jbond

Can do: "Apple was almost completely destroyed but it’s" .. "Apple was almost completely destroyed by its" - proofreading would catch "but/by". "It's" is a contraction for "it is". No apostrophe is needed.

"between today market situation and the past" .. "between today's market situation and the past" - "Today" is used as a possessive so it owns the "market situation". Ownership (in many cases) necessitates an apostrophe+"s". This is John's car. Tomorrow is Kate's birthday. It's a nuance that an ESL student can easily miss.

In fact, rereading your entire post I see many things that are rules that can easily be overlooked by ESL students.

Also, dashes ("-") should not be used for pauses unless they are being used for dramatic effect (someone will correct me on this and that's OK.) In every place where you used it (I count 4) it should either be replaced with a comma or eliminated.

"Apple announced it’s newest baby – game-changing device" .. "Apple announced its newest baby, a game-changing device"

"During the “PC war” there was a common platform for all the PC Clones – it was Microsoft DOS/Windows." .. "During the “PC war” Microsoft DOS/Windows was the common platform for all the PC clones."

"And here we are today – Apple is not afraid of competitors" .. "So here we are today. Apple is not afraid of competitors"

"we know it can be done – JQTouch anyone?" - OK

"write native apps for Android – instead they should reward" .. "write native apps for Android. Instead they should reward"

Just keep writing and practicing your skills.

Everyone is going to flame me for this but what the hell - Dude, please.. spell and grammar check before you post stuff on your blog. There is no way you are going to be taken seriously if your content reads like a C-average high school essay.

What you would need to do is start a retail store that either:

A) Sold the product at a price competitive to the online retailers (competitive can mean price or value-add services like knowledgeable salespeople, free delivery, etc.)

or

B) Provided great advice, directed a customer to the cheapest internet price and then had a value-add service. The store would then get paid via the internet store from which the item was purchased. The problem with this approach is that after time it would be beneficial (in the short term) for the retail store to direct customers to whichever online store gave the retail store the best kick back.

I, too, negotiate everything. You would be surprised at how much wiggle room there is at a national retailer like Best Buy for big-ticket items.

Here are some ground rules and the steps I use to haggle: Haggling works better if you can pay in cash. Know how much you are willing to spend and do not exceed it! Never, ever reveal to the salesperson how much you are willing to spend.

1. Express a casual and not too focused interest in the item (HDTV is a perfect example).

2. Show that you understand the product and are in the market for a new television.

3. Mention how the store's competitors and the internet are making it easier to price compare.

4. Ask if there are any specials on your particular model (are they throwing in a Blu-ray player? Free DVDs? Sales price that doesn't go into effect until the weekend?).

5. Let the salesperson know that the currently advertised price is more than your are willing to spend and ask him/her if there is anything they can do to bring the price down. If they ask what you price you would like to see then give them a number below your predefined maximum spending limit. It's up to you to gauge how much lower, and you will find that after time this number gets to be farther and farther from your max limit the comfortable you get at negotiating.

6. Make the deal at this price, or continue to haggle until you've crossed your limit and are ready to leave.

7. If you don't make the deal, you have four options:

  You can go back tomorrow and try with a different sales person

  You can head to a different store and try again.

  You can raise your max spending limit (not recommended).

  You can decide that you really didn't need the product anyway.

Thank you noodle, byoung2, skushch, joshuarr and intregus for testing and giving me the advice. I will make those changes, add the features and try to launch again by next weekend.

byoung2: No idea how I'm going to make money. This was a test to see if I could make a useful product. For now consider it a free image host to use if you'd like to and keep an eye out for the recommended changes.

THANK YOU ALL!