The FRENZY has Started Towards Your Financial Freedom!

OMG! Matt & Jason told me their servers are close to MELTING DOWN with all the people trying to sign up for Amazing Selling Machine!

Doors just opened three hours ago and already HUNDREDS of people have signed up!

Change your life today. Grab your spot NOW and watch the fourth video that explains EVERYTHING: http://snip.ly/yMXb

Question about selling on Amazon?

I just found out that Matt & Jason from Amazing.com are hosting a LIVE Q&A session Saturday, October 3rd. This live session is already past but the recording is still there. They answered some of the most popular (and wackiest) questions they've received from the hundreds of comments on the first two videos about building a 7-figure physical products business. They answered everything from, "What happens if Trump becomes President and starts taxing imports from China?" to "How do I ship products directly to Amazon FBA?" Plus, they've also brought on two mega successful "regular" people who've built THIS business from SCRATCH from $0 to $100K PER MONTH to tell you their story (and secrets). Here's the link: http://snip.ly/IZDK  

Evolution of the iPhone to the Apple iPhone 6s Release

the original Apple iPhone

With the release of the Apple iPhone 6s coming up tomorrow (September 9, 2015), it’s interesting to see the changes in the iPhone over the past years. When Steve Jobs first announced the original release of the iPhone in 2007, it’s doubtful even he realized how popular it would become nor how it would evolve and change over the years. It really defined what a smart phone was and of course other companies hurried to release their own versions.

So what has changed? Certainly the speed of operation from one screen to the next and download time. There have been added features. Was the original iPhone without GPS or was the capacity just greatly improved? The camera and video functions are known to be amazingly good now – almost high definition quality – quite amazing for a point and shoot camera. Perhaps the most significant change has been the increased data capacity in all devices including laptops and desktops. Lastly, the screen size has increased and with it a more responsive touch screen.

Here is the predictions from Cellular Outfitter regarding the soon to be released iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus.

So, what is Apple going to announce on September 9? Rumor has it that successors to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

New iPhone 6S Plus

are to be announced. These might be called the 6s and the 6s Plus, should Apple choose to stick with its current naming scheme. The two phones are highly likely to retain the size, looks, and design of their respective predecessors, but on the inside, the hardware is expected to be given a serious boost. The camera of choice, for example, is rumored to be a 12MP unit with 4K video support. The new SoC will probably be accompanied by 2GB of RAM instead of just one gig. The housing of the handsets is said to be made of 7000-series aluminum, which is tougher. And the display could be given Force Touch abilities, the kind of which we first saw on the Apple Watch. The two phones' commercial release is extremely likely to coincide with the rollout of iOS 9. For more of what we think we know about the two, feel free to explore our iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus rumor round-up.
Read more by clicking here.

The Apple staff has become masters at marketing these phones. By using the tactic of scarcity during their launches, thousands (even millions) flock to their stores to get the first limited editions of new releases. There are long lines before stores open as if there won’t be more phones for sale later. The release of the Apple iPhone 6s release should be no different. Is it clever marketing or are these phones really superior to the competition? I leave that question for you to answer.

Young Merchants Learn About Business

A program called Kids, Inc. 2015 offered a great opportunity to young merchants ages 6 - 15 in Port Arthur, Texas at their Central Mall. According to Chelsea Henderson reporting in "The News Port Arthur", the young people were learning about marketing, packaging, and other aspects of business management. What a great idea. Why aren't these ideas taught in school as regular courses with this type of "hands on" learning as a graduation from the course?

The group in Texas included young people who sold cupcakes, puzzles, magnets, cell phone holders made from lego and of course, lemonade. However, this is not your usual small business that every kid tries. Take Travis and Aubyn Moore, 9 and 7 respectively who are selling phone and business card holders. They design them and their dad is the investor. They say business is booming. They've never been this busy.

Their father, David Moore, said as a business owner himself, he thought it was a terrific idea to give younger children an opportunity to start and run their own businesses.

“The packets they gave the kids when we got here has really led to some interesting conversations today,” David said. “It’s a lot of very basic and general information about how to run a business, and one of the things it hits on is customer service. Travis asked, ‘Well, what is that?’ and now he’s been working on his customer service skills all day.

“But I love this whole program, because no one really teaches kids about how to start a business. We’re talking about profits and losses, and figuring out how to turn their ideas into something that can give them spending money."

See more by clicking here.

Kayleigh Sadler, 9, of Groves poses in front of her business, Cupcake Concoctions, during the fourth annual Kids, Inc. entrepreneur program at Central Mall Saturday.

It seems like a great concept and I hope it will spread to other communities. Kids need more practical skills from their many hours in school, and what could be better than an activity where they are making money for themselves?

Cell Phone Holder Inside a Human-shaped Cushion

Hiroshi Ishiguro (center), an ATR fellow and professor of robotics at Osaka University and 2 other colleagues.

The Japanese are know for their inventions and occasionally for their wacky ideas.  I think it would only be in Japan that you would find a cell phone holder shaped like a human torso. The reasoning behind this is to reduce the stress of having too many mobile phone calls, even late at night and to help people feel close to each other when talking on the phone.

According to the article written by the Japanese Kyodo Press, this is a joint project of  Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, known as ATR, a bedclothes manufacturer, Kyoto Nishikawa Co. and industrial materials maker Toyobo Co. The cushion is called, "Hugvie" and they hope to market it at nursing homes and child care facilities as well as to the general public.

According to research by Hiroshi Ishiguro, an ATR fellow and professor of robotics at Osaka University, human beings can feel the presence of others more strongly if two or more senses are engaged, such as hearing and touch.

"We found a material that makes us feel human presence more," Ishiguro told a press conference in Osaka, adding the developers are even considering creating a system to hold conversations with the cushions.   Read more here.

And what is the price for this new invention? It retails for 10,800 yen (about $87 US) and it is 80 centimeters long by 55 cm wide. Batteries and cell phones not included.

In Search of the Standard Electrical Plug

When electricity first became popular appliances were wired directly into the power system - no plugs. As you can imagine this caused any number of fires as the wires were quickly overloaded with gadgets that everyone couldn't do without. Then in 1904 Harvey Hubbell invented the "Separable Attachment-Plug" which was the first screw-in light socket, turned on with a pull chain. This was followed by the first screw-in electrical plug, which was screwed into the same socket as the light fixtures. Thanks to all these inventors we now have surge bars that regulate our power use even in the case of an electrical storm.

In search of the standard electrical plug

So what's the problem? Anyone who travels knows that these handy plugs are not standardized, nor is the level of power use the same. I first discovered this is a most dramatic way. I was in a hotel room in Thailand and plugged in my battery charger loaded with batteries from Japan. The batteries literally popped out of the charger and flew across the room, totally fried and unusable.

It would be OK if there were only a few variations in power source and plug configurations. We could carry with us a small kit with the different plug types with chargers that would adapt to the local power settings. However, the international situation is unbelievably complex and is not getting resolved by any international edict either. Here is what Harry Herman writing for Gizmo has to say about it.

In the meantime, this means that things really aren't going to change. Your Walmart shaver will still die if you plug it into a European socket with a bare adapter, Indians will still be reminded of the British Empire every time they unplug a laptop, Israel will have their own plug which works nowhere else in the world, and El Salvador, without a national standard, will continue to wrestle with 10 different kinds of plug.

The British plug with a fuse built into it.

This situation started long ago with people not realizing how the development of future international travel and communication would effect us all. Who in 1928 would take a new vacuum cleaner or a lamp with them on a ship to Europe, for example? Then there was the destruction of Europe and England during World War II and the need to rebuild as quickly as possible. The Brits took all their electrical gadgets to India but then they left in 1947, leaving behind an old version of their plug still in use in India today. The power situation in India is so overloaded with the amount of electronic devices there that it's usual to have weekly rolling power outages everywhere.

There is hope for the future with the USB plug. Although the power going to the USB plugs still varies, the plug itself is all the same. You can plug into one in Africa just as easily as New York City. In addition, as bluetooth technology and WiFi improves, we won't need to plug in at all. Hopefully it will all be invisible in the walls and we won't have to deal with snarls of cords collecting dust in those corners OR lack of standard electrical plugs. However, it will be years yet before there is an alternative to batteries. My battery charger may still throw the batteries across the room in Thailand.

USB Charging Rates

We all use our USB ports and charging cables all the time for an increasing number of devices. We all know that they plug into ports one way but not the other. However, did you know about the power differences between chargers or wall plugs and that certain ports on laptops contain different charging variations?

While these differences tend to be mostly on older computers, it is beneficial to test the output to find out. However, your cell phone won't blow up if you plug it into a 1500 mA socket and it will actually charge faster.

There are certain computers that will also charge your devices while it is turned off (called the "sleep-and-charge port") and others that have ports that won't charge at all. While you now online manual will probably tell you, it's again a good idea to electrically test these ports. The lowest USB charging port is in your car at approximately 1A to 2.1A.

USB charging rates

According to ExtremeTech, companies are now moving towards using the USB-C plug.

USB-C is a different connector entirely. First, it’s universal; you can put it in either way and it will work, unlike with USB. It’s also capable of twice the theoretical throughput of USB 3.0, and can output more power. Apple is joining USB-C with USB 3.1 on its new MacBook, and so is Google with the new Chromebook Pixel. But there can also be older-style USB ports that support the 3.1 standard.

Just to complicate things further, if you have an older device that uses a USB cord, it might not be able to charge with these new USB-C cords or even the USB 3.1. In sum then it's better to keep the original cords with the devices and to use them always for the best charging situations. Since we are all used to having the electrical currents for each country a standard wattage, the issue here is that these modern devices are moving around a lot more. However, I look forward to a bit more standardization for USB charging rates in the future and hopefully some longer lasting batteries as well.