Women Shoes

WOMEN SHOES -------->You are going to fall in love. Consider yourself warned!!!!!

The Chablis Shoe in Pink Glitter
Mini Market
                                                       

       The Brandie Shoe in Tortoise and Black Patent

                          

                       Senso Diffusion                                                                  Sole Boutique

The Lita Flame Shoe in Red and Black (Exclusive)

The Saba Shoe in Multi

Now you are in love. I warned you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to www.karmaloop.com and www.circuitatlantic.com

More to come in the next few days ;) Stay tuned.

Apple iPhone 5

APPLE ipHONE 5

No doubt, one of the most eagerly awaited phones of 2012, this yet to be released iPhone 5 comes with a breathtaking Italian design that will surely take away your breath.

It has a striking remembrance to the magic mouse, comes with a curved metal back, and an 8MP Flash centered Camera (3264×2448 pixel) instead of it being by the side.

Its iTune Cloud integration helps store all your content and pushes it wirelessly to your devices. It promises a 4-inch screen size Retina Display, more internal memory to store more information and Apple’s latest A5 Dual core processor chip. It also offers mobile payment services, at least two internal antennas with a special fire proof and wireless charging.

If you are still wondering what the price tag will be for the new iPhone 5, you should know that Apple’s prices have always been right in line with other smartphone devices. Apple believes that they have no reason to change their current price point. As Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer suggested during a recent interview, Apple will keep making great products that people will be willing to pay for. So don't expect any price reduction.

I really have a great feeling iPhone 5 won’t break our hearts like the iPhone 4 did. I can’t wait to have a feel of this amazing one from Apple.

I should also state that these are mostly speculations of what to expect of the next phone from Apple.

HOW TO BOOST YOUR LAPTOP BATTERY LIFE

HOW TO BOOST YOUR LAPTOP BATTERY LIFE

I have received lots of complain from laptop users about their laptop's short battery life, so I decided to post this. This is coming from years of experience with laptops and a little bit of research on how to conserve your battery life, so sit back, read, enjoy and apply the following tweaks to your machine.

HARDWARE TWEAKS

• Screen brightness This is a huge power sink; it takes up to 50% of the available battery. The more the brightness, the more battery power that is consumed, so always reduce the brightness to the minimum. It is advisable to use your laptop screen only when needed.

• Wireless and Bluetooth I wonder why people will just leave their wireless and bluetooth device on when not in use. They drain      down your laptop battery considerably, so please, just turn them off.

• Add more RAM Sounds unrelated!!! It is. The virtual memory feature of windows ensures that the hard disk memory is used when the system runs out of RAM which requires more battery power, so my advice, increase your RAM especially when you make use of high memory applications.

• Remove unneeded peripherals USB flash drives, external hard drives, PC card modems, optical drives, iPod, phones should be ejected when not needed. Even when they are needed, find a way to reduce the amount of time they spend connected to your system. Transfer files from your external media to your local disk, cd/dvds should not be left spinning in your drive and use your touchpad instead of an external mouse.

• Externally cool your system Here is the silent killer, the hotter your laptop is, the faster the cooling fans have to work and the more the power required, so as much as you can, try to cool your laptop temperature externally. Don’t place it on cloths, bed or tables where it won’t be well ventilated. Cooling your laptop also has the advantage that your hardware will last longer since they are less likely to overheat and fail.

• Defrag often Defragmentation rearranges files on your hard drive making it run faster, the faster your hard drive works, the lesser amount of battery that will be battery consumed. Personally, I defrag my drive monthly using defragmenter, you can also use the one that came with windows.

SOFTWARE TWEAKS

• Background applications Every application you leave running consumes a portion of your hardware resource, this add up to the power consumption. Use the task manager (ctrl + alt + del) to kill unwanted applications. Sidebar gadgets, manufacturer applications, windows update etc. should be killed.

• Avoid Screen savers Screensavers don’t save power when they contain high graphics, so it’s best if you just turned them off altogether. They use CPU even when the computer is idle.

• Power options Make good use of the power options by setting options to select when on battery power and when running on external supply. I personally use battery care software to change the options automatically.

• Disable search index This is another windows feature that indexes your files for quick searching. It is a trade-off between convenience and battery life, so you should disable it if you don’t search often. 

• Disable automatic program updates Uberfacts says that adobe flash spends more time updating than you would actually use the program. Windows update, Java updater and others run in the background making use of battery life and not really doing anything tangle. Set them to update manually.

OTHER TWEAKS

• Hibernation vs. Sleep mode Putting your machine in sleep mode saves your work and puts your computer in idle state so that you can quickly resume from where you stopped anytime but it still make use of a small amount of power while in this state. Hibernation mode stores all volatile memory on disk, shuts down your machine and requires no power in this state. The best option is to hibernate your laptop when it is not going to be put to use for a while. 

• Power cord I have seen Alaba boys convert a Dell charger for use by a Toshiba laptop, WRONG! WRONG!! WRONG!!! Please ensure to use the ‘follow-come’ power cord/adapter, others will only kill your laptop’s battery.

• Remove Battery when not in use If you won’t be making use of your laptop for a while (more than 4 days), you need to remove your batteries completely from the laptop and put it back when you are ready to use it. Laptop batteries are best stored in a cool, dry place and at 40% charge rather than 100% charge.

Thanks for reading... Please feel free to add your thoughts in the comment box below.

Why you should consider buying a refurbished product

REFURBISHED OR REMANUFACTURED? WHICH WAY!!!

Due to the proliferation of substandard products, most of Nigerians have a wrong/bad view of refurbished products. Most people think refurbished products are actually useless products that have been repackaged, while that is just an example of refurbished products, this is not always the case. So before paying for that brand new product, you should take out to read this. Could save you money!!!

Remanufactured / Manufacturer Refurbished Products

These are returned products that have been put through a rigorous remanufacturing process to bring them back to "same as new" condition and performance using the most thorough and tightly regulated method of product restoration. This is usually done by the original manufacturer or a manufacturer-approved vendor. They are made to go through the same quality tests and checks a new product would go through prior to packaging. Most times, the quality is often the same as a new product since the item was refurbished by the manufacturer themselves.

Refurbished Products

Here, an unauthorized third party company performs the refurbishing. The result is that the refurbished products might not be exactly as the manufacturer desires since the company has limited access to technical data and newer proprietary upgrades. However, most third party companies generally inspect, clean, repair and test the products in order to meet the manufacturer’s specifications.

So for the remainder of this post, remanufactured and refurbished will generally mean the same since the major differences have been highlighted above and you only have to take note of them when you want to purchase the products.

Source

Majority of refurbished products are actually goods that have been returned by customers. Most times, the returned product likely has nothing wrong with it at all, it could have been returned for any number of reasons,

• ·         Some come in from cancelled orders that have already left the warehouse or they are simply returned due to something as minor as wrong size, color, specifications etc.
• ·         It could just be due to minor shipping damage, what the refurbisher does here is to repair the item and then present it as a refurbished product.
• ·         There are also cases in which the returned item has not been used at all, the vendors will usually simply reseal the packaging and sell the item as a refurbished good.
• ·         New products used for adverts, demonstration/trials, trade shows, customer events, or solution centers or in show rooms also come in as refurbished products.  This is because the package was opened, and the product might have incurred few minor scratches during the time spent on display.
• ·         It could come from factory or reseller overstock, they are simply discounted and sold out to make room for newer ones.

These products can be electronics(TVs, phones, computers), fashion items and even cars.

The only reason why they can’t be sold as new is because of industry regulations and legal reasons, so the products are just tagged refurbished.

We all gain

• ·         You get your desired product at a great bargain, much lower cost (up to 90% discount).
• ·         Great when you don’t intend to use an item for long or when high-end performance isn’t really needed.
• ·         Buying refurbished products is your own way of supporting the environmental "green" effort.
• ·         Guess what? Even brand new products do have problems!!! Why not save money since most refurbished come with standard warranty.
• ·         Most are much better than used products you buy from friends and relatives since they have actually not been used at all.

Things to look out for

There are a number of things to keep in mind when you buy a remanufactured enterprise product. Here are a few tips:

• ·         Buy directly from the manufacturer (Remanufactured) - this way, you can be sure of the quality of what you are paying for.
• ·         If you are buying from third-party vendors, make sure that they rate high among customers for quality and satisfaction.
• ·         Take time to check the warranty – Make sure they come with standard warranty; this shows the seller is sure of the product.
• ·         Check if it is coming with latest technology.

I should also let you know that you can buy both new and refurbished products(anything) directly from the USA and you get to pay in Naira or with your Debit Card.  

So, next time you want to buy anything, take time to visit Circuit Atlantic to make your purchase.

Thanks for reading, critical comments are welcomed.

Top Level Job Interview Secrets

Getting your dream job here in Nigeria is not about having a silver tongue or being lucky on the day. It's about knowing how to sell yourself, knowing what the interviewer wants and how to present it to them in the best possible way. Most employers have a wrong idea about the quality of Nigerian graduates and therefore most times look beyond their academic qualifications. Am sure you already know that.

Most interviewers are interested in a few things which are categorised into:

v  Knowledge-Based Skills: Academic and professional qualifications and on-job experience (degrees, computer skills, training and technical ability).
 

v  Transferable Skills: Your portable skills that you take from job to job (communication and people skills, analytical problem solving and planning skills)
 

v  Personal Traits: Your unique qualities (personality, dependable, flexible, friendly, hardworking, expressive, formal, punctual and being a team player).

Okay, enough of ‘theory’, below are few things to note when preparing for an interview, remember we were not taught this in school.

BEFORE THE INTERVIEW

CV and Application and letter

Prepare a jaw-dropping Curriculum Vitae, keep it clear, simple and it shouldn’t be more than two pages. Highlight your skills that are related to the job. If an application letter is required, make sure it focuses more on the job.  Check tips for preparing good CVs.

Research

Get enough information about the company, this helps you to direct your answers to the needs of the company when answering interview questions. You can consult their website, brochures or annual reports for information. It also gives you an idea of a list of questions you might need to ask during the interview.

Seek advice       

Speak with people who have participated in the interview or been in such situation before, get their comments and tips. Avoid their mistakes and build on what they did well.

Prepare things to say

Don’t just go into the session with a blank head, prepare answers to give. You should know that an interview is a two-way process, the company needs enough information about you, and you should also get enough information about the company so prepare a list of questions you may ask the interviewers.

Arrive early

This is like an automated test, arriving late is the worst way to start, it might lead to automatic disqualification. It puts you under unnecessary pressure and makes you drop points. I suggest getting there like 15-30 minutes ahead of time. NO AFRICAN TIME!!!

Turn off phones

All mobile phones should be turned off, you don’t want to be distracted during the interview. NO PINGING!!!

Dressing

This is very important as it determines how an interviewer views you. Dress smartly, simple and formal, good dressing gives a measure of confidence. Remember you are not going for a date or party. Click here for more on dressing.

DURING THE INTERVIEW

First impression

We tend to take this for granted, remember you don’t have a second chance to make a good first impression, introduce yourself with a smile and firm handshake.

Body Language

This gives the interviewer a lot of information about you so pay close attention to your body language. Don’t appear desperate or nervous, listen attentively and don’t interrupt others while they are speaking. Be sure to look straight and maintain eye contact, smile, be composed and think carefully before answering any question. They need to know how well you handle pressure and stress.

Answering

The main reason you are here. Go straight to the point, tell them what they want to hear but don’t lie. Give answers that relate your skills with the company’s need, use your discretion when answering questions and remain positive. Talk freely about yourself and don’t just give ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers.

About yourself question

This used to be my nightmare. This question presents an opportunity to sell yourself so try as much as possible to present yourself – including your weakness – in the most positive way. Go through your qualifications and personal skills and let them know how it relates to the job. Click here for possible questions and good answers to give.

Ask questions

This is my favourite, always ask questions when given the opportunity, it is a way to impress the interviewer and show that you have researched a lot about their company.

Salary negotiation

A lot of people make mistakes here, you don’t always know whether you are over valuing yourself or under valuing yourself so tell them you would prefer to leave that until they are sure you are the right person for the job.

Check this blog regularly or subscribe to our mailing list to be alerted when more of this comes up. Thanks and please leave a comment.

Feel free to add your your views and ideas in the comment box below.

Reference

http://interviewquestionsandanswers.biz

http://www.scribd.com

http://www.monster.com

8 Dos and Don'ts of Online Social Networks

Okay, I have tried to keep this really short and simple. Take note and enjoy.

Dos

• Brand yourself Create a universal name (your full name or nickname) across all your sites; this makes it easy for your friends to find you. It doesn't mean that you should write your life story here.
• Read and comment on other’s posts Don’t just remain anonymous, actively participate in discussions and friends posts but kept it polite.
• Contacts Maintain a strong and useful friend list and followership esp. on Facebook and Twitter and keep their number limited so as to be able to keep track of your friends.
• Be Active Avoid having a ‘dead’ profile, maintain a real and sustained presence, come only every now frequently to say hi, this is important in order to build a strong personality.
• Quick reply This is very important in IMs like Facebook chat, BBM, 2go. Reply messages as fast as you can, no one likes to be kept waiting, do not be annoyed or send any provocative message when someone ignores you.
• Privacy Respect people’s privacy, if they don’t want to talk about an issue, back off! They might open up later.
• Play it cool and safe I know everyone wants to be a Mr. Macho or Miss. Know-it-all but on the internet, you can never be too safe.
• Important people first You can’t chat with everybody at the same time. Make sure you chat with those that are close and important first and be sure to use your discretion in private chats.

Don’ts

• Lies Sooner or later, lying will catch up with you, don’t lie about your age, sex, location etc leave out any information you are not ready to give out.
• Scam No one likes unsolicited messages, or too much adverts especially in chat rooms, do not excessively market your product, service or website. Lots of people have gotten themselves deleted or banned by doing so. 
• Stalking Don’t give people unwanted and obsessive attention and don’t appear too eager or desperate, it puts people off.
• Negativity No one stays around negative people, save social media from your personal frustrations but you can seek help on issues. Don’t go around attacking people.
• Pictures of others Don’t post questionable pictures of others without getting their permission first, it is so not polite.
• Quiet Don’t keep everything to yourself, you need to talk about yourself and things around you to maintain a healthy chat but remain cautious and don’t give out sensitive information.
• Forwarding Don’t and don’t forward or post any broadcast you receive without verifying its genuineness. It can be annoying to people who had already received such already.
• Meeting people Don’t meet with people you met online without telling someone else, make sure it is in a public place and someone accompanies you when going for the first time. 

Feel free to add your ideas in the comment box below
You might also want to Protect yourself on Internet Social sites

Protecting Yourself on Internet Social Network

The internet has provided a good platform for Nigerians to interact, connect with old pals and meet people all over the world cutting across barriers like distance, culture, language, age, sex etc. they are great avenues to meet and network with people sharing similar interests. Now someone in Gusau can easily maintain a relationship with someone in Agbor. Now, information floods us at the speed of 3G networks through mobile applications like Operamini, BBM, 2go, Whatsapp and forums like Nairaland, Naijapals that has redefined how we relate and interact with each other. 

I understand that there are six different types of social media: collaborative projects ( Wikipedia), blogs and microblogs ( Twitter), content communities (YouTube), social networking sites (Facebook), virtual game worlds (World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (Second Life), the last two are hardly known in Nigeria. 

Enough of story, listed below are few tips on how to protect yourself from the security challenges they pose.

Protecting yourself

• ·         Reduce the amount of personal information you post/give out       Do not post information like your personal  names and address, exact location , phone numbers, job titles, birth dates, schedule details that could make you vulnerable to identity theft issues.  Never post information you don’t want anyone else to see. Potential employers sometimes check employees profile to make their choice.
• ·         Check out strangers         Internet Social Networking creates a medium that makes it easy for people to misrepresent their identities and motives. Limit the people you connect with as friends. Be cautious when interacting with people you don't know. Many people have fallen victim of fraudsters.
• ·         Be skeptical     Don't believe everything you read or see online(especially broadcast messages). A lot of people post false or misleading information about different things, including their own identities. This might not be done with malicious intent; it could be unintentional, an exaggeration, a joke or just to gain cheap popularity, . Try to verify the authenticity of any information before taking any action.
• ·         Be sure to use the Privacy settings              While most people think this is a waste of time, it is necessary because the default settings for these sites may allow anyone to see your profile, so you take time out to use these settings to restrict access to only people you want. Make it a duty to review your settings regularly because these sites change their policies without notice.
• ·         Third-party applications and add-ons           In as much as they provide entertainment or functionality, these applications extract information about yourself and your friends, so be sure to use caution when enabling them and avoid those that seem suspicious. More so, social sites don’t have control on what third-parties use your information for.
• ·         Passwords          Protect your account with passwords that cannot be easily guessed, and do not use the same password across different sites because if your password is known, someone else can access all your account and pretend it is you or obtain useful information.
• ·         Update your Softwares    Software vendors usually equip new versions of their softwares with the latest security measures to help combat known problems or vulnerabilities, so be sure to always update/get the latest version of your softwares, this includes antivirus, browers and your operating system.

More will be coming in few days be sure to bookmark this blog and check back.