Every day was the same pattern – log in, collect from my Mafia Wars properties, fight until my health meter dropped, churn a few jobs, then move on to Farmville. Harvest crops, till soil, plant seeds. Every damn day from 6:00 PM to whatever-o-clock PM. It became a reflex of daily life for the past two years, like having dinner or watching the news.

In reality, it was killing me. That was about 2 hours per day wasted, that could have been used on what I find to be a more important and meaningful usage of my free time: building more websites and promoting more products. Or, getting the second LLC that I started in late 2010 off the ground.

It got worse. I was one of those pathetic fools who actually spent money on these games. I regularly threw $20 into Mafia Wars for in-game credits. I cringe at the thought of how much money I wasted on that game. And for what? Numbers on a screen. Ownership of rare items that didn’t benefit my life in any way. The chance to boost the stats of my account, but ultimately it would all be meaningless years from now anyway.

I suppose this could be said for anyone who sits around and plays PS3 or XBOX games, but at least those ARE games. Facebook games are more like addictions and obsessions – “number games,” which I equate to slot machines and video blackjack. And, it doesn’t help that Zynga is so powerful at controlling the minds of the weak through cross promotions, limited time in-game jobs and special timed events.

I finally feel free. I go home, and no longer rush to turn the computer on, collect from properties, till soil, or get revenge on anyone who fought me throughout the day. It doesn’t exist anymore. I completely got rid of the accounts and I have no motive to get back into it. I can now proceed with my real goals in life: make something of myself as a small business owner, and buy that real estate I really wanted, as I’ve been promising myself, and getting myself to a better quality of life.

In closing, my New Year’s resolution was to give up Facebook games, but I urge everyone to give up something that they’re addicted to, or something that has been vacuuming their money, time, resources or has flat-out held them back. Don’t give up things that are truly enjoyable. Just things that are truly damaging.

It’s a new year, and it may be cliche to have a resolution, but if you don’t start the year off with a bang, it will end up like a dud.

Here’s the new Google logo. It’s pretty much the same thing, except it looks less 1998 and more 2010 in color quality:

Search for something, and you’ll notice something inexplicably different about the SERP:

It’s looking cleaner, and I can certainly see more whitespace (unless that’s my imagination plus some sort of visual trick).

Note the iconography on the upper left, the “antonym” list under it (yeah, it shows you the opposite of what you searched for there) and the overall minimalism of the page itself.

For the love of God, it’s 2010. We can fit ridiculous amounts of technological goodness into an iPod Touch or an iPhone, yet we still have 2-foot tall, 2 foot deep boxes to perform the same basic functions for home computing. Hello?! How about laptops that haven’t seemingly changed much in regard to length, width, size and weight since the 90s?

The iPad has become such a hot topic because it almost looks to be somewhat like a laptop that has finally stepped into the 21st century…almost like breaking the screen off of a laptop and discarding the other heavier part. We can only hope the trend of micro-compact computing will become the new norm for home, as well. I’ll barely miss having to buy another power source or set of case fans ever again.

That’s not to say that most people aren’t sold on touchscreen technology yet, outside of the smartphone realm.  I’m not sure if I can ever give up a tangible QWERTY keyboard, and there are undoubtedly many others who would agree. The main topic here, however, is how the iPad is going to be an impressive little device, with a big emphasis on “little.” This is the first time (maybe the second…sans those “PCs in a monitor”) that we’ll be seeing something with decent computing power that doesn’t take up 1/5^th of your desk space or make the noise of a wind tunnel when running.

Regardless if you’re in the “I hate Apple” crowd or vice-versa, let’s all hope this new device turns the industry on its head – the PC market needs miniaturization, and this just might be the first step!

This year’s Breakthrough Summit took place in Hyatt Coconut Point, which is by far the best resort hotel (and possibly the only one) I’ve ever been to (sorry, I don’t do vacation…why waste the opportunity to cash them in at the end of the year?) This lavish ivory-white hotel spikes up in the midst of a long stretch of palm trees, which mystify anyone from the northeast. At the rear of the hotel is a beautiful sprawl of swimming pools, walkways, a lake, and a really nice outdoors bar and grill. It was my first time in Bonita Springs, and I fell in love with the place. I nearly cried when I had to go back to dirty Jersey.

This was the first iMedia Summit I’ve ever attended. Allegedly, I was part of the minority: everyone at the iMedia Breakthrough Summit seemed to know each other from previous ones. Even during one of the main hall presentations, they asked all iMedia virgins to stand up, and I was one of the maybe 10 out of 115 who did.

The point of day one (March 20th) was called Mobile Boot Camp — it was all about mobile advertising, mobile marketing, mobile evolution, mobile everything! Many of the presentations at the iMedia Breakthrough Summit were nothing short of product introductions by sponsoring companies, but I did learn quite a bit about this field. I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t know a damn thing about mobile advertising. I’m super late to the game, as I’ve just gotten my Motorola Droid about three weeks ago, which also happens to be the first phone I have ever gotten that had an internet plan with it (I really don’t know how I made it throughout the 2000s without one).

It appears as though many of the mobile advertising trends involve iconography: ad-over-video placements have evolved into icon-over-video placements, allowing you to get more information about what you just saw. Later presentations spoke of the amazing future of smartphones: they’ll replace search engines. Yeah. Thank those QR codes. Imagine a world where your searches will be done with that now-nearly-worthless “barcode scanner” app, just by taking a snapshot of a storefront’s QR code in their window display. Price comparisons will be perfected. Scans will bring up all of the information you need. Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate the creation of mobile sites (even though I still hate .mobi, it’s all about m.whatever.com at present).

“Checking in” was undoubtedly one of the hottest topics. The ability to use your smartphone to lock in your location, broadcast it, and leave a comment is only getting hotter by the day. I’m now nearing my 4 month anniversary of using Foursquare, and it was one of the most talked about services at the iMedia Summit – it even had its own segment. Expect the whole “check in” trend to be seen elsewhere: all of the big retailers will start showcasing their own little Foursquare-clones for their own products. In fact, Kraft has already done this with the “iFood Assistant” app. As stated in one of my previous articles, I can’t wait until a “check in” plug-in comes to Joomla or WordPress.org!

We all had the chance to pick one “master class” to attend near the end of the summit: I couldn’t resist my choice…the unveiling of a 3D TV. If you follow me on Squidoo, you’ve probably seen my lens called “3D Movies Make Me Sick!“, and it’s all about my experience getting insanely ill during the 3D screening of Avatar. I was pleasantly surprised to see that 3D TV contains the picture within the screen, vastly decreasing the possibility of hurling from motion sickness. I’ve decided not to get that Sony Bravia XBR after all – it’s all about the 3D with me, now!

Amidst all of the “free show stuff” you get at these events, one in particular took the limelight: digital ad company Adconion promised that if you give their salespeople just a half hour to do their pitch, they will hand deliver you an iPad in April. The room literally fell silent as everyone looked at each other like deer in the headlights. Someone in the front row actually made the guy repeat himself.

Every night was another pleasant surprise at the Breakthrough Summit. The dinners were nothing short of totally awesome: most of them were buffet style, pleasing the all-you-can-eat crowd. One night featured a mini-concert from up-coming band, Company of Thieves, which was sponsored by VEVO (you’ve probably known them by surfing through Youtube: they seem to “present” all official music videos in high-def). Over the course of those five days, I had my fill of everything from fresh ravioli to Cajun food, barbecue and everything in between. iMedia was so thoughtful that they even held a farewell breakfast the day after the summit was over.

Ray Kurzweil, inventor and author of a nerd favorite, “The Singularity is Near,” spoke of distant future technologies. Imagine a world of nanobots that circulate through your bloodstream, oxygenating your body and virtually enabling you to “sit at the bottom of your pool for 4 hours straight.” It’s no BS – it’s coming…but in a good 20 years. Kurzweil also spoke of the rapid acceleration of technology along with the “miniaturization” of hardware. You know, how those room-sized computers of our father’s age are now much faster and more capable, and fit in the palm of your hand. Where does it go from there? Everything seems to point toward nanotechnology.

The iMedia Breakthrough Summit was a huge networking event: picture a mix of marketers and salesmen (not locking horns for once); meeting, drinking and unwinding between attending partial days of lectures. The event itself is invite-only. The only reason why I got in was through the generosity of the creative firm my company hired. While the days were all set forth in an itinerary, there was always plenty of time to enjoy the resort afterward. There was even a recreation day where I got to attend those golf lessons I’ve been putting off since 1998.

Overall, the event planners did an amazing job of balancing work and play: it was a stress free week where you got to learn and relax equally. Mix in part marketing & sales lectures with “offbeat” presentations, recreation and good old “getting blasted at the hotel bar after hours,” and you have yourself one hell of a great week whose memories will stick with you. If you’re a marketer or a sales rep for an SEM company, do everything you can to get on the waiting list or find an invitation to any of the iMedia Summits. It’s truly an experience you’ll want to, well, experience!

Google Voice really “Googlified” GrandCentral – it has the same look and feel of Gmail or AdWords, and the most amusing part is that it will turn your voice mails into pure text (and it does a pretty damn good job at it). Somewhere along the line, you have to take a good hard look at this service and appreciate how cool it really is.

Here’s an example…I called my Google Voice phone number that I had set up this past summer on a land line phone. The instant I call, my cell phone goes off. I ignore it, of course. An automated response greets you after a few rings, and lets you know that it “will forward you to (queue the voicemail you’ve created for your Google Voice account)”. It then asks you to speak your name, and then your message. After hanging up, my cell phone vibrates again, with the message: “You’ve got a new voicemail from __”.

I then log into my Google Voice account, and there’s a new message. It lists a new message with a timestamp. The voicemail itself was transcribed into text, and it even has a little “play” button so that I can hear it online. It’s truly great.

Back when this service was still GrandCentral, you were only allowed to use the account for personal reasons – it couldn’t be used as your business number. Google appears to have removed that demand from their terms of service. I use my Google Voice number on all of my online business directory listings, since I don’t want to put my cell phone number out there for the whole world to see. This is a truly great service, because I, a business owner, don’t have to purchase a second line for my own business, just for privacy reasons! Google Voice also accepts incoming text messages, as well.

There’s only one catch to the service: if it is not used once every 9 months, Google will close your account. Be sure to call yourself if nobody else does :)

If you manage to get a Google Voice invite (it’s still an exclusive members-only deal at the moment), be sure to give it a full run!

First of all, there are two ways to sell a used car on eBay: eBay Motors Local Classified Ad and regular auction (which we all know of). Local Listings is actually 100% free. Yes, that’s right – it doesn’t cost you a thing, and there’s absolutely no fine print. HOWEVER…it is not your typically-formatted eBay transaction: all you do is post your car and desired price. There’s no auction, nor is there a Buy It Now. It’s just like putting your car into one of those free circulars in town, except you have a much bigger audience on a site like eBay.

I tried eBay Local Classifieds for a 7-day period, and wound up getting 5 queries. Every one of them asked if they could come over to see the car, which is understandable. However, the obvious drawback here is that I’d have to put up with the same usual haggling and lowball offers that I would in the local paper. Once the eBay Local Classified Ad had ended, I decided to go for the tougher option, and put the car up for sale as a regular auction.

There’s one thing you’ll have to keep in mind when selling your car on eBay: it comes with a hefty fee. Therefore, list your car with the price you want to get for it, PLUS the cost of listing it. The cost for selling a used car on eBay is a $125 successful listing fee (that means your car hits the reserve price or someone buys it with “Buy It Now”), plus a Reserve fee of $7 (if you used it), as well as a Buy It Now fee (if you used that, too). I wound up using these two options.

Doing Your Research on Comparable Cars

Your first stop is Kelley Blue Book – here, you’ll be able to get a relatively close appraisal for your car. Don’t be too generous with the final step when it asks you for the “condition” of your car. Very few people truly have used cars in “excellent” condition, unless the car is dent-free and has a fresh paint job. The middle value is usually the way to go, unless you’ve really beaten the crap out of your car or never got it fixed from past accidents. Regardless of what car salesmen and insurance adjusters tell you, the KBB value is pretty spot on in regard to what your car is worth in the used car market.

Before listing your used car on eBay, check out what they’ve gone for in the past. The best way to do this is to do a search for your car (i.e., “2000 toyota camry LE”), then on the left hand column, click “Completed Auctions,” click “submit,” and see the auctions for other similar cars that have sold. Note their final price, and compare it to your car’s mileage and options. This will give you a good idea about what your car should be selling for.

Now, you have two great sources dictating what your car should be worth. It’s now time to actually create the listing!

Writing for Success on eBay

When you list your item, there are ways you can make your listing much more attractive. First of all, your title should be VERY descriptive. Use a format like this: “2000 Toyota Camry LE in Queens NY.” Why that format? It lists the year, make, model, trim and location in one title. You’ve just eliminated everyone who wasn’t willing to buy “LE” trim camry or a car located in “Queens NY”, and attracted the ones who do…all by seeing your listing on an eBay search result page!

Within your description, write a nice summary paragraph. Mention who the original owner was (it’s always a bonus if it was you, and if it never had any previous owners). Talk about the condition of the car.

Don’t mention accidents – let that be a “don’t ask, don’t tell” issue. It’s not dishonest, unless you lie when someone asks you! Know that anyone can very easily run a Carfax report on your car, which lists every single accident it’s been in. Yes, Carfax costs money, but it’s really common to go to any car forum and find people asking others, “..hey, can you get me a Carfax on this car that’s up on eBay?” Your car’s VIN number is forced to display on your auction page. If you lie about accidents and come across one of these people, you’ll look really stupid.

Make the listing as positive and attractive as possible. List everything you’ve put into the car, with the dates when you’ve purchased them: brake pads, belts, tires, tune ups, replacements, etc. It shows that you care about the next owner by giving them the information that they not only want to see, but the information that might help influence them further. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather consider a eBay used car listing with a readily available list of improvements over one that has no information at all. Always think in the shoes of the buyer and what they’d like to see as a potential used car owner.

Aside from the description, you’ll want to post pictures. Unfortunately, eBay charges too much for additional pictures. Fortunately, you can post as many as you want, for free :)  Simply go to PhotoBucket or Flickr, create a free account if you don’t already have one, and upload all of the pictures of your car (they should include all angles: head-on, front quarter panel, full side, rear corner, back, interior facing dashboard, backseat, and finally, the engine bay and the trunk). Make sure the images aren’t too big – 600px by 450px should be more than enough. When you’ve posted these pictures, simply copy and paste the “direct URL” of these images, and insert them into your eBay auction under the description using plain HTML image tags. You’ve just saved yourself money by not paying for a worthless eBay feature.

Setting the Price

The final step is to choose how you want the auction to run. Will you let it go as a plain old auction, hoping for the best as the week goes by? Or, do you want a little security in case the auction doesn’t go as well as you had hoped? I wanted the latter, so I opted in for both a Reserve Price and Buy It Now. The Reserve Price is the least you’ll accept as an offer, it’s an invisible number that only you can ever see. Unless someone hits this number throughout the course of the auction, you are not obliged to take the winning bid. On top of that, you can make things easy on others (and yourself) by setting a Buy It Now price. This is the set price in your mind that you really want to get for your used car. If it’s overblown, then don’t waste your time or anyone else’s. Another good tactic is to mention “This car’s Blue Book value is $X” directly on your auction, so that people know you took the time to do research…don’t worry, they did research, too. Let it be a couple hundred bucks below your car’s KBB value. Once someone uses Buy It Now, your auction ends immediately and they have purchased the item, making it an invaluable service for the seller.

So, I set my Buy It Now price at the price I really wanted for my car ($5,900), the reserve price at $5,700 which was the bare minimum I would have accepted, and the starting price at $4,000 to get people interested. I already knew what comparable cars went for, so I was pretty confident. My auction got 4 bids in 24 hours, and finally, someone did the Buy It Now.

Setting the Auction Terms

Take it from me, you’ll want to do two things when you sell a used car on eBay. First of all, make it be cash only. Why? Well, personal checks, bank checks, cashier’s checks and PayPal can all be canceled. So, they can pay you, pick up the car, disappear, then stop payment. You’re pretty screwed in that case, and nobody on Earth wants to be in these kinds of court battles. Protect yourself and demand cash. Either that, or clearly state that checks and PayPal are accepted only when the money has successfully been deposited in your back account – until then, the transaction will not happen, and they understand and agree to these terms when they bid on your auction. When you put that in writing ON your eBay auction, it’s as good as gold.

Secondly, be sure to state that you will not help in any way with the transportation of the used car once it has been sold. It is entirely up to the buyer to figure that out for him/herself, no exceptions.

Stand Firmly – Take No BS

People are people, that’s for sure, and they might attempt to swindle the deal after it’s over. Here are several scenarios that can happen after you’ve sold your used car on eBay:

• They might want to ask if they are obliged to buy this car in case they see it and don’t like it. The answer is “yes,” they have entered a contractual agreement by clicking “bid” or “Buy It Now.” This is clearly stated in eBay’s terms. Refer them to read the terms in case they ask this question. eBay even reminds them that they commit to buy once pressing the big button. It doesn’t matter if your car is a beauty or a total piece of crap – when they bought it, they committed to it.
• They might want to persuade you to help them transport the car. Now you know why I told you to explicitly say that you will not help with this! Be firm and reiterate that you stated in your terms that this would not be included in the transaction. If they don’t like it – it’s too bad. It’s in writing.
• They might beg you to reconsider payment terms. If you asked for cash, they might insist on PayPal, and mention that they’re not comfortable carrying thousands of dollars in cash. Once again, that’s too bad – they bid on this auction having read your terms, and clearly knowing what they are. If they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t or shouldn’t have bid on it.

The Receipt

Once the buyer arrives (and hopefully all went well), count your cash to make sure it’s all there, and give them a receipt. This usually says “On (date), I, (your name), sold a (car year, make, model) to (buyer’s name) for (dollar amount). Signed (your name, date), (buyer’s name, date).” Make two of these, so that you both have a copy.

That should be it! Selling a car on eBay is relatively painless. What I like the most is that the buyer HAS to buy it when they’ve won it (otherwise, don’t delay and start the dispute resolution process). It doesn’t go that way when you put an ad in the paper. I don’t have the time, patience nor people skills to deal with hagglers and hardcore negotiators. This was truly a great experience, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to list their used car on a massive site that gets a lot of eyeballs. From the research I’ve done, it seemed as though most cars wound up getting sold after being put up on eBay, so, why not try it out for yourself?