Don’t get caught up in a nasty situation! Learn to recognize common fraudulent situations and avoid being victimized by following these tips provided by Allstate in their auto insurance fraud infographic.

If you’re looking for something fun to do on vacation, here are some suggestions in this great infographic by OwnerDirect.com.

If you’re like me, you’re addicted to Facebook. So many of us are. In fact, according to facebook.com there are currently more than 750 million active users on the popular networking site. That means that millions of us worldwide are busy tagging, friending and uploading each and every day. Facebook is like your morning coffee—it’s impossible to start the day without it. Maybe your productivity is slightly down but it’s totally worth it to check our favorite wall posts!

So how addicted are you? Here are some signs that you may be addicted to Facebook:

1. You think about Facebook even when you’re offline. Have you ever been at a party and had the urge to bust out your smart phone to update your status? There are many individuals (including me) who have trouble even falling to sleep at night because we’re thinking about playing Farmville or what our friends are up to. Besides, who knows what photos will be tagged of you by morning.

2. You’re late. Okay, so you may get a little distracted by your friend’s favorite YouTube video of the day. This is for sure the behavior of an addict.

3. Your family and friends make fun of you. If those closest to you (or even worse—your coworkers) notice your Facebook habits, you may have a slight issue.

4. You check your smart phone during dinner. Out with friends? You have to let the world know where you are. You always make sure to check in with Facebook Places.

5. You stalk. Oops—I mean check up on your friends. Do you have individuals you frequently check out? Then yes, you may have a problem.

There is some good news, though! Those who spend time on social networking sites are connected and more socially engaged. You have greater opportunity to spread some very fantastic messages to your friends and acquaintances. You’re “in the know” and that’s not a bad thing. However, if you find yourself in need of a Facebook break, here are some quick fixes!

1. Try forcing yourself to do something else. Spend time working out, practicing yoga or watching a movie. Better yet! Invite friends to go to a concert, café or happy hour. After all, you’ll have something to post about afterward.

2. Set certain times of the day to Facebook. This is especially true if you have restrictions because of work. Make sure that if you are online checking status updates, that your company is cool with it.

3. If you must Facebook, do it for a cause. There are many causes out there that need awareness. Whether it’s breast cancer, mental illness, homelessness or animal abuse; do your research and make your friends aware of how they can help make the world a better place. Take advantage of your Facebook popularity and really help others. Facebook Causes is a great place to start.

4. Turn your obsession—or knowledge—into a paying gig. Many companies are looking for talented people who understand how social networking should be down. Many businesses may be willing to hire someone who is business savvy and entrepreneurial. As a proud Facebook addict, you may already have the skills necessary to be an online manager or freelancer.

If you are like me, your Facebook addiction may be very real. However, that’s not always such a bad thing. It may be time consuming, but there are a lot of great tools and online bookmarks out there to help. Do you find yourself always wanting to see what your friends are up to? Do you enjoy posting and sharing the latest YouTube videos or interesting websites?

Whether or not you are planning a trip in-state or going internationally this holiday season, it’s important to keep in mind a few tips. This busy time of the year can be stressful and expensive unless you are adequately prepared. Here are some of my favorite tips for traveling during the holidays:

1. Get a deal. If you carefully avoid peak travel times, you’re much more likely to save. Try searching online for different airlines and check the “my dates are flexible” option on your search. When you travel at off-peak times, you will reap the rewards of saving—allowing you more money on gifts and spending money during this notoriously cash-strapped time of year. Additionally, the earlier you book, the more likely you are to get a discount. Try nailing down your plans ahead of time. If you are unsure about your plans, make sure to check the airlines return and exchange policies. If you need a hotel and/or rental car, try booking them at the same time for packaged savings.

2. Be flexible. If you can, check alternate airports. Doing so may save you money and time. There are lesser known, alternative airlines that go to smaller cities. As an alternative to larger, metropolitan or international airport, be flexible and save big. Additionally, if you are flexible about your travel, you may find yourself benefiting from free vouchers. Airlines offer these perks to passengers willing to take later flights for overbooked travel times.

3. Pack appropriately. If you can, try to fit everything you can into your carry-on luggage. However, you will want to check TSA restrictions for packing. (link: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm) Make special note that liquids and gels must be in containers three ounces or less and packed in a single, quart-sized, clear plastic bag. Make sure to check if your airline charges for any checked luggage. Many do.

4. Think ahead. You can check online or using your smart phone these days. Doing so will save you time and stress—especially during these peak travel times. Have gifts shipped to your destination to avoid having to pay the check fee for luggage and to save room for essentials. You also have less risk of valuables breaking or being lost in transit. Keep phone numbers of your hotel and any other important contact information with you at all times.

5. Arrive on time. Make sure that you arrive 2-3 hours for domestic flights (more if you are traveling internationally). Security is notoriously slow during the holidays. If you are traveling with small children, give yourself an extra hour on top of those guidelines.

6. Bring plenty to do. Be prepared for any delays. If you have small children with you, make sure that you have items to keep them entertained.

These are just a few of the tips I have for traveling stress-free during the holidays. Additionally, make certain you have a signed passport, emergency contact information and if you are traveling overseas, consider comprehensive insurance. Your current medical company may not cover you if you travel abroad. This is important. Being fully prepared means mitigating the risks of the unexpected including familiarizing yourself with local laws and customs. Travelers are often targets of crime, so having comprehensive insurance has been a huge piece of mind for me. Many companies that offer such packages also have family plans.

Do what I do. Make a list not only of what you need to pack, but of any concerns you may have. Once you have assessed any potential problems, find a way to reduce the stress that would occur if such a thing were to take place. For me, Reliance travel insurance has been a life-saver. Do you find yourself stressed about upcoming holiday travel?

Larger companies with massive revenues can easily make the decision to spend thousands of dollars on customer relationship management (CRM) applications. For many of these bigger businesses, they may legitimately require the power and capabilities these expensive programs provide. For the small to medium sized business, however, such extravagance may not be an option. If this is the case, what then can they choose to provide affordable CRM solutions?

The power of the Internet and its constant evolution has brought a wide variety of affordable service solutions to many smaller, less wealthy companies. Commonly referred to as cloud computing solutions, the concept of Software as a Service (SaaS), has created opportunities for the smaller players in an industry to get the power and benefit of those more expensive applications. While some control may be lost by not having ownership of the service, the cost benefits and maintenance challenges associated with ownership are surpass the losses.

This list will point one in the direction of five of the more popular, effective, and free social CRM applications available right now. Links are provided and will open a new browser window providing the reader with the ability to keep track of the following list while investigating the various CRM solution options.

5 No-Cost Customer Relationship Management Applications

• FreeCRM.com: Free CRM is a web based software solution for customer relationship management and sales force automation. Free CRM is great for contact and lead tracking, sales and contact management, sales pipeline management and forecasting, customer service and business management.
• Relenta: Relenta automatically gathers the pieces of data that are typically scattered across separate applications (such as email clients, group calendars, CRM solutions and to-do lists), and displays them on one single page, as a chronological stream of activity associated with each contact. This gives one at-a-glance knowledge of where things stand.
• Zoho CRM: Zoho CRM offers complete customer relationship life-cycle management software for managing Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, and Inventory activities in a single system. Simple to use and packed with features for automation, customization, integration, and collaboration to grow ones business and have a complete views of customer interactions.
• SalesPush: Created by sales professionals for sales professionals, SalesPush is a straightforward and immediate way to achieve improvements in sales performance. Real-time, end-to-end visibility into all sales data puts the control of the entire sales process in the CRM professional’s hands. SalesPush is an easy to use and affordable CRM solution.
• Time To Note: Time To Note is a strong, well designed system built using Google’s App Engine and APIs. Their free service is limited to two user accounts, however unlimited plans are very reasonable. Small businesses can easily get by on the free service and enjoy having a complete history of each customer on a single page. Tasks are easily added, edited and monitored on a single page as well. Adding new clients or companies is clean and easy, and happen all on a single page also. No more multi-page click and wait for page refreshing.

The power and elegance these free services provide might make one wonder how the companies are able to afford to give away their services for no charge. Cloud computing is usually the biggest factor allowing for no-cost service offerings. Plus, if the applications provide the small to medium sized businesses with superior CRM capabilities, chances are as the businesses expand they’ll require more user accounts and will happily pay the service provider to continue using those CRM applications.

Earlier this year cloud computing provided by Amazon Web Services experienced a bit of downtime. When looked at overall, the amount of time their systems were down actually are rather minuscule, but that’s not the point. What is salient is that many of the Internet’s leading websites, social communities and other online businesses rely wholly or in part on the computing power, storage and other processing capabilities provided by Amazon’s cloud services.

When active users of sites like Reddit, HootSuite, Foursquare, and many others including CRM blogs are suddenly, with no warning, unable to access their accounts due to circumstances beyond the site’s control, things can get a bit hairy. For a small percentage of AWS clients, real data was lost in the outage. Now there is permanent damage that has to be reconciled for something the service providing company had no part in causing.

To be clear, the advantages of using cloud services far outweigh the potential for challenges of hosting ones systems in the cloud. Most cloud providers have in place a number of automated back-up features which theoretically maintain data integrity with real time mirroring of client information. Transactions which rely on access to historical data can, again, in theory, be back up and running in moments when things are done correct in the cloud.

So what are those things a company needs to do right when employing the cost effective computer and storage services in the cloud? How much is enough to protect company and customer records from being lost permanently? Should all hope be lost and the business simply invest in hardware and applications completely within their own control?

From the perspective of re-budgeting ones online operations to allow for investment in company owned equipment, only the business can answer that question. Most companies decided to use cloud computing services precisely because the entry costs are extremely reasonable. To shift, mid-stream, and start hosting and serving applications and services from ones own data centers simply may not be feasible.

Perhaps the better solution is to spend more time looking into backup options that spread the risk across more than one company or network. Some of the victims of Amazon’s recent cloud crash complained they understood their data was backed up, automatically and regularly. If this was the case, as the complaints go, why then did some of AWS clients suffer permanent data loss?

The smarter way to go is to understand that these things happen. As such, finding a service provider not affiliated with Amazon to perform the backup tasks required by the business is important. Better backup solutions will have redundant systems to mirror client data across a number of physical locations.

But this may not be enough peace of mind considering recent events. In addition to securing services to mirror information, the business might want to invest in a local repository as well. Depending upon the volume of data under consideration, it might be reasonable to as a tertiary position, to have data streamed into onsite storage in addition to the other methods currently being deployed.

Computers are no more infallible than any other machinery. Taking the time to secure ones data, as well as its back up, in near real time can be one of the most important expenditures a company makes. Understanding that certain scenarios are going to happen, sometime, to some businesses can help smooth over the wrinkles a massive cloud computing crash causes. If the business has adequate protection against valuable data loss, the ability to get back up and running as soon as the cloud is flying high again proves to its customers it knows what is happening, how to prepare, and bounce back.

In the end, these are the types of companies customers want to deal with. If the business provides logical, heartfelt explanations about the situation as well as getting over the hump caused externally, then even more customer respect tends to flow towards the business as well.

Work can be great. Work can be rewarding. And work can be unbelievably stressful. Once the clock strikes 5 and the work day is over, it would be great if our minds and bodies would automatically relax . But that rarely happens without a bit of help. It’s hard sometimes to go from work to home and not be thinking about work or even feeling like we’re still at work. If you have trouble unwinding after the work day, here are 8 easy and fun tips to help you.

1. Talk It Out

Sometimes when something happens at work, we can think and obsess about it for hours when we get home. Take 15 minutes to talk it out with your spouse or a friend. Tell them about your day. Verbalizing it will not only make you feel better, but having someone commiserate with you and maybe even help you problem solve will get it off your mind. The key is once you’ve talked it out, it’s done. Dwelling on it all evening won’t help you relax.

2. Exercise

The last thing you may feel like doing after a full day at work is exercise, but it can go a long way to helping you unwind. Talk a short walk, hop on the treadmill or bust a move to your favourite song. Not only will you get rid of any nervous pent up energy from the day, but you’ll get your endorphins pumping and give yourself a mood boost.

3. Play Time

If you have children, spend some time when you get home just hanging with them. Ask about their day. Go for a walk or play in the yard. Paint. Colour. Just spend time with them. It will help you relax and will also remind you what’s really important. If you don’t have kids but are a pet owner, take a few minutes to give them head scratches and belly rubs. They’ll love the attention and you’ll love giving it.

4. Take a Shower

Hop in the shower as soon as you get home. This is a great way to not only get a few minutes of you time to decompress after work, but it’s also a great ritual to help you switch from work brain to home brain. Use your favourite products and take your time.

5. Change Clothes

If you decide not to shower after work, make sure to change into comfortable clothes. Most of us find it hard to relax in a dress, suit or work uniform. Throw on a t shirt and some yoga pants or a pair of comfortable jeans.

6. Aromatherapy

Certain scents instantly relax us or rejuvenate us. Lavender, mint and citrus are great aromatherapy scents to help you relax and recenter after work. While you can get these scents in candles and incense, a vaporizer gives you the best aromatherapy experience. It will fill your home with your favourite scents without the worry of having a candle lit or the sometimes overbearing scent of incense.

7. Have a Cup of Tea

A cup of your favourite herbal or green tea is a great way to relax after a hard day of work. There’s just something about a warm cup of tea that instantly relaxes and soothes.

8. Watch Some TV

Take an hour or two and re-watch a favourite movie or an episode of your favourite TV show. It will help focus your mind on something other than work and will also make you happy. Just make sure not to get sucked into hours of mindless TV watching.

Sometimes it can be a challenge to relax and enjoy yourself once the workday is done. But there are things that you can do to help you unwind. The ones mentioned about are just a few suggestions to help you out.

Chores are boring. Anyone can get stuck doing them and when one is finished, where’s the pride in accomplishment? Instead of getting oneself bogged down in doing the necessary work around the house, why not consider jumping into one (or all!) of the following three projects that can easily be started now and completed well in advance of the scorching heat likely to befall the DIYers this summer.

Build a Composting Station

Depending upon the person undertaking this little project, the sexiness factor of having a fully operational compost pile can be amazing or drudgery. Going for the former over the latter is the goal here.

For those wanting to the easy route and simply buy a composting system, there are some very interesting options on the market, including some very easy to use rotating drum style compost barrels. Even if one goes this route, having a solid pad for their barrel to rest upon can be a good quick project to undertake.

Though easy, those pre-made solutions can get pricey. Instead, digging a square of at a minimum three foot long and wide and approximately eight to twelve inches is a great place to start the compost project. One only needs a shovel, some labor, and the time.

Be sure to save the excavated dirt to use later. As kitchen and generally organic household wastes are collected they can be piled in the dug out section of the yard. Mound over the materials with a little bit of dirt, generally keep moist (water if necessary) and turn the pile over onto new materials on a regular basis. Add more dirt from your saved pile and as it grows, the compost will increase. By the time summer comes around, the usable material may just be surprising.

One Afternoon Planter Project

Here is a unique and interesting planter concept that can be done in the span of one Saturday. Most of the neighborhood hardware or builder supply stores should have adequate supplies of rain gutters. Depending upon the available space at the side of ones house that receives adequate natural lighting for the bulk of the day (or at least afternoon) one can determine how many feet of gutter to purchase.

While at the hardware store be sure to purchase appropriate fasteners and welding supplies which will allow the gutter to be secured to the specific type of siding on the home. Once installed, in single, double or triple levels, it is paramount that small drainage holes be drilled in the bottom of the currently empty gutter to allow for proper drainage.

Now fill with a favorite potting soil and plant either seeds or small seedlings into the new growing space. By the time summer is here, if a vegetable garden has been cultivating one can reasonably expect to harvest a bounty of good eats.

Pest Prevention and Maintenance

Okay, this one may seem a little like work, however, if there is a significant other who routinely interrupts the fun stuff with requests for spider removal, this project is going to seem like a walk in the park.

As the warmer months approach most folks, insects and other creepy, crawlers tend to desire being inside the home. Procure some ant and spider powder from the local hardware or builder supply store and proceed to sprinkle a generous amount in a line near the foundation of the home. Be sure to read the instructions as some of this pest repellent requires a light sprinkling of water to activate. Additionally, this particular activity should preferably be completed when there is no sign of oncoming rain.

Once the foundation has been dealt with look up. The chances that flying insects have started building new homes is very good. Wait until dusk, the temperatures of the day are cooler and spray the nests of hornets and other fliers with appropriate insecticide designed to quietly extinguish these potentially dangerous pests. The following day it should be perfectly reasonable to use a high pressure nozzle on the garden hose to spray off those now unused nests.

There are always fun and interesting along with the sometimes necessary projects to do around ones home. Having fun with these tasks is what quality home ownership is all about.

Tablet computing. Friend or foe? You just got yourself a smart phone and it about killed you to make the decision. So many questions, like:

• Which operating system?
• Would your current cellular provider support your choice?
• Did your cell provider have options that you could choose?
• Which hardware vendor had the best offer?
• How open or closed a platform were you willing to settle for?
• What do all of your friends use? How important was that in your decision making process?
• Other important questions, too!

So now you’re considering doing the very same thing with respect to buying into a tablet computer. Did you realize you were going to have to find out the answers to many of the very same questions as when you got your smart phone? Yes. Pretty much the case.

To help in the process, here is a brief cross section of answers so you won’t have to take time off work.

Major platforms

Pretty much the only two tablet platforms you’ll want to consider are the Apple’s iPad and Google’s Android OS. The major difference between them are one is closed and proprietary and the other is open source and used by a number of hardware manufacturers.

Can you guess which OS goes with which company? For many considering a tablet computer, there are features and benefits which far outweigh the openness of the operating systems and add on software. Design, support, availability, etc. If you fall into this category, chances are you’ll find yourself attracted to Apple’s offerings.

If on the other hand, you are a proponent of open sourced technology, and believe the free market will eventually provide you with better products and services, you most likely will find yourself drawn to the Android OS tablets.

Does Size Matter?

While only you can answer this question, if bigger is better in your world, your eyes have already been drawn to the nearly 10 inches of screen real estate offered by the iPad. While there are a couple of devices running Android which are at, or just surpassing the 10 inch mark, most of the Android devices are in the 7 to 8 inch range.

Some tablet owners like the feeling they are holding a device only slightly larger than a smart phone, while others relish the cinematic qualities they get with the larger screens.

Clearly how big you go is more of a personal use situation. If you like them big, you should only focus on the tablets which provide larger screens. The OS should operate the same on a 7″ versus 10″ screen.

Battery Life

What will change on the various sized tablets is how long your battery will last. The iPad boasts nearly 10 hours of video display. Depending upon the Android hardware manufacturer, you can expect from 6 up to that same 10 hour threshold.

The real challenge with true battery life is the same experienced by new car buyers who think they are going to actually receive the posted gas mileage. Just because the EPA says the vehicle gets 30+ MPG does not usually map to reality. Battery life is much the same. Plus, how long you can go between recharges is very much dependent upon what you are doing with your tablet. Some applications and activities simply require more power than others.

Price

Simply put, you are most likely going to pay more to get a top of the line iPad with all the bells, whistles, storage, memory, etc. If you are already an Apple devotee you know this. You also know that if or when something negative happens to your device, the Apple support team takes care of you. Really good care of you.

The downside to all that love and care is that you can be somewhat limited with just how far you can extend the devices you get from Apple. Android based tablets, on the other hand, tend to be much more open and extensible. Need more ram? More storage? Depending upon the manufacturer that should’t be a challenge.

At the end of the day, you still need to make up your own mind. But knowing there are some choices, and viable competition to what was a market dominated by the iPad until recently should give you the opportunity to make the best, most informed decision when it comes to choosing an Ipad or an Android OS tablet.

This is a guest post by Brian Tanner, a freelance writer for HP. Since 1939, HP has been making technology products to help people and companies address their problems and challenges, and realize their possibilities, aspirations and dreams. On their website you can find a variety of products such as scanners or toner.

Throwing a party for friends and family is a great way to get everyone together for some shared enjoyment of food and drinks while you reconnect. However, not everyone knows how to turn a simple get together into a successful party. With so many activities in our busy lives, many of us need a compelling reason to pencil one more party in our schedules. If you’d like to make your next party into a rousing and unique celebration, take a few simple steps to add some excitement and a unique flare to your party.

Consider a New Twist on A Theme Party

Parties for events like the Oscars can be turned into theme parties if you transform every aspect of the evening into an homage to classic movies. Don’t simply invite everyone over to watch the Oscars together; instead put some thought into way to make your party all about the glitz and glamour of the red carpet. Hosting a black tie Oscar viewing gives everyone an excuse to turn up the glam factor. Rent a big screen television if you don’t already have one and tuck a popcorn machine into one corner of the room.

Another unusual party is the Murder Mystery evening. You can find boxed kits and online instructions for staging a Murder Mystery in your home, with everything from how to develop clues to scripts for the guests included. These are a great starting point, but consider personalizing your own Murder Mystery by rewriting the story to suit your guests and the location of the party. For instance, you could do a “Peggy Sue Got Murdered” event that taps into High School nostalgia.

Make Sure Guests Can Capture The Memories On Film

You’ve probably been to weddings where disposable cameras were left on reception tables so guests could capture candid moments on film, but you can do so much better. Rent a photo booth for your next big party and it is a sure-fire conversation starter. Look for a photo booth rental company that offers something that’s attractive and state of the art, in keeping with your celebration. Guests will love being able to capture candid, goofy, or romantic pictures in your photo booth. The best part? Passing the instant pictures around and sharing some laughs. It’s a great interactive activity that will keep things lively as friends cram into the photo booth to pose for pictures.

You can even rent photo booths that personalize the snapshots with names, dates, or a special message for your guests. The nicest part of using a photo booth is that everyone can take their photos home at the end of the evening, giving them an unforgettable reminder of your party. It’s so much nicer than waiting around for weeks to get photos developed, and the quality of the photographs will be guaranteed. Besides, there’s just something about slipping into a photo booth that seems to encourage laughter and the occasional stolen kiss!

Make Your Party A Guessing Game

If you’re serving drinks at your party, consider turning the night into a “guessing game.” If you’re creative, try making a few signature cocktails to serve to your guests, or consult with an experienced bartender or mixologist to come up with a few unique and tasty concoctions to serve your guests. Print out cards before the party where guests can write down what they think the recipes are for your signature drinks. Give prizes (perhaps a lovely set of crystal highball glasses or a fine bottle of wine) for whoever correctly guesses your drink recipes. At the end of the evening, give everyone a printed version of each recipe so they can recreate the cocktails at home.

Celebrate Something Weird

There are several websites such as www.brownielocks.com and www.gone-ta-pott.com that have lists of actual U.S. holidays that are unusual, fun or downright bizarre. If you’re looking for a great way to throw a party that will have everyone intrigued, look for a few of the weirdest celebrations and build your party around them.

On April 2, celebrate International Pillow Fight Day by inviting guests to a slumber party and ask your guests to wear their favorite pajamas. Hosting a party on Banned Books Week (September 24 – October 1) for friends who appreciate great books is easy – ask everyone to bring a copy of their favorite banned book and have a book swap. Or celebrate September 19th (National Talk Like A Pirate Day) by inviting guests to come as their favorite swashbuckler. If you’ve also rented that photo booth mentioned earlier, you’ll be sure to end up with some great photographs that are guaranteed to become cherished mementos long after the party is over.