Best Buy is rolling out their new video hosting network, similar to YouTube, only with Best Buy’s service you must pay a subscription fee for hosting videos.  Each video posted can be up to 30 minutes long.

I wonder why people would be willing to pay for for Best Buy’s video service when they can host videos on YouTube for free.  Granted, 30 minutes of video is significantly longer than what you can do with YouTube, but I’d rather post shorter videos with no fees.  We will have to wait and see if Best Buy can truly compete with Google-owned YouTube.

I found a new service that I am truly excited to talk about. The service allows companies and consultants/freelancers to meet on a common platform to find/complete work.

The company’s name is EsalesGuru, and they are the creators of the platform that makes the world of outsourcing very simple. You can sign up either as an Employer or as a Professional.

Employers simply apply for a free membership and for every project that you post and is accepted than you will pay a $15 project fee, which will be reduced to a $10 fee if you pay within 5 days.

Professionals have a number of different options for signing up, ranging from a free account to the Elite Plus account level for $35 a month. Refer to the Professionals Sign up page to see the account details.

The services that Employers can look to acquire through EsalesGuru include:

• Affiliate Marketing Management & Consulting
• Search Engine Marketing & Optimization
• Website / Landing Page Design
• Interactive Advertising Design (Banners, Rich Media, HTML)
• Online Lead Generation
• Business Blogging and Social Media Services
• Podcasting / Mobile Marketing
• Internet Marketing Planning Analysis and Consulting
• Online Business Planning /Internet Start-up Consulting
• And more …

EsalesGuru’s outsourcing Marketplace is an incredible opportunity for businesses offering work and for business professionals looking for freelancing or consulting work. Employers pay the professional through the EsalesGuru billing system once the contracted work is complete or by other arrangements.

The marketplace offers a chance for businesses to offer work opportunities for people that could be short term contracts of even permanent arrangements. If you are a professional and have any of the skills listed above, then you should absolutely join EsalesGuru’s Free Trial at the very least. Same goes for businesses looking to outsource, it doesn’t cost any money to sign up, and you only pay when a project you post is taken by a Professional.

My advice is to sign up for the Free trial at www.esalesguru.com, test the service and see if it is beneficial for your needs.

Sharper Image has released a list of their top holiday products:

Product Description
The Flip-Top Cocktail Shaker (MK801)
Zarafina Tea Maker Set (JJ501)
Cuisinart Private Reserve 6-Bottle Wine Cellar (CU219)
Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker (JJ500)
Built NY Wine Ratchet (BN112)
Wine Bottle Vacuum Seal (ED151)
VinTemp Corkscrew & Infrared Wine Thermometer (VI100)
ezPull Penguin Corkscrew (WT250)
Oliso Frisper Freshkeeper Vacuum Sealer (OL002)
ZAGAT TO GO Restaurant & Entertainment Guide v5.0 (ZS500)

According to many surveys, Cyber Monday is the real beginning to the shopping season online for the holidays after Thanksgiving. Research has found that many people will go shopping Thanksgiving weekend, and many will return empty handed. The remainder of the weekend will be spent doing research on gift ideas, and Monday is the day consumers make their purchases.

Cyber Monday isn’t just a one day event. Every Monday before Christmas is considered a Cyber Monday. Monday’s are the busiest day of the week for most online retail companies, and this year their will be 5 Cyber Mondays for retailers to capitalize on, compared to 4 Cyber Mondays last year. Many will advise Affiliate Marketers to ignore Black Friday and focus your offers and your efforts for Cyber Monday, and with that advice in mind, what will you do?

Rumors continue to swirl about the possibility of Google releasing a competitor for the Apple iPhone. It’s speculated title is the gPhone, and it is rumored to be bigger and badder than the iPhone. Not in looks, but in functionality and features.

In other words, don’t expect a fancy touch-screen, which would only raise prices. Do expect a lot of applications, all of which will probably have advertising built-in. Google maps, Gtalk, search, and many more features will be readily available. Another way they plan to keep the cost down is by not making the actual phone themselves, rather they will contract another company to design the phone, and they will supply the software bundle that will make the phone a Google device. In a way, the Google phone will be more like a mini-computer than a cell-phone, with an easy to use operating system making the gPhone a great buy for all levels of cell phone users.

Advice for shopping on Black Friday. Beat the crowds, and get the best products at the best prices. 

Christmas is looming around the corner, and the holiday shopping season is preparing to kick off on Black Friday of 2007. When it comes to toys and Black Friday sales, I stick to 2 shops online to beat the crazy crowds that Black Friday always bring. Walmart and eToys.com are the two Black Friday sales sites that I visit.

Black Friday 2007 toy sales haven’t been released by every company yet, but here is a list of the most popular holiday toys for 2007.

• TMX Cookie Monster & TMX Ernie
• FurReal Friends Butterscoth Pony
• Webkinz
• LegoMind Storms
• FurReal Friends
• Pleo Dinosaur
• iDog, iCat, iFish
• Transformers
• Kid Tough Digital Camera
• Barbie Girls

• Nintendo DS & Nintendo Wii

• Hannah Montana Singing Doll
• Power Guitar

Online retail spending went up in Q3 of 2007 by 23%. The growth is over 20% for the year so far, and experts are expecting a strong Holiday sales season in 2007.

Some of the hottest retail items are video games and accessories, consumer electronics, toys and hobbies, furniture, home & garden and music and movies.

The holiday season kicks off with Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving, so put on those shopping caps, the holidays are coming.

Microsoft can whine and cry to the high heavens all they want whenever Google makes a move to strengthen their company.  The bottom-line is that Microsoft’s goal is to do the same thing as Google, but they don’t have nearly the same foothold in the online community compared to Google. 

Google is more innovative and quicker to pull the trigger, therefore they are the winner of the bigger deals and the bigger online audience.  The fact is that Google is so far away from having a monopoly in any area on the Internet that it is a joke that Microsoft tries to smudge the Google name.  Even in Google’s most dominant sector, Search Engines, they aren’t close to retaining exclusive power over the country’s users of search. 

Google makes better use of their time and money than Microsoft and it shows.  While Microsoft is running “wipe Google’s face in the mud” campaigns, Google is out there creating new products and making deals to strengthen their company.

In my opinion, Microsoft’s deal with FaceBook means little in the long run and Google is the wiser for not making the deal.  Microsoft is so concerned about one-upping Google, that they are losing sight of what makes them a great company.