Monday, November 24, 2008
Sell your Used Cisco Gear: Helpful Tips
by Razvan Marian Jr @ articlesbase.com
Cisco Systems has become a name synonymous with high-quality networking hardware. It’s no wonder that many companies build their network around this brand. In addition to their robust feature-set and useful product life, Cisco products also have great investment protection and can be resold to help recoup a portion of their cost.
There are many reasons companies get rid of hardware. Sometimes companies replace dead equipment that is no longer functioning properly. In this instance, equipment can be salvaged or recycled, which amounts to getting small amounts of money for the value of the raw materials. However, more often companies are either upgrading or downsizing, in which case the equipment they are selling on the secondary market is still functioning perfectly but is no longer an integral part of a network.
There are a number of ways to go about selling your equipment on the secondary market.
EBAY
eBay is the world’s garage sale. Not only that, eBay is a great place to buy and sell used networking hardware. If you perform a search for terms like “cisco router” you will find a slew of models, both new and used to choose from. Often listed at low starting bids or “buy it now” prices, products can be acquired for a fraction of the cost of new. While these prices can sometimes be lower than what would be paid when sourcing from a reputable vendor, there are some risks that go hand in hand with buying and selling any network hardware on eBay.
For one, many eBay users post items that they may or may not currently have in stock. If an order comes in, they search the inventory of other brokers to find it at a lower cost than it was sold. This means that if they can’t source it immediately, you may be forced to wait for more time than you expected, while they source one. If you are selling used equipment, you will have to deal with buyers who may be suspicious about your listing. You should use clear language in your description, assuring the prospective buyer that the item you listed is physically in stock.
Secondly, there may be significant costs associated with freight and shipping. A fully loaded Catalyst 6500 model weighs a lot. You may end up paying a large amount of money to ship it to the buyer. This can sometimes be an unexpected cost the buyer may not be comfortable with. If you are shipping a piece of networking gear, make sure to always require insurance. This prevents any liability for items that are damaged in shipping. Since the shipper is the one who has to file a claim, this can be a real headache. Conversely, you can avoid the whole issue of shipping by stipulating that your auction will be “local pick-up only.” This means that you will not be required to complete the sale of your item if the winning bidder is not able to pick-up.
Lastly, you may be competing against vendors/members who offer a product guarantee. Most reputable vendors offer some sort of warranty for end-users, ranging from 90-days to 1-year. By not including a guarantee on your item, you may lose potential bidders who feel more comfortable having some kind of warranty on a large investment.
You can sometimes offload equipment quickly and easily on eBay; however, because of this fact, a number of established vendors utilize this service as well. In this instance, you are competing against a technology specialist who has the experience, inventory, and leverage to appeal to a large segment of buyers. In the end, your greatest weapon is price.
SECONDARY MARKET
The secondary market is a great, safe way to purchase used Cisco hardware. There are many vendors spread out across the country offering discounted gear and product guarantees. Because most companies actually house inventory, buyers stand a good chance of getting a required order filled quickly and packaged professionally. However, distance is still a factor when placing an order, as shipping charges can add substantial cost to an out of state transaction.
Finding the right company for you can be accomplished by performing specific searches in any of the major search engines. Instead of simply searching for “buy used cisco” or some other relatively general term, you can modify your search by adding a qualifying geo-specific keyword such as “San Francisco” or “sf.” The search phrase “San Francisco used cisco” will return a number of companies that are located in your geographic region, and thus will minimize shipping costs and transit time. Also, by using Yahoo’s local search filter, you can perform a general search like “buy used cisco” and then filter results to show only those companies that are physically located close by. All you need is to be logged into a Yahoo account to take advantage of this feature.
Specialized technology vendors may also offer full-service liquidation services to manage all aspects of the buying process, which minimizes the effort required on the part of the seller. Liquidation services make the most sense for companies with large amounts of hardware that they need to unload. Instead of finding buyers for individual pieces and sourcing a salvage company to recycle the unusable equipment, you can work with one point of contact who will manage all the logistics, transportation, and valuation of an entire lot of gear. This allows you to focus your energy on your core, revenue-producing activities.
The timeline from your initial communication and RFQ to an offer and full payment can depend on both the company and the size and type of the lot. Some companies offer a quote and deposit payment in as little as 48-hours of a RFQ, with the remaining balance paid upon receipt and inspection of all equipment. Your final offer will take into account the model/make, condition, and the current market demand for the used hardware. The entire process can take anywhere from 5 working days to 2 weeks. Make sure to find a company that you feel comfortable working with, as there a quite a few small brokers that do not have the capital or bandwidth to efficiently handle your business.
With adequate research and due diligence, you can find the appropriate marketplace to sell your used cisco hardware and receive fair value for your surplus equipment.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Phentermine weight loss pill
Phentermine is a drug that inhibits appetite. It is similar to amphetamine in action. It stimulates the nervous system which controls the appetite, increases heart rate and elevates blood pressure. You can buy Phentermine 37.5 mg without prescription
Phentermine is ideally combined with proper diet and exercise for treatment of obesity – it is for individuals with a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2. Weight loss is needed to lower the risks of heart disease. Do not combine Phentermine with other weight loss medications. The combination of Phentermine with Fenfluramine (known as FEN-PHEN) is reported to cause serious heart problems. Today, Fenfluramine is banned in the United States.
The recommended dose of Phentermine is 30 mg once daily, 2 hours after breakfast. Avoid taking evening doses because it causes insomnia. Other side effects include vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, dry mouth, hives, palpitations and sometimes tremor. Order Phentermine online and start losing weight. Consult your doctor before taking this medication to avoid complications.
I have written some articles before about Phentermine.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Vital info on HEART BLOCKAGE
This is an e-mail received from a person working in a software company
Dear colleagues,
I am working in Blore Software City . I want to share an incident of my life with you, hoping that it may be an eyeopener to you so that you can live more years.
On 27th October afternoon, I had severe heart attack symptom and I was rushed to the hospital.
After reaching the hospital, the doctors prescribed a test called angiogram. This test is basically to identify blood flow of heart arteries. When they finished the test, they found a 94% block in the main artery.
At this point, I want to share my lifestyle, which has caused this block in my heart arteries. Please see the below points of my lifestyle. If any of these points are part of your lifestyle, then you are at risk. Please change yourselves.
1. I was not doing any physical exercise for more than 10 years, not even walking-30-minutes-a-day for years.
2. My food timings are 11:00 AM Breakfast or no Breakfast, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Lunch and dinner between 11:00 PM and 12:00 midnight.
3. Sleeping in very odd timings, going to bed between 12:00 AM and 3:00 AM. Waking up at between 9:00 AM and 10:30AM ……. Sometimes spending sleepless nights.
4. I used to eat heavily because of long gaps between lunch and dinner, and I used to make sure that Non-Vegie is available most of the time. There were times when I did survey on city hotels to find delicious Non-Vegie dishes. I was never interested in vegetables and healthier foods.
5. Above all I was a chain-smoker for years.
6. My father passed away due to heart problems, and the doctors say heart problems are usually hereditary.
Once they identified the major blockage, they immediately do a procedure called angioplasty, along with 2 stitches, meaning they will insert a foreign body into the heart arteries and open the blocked area.
I learned from the doctors that 60% people will die before reaching the hospital, 20% people will die in the process of recovering from heart attack and only 20% will survive. I n my case, I was very lucky to be part of the last 20%.
Doctors’ instructions:
1. You need to have a physical exercise for a minimum of 45 minutes daily.
2. Eat your food at perfect schedule, like how you eat during your school days. Eat in small quantities more times and have a lot of vegetables and boiled food. Try avoiding fried and oily foods. Fish is better than other non-vegetarian foods.
3. Sleep for 8 hours a day, this count should be complete before sunrise.
4. Stop smoking.
5. We cannot avoid genetic problems, but we can get away from it by having regular checkups.
6. Find a way to get relief from stress (Yoga, Meditation etc.).
So I urge you all to please avoid getting into this kind of situation. It is in your hands to turn the situation upside down, by just planning / changing your lifestyle and by following the above simple advices.
Here’s a natural therapy for opening up blocked arteries.
Please pass it on to your colleagues and friends.
Remedy for Clogged Heart Veins
1) Lemon juice 01 cup
2) Ginger juice 01 cup
3) Garlic juice 01 cup
4) Apple vinegar 01 cup
Mix all the ingredients above and boil in light flame for approximately half an hour. When the mixture turns to about 3 cups, take it out from the stove and set it aside for cooling. After cooling, add 3 cups of natural honey to the mixture and keep it in a sterile bottle.
Every morning before breakfast, use one tablespoonful regularly. Your vein blockage will open up. (There would be no need of any costly angiography or bypass operation).
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Conversion Rate Optimization
The importance of the target market
Ask any marketing student, and he will tell you that it is constantly drilled into them to always remember and have the target audience in mind. A product or service may be the best in the world but if it is not known to its target market much less the public then the quality that is being brought by that product or service would not matter. The most powerful force is the consumer and they should never be forgotten in any kind of plan in order for a business to be successful. Many businesses have closed shop not because they were selling an inferior product or service but because they have forgotten their market and have not been effective in bringing the company’s message out to the public.
This marketing tenet has permeated not only the traditional markets but also new markets and new media as well. The tenets of marketing apply to whichever market or sector that I have discovered that the tenets of marketing still apply to the internet. In fact, the internet is such a new form of media and practically a new frontier for businessmen and marketers that a number of new concepts and philosophies are being formed as a way of trying to put well established marketing beliefs and then apply it in innovative ways to new media.
The importance of conversion rate optimization
A good example of the use of marketing techniques in new media is the concept of conversion rate optimization. It is considered as an important tool in ensuring the success of a website. This new type of conversion rate optimization is now a well established service being offered by some top website content and design companies with the purpose of helping website owners make their websites more effective in drawing customers while also ensuring that customers’ experience in the website is also enhanced. Conversion rate optimization is both a science and an art that seeks to improve the online experience of a visitor who visits a website or sees a web based ad. The ultimate goal of this is to turn a website visitor into a customer.
What is conversion rate optimization
Conversion rate optimization is borne out of the discovery that human behavior – particularly ones that would influence a sale or susceptibility to positively react to an ad campaign – is not at all consistent as it fluctuates at any given time or set of circumstances. Using statistics, studies are made on large population samples in order to determine particular patterns where none would usually exist. The resulting conversion rate optimization methods are then applied to a real time environment and the data collected as well as the messaging that is the product of it would serve to further increase the effectiveness of the online ad.
The foundation of conversion rate optimization
Conversion rate optimization is actually rooted in actual mathematics and analytical thinking using various elements that include data collection and processing, optimization goals, rules in business, real time learning as well as decision making. Marketing a website is not as easy as it looks and that for any website owner or business owner it will always a good idea to improve the whole browsing experience of a visitor because it will ultimately be for the benefit of his business.
Conversion Rate Optimization is also the fastest and easiest strategy to increase your sales without spending more money on increasing your traffic.
In fact, the most successful companies test everything. For example, www.GoToMyPC.com increased their conversion rates by 400% by testing the following:
* Headlines
* Call to Action
* Copy
* Images
* Graphics
* Button Look
* Button Text
* Button Location
* No Links
* Press Quotes
* Testimonials
* Pricing
* Flow Through Process
* And more
Optimizing Your Landing Page’s “Conversion Funnel”
If you review your web site statistics (called “log files”) you’ll notice the following 4 things are happening on your landing pages:
* The largest percentage of your visitors are bailing within 0-8 seconds after briefly viewing your landing page.
* The second largest percentage of visitors bail when they decide your landing page does not prove compelling.
* A small percentage of visitors attempt to convert (buy or use a contact form to become a lead) but fail. Many of these people will call.
* A small percentage of visitors convert.
Conversion rate optimization is the process of optimizing your landing pages to minimize your “bail out rate” and maximize your “conversion rate” (CR).
The Top 6 Landing Page Components to Optimize for Maximizing Your Conversions
The following are the top 6 conversion components that should be tested and improved to boost your conversion rates:
Headline - Since your headline is the first line that your visitors will read, the headline of your web page offers the biggest opportunity (about 80% of the opportunity) for improvements in conversion rate. Use headlines that clearly state the biggest benefit(s) that your product offers.
Offer - Since your offer is the “call to action” that asks your visitors to act (purchase, sign up, opt-in), your offer accounts for the second the biggest opportunity for improvements in conversion rate.
Lead - The “lead” or first paragraph is the third biggest opportunity for improvements in your conversion rate. Leads must be written with strong benefits that capture your visitor’s attention and make them want to read more.
Benefits - The “benefit bullets” (bullet-point format) are the forth biggest opportunity for improvements in conversion rate. List your benefits in the order of your product’s “value hierarchy” to your target market. In other words, state your product’s strongest benefit first, and its weakest benefit last.
Images - The images you use have a big impact on your conversion rates. The best practice is to use images that clearly portray the biggest benefit your product offers your customer (rather than generic “feel good” stuff like unknown logos and clip art). Studies show that product images work best when placed to the left of your product description (or lead paragraph) since it makes it easier to read your copy from left to right. Plus, people like to reads “captions” under your images almost as much as they read your headlines. So, add powerful captions and make your images clickable to the order/sign up page.
“Look & Feel” - According to a recent study by Stanford University, 46% of Web sales are lost on web sites that lack the critical elements that build value and trust with website visitors. The number one reason the people indicated why they wouldn’t buy from a web site was because it had an unprofessional “look and feel” that lacked credibility and did not “feel” trustworthy. Having a professional look, and trust building tools (such as VeriSign and BBBOnline certifications) help convert significantly more of your web site’s qualified visitors into new customers.
Other Important Conversion Elements to test:
* Buttons – Button text, color, look, etc.
* Pricing
* Formatting and placement of page elements, images and copy
* Navigation links versus no navigation links
* Press Quotes
* Testimonials
Other Conversion Best Practices and Tips:
* Reduce your “bail out” rate by optimizing your web pages to download within 5 seconds on a 56k modem
* Add a Logo and a powerful “Value Proposition” to the top left
* Instead of letting visitors click off your landing page, put all your information on one page (This tactic alone increased the conversions of a landing page by 55%)
* Use colors that fit your target customer’s personality
How PlayStation 3 Works
The Sony PlayStation dynasty has ruled the console market since the introduction of the original PlayStation in 1994. There are 13,000 video game titles available worldwide for PlayStation products, and more are released monthly. Sony plans to continue its market dominance with the latest version of its successful console, the PlayStation 3.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at the PlayStation 3. We’ll learn about the ground-breaking new microprocessor at the heart of the PS3, the powerful graphics processor that supports hi-def graphics at unprecedented resolutions and the console’s controller makeover, among other things.
Sony designed the PlayStation 3 to be more than just a video game console. It supports all kinds of digital entertainment and is basically a home-entertainment computer. This computer sports a specially designed CPU called the Cell processor. Sony, Toshiba and IBM worked together to develop the Cell processor. It’s their answer to the growing trend toward multi-core processing, in which manufacturers place as many processors as possible onto one chip. The Cell processor is scalable for different performance needs. The one used in the PlayStation 3 crams 234 million transistors onto a single die. For comparison, one of the most powerful desktop PC CPUs available in 2005, the $1,000, dual-core Pentium Processor Extreme Edition, just barely breaks the 200-million-transistor mark.
Playstation 3 Cell Processor
The setup of the Cell processor is like having a team of processors all working together on one chip to handle the large computational workload needed to run next-generation video games. In order to understand how the Cell processor works, it helps to look at each of the major parts that comprise this processor.
The “Processing Element” of the Cell is a 3.2-GHz PowerPC core equipped with 512 KB of L2 cache. The PowerPC core is a type of microprocessor similar to the one you would find running the Apple G5. It’s a powerful processor on its own and could easily run a computer by itself; but in the Cell, the PowerPC core is not the sole processor. Instead, it’s more of a “managing processor.” It delegates processing to the eight other processors on the chip, the Synergistic Processing Elements.
The computational workload comes in through the PowerPC core. The core then assesses the work that needs to be done, looks at what the SPEs are currently processing and decides how to best dole out the workload to achieve maximum efficiency.
The SPEs used in the Cell processor are each SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data), 128-bit vector processors. Vector processors are designed to quickly process several pieces of data at once. They were commonly used in the 1980s in large, powerful, scientific supercomputers and were created as a faster alternative to the more common scalar processor. Scalar processors can only work one data element at a time. Despite this limitation, advances in scalar design and performance have made the use of vector processors very rare these days in most computers. However, because of the vector processor’s ability to handle several data elements at once, IBM resurrected this design for the Cell. There are eight SPEs on the chip, but only seven of them handle processing. The eighth SPE is built in as redundancy in case one of the other seven fails.
The SPEs each come loaded with 256 KB SRAM. This high-speed memory helps each SPE crunch numbers quickly. The SPE memory is also visible to the main Processing Element. This allows the PowerPC Core to utilize the resources of each SPE in the most efficient way possible. All of this amounts to unprecedented power for a piece of consumer electronics.
PS3 GPU: RSX “Reality Synthesizer”
Because graphics are so important to computers (and especially computers designed to play video games), there are microprocessors dedicated only to creating and displaying computer graphics. This processor is called the Graphic Processing Unit (GPU). One of the most anticipated aspects of the PlayStation 3 is the new GPU that was created for it — the RSX “Reality Synthesizer.”
Sony designed the RSX with graphics-card manufacturer Nvidia. The RSX is based on Nvidia’s GeForce graphics technology. It’s a 550-MHz, 300-million-transistor graphics chip. To put that in perspective, according to this Nvidia press release, the number of transistors on the RSX is “more than the total number of transistors in both the central processing units and the graphics processing units of the three leading current-generation systems, combined.”
Unlike the GPU in the Xbox 360, the RSX is built on the traditional independent vertex/pixel shader architecture. Shaders are computer programs that determine the final look of what you see on the screen when you’re looking at computer animation.
All of this translates to a level of graphic detail never before seen on a video-game console. With one HDMI output, the PlayStation 3 supports 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
PS3 Special Features
The PlayStation 3 has a front-loading, Blu-ray optical disc drive, and PlayStation 3 games will be distributed on Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray discs can hold up to 54 GB of content as opposed to the dual-layer DVD format currently used, which can only hold about 4.7 GB (or 8.5 GB in the DVD-9 format). Even though it has a Blu-ray disc drive, gamers can still play older PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games on the PlayStation 3. The disc drive can support:
* CR-ROM
* CDR+W
* DVD
* DVD-ROM
* DVD-R
* DVD+R
* SACD
The PlayStation 3 comes in two configurations — a 60GB hard drive model and a 20GB hard drive model. Both models feature:
* One Gigabit Ethernet port
* Four USB ports
* One HDMI output
* Composite video (with dedicated AV cable)
* S-video (with dedicated AV cable)
* Component video (with dedicated AV cable)
* Optical audio output
* Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
The 60GB hard drive also includes:
* Built-in 802.11 b/g wireless connectivity
* Flash memory slots, which accept Compact Flash, Secure Digital and Memory Stick Duo
The PS3 audio has been upgraded. The new console supports:
* Dolby Digital 5.1
* DTS
* LPCM
* DSP
There’s no arguing with the success of Microsoft’s Xbox Live online gaming service. Xbox Live has created the first cohesive online console-gaming community, boasting more than millions of subscribers. The older PlayStation 2 can take multiplayer games online, too, but users needed to buy an extra network adapter to do so. Also, Sony left it up to each game company to build and host its own online gaming community, so the PlayStation 2 never offered the online structure that Xbox does.
After the 2005 Expo, we suggested that if Sony’s hoping to stave off Microsoft’s advance into the console market, a cohesive online community is going to be crucial. Apparently they agreed. With the release of the PS3, Sony has also opened the PlayStation Network for “online gaming, entertainment and digital distribution” [Source: PlayStation]. Unlike Xbox Live, there’s no subscription fee. While some premium (read: pay) content will be sold in the network’s store, online multiplayer gaming, audio and video chat and game downloads are free.
PS3 Controller and Games
PS3 Controller - The design of the PlayStation controller has remained basically the same since the release of the original console in 1994. In 2005, Sony had decided to part ways with that classic design for the PS3 and introduced the new Dual Shock 3. However, possibly in response to overwhelmingly negative feedback, Sony ditched that design and returned to something more familiar, but with a twist — it’s motion sensitive! The new controller (sans external sensor, no less) is called the “SIXAXIS” because it has “six degrees of freedom” [Source: GameSpot].
The joysticks have a broader tilting angle and the L2/R2 buttons are shaped a bit differently, but the controls are essentially the same as on a DualShock controller — until you start using it, that is. The new motion-sensitive controller won’t feel the same. The “shock” has been dumped in favor of the motion sensor, which wouldn’t work properly with the vibration feature in place.
The controller can switch between wireless (up to seven can be supported via Bluetooth) and wired, and you can easily charge it by plugging in a USB cable.
PS3 Games - The PlayStation 3 will launch with the largest catalog of video game titles of any of the next-gen consoles. That’s because the PlayStation 3 will be able to play any game ever made for the PlayStation or PlayStation 2. Development is already well under way for a large and impressive list of launch titles for the PS3.
Sources
GameSpot News, “E3 06: PS3 launches 11/17–$499 for 20GB, $599 for 60GB” http://www.gamespot.com/news/6149470.html
IGN E3 Expo Coverage, “E3 2006: PS3 20 Gig Missing Features?” http://ps3.ign.com/articles/705/705887p1.html
1UP.com, “Sony’s Press Conference” http://1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3150508
GameSpot News, “E3 06: PS3 specs tweaked, 20GB version stripped down” http://www.gamespot.com/news/6149552.html
Sony press release, “Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. to launch its next generation computer entertainment system, PlayStation 3.” http://www.us.playstation.com/Pressreleases.aspx?id=279
GameSpot, “PlayStation 3 Inside and Out.” http://www.gamespot.com/features/6125429/index.html?tag=nl.e576 http://www.sci-tech-today.com/news/IBM-Processors-at-Core-of-Xbox–Playstation/story.xhtml?story_id=11100CE5D9EF
About.com, “History of Sony PlayStation.”
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_playstation.htm
E3 ShowDaily Magazine Day 1, “Sony Raises the Curtain on PlayStation 3.” May 18, 2005.
The Daily Stuff, “Console Warfare.” LA Edition, Volume 2, Issue 2: May 19, 2005.
Reuters, “FACTBOX - New video game consoles.” May 18, 2005.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8534722
US Patent 6,826,662 - System and method for data synchronization for a computer architecture for broadband networks. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/
netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&p=1&p=1&S1=((Sony+AND+PE)
+AND+APU)&OS=Sony+AND+PE+AN%20D+APU&RS=((Sony+AND+PE)+AND+APU)
Nvidia press release: “NVIDIA Presents Breakthrough Next-Generation Graphics At Sony Computer Entertainment’s PLAYSTATION(r)3 Press Conference.” May 16, 2005.
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/IO_21120.html