Shopping has never been more pleasurable for young boys and girls, than it is today. Gone are the days, when people would go to a mall to purchase a gift for their love, now they find the gift of their life in the malls – their love.

The malls in Bahrain have never witnessed such stampede of youngsters and all because the type of shopping that is done is not one that requires bags.

Immaculately dressed young men wearing designer clothes look openly at groups of young women made up beautifully wearing expensive perfumes, the two sides looking at each other, giving cold shoulder to the taboo against meeting before wedlock.

This is the normal weekend routine. Every weekend sees thousands of young men and women from around the Gulf come down to Bahrain, which is considered to be one of the most relaxed Muslim countries. These youngsters visit Bahrain only to prowl the malls for love.

According to one young boy, “the mall is the meeting place for the girls. Firstly, we watch, they watch. I smile, they smile, then I go to her and give her my number. You have to be careful of their family. If they turn up I get out of there quick.”

Meetings between unknown men and women, is not looked at favorably in the Gulf society and in the neighboring country of Saudi Arabia. Muslim families are generally extremely strict when it comes to their children meeting strangers. There are even special religious police that are always on the lookout to arrest transgressors. (more…)

Now, do not start pouring home-made beer in the cars, you will achieve nothing except getting your car drunk.

Alcohol is proving to have many more benefits than we ever thought, it gives us pleasure, it can be used as medicine and it can now be used as aviation and automotive fuel.

A new company has come up with a machine that will help drivers kick the oil habit and make ethanol at home, to help millions of people facing the spiking oil price problem.

When Ethanol made at home is used as fuel, there is no risk of pollution, no hydrocarbons, the car will run much cooler and faster and the miles per tank of fuel is the same as with using the regular fuel. However, in the current economic situation, the crucial factor is that it is extremely economical to make.

A company called E-Fuel Corp, created “MicroFueler,” which they say is the first machine in the world that allows people to make their own ethanol and pump it directly into their cars.

This unit which costs $10000, is portable and looks like a gasoline station pump with a nozzle. They say, this is the best way of avoiding the huge hikes in fuel prices.

The company says that MicroFueler has a sweet tooth, which is very economical to buyers. Sugar is mixed with a type of yeast developed by the company. (more…)

Mystery shopping is a dream job for many. The benefits are easy to see – you get paid to shop and most of your purchases are free. The downfalls, however, are a bit harder to find in the clever dialog on websites urging you to sign-up. In truth, mystery shopping is a great gig if you can get your foot in the door. But even then, it’s a better hobby than career.

Mystery Shopping

A mystery shopper is an individual paid to visit a store and who must answer a very detailed questionnaire about her experience. She doesn’t get to share her actual opinions very often, however. Instead she answers pages of questions such as “How long did it take before you were greeted?” The shopper is often compensated for a small purchase so that she can experience the full shopping spectrum of the establishment.

The mystery shoppers we envy are those that are invited to partake in resorts, cruises and airline travel so that they can analyze the experience. Even the shoppers invited to spend time in fine restaurants and who are allowed to buy trinkets in designer stores are worthy of envy from those eager to begin their own mystery shopping career. Unfortunately, like professional sports or acting, only a few get the glory – the rest have to find part-time jobs to support the habit. (more…)

Coupon clipping is not a sport to be taken lightly. It used to be that coupons were easy to find and clip, then were even easier to double or triple by shopping on certain days. Today, coupons are a bit less common in newspapers, but can still be found online, at cash registers and other locations as well – they just aren’t all in one section of the paper the way they used to be. But it looks as though finding coupons to clip may quickly be becoming a thing of the past. Coupons are going digital.

Digital Coupons
Kroger and Proctor & Gamble have teamed up to try a new digital coupon field test. Digital coupons can be downloaded onto the loyal member card most grocery stores now offer, and then used at the cash register. The only drawback to these digital coupons, other than the public’s fear of anything new, is that they are not eligible to be doubled or tripled.

Leave the Mess
Digital coupons are simple to “clip.” They are available online through the grocery store websites. Currently, digital coupons are limited, but that won’t last too long. Traditional coupons require hours of sorting, cutting and organizing only to have to reorganize and shuffle the little pieces of paper at the cashier while shopping. Coupon clipping can be rewarding, especially on double or triple days, but the work involved is offsetting to many would-be clippers. (more…)

Streaming video and video downloads have gained significantly in popularity and now two major news items in online movie rentals have made the industry more attractive. Steve Jobs announced that iTunes would begin renting movies for a twenty-four hour period. This is expected, but welcome news nevertheless. Netflix, one of the leading websites for online rentals of traditional DVDs and streaming videos has recently announced that there will be no limit to the amount of streaming video and television shows available from the site.

iTunes
Apple has revolutionized music thanks to the iPod, and now music has given way to movies, music videos, television shows and more that can all be downloaded and enjoyed on your computer and on your iPod or iPhone. Movie and television episodes have had strong sales through Apple’s iTunes for years, but the new streaming video available from the site will heat up competition with others such as Blockbuster and Netflix. iTunes is already a household name associated with music. Expanding downloads to movies is a logical step.

Neflix Video Streaming
Netflix launched its video streaming service last year. In the first six months the service delivered five million movies and television shows. In the six weeks following that time period, sales doubled to ten million. Netflix hasn’t released the official statistics for all of 2007, but early signs are pointing up for video streaming. Of course, Apple’s new service may present some heavy competition as much of the Netflix video streaming clientele are using iTunes already for music, but only time will tell.

As Netflix is the most notable pioneer into video streaming, much of the industry’s data can be gathered from its renters. Video streaming is most popular with individuals under the age of thirty who are comfortable on the internet and watching video on the computer. There are simple ways to transfer video to the television, but many streaming video subscribers watch their movies or shows directly on the computer. (more…)

Why the day that officially begins the joyous Christmas season has such a dismal name, we may never know. Perhaps Black Friday is named for the many stores that open while it is still dark, drawing in eager customers with loss leaders and phenomenal deals.

Although industry experts claim Black Friday is the shopping day that pulls many companies back into the black financially, the traffic jamming shopping mall parking lots and pumping exhaust into the wintry air may better deserve the title. Whatever the reason, Black Friday, and more recently the online equivalent, Cyber Monday, are milestones for retailers of every kind all across America.

Doorbusting Deals
The day after Thanksgiving is not a national holiday, but is typically offered as such to employees. Free from work to get started on Christmas shopping, customers swarm to retailers to take advantage of incredible deals, presented to consumers to draw them in the door. From enduring bumper-to-bumper traffic on the streets and in the parking lots, to standing in hour-long lines, customers are willing to go through a lot to get the perfect gift, not to mention the pocketbook-pleasing price. (more…)

Christmas is a time of year that forces everyone to shop. How customers go about their shopping, and whether or not they enjoy it, is far from universal, however. The shopping styles and preferences of men and women, for instance, are worlds apart. To use the old metaphor, it’s as if men and women were from different planets. Many shoppers, both male and female, are taking their shopping habits online as they rely more on ecommerce to fulfill their Christmas lists.

Ladies Want It All
Simply stated, while Christmas shopping, women are more invested in the whole shopping experience. This means female shoppers are more likely to be willing to browse through seemingly unrelated items, and want salespeople to treat them like they are important, share their knowledge about their products, and offer recommendations that they think may be of value or interest to the customer.

The helpfulness of salespeople when shopping is a priority to women. Almost thirty percent of women claim the number-one problem while shopping is a lack of help when its needed. Having a representative online available to offer individualized help to customers, or at least providing an easily searched list of frequently asked questions or commonly faced problems to help a damsel in distress will help women troubleshoot any difficulties they face while shopping online.

Men on a Mission
Men, on the other hand, are more straightforward. When they shop, they are on a mission to find the item that they came for, pay for it, and then be done so they can go do something that they enjoy more than shopping. They want the item to be easy to find, in stock, and quick to buy. The number one problem men face is lack of parking near the entrance of a store, at least according to twenty-nine percent of those surveyed. (more…)

Safety is critical for children, and an entire industry has sprung up to help keep our children safe. Guidelines are strict and when we discover that something we believed to be safe is in fact, not, there is a powerful reaction from parents, media and even the government. Sometimes we can’t avoid dangers, such as when toys from reputable companies are painted with lead-based paint, but other times we can prevent many of the potential dangers that surround us and our children every day.

Research
The most important step parents can do to keep children safe is to research a decision. In the case of a small toy, the research will obviously be much shorter and might simply be comparison based in the store. But for large items such as cribs and car seats, take plenty of time and read reports to be sure you are purchasing the safest products available.

Recalls can tell you much about products, but be sure to understand the basis of the recall. Cribs were recently recalled because parents were installing part of it upside down. While this can be dangerous, it is not as dangerous as a much smaller recall for crib slats whose screws were falling out. (Both recalls were for Simplicity cribs.) Price doesn’t always mean quality, but there is usually a line where price assures quality without paying for brand names or logos. (more…)