Booking.yeah, booking.com commercial

Since I'd just booked some accommodation I decided to crosscheck the Booking.com site with another site I use. It turns out the price of the accommodation I checked was slightly more expensive on Booking.com.

If you're looking for accommodation through an online booking site, it only takes a few minutes to check the offers from others online booking sites. A good advertising campaign will get people to check out the site and many will book without checking the other sites. Make sure you look after your interests by checking a number of sites. Also keep in mind add-on costs such as booking fees and/or credit card fees. I let my guard down once with Expedia. Their prices seemed so good compared to Wotif.com, but Wotif included taxes upfront and Expedia gave a total cost and then added the taxes separately. Overall the prices were around the same but I felt tricked with the Expedia approach. That was my fault for not being thorough.

More recently when I booked I used a trick I learnt a while ago. It saved me $47.50 and I don't have to pay most of the money until I reach the hotel. I share the trick for clients in MyAnswers solution 2392, which can be found in the General section of MyAnswers.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

MyAnswers: How to get a better price than Wotif, Expedia and other online booking services.

The following MyAnswers solution 2392 is now available:

Booked accommodation and saved $47.50 over Wotif's prices, including obtained a discounted night that wasn't available on Wotif. The prices also beat Expedia. I share how I often get better prices than the online services.

Click here to obtain the solution.

Click here for related solutions.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

I read a while ago Samsung was going to region lock one or more devices. If you're thinking about getting a Samsung device this may be reason not to.

The following article alerts people that Samsung are region-locking the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. To me this is one big incentive not to touch the device.

Sammy region-locks the latest version of its popular poke-with-a-stylus mobe... Read More

The problem is you never know in the next couple of years when you might travel to another region and you don’t want to end up carrying around a device that is locked in some way.

I don’t think many people are happy with region-locking of DVDs, but we got used to that from the dark ages. To start region locking devices to me is a concern. You never know if the device you have will or won’t work if you travel. I’ve also heard that Microsoft has region-locked their latest OEM version of Microsoft Office. How that will affect travellers I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be taking chances with region locked software or hardware if I could avoid it.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for help with your computer problem.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

McDonald's Drive Thru To Win unique letter combination won't be accepted. Error 'Sorry the code you have entered is invalid, please try again'

I decided to enter the McDonald's Drive Thru To Win competition since the receipt was just sitting there. Easy I thought. Just go to the website and enter the code. Of course I'll be signing my life away, but what the heck, it's a competition. I tried entering the code and I kept getting the error message 'Sorry the code you have entered is invalid, please try again'.

I decided something wasn't quite right but wasn't quite sure what. I decided to count the number of letters in the code I had and compare it to the code in the example. There was a letter short in my code. On closer examination I found the printed docket was missing a vertical strip on right. Given the printer used thermal printing technology, that means every docket printed using the printer at the Eltham McDonald's drive-thru would have had the same issue.

So if you find you're getting the error code 'Sorry the code you have entered is invalid, please try again', it may not be your fault.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

How do Target Ticket USA prices compare with how much Australians are paying for renting online movies.

I noticed Target in the States has released a new service to sell and rent movies and TV shows. I decided to check out the pricing.

A new release movie from Quickflix or Apple iTunes typically costs around $5.99. If I select one new release movie as an example, such as Iron Man 3, the price on Quickflix is $5.99 (which looks like standard definition based on the size), on Apple iTunes the price is $6.99 for HD and $5.99 for SD. The price on Target Ticket is $5.99 for HD and $4.99 for SD. Tax in the States is usually not included in the price so I would assume tax needs to be added.

Allowing 10% for tax and adjusting for the current exchange rates would make the $4.99 SD price from Target Ticket equivalent to around $5.86 in Australian dollars. Given there is a charge when exchanging currencies it may actually be more expensive to use an overseas such Target Ticket if it was possible. Services like Target Ticket will normally be geo-blocked.

I did expect the Australian price to be greater, but this example shows we're currently close to parity. One advantage Target Ticket does have is they do offer lower prices on older movies and I can't find that with Apple iTunes.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

How does E10 (ethanol) petrol compare with unleaded petrol?

I thought it would be interesting to run a few tests with E10 petrol (up to 10% ethanol) and compare the fuel consumption result with standard unleaded petrol. I'd read literature on the internet and found the following.

Ethanol has a lower energy content than standard petrol and thus it is expected you'll get less kilometres for the same amount of petrol. E10 petrol is typically around 3 cents per litre cheaper. The RACQ site states you should expect around a 3% increase in fuel consumption. Whilst we can simply believe what we read, I prefer to perform my own tests. The reason I want to perform my own tests is whilst ethanol has a lower energy content, E10 has a higher octane rating, and a higher octane level (95 as compared with 91 for unleaded) is associated with improved petrol consumption. Performing a series of tests will provide the information I desire.

Test 1 – City driving

Filled the tank with 45 litres of E10 petrol. The tank capacity is 60 litres. That means around 25% of the fuel is still unleaded.

I next filled the tank with 48.22 litres; the distance travelled was 462.7 km. 

This gives a fuel consumption figure of 10.42 litres per 100 km.

This result was unexpected. Normally I consistently fill up the tank with around 50 litres of petrol having travelled around 450 km, or around 11.11 litres per 100 km. I had used less petrol and had gone further. This is opposite to what I'd read on the internet and expected. Since ethanol has a lower energy content from the articles I read I was expecting to get less than 450 km, but instead achieved more.

This is the first test. I like to perform three tests and then average the results. Unfortunately the test was interrupted with the next tank being used for country driving. I will return to perform further tests for city driving.

Test 2 – Country driving

Filled the tank with 41.38 litres of E10 petrol; the distance travelled 531.9 km.

Fuel consumption  7.78 litres per 100 km.

I currently do not have any country driving comparison with standard petrol, but in the future I hope to perform additional country driving tests.

The litres per 100 km calculator is available at http://www.petrolcostcalculator.com.au/litres-per-100-km/ for those who wish to perform their own tests and calculations. As I complete further tests I'll publish the results on this page.

8 October 2013
Filled tank with 44.24 litres of E10; the distance travelled 412.6 km.
Fuel consumption 10.72 litres per 100 km.

9 November 2013

Filled tank with 48.97 litres of E10; the distance travelled 444.4 km.
Fuel consumption 11.02 litres per 100 km.

Based on the three test with the results of 10.42, 10.72 and 11.02 litres per 100 km the average fuel consumption for city driving for my Toyota Avensis is 10.72 litres per 100 km. The variation is 0.3 L / 100 km or 2.8% variation.

I'll now perform three tests for city driving using regular unleaded petrol.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

PS. The result of the first city driving test is improved fuel consumption whereas the expectation was fuel consumption would be degraded. Further testing is now being done to verify this figure. I would suggest those using E10 perform their own tests.

Update: 5 January 2014
Three more tanks of petrol. City driving.
14/12/13  Unleaded 52.41 L, 495.1 km - 10.59 L / 100 km
22/12/13  Unleaded 49.86 L, 461.1 km - 10.81 L / 100 km
31/12/13  Unleaded 28.32 L, 266.3 km - 10.63 L / 100 km
Average 10.67 L / 100 km +/- 0.14 L / 100 km or 1.31% variation.

Based on this limited testing using my normal day-to-day city/suburban driving, the fuel usage difference between Unleaded and E10 is on average 0.05 L / 100 km. This is an increase in petrol usage of 0.46%, which is much less than the RACQ information.

Logically ethanol has around 30% less energy than petrol. Since E10 uses 10% ethanol that means E10 would have 3% less energy. Using E10 we should see an increase in fuel consumption per 100 km. We do see an increase but not by that amount.  In this test we saw an increase of 0.46%.

I suspect that whilst E10 does have less energy, the increase in the octane rating counters this to a degree and thus we don't see as great an increase in fuel consumption as expected.

E10 at the local service station is typically priced 3 cents a litre cheaper than unleaded fuel. At current petrol prices of around $1.60 a litre, 3 cents is a saving of 1.8%. This saving is reduced by the increased fuel consumption of 0.46% leaving us with a saving of 1.34%. Keep in mind there is no guarantee this saving even exists as the variance in the measurements exceeded this percentage, but if we assume this saving exists, how much saving a year would this mean.

First the petrol stations I use to purchase E10 don't take discount vouchers from the leading supermarkets. A voucher saving would exceed any E10 saving. But lets assume you don't use vouchers.

I do about 14,000 kilometres per year. Using the Petrol Cost Calculator I can determine I'd use an estimated $2,473 of petrol a year. A 1.34% saving would be $33 a year.

It has taken a while to get to this point in this testing and analysis, but since I don't consider a $33 saving over a year to be a  significant amount, and I always have a discount voucher available often far exceeding the E10 discount, it makes little sense to choose E10 over unleaded petrol from a service station which accepts discount vouchers. If the service station you use has both E10 and unleaded, and you're happy to use E10 and believe it won't adversely cause problems with your car,  then a small saving may be possible with E10.

Personally I am concerned United Petroleum doesn't promote greater fuel economy as a benefit of using E10 on their site. If the company selling the petrol doesn't see this as a benefit which can be promoted, then that begs the question why. I also have a lingering concern that since ethanol is hydroscopic (attracts water), and water can damage the fuel system, is there an increased risk to causing damage to the car. I haven't been fully convinced the additives may counter the issues but perhaps with more reading those fears could be allayed. The increased risk factor, small potential savings, and other ways to make greater savings using discount vouchers, does sway me towards not considering E10 in the future. You may come to a different conclusion.

The IV Sale program is now available on JustLocal free of charge.

Recently I used the IV Sale program to assist a person who wanted to collate and document their art collection and make the list of art available on the internet for others to see. In the past I've used a version of the IV Sale software to promote my own excess items. I decided to fix a few bugs and release the IV Sale program for others to use. The program is totally free and enables you to collate your list of items (complete with pictures) and then to make the list available on the internet.

A hidden gem in Google's Drive program enables you to use a Google Drive folder as a website. This feature has been utilised by the IV Sale program. You simply enter your items in the IV Sale program, view the web page, and your web page displaying your list of items is automatically updated to the internet.

Now you can keep your list of excess items conveniently located on your computer, update the list when desired and your items will be visible to others with no extra work on your part. How handy is that.

Visit www.IVSale.com.au and download the IV Sale program. You can also find the IV Sale program on JustLocal (www.JustLocal.com.au).

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Congratulations to John for having your red light camera fine dismissed for the intersection of Williamsons Road, Doncaster Road and Tram Road.

I recently had to pleasure to support John in his quest to challenge the red light camera fine he received when turning right from Williamsons Road into Doncaster Road. The timing of the amber light was set to 3.0 seconds, where according to the guidelines the amber light should have been set to 4.5 seconds.

I was able to provide support by being present in court and also provided video evidence of the amber timing for both the 3.0 and 4.5 second periods.

What was particularly interesting was the actual infringement was not dismissed because that is outside of the court's control. However the magistrate does have discretion and a number of options. In this case the magistrate exercised his discretion to dismiss the fine. The demerit points still stand.

Congratulations John for standing up for your beliefs even thought it cost you a considerable amount of time and effort defending what you felt was an important principle.

Personally I think the Victorian Government, the police force and the commissioner have disadvantaged the community. The timing of the amber light was not set correctly and that has now been rectified. Those who were fined and received demerit points because of the incorrect timing should have had the fines refunded and the points removed from their records. The government's agents had incorrectly set the amber timing for those turning, but did not refund the fines or remove the demerit points for those turning who were booked. If the timing of the amber light was not considered incorrect there would have been no reason for the government to subsequently change the amber timing as they now have.

Should anyone require video evidence of the amber light for right turning vehicles on the 19th of February 2012 (when the setting was 3 seconds) and on the 8th of October 2012 (when the timing had been updated to 4.5 seconds), I am happy to assist by providing a copy of the videos for evidence. The videos are also available from YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/kelvineldridge).


Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Gmail spam - Integrated marketing help - Chloe Lee

Most days I receive spam from people using Gmail. Over the weekend I didn't check my email and 90% of the email was spam or malware. Whilst there's not much you can do about it, Google provides the ability to report spammers using their services. I doubt if Google do anything about it, but you can hope.

I use Search Australia to quickly go to sites I use and decided to add two sites for those wishing to report spam. The first is 'Gmail spam' and the other is a site run by the Australian government so you can report spam. Normally I really can't be bothered and simply hit the delete key, but every now and then I decide to stop being apathetic and submit the spam report in case it makes a difference.

If you receive spam email from a Gmail user and wish to report it, open Search Australia (you can find Search Australia on JustLocal – www.justlocal.com.au) and type 'gmail spam'. This will open Google's spam reporting page. Complete the details and hit submit. If you'd like to report spam to the Australian authorities then simply type 'spam' in Search Australia. This will open the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) site. I doubt if the Australian government can or would do anything with regards to spam sent from overseas, so probably best just to use the ACMA site for spam sent from Australian businesses. The good thing is most Australian businesses tend not to send spam, but a few do.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Set as Home Page option added to the Search Australia page.

Yesterday one user of Search Australia said another person had removed Search Australia as their home page. Search Australia was very useful to them because they found it very easy to locate catch-up TV. For catch-up TV, all they needed to do was to enter TV 7, TV 9, TV 10, or TV SBS into Search Australia and they'd go direct to the catch-up TV page for the respective TV station.

I decided rather than write out instructions and send them to the person, to make it easier for everyone I'd add a 'Set as Home Page' link to the Search Australia page. Now all a person has to do is to click on the link, select the option to set the home page, click OK and Search Australia is set as their home page. This only works for Internet Explorer, but since I recommend Internet Explorer as the default browser for clients, this is usually sufficient. If you have another browser, unfortunately you'll have to manually set Search Australia as your home page in the browser settings.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Oovie movie/Hoyts Kiosk $3.50 movie rental. Is it cheaper than paying $6 to watch a movie online?

I always find it interesting what leads us to re-evaluate our purchasing decisions. I recently returned a movie 16 minutes late to the Hoyts Kiosk and was subsequently charged another day. Totally my fault and those are the rules. But up until now, even though I'm an IT person and have set up a computer to watch catch-up TV on the larger television screen, except for a trial of Quickflix, I've not taken to watching movies via the internet.

However returning the movie started me to re-evaluate the real cost of hiring a movie from a Oovie/Hoyts Kiosk and the same would apply to renting a movie from a movie rental store. The question the becomes which is cheaper. Is paying $3.50 for a movie from a physical location cheaper than renting the same movie via the internet?

Of course the answers varies depends on your individual situation. If you are within walking distance of a rental store, or there every day for other purposes, then there is no additional cost in picking up and returning the movie. In my case however sometimes renting the movie requires two trips specifically for the movie, and sometimes one trip since the first trip may include shopping. The following are my costs.

Hoyts Kiosk rental fee: $3.50
Petrol: 5.9 km each way. Thus full return trip twice for pick up and return is  23.6 km.

Using the Petrol Cost Calculator the cost for petrol alone is $3.93 assuming petrol is price around $1.50 per litre.

The total directly identifiable cost for renting a movie from the Hoyts Kiosk is thus $7.43.

Whilst a car has fixed costs you can't avoid, there are variable costs such as the replacement cost of the car. There is only so many kilometres a car can drive before it needs to be replaced. Fixed costs such as rego, insurance are payable each year independent of how far the car is driven. Take the cost of the car (including finance), add the cost of items which wear such as tyres, and then divide by the number of kilometres you expect the car to last for and you'll find there is roughly an additional 20-30 cents per kilometre cost. If we include this cost the hidden cost of rental would be at least another $5.

The other cost is of course your time. For me this amounts to around 20 minutes each return trip.

Forgetting about the time aspect and additional car costs, you can see renting a $3.50 movie doesn't just cost $3.50. At a minimum for the cost of the movie and petrol it costs at least $7.43.

I decide to rent a movie via the internet for $6. The movie consumes around 1 GB of data. I have a 50 GB peak allowance (another 50 GB off peak) and I don't use that allowance which means for me the is no additional data costs. Thus the cost is just $6. But if I did apportion the data cost it would add around $1.

It really is hard to accept that a $3.50 movie ends up costing more than watching a $6 movie via the internet. The problem is how we compare immediate payment versus factoring in all the costs. We see the immediate cost of $3.50 is cheaper than $6 but don't generally consider the hidden costs.

Once you can accept the hidden costs and factor in all the costs, it works out that the total cost of hiring a $6 movie online is cheaper than the total cost of $3.50 for renting a movie from a Hoyts Kiosk.

Once you've set up your computer and online account, the time involved in hiring online is a fraction of the time involved in picking up and returning a physical DVD to a Hoyts Kiosk.

Often we don't do things we should until we get a bump. In this case the bump for me was the extra day fee. It was a bump I needed to have.

When you review the total cost of products and services you use also factor into account the hidden costs. Whether it is renting a movie, loaning a book from the public library, buying a printer for your computer, taking into account all the costs can lead to better decisions that can save you money over a period of time.

If you require assistance with your computer to connect to your TV to watch catch-up TV or online movies you're welcome to contact me.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Alert: National Australia Bank/NAB - Thursday, 12 September 2013 - Your account will be deleted in 2 hours

I've received a couple of fake emails from the NAB and felt I should warn others. These emails are fake and should be deleted.

The email I received was sent from Italy (most likely from a malware infected bot controlled computer) and the link in the email would take you to a Chinese domain.

The approach I use with banks is not to provide my email address to them. If they wish to contact me they can post a letter. That way all emails I receive from financial institutions I know are fake. There is only one bank I can't do this with and within the next few months I hope to discontinue using their services. I do use online banking and if banks wanted to they could easily use their online service to keep you informed of anything important.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Alert: BaDoink porn site advertised by CNET site pretending to be an Apple app.

This morning I checked a news article on CNET using my mobile phone. I'm using Feedly as a newsreader. I clicked on the link to the article and up popped the porn ad I shared previously. I then went back and clicked on the link for the article and a different porn ad appeared which I thought was interesting on technical merits.

What I thought was particularly interesting is the quality of the page and how well it mimics the Apple app store layout. It really is a very good copy.

This could easily be a scam which I think could trick many Apple users. All that would be required is an install button, make it free and people would click on the link providing their Apple ID and password. Provide a legitimate looking porn site as a web app and the user would be none the wiser.

This is very scary stuff as it shows how easy people can be tricked. That's a really worry.

It is standard for some sites to flick people across to the Apple App store and because people are very familiar with this behaviour they can easily be tricked.

If you get flicked across to an app from a website perhaps it is time to stop trusting that action. You may not actually be at the Apple App store at all. I recommend that people don't trust links in emails and to open their browser and then enter the site address. It would now appear this is the approach you should use with Apple and Android apps as well. Best not to trust links that pass you across to the App store automatically anymore.

Kelvin Eldridge
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

  

Jenny Craig Doncaster Target

I noticed an employment advertisement for Jenny Craig at Doncaster Target and thought "what the". I'd never heard of Target having Jenny Craig's services as part of their offering, but checking the internet it does appear to be the case. I suspect most people aren't aware either.

For those who are looking to lose weight but would prefer not to fork out their hard earned money, then check out the Weight Loss Maths site I set up to share how I lose weight when I want to. Really it costs nothing to lose weight. No expensive plans. No expensive diets. In fact it doesn't even have to take much time. I've explained in Weight Loss Maths the maths behind dieting (I've kept it simple and there isn't really much maths involved) so if you want to lose weight, now you can. You might find this hard to believe, but as part of my testing of the maths behind losing weight I deliberately did no additional exercise just to show you can lose weight from dieting alone. Read the articles I share and if one helps you achieve your weight loss goal then I'll consider I've been successful in sharing my knowledge with others.

Visit www.WeightLossMaths.com.au and save money and time as well as losing weight. Yes the site is free to visit and I don't sell anything. I'm simply sharing what I learnt which helped me to lose 22 kg in the hope that it assists others.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Alert: CNET mobile site compromised this morning with porn advertising.

This morning I check the newsfeed for a number of sites. Then unexpectedly as I clicked on the link to read the article on the CNET news site about "Linksys turns Wi-Fi up a notch with Smart Wi-Fi EA6900 router", the article appeared and then quickly disappeared to be presented with ad for porn. (The modesty editing is mine.)

It amazes me how easy it is for the nefarious to promote their material on the major media sites.

This is reminder to take caution with advertising which appears on web sites. I recently reported on scam work at home ads appearing from another media web site (International Business Times). I've seen people get scammed by clicking on ads on Google, so it is important that you take care with ads you see online and not assume that others have the necessary controls in place who are providing the ads.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if your have a computer problem. 

Local public libraries - should they go.

People regularly complain about how much they pay in taxes and government charges, but the bottom line is, if we want lower taxes then we have to accept less services from the government. One example is the local library.

We have state libraries, we have libraries at every tertiary educational institution and we have libraries at every school. Then we also have local public libraries. The problem is, since the money comes out of our taxes and rates we often don't think about the cost because we can't control it. I checked the information available on the cost for each person using the local library and the average cost averages at around $100 a year. I've borrowed one book over the past 10-20 years, so when you consider $100 per year, that was indeed a very expensive book. In addition the book was a government produced book which was developed using our taxes and could have just as easily been made available as an ebook.

With library users I suspect we could use the typical 80/20 rule, where 20% of those users generate 80% of the activity. That means most of the people using the library never get value from using the library. If you then add your cost and time borrowing and returning the book/s, the books you borrow for free aren't so free after all.

If you want free reading material there is a wealth of free reading material available on the internet. Amazon has between 30-40,000 free ebooks which is double the number of books you'd find at a typical suburban library. You can obtain the free Kindle Reader software for iPads, Android tablets and Windows and Mac computers. With a small amount of knowledge everyone now has access to a greater range of free resources than offered by their local library. Even if you do decide to purchase an ebook you'll often find it is cheaper than the cost of petrol travelling to and from the library twice to borrow and return a book.

In MyAnswers solution 2282 I share how to obtain free ebooks for your tablet device or Kindle reader. Normally you need a credit card to get free ebooks to your tablet or Kindle reader, but I explain how I obtained the ebooks for free without registering a credit card. That way you protect yourself from inadvertent credit card purchases.

Next time you're paying your rates stop and think for a moment. Are you getting value from your contribution towards the local library? There's a good chance you're not and your hard earned money is going to benefit someone else. Once I realised that having a library card could be inferred that I was one of the active users, I decided it was time to cancel the card. If you're not using the local library and have a library card perhaps you may think about cancelling it as well.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

MyAnswers: Is participating in BNI Australia (Business NetworksInternational) worthwhile?

The following MyAnswers solution 2384 is now available:

Is participating in BNI Australia (Business NetworksInternational) worthwhile? In this article I share a summary of how much business was generated.

Click here to obtain the solution.

Click here for related solutions.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Alert: High Quality 400gsm Business Cards - Print-AAMN - Australian Advertising & Marketing Network

Today I received a spam email with the subject 'High Quality 400gsm Business Cards' from 'Australian Advertising & Marketing Network'.

 

It is unusual for Australian businesses to use spam to promote their services which I think most people will feel is a good thing. Spamming is illegal in Australia and businesses which use the approach should be avoided. If a business is prepared to break the law to gain business it isn't a business you should use. In addition prices are listed plus GST, which again I believe is against the law.

I decide to check a couple of business card suppliers I've used in the past and the prices in the email are close to double I can get a thousand business cards elsewhere.

Don't purchase from spammers. There are plenty of good businesses out there that don't break the law to obtain business. If you find spammers based in Australia sending you unwanted emails you may wish to visit the government site http://www.acma.gov.au/Citizen/Stay-protected/My-online-world/Spam/reporting-spam-i-acma.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Watch out when using a Coles petrol voucher at Shell that isn't the standard four cents per litre.

I recently went to Shell in Doncaster East with a 40 cents per litre discount voucher. When the attendant processed the payment I noticed the discount was for $2 and not the expected $20. The voucher wasn't the best looking as it wasn't printed well at the register. But what did surprise me was the discount offer wasn't automatic and needed to be put in by the operator. This is the second time I've received an incorrect discount.

Make sure you know roughly the discount you expect to receive, particularly if it isn't the standard four cents per litre discount. Since I've been affected twice (in both cases I picked up the issue) I thought others may be missing out on the full value of the discount offer.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Alert: International Business Times promoting scam advertising - Theresa Andrews, Melissa Johnson.

In May I mentioned the Work At Home scam advertising. Today I was opened an article on International Business Times and as usual two windows pop up. A Facebook like page which is simply annoying. I accept annoying because I'm receiving a free service. There are advertising links all through the pages which again is all part of receiving something for free. However what caught my attention was the pop-up which appears in the background.

 

Yes it is the same photo of a mother and child I recognised from the previous work-at-home scams. The trouble however is the media site International Business Times is being used as a vehicle to spread scams and that could easily trick some people. In the past I've seen many people have their browser hijacked by clicking on ads even in Google, but now the scammers are getting their material promoted on media sites which is a worry.

If you see an unexpected pop-up even on a legitimate site, you now need to treat them with suspicion.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Gumtree visit statistic leads people to think more people are checking their ad than really are.

I assisted a client to advertise on Gumtree and they had received a few dozen visits to their ad. They were very pleased that people were reading their advertisement on Gumtree. I suggested to the client the number of visits may be being inflated so I decided to do some testing.

A visit on Gumtree it turns out is not necessarily someone viewing your ad. In fact people may not even see you ad, but are still included as visits.

It is very common for advertising businesses to use a technique to inflate the activity for a number of reasons. In the case of Gumtree, what is also included as a visit, is if you ad appears with a list of other ads. Anyone who visits a section of Gumtree where your ad also appears in the list of ads is considered a visit. Most people will not actually open and read your ad and I suspect many will not even notice it.

Gumtree should provide two statistics to assist advertisers. One number for where the ad appears and one number for people actually opening the ad to check out the ad. That way people will have a better idea on how their advertisement is working.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.