A long time ago I heard for the first time the concept of Point of Sales systems when I was asked by a relative to do some research on the systems he could use for his line of shops. After this initial contact with the subject I have touched this domain a couple of times during my years as a consultant.

As soon as you dive into this world (possibly if you are asked to advise on the choice of a Point of Sales system) you will quickly get to know the common requirements: a terminal, a bar code reader, a magnetic stripe reader, wireless inventory collection devices, point of sale keyboards, receipt printers, integration with the back office financial systems and so on, and so on.

You will also find out there are countless products, solutions and suppliers of Point of Sales systems.

Now I found a very interesting company: Vision Point of Sale, one of the fastest growing POS companies and known for Submit refurbished gear (used point of sale Submit equipment).

They carry and support a HUGE amount of pos products like ibm pos equipment Submit and NCR point of sale Submit equipment to name two big names (obviously ibm is the premier choice). However if you can see on the website Submit the list of supported products is near endless (very valuable list if you are diving in the subject). Both new and refurbished gear are custom configured and certified with 1 to 3 years of warranty. So this could offer a very good solution next to the option of buying everything new.

Obviously almost any customer would like pos services Submit along with the equipment and Vision Point of Sale also excels in this: installation, staging, deployment, maintenance (from totally insourced to completely outsourced), life-cycle upgrades and even downsizing and uninstallation of pos equipment and assets.

I’m glad I run into this company, they even buy used POS hardware Submit and we can request a quote directly from the website. If you are working in this field or have contacts who are on a regular basis asking your advice on POS equipment, procedures or services and consultancy then this Vision POS should be in your shortlist as it is now in mine.

1/1 At VisionBedding 1/1 you can personalize your beds, I don’t know if that sounds cliche in this time of personalization of your inventory but a quick look around the website reveals enough visual clues to your brain to set yourself to action and creativity on designing your own beds.

your own photo or design Via photo’s or digital design you upload to the website 1/1 you can completely personalize you beds: mattrass, pillows, duvet and duvet covers and bedspreads. Actually, tonight, when you will look at your bed you will look at it in a total different way: you will see an empty canvas, ready for your ideas!

As I said, It triggered in my mind when I actually surfed around the website and some designs of customers of VisionBedding 1/1 on the actual possibilities.

If 1/1you are an artist yourself you can upload your own designs 1/1 and sleep under it You could have a big hobby or just a playboy model you love and want to sleep under *grin*.

1/1 costs So, as a typical Dutch person: what would be the cost to create my own bed? A pillow costs $60, A blanket costs $80 and a complete bedding 1/1 costs $ 275. and that Is not much if you know how much design linnen costs and read about the quality: deyed into the fabric, so it does not alter the fabric texture, does not feed meaning you can wash it likes any other pillow cover, blanket and bedding.

I really really think this site is extremely cool. And fortunately because of the euro-dollar conversion rate at the moment, this is a great opportunity for me to gather my photographs and make my son a real cool I love daddy pillow

p.s. It’s also a great site to really match your bedding with your new bedroom decoration and wallpaper (!)
p.p.s. It’s also great for someone who leaves for a trip, to give him or her a pillow to think of you (!)

Lately my wife and me were discussing the topic of generating an additional revenue stream for our household. Actually we were thinking of combining a hobby (since we have an atelier in the back garden with no purpose yet)  with some minor income streams attached to make it interesting and not a complete structured way of losing time.

My eye fell on making watches (since a good watch idea can make a lot of money) and therefore I sought out to look for watch hobby tools 1/2. In the page 10 Essential Tools For The Watchmaker’s Toolkit 1/2 (which I found via this watch article ) I found a wealth of background information. Apparently there is a whole world of concepts and terms I have never heard before, which, in itself, makes it pretty interesting to dive into this topic.

So what do you think is needed for making your own watch? Do you think of screwdrivers, a glass and some electronics? Think again, you will need pliers, polishing cloths, staking tools, gaskets, de-magnetizers, tweezers Submit and a LOT of more stuff. It’s like the stuff you need to build a house but then on a 5cmx5cm area. But apart from the tools needed, actually I think it would be a sort of ZEN but a very rewarding since you can completely use your full creativity in making watches.

Just think of making revenue in niche markets for watches e.g. a casino watch (as in the picture) or any other hot topic, heck, I could even create merchandise watches on the fly for companies or trendy buzzes that fly over the Internet. There is a lot of money in this and basically I think it would be a very cool thing to do.

Let’s make a short list to see if I can convince myself:

a. The space needed is 1 desk, which basically could fit in our atelier
b. We can acquire all tooling needed from the list mentioned in watch hobby tools 1/2
c. We can would work any creative idea and make several showcases
d. Inventory does not take much place and furthermore shipping is just a box
e. We could sell them via any marketplace like e-bay
f. There is a great shortage of watchmakers, the U.S. needs 4000 watchmakers as most of them are retiring
g. It would be great for me to create actual physical things instead of virtual software (“ZEN”)
h. Watch exports grew this year with 13%

The only downside is that we would need to invest a) in “learning new skills”, but then again, this is my daily practice and b) buy screwdrivers and other materials as listed above, but the costs could be striped away to the income generated.

I recently read that there are now 1.000.000.000 people online, which makes it an enormous market. I also read that many people expect that online shops will eventually replace all “real” shops.

The online shops are so numerous that a new layer of Web sites is born. The meta e-business layer. This layer consist out of Web sites that compare items on many shops, for example lowest price, catalogues of discount codes and so on.

Coupon Chief 8/2,506 is a Web site that contains hundreds of discount codes of all kinds of e-shops.

I do not know if you have ever bought something online. In many cases there is a textbox, in the shopping-cart “paying area”, which allows you to enter a “discount code”. If you are like me, you never fill it in because uhm… I don’t have one. At the same time it could save me $10, $20 or more if I had one.

Here is where coupon chief 8/2,506 comes in, where Blogsvertise Submit gave me a chance to write about.

Coupon Chief 8/2,506 does the thing you need when you shopping online: It collects discount codes and promotions. You can browse by store Submit and by category such as apparal for men Submit and electronics Submit which makes it a great start for shopping saturday.

I am someone who really buys a lot of stuff online. So I really enjoyed surfing through all these different kinds of shops, each of them containing another mix of interesting items.

If you are in the shopping mood, or if you just want to browse shops, or if you are looking for a specific discount for specific products, drop on by at the Coupon Chief 8/2,506, great site.

Submit Here is another nice business opportunity for the moment: selling  Sunglasses 1/3. Somehow this product is always good for a good sale. In whatever sunny country I have been on holiday, on thing is always the same: people selling replica Sunglasses 1/3.

What do customers want? Cheap replica’s of designer sunglasses, to name a few: Gucci Submit, Diesel Submit, Armani Submit, Versace Submit, Vogue Submit, Adidas Submit,  Dolce & Gabanna Submit, Ralph Lauren Submit, Locs Submit, Revo Submit, Anarchy Submit and more 1/3.

Where do you buy them? First of all a supplier that delivers them dirt cheap e.g. Wholesale Sunglasses 1/3 where you can get a dozen Sunglasses 1/3 for around the $20-$30. Meaning one pair of sunglasses will cost you about $2.50. 

How do you sell them? To your friends, on the markt or ofcourse… online! Try e-bay, marktplaats, or even your own websites. What I would do is sell them for about 500%. So charge $10 for a pair of replica Gucci sunglasses. You will make gold. If you would buy more dozens you get ofcourse volume  discounts so you could even improve your margin on this one. In average you make $8.25 profit per pair of Sunglasses Submit.

SubmitIsnt this illegal? No, since the sunglasses are not exact copies its allowed. See the FAQ Submit.

Hmm….but I would also need a nice stand with a mirror and such… Wholesale Sunglasses Submit sells lots of stands too, starting from $20.

Hmm…but I think I would to like my customers to have the boxes and cords and such to go along with the Sunglasses… Check out the accesoires section Submit, you will find cases, cords, sunglass repair kits, visor clips and sunglass straps.

Hmm… but I also want non designer Sunglasses… sure! what about Kid’s sunglasses Submit (maybe for your Kid’s website), poker sunglasses Submit, polarized ones Submit, sport sunglasses Submit, plastic sunglasses Submit, exclusive own design sunglasses Submit, you name it, you have all the options.

Don’t tell me I didn’t tell you!

2/114 Everyone has a mailbox (and I mean the physical one, you nerd). That’s funny isn’t it? Have you ever just sat down and thought about “mailboxes”? When did they become invented? Did the neanderthalers had mailboxes in their caves? When did the Postal Services became so mixed in all of our lives that having a mailbox is somehow so essential that without it you are non-existent to the country you live in?

And so what you would expect is that “the mailbox” is a concept in itself. And also that there exist a wide variety of mailboxes and that even some mailboxes will tell something about the owner (either the company or the person). It’s a business on it’s own.

So…which one do YOU have? For me, A boring little rectangle hole in my door…sigh… Time to look for something special! What is the “rolex”, the “Weber” or the “rolls royce” under the mailboxes? What would be “me”?

So (ofcourse) I went to the Mailbox Exchange 2/114 since they have over 1500 mailboxes 2/114 and curbside decor products from dozens of manufacturers. I scrolled through the many mailboxes 2/114 on the site since I was thinking myself on placing one of these in our garden. The list is amazing! To indicate to you on what I am talking about I will discuss some of the mailboxes. 2/114

The one you see on the left is called the Curbvault High Security box Submit. Holy cow… this is the most coolest mailboxes I have ever seen in my life. When you click the link you get to see the movie(!). There are 32 patents on this mailbox and this thing absolutely 100% secures your e-mail mail from the moment that it is delivered to you, it is undestructable! How jealous can I make someone when this beast is in my garden? Will the postman pray to me when he walks by? Will he be happy and have a smile when he starts his day because he has a chance to operate the Curbvault High Security box Submit?

The one to the top right is the Mayne & Salsbury Black Signature Plus Submit Mailbox which is very nice because you combine it with flowers! On the page there is a nice instruction on how to “plant” it in your garden. I think this is a very very nice mailbox for in the front garden. It just blends in with the flowers.

Herunder are some more options I thought about, under each picture of the mailboxes 2/114 I placed the link to the productpage on which you can find much more background information. 

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And some more 2/114 I was thinking about since they are SO beautiful:

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Well…I am not finished with my selection, if you are looking for some nice models or ideas for your own place then check the mailbox exchange 2/114 like I did.

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In about 1 week my vacation starts… finally! So…basically our plan was to stay at home and do some refurbishing. However, then I saw an advertisement for Hawaiian beach rentals Submit with stunning pictures as above! After some surfing we decided to check out Kauai, the fourth largest and oldest of the Hawaiian Islands 2/25, read below why, hint: did you ever wonder where on this planet the fantastic Island of Jurassic Park was…? !

At the same time we read press articles on how renting villa’s becomes more popular than these massive hotels Submit and how ecotourism in Hawaii is growing Submit. So the combination of this made us enthousiastic on maybe going to Hawaii.

Submit After some investigation we found some writings on Jeff Berzolla Submit and Charles Koehl Submit who own Hawaiian Beach Rentals Submit. (I linked their linkedin profiles for you social networking maniacs, here is Charles Koehl’s EtherScape Submit). And viewing throughout their site Submit we were overwhelmed with the cozy luxery villa’s at a very affordable price. E.g. Annie’s Submit, a cozy studio vacation rental, in the heart of Hanelie Town, Kauai, costs $72 a night.

Submit There are lots of villa’s for rent, at the higher end we found the Hale Pukana La Princeville Submit, a 3 bedroom Villa for max 10 people, 3 full bathrooms, fantastisc ocean view, jacuzi tub, bbq, 2 car garage and the lot,close by you can do golfing, snorkling, swimming, scuba diving, tours of the coast, tennis, kayaking, helicopter tours, etc. This looks like heaven on earth or better “Robin’s Nest 1/1”

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The picture below is the panorama

Submit With the coming father’s day, I went out to see what I could expect for my second father’s day and give my wife some hints

Via smorty I discovered delightful deliviries 0/38, it’s the #1 site for gift baskets 0/38 and gourmet gifts. The products they deliver are nothing I have ever seen before.

Just imagine the stuff you get on father’s day on your birthday: most of the time not the stuff you are waiting for. However, delightful deliveries has the gifts I, for one, would be amazingly happy to get. I want to give you some examples and you decide if you would like to receive them or not. I think I can only describe the gifts you can choose here for your relations by giving some examples.

SubmitThe sigar of the month: Submit in the past Cohiba, Fuente, Partagas, Ashton & Punch to name a few. Even if you do not smoke, please realize that you would make ME very happy with a gift like this. I am in heaven just smoking a good sigar in the evening. It’s delightful to get one every month.	Submit The beerpackages Submit, a great idea for guys liking all these rare and wonderful beers. This particular beer package contains 6 assorted beers, but they have a wide range of options. This is a GREAT gift to get!
SubmitThe Heartfelt Thanks gift basket Submit: Includes: caviar, smoked salmon, water crackers, cheese swirls, California pistachios, creamy brie cheese, toffee biscotti, peanut butter creams, cabernet chocolate blueberries, Ghirardelli chocolate, salami and a chocolate biscotti bar. All are stylishly arranged and tied with a big indigo bow. Stunning!	Submit My mind would freeze when I would be unpacking the Smokehouse Buffet Tower Submit. It contains mussels, oysters, salmon, sockeye, pate, king, keta. This reminds me of the day I ordered the big seafood tower in a restaurant in the west of France. I sat there for 3 hours just having the time of my life. Wow.

There so many occasions in a year that I want to send someone a gift: the regular anniversaries, weddings, but also when someone is the hospital or if I just want to say thank you. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a shop like this one. It’s even a joy to click through the shop and be amazed at the gifts they carry. It’s… quality. It’s also a gift you know for sure that the person who is receiving will enjoy to it’s utmost.

Submit I was asked to write a review but have a hard time just abstracting over the categories, since I could write a special review on each of their products.

baked goods – Let me start with the baked goods category Submit and then just take a random one: the Mrs. Beasley’s Chocolate Truffle Golf Balls Submit: this is absolutely stunning quality. For a person who plays golf this must be the ultimate gift, he will probably worship the ground I walk on from the day I send him this gift. The bakery baskets Submit contain 4 pages of Submithandmade gifts made of the finest ingredients found anywhere. Each and every single item is stunning. Then there are 2 pages of options in the category brownies Submit. Submit I know there are a lot of relations who would be very happy to get a box of brownies Submit of this quality as shown on the right. Each of the gifts is special e.g. in this case the recipient can keep the box to store items in later. The cakes category Submit consists of 5 pages of cakes. And the cakes involved are superior. I often order cakes via the Internet, e.g. when I have my birthday and I want to treat my collegeas. However the cakes shown here are of a totally different order. These are NOT the simple Submit fabric made “cakes with fruit” I use to order. Just take a peek Submit and tell me if you don’t get hungry when you see them. Then there is the cookie gallery Submit with 20 pages of simply artful cookies. Fantastic Cookie creations d’art for mothers day, friends, birthdays or even corporate gifts. The tarts and bakery section Submit is short, but I need you to take a look at Lady Fortunes spring Gourmet baklava Submit assortment: 50 layers of paper-thin phyllo dough and filled with a delectable assortment of super-premium walnuts, cashews, pine nuts and pistachios!

Submit candy and chocolate – The candy and chocolate category Submit is also interesting. I read that chocolate gifts are becoming a trend to give and send. The category contains candy Submit, candy covered apples Submit, chocolate Submit, chocolate covered strawberries Submit, and popcorn Submit. The chocolate covered strawberries were featured in Ophra’s mag and are created by Shar’s berries who has as a mission to create world’s greatest gourmet dipped strawberries. I think you just have to see this section Submit. Any gift in these sections would bring a broad smile to the receiving party.

gourmet meals – Submit The gourmet meals Submit consists of dinners Submit, premium meals Submit, seafood Submit and soups Submit.  What is nicer than to send someone who is sick the “Grandma get well soon chicken soup Submit“? I think this is a great idea actually, it’s…funny! The meals are great for sending. They will have fun unpacking… and then creating the perfect dinner. I think it’s great when my friend would call how he likes the Magnificent Milano Gift Set Submit or just fruit boxes and nuts Submit. They also offer the fruit club Submit and the Organic Fruit Club Submit: Every month you get a selection of the best organic fruit. This may be a very good gift for our vegetarian friends!  I myself wouldn’t mind to receive the penthouse tower white wine collection Submit. The names are obviously created to already give you but most important the receiver this special feeling of getting an exclusive gift. This shop has succeeded very well in at least giving me that exclusive gift feeling.

Submit special gift baskets – They also care a wide range of specific gift baskets e.g. the baby gift baskets Submit, the coffee and tea gift sets Submit (among which other the rishi tea ceremony: A beautifully handcrafted bamboo tea table houses an exquisite white clay teapot, a sharing pitcher, teacups, a bamboo scoop, and an Oriental Beauty oolong tea that is so rare and fragrant we have named it Plum Blossom. Each element is encased in a silk-lined compartment.), hot sause, salsa and bbq Submit, the spa and relaxation gifts Submit (these are always a hit when you give them to a Submit special one, however… personally I think these gifts are now somewhat cliche, then again, it’s always a safe choice) and many more specific gift baskets Submit which you will discover when you travel through the site.  

monthly clubs – Delightful deliveries also offers you to give a monthly gift Submit. Personally I think that is really great to give since you not just give someone a one-time gift but remind them each month of your special relation. The monthly gifts has a wide range of options Submit, I already mentioned the sigar club Submit but just check out the nuttie cookie’s club Submit, the hot sauce club Submit or the pasta of the month club Submit to name a few.

Apart from their corporate gift section Submit (why may come in very handy for me personally) they have easily grouped some of their products for occasions like fathers day Submit (hint), birthdays Submit or housewarmings Submit.

And … if you are wondering if they not only ship to the United States (free packaging, next day delivery)… yes! Here is the list Submit. It will take you to a special site for your country, e.g. the netherlands Submit. On this Dutch section I discovered something that I always wanted to have: the chess game with shot glasses Submit but what to think of the Duvel beer and chocolates Submit or the chocoholics package Submit? Oh men…I’m going to spend a lot of money here!

In summary: this is a shop that belongs in anyone’s bookmarks. I don’t know if there are any other gift shops around which offer these terrific quality gifts.

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A long time ago I blogged how wonderful it would be if we would have affordable digital picture frames. I must have some blood of Nostradamus since the past years these items have come on the market.

Via smorty 4/183 I was able to review an online electronic store 0/5 which offers a multitiude of digital picture frames. (so a disclaimer: I get $6 to review the site). They have a range of digital photo frame’s: 7”, 8”,9” and 10” (18 cm, 20 cm, 23 cm and 25 cm). There must be a lot of males ordering since the top selling item is “the biggest Submit” (10”)  The shop is called digitalframez 0/5.

0/5 The digital frames sold here are, in contrary to others sold on the web, very good quality. The digital picture frame has a wooden high quality frame, has mpeg and jpeg playback and and even a built in speaker for playback! It’s like a mini tv (and yes even a earphone connection if you want to listen quietly to your movies).

0/5 Furthermore it has a build in slot for basically all supported memory cards: CF/XD/MS/SD/MMC, which means it will work with basically any memory card used by any digital camera and… it has a remote control (infra-red). Which means that you could make your photo’s, and when you come home you just insert the memory card in the digital frame 0/5 whereafter you can site back and show your family and friend directly the photo’s you shot via the remote control and… everyone is watching the digital photo frame! It also offers USB support so you could hook up any usb device also.

0/5 The electronic shop itself 0/5 is superb. All the things which are in my fairly critical checklist of a shop are covered, basically because they use the out-of-the-box ashop software 0/3. You can track your order, help is provided via e-mail and promises a reaction within 24 hours and they offer full warrenty. They also have their phone number right on the front of the site which is absolutely great, I really like that in shops. However: please note that you have to indicate to include the full warrenty since if anything goes wrong during shipping it will not insured if you haven’t ticked that box!

Help Submit and further reading material Submit and tools are also available including a set of handful tool that will fit more photo’s on your memory card Submit. I read that the electronic frames ship worldwide.

Last but not least: the price: if I take the most expensive one in the shop: the 10” wooden frame, it is advertised as €147 (AND you get a 128mb memory card for free), if I compare this with e.g. the 8” frame on Amazon (here Submit) you see this costs $150 without the audio playback, without remote control and 2” less! So the prices are also very sharp for the quality you get.

I hope this helps you when you are looking for a digital picture frame.