5 Easy Ways To Save (or Earn) Money With Your Camera

Many people already carry a digital camera with them at all times (your cell phone). Here are 5 ways to put that camera to good use and save yourself some money.

1) Protect Your Deposit

Before you move into a new place, photograph every bit of damage you can find. Email the photographs to yourself or your landlord to establish the date. If your landlord tries to charge you for the damage, you have proof you can take to court.

2) Support Your Insurance Claims

Insurance agents recommend that you write down the serial number of pretty much everything you buy. If you get in the habit of photographing the serial numbers of your various electronics, it’s an easy way to make a record of them.

3) Give Emergency Presents

If you need a birthday present in a hurry, print off a photo, put it in a frame and wrap it. Many people appreciate getting a photo that reminds them of the good times that you’ve had together.

4) Enhance Your Memory

Rather than hauling a PDA or laptop around all the time, you can use your camera to record certain kinds of information — such as phone numbers on billboards, or maps.

5) Make Money From Your Photos

There are tons of ways to make money off of digital images. Simply uploading your shots to a stock photography site is probably the easiest. There are literally hundreds of sites that handle the hard parts of selling stock photos. It’s just a matter of uploading your photos.

Source: Lifehack.org September 23, 2008

I have Blue Cross and I bought a travel insurance plan with Primary medical coverage. I got sick on my cruise and I mistakenly submitted the claim to Blue Cross and they paid it all. Why won’t my Primary coverage travel insurance plan pay me, too? William

Well William, it comes down to the fact that you don’t have any out-of-pocket financial loss.

Travel Insurance reimburses you for your out-of-pocket financial losses. In your case it could have been the money you had to pay when you got sick on your cruise that Blue Cross didn’t cover.

However, the fact that Blue Cross paid your entire bill means that you do not have an out-of-pocket financial loss.

Get a No Strings Attached Free Credit Report

I try to keep up with my own credit history. I know I am entitled to one free credit report a year from each consumer credit reporting agency. Along with everything else I have to do, I can’t remember when I should be getting my annual free credit report.

Thankfully, Asa Aarons just made my life simpler:

Sometimes you can bend the rules. Other times, you just have to follow them to get what you want. Remember that when you go online to get those free credit reports you’re entitled to every 12 months. There’s only one place to get them–no matter what you may be led to believe through ads or unsolicited offers…

You can read Asa’s entire article here.

Hi Steve, My husband and I have ordered our travel insurance from you again, This makes four years in a row. We are insured with AIG Travel Guard. We have seen AIG and its financial difficulties in the news over the past weeks. Is our coverage void? Margaret G.

Hi Margaret,

Thanks for writing. You are right - AIG has been in the news lately.

First, I have no trouble recommending AIG Travel Guard. I used to be a Certified Financial planner with Series 6, Series 7 and Series 22 securities licenses. Nothing from my past experience tells me to be worried about the safety of AIG Travel Guard.

Here’s some more information to help you:

Insurance companies are regulated by the states’ insurance departments where they do business. This includes the requirement to have substantial financial reserves set aside to pay future claims.

John Noel, the President of Travel Guard has two informational pieces you should find helpful and re-assuring, too:

• Here’s a Message from John Noel, the President of Travel Guard which explains things well.
• And, click here to learn more about Travel Guard’s Financial Reserves.

Want to learn more about Travel Guard’s fine travel insurance plans? Click here to see Travel Guard’s plan details.

A 2007 federal law requires the FDA to disclose all its investigations into reports of possibly drug-related adverse events. The first of this series of quarterly reports has been released. It includes adverse events reported between January 1 and March 31, 2008.

Here’s the list of drugs and the adverse events that have been reported:

1. Arginine Hydrochloride Injection (R-Gene 10) — Pediatric overdose due to labeling and packaging confusion
2. Desflurane (Suprane) — Cardiac arrest
3. Duloxetine (Cymbalta) — Urinary retention
4. Etravirine (Intelence) — Hemarthrosis (blood in a joint)
5. Fluorouracil Cream (Carac) and Ketoconazole Cream (Kuric) — Adverse events due to name confusion
6. Heparin — Anaphylactic-type (life-threatening allergic) reactions
7. Icodextrin (Extraneal) — Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
8. Insulin U-500 (Humulin R) — Dosing confusion
9. Ivermectin (Stromectol) and Warfarin — Drug interaction
10. Lapatinib (Tykerb) — Hepatotoxicity (liver toxicity)
11. Lenalidomide (Revlimid) — Stevens-Johnson syndrome (a deadly drug reaction)
12. Natalizumab (Tysabri) — Skin melanomas (deadly skin cancer)
13. Nitroglycerin (Nitrostat) — Overdose due to labeling confusion
14. Octreotide Acetate Depot (Sandostatin LAR) — Ileus (bowels not moving)
15. Oxycodone Hydrochloride Controlled-Release (OxyContin) — Drug misuse, abuse, and overdose
16. Perflutren Lipid Microsphere (Definity) — Cardiopulmonary reactions (lung/heart problems)
17. Phenytoin Injection (Dilantin) — Purple glove syndrome (discoloration, pain, and swelling of the hand that may lead to amputation)
18. Quetiapine (Seroquel) — Overdose due to sample pack labeling confusion
19. Tebivudine (Tyzeka) — Peripheral neuropathy (tingling or numbness in the extremities)
20. Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Blockers — Cancers in children and young adults

Source: FDA September 5, 2008

Will travel insurance cover me? I’m going to Ireland in October. I was treated for cancer beginning last October. The treatment ended in July, but see my doctor quite often due to side effects. I paid for my trip in March. It is too late to get travel insurance? Others have told me I can get it, but I want the Guru’s advice. Thanks, Shauna

Hi Shauna, I hope your side effects end soon.

Unfortunately, yes, it is too late to get travel insurance to cover your pre-existing medical condition. The deadlines were 14 or 21 days after your initial trip deposit.

And, if anyone tells you travel insurance will cover anything with your pre-existing condition, I suggest you get it in writing. It’s easy to make verbal promises.

I wish I knew who originated it (I cannot take credit). Enjoy:

From: Minister of the Treasury Paulson
Subject: REQUEST FOR URGENT CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

I’m interested in travel insurance coverage with the waiver of pre-existing medical conditions for my husband who is currently awaiting a transplant. Will it be covered? Lori

Unfortunately, none of our travel insurance companies will cover you. The reason is because his medical condition does not meet Travel Insurance Medically Stable rules.

Medically Stable means that the person (traveler, traveling companion or non-traveling family member) with the Pre-Existing Medical Condition has to be in a state where any changes are neither foreseen nor expected that could cause that person to “take a turn for the worse”.

Awaiting a transplant means he has “taken a turn for the worse” and is not unforeseen. I hope his transplant comes quickly and you all can get back to a normal life.

Cholesterol Pill Taken by Thousands Causes Cancer

A pill intended to lower cholesterol levels has been linked to an increased risk of cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing data from a trial which found a “larger percentage” of patients treated with the drug Inegy died of cancer. The FDA is expected to issue its conclusions within six months.

Inegy combines the widely-used statin drug simvastatin with a new medication called ezetimibe. Ezetimibe works in a different way from statins. Statins block cholesterol made in the liver, while ezetimibe blocks the absorption of cholesterol in the gut.

Sources:
Mercola.com

Why Can’t You Use Your Cell Phone on a Plane?

Despite what some flight attendants might say, making a call from your cell phone probably won’t send your plane crashing to the ground. So why can’t you use it?

Your cell phone can interfere with avionics in theory. But in practice, it’s not very likely. Cockpits and communications systems have been shielded against electromagnetic interference since the 1960s.

What’s really going on is resistance from the call carriers. When phones ping for signals at 35,000 feet, they can hit hundreds of towers at once, necessitating complicated roaming agreements. The technical problem is not insurmountable, but there isn’t enough demand for action. Only 16 percent of U.S. fliers are interested in using cell phones on planes; most people are vehemently opposed.

Still, OnAir, an air-to-ground communications company, already has an airborne cellular system in European trials, and by the end of the year plans to put the system on dozens of planes.

Source:
Wired August 19, 2008

When Should You Go Out in the Sun?
Source:
Advanced Experiments in Medical Biology 2008; 624: 86-88

New research shows that to get an optimal vitamin D supplement from the sun at a minimal risk of getting cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM), the best time of sun exposure is noon.

That means that common health recommendations given by authorities in many countries - that sun exposure should be avoided for three to five hours around noon and postponed to the afternoon - could be wrong and may even promote CMM.

This is in part because the action spectrum for CMM is likely to be centered at longer wavelengths than that of vitamin D generation.

7 Online Blunders That Threaten Your Identity
Source: ConsumerReports.org

These 7 mistakes can ruin your computer or invite identity theft:

1. Assuming Your Security Software Is Protecting You

Security software is fully effective only when activated and frequently updated. (Most products can update automatically.) To update most commercial software products, you must pay an annual fee.

What you can do: Renew the subscription when the software prompts you. Make sure your security software is active when you’re online and that it has been updated within the past week or so. Be sure that its automatic updating feature is enabled. If it isn’t, that’s the problem; enable it, then update manually.

2. Accessing an Account Through an Email Link

No matter how official an e-mail message looks, trying to access a financial account by clicking on embedded Web links is risky. If the e-mail message is fraudulent, a cybercriminal could use the account number and password you enter to steal your identity or empty your bank account.

What you can do: If an e-mail message asks you to update your password, account number, or other information, don’t take the bait. Access an online account only by using your existing browser bookmark or typing in the institution’s Web address.

3. Using a Single Password for All Online Accounts

9% of home Internet users who responded to our survey said they used a single password for all their accounts. Bad idea.

What you can do: Using different passwords need not be burdensome. Do what 15 percent of the respondents to our survey do: Use variations on one password. A well-crafted password uses a combination of at least eight letters, numbers, or punctuation symbols.

Steve’s note: Don’t use “newone” (as in “pick a new password”…) for your password.

4. Downloading Free Software

You couldn’t resist that neat, free utility. Or your teenager couldn’t resist those fish-tank screen savers and smiley faces. Now your computer runs more slowly than ever. That’s because spyware was probably packaged with the freebies.

What you can do: Download freeware only from reputable sites. Eliminate most spyware by downloading the free Microsoft Windows Defender and scanning your PC. If you use Windows Vista, there should already be a copy of Defender on your computer.

Steve’s note: I suggest you get the 30 day Free Trial Registry Cleaner you can find at www.FixUpMyPC.com - I got it for TripInsuranceStore.com and it transformed our computers here.

5. Thinking Your Mac Shields You From All Risks

According to this year’s State of the Net survey, Mac users fall prey to phishing scams at about the same rate as Windows users, yet far fewer of them protect themselves with an anti-phishing toolbar. To make matters worse, the browser of choice for most Mac users, Apple’s Safari, has no phishing protection. We think it should.

What you can do: Until Apple beefs up Safari, use a browser with phishing protection, such as the latest version of Firefox (shown at right) or Opera.

6. Clicking on a Pop-up Ad That Says Your PC Is Insecure

15% of respondents to our survey who saw pop-up ads clicked on them. But that’s never a good idea. Even if you know such pop-ups are phonies, they’re still dangerous. It’s easy to click inside the ad by mistake and be transferred to a spyware site or, worse, have malware automatically downloaded onto your computer.

What you can do: When closing a pop-up (shown at left), carefully click on the X on the upper left or right corner, not within the window. To avoid pop-ups altogether, enable your browser’s pop-up blocker.

7. Shopping Online the Same Way You Do in Stores

Online shopping requires special precautions because the risks are different than in a walk-in store: You can’t always be sure who you’re doing business with. You must disclose more personal information, such as your address, to the online retailer. Thieves can sneak in undetected between you and the retail site.

What you can do: Use a separate credit card just for your Internet shopping, as did 7 percent of respondents to our survey. Don’t use a debit card. Sites that display “https” before their address when you’re entering sensitive information and those displaying certification symbols are usually safe, but there are no guarantees. When in doubt, get a virtual account number from your credit-card company. It’s good for only one purchase from a specific vendor.