a little step that goes a long way

I'm always surprised at home many mom and pop stores just don't care for modern technology, even if it is going to increase their sales. For a lot of the old-fashioned retailers it's all too much of botheration to try and learn about new technologies and of course the cost involved with them as well. What most don't know is that how easy it actually is to use something like a Symbol LS2208 barcode scanner, and how this along with a proper inventory system can transform their business.

Often, it's just a case of one slightly-modern thinking retailer who switches and everyone else watches him and sees the difference and switches as well, some reluctantly and some enthusiastically. I've spoken to so many small neighborhood grocers who will make the investment only if pushed into it, but once they have done it, they are quite amazed at the difference it makes. If only they realized it earlier.

photo: looking out

Looking out into the courtyard of the Orient Cafe and Guesthouse in Bastakiya in Dubai. They have some really great tiramisu and also serve Starbucks coffees and drinks! There are just five or six tables in this tiny courtyard so it fills up pretty quickly.



More photos of the area here, and a map here.

Do you trust your car insurance agent?

It feels like if one has an Internet connection, one can find just about anything there is to be found in the world. Well, of course, one cannot find out how something smells or feels like just from the Internet, apart from reading about it second hand, but one can certainly find information like car insurance coverage recommendations and so on. Everyone knows that the most expensive automobile insurance is provided by the agent who sits at the car dealership, but we often just go ahead and take if for the simplicity of it all. In the long run, this adds up to a lot of difference, and the fine print is so important to read. When we moved from Bombay, it was a month and a half after renewing our car insurance, and the company refused to pay us back the unused amount, refused to transfer it to the new car owner and basically made us curse them. I suppose, that's how one learns!

understanding why...

Oh, I forgot to mention, the other thing that I get a ton of inquiries about is appetite suppressant, again something that I did a research assignment on and have personally never used myself. I did meet some people who used them as part of my research and it was certainly very interesting to get some first hand information from them. What I was really curious about was the though process during the time when a person takes these? Is it a sure-fire thing that it will work, or does it work like a placebo and positive thinking is what the magic trick is? Very interesting indeed!

Me, an expert? No way!

Ok, now seriously people, by the amount of inquiries and mails and spam comments I get on best diet pills is simply quite amazing. I've written about them before thanks to a research project I was assigned to do on them, but I'm certainly not an expert on them! But I suppose any information in the online world takes on some sort of importance, right? Well, I'm telling you right here and now, please do your own research, check with your doctor and so on, since I am not an expert on them, I have never used them and don't plan to either. My study on them was based on several published reports and consumer feedback and I don't claim to know any more than that.