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Did I just say SWEET? Ok, more like awesome, I highly recommend if your an affiliate marketer and want to connect with like minded folks and industry people. This is the meetup to go to.

Myself and 2 other friends from the Tony Robbins culture went to check out the scene and we all came out with business cards and new connections. I got to hang out with a nice affiliate manager from Azoogle, we discussed the ups and down of CPA and how the FTC thing is just a big giant PAIN!

Now that I mentioned Tony Robbins, take a peek at this FREE video he just published from a live intervention he did. It's a 74 minute video packed with lots of wisdom and great content from his Date With Destiny event.

Tony Robbins Date With Destiny Event is coming up soon in December, I'll be there… will you?

Here I am testing CPA offers, minding my own business when I encounter Edward Burneys work which I found extremely fascinating. This guy rebranded PROPAGANDA to Public Relations and was able to get women to start smoking in mass. He was behind the PR to allow fluoride into our water supply which to this day is still happening. He was just very instrumental in shaping consumerism and the way we think of ourselves.

Now, I find this video with a very logical and well thought out video about money, current events and our place in this world. It has rattled my cage so to speak, I invite you to check out this video with an open mind and ask if it's on point or a far fetched attempt to spread conspiracy theory.

Funny how recently many of my peers have only recently learned that the Federal Reserve is about as much a state owned entity as Federal Express, LOL. But there is a lot more behind that… check out this video and let me know what you think.

Clearly part of our economic issue today is based on our hyper consumerism but 100 years ago we were not the consumers we are today. What changed all of that and was it for the better? Check out this video on how all this consumerism started, I think it's a clue to how we ended up in this economic crash we are in.

PART 2 PART 3 (Yes that's Tony Robbins in the Video… LOL) PART 4

I'm not one to complain BUT in thi scase I think it may serve as warning to anyone out there who is thinking of ordering a phone upgrade via phone… this is specifically for the SPRINT network. A few weeks back I decided to give the Palm Pre a try and I ordered 2 so that I could upgrade my wifes Palm Centro as well.

Short of the long is that I didn't like the changes they made and didn't see the value in upgrading to the Palm Pre, especially for the price and 2 year commitment Sprint wanted me to commit to.

So, I called in a request to return the phone 3 weeks ago, I was assured that a "return kit" would be mailed in and that I can return the 2 Palm Pre's… NO PROBLEMO… 7 days later, no kit… nothing so I call Sprint back. I got someone who apologized for the issue and went the extra stretch to get their manager to get on the ohone with me and assure me a "kit" was on the way.

2 Days ago I called again after 6 days and the same thing happened, apologies and after speaking with 3 different people apparently there was a specific department that handles these returns that are phone ordered. So… overnight I got my return kit via UPS on a Saturday and now I'm gonna ship it out this coming Monday.

So if your looking to upgrade, I would advise visiting the store and testing out the phone at the store before deciding to upgrade. The Palm Pre had tons of marketing behind it, it had some great reviews online and I met a random person or 2 who raved about their Pre and how hot it was.

Thing is, if I would have just played with it and researched some of it myself more intently such as making sure that it has mirco SD card support, or desktop synch then I would have known right then and there if the phone was for me. I have to admit I fell for all the marketing, including the banner ads on Facebook, I think it was those that tipped the scales for me.

Hope this is helpful for someone out there, all the best!

So I gave in to buying a Palm Pre this past week, I have been playing with it for the past few days and today I have finally decided it is going back. Actually both are going back, I purchased one for my wife as well. I let her play with my activated Palm Pre and besides the beautiful screen and multitasking which are both top notch, cutting edge, awesome! My wife was unimpressed.

Here is what I find disappointing…

Only 58 Apps are available as of today, seems like they don't have a big developer pool the way the iPhone has. This alone would have stopped me from even buying/ordering the 2 Palm Pre's. I have been using a Palm based phone since my Qualcomm Kyocera which was a huge brick with a black and white screen but cutting edge for 2000.

The other big disappointment I found in the Palm Pre is that there is no Palm Desktop… another deal breaker if I would have known. Without the Palm desktop it was a pain in the arse to import my contacts. I had to use a 3rd party app to do it and it only imported my contacts, not my notes or schedules. What the heck was Palm thinking? Especially if your dependent on desktop apps like ACT or Outlook? That was also a big deal breaker and again, if I would have known, I'm sure I would have never bothered.

My last HUGE annoyance with the Palm Pre is the missing SD slot, there is no micro SD slot which event the little Palm Centro has. What the heck! It's not like the Palm Pre comes with oodles of disk space, when I compare it to a comparable iPhone, the iPhone comes in at 16gb, according to Palm they didn't include a SD slot because it would not follow with the form factor they were going for. I guess they weren't thinking about usability and were caught up in looks… what a waste.

The webOS is a bit sluggish by the way so for all it's worth the old Palm OS still delivers. While the webOS is full of eye candy and the Palm Pre screen blows away iPhone screens, that's just not enough. I require functionality in my PDA phone, that's why I'm sending the 2 Palm Pre's back to Sprint and reactivating my trust Palm 755p.

Here's a few more gripes that are based on the way I use my phone and how it compares to the Palm Pre.

I tend to watch lots of mp4 and Avi videos of seminars and training on my phone. It's a great way to take advantage of down time, especially when you have a large training program or recording of a live event like Underground or CPA TSunami. I use Coreplayer (it allows you to increase the speed of play back which cuts down on listening time- more info, less time) to watch or absorb most of the content via my phone. I usually carry an extra 4GB SD card with me which holds 20-30 hours or training material once converted to mp4. That said, I'll go shopping or errand running while listening to this material, it's a tremendous way to integrate. I'll make note of any videos that refer to charts and powerpoint presentations but most of the time I find listening and occasionally looking at the screen when they drive a point is enough.

Today I was with my son at the park and a perfect instance of how I use my Palm 755p came up. My 8yr old wanted to play with some other kids on the jungle gym so I just ended up sitting on a bench. Because of didn't load anything on my Palm Pre I ended up exploring the Sprint TV, turns out they give you some access to some shows but overall any good content is an extra charge. If I was using my Palm Pre I could have listened to the event and turned off the screen using a Palm hack or watched the event if I wanted.

The functionality that my Palm 755p has blows away anything I have seen out there, I have a fax app so that I can send and receive faxes. I have Resco Explorer that allows me to access the disk space on the phone as well as the SD card and also access my FTP. That means I can make small edits to websites right from my cellphone… I'd love to see the iPhone do that!

Of course I can tether my 755p cell via USB to my laptop and access the web, this occasionally comes in hand and is always nice to have. Mind you the Palm Pre has a hack that allows you to turn it into an access point. It can also be tethered via USB.

So anyways, Palm Pre is going back after this holiday weekend, I was holding off on getting one then got inspired to take the plunge but I'm not a happy camper.

If Palm comes up with a new version that has an SD port, huge assortment of apps and a longer battery life ( I didn't mention, the battery drains quickly unless you set the screen to the dimmest setting which is still bright) and it has a desktop software, they may not lose this Palm fan to the iPhone.

The iPhone should be coming to other carriers soon and if Sprint offers it I may have to take the plunge and get one. My Palm 755p is old school but it delivers big time and has a proven platform. Did I mention the Palm Pre can run the old school Palm OS apps by using an emulator? That's kinda cool but you have to buy the app, if Palm would have integrated the app so that it's Palm users can keep all their favorite apps that would have been a better way to go but at least some apps will be supported.

Hope this gives you some insight into your decision to get a Palm Pre, I have been a long time fan of the Palm but it seems things have changed, and not for the better.

I know I have opened up Web2.0 accounts all over the place, some becasue it was the latest greatest others because I wanted to make sure my name showed up in case I wanted to use later. Either way, I'm sure I'm not alone in trying to remember all the sites I have signed up for in the past year. This site… http://knowem.com/ Help you identify if you have already been there or if you have a common name.. if your name is already taken.

Hope this helps you get an idea of the landscape, this can be especially helpful if your a WEB2.0 marketer who is looking to open accounts up based on your target keyword. This is a Howie trick that seems to work since the name usually becomes anchor text within the site and may point to your target URL.

One week ago last Sunday I went to the MEET MARKET at Affiliate Summit in NYC at the NYC Hilton Midtown. It was a smorgasboard of CPA networks all over the place, some I heard of and some I never heard of.

I was in a hunt for a hispanic CPA network (more on that in a future post) and landed a boutique CPA network that specializes in both US and Non US Spanish related offers. There was also some great networking with other marketers and publishers, I ended up finding some interesting products to test for affiliate marketing.

In case it's not clear what I have been up to as of late, I have decided to switch over from consulting SEO and PPC services and spinning over those skill into affiliate marketing and CPA marketing for myself. My focus will be PPC and PPV/CPV traffic rather than messing with the "almighty" Google. One of my biggest clients spends TONS to get their brand out there via Google and for what they get in return I don't see the value compared to the 2 other search engines or the use of PPV/CPV.

Going back to the Affiliate Summit Event, I loved it! It was my first Affiliate Event and it kicked arse, in addition to all the networking I did there were also some parties to further deepen those connections made during the day. I didn't make it to the ShareASale party which looked awesome, I saw some fellow marketers the next day all hung over raving about how much fun they had at the ShareASale party and how many attendees there were and valuable connections that were made.

I decided I wouldn't miss out and I went to the Linkshare party the 2nd day of the Affiliate Summit East. I didn't plan to go to the Linkshare Party it just kind of happened while attending the Offervalut Party held by Mark Roth and Howie Shwartz. I kinda met Howie at an event last year and we got to chat for a sec, I love Howie's sneaky Web2.0 tactics and lots of his content is unique… or at least I haven't heard anyone else promote. It was a great networking party and I ended up meeting a CPA manager from Israel who had some promising offers for me to play with.

Note for anyone who goes to this event, meet as many industry people as you can… you don't know who will have some great advice, insight or insider info that help you drive more sales. I got a few nuggets I am testing right now that look very promising!

Next event for me is AD TECH, I want to get my feet wet in media buying, especially for one or 2 of my big clients that I will keep after I transition to CPA marketing.