GadgetAdvisor.com Launches Featuring Top Technology News Chosen Daily

GadgetAdvisor.com Launches Featuring Top Technology News Chosen Daily

Fast-growing new web site, GadgetAdvisor.com, presents only the top news in technology, gadgets, computer software, and computer hardware.

GadgetAdvisor.com (http://www.gadgetadvisor.com) is quickly becoming a top site for technology news. The recently launched web site is loaded with hand-selected electronics stories relating to computer software, computer hardware, and gadgets, chosen to reflect the most significant, useful or particularly cool. No more scrolling through page after page of uninteresting or minor update items. GadgetAdvisor.com presents only the top technology news in an attractive, easy to read interface.

“People looking for the latest in technology, whether computer software, computer hardware or gadgets, should make GadgetAdvisor.com their first stop,” said Chris Hoffman, spokesperson for GadgetAdvisor.com.

Grouped into separate sections for gadgets, tech news, computer software, computer hardware as well as feature articles, readers can quickly and easily find technology news of interest and unbiased reviews on a whole range of products.

Reading the latest technology news on GadgetAdvisor.com is designed to be social, not solitary. Each entry is tagged so users can quickly find related topics. A ‘share this’ option makes it easy to post individual entries to a range of sharing and bookmarking sites, and to create trackbacks so readers can blog about stories as well. The site is available as an RSS feed, meaning readers can be the first to know when GadgetAdvisor.com has something new. And handy tools let readers track down technology news stories according to which is most popular and which is generating the most buzz.

Find unbiased reviews of computer software, computer hardware or gadgets, and the tech news that matters with no bias or fluff at GadgedAdvisor.com.

About GadgetAdvisor.com
GadgetAdvisor.com provides technology news and unbiased opinions about a range of computer software, computer hardware and gadgets. News is picked to reflect what people are actually interested in. The site is operated by Mystik Media, a leader in graphics and multimedia software solutions, as well as web sites for free online games, interesting facts, and much more.

Contact:
Chris Hoffman
Mystik Media
910-270-5251
info@gadgetadvisor.com

LIBOR could indicate mortgage market recovery

Responding to the news that LIBOR fell on Wednesday following the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Swiss National Bank’s $254 billion (£145.7 billion) injection into the wholesale funding markets, financial solutions company Think Money (http://www.thinkmoney.com/) commented that this could mark the start of a recovery in the mortgages and loans market, so long as the conditions remain in place for lenders to continue to do business.

Despite last week’s half-point base rate drop, which was aimed in part at encouraging lenders to offer lower interest rates on their mortgages and other credit products, three-month sterling LIBOR – the rate most banks base their mortgage rates on – has been slow to respond.

LIBOR reflects the willingness of financial institutions to lend money to each other – and therefore the amount of cash flow in the industry. As such, it affects the levels of loans, mortgages and other forms of credit they are willing to offer to consumers. In short, the higher the LIBOR is, the more expensive it is to obtain the funds necessary for lending.

But on Wednesday, LIBOR fell from 6.249% to 6.21%, following around four weeks of continuous rises - not a huge drop, but one that could indicate that banks may be becoming more inclined to lend to each other, following the first cash injections from the Government’s bailout scheme.

A spokesperson for Think Money said: “This is a small but encouraging sign that the mortgage market may be on its way to improved levels of lending. What’s more, it’s evidence that the first stage of the Government’s bailout scheme may be working, which is good news for the economy in general.

“The main obstacle to mortgage lending over the past year has been lenders’ unwillingness to take risks. That’s the main factor behind the short supply of mortgages on the market, and the reason banks weren’t lending to each other, hence the high LIBOR.

“The aim of the bank bailout is to artificially increase cash flow within the financial markets, which should then give lenders an incentive to start doing more business with each other and with consumers – and it would appear that it has worked, for the time being at least.

“What we will now be looking out for is whether the LIBOR will continue to fall, and by how much. If it can drop to a figure somewhere near the 4.5% base rate, we may begin to see healthy levels of mortgage lending taking place once again. But the continued success of the banking bailout scheme will be central to ensuring this can occur.”

The spokesperson added that although market conditions are currently difficult, there are still plenty of mortgage deals available. “We haven’t seen a complete freeze in mortgage lending – just a tightening in lending criteria across the market. Lenders still need to be competitive to do business, so the deals are still very much there – it may just take longer to find the right deal.

“Despite the uncertainty in the housing market, now could be a good time for first-time buyers, since house prices are relatively low, and therefore mortgages are relatively cheap. If house prices do begin to rise again soon, it could prove to be a very good move financially.”

Useful Resources for editors:

Homepage: http://www.thinkmoney.com/

Mortgage page: http://www.thinkmoney.com/mortgage/

Remortgage page: http://www.thinkmoney.com/mortgage/remortgage.asp

Interactive One Moves to Oracle(R) VM and Oracle Unbreakable Linux Support

Interactive One Moves to Oracle® VM and Oracle Unbreakable Linux Support
Oracle Software and Support Provide Efficiency, Scalability, Flexibility and Cost Savings
Redwood Shores, CA - October 28, 2008

News Facts
Interactive One, the digital division of Radio One (NASDAQ:ROIAK and ROIA), has implemented Oracle® VM server virtualization software, Oracle Database 11g and Oracle Enterprise Manager to power the infrastructure for its fast growing social networking and media properties.

Additionally, Interactive One switched from Red Hat Linux support to Oracle Unbreakable Linux support.

Oracle Unbreakable Linux and numerous systems with Oracle VM and Oracle Database 11g enables Interactive One to cut application delivery times in half, provision and roll out new servers quickly and manage them efficiently, all at a low cost.

Single Point of Contact Helps Reduce Cost, Improves Performance Spanning 10 Web sites, including the popular BlackPlanet.com, the largest online community for African Americans, Interactive One provides a rich, integrated online experience for more than 25 million users delivering six hundred fifty million full page views per month. The company expects to reach 60 Web sites over the next year as it brings content from its 52 radio stations online.

With Oracle VM, Interactive One has consolidated as many as six physical servers into a single server running multiple virtual machines benefitting from more efficient resource utilization and savings on space, power and maintenance. The new environment also provides high availability and failover capabilities necessary for business critical applications.

Oracle Enterprise Manager is utilized to help build automation solutions for application and database monitoring and management.
Oracle Database 11g, along with the Oracle Partitioning option and advanced features such as connection pooling, helps to improve the performance of Interactive One's databases and enable them to scale to support many more web servers than ever before.

By providing a single support vendor for Interactive One's entire software stack, Oracle Unbreakable Linux has simplified the support process and delivered significant cost savings.

Based on the success of its initial roll out, Interactive One is in the process of deploying Oracle Real Application Clusters. The company also employs Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition, which delivers a full range of analysis and reporting capabilities that provide users' company-wide with fact-based insight related to their business and services.

Supporting Quotes
"Combining the best of open source and commercial software has enabled Interactive One's Technical Operations department to provide a compelling, seamless experience for our users," said Nicholas Tang, Vice President of Technical Operations, Interactive One.

"Our ability to rapidly build, deploy, scale and allocate resources, fail over easily and add new services simply has been the foundation on which we've built a lean and efficient IT operation. It allows us to focus on delivering the best user experience and continue to lower the cost of operations. We owe this in part to the consistent, proven software solutions from Oracle."

"We have been very pleased with our move from Red Hat to Oracle Unbreakable Linux support. Oracle Enterprise Linux software is fully compatible with RHEL and together with Oracle VM provides an efficient and integrated solution that can be easily cloned. In our experience, support is not Red Hat's forte. We have a strong, collaborative relationship with Oracle and cost savings is one of the important benefits," added Tang.

Car Video Screen sales on the up

Car Video Screen sales on the up

In-dash car video screen sales are on the up with sales increasing two-fold over the last twelve months alone. Experts claim that demand for in car entertainment continues to rocket despite the impending global recession.

In car entertainment such as in car video screens (also known as "car indash LCD" and "car LCD screens") are popular with motoring enthusiasts and vehicle customizers who install the systems to their own and client's specifications.

The car modification and cutomization market also continues to grow as consumers look to make the most of their existing vehicles, possibly due to reduced access to car finance.

Leaders in the car video screen markets such as Pioneer electronics and Jensen electronics are leading the way in in-dash entertainment, developing and releasing new models at unbelievable rates.

The boom in interest in the car LCD screen market has sprung a number of online specialists providing a range of advice, sales and service on leading brands.

One leading car video screen supplier has launched niche online store www.carvideoscreen.com, offering consumers a complete range of in car entertainment systems from leading brands such as Pioneer, Jensen & Legacy.

The site offers a complete range of in car entertainment systems including alarm systems, specialist speaker systems, amplifiers and flip down screens. However, it's the indash LCD screens that continue to spark demand with numerous models back ordered up to 3 months in advance.

Recession or no recession, it seems that the car video screen market is still going strong!


Notes to the Editor:
For more information on car video screens, car indash LCD & car LCD screens please visit www.carvideoscreen.com

CarVideoScreen.com offers car video screens such as LCD monitors, in-dash screens, headrest monitors and other car stereo products at wholesale prices. Choose from name brand or reliable alternative LCD screens.

Energy probe welcomed by ThinkMoney

Financial solutions company Think Money have welcomed calls for energy providers to reconsider their prices following the Consumer Focus Energy Supply Probe’s findings about the industry, and added that many energy customers pushed towards debt by the rapid rises in energy prices stood to benefit from any agreement to reduce prices.

In their Energy Supply Probe, Consumer Focus, the new watchdog comprising Energywatch and the National Consumer Council, have called for “immediate action from energy companies to reduce their prices in line with falling oil prices”, adding: “This will be good not just for consumers, but for the whole economy.”

It is currently estimated by Consumer Focus that around 5 million British households are in fuel poverty – in which households spend 10% or more of their total income on domestic energy – with increasing numbers of people feeling the pressure of sharp rises in the prices of electricity and gas over the past year.

Wholesale oil prices have seen a huge drop in little over three months, down from around $147 per barrel in July to the current price of $66 per barrel. Drivers have experienced the benefits almost immediately, with the lowest unleaded petrol prices at 99.8 pence per litre at the time of writing, while airline’s fuel surcharges have also been cut, according to the BBC.

But prices of gas and electricity, which are traditionally closely linked with prices of oil, have shown no such reduction in prices – leaving many consumers “wondering why they are left waiting”, in the words of Consumer Focus chief executive Ed Mayo.

According to Consumer Focus, gas prices have risen by 51% since the start of the year, while electricity bills are up by 28% - meaning the average annual household energy bill stands at £1,308.

A spokesperson for Think Money said: “The existence of the Energy Supply Probe is of great reassurance to the millions of billpayers who have been hit with severe rises in energy prices over the past year, particularly those facing debt problems.

“There has been some justification for the price rises – oil prices stood at $147 per barrel in July, and wholesale gas has also experienced massive rises – but with oil now standing at less than $67 per barrel, and with petrol prices coming down, it’s unclear why domestic energy prices have not also come down.

“Billpayers will hope that the Energy Supply Probe, combined with Consumer Focus’ calls for immediate price reductions, will be enough to ensure that their bills become much less of a burden in the coming months.”

But the Think Money spokesperson added that the potential for forthcoming price reductions did not make existing debt an any less serious issue.

“We have seen increasing numbers of people pushed into debt by rising energy bills over the past few months. Because energy is an essential cost, those people with low incomes have been unavoidably hit hard by energy price rises, and many are finding that they can no longer afford to pay their bills.

“The problem is made worse by higher levels of unemployment, and a lot of people who previously had no trouble paying their bills are finding that they are getting into debt because they simply don’t have the spare income.

“We advise anyone struggling with debt to tackle the issue head-on and seek expert debt advice as soon as possible.”

HSBC LAUNCHES FULL ASSET-BASED LENDING PROPOSITION IN THE UK

HSBC LAUNCHES FULL ASSET-BASED LENDING PROPOSITION IN THE UK

HSBC Commercial Bank today announced the launch of a specialist asset-based lending proposition and the creation of a dedicated lending team. The division – led by new appointment Graham Moffitt and supported by Barry Lee and Bruce Richards - will strategically complement HSBC’s corporate business offering in the UK, supporting business customers with a £25m+ turnover, and forms part of the recently restructured HSBC Invoice Finance business.

Structures will always be receivables led, but the introduction of the new team now gives HSBC corporate business customers the opportunity to use asset-based lending to raise finance on the strength of their balance sheets and stock - including machinery and plant, stock and commercial property - to finance transactions, provide working capital and fund business restructuring.

Noel Quinn, HSBC's head of commercial finance for Europe, said: “HSBC’s offering of a full asset-based lending proposition is a natural extension of the extensive lending services already on offer and compliments our successful corporate offering. We are pleased to be able to give our customers access to a full range of options in financing their business.

“HSBC has a strong lending capability and track record of good customer service, which is important to businesses in the current economic climate. This, coupled with our unparalleled international expertise and our strength and success in the UK market, means HSBC’s asset-based lending service can really benefit businesses operating in the UK and those trading internationally.”

A series of new appointments have been made to the asset-based lending team. Graham Moffitt will lead the division as head of asset-based lending and brings with him more
than 20 years of global asset-based lending experience. He was formerly executive director at GE Commercial Finance, working across the UK, Europe and the US. Graham has also worked as managing director of Hilco Receivables Europe and as a senior credit risk manager at Bank of America.

Reporting into Graham are Barry Lee and Bruce Richards, who move across from roles as corporate business development managers at HSBC. Barry has been appointed asset-based lending corporate development manager with responsibility for the North of England and Bruce appointed asset-based lending corporate development manager with responsibility for the South of England.

Barry joined HSBC from a role as regional director for the Midlands at GE Commercial Finance, working there for a decade to provide asset-based financing facilities to businesses in the Midlands. Also joining from GE Commercial Finance, Bruce joins the HSBC team having worked as been a regional manager with responsibility for introducing business in the South of England.

Commenting on the appointments, Noel Quinn said: “These are flagship hires for HSBC and we are delighted to have Graham, Barry and Bruce on board. Having such a strong team in place demonstrates our commitment to offering the best asset-based lending service possible.”

The asset-based lending proposition is part of the newly restructured UK receivables finance business. Under the restructure dedicated teams have also been introduced for corporate and asset-based lending, commercial and smaller businesses led by Kevin Craven, Peter Lowe and Keith Tulley respectively. Steve Box has been appointed managing director of HSBC Invoice Finance (UK), having worked for HSBC for 26 years in managerial and sales roles across corporate and commercial banking.
For more information, businesses can visit www.hsbc.co.uk/invoicefinance

Media enquiries
KATIE DONLAN / ANNA MURRAY
Consolidated
020 7781 2376 / 020 7781 2312
katied@consol.co.uk / annam@consol.co.uk

Europe's business elite turn to the BBC

Europe's business elite turn to the BBC

A survey released today has revealed the BBC’s international multimedia news services reach more upscale business users each day in Western Europe than any of its international broadcast news competitors, according to BE Europe 2008, the media survey of Europe’s Business Elite (formerly EBRS).

The survey, which covers 458,000 senior business people, reports that the BBC’s website and BBC World News television reach 57,000 upscale business users each day in Western Europe, outstripping all of their international broadcast news competitors (including Bloomberg, CNBC ,CNN, Euronews, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Sky News and Al Jazeera English). The BBC website also has a larger monthly reach in Western and Central Europe than every broadcast and print news competitor surveyed (including CNN, Forbes, CNBC, Time, Business Week, WSJ, NY Times, Euro News, News Week, National Geographic, Economist, Bloomberg, Sky News, CNN and the FT).

The BBC’s international multimedia news services also ranked higher than broadcast news competitors for being influential (BBC 58,000 vs. 45,000 for its nearest competitor), for being ‘a place they specifically make time to visit’ (BBC 43,000 vs. 18,000 for its nearest competitor), and for providing insights they ‘cannot get elsewhere’ (BBC 36,000 vs. 34,000 for its nearest competitor).

Jeremy Nye, Head of Audience Insight, BBC Global News, says, “Given recent financial turmoil, the BBC’s credentials as the place for trusted news, among Europe’s business elite is more important than ever – and the knowledge that our multiplatform news services are leading the way in Europe within this community is extremely encouraging. We pride ourselves in providing content that is relevant and targeted to multiple audiences and this research has proved that in doing so we are still able to supply the kind of high level news and in-depth analysis that business professionals demand.”

BE Europe 2008 is a syndicated survey that measures the media consumption, business decision-making responsibilities and personal profile of Europe's most influential business executives. Executives qualify for the survey by virtue of working for the region's largest and most important companies, and by having a senior management role within those companies. Europe's business elite therefore make decisions on behalf of companies that account for a large proportion of economic activity across the region.


For more details contact bbcworldnewspressoffice@bbc.com

Google.org Battles Bugs & Viruses

Google.org Battles Bugs & Viruses

Announces More Than $14 Million in Grants to Partners Working to Predict and Prevent the Next Pandemic

Mountain View, Calif. (October 21, 2008) — Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), has announced grants of more than $14 million to support partners working in Southeast Asia and Africa to prevent the next pandemic. Google.org's Predict and Prevent initiative is supporting efforts to identify hot spots where diseases may emerge, detect new pathogens circulating in animal and human populations, and respond to outbreaks before they become global crises. Several new lethal infectious diseases crop up every year. Examples include the well-known killers, HIV/AIDS, bird flu, and SARS, as well as drug-resistant strains of ancient scourges malaria and tuberculosis. Three-quarters of new diseases are zoonoses, meaning they've jumped from animals to humans.

"Business as usual won't prevent the next AIDS or SARS. The teams we're funding today are on the frontiers of digital and genetic early detection technology. We hope that their work, with partners across environmental, animal, and human health boundaries, will help solve centuries-old problems and save millions of lives," said Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director, Google.org.

Identifying hot spots
Knowing where to look is critical to disease surveillance. Climate change and deforestation increase human-animal contact, and with it, disease spreads. "The holy grail is to predict disease outbreaks before they happen. For Rift Valley fever and malaria, long-term weather forecasts and deforestation maps can show us where to look for outbreaks, up to six months in advance," said Frank Rijsberman, Program Director, Google.org.

* The Woods Hole Research Center - $2 million multi-year grant to support high-resolution satellite mapping of forests to enhance monitoring of forest loss and settlement expansion in tropical countries. WHRC will create information to share with environmental and human experts so they can better anticipate the emergence of infectious diseases. For more information, please visit http://www.whrc.org/.
* Columbia University International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) - $900,000 multi-year grant to improve the use of forecasts, rainfall data and other climate information in East Africa, and link weather and climate experts to health specialists so they can better predict outbreaks of infectious diseases. For more information, please visit http://portal.iri.columbia.edu/portal/server.pt.
* University Corporation for Atmospheric Research - $900,000 multi-year grant to build and implement a system that will use weather projections to inform and target response to disease threats in West Africa. For more information, please visit http://www.ucar.edu/.

Detecting diseases earlier
Genetic detection filters viral information in DNA to uncover deadly new pathogens, and digital detection mines online data to reveal early signals of possible epidemics. "We want to stop viruses dead in their tracks – their animal tracks – before they jump to humans," noted Dr. Mark Smolinski, Google.org's Threat Detective.

* Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (GVFI) - $5.5 million multi-year grant (with equal funding from the Skoll Foundation) to support the collection and analysis of blood samples of humans and animals in hot spots within Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Malaysia, Lao PDR and Madagascar. The GVFI team, headed by Dr. Nathan Wolfe, has demonstrated that potentially pathogenic animal viruses jump more frequently to humans than previously believed and will work to detect early evidence of future pandemics. For more information, please visit http://gvfi.org/index.html.
* Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health - $2.5 million multi-year grant to support research to accelerate the discovery of new pathogens, and to enable rapid, regional response to outbreaks by establishing molecular diagnostics in hot spot countries including Sierra Leone and Bangladesh. Dr. Ian Lipkin and colleagues have discovered more than 75 viruses to date, established critical links between infection and the development of acute and chronic diseases, including pneumonia, meningitis/encephalitis, cancer, and mental illness. For more information, please visit http://cii.columbia.edu/.
* Children's Hospital Corporation supporting Healthmap and ProMED-mail - $3M multi-year grant to combine HealthMap's digital detection efforts with ProMED-mail's global network of human, animal, and ecosystem health specialists. Together, these programs will assess current emerging disease reporting systems, expand regional networks in Africa and Southeast Asia, and develop new tools to improve the detection and reporting of outbreaks. For more information please visit http://www.childrenshospital.org/, http://www.healthmap.org/en, and http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1000:.

"On every continent, viruses move from animals into people. GVFI's mission is to monitor this viral exchange. Working in animal markets, with restaurant workers, and with hunters at the end of the road, we sort through this traffic to try to stop deadly diseases before they spread," said Dr. Nathan Wolfe, Founder and Director, Global Viral Forecasting Initiative.

For more information and a Google Earth Layer highlighting the grantees, please visit http://www.google.org/predict.html.

ThinkMoney.com welcomes base rate cut

Responding to the half-point cut to the Bank of England's base rate, financial solutions company Think Money welcomed its already noticeable impact, and pointed to the implied likelihood of future cuts.

"There's no question that we're facing extraordinary issues today, both globally and nationally," a Think Money spokesperson commented. "As a company, we were pleased to see the Bank of England taking this step – not just dropping the base rate, but dropping it by a substantial amount.

"Furthermore, we're delighted to see major mortgage providers passing that reduction on to consumers. After so many months of negative news, this could make a big difference to many homeowners' financial circumstances, as their variable rate mortgages drop from 7% to 6.5%."

Anyone with a tracker mortgage, meanwhile, is sure to enjoy lower payments at once: The Times predicts immediate benefits for around 4 million people paying home loans that track the Bank's base rate. 'Those with a £150,000 mortgage', it reports, 'will see their interest-only repayments fall by £63 a month'.

"The same goes for other kinds of credit," the spokesperson continued, "from secured loans to credit cards: people with tracker deals will certainly profit from the cut, and borrowers with SVR deals will be following their lenders' reactions closely."

New fixed-rate loans could also drop in price. "Now that the cost of credit has come down, lenders will be able to pass the savings on, giving their customers a better deal without placing their own profits in jeopardy – something which could have a profound impact on their stability at a time like this.

"Looking beyond the actual cut," the spokesperson stressed, "it's equally important to consider the implications – not just what the deal means, but what it says about the Bank of England's assessment of our economy. First, the cut reveals how seriously it is taking today's financial troubles. Second, it implies that the Bank is feeling more comfortable about inflation."

As stated in the Bank's news release about the rate cut: 'The recent intensification of the financial crisis has augmented the downside risks to growth and thus has diminished further the upside risks to price stability'.

"In other words, today's financial crisis has become more of a threat to the nation's GDP – but on the plus side, slowing growth does tend to slow inflation too. The Bank may well have liked to postpone the base rate cut until inflation came down closer to the 2% target, but given the choice between letting the economy deteriorate and losing some ground in the fight against inflation, it chose the latter."

As for the months ahead: "The latest BRC-Nielsen Shop Price Index (SPI) for the UK reveals that annual shop price inflation shrank to 3.6% in September, down from 3.8% in August. It's encouraging to see inflation on the way down, particularly as it gives the MPC more leeway when it comes to future base rate decisions. Various influential bodies are calling for the Bank to make further cuts to the base rate – and there's reason to hope it'll be able to do that."

Moneysupermarket.com comment on Energy Saving Week

Commenting on Energy Saving Week, Scott Byrom, utilities manager at moneysupermarket.com, said: "We welcome another reminder to keep energy efficiency at the forefront of people's minds. The benefits of 'saving energy' in the home are two-fold; reducing bill-payers outgoings as well as the added benefits to the environment by keeping energy usage to a minimum. Small changes made to your home such as adding loft insulation or upgrading your boiler using the same fuel could save you around £235 a year, and reduces carbon dioxide by two tonnes1.

"Any customers struggling to pay their energy bills need to be proactive and contact their energy supplier to see what options are available to keep their energy bills low. Likewise, energy suppliers need to ensure adequate support is readily available and help is delivered efficiently."

moneysupermarket.com recommends the following energy saving tips:

> Invest in a lagging jacket for your hot water tank and insulate pipes – this will pay for itself in a few months with the money saved.

> Turning your thermostat down by 1°C could cut your heating bills by up to 10 per cent. And if you're going away for winter, leave the thermostat on a low setting to provide protection from freezing at minimum cost.

> Wash clothes at 30oC instead of 40 oC.  

> Replace light bulbs with energy saving versions.

> Is your hot water too hot? For most, setting the thermostat at 60°C/140°F is fine for bathing.

> Don't leave the fridge door open longer than necessary and defrost freezers regularly to improve efficiency.

> When cooking leave saucepan lids on as this will allow you to turn down the heat.

> Don't use more water than you need when boiling a kettle as it takes much more electricity to boil a full kettle each time than just enough water for a cuppa or two.

> For those willing to spend money to save money, loft insulation is a great investment. Up to 25 per cent of heat loss occurs through lofts that are not insulated.

> Cavity wall insulation can also prove to be a big money saver. Insulation can save up to 35 per cent of heat loss through walls.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com

eBay Reports 3rd Quarter Results

eBay Inc. today reported financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2008. The ecommerce company posted third quarter revenue of $2.12 billion, up $228 million from the same period last year. Net income on a GAAP basis was $492 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income was $592 million, or $0.46 per diluted share.

"Overall, we are pleased with the performance of the portfolio this past quarter," said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe. "We took a number of steps during the quarter to further strengthen our business and better align our cost structure to invest and compete. We will continue to stay focused on connecting consumers on our various ecommerce platforms, maintaining financial discipline and capitalizing on new opportunities for growth."

eBay continues to benefit from an increasingly diversified portfolio of businesses. While Marketplaces transaction revenue still represents a majority of revenue for the company, revenue growth rates were helped by growth in PayPal, Skype and global classifieds. The company's global footprint helped it benefit year over year from strength in other currencies relative to the U.S. dollar.

GAAP operating margin increased to 24.7% for the quarter, compared to (49.6%) for the same period last year. Non-GAAP operating margin increased to 31.8% for the quarter, compared to 31.4% for the same period last year. The yearover-year increase in non-GAAP operating margin is due primarily to higher margins from each of the business units, which more than offset the growth from lower-margin businesses, primarily PayPal and Skype. eBay Inc. generated $693 million of operating cash flow during the third quarter. Free cash flow during the quarter was $543 million.

www.ebay.com

Economy still uncertain despite base rate cut

Debt management company Gregory Pennington have warned that the economy remains uncertain, despite a number of signals suggesting a potential recovery, and have advised anyone facing severe financial problems to seek professional debt advice as soon as possible.

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee's announcement on Wednesday that the base rate would fall to 4.5% was intended to calm fears surrounding the money market and increase lenders' willingness to do business with one another, subsequently increasing liquidity and boosting the loans market.

A number of lenders announced cuts to their mortgage rates following the base rate announcement – which may come as a relief to prospective homeowners or existing homeowners looking to remortgage, following many lenders' reluctance to respond to the last base rate drop.

Meanwhile, petrol prices recently fell to as little as 103.9 pence per litre, while food price growth slowed by 0.2% in September, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – arousing speculation that overall inflation has hit its peak and will now begin to slow.

However, a spokesperson for Gregory Pennington commented that while there are encouraging signs for the economy, there is no guarantee that further difficulty for the economy can be avoided.

"The first thing to bear in mind is that while the base rate cut is intended to help the economy, it was brought in as an emergency measure," she said. "The threat of a severe economic downturn is still looming and there are no guarantees it can be avoided.

"The fall in oil and food prices are very encouraging, but both are heavily affected by external factors, largely outside our Government's control."

The debt management company spokesperson was keen to emphasise the continued need to take care over finances and manage debts effectively in the coming months. "There is still the possibility that things could get tighter in the near future, so it pays to tackle any financial issues now, rather than waiting to see what happens next.

"People who are struggling with debt are especially at risk, because their finances are already stretched – and any further rises in costs of living could make those debts unmanageable.

"As always, we advise anyone struggling with debt to seek expert debt advice as soon as possible. Leaving it too late could allow your debts to grow, which is particularly dangerous if costs of living do continue to rise.

"There are a number of debt solutions to help with various financial situations. A debt management plan is a flexible means of getting out of debt in which your repayments are based on how much you can afford, and in some cases interest and other charges can be frozen.

"Debt consolidation involves grouping your debts into one convenient monthly payment, therefore simplifying your finances, and your debt can also be spread out over a longer period of time, meaning monthly payments are smaller – although this can mean you pay more interest in the long run.

"For more serious debts of over £15,000, an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement) might be more appropriate. These work by agreeing with your creditors to make payments based on what you can afford for a period of five years, after which the remaining debt is considered settled."

Web Site: http://www.gregorypennington.com

Contact Details: Melanie Taylor
melanie.taylor@gregorypennington.com
0845 056 6480

Pennington House
Carolina Way
South Langworthy Road
Salford
M50 2ZY

Bigmouthmedia comments on Adwords gaming U-turn

Bigmouthmedia has sounded a cautious welcome to the news that Google is set to make a dramatic u-turn tomorrow when it lifts its ban on paid search advertising for gambling websites in the UK.

The decision, which overturns the search giant’s policy of refusing to carry AdWords advertisements for gambling operations such as online bingo and casino sites, is expected to presage an online gold rush as bidders hurry to tap into a potentially lucrative new sales vertical.

In addition to opening up a new keywords bidding war, the move could also have a substantial impact on Yahoo. The search engine has until now profited from the PPC revenue from gambling advertisers barred from using Google, but with the field now open stands to lose a considerable chunk of its turnover.

"This is another sudden change that has taken most of the sector by surprise. It will certainly lead to a big switch in the way that advertisers and agencies manage search engine optimisation campaigns for gambling sector clients and opens up a potentially lucrative new vertical for the industry,” said Lyndsay Menzies, Managing Director of bigmouthmedia UK.

She continued, "While many will welcome the addition of a new and highly competitive advertising platform for gambling advertisers, it remains to be seen what impact the move will have on other services. Competition is good for business, and it would be a great shame if this were to further weaken Yahoo’s hold on the market.”

When it first introduced the ban 16 months ago, Google was heavily criticised by gaming and gambling companies for not providing them with evidence that its users wanted the ban. The company, which claims that the change has been under review for some time, says that it consulted the Gambling Commission prior to changing its policy.

Notes to Editor:

About bigmouthmedia
Founded in 1997, bigmouthmedia is Europe's largest independent digital marketing agency. With a team of over 200 staff located across 13 offices in 10 countries on 3 continents, the company maximises exposure for major brands online through a variety of fully integrated digital marketing channels: SEO, PPC, Online Media Planning, Affiliate marketing, Social Networking, Brand Monitoring, Online PR and Web Analytics. Bigmouthmedia also provides up to date daily digital marketing news to ensure clients are fully informed and aware of all industry developments.

Leading the digital marketing strategies of a third of the UK's most trusted brands, bigmouthmedia services over 300 big-brand customers globally including: Hilton, British Airways, Tesco, Aer Lingus, Barclays, Conrad International, Dorling Kindersley, Early Learning Centre, Fasthosts, Jumeirah, Canon, Samsung, Starbucks, Top Man, Debenhams, Which?, Euler Hermes and Wall Street Institute.

Web Site: http://www.bigmouthmedia.com

Contact Details: Iain Bruce
Media Strategist
bigmouthmedia
51 Timberbush
Edinburgh
EH6 6QH
(44) 131 555 4848