Happy Accident
I stumbled across the fact that Book Depository is using google's preview function (I assume as part of Google Book's recent API release: read the blog post and visit the API homepage).

It sits just under the front cover picture and jumps the reader down to the lower portion of the page when clicked. It is a nifty UI though I was a bit puzzled about how I could return to the top at first, and given that you would be hoping to make a sale and the buy button is at the top, this might be an issue!

Wider thoughts?
All told it is a very nice feature. As if I needed a new reason to add books to either my to be read or to be bought piles. The best example I've stumbed on so far is this one for Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriors Shaped Globalization.

On a reader/buyer level this is a sweet use of Google's systems and data. Looking at it from a broader perspective I'd also find little to worry me. On the one hand no one else is really in a position to supply this kind of feature, expect maybe Amazon (who seem unlikely to do so lest they damage the competitive advantage that their Search inside feature offers them).

On the other hand, it seems like a cop out as a publisher to say that it's okay for Google to be the only one in a position to do this! We must be letting ourselves down somewhere when we admit that!

Still, nice feature and executed well too.

However, as a Titanium Powerseller and someone who has his hands in ebay for 12+ hours a day, I'm thinking this is a good call (for now).

• For starters, ebay's stock has been doing poorly the last few months if not past few years down from $40 on it's 52 week high. Could it really tank below $10 ...my personal opinion is no.
• Obviously, ebays recent policy changes have had the market down and some sellers either adjusting or leaving the marketplace - most have made up their mind by now and things are starting to seem a bit more consistent. The vibe still hasn't improved but sellers are implementing new strategies and at least not feeling like they're playing as much of a guessing game with a bit of experience and testing of auctions in the past few weeks.
• Also, last week when the stock market plunged 700+ points ALL stocks were doing poorly; to the point that global markets were taken severe beatings! I considered ebays plunge last week due to economic factors ...not necessary ebay's marketplace.
• The 700+ Billion $ bail out has now been approved and a SMALL bit of hope is putting a bit of confidence into peoples heads and the market (or at least better than when they couldn't come to a resolution). Please note the word SMALL.
  
• The Holiday season is approaching and we've had a few customers mentioning they're buying our items for gifts for the Holidays. The summer was very slow this year but even in a semi-recession, you can expect lots more sales from the past few months.

With all of this being said, it seemed a bunch of external and internal factors have been hitting ebay hard all at one time. More importantly for my purchasing decision, as a "large" ebay seller and tax payer, I see ..again a SMALL light at the end of the tunnel at the least. Especially with an election a few months away ...no matter who wins, people will feel a page is being turned for the better after the previous administration has left office. I feel ebay is a buy because some of the weights of the marketplace and economy have been lifted off ebays shoulders and I'm willing to buy a few shares to see if this is the case! Lets see what happens in the next few months! :)

My hunt for a new television began in early September.  I went into the search with a positive bias for Sony televisions.  Not only do their Bravia engines have a reputation for producing the most accurate palette of colors available on the market, but they are priced much higher than non-Sony televisions with similar screen sizes and feature sets, which leads the consumer to believe that they are superior in some way.  

This leads me to my first rule of TV buying.

Rule #1 of TV buying: If your goal is to get the best performing, highest value product, never go into the buying process with a bias for a particular brand.  This will prevent you from passing objective judgment and cause you to make mistakes.

Because of my bias, I walked out of the store with a Sony 40-inch 1080p LCD television without the 120hz refresh rate function.  I chose to pay more for the Sony and passed up on the 120hz function (which would have pushed a Sony model way out of my price range), mainly because my ability to keep things objective was severely handicapped by my favoritism for the Sony brand.

After just three days of having this television hooked up in my apartment, I returned it.  The picture was bothering me.  I knew that I could do better.  As a major sports watcher, I needed the 120hz refresh rate function, which refreshes the screen at a much higher rate than standard LCD televisions (which are 60hz), eliminating nearly all "ghosting" and image blur.

So, I went back to Circuit City and Best Buy, which I only use as showrooms for comparison.  This brings me to my next rule for good television shopping.

Rule #2 of TV buying: If your goal is to get the best price for the product you want, NEVER EVER buy your television from Best Buy or Circuit City.  These huge electronics chains will almost never have the lowest price available.  In addition, if you know what product you want to buy, you can often save yourself from paying state sales taxes by ordering from an online merchant.  Some of the larger online merchants like Amazon.com offer shipping for between $0 and $40, which is often far less than the local sales tax and puts money back in your pocket.

I absolutely used and abused the first poor guy at Best Buy who asked me, "How can I assist you?"  I took him for a few laps around the television section, looking at high end models with the most features and mid-level models which had just the basic features.  One thing became clear- the 120hz refresh rate was absolutely essential for me.  This feature made the picture more smooth, eliminated "ghosting," which is the shadow effect created when objects or characters on an LCD screen move quickly, and when sports were on the screen, the difference in refresh rate became crystal clear for me.  When movies are on, this function is unbelievable.  It creates a 3D effect and makes the characters appear as if they are actually in your room.  The picture quality and motion are as smooth as warm butter.

In my comparison, Samsung 120hz models consistently came up with the best picture, best contrast ratio (truer blacks), and best value, so I narrowed my choices down to two very similar models that stood out to me: the Samsung LN40A650 and the Samsung LN40A750 (The 8-Series and 9-Series will be released soon, but they'll be way out of my price range).

I wrote down the model numbers of my two target products and went home to see if CNET.com (a SSDTF SMARTsite) had reviewed these models yet.  

Rule #3: Always check to see if CNET has reviewed the product you are interested in purchasing.  CNET will tell you all the pros and cons of the product and can help you to make sure you haven't overlooked something.

To my delight, I discovered that CNET had reviewed the larger 46-inch versions of both models and both reviews were very favorable.  In fact, the LN40A650 was named "CNET Editors Choice" in 2008.  Then I decided to do some comparison shopping on the internet.  The best price available from a credible merchant for the LN40A650 was $1299 from Amazon.com (no tax, $36 shipping) and $1579 for the LN40A750 (again, no tax, $36 shipping).  Because it fit better into my price range, I was ready to settle on the LN40A650 (the older of the two 120hz models), UNTIL I stumbled upon a link for Amazon Warehouse Deals.  

Amazon Warehouse Deals is a new business leg of Amazon that focuses on selling returned products (open box products).  To my shock, the Samsung LN40A650 was listed for $999 plus $36 shipping ($300 less than Amazon's sale price)  on Amazon Warehouse Deals, and the newer model, the LN40A750, was listed for $1148 ($430+ less than Amazon's sale price) plus $36 shipping.  Since the difference was negligible, I decided to shoot for the higher-end, newer model, the Samsung LN40A750, at $1148 plus $36 shipping.

The description of most Amazon Warehouse Deals televisions say "Cosmetic blemishes on main unit," "repackaged in Amazon box," or "Minor damage to outer box."  This shouldn't scare you, since most returned models spent extra time in transit (accounting for minor wear on the box) and Amazon only writes "cosmetic blemishes on main unit" to cover their asses.

My Samsung LN40A750 arrived within a week and was hand-delivered and set-up in my living room via the Amazon CEVA White Glove delivery service.  It's nothing fancy- just a truck driver who carries the TV in, unboxes it, sets it up where you want it, has you take a look, and then has you sign some approval papers- but it is exactly what was advertised.  

My television was shiny, new, and didn't have a scratch on it, despite the Amazon description saying "cosmetic blemishes on main unit."  Trust me, I'm extremely anal- I looked at every millimeter of this television trying to find a scratch or even a minor scuff- there was nothing to be found.  This was a brand new television that someone had returned.  The box was a little dirtier than a brand new looking box, but who cares?  Samsung warranty remains totally valid and Amazon's 30-day return policy totally valid as well.  

SMART buy:  The Samsung LN40A750 (and all other 6-series and 7-series models) 1080p 120hz LCD televisions are the best on the market.  I researched this for a month and finally found the best product at the best value.  In addition, Amazon Warehouse deals is an amazing source for high-quality bargains.  I couldn't have asked for more.

I have been a Rob Bell fan for a while. Why? Because he shakes things up. We (a generic term that could mean so much) need to wake up to what is happening around us and too us. We need a "shake up" call!

Rob and Don do not disappoint in this book.

Before I had the chance to finish the book, I was side tracked by people's comments on Ben Witherington's Blog . Why do people love to dislike, maybe even hate, Rob? I began searching around and found plenty of people, including pastors and church leaders who are willing to cast the first stone at Rob.

Why?

Because Rob shakes things up.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians is a dynamic read for anyone who is willing to be challenged and shaken up. The book is written with momentum, each chapter building on the previous. The first four chapters plus the introduction outline the history of Israel, Egypt, and how we the early church was founded. Bell and Golden give us a great overview, a big picture if you will of Christian history. A narrative of momentum.  A story of oppressors and the oppressed - of kingdoms and servants - of slavery and freedom.

The kind of slavery we all find ourselves in.

The kind of freedom we all need.

There is a turning point in the book where Bell and Golden go from talking about what was - to relating it to what is. Hinted at throughout the book, the last two chapters outline the parallelism between the empires of old with the new empire - us.

Many will find it hard to believe, even hard to swallow, that the we (America & American Church) are an empire. The reviews on Amazon and other sites show just that, people are having a hard time with this idea - this blatant shaking things up - this idea that America is an empire.

I found it very stinging, but call me what you want, I think I agree.

The book might have its theological and hermeneutic flaws, but all books do. Bell and Golden might take a few soft shots at Mega churches, youth pastors and even church coffee shops; (I manage a coffee shop/bookstore in a Mega church and have countless friends who are youth pastors) so I could have taken offense to the ideas presented on pages 133-138 and 165 but instead I choose to look at the whole context of what Rob and Don are saying.

So what are they saying? Well Bell and Golden offer countless quips, quotes and shake-your-world comments, but this passage from page 179 resonated loudly with both Witherington and I . . .

“Jesus wants to save us from making the good news about another world and not this one. Jesus wants to save us from preaching a Gospel that is only about individuals and not about the systems that enslave them. Jesus wants to save us from shrinking the Gospel down to a transaction about the removal of sin and not about every single particle of creation being reconciled to its maker. Jesus wants to save us from religiously sanctioned despair, the kind that doesn’t believe the world can be made better, the kind that either blatantly or subtly teaches people to just be quiet and behave and wait for something big to happen ‘someday’.”

Bell and Golden continue a dialogue similar to Chan, McLaren & Claiborne about "What if."

What if we were to admit we were an empire?

What if we were to do something about it?

What if we served the poor instead of serving ourselves?

What if we stopped fighting for oil and started fighting for injustice?

What if we stopped building walls and started building schools?

What if . . . that statement implies a rhetorical question rather than an action statement.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians challenges us all to make the "what if" a way of life. A life that God invited us to live 2000 years ago at Mt. Sinai and again when Jesus died on the cross.

What if . . . must become what now?

Because after all . . . "Someday" has to be today.

You will need an Endicia account and have their Dazzle software installed. Dazzle with Endicia does not necessary explain in layman's terms how to email postage and it's defiantly not an automated task with that works with your other software applications but it is possible. One reason USPS doesn't really want you doing this is because the shipping post office is graded on a scale of 100 the on-time percentage of delivery for parcels and upgraded options. You might send someone a label via E-Mail on Monday, but your customer might not send it till Friday, causing the Post Master to feel a small deduction in his percentage if the process is repeated over and over.

Anyways, it's pretty easy to do.

Step 1: You will need to download adobe reader and install the full version. You also need Dazzle from Endicia installed as stated above. This version doesn't cost you a dime but might take in upwards of 10 minutes to download and install. Restart your PC. Doing so will allow your computer to set adobe as a valid "printer" when you go to print postage and is necessary in the below steps.

Step 2: After you've installed, open up Endicia Dazzle software and the layout that you wish to send return postage etc with.

Step 3: Fill out the address and return address accordingly. Usually I type our company name in both the return address section and the mailing address section. We can usually be accurate with the weight, but if it's not, USPS might return it to the return address and the postage is wasted and still needs to be sent out. When you put your address in both of these fields, if for some reason something goes wrong, USPS has no option but to "return to sender" and it will eventually make it back to your facility/home.

(When you double click on the senders address a menu comes up. Here you highlight the entire address, press CTR-C and it will auto populate the shipping address. USPS has no option but to send it back to you even if the party you're emailing over packs for the next earthquake)

Step 4: When you have the label, weight (adjusted by double clicking on the postage section on the label) and method, you're ready to export to PDF file so you can email the file. You will need to set up the postage to print to PDF Adobe Reader. Click on FILE>Printer Setup> and change the default from your thermal/laser/inkjet printer to AdobePDF Creator. Select this option in printer drop down menu and click ok.

Step 5: Time to "print". Click on the print Icon in the upper left of the application and it should open adobe, create the file automatically and then (for me at least) opens up Outlook with the file already attached. I enter in the customers email and a quick message and you're done! EASY!

Remember to remind them to send it out ASAP so you don't get a call from your Post Master or it gets delayed. Faxing labels doesn't work because it throws the bar code off and 3D scan postage at the top off and cant be used by USPS. Very rarely, faxing a copy might make it's way to the lost and found never to be seen again. Also remember to change your layout back to your default!