard drive could have several partitions: a recovery partition which contains all the recovery setup files necessary for a clean refresh of the operating system, a partition for the operating system and all installed programs, and a partition for all extra data. Starting a recovery via the recovery partition usually means that you have to press one of the “F” keys (such as F1-F12) the moment after you hit the power button. These should be: Acer – Alt + F10 Asus – F9 Dell/Alienware – F8 HP – F11 Lenovo – F11 MSI – F3 Samsung – F4 Sony – F10 Toshiba – 0 (not numpad) while turning on, release key when Toshiba logo appears Doing so tells the BIOS (the basic firmware that runs primitive functions ) that you’d like to run the recovery setup rather than load your Windows installation. Then, simply follow the on-screen instructions to complete the recovery – it should be very similar to a full-screen installation of any other program. Once the recovery installer has completed, your computer will be in the exact same state as it was when you turned it on for the first time. This may also include all of the bloatware that came with it. 2. Use Recovery Discs If your computer doesn’t have a recovery partition, but it did come with the operating system pre-installed, it should have come with recovery discs. These are CDs or DVDs that contain all of the recovery setup data that would normally be stored in a recovery partition. In other words, the experience with the recovery discs should be exactly the same as it is with a recovery partition. The only difference is that you have to boot off of the discs rather than a recovery partition. Christian wrote up a general guide to creating a Windows 8 Recovery Disc, including how to save it to a USB flash drive found at the URL below. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-create-a-windows-8-recovery-disk/ 3. Some manufacturers also include utilities that allow you to burn your own recovery discs, offering you another location for the recovery data. Or you could delete the recovery partition so you can use more of your hard drive for your stuff. Recovery partitions tend to be in the 20GB vicinity, so you’re gaining quite a bit of extra space. Note that by deleting the recovery partition, you won’t be able to use the “boot by pressing an F key” method of starting the recovery; you’ll be forced to use the discs that you burned yourself from then on. Be careful not to scratch them! 4. “Refresh” or “Reset” Windows 8 If you use Windows 8 or later, you’re in luck. Microsoft implemented its own functions for “refreshing” and “resetting” your computer, which make a factory reset quicker and easier. These options allow you to reset your computer based on what you want. “Refreshing” means that you get to keep your personal data as well as installed Metro apps, but it’ll delete all other applications. “Resetting,” which Windows called “Remove everything and reinstall Windows,” means that you lose everything, including your Metro apps, personal data, and other applications and return to a fresh copy of Windows. In other words, there’s no need to completely reinstall Windows 8 if there are any issues. “Resetting” your computer is also a great way to prepare it for sale to another person, so that Windows remains installed, but all of your personal files and programs are erased. To access these settings, open the Settings charm from the right sidebar, and then choose the Change PC settings option at the bottom. Select the General category, and then choose the Get Started button under your option of choice. You can even access these options in case your computer fails to boot Windows properly. Reinstall Windows From Scratch If your computer didn’t come with any recovery data at all, then you’ll have to reset your computer the old fashioned way: by installing vanilla Windows and finding all necessary drivers. This method is certainly more tedious, but it gives you more control over the reset process. For this method, you’ll need your Windows license key and installation media. Once complete, you’ll also be free of any bloatware that may have plagued your computer in the past. Be aware that if you choose this method although you have a recovery partition on your system, you need to be cautious when choosing which partition to install Windows to. It may try to use the entire hard drive and thereby wipe out your recovery partition (if you have one). You can consciously accept this fact and continue, but you may also want to keep it just in case. Final Thoughts With all these options to factory reset your computer, you will hopefully find one that applies to your computer if the need arises. If you’re unsure whether you can take advantage of recovery partitions or discs, check with your computer’s manufacturer as they should have documentation available. You might also be able to purchase recovery media directly from the manufacturer.]]>

yet, you may be wondering what the deal is with some of the braille translation. The issue is that iOS 7 automatically uses the Unified English Braille table, no matter how your regional and language settings are configured. This includes if you had previously configured a different translation table in English prior to upgrading to iOS 7. If you wish to switch back to U.S. or UK braille, go in to Settings, General, Accessibility, VoiceOver, Braille, and then select Translation table. Select 1 of the 3 choices, and your braille will switch to that translation table. **3. Noisy VoiceOver, quiet display In iOS 7, you can turn off VoiceOver sounds without impacting system sounds. This is useful if you wish to receive sound alerts about notifications, but find the clicks and beeps of VoiceOver to be annoying. There are two ways of doing this. You can either add it in to your rotor settings with VoiceOver or go to Settings, General, Accessibility, VoiceOver, and then turn the “sounds” off. **4. What was that again? Sometimes, VoiceOver gives you a result or displays information which flashes up in braille and then disappears. One example of this is with the Looktel Money Reader app, another when getting a result with TapTapSee, and a 3rd in certain hints with Dice World. Fortunately, starting with iOS 6, you can read it again if you didn’t catch it the first time. To do so, press space with N and you can then review a history of the last few things VoiceOver sent to the braille display at your own pace. To go to the previous item, press space with dot 1, and press space with dot 4 to advance through the history. When you’re done reviewing these messages, press space with N again to return to wherever you were in iOS. Note that while you are reviewing these messages, pressing space with dot 1 or dot 4 will still move the VoiceOver cursor, so once you press space with N the second time, you may be returned to a different point on the screen. **5. Dude, where’s my battery life? Anyone who uses external hardware that connects through Bluetooth, whether it’s an external GPS receiver, headset, keyboard, or braille display, can attest to the fact that it is quite the battery hog. While logic may dictate that using the screen curtain will help save battery, since it makes the screen go dark, this is not true. The screen curtain is, quite literally, a curtain that goes over your screen and is a VoiceOver-specific function. You can verify this by turning your screen brightness up to 100 percent while the screen curtain is enabled and watching your battery do a downward spiral. You can also feel heat around the edges of the screen after using your device with the brightness set this high after several minutes. Instead, you may have guessed it, set your screen brightness to 0 percent. Just remember to bring the screen brightness back up some when you wish for a sighted user to see your screen clearly. You can do this by going in to the control center in iOS 7. With earlier versions of iOS, you can also adjust the screen brightness by going into settings, brightness and wallpaper, and then making the adjustment this way. For even more practical ways to conserve battery power, please see David Goodwin’s article called Tips For Improving Battery Life in iOS 7 at www.applevis.com/guides/ios/tips-improving- battery-life-ios-7. **6. Hey, what’s this button do? While most modern-day braille displays have a Perkins-style keyboard and cursor router buttons, they also have some buttons which make them unique. They are configured to help make your life easier in various ways. For example, they may scroll in a certain direction and be located in such a way that you can operate them while not having to take your hands off of the display. While the manual and the various commands listed on apple.com are great, it’s not always convenient to pull up such a list. Fortunately, iOS has you covered. From anywhere in iOS, press space with K to activate VoiceOver help. This will allow you to not only press buttons and keyboard combinations to find out what they do, but will also let you practice gestures and keyboard commands that you may use if you have a bluetooth keyboard. These are messages that flash up, so press space with N if you miss them the first time. To exit keyboard help, press space with B to activate the back button. You will be returned to where you were before entering this mode. Note that when there is no message flashing up, the braille display will still show the last thing that was on it before you entered keyboard help. This is a known bug that has been reported. *78. Hurry up, why don’t you? In iOS 7, there have been many changes to the user interface. While most of these do not impact braille users directly, there is one that can affect the performance of your device. This is called reduced motion. Go in to settings, general, accessibility, and under the vision heading, turn on “reduced motion.” This will cause less battery drain and should also speed up your device a bit more, as there is less demand on the processor when this feature is turned on. **8. But can do? I don’t think so! Some people may be shrugging their shoulders at the title of this tip, but anyone who knows contracted braille will not be. For some braille users, they enjoy using contracted braille, but their typing speed for inputting this method may be slower than the device likes. If you wait too long between letters, for example, if you wanted to type out the word “float,” you may end up with “fromlikeoathat.” This is because after a few seconds, the Apple braille driver assumes that when you enter a single letter, you want that to be the one-word equivalent. In iOS 7, there is a feature which allows you to turn off this automatic translation. Go into settings, general, accessibility, VoiceOver, braille, and then turn this feature off. Doing this will make it so that nothing is translated until you press either space or backspace. The drawback to this is that you cannot see words as you type them, and editing becomes rather cumbersome since you must hit space with 4-5 in order to translate something without hitting the spacebar. So while this may be a good feature for those who can keep track of what they’re writing, it’s a feature I’d use only when writing a document. You can always re-enable automatic braille translation when you are editing something if you wish, so it’s just another option. Alternatively, pressing space with G from anywhere within the operating system will toggle between contracted and uncontracted braille. While it may take slightly longer to type out uncontracted braille, you may find that it actually saves you time in the long run since you will not have to go back and correct all of those mistranslations. Note that if you choose to type in uncontracted braille, you will need to use the computer braille symbols for punctuation marks and numbers such as the period (dots 4 an 6), the question mark (dots 1-4-5-6), etc. Turning contracted braille on and off is a feature with all versions of iOS that have braille support. **90. The braille master is at the controls Also new in iOS 7 is the control center, which gives you easy access to what Apple feels are essential controls that you need convenient access to such as wi-fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, and many others. While touch-screen users must tap the status bar and then swipe up with 3 fingers, a braille user can simply press space with dots 2-5 from anywhere in iOS and be presented with the control center. Hit a cursor routing button above the toggles to change them instantly. Press space with B to exit when you are done with the control center. **10. Get notified Similarly, touch-screen-only users will need to tap the status bar and then swipe down with 3 fingers to pull up their notifications center. As a braille user, you can instantly pull up your notifications center by pressing space with dots 4-6. As before with the control center, press space with B to exit the notifications center.]]>

15 Brilliant Websites That Will Inspire And Change Your Life http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/15-brilliant-websites-that-wi ll-inspire-and-change-your-life.html by Chris Ellis (Note: text for URL addresses inserted by Dan.) Article starts next. I have to say that I love living in the world as it is today. Even with all its warts, it’s still pretty great. The main reason I love it is that information about anything is right at your fingertips via the internet. There are millions of people putting out life-changing information because it is their passion, and it’s all available at the click of a button. One of the drawbacks of this age, though, is that sometimes there is too much information and you have to rely on friends to help you weed out the good from the bad or useless. And that is why I am taking to my keyboard today. Here are 15 websites to change your life and get you inspired and motivated: Description: Description: http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2013/10/15-Websites-That-Ma ke-Your-Time-Spent-On-The-Internet-Productive-370×208.jpg Recommend For You 15 Websites That Make Your Time Spent On The Internet Productive 2.6K Shares 1. GCF LearnFree http://www.gcflearnfree.org/COMPUTERBASICS I have put this one first because there’s still a huge number of people who have no computer knowledge and don’t know how to get started in the new computer-based world. While it is ironic that you need a computer to access this site, if you have a relative or friend who needs to become computer literate, this is a great site that you can use to help them get started. It has simple tutorials about computer basics, along with videos. It is straightforward and easy to use. Your friend or relative can get started right away and be up and running in no time. 2. Duolingo https://www.duolingo.com/ I love this site! It’s a language learning site that first tests you to see where your weaknesses are and then gives you lessons based on the results of your tests so that you don’t waste your time. You can learn English, Spanish, Italian and more! It is set up as a series of little games and it is very addictive! The format is very user and learner friendly. I am finding myself spending more and more time playing on it and my Italian skills are getting so much better. Try it out! If you love games you will love learning with Duolingo.com. 3. Fierce Gentleman http://fiercegentleman.com/10-qualities-fierce-gentleman/ 10 Qualities That Make You a Fierce Gentleman – Fierce Gentleman As soon as I read the term “Fierce Gentleman” I had to check out this site, and I love it! Gentlemanly qualities as we knew them seem to have become a bit rare these days. I believe it’s because of the changes we have experienced and the rapid morphing of cultures: it can make your head spin! We needed a new definition for the term “Gentleman.” In his articles, Andrew Long lays out what it takes to be a Fierce Gentleman and even some advice for Fierce Ladies. Fortunately, the qualities that Andrew advocates are qualities that gentlemen have had in days past and they can be brought forward to live again in this day and age. In this confusing time of mixed messages about what is cool or good or ethical, Mr. Long lays out just what is needed for you to keep your integrity and be extremely cool at the same time. 4. The Invisible Mentor http://theinvisiblementor.com/ Avil Beckford writes for The Invisible Mentor. Each month she spends hundreds of hours of researching and reading in order to bring us the most useful and enlightening information from older and perhaps forgotten writers whose works are still vital today. What I love about Avil is that she has the idea that learning and information are not to be reserved for only those who go to school but should be made available for everyone. She also reminds us that those who are the most successful in their fields are the ones who ceaselessly go on learning with a thirsty vengeance. Her ideas on learning, I believe, are the wave of the future. Antiquated systems of learning are being replaced by methods that teach people to think and develop judgment rather than memorize by rote. This depends on being able to read a lot and assimilate information. On her site you will find articles, great quotes, pieces of advice and all kinds of useful information. 5. Dumb Little Man http://www.dumblittleman.com/ Jay White writes for this blog and his purpose is to gather up and present information that makes your life a bit easier. His blog is a mix of great information and tips communicated in an informal and friendly way, which makes it seem like you are sitting with an old friend talking about life. You will find information here about money, relationships, being happy and other related topics. Dumb Little Man is one of my favorite places to stop by for a cup of tea and a few wise words from friends. 6. Michelle Chappel http://michellechappel.com/ Michelle Millis Chappel is a Renaissance woman. Initially she studied and received her PhD in Psychology, but then left academia to follow her dream of being a singer-songwriter-producer. She is also a noted motivational speaker and tireless volunteer. Her blog is a delightful mix of childlike enthusiasm and good friendly advice delivered with compassion and understanding. Her purpose in life is to help you find your true passion and calling and then help you achieve it. 7. Fathom http://fathomaway.com/ Fathom is a travel website on steroids! I love it. Just looking at the first page fills you with the excitement you feel when you are packing for a trip somewhere you’ve always wanted to go! I’m an avid traveler and I believe that travel and communication with other countries and cultures is our saving grace in a world gone violent. How can we be OK with bombing villages when we know the people who live there? Reading through the articles on Fathom will start you dreaming, then acting, then packing! In the meantime you can take mini mental vacations anywhere on the globe just by clicking over to this site. 8. Entrepreneur http://www.entrepreneur.com/ If you have ever dreamed of starting your own business or franchise, this is the one-stop shop for you. On this site they have articles and advice on every aspect of starting or running a business, from hiring your first employee to how to smartly lease business equipment. If you are unsure where to start on Entrepreneur.com, check out the tab entitled “Answers” and it will give you some ideas. Have fun and get started on your new venture! 9. Jamie ‘s Home Cooking Skills http://www.jamieshomecookingskills.com/ My favorite chef EVER, Jamie Oliver, has developed a website devoted to educating everyone about the joys and necessities of learning to cook. Jamie has recognized that poor food supply and lack of food education has had a dramatic effect on the health of entire populations and he is on a campaign to put food education into schools. He has now developed this website that gives you valuable basic information about how to cook. He has created videos and recipes that are easy and accessible and yet tasty and nutritious. Everyone should have rudimentary cooking skills and know how to prepare delicious food. My view on life is this: We only have a certain number of meals available to us in our lives. We had better make them all good! Jamie’s site will give you the training you need to really up your standard of living by allowing you to have delicious food for every meal simply because you can create it yourself! 10. Rational Optimist http://www.rationaloptimist.com/ This blog, written by Matt Ridley, is described as, “A counterblast to the prevailing pessimism of our age, and proves, however much we like to think to the contrary, that things are getting better.” In his blog, Matt gives real life solutions for the problems of the world. Many of these are available now if we just access them. This blog is as interesting as it is practical. 11. App Treasure Hunter http://www.apptreasurehunter.com/ App Treasure Hunter is a site dedicated to finding and testing out educational apps. It has been developed by a handful of parents and educators with a passion for great education applications. App Treasure Hunter gives you in-depth reviews performed by educational experts and practical advice for handling and educating your children. The pros at App Treasure Hunter save you a ton of work. The site is fun and interesting to browse. 12. The History Blog http://www.thehistoryblog.com/ I love this site because it is so darned interesting! You can go there while waiting in line at the Starbucks, or while in your doctor’s office. History is such a fascinating subject and this blog provides you with history, art, culture and photos, along with their wider historical context. Learning history gives you instant experience for living today’s life. The history here is not delivered in dry and boring prose. As the writer states on his homepage: “My name is Livius. I shall endeavor not to suck. That is all.” I can tell you that he has fulfilled his promise and doesn’t suck, not even a little bit. 13. Brainy Quote http://www.brainyquote.com/ I love this site and have used it for finding quotes for my blogs. This site compiles and publishes quotes from really smart people and there is always something there that pertains to your specific situation. Go there to find some helpful tips or just browse. It is entertaining and insightful! 14. Tiny Buddha Tiny Buddha: Wisdom Quotes, Letting Go, Letting Happiness In http://tinybuddha.com/ One thing I love about each new website is that each one has a specific feeling associated with it. Tiny Buddha, as you can imagine, has a sweet and compassionate feel to it. There are great blog posts as well as a forum where you can get help from others. I have browsed the forum and helped a few people. I even made a great new friend on the other side of the world. 15. A Beautiful Mess http://www.abeautifulmess.com/ This is a charming and fun-packed website. I love it because it gives you amazing recipes, beautiful photos, great projects and has a really fun feel to it. You could spend hours poking around and come away with ideas that will keep you busy for days. Check in on Elsie and Emma and get a glimpse into their lives. They are adorable! Now that we are entering a new year with exciting new possibilities, I am hoping that these will prove to be websites to change your life and provide you with ideas and assistance finding your dreams! Lets face it, feeling motivated is perhaps one of the most difficult things you could ever do.]]>