This post brought to you by LG DoublePlay™. All opinions are 100% mine.

Here is a scenario that parents are very familiar with: We are traveling with our kids and a few of their friends to a soccer game and the car is relatively quite with a few giggles every once in a while. I look back in the mirror to see them all on their phones texting. My wife asks who they are talking to and they giggle again and say each other. I can’t understand why they feel the need to communicate via text when they can simply talk to each other when they are sitting next to each other. I guess this way the parents are not aware of what or who they are talking about.

The explosion of cell phones and their adoption at the teenage level has grown exponentially over the past few years and most of the use is mainly texting. This is why phones like the LG DoublePlay™ are so popular. Available exclusively from T-Mobile these phones offer a dual screen for surfing and texting at the same time. With it’s multiple texting modes from Cloud Texting to Group Texting this phone is a teenagers dream. With it’s split Qwerty keyboard it makes connecting through your social network sites and texting your friends easy for anyone. I know that I send about 1000 texts a month and only a few hours a month using my phone to check in on popular sites like Twitter and Facebook. My daughter and her friends far exceed that limit.

For our readers:

How many texts do you send in a month?

How would the LG Double Play help you in staying connected with your friends?

Leave us comments and share your thoughts and how about the funniest (clean) text you have received.

Today’s small business have enough to worry about without having to add their internet activity adding to that worry. Many small businesses rely on their websites and blogs as a way to sell and interact with their customers and capture sales so having any breech of security or downtime can cost dollars and create a negativity for their business. All it takes is one employee to surf on a site that has malicious malware or open an email with a potential virus and it could days or even weeks to identify the culprit. With Norton Small Business by Symantec small businesses now have a first line defense in helping to protect their computers and their data.

 Available since September, the Norton 360 and the Norton Internet Security 2012 suite can help your small business protect your online business along with constantly scan for virus and malware. They have developed a solution that will not slow down your PC’s or laptops and with their current 30% discount you can now protect all your computers. You can now  protect your Small Business from the latest online threats without any intervention on your part and even have Norton create backups of your important data to a local backup or use their cloud services. It is never to late to upgrade your online business security. And for those families who are constantly running into slow than average performance and weird computer errors Norton has a individual suite of protection that can help protect your PC and your identity from fake websites. If you have used Norton what has been your experience? Leave a comment and share with others what you like and do not like about your current virus protection and how having an all in one solution would make your life easier.

SecureMyCompany provides Kaseya Software which allows small companies to remain competitive while providing a secure environment for their PCs SecureMyCompany offers McAfees Total Protection for small businesses  that incorporates antispyware, antivirus, and firewall in one product for a small additional fee. All of their services integrate seamlessly across your network to help facilitate easy installation and functionality.

Whether you are a small or large business you always need to have safe guards in place if your employees are accessing the internet. In many companies they have limited access to online video, sports and email services. The restriction on being able to check your personal email at work is a practical step since this is the way most computers become infected with malware and malicious viruses. For your home PC it can mean the loss of pics and videos, but for businesses it can mean the loss of data or a breach in confidential information. I was reading an interesting statistic from the National Archives & Records Administration in Washington where they state that 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down in less than 6 months. This is a huge and sobering fact that cannot be taken lightly. The Norton Small Business by Symantec solutions for small to medium businesses can help provide your the security to protect your networks and data. With the latest release this September of Norton 360 and Notron Internet Security 2012  suites businesses can now have world class protection against malware and the latest viruses.

If you check them out today you can get 30% off Norton Small Business Products now . Norton also provides  anti-virus and firewall solutions for families. We currently use the Norton Security Suite on all our PC’s and laptops at home and know first hand the value that they provide. The suite of software can be set up to actively monitor files and attachments to lessen the chance my kids will accidently open a bad file. Small to medium businesses can help protect their employees and allow them some additional freedoms while having a more proactive security suite of software protecting their networks. It is much better to be proactive rather than reactive when you are doing business online. Like we saw with the statistics above the loss of data can cripple a business and make it difficult to recover.

I think I have finally found the best of all of the wireless internet service providers. I am an independent filmmaker so I upload very large files to my website regularly. I also download large files like movies and music often so I use a lot of bandwidth. This could get really pricey, so I recently changed over to Clear internet. They definitely have the most flexible packages and I can continue to download what I want with a fast connection. I hated it when my internet connection would be slow and it would take me forever to download music or movies. Another thing I couldn’t stand was when the internet connection would cut out in the middle of and upload or a download so I would have to start all over again. Another feature I added to my package was mobile 4G internet which has been great. I can now get an internet connection wherever I go so I can work from wherever I want. I am really happy I finally found a service provider that meets my needs. In my line of work it is absolutely essential.

Like many of the companies that we mentioned above doing business abroad is key to their global success and know and communicating in the local language crucial to expanding in new markets. Companies can use language translation services to help convert marketing and financial data for potential customers and investors. Companies like Merrill Brink International offer translation services along with other business services that can help your competitor gain a competitive advantage in the US and abroad.

Online trading through the currency and foreign exchange market is gaining momentum as people are looking for other investment avenues outside of the traditional stock market. Forex, also known as foreign exchange, has many advantages over stocks and futures for both day trading and swing trading. The Forex is an informal network of trading relationships between the world’s major banks and other market participants, sometimes referred to as the interbank market. There is also the ability to trade on your mobile device with various apps that you can now monitor your trades and make changes to your portfolio. Mobile trading is becoming a new trend and working with an established company will only help you have access to the tools and resources you need to make trades in the market.

Many people try to sell information sites, such as blogs, with technology or gimmicks they may not need. One thing that may actually benefit sites, especially blogs, are dedicated servers. What makes hosting using a dedicated server so special? Storage, bandwidth, security and customization. There is almost an unlimited amount of disk space using a dedicated server. Since your dedicated server is not shared with anyone, your bandwidth is exclusively for your use only and improves speed on your site. Also by having full ownership of a dedicated server, security can be what you want it. You will have full control over the security settings and can determine who has access to the information. Lastly, and probably the most exciting, is being able to customize your server to your liking. You also have a choice between many different operating systems, however Windows and Linux tend to be the most popular.

Here’s how:
• Your utilities suppler will pay YOU, yes YOU for every little bit of electricity you produce to power you home.
• They will also buy your excess energy from you.
Solar panels also benefit you financially in other ways:
• Your house will increase in value by the price of the installation. What an amazing investment.
• You will obviously save money on your heating bills.
How do I get solar PV?
Now that is an excellent question! All you have to do is contact solar PV specialists The Energy Conservation Group (TECG). They are absolutely dedicated to making sure customers benefit as much as possible from installing solar PV. Consumers are looking for ways to help reduce their carbon footprint and solar panels and wind energy are proving to be great technologies that provide benefit to you and the environment.

As we took the car for a test drive we piled everyone into the van and went out on the road. We have been watching the Toyota family videos for the new Sienna and what my wife and I have seen has been very impressive. Toyota’s social media campaign is a wonderful idea by creating a family that you can follow and relate to about issues that a family will encounter. They are also trying to recreate the image of the minivan to make it more appealing to those that would not normally drive a minivan and have opted for the SUV. I am also going to check out the Toyota OEM Auto Parts pricing to see what repairs could cost down the road. We will make our decision this fall once the 2011 models are released and we are able to take our test drive to compare the models.

Sometime last year, I got a harebrained idea to BUNDLE CLEAR INTERNETwith my satellite service and its actually worked out really well for my husband and kids so far. They like to watch all the different shows we get on TV, and my kids are pretty much obsessed with MTV, but I use the Internet most of all because I like to bring home work from the office and also do a little online shopping in my free time. My husband really likes sports, so he spends a lot of time watching the NFL network or even the Golf Channel, which I think is more boring than watching paint dry… But it’s up to him, not me! I think everyone would agree that getting clear and DirecTV was a really good idea for us as a family, and my kids don’t even realize how much money I’m saving by bundling them together. My husband does, so, since he keeps close tabs on our bills each and every month, that’s for sure!

I have been using my new iPad 2 for a variety of business and personal tasks but the one area that I have become most interested is news collection apps. There are is a growing demand to have rich interactive content on the iPad to help users like myself stay in touch with current events,business updates, and social media happenings. I have tried several of the popular apps that are currently available and for the most they all do a nice job of aggregating news and subjects that you choose and present the latest sources of news for you to read. I love the fact that you can Tweet or Facebook about the content and share with your friends and colleagues.

That is why I was intrigued by the latest launch of a new app for updated news called the The Collection. Right now they have the updates on Prince William and the Royal Wedding in a very interactive way. They present the back story and ways to interact with the content in both 3D representation and great animation. I downloaded the app for free and was impressed with the selection and content and just how easy it was to really interact with the story.  I can see a great need for more rich content like this in more recent events. Like the storms that tore through the Southeast United States. You could click on the article and then be presented with animated stories, videos of the tornadoes, and pictures of the after math along with agencies you can donate too in order to help those that have been impacted. Using the The Collection you would be able to gather various news content and interactive media in one place instead of having to bounce around to several different apps.

Companies decide to use colocation services when they desire a simplified way to manage the storage of their data and keep their system running efficiently. Colocation services prove to be vital for businesses that want to streamline their operations and take them to the next level in profitability.