Time is winding down and money is getting slim, but yet you still seem to have a long list of friends to get Christmas gifts for. Well, how about giving a gift that keeps on giving? A subscription to a fashion magazine! This is a great, inexpensive gift for the divas in your life and a nice way to get your not-so-stylish friends a guide.:-) You can even take care of two friends at once with the “buy one get one” specials that many magazines are offering for the holidays! Give a subscription to one friend, then add on the other. Now for all of you shopping geniuses who already finished your list, how about adding a subscription to your own wishes?! This gift is sure to keep you stylish in every season!

Have a stylish Christmas and a fashionable New Year!

That is if you are subscribed via RSS or email right now.

I am moving my RSS and Email Subscription feeds from Feedburner to WordPress.com.

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Thanks!

YOU CAN NOW SUBSCRIBE to the Hedon Blog by clicking on the subscribe logo – or its twin on this page – and be sent a daily e-mail update.

You will be taken to the following form to enter your e-mail address, name and the type of e-mail you wish to receive.

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You will then receive a daily e-mail giving you any updates from the Hedon made within the previous 24 hours.

For an example of the type of e-mail you receive then click Past Hedon Blog Posts 4/5 December

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So most of you know that Sony announced there may be a subscription for a special version of Playstation Network in order to get benefits. It doesn’t make the free version obsolete though. They have now announced hypothetical services that they are thinking of providing if this would be made into reality. Below are some of the services they’ve mentioned so far, remember that this is all hypothetical though:

1. Renting games

Note: This would make it possible for people to rent games available on the Playstation Store. The price would be around 2-5 dollars and last for around five days.

2. Uploading your content from Crackle to Playstation Home.

Note: Crackle is a site owned by Sony that works in a way that’s similiar to youtube.

3. Improved server support

Note: Basically Sony would provide a lot more online support and to those with the subscription and are playing a lot of online multiplayer games this would be a great feature. Basically this would take away any lag you would otherwise have experienced.

Servers like these help your online experience... Or more like, they allow it. *These servers have nothing to do with the service provided by Sony

Whether this will or will not be made reality if they actually launch this remains to be seen, but you can’t deny it sounds interesting.

Confirmed: Apple Buys Music Service Lala, At a Fire Sale Price

The question is, what are they going to do with it? I had never heard of Lala before, but I have heard of iLike and imeem, both of which have been bought up recently as well. Maybe Apple is gearing up for an iTunes subscription service after all… who knows?

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Economists remain hopeful of an uptick in consumer spending during the upcoming holiday season. It’s generally held that an increase in consumer confidence will help further efforts for economic recovery. While the cash registers haven’t necessarily been clattering away at quite the rate which economists had hoped, there is certainly evidence that certain corporations are crossing a few items off of their shopping lists.

The acquisition of the NBC network by Comcast was one of the top stories this week. This acquisition will, no doubt, have an impact on the television industry that will take some time to be fully understood. For the time being, Federal regulators will certainly have an interest in what’s in Comcast’s shopping bag. There is still the potential that an equally large acquisition will occur in the food industry, as Kraft maintains its efforts to purchase chocolate maker Cadbury.

While these purchases could end up totaling in the billions, the average person is looking for something a little lighter on the wallet. Fortunately, I’ve got just the thing, and I wanted to mention it today. Soundview is featuring a special, limited time offer. You can purchase one gift subscription and receive a second gift subscription of equal or lesser value for FREE. Click here to learn more about this limited time offer.

Another year is about to bite the dust. Another year of war, famine, and crippling recession. And for you, the proud, the few, the faithful, and the employed with disposable income, we’re making our annual plea to continue buying physical records in the face of minimalism and convenience. Let’s face it, the oughts were demoralizing, with Numero’s arrival in your mailbox being among the only bright spots in an otherwise bleak decade. We weren’t around for the first Bush term, but with your help we’ll make it through the end of Obama’s second.

It’s that time of year again, when the jolly fat man invades your home and your refrigerator. But enough about your creepy uncle Fred (insert high hat and snare here). For the fifth year in a row, Numero is offering you the chance to get in on an early harvest of next year’s crop of releases. That means we get your money and you get the fruit of our meticulous labor. It’s win win, really. Just ask your record collection. It’s lonely, right?

We tried to keep it simple in 2009, making six (five if you’re into wax) essential titles for easy filing in your Numero library. But then we got ambitious, and decided to make a book, and a trading card set, some posters and a new t-shirt, and then we put out two records on our Asterisk imprint and another on the Numerophon label.

And we racked our brains trying to come up with flashy ways to entice you to buy early. While great ideas like the Numero musical snowglobe and Eccentric Soul black-light poster were tabled (for now), we found a place to print up membership cards entitling you to a 15% discount. For $100 we gave you six CDs (or five LPs) and put more junk in your wallet. Well, get ready to replace that worn-out card, or if you don’t have one, get ready to make room. The 2010 Numero subscription is here and more expensive than ever.

No, we didn’t mean to say expansive, although it’s that, too. 2010 looks to be a much different year than any you’ve ever experienced as a standard card-carrying member of our inner circle. In the past we’ve focused on quantity, great quantity, mind you, but going forward we’re going to be all about quality. If you’ve seen Light: On The South Side or Eccentric Soul: Twinight’s Lunar Rotation 4LP set, then you have a good idea where we’re headed. The days of the single disc are not exactly behind us, but we’ll likely be doing far fewer of them. And while the price has gone up, so has the amount of music we’re including.

Scheduled for inclusion in the 2010 CD subscription are following eye and ear popping Numero titles:

031 Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow DVD

Beginning with his work for a certain public television show that featured a big yellow bird, a cookie-devouring monster and a counting vampire, Al Jarnow devoted his life to capturing life’s scientific minutia, boiled down into bite-sized bits of dazzling animated cinema. As a celluloid-carrying member of New York’s avant-garde film scene, Jarnow created dozens of awe-inspiring experimental shorts that up until now could only be seen in the film collections of such temples of culture as New York’s Museum Of Modern Art. The 45 films collected here, which include both his early work for public television and his personal efforts, have been lovingly transferred from the original 16mm prints and fully remastered in Dolby Digital. Special features include a complete film index, a documentary about his creative process, film playlists designed for both children and adults alike, and a 60-page book filled with essays and ephemera. Link To Trailer

032 Syl Johnson: Complete Recordings 1959-72 6LP+4CD

80 songs covering his work for Federal, TMP Ting, Cha Cha, Zachron, Special Agent, and Twinight, along with nearly twenty previously unreleased tracks recorded along the way. Deluxe 6LP+4CD box includes both formats and a massive booklet, all housed in sturdy, side-loading container for easy display and use. First 1000 copies come with a bonus 45, which you’ll have locked down via the subscription.

034 Local Customs: Lowlands CD

Boogie rock from Texas’ swampster town of Beaumont, Texas, courtesy of the Lowlands studio. While brothers Johnny and Edgar Winters escaped via the fame train, there were dozens of local leave-behinds crowding the town’s lone recording studio. A seedier Harry Smith, Mickey Rouse captured the up-all-night-on-cheap-trucker-speed aesthetic bubbling up amid the factory day jobs and drunken parking lot fights. As most of this music is completely unreleased, there’s really no point in listing any of the artists. I mean, have you ever heard of Boothill? Neither had we.

035 Boddie Recording Company: Cleveland, Ohio 3CD

After four years of calling, we finally locked down the Boddie Recording Company archive out of Cleveland, Ohio this summer. Cracking open the door of the studio was like entering Tut’s tomb, a virtually untouched picture of what a real live 60s soul studio looked like. Out back? Just an on site pressing plant ready to be fired up at a moments notice for all your 7 and 12″ needs. When the original Devo acetates turned up we knew we were onto something special. Spread out over three discs is the best of the Boddie soul and gospel recordings, featuring Creations Unlimited, AC Jones, Ricky Hodges, the Chantells, Harvey Hall and a dozen others.

And for the vinylists:

031 Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow DVD

012 Catherine Howe: What A Beautiful Place LP (bonus 45 with first 1000)

002 Antena: Camino Del Sol 2LP (with five bonus tracks not on the CD)

032 Syl Johnson: Complete Recordings 1959-72 6LP+4CD

034 Local Customs: Lowlands 2LP

Numero is taking a huge leap this year, and we’re hoping you follow us into the holy abyss. Your record collection will thank you, your significant other will probably not, but records are forever, relationships, not so much. And who knows? Maybe we’ll make all three of you happy.

Get happy.

Vuoi ricevere comodamente sulla tua posta elettronica gli aggiornamenti riguardanti i post inseriti all’interno del blog del Torino Youth Centre?
Basta digitare e inviare il tuo indirizzo e-mail alla nostra redazione tramite la sezione subscription che trovi nella parte alta della colonna di destra del blog. In questo modo saprai sempre le ultime news sul TYC e sulle associazioni che ne fanno parte.
Ancora una volta viene messo a tua disposizione uno strumento intuitivo ed immediato, stavolta per fare in modo che siano le notizie a cercare te.

Amazon.com is offering a 1 year subscription to Entertainment Weekly for only $10 HERE. That’s a savings of 95% off their regular price costing just $0.18 an issue. Hurry, this deal expires Saturday 12/5 at 11:59pm.

Newspaper publishers will now be able to set a limit on the number of free news articles people can read through Google, the company has announced.

The concession follows claims from some media companies that the search engine is profiting from online news pages.

Under the First Click Free programme, publishers can now prevent unrestricted access to subscription websites.

Users who click on more than five articles in a day may be routed to payment or registration pages.

“Previously, each click from a user would be treated as free,” Google senior business product manager Josh Cohen said in a blog post.

This may still be a significant moment in the battle between old and new media Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC technology correspondent Did Google just blink?

“Now, we’ve updated the programme so that publishers can limit users to no more than five pages per day without registering or subscribing.”

Google users may start seeing registration pages appear when they click for a sixth time on any given day at websites of publishers using the programme, according to Mr Cohen.

This will only affect websites that currently charge for content.

‘Significant move’

The announcement is seen as a reaction to concerns in the newspaper industry that Google is using newspaper content unfairly.

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of Newscorp, has accused firms such as Google of profiting from journalism by generating advertising revenue by linking readers to newspaper articles.

Some readers have discovered they can avoid paying subscription fees to newspaper websites by calling up their pages via Google.

This is because Google searches frequently link directly to newspaper articles, bypassing some sites’ subscription systems.

Broadcasting and media consultant Steve Hewlett said that Google’s response was “a pretty significant move”.

“Rupert Murdoch is trying to build a consensus that paying for content online is right and that aggregators like Google that use newspaper content but don’t pay for it are doing something wrong,” he said.

Search for revenue

Newspapers are increasingly looking for new ways to make money from their online content amid a continuing decline in circulation figures and advertising revenues.

Earlier this week Johnston Press, the UK’s largest regional newspaper publisher, announced plans to to begin charging for access to six of its titles online.

The move follows a 42% slump in advertising revenues at the group over the last two years.

Earlier this year, the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) cut 1,000 jobs at its regional arm Northcliffe Media, which publishes more than 100 newspapers in England and Wales.

Newscorp, which owns the Times and the Sun newspapers in the UK, has also been affected by the downturn.

In June, it announced losses of $3.4bn (£2bn) for the previous 12 months, describing the year as “the most difficult in recent history”.

It has also revealed plans to begin charging for access to all its online content. The corporation currently charges for access to its US title the Wall Street Journal.

Link to Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8389896.stm

Michael Arrington has a post praising MOG’s All Access music service. MOG, similar to other online music streaming service, makes thousands if not millions of song readily available on demand over the Internet.

MOG’s $5/month subscription approach appears to be making the recording industry happy…for now.

Besides the usual playlists and searching, one very interesting feature they offer is the ability to use a slider to select how similar artists should be played while in radio mode.

Online coupon codes can be very helpful for those who are making both ends meet or working on a small budget. There are certain online coupon codes that let you download and these great discounts that may also help you cut down on costs for your grocery expenses and other purchases.

The difference of a paper coupon from an online coupon is that you have to subscribe to a magazine or any other publications; or probably borrow a magazine from friends who are not interested in coupons. With the Internet, you can even save on the subscription cost of a magazine since you just have to visit a site and grab the code that you like to use. It’s that simple.

Today is the final day in my Metaboli subscription.  Not because I dislike the service, mainly because Christmas is coming up, and I also have too many other games to be playing.  Will I ever subscribe again?  For the answer to that you’ll have to carry on reading…

The Service

It’s been three months now since I first signed up to Metaboli and did my subsequent write-up ‘Metaboli – A Viable Alternative?‘.  Overall I think my experience has been a positive one, I’ve been given a chance to try games I might not otherwise have tried, and on the odd occasion found one that I’ve then gone on to buy.  The choice on offer can be a little overwhelming and several times I’ve been unable to choose which downloaded game I want to play.

I suppose that’s a benefit of actually buying a game, firstly the games you buy are ones you really want to play.  Secondly you have also invested money in it, which makes you feel like you’re losing out if you don’t get around to playing it, this gives you an incentive to play even when you might not be that interested.  With Metaboli you’re paying for access to the whole collection of games and, aside from one or two you particularly want to play, you don’t have to play any of them.  Regulars of the PC Gamer Forums will know I’m a great bargain lover, I am constantly picking up new titles which has interfered with my making use of the service.  I have still found the time to play a good selection of games however, I played ans subsequently bought Sniper Elite, completed Trine, found out I didn’t like Far Cry 2 or Assassin’s Creed and climbed most of the ladders in Unreal Tournament.

Cancellation is relatively painless, so long as you know how it works.  I had read that you need to cancel 48 hours before your next payment, which I did, but the next payment still went through.  After checking my account page I found that it had cancelled at the end of the next subscription period.  This wasn’t so bad for me, but it could annoy some people, so the moral of the story is, cancel early.  I’ve been able to play for the whole month that I paid for, so no early cut-off.  I’m sure if I’d have contacted support they would have sorted it out.  When you cancel, your account is still active and you can keep all of the games you have downloaded on your hard disk (you obviously can’t play them), this means that you can easily skip a month or two if money is tight or for whatever other reason you might have, but still go back to your saves at a later date.

The Games

I mentioned in my original article that the Metaboli service is not fully compatible with 64-bit systems.  Only games that have been updated to the new Yummy software will work.  Despite this however I still managed to find a lot of games to play, and all of the new releases use the new system.  In the three months I’ve been subscribing there have been 56 new games have been added, some of these are new, others have just been updated to the new software.  Not all of the titles are great, just as with other digital distribution services and any of the many retail businesses before them, but there were quite a few interesting ones.  Now, just take a minute to think about that, 56 new games for £12.95 a month (£38.85 in total maths fans).  That works out at 69p per title, or 99p per title if you deduct the casual games (which are a mixed bunch, Plants vs. Zombies is included for example).  These 56 games include some big titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Overlord 2, Fuel, Sam & Max Seasons 1 & 2, Anno 1404, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising, Mount & Blade, Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander, Tropico 3, Medieval:  Total War 2, Company of Heroes…  Now you could say, ‘Well I’ve got a 32bit OS, so these games wouldn’t be new to me’, and it’s true, quite a few were simply updated for 64bit compatibility, but a new subscriber would still have all those games to play.  As for numbers, I’d estimate around 38 of those titles are new to Metaboli (sadly no easy way to search) during the time I’ve been subscribing, which is still a hefty amount.

Usability

Overall my use of the interface has been good and most of the minor issues I’ve had can probably be traced back to my refusal to disable UAC, which quite a few people will have already done anyway.  It’s a little annoying that you have to use a web browser to launch the games, but liveable.  The system offers all the options you could want, delete content (with the option to keep saved games), prioritise downloads, disable individual downloads, and  also offers the ability to start playing a game before it has completely downloaded (not all games support this).  My one annoyance with the downloading is that you can’t (easily) play a game whilst others download, although I think this works when you use the early start feature.  There is a little work around, if you’re playing a game that has a launch window pop-up before the game you can then go back to your browser and start the downloads, it’s also possible you could do this by Alt-Tab-bing but as most gamers know some games hate doing this.  It wouldn’t be so bad if it followed used similar system to Steam, in that multiplayer games disable downloads but single- keeps it going.

Conclusion

Having made good use of the service (although I wish I could have played the games more often) I now have a good understanding of Metaboli.  Aside from a few minor niggles it is a very good service, and if you’re looking for some kind of subscription-based service I can easily recommend it.  I am planning to resubscribe at some point in the future, it might not be for a while and I might only subscribe for a month or two at a time, but it’s definitely a consideration for me and as the catalogue expands I’ll gain more and more reasons.  (Batman:  Arkahm Asylum is apparently coming soon, although I may just buy it when the price is right.)

The points I made in my original article still stand, some people don’t like the idea of losing all access when you stop subscribing, preferring to buy their games so that they will always have access to them.  In which case Metaboli is not for you.  For those who want wide selection of games available for them to play when they have some spare time, this could be a better option.  You could spend £12-ish (or £6.95 for the Essential pack) on a single game, if you shop around possibly a few, but that will be all you have.  If you’re happy with that then fine, but if you’d prefer more choice (a lot more choice) Metaboli could be an interesting option.

For those who prefer owning their games, it could still be a possibility.  How many games have you bought that you actually play on a regular basis?  For the average gamer it’s probably one or two, probably online multiplayer games like Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source, or possibly a sandbox like The Sims.  There is nothing stopping you from buying these games, and having a subscription to Metaboli (except for limited funds…  ).  That way you get the best of both worlds, you still get to play your favourite game(s) whenever you want, but you also have access to a selection of games whenever you fancy something different.

When it comes down to it, it’s all personal choice.  Nothing I can help you with there.  But if you just want to know what the service itself is like, then I’m happy to recommend it. 

Now you can sign up for Email Subscription, look at the side bar you will see it. You can give your email and sign up, or if you are a user of WordPress.com just click the button easy never miss a thing that happens here. Don’t forget you can subscribe to our RSS, and if you want to stay updated on comments in a certain post just look at the bottom of your comment, and you can sign up for it. Many ways to never miss what happens here on The Truth Page.
Thanks drheights48127

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Tis the season for killer deals on magazine subscriptions! Amazon has tons of popular magazines on sale right now for just $5/year — lower than the newsstand cost of one issue for some! Even better? These magazines qualify for FREE Super Saver Shipping, so that means when you just need to spend a few bucks more on something else on Amazon to get free shipping, you can add in one of these magazines to seal the deal. (Magazines aren’t actually charged shipping, they just help you get free shipping on other purchases.)

Here ya go!

• Real Simple
• Southern Living
• Sports Illustrated for Kids
• People StyleWatch
• Cosmopolitan
• Travel + Leisure
• Food & Wine
• House Beautiful

Expires: Unknown

Thanks, FrugalGirls & Jessica!

From the CNET article,

“On Monday the company announced it will launch MOG All Access, a new subscription service, on December 2. At $5 a month, the price will match Napster’s, only without the minimum 3-month commitment that Napster requires.”