Search engine giant Google played its annual April Fools prank on its users.

Millions of search customers woke up to see that Google had changed its name to “TOPEKA.”

When I logged into Facebook I was shocked to see a close friend of mine had changed her relationship status to “in a relationship.” Usually I would have known before this coming on Facebook but then wisdom dawned before I could comment anything stupid on that status!

Some of the best pranks were played by the British media to their readers.

The Sun reported it has developed the world’s first flavoured newspaper page and invited readers to lick a square of newsprint “to reveal a hidden taste.” Just below the spot to be licked was the fine-print warning: “May contain nuts.”

The Daily Mail reported that the Automobile Association (AA), which deals with emergency callouts to car breakdowns, had equipped its staff with jet-packs to fly over gridlocked traffic to reach stranded motorists faster.

In an elaborate mock-up, The Guardian said the ruling Labour Party was to use Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s “reputation for anger and physical aggression” in a new poster campaign ahead of an election expected on May 6. Posters appeared alongside the article — one showed a photo of Brown scowling next to the phrase “Step outside posh boy,” while another pictured him grinning and saying “I took billions from pensions wanna make something of it?”

The Daily Mirror ran a picture of Queen Elizabeth apparently taking a a flight with the budget airline easyJet, while The Independent reported that nuclear scientists want to turn London’s Circle Line subway into a particle accelerator similar to the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. It said there were safety concerns about “a mini-black hole being created at Westminster (home to Britain’s Parliament) when the two proton beams collide.”

Not all were foolhardy….

Not every story that looks like an April Fool is an April Fool. A number of news items published yesterday might have given rise to suspicion of a hoax but were actually true. For example, coastguards in Falmouth, Cornwall, picked up a distress signal from the MV Titanic in the Caribbean. Three people were on the vessel, which was taking on water and suffering from electrical failure, and details were passed on to the US Coast Guard.

Elsewhere, a British van driver who hit two ducks while driving home through Belgium discovered one of them alive, wedged under the bonnet, when he stopped to inspect the damage at a motorway service station on the M1. He took the duck to a rescue centre, which said it had a broken wing but should make a good recovery. Unlikely it may have been – but it definitely happened.

I have categorised the deals and linked directly to them in each case. Voucher codes and promo codes have also been provided wherever available.

A. CLOTHING AND APPAREL DEALS

1. DEBENHAMS: Juliana lined curtains with pencil heading for £35 £1

Yes, the above curtains for just one quid at Debenhams! Click here to go to deal.
NOTE: Upto 70% Sale on at Debenhams online and instore
Use Voucher Code SHD1 at checkout for FREE Delivery

2. PREZZYBOX: Official Borat Mankini for £4.95

Click here to go to deal

Use PROMO CODE SAVEFIVE at checkout to get £5 off a minimum of £20 shopping

3. SAVILE ROW: All Suits Reduced to £175 from RRP £500

Click here to go to deal

Use Voucher code KKY9 at checkout to get free silk tie & giftbox (minimum spend £20)

4. BURTON: Jeans from £10 (extra 10% discount with voucher)

Click here to go to deal

Note: Upto 60% SALE on at Burton instore and online

Use promo code nus10 at checkout to get a further 10% discount

5. JD SPORTS: Adidas Predator Absolado Football Boots for £44.99 £19.99

Click here to go to deal

No voucher codes available

6. BOOHOO: Frejja one shoulder top WAS £15 NOW £7.50

Click here to go to  deal

Note: Upto 75% SALE on both instore and online at BooHoo

Use voucher code DEL241 at checkout for Free Delivery

7. MandMDirect: Kangaroo Poo Men’s Scarf £9.99 now £2.99

Click here to go to deal

Note: Massive warehouse clearance sale online, upo 80%off

Use voucher code NG9R at checkout for FREE Delivery on orders over £20

B. GROCERY AND HOMEWARE DEALS

8. WAITROSE: Save £10 PLUS Free Delivery with Waitrose this New Year (online exclusive)

Step 1—>Add items worth at least £50 to your shopping cart on Waitrose Deliver

Step 2—>Enter promo code newyear10 at checkout (offer expires January 16, 2010)

Step 3—>Get a 10 Pound discount and Free Delivery on your shop.

9. TESCO:  £5 off your first grocery shop

Step1—>Add items worth £50 or more to your shopping cart on Tesco online

Step 2—>Use voucher code GRRX4F for FREE Delivery and XXPACK for a £5 discount

Step 3—>Pay and enjoy

10. MYSUPERMARKET: Compare and get the lowest prices on your grocery

MySuperMarket is a grocery price comparison and shopping site which actually enables you to buy your groceries from four major retailers – ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury and Ocado. For example if you want to shop at Sainsbury just go to MySupermarket, select Sainsbury and start adding items to your cart. As you fill your cart you will notice that the tabs for tesco, asda and ocado are also filling up with the same or similar items along with prices. You can choose to buy the same itmes you added to your sainsbury cart (you may find ASDA the cheapest) from any of the other 3 retailers by just clicking once on their tabs.The final items that are actually delivered to your house are directly from the retailers and not mysupermarket.

USE voucher code M4UK75GG for Free Delivery on orders over £50 at ASDA

C. ELECTRONICS AND CAMERA DEALS

11. PLAY.COM: Sony BDP-S360 Blu-ray Disc Player for £94.99 RRP £149.99 | You save: £55.00 (36%)

Media Type: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD, CD, DVD+R DL, BD-R, BD-RE, BD-ROM, DVD-R DL

Click here to go to deal

No further discount codes available

12. COMET: Panasonic TX-P42G15B  42″ LCD TV with built in HD tuner £1199.99 £799.99 (Save 1/3)

- HD ready: Yes
- 1080HD: 1080p
- 100Hz & over: Yes
- Built in freesat HD tuner: Yes
- Reception: Digital Tuner with all Freeview channels

42 inch plasma TV featuring Full-HD NeoPDP with Freesat built-in, superb moving picture quality with 1080p technology and advanced networking capabilities with VIERA Link.

Click here to go to deal

No promo code for Comet currently available

13. JESSOPS: Nikon Coolpix S225 Digital Camera (10MP, 3xOpt) Plus FREE camera cleaning kit – £81.88 including delivery

Click here to go to deal. Standard delivery is free.

Use voucher code CAMERAS8 to get 10% discount

14. CURRYS: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W190 Compact Digital Camera £99.99 WAS £199.99

This Sony Cyber-shot makes it easy to capture HD quality photos. This super slim, stylish camera can slip comfortably into a pocket or bag ready to shoot stunning photos in an instant

* 12 Million Pixels
* 3 x Optical Zoom
* 2.7″ LCD Screen
* Rechargable Battery
* MSPD Memory Type

Click here to go to deal

Use voucher code 5INTEGRATED for a 5% discount on shopping over £249 at Currys.

15. CREATIVE LABS: Creative Zen X-fi 16GB (great alternative to ipod) NOW £119.99 WAS £181.97

The ZEN X-Fi in its 16GB version delivers the pleasure of pure music listening, with wireless support for extra versatility. The glossy case gives the player a distinctive look, and inside there’s Xtreme Fidelity technology, which restores crystal clarity to MP3s and takes all your music to a higher level. The top-quality in-ear earphones give you the best music playback, and Wireless LAN support lets you stream music and video from your PC to the player around the home, download content and chat online. The large, full-colour screen is great for watching videos and photos, while the built-in speaker lets you share your music.

Click here to go to deal
No promo codes available

D. BLU-RAY, DVD AND MUSIC DEALS

16. THE HUT: Basic Instinct Blu-Ray Disc £4.95 WAS £19.79 (75% off)

The chemistry between Douglas and Stone set the screen alight as the body count mounts and the stakes grown higher. Boasting One Of The Most Talked About Scenes In Film History, Basic Instinct Is At Once A Study In Sexual Obsession And A Ground-Breaking Thriller.

Click here to go to deal

Free delivery on all orders online.

17. LOVEFILM: Get 2 months unlimited DVD Rental (Free trial)

Usually a LoveFilm FREE trial is for 14 days but with the voucher code below it can be extended to 60 days!

- Best deal is to sign up for the unlimited combination 3 disc package (games and films) which is usually £18.59 per month.
- No obligation to keep the account after the trial.

- Click here to go to deal

- Use promo code C6XWK4K7F to make it a 60 day trial

18. NAPSTER: Free 30-day trial – listen to more than 8 million songs – keep 12 MP3s for yourself!

Best Value legal MP3 share service.

Click here to go to deal

Just end the trial before 30 days end and your card wont be charged.

19. BLINKBOX: Buy a movie for FREE (download or watch online)

Blinkbox is a premium film and TV site that offers you the chance to stream or download over 5,000 movies and TV shows. You can rent or buy films or programmes, as well as watch a whole host of TV shows and films.

Step 1: Register on blinkbox

Step2: Use voucher code DIGITALSPY5 to get a £5 discount on any movie or TV show. Any movie that costs 5 Pounds or less is free using this voucher!

Quite a few movies and TV shows are already free for viewing on this site.

20. HMV: Alfred Hitchcock 15 DVD Boxed Set £17.99 was £34.99

Alfred Hitchcock is known as the master of suspense and has been given the title of ‘auteur’ for his classic films which were much ahead of his time. This 15DVD box set features 14 films from Hitchcock, drawn from his later American work the set contains: Psycho (Double Disc Set), Frenzy, Rope, The Trouble With Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), The Birds, Topaz, Marnie, Vertigo, Rear Window, Torn Curtain, Shadow Of A Doubt, Saboteur & Family Plot.

Click here to go to deal

FREE UK DELIVERY. No further promo codes available

E. GAMES AND CONSOLES DEALS

21.DIXONS: CSI Crime Scene Investigation – Hard Evidence [PC-Game] DVD-ROM

RRP:  £34.99 You Save: £30.02
£4.97
PC 

Free Delivery

Click here to go to deal

22. PIXMANIA: Sony PS3 Slim 120GB for £220 (lowest UK price anywhere)

Price comparison at 19:30pm 11 December 2009:
PIXmania: £220
Amazon: £244.69
Play.com: £249.99
Comet: £249.99
Dixons: £244.69

In spite of its ultra-compact design, the Playstation 3 Slim is just as powerful as the original PS3!

Step into the world of next-generation gaming, multimedia and more with the PlayStation 3 Slim and its built-in Blu-ray player and 120 GB hard drive. You can listen to MP3 music and view photos and videos directly on your PS3 Slim.

Click here to go to Deal

Use vocuher code PIXSALEUK1 to get £5 off a minimum £180 shop at PixMania

23. DIXONS: Avatar – the Game [PS3]  (Based on the movie by James Cameron)

RRP:  £49.99 You Save: £25.02

£24.97
PS3

Free Delivery

Click here to go to deal

24. AMAZON: Nintendo Wii Console (Black) with Wii Sports Resort and Motion Plus Controller (Wii)

RRP:      £179.99
Price:     £164.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK

You Save:      £15.00 (8%)

# Includes:
# Black Wii Console
# Wii Remote
# Wii Nunchuk
# Wii Sports
# Wii Sports Resort (with Wii MotionPlus)

Click here to go to deal

25. GAME: Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars (Wii)

RRP £39.99
You Save £33.01
£6.98
Mushroom Men, The Spore Wars continues the story started on the DS version. The Spore Wars rage fully across the miniature landscape. Pax does not yet understand his place in the world of Mushrooms, when he accidentally absorbs a meteorite while training with the Bolete Sage. Pax is then banished until he can bring back another of the life-giving rocks that the Sage believes made the Mushrooms sentient.

Click here to go to Deal
Use voucher code YSFTTWYXA to get £5 off when you spend over £50 at GAME

F. MOBILE CONTRACT AND PAYG PHONE DEALS

26. THREE MOBILE: Nokia E71 Grey With the £25 Internet Texter plan (24 Months)

Unlimited Internet
Unlimited Email
Unlimited 3-to-3 minutes
500 minutes (anytime, any network)

and, FREE Skype-to-Skype calls forever

Phone Specs

*  HSDPA
* Full email support (Mobile office mail, Mail for exchange)
* 2.36”QVGA 16 million colours
* 110Mb internal memory with support for an 8GB micro SD card
* 3.2 megapixel camera
* AGPS including all UK maps pre-loaded on Memory

Click here to go to Deal

Use voucher code HS14090828 at checkout to get £20 worth mobile accesories for FREE

27. CARPHONE WAREHOUSE: Get PS3 Slim 120GB  FREE with mobile contracts starting £25

The Sony PlayStaion 3 Slim 120GB is npow available  as a free gift on a variety of different mobile phone contracts starting £25 on Carphone Warehouse. You also get a free blu-ray movie disc and a PS3 game!

Click here to check out these contract phones and plans.

No futher vocuher codes availabe.

28. VODAFONE: Nokia N900 Smartphone for FREE with £40 contract

* 3.5 inch touchscreen display with built in accelerometer
* Full slide out QWERTY Keyboard

* 600Mhz processor with 256MB of RAM and a 32GB internal storage
* Maemo 5 OS – Download Apps, multi-task and customise your home screen
* Built-in Mozilla web browser with Adobe Flash support
* 5.0 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, LED Flash and Geo-tagging
* HSDPA mobile broadband, Wi-Fi and built-in GPS
* TV-out and Document viewer

Full Nokia N900 specs

Buy from Vodafone, get a one night hotel break for two FREE by entering promo code onenightfree at checkout

Buy from Mobiles.co.uk, and get £110 auto cashback or 11 months half price rental

29. ORANGE: Half price or less sale on vaious PAYG Handsets

Many Pay as you go handsets have been reduced by half price or less this holiday season by Orange. For example, you can get a Nokia 5030 for 12.50 (RRP £25). Check out all the phones.

Click here to go to deal

30. VODAFONE SMALL BUSINESS: HTC Touch Pro2 + unltd mobile internet+unltd landine calls+unltd text+750 mins on £30 contract

- Operating System – Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
- 3.6-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 480 X 800 WVGA resolution
- Adjustable tilt screen
- Slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard
- Internal GPS antenna
- Bluetooth® 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
- Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
- HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0, audio jack, and TV Out* in one)
- Main camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus
Second camera: VGA CMOS color camera

- Noise-cancelling dual microphones and speakers

Step 1: Click here and select the HTC Touch Pro 2   (add to basket)

Step2: Choose the £30 monthly plan. You get Unlimited internet, landline calls and texts wth 750 mins.

Step3: Go to checkout. Enter promo code freevisor to get a free super tooth visor!

G. PC, LAPTOP AND ACCESSORY DEALS

31. STAPLES:  Logitech Cordless Desktop Set EX110 – SAVE 25%

Package Contents
# Logitech® cordless keyboard
# Logitech® cordless optical mouse
# Compact USB – PS/2 RF receiver
# 2 AA and 2 AAA alkaline batteries
# CD with software, comfort guidelines and help center
# Quick Start Guide
# USB to PS/2 adapter
# 5-year limited hardware warranty

Click here to go to deal

Note: Loads of office supplies and technology items for sale at STAPLES

32. MACWAREHOUSE: Apple iMac Core 2 Duo 2.93 GHz – 24″ TFT   Was £929, Now £875. SAVE £54

*  Processor – Intel 2.93GHz Core 2 Duo
* Memory – 4GB DDR3 SDRAM
* Hard Drive – 640GB
* Optical Drive – DVD±RW (±R DL)
* Operating System – Apple MacOS X 10.6
* Cache Memory – 6 MB L2 Cache
* Networking – Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n (draft), Bluetooth 2.1 EDR

Click here to go to deal

33. HP: Photosmart Premium All-in-One Printer (CD055B) WAS £199 – NOW £95 plus FREE DELIVERY

- Print, copy, scan, direct digital photo print
- AIO multitasking supported
- Bit depth 48-bit
- Borderless printing
- Hi-Speed USB 2.0, Ethernet, PictBridge, Wireless 802.11n, Bluetooth
- Copier resize  – 25 to 400%

- 8.9 cm touchscreen colour graphics display (with TouchSmart control panel)
- Network ready – Standard (built-in Ethernet, Wireless 802.11n, Bluetooth)

Click here to go to deal

Note: Big HP Sale online  on a variety of items

34. PC WORLD: Toshiba Satellite L350-277  £549.99 and Free Delivery

Genuine Windows (R) 7 Home Premium
Intel Pentium Dual-Core processor T4300
(2.1Ghz, 800Mhz, 1MB Cache)
4GB DDR2 RAM
500 GB Hard disk
17″ screen

Click here to go to deal

Note: Clearance sale on a variety of items @ PC World

35. SAVERSTORE: LaCie 1.0TB External USB 2.0 Desktop Hard Drive £78.04 was £215.74

With Hi-Speed USB 2.0, this efficient hard drive makes a great companion to your PC or Mac. Setup is nearly effortless; it’s plug and play and offers customizable formatting. LaCie ’1-Click’ Backup Software for PC and Mac is included for quickly saving files in one click.

Click here to go to deal

H. TV PACKAGE AND BROADBAND DEALS

36. SKY: Upto 20MB Unlimited broadband free for first 6 months with free calls

PLUS

Get a £50 Marks & Spencer vocuher when you join Sky TV online with this broadband offer

Join Sky TV and get up to 20Mb broadband, free UK evening and weekend calls and great TV. All from just £18 a month for 6 months and just £10 extra a month thereafter. Offer ends 5 February.

Click here to go to deal

37. BT: £0 Connection Offer
Homeowners needing a new BT landline installed can now save themselves the £122.50 line connection charge and get free broadband & phone calls thanks to a new offer launched by BT. To qualify for the £0 line connection charge offer, customers must take any BT package containing a home phone calling plan. The offer can also be used in conjunction with BT’s current 3 months free broadband and phone calls deal.

This deal provides wireless broadband speeds up to 20Mbps courtesy of the free BT home hub, together with unlimited UK weekend phone calls and inclusive calls to 0845 & 0870 numbers.

Click here to go to deal
Offer valid till 31st Jan 2010

38. ORANGE BROADBAND: Unlimited 20MB broadband for 6.50 a month and first 3 months free if you buy Orange pay monthly sim or contract phone

Get the most from your broadband package with inclusive evening and weekend UK calls, unlimited superfast broadband, and save on your line rental.

Click here to go to deal

39. THREE: FREE Samsung N130 Laptop with 5GB mobile broadband @ £25/month+FREE modem

- 24 month contract

- Free next day delivery

- Huawei E1550 USB Modem free

Click here to go to deal

Use voucher code HS14090828 at checkout to get £20 worth mobile accesories for FREE

I. GROOMING AND FRAGRANCE DEALS

40. FRAGRANCE DIRECT: Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds Eau de Toilette Spray  RRP £55.00 £12.50

- 100ml

- Save £42.50

Click here to go to deal

Use vocuher code NU5 at checkout for an extra 5% discount

41. AVON New Year Sale – Most  items half price or less starting 80p

Avon sales are the best place to be to grab yourself a great bargain! Whether you want to save money or stock the cupboards up with essentials we have everything that you could possibly need, including cosmetics, haircare, toiletries, kids, jewellery and more.

Click here to go to SALE

Add promo code BONUS at basket for Free standard delivery on a £10 spend.
Also adds a free eye shadow compact on a £20 spend using same code.

42. SUPERDRUG: Ferrari Black, 75ml EDT £12.99

RRP £32.00
You save £19.01

Ferrari Black. Classified as a fresh and woody fragrance for men

Click here to go to deal

Use vocuher code TILL0507 for 10% of your first online Superdrug order. Free delivery over £35

43. BOOTS: FCUK Sport Absolute Zero Bootbag Gift Now £7.50

Was £15.00
You save £7.50

The essential gift for the man who loves his sport – FCUK Sport Absolute Zero Bootbag Gift comes with Hair & Bodywash and Bodyspray to cleanse and revive the body after a good workout, whatever the sport.

Click here to go to deal

Use voucher code FKAM28 to get 500 extra Advantage points when you spend £50 @ Boots

44. DEBENHAMS: Calvin Klein Splendid nails collection Now £20.00

Was £40.00

You save £20.00

A collection of nail polishes and accessories for the most splendid feet!

Click here to go to deal

Note: The Debenhams Blue cross sale is from 7th January – 11th January, upto 70% off.

J. TRAVEL AND TOURISM DEALS

45. DisneyLand Paris: New Year Offer
From £150 per Adult for a 2 night/3 Day stay at Disneyland Paris
PLUS
All Kids Go FREE
Holiday package includes:
- Accommodation in a Disney Hotel including breakfast
- Tickets to the 2 Disney® Parks for each day
- All Kids Go Free
Just Book by 15Th February for arrivals from 3rd January to 1st April 2010
Click here for deal and full terms and conditions

46. Expedia Janaury Sale – cheap deals on flights, hotels, car hire and package holidays

e.g Return flight to Amsterdam from London for £99

Return flight+hotel in Rome £153

Budget toursim from £12

Click here to go to deals page

47. British Airways Sale – Massive discounts on flights and hotels

The British Airways sale is on till January 26, 2010 and you can book discounted flights for summer and fall 2010 during this period!

Click here to go to the BA sale page.

48. Travelsphere: 8 day package in Croatia – £402

Includes
* Services of a Travelsphere Tour Manager
* Return flights to Rijeka or Ljubljana
* Transfers between airport and hotel
* Seven nights’ half board accommodation
* Welcome drink
* Local wine or soft drink with dinner each evening
* Daily afternoon tea
* All UK and overseas airport taxes and security charges

Click here to go to deal

49. Virgin Holidays: 11 Night Canaries Cruise on Costa Serena £499

* What’s the cruise line called? Costa Cruises
* What’s the ship called? Costa Serena
* Where is it cruising to? Canaries Cruise
* What is my itinerary name? Spain, Morocco, & Canaries
* When do I board? Mon – 18 Jan 2010
* How long will it last? 11 Nights
* Are all meals included? Yes, Full Board

Click here to go to deal

50. Lonely Planet: 30% Sale at the most popular travel guide

Click here to go to sale page

Thats all folks. Researched a lot and worked a lot to compile this stuff. Hope its useful! Share this post using the buttons below if you like it!

So what are the best deals available? I have compiled a list of the top 7 ways o enjoy the credit crunch by spending. Here we go:

Mobile phones and connections

If you’re eligible to get a contract phone, I would suggest 3 Mobile. I recently purcahsed the Nokia E71 with the 20 Pound texter plan, in which the handset was free and I got unlimited internet and texts, alongiwth 200 any network minutes! Unlimited 3 to 3 calls also included.

An even better deal only recently offered by the company is the Mix and Match 1100 with Sony Erricson K660i. In this plan you get 1100 any network texts or minutes at a reduced monthly rent of £20.25 instead of £27. Its a steal! But the best thing about 3 mobile is that it offers FREE SKYPE CALLING. That means if you’re online on Skype from your phone, people can call you anytime anwhere in the world for free through Skype. Orange, 02 and Vodafone pale in comparison.

Movies and DVDs

If you want to buy movies, there’s nothing better than buying from HMV these days! A Lord of the Rings DVD for £2.99, are you kidding? A whole stock of cheap DVDs are up for grabs.If you’re the cheaper sort, Lovefilm offer a DVD rental service. You can try it for free for 30 days, i.e., rent unlimited DVDs in those 30 days and you wont be charged if you close your account before you exceed those 30 days! In fact, if you enter this code – LFZZ98769 – you can actually extend your free trial to 3 months!

Join seefilmsfirst.com to get invited to ocasional free cinema screenings across UK.

Books

Nothing better than eBay and Amazon to buy your books. When buying books at Amazon, make sure you also check the prices offered by third party sellers. Often you get good deals from them, and they are mostly reliable because Amazon acts as the middleman between you and them. Check out a seller called BookLoversInc who is selling books at very attractive rates.

A lesser known but equally good site for buying book is Alibris UK. The second hand books available on this site are quite cheap very often.

Computers and Laptops

Of course, you can get nice deals from Amazon and ebay, but its sometimes better to buy from a vendor like PC World, especially when discounts in the air! For example, you can currently save over £85 on the HP Photosmart C4585 – All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier now £69.99 (RRP £156.58)

Hewllet-Packard (HP) also runs various promotions for hardware bought from its website.

Software

Being a student is best during the current climate, as you often get software ultra cheap if you can verify your university ID. I got the Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition for £38, can you beleive that. Of course it was genuine! Often, eBay and Amazon will have good deals, For example, Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 (PC) is available at a 64% discount.

Online freebies is a cool page to get legally available free software and toolbars.

Groceries

Going out to ASDA, Tesco and Lidl can be fun. If you’re the lazy type, shop online, as almost all of these chains have an online presence and its easier to sport offersand discounts online than instore. However, browsing Tesco’s website can be a pain in the ass thanks to the design.

The best thing I found out is a website called My Supermarket. It allows you to shop and compare products from four big chains – ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury and Oxado. If you buy a garlic bacquette in ASDA and there’s a cheaper one available, the website will suggest you to take that option! Frankly its one of the most innovative shopping site that I have seen in a while.

Travel

Did you know that you could get accommodation in Central London for 10 Quid a night? In fact, most of the European capitals really if you decide to stay at St Christoper’s inn. So if you’re looking for a backpacking holiday then St Christoper’s inn located in various European capitals and International Students House in London are amazingly cheap inspite of their central locations.

If you want a proper planned holiday with a decent hotel stay etc, I would recommend Expedia, since many of my friends have had positive reviews about this travel site.

There is a sinister co-incidence about the fact that the tragic terror that struck Mumbai on November 26 happened on a Wednesday. Only a few months ago a low budget Bollywood film on terrorism called A Wednesday received critical acclaim worldwide. It is a must watch film for any seriosu film buff, and for people who are fed up seeing their country attacked by terrosists repeatedly.

As you have noted I am not going into the details of the ghastly attack – you have already been bombarded with horrific images and bone-chilling statistics by the news media. A terrible tragedy but a real scoop for the media the world over. Every country’s media got a local news angle thanks to people of various nationalities that were killed by the bullet sprayers. As I write this piece news comes in that the US had prior intelligence of such an attack and had warned its Indian counterparts.

The Gateway of India with the Taj mahal hotel in the background on the left

If that is the case, then this whole government should resign. The Indian public is fed up of its politicians whose rhetoric speak larger than actions, who have been mute witnesses as the country has been subjected to brutal assaults on each and every one of its major cities. Terrorists haven’t been able to launch another attack in the USA after 9/11, why should India be such a soft target? Manmohan Singh may be a very apt candidate to be a prime Minister – with his impeccable honesty and his economics background – but history will not forgive him for being soft on terrorism.

Sharing a border with a country that is now infamous for exporting its global jehad factory products worldwide is one problem. Living in an overpopulated country is another. People look the same – attitudes and ideologies are different. While pakistan’s civilian government led by President Asif ali Zardari and Prime Minsyeter Yousuf Raza gilani wants peace and friendship with India, its military and intelligence agency veer off in the opposite direction.

Today however, in Lok Sabha (Upper house of Indian parliament) speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s words,

“The parliament of India has reached the lowest position, its nadir.”

What prompted Mr Chatterjee to say that?

As most Indians would know, today the Manmohan Singh Government would be facing a trust vote in Parliament. The present government has been in the doldrums ever since the Left parties withdrew support over the “nuclear deal” issue. And just before today’s crucial trust vote… a BJP member shocked the House by walking in with a bag full of currency notes which he claimed was given by a Samajwadi Party leader in return for his support in the trust vote.

The alleged bribe cash being displayed in the parliament by BJP MPs

That was enough to create a ruckus. Amidst the flutter, Deputy Speaker Charanjit Atwal adjourned the House briefly, leaving members surcharged. Trouble broke out when Ashok Argal, a BJP member from Morena and some others took out wads after wads of currency notes to substantiate their claim that horsetrading had taken place and heavy cash was used to “purchase” MPs for the trial of strength.

Looking at the press gallery, the BJP members alleged that an SP leader promised three of them Rs three crore each, of which Rs one crore was paid in advance. As Atwal asked SP member Mohan Singh to speak on the motion, the BJP members trooped into the well with Argal carying the black leather travel bag full of currency notes.

Argal placed the bag on the table of the Secretary General in front of the Speaker’s podium and fished out 10 bundles of currency notes of 1000 rupees denomination.

Shouting “shame, shame” and alleging horse trading by the Samajwadi Party, the members took turns to flash the money, prompting Atwal to adjourn the house hurriedly.

The incident caught the entire House unawares and members from both sides looked perplexed. When the House reassembled after the brief adjournment, there was no improvement in the situation as the opposition kept blocking the well. Atwal then adjourned the House for the second time on the issue till 1700 hours.

‘It’s a conspiracy’

While SP Chief — Mulayam Singh — accused the BJP of hatching a big conspiracy and said that saffron party’s role in the entire episode must be probed. He further added that the BJP has maligned the reputation of the Lok Sabha.

And who knows, today’s important event might even be suspended after the sad blemish on the Indian parliament. People who call Indian democracy a sham, have found a new confidence today.

Pizza.com was recently sold for $2.6 million dollars by its owner, and this was just for the domain name, he hadn’t even developed a website on it! In 2006, diamond.com sold for $7.5 million while sex.com sold for $12.5 million! Meanwhile, porn.com auctioned in 2007 for $9.5 million cash. Again, these are just the domain names, which some enterprising people had bought and saved to sell at the right moment.

What’s so special about these domains that corporates and individuals are shelling filthy cash for them?

First of all, for the internet marketing noobs and the general public, here’s an introduction to domain names:

A domain name is the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain names have two or more parts separated by dots. For example www.lughole.net or www.google.com. In these 2 examples, lughole and google are the domain names respectively while .com is an extension.

You can easily buy a domain name from a domain name registrar (more about the process later in this article). A dot com domain registration will cost you between $8 to $10 and you will have to renew the registration annually.

Now, when a domain name costs just $10, how come they are being sold for millions?

Not all domains sell for millions of dollars. Some sell for thousands, some hundreds and some sell at cost price. Its the type-in-traffic these domains derive that matter. Common English words derive the largest amounts of visitors who simply type in the phrase followed by a .com (e.g. sex.com). Then there are others, like “lughole”, which is a more uncommon dictionary domain.

A dictionary domain is a single word that is a part of the English language (or any other language for that matter). The simple test for a dictionary domain is that it should exist in the dictionary of that language! Many people have bought dictionary domain names in speculation, hoping to sell them for thousands or millions of dollars in future. So meanwhile, these domains do not contain a website, but are on a prospective big sale by these speculators.

But not all dictionary domians are profitable investment, though surely most are. This brings us closer to a term called premium domains. Wikipedia describes premium domain names as follows:

In the business of marketing domain names, “premium” domain names are often valuable, and have particular characterizations: The names are short and memorable, may contain words that are regularly searched on search engines or keywords that help the name gain a higher ranking on search engines.

Premium domain names are the ones that fetch maximum money at domain auctions. Besides the ones mentioned earlier in the article, names such as funny.com, cute.com, article.com etc are premium domain names and surely get loads of type-in visitors.

So if you have the stamina to search for unique dictionary domain names that may turn out to be premium domains (I assure you all the popular ones have already been taken), go ahead! Here’s a simple step-by-step procedure for buying a domain name:

1. Register yourself at a domain registrar like GoDaddy or Sedo
2. Search for domain names on the site you have registered – they have the search domains functionality right on the front page.
3. Once you find your preferred domain available, add it to your shopping cart.
4. Add any other extra features you’d like with the domain to the cart. Once done, proceed to checkout.
5. Pay via Credit Card or Paypal (if the Paypal option is available) and you own the domain for a year! You will need to renew the domain next year by paying the renewal fee (which is usually the same amount that you spend on buying it). Don’t worry about forgetting to renew the domain, because your registrar will send you countless reminders for renewing it 3 months before it needs to be done and till the last few days.
6. Park your domain name(s) at Sedo, which is the largest domain-name after market. List your domain for sale there and till the time you find a buyer for it you earn cash from the parking it at Sedo – which normally means the guys at Sedo will put advertisements on it and pay you a commission from the revenue generated.
7. Alternatively, you could make a website out of your domain name. Making a website is really easy if you know some basic html. You would definitely earn more from your website than parking your domain, but then you also need to invest a meager amount. You will need to buy web hosting space to keep your website live once you have made it. I recommend Hostgator for hosting your site. It has a reasonable price structure and excellent service and support.

Its not necessary that you go for dictionary domains to create your website. Enterprising people come up with unique and amazing names for their sites which become brands in themselves. Names like youtube, google, metacafe are household names, and yet these are nowhere mentioned in the dictionary. Such internet behemoths have given the webmaster industry a new phrase – brandable domains. What really is a brandable domain is a matter of speculation. Neil Patel has a good article on choosing a brandable domain.

Its not easy to buy a domain now that you can sell in millions, but if you try hard, you can get domain names which may sell for hundreds or thousands of Dollars; and that my friend, is still a fabulous return on investment!

Important: always try and get your hands on a .com domain. All other variants like .net, .org or .info etc are also fine, but a dot com always has the maximum branding power.

The blasts — which were of medium intensity — took place in the walled city area. All the blast sites have been identified.

The first blast triggered around 7.45 pm near Hanuman temple in Manak Chowk. Four more blasts followed in Tripolia bazaar, Chandipole, Sanganeri and Johari Bazaar. Two more blasts took place near the Kotwali area. There could be many more casualties as reports pour in.

Being a Tuesday, the Hanuman temple was expected to draw crowds in an area usually congested even on normal days. Apparently, the terrorists had one their homework well even as the Indian intelligence agencies were procrastinating. Some people say that the Jaipur police was so busy sending its personnel for security in IPL matches that hardly anyone was left to man the public spots of Jaipur.

And, why, just why are we seeing this pattern of terrorists attacking Indian cities at random while the Government of India scratches its head like a confused elephant?

In the last 5 years cities like Ayodhya, Varanasi, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad – all have been the targets of vicious terror attacks. Obviously, this means no city in India can be considered safe. But the more worrying factor is that unlike its counterparts in UK, the Indian leadership has never been able to pre-empt an attack, i.e. prevent an attack before the terrorists could carry them out. Of course, there’s a vast difference in the logistics of both countries. India is huge, with a population of around 1.2 billion people. Its easier for the fundamentalists to mix up with the local population in India than in any western nation. And, really, India is bordered with 2 countries notorious for harbouring terrorists – Pakistan and Bangladesh.

But still, its high time our intelligence agencies and our politicians woke up from their slumber. If terrorists can strike any Indian city at will with such ferociousness, they might just succeed in whatever they are trying to accomplish. And then, appeals for calm and peace after every such attack, might just be ignored by the people of the largest democracy in the world.

Read more on CNN-IBN

A coalition of Indian conservationists, comprising Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) and Greenpeace India, has called on TATAs to reconsider their Dhamra Deepwater Port in Orissa, citing the threat it poses to endangered sea turtles and two important Protected Areas.

According to Executive Director of WPSI, Melinda Wright -

The olive ridley turtle is a species that enjoys the same legal protection as the tiger. Yet despite its ecological significance, the Dhamra area was purposely excluded from Bhitarkanika and Gahirmatha Sanctuaries to facilitate the Dhamra Port

Greenpeace launched an internet campaign a few month back encouraging netizens to email Ratan Tata and protest against the constructioon of the port. According to latest statistics, over 57,000 people have written to Ratan in the past four weeks. And now in the latest smart move by Greenpeace, the NGO has taken the help of Bollywood to spread awareness about their cause. Check out Jai, Veeru and Thakur in action below:

Bringing out the legendary characters of Sholay – a movie entrenched in the consciousness of the Indian public, might just turn out to be the best action taken by the team of Ashish Fernandes, Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace India.

Software and technology giant Microsoft has given Yahoo a three-week deadline to respond to its offer to buy out the internet company for $44.6 billion.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said his company would take its case straight to Yahoo’s shareholders if Yahoo’s directors did not reply by 26 April.

“It is unfortunate that by choosing not to enter into substantive negotiations with us, you have failed to give due consideration to a transaction that has tremendous benefits for Yahoo!’s shareholders and employees,”

wrote Ballmer, in the letter addressed to Yahoo!’s board of executives.

The letter also mentioned that the threat was a step away from what Yahoo! projected to be a “speedy and ultimately friendly transaction.” The letter continued to express Microsoft’s belief that Yahoo! shareholders were keen for Yahoo! to sign the buyout, especially considering Yahoo!’s recent decline in market value and performance ratings.

The substitute to Yahoo!’s agreement to sign the deal would be a proxy bid, which involves Microsoft, a Yahoo! shareholder, installing its executives into the Yahoo! board, thereby ousting Yahoo! executives from their positions.

The original offer made by Microsoft on February 1 was $31 a share, adding up to a grand total of about $44.6 billion. But, after a collapse in Microsoft’s shares, it is now worth about $42 billion, still making it, if finalized, the biggest-ever takeover in the high-tech industry.

Jerry Yang rejected the Microsoft’s bid On February 11, saying that it undervalues the company. Yahoo asked for a $12 billion increase in Microsoft’s offer, which has not happened so far. Rumors persist that Microsoft already turned to Bear Stearns Cos. Services in the Yahoo situation.

It is common knowledge that Yahoo has been searching for a backup option to Microsoft’s offer, discussing different partnership mechanisms with Google, AOL and the News Corporation. However, no deal has been struck so far.

Sources: BBC, efluxmedia

You just need to have your ears in the right place, know how to research the net (read Google), and have a flair for writing.

What you can expect for being a part of the lughole team:

• We share 100% Adsense revenue with the post author. For the uninitiated, these are the ads that appear when you open a complete blog post (the ads are located just below the blog posts’ heading). You will need to have an Adsense account.
• Incentives if your blog posts get the highest traffic..we’ll make it a top 3 blog posts of the month competition. Haven’t decided the nitty gritties yet but awards would be cash incentives paid via paypal, amazon gift certificates and MRR products for interested webmasters.
• If you have no previous experience of blogging, you’ll obviously learn a lot here. Not just how to blog well, but also how to promote a blog, perform search engine optimization (seo), and a lot more. You can always include your writing experience here in your resume as well!

And of course, you’ll be part of a great team, and we’ll surely have a grand time.

Interested people may email me at: