Concept cars give automotive designers a chance to let their imaginations run wild, often with outlandish results. But even by that measure, BMW has come up with something as strange as it is innovative — a shape-shifting car covered with fabric.

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One more spammer is heading off to jail, but not before he managed to bilk at least several hundred people out

of $400,000 or more. Michael Dolan, 24, has been sentenced to seven years in jail—the maximum he could have received—followed by three years of supervised release. Dolan and a group of co-conspirators ran a scheme from 2002-2006 in which they first trolled AOL chatrooms for user names, then bombarded these users with phishing attempts.

As Infoworld reports, the scheme ran as follows. Victims typically received a link to a false greeting card which, when opened, installed a malware package. The next time the target attempted to log on to AOL, the program would request credit card numbers, bank account data, or other personal information. Users who refused to enter the data were prevented from logging into AOL. As schemes go, this was a fairly novel idea at the time, and I actually remember running into several systems infected this way. Dolan also sent spam purporting to be from AOL’s billing department, asking customers to please reenter their billing details due to a server meltdown. As you can imagine, all of this left AOL feeling a bit perturbed.

Dolan himself has something of a history of bad behavior. He was first sentenced to two years of probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of accessing a computer without authorization. His probation was revoked in 2006, after the ruling judge discovered that he had taken several trips out of state, including at least one trip overseas. Dolan was then sentenced to nine months of imprisonment, and was charged in the AOL scam on September 28, 2006. Considering that the scam itself ran from 2002-2006, Dolan was likely making money from computer fraud both while on probation and in jail.

The federal government claimed that Dolan masterminded the scheme, but if he did, his intelligence appears to be confined solely to computing. Assistant US Attorney Edward Chang stated in a sentencing memorandum that Dolan attempted to variously bribe, coerce, and threaten various witnesses, and succeeded in convincing his girlfriend to perjure herself. Combined with his modus operandi of committing computer fraud while directly under the nose of the authorities, Dolan simply doesn’t seem to be the sharpest crayon in the box.

Sharp or dull, however, he’s headed to jail. Five years for fraud, two years for aggravated identity theft, followed by his supervised release, which is essentially probation. Judges are allowed to impose conditions during a supervised release, and can bar the individual in question from engaging in activities which are otherwise lawful. The judge in Dolan’s case has not set the terms of the release yet, but based on his record, it’s a safe bet that Dolan won’t be touching a PC until 2018.

Digital Web Magazine posted a nice article comparing Photoshop to Fireworks through a debate by two groups of designers each supporting one of the programs. Photoshop has always been the industry standard for digital image editing, even though it was primarily made for creating print material, while Fireworks on the other hand was specifically made for creating web friendly graphics. It is possible in theory to do almost everything you do in one of these in the other, so which one should you use?

I have personally been a Fireworks user for years, I had never gotten into Photoshop and Fireworks never gave me a reason to force myself to go and try and learn Photoshop seriously. Fireworks was in fact made just for web design and it does that one thing extremely well. In addition to this, the introduction of CS3 has provided tighter integration between all of Adobe’s Creative Suite, so it is now easier than ever to juggle from one program to the next so you do not need to use Photoshop just because you are working on a project with other people using Photoshop.

I personally think its best for new web designers try using fireworks before photoshop, You would end up never trying photoshop. I’m not sure if you can say the same for photoshop most photoshop users tend to use fireworkws quite often.

What about you guys, do you use Photoshop or Fireworks, and why?

BTW Digg this post please

There are plenty of free ways to build an average photoblog, but if you have dreams of creating one that meets your needs and not just the masses, check out Pixelpost 1.7.1. Updated earlier this year with a bunch of new features including an Install Assistant, this MySQL/PHP-based application is a free download and needs only a modicum of technical knowledge and some server space to use.

Everything is tweakable and functionality can be extended with a number of free downloadable add-ons for everything from the ability to use PayPal to let visitors buy photos to adding histograms to images to an Adobe Lightroom exporter. All of them have easy-to-follow instructions for installing them, too.

If you’re not the tweaking type, simply pick one of the available templates (also free) and start publishing your photos.

To see what I mean, pop over to GatheringOfPixels.com (click the skull above the photo at the right to see “before” shots) or any of the Pixelpost featured photoblogs.

Well I’ve been kinda busy these days with my new project which is a shoutcast/web dev/web hosting service, currently we have only launched our shoutcast hosting platform, we got some of the cheapest prices in the industry, it like we are giving away free shoutcast hosting.

We expect to launch our web hosting platform in the coming months. I’m expecting a lot out of this we are live for only a few days and already we are a success.

So next time you need shoutcast hosting you can check our prices at www.clarionmedia.com/shoutcast.php .

About Shoutcast : SHOUTcast software allows users to set up their own Internet radio servers using provided software. The output format is supported by multiple clients including the widely popular Nullsoft Winamp. Current uses include listening to music as well as live broadcasting of events for the average person.

This theme is just amazing, if you are looking for the perfect wordpress theme this is the one for you, this video will explain everything for me.

If the video didn’t rock your world check out this live demo

http://www.one-theme.com/wp/

and if you are interested in buying it please order from my affiliate link here.

These are some of the features One-Theme has

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• Featured Youtube Video
• Feedburner RSS
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• Featured Homepage Article
• Featured Homepage Categories
• AdSense / Affiliates / CPM or any other advertisement
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Be sure to get this theme!

This is just something cool for all those firefox 3 users, Type “about:robots” in your address bar and see what happens.

Cool trick right?

Are you a .Mac subscriber who’s been using the built-in bookmark syncing app? Come Sunday that service will no longer exist as part of the MobileMe transition, so if you want to do one last sync you’ve got to get it done this weekend.

Shortly after the MobileMe announcement last month Apple sent out an e-mail to current .Mac subscribers detailing this change. Friday, the company extended the transfer deadline to July 6, along with providing a how-to guide to make sure you’ve got everything synced up one last time. You can get full instructions on how to do the sync here.

The July 6 deadline, which is Sunday, leads me to believe that the MobileMe changeover may be dropping a day or two early from the expected July 11 release date.

Note: I did not use any affiliate links in this article.

Making money online is a dream for many, but the simple fact is that it’s often just as tough as making money offline. Due to requests, we’ve put together a list of the most popular money making methods today, many of them focused on blogging and peer production.

A word of caution: for the sake of completeness, we’ve included a small number of sites that have been criticized for their ethics. If it sounds too good to be true, it generally is. Commenters are welcome to share their experiences of the various sites.

Get Paid To Write

Weblogs, Inc. - Apply to blog for one of their ninety plus blogs or submit your own topic idea. They will pay you per post that you write and you must meet their minimum post requirements.

PayPerPost - Get paid as much as $500 or more a month writing articles and reviews of their sponsors on your blog.

Blogsvertise - Their advertisers pay you to mention and talk about their websites, products and services in your own blog.

Review Me - After your blog has been accepted in their network, they will pay you $20 to $200 per post that you write.

Smorty - Earn $6 to $100 dollars per post you write on your blog. Amount paid for each post depends on the overall popularity and page rank of your blog.

SponsoredReviews - Write reviews for their advertisers’ products and services on your own blog. They charge a 35% transaction fee for their services.

LoudLaunch - Blog about the advertisers campaign releases that meet your interests. They pay once a month.

Blogitive - Get paid weekly via PayPal for posting stories that interest you.

BloggerWave - Select the advertiser opportunities that best suit your blog and write reviews on their products and services.

InBlogAds - Write about websites, products, services and companies on your blog and get paid for it.

BlogToProfit - Make $250 dollars or more by writing new posts on your blog.

Creative Weblogging - Write 7 to 10 posts per week for their network and they will pay you $225 per month.

WordFirm - Make money publishing books as a freelance writer from home.

451 Press - Write for a blog within their network and receive forty percent of all generated revenue.

Digital Journal - Network of bloggers that get paid to report on newsworthy articles through their blogs.

BlogBurner - Sign up for a free blog and get paid for writing new posts. Your commissions are generated through Adsense clicks.

Squidoo - Earn money by writing your new blog, or choose to donate your earnings to charity.

About.com - Become a paid guide writing articles for About.com. Compensation depends on the growth of your page views.

DayTipper - Earn $3 for every short tip you write and get published.

Helium - Earn a share of their advertising revenue by writing articles in their channels.

Dewitts Media - Get paid to write your own blog. This site requires you have a minimum page rank of 3 to sign up.

BOTW Media - Make money writing a blog for their blogging network.

CreamAid - Get paid to submit blog posts in their directory.

BlogFeast - Generate revenue from pre-installed Google Adsense ads when you blog in their network.

Mashable - Mashable hires freelancers and new staff, offering one of the largest platforms for tech bloggers.

Advertising Programs

Google Adsense - Most popular pay-per-click advertising provider. Make anywhere from $0.01 to $5.00 plus per click on site relevant ads.

Text-Link-Ads - Approve or deny the advertiser links that appear on your site. They pay you 50% of the sale price for each text link sold on your website.

BlogAds - The average blogger makes anywhere from $50 to $5000 dollars a month selling blog ads. To participate in this program you will need to get sponsored by someone in their network.

LinkWorth - Here you will find eleven different options to fit your advertising needs. Choose from text based advertisements, sponsored ads and paid blog reviews to name a few.

CrispAds - Access to over six thousand advertisers in their pay-per-click program. You choose the advertisers that suit you best.

Chitika - Offers six types of advertising to fit your needs.

AzoogleAds - Delivers targeted advertisers to their network of publishers to bring you the most profitable solutions.

Vibrant Media - Offers in-text contextual based advertisements.

MediaFed - Place advertisements in your blog’s RSS feed to generate additional revenue.

Qumana - Embeds ads directly into your posts. Ads are generated from keywords that you select. Not particularly popular with readers.

PeakClick - Austria based pay-per-click provider. Provides automatic insertion of site targeted ads.

DoubleClick - Offers a full suite of products for publishers that enable you to forecast, sell inventory, serve ads and analyze campaigns online and through other digital channels.

Tribal Fusion - They offer reliable payments, free ad-serving technology, a dedicated account manager and up-to-date, real-time reporting, with a 55% payout. Must go through an approval process.

AdBrite - Approve or reject any ads purchased for your sites. Also gives you the ability to sell ads direct with “Your Ad Here” links.

ThankYouPages - Shows ads based on demographics and relevancy. Majority of traffic must originate from U.S.

Clicksor - Inline text link advertising, underlines words directly in your posts making them clickable advertisements. Once more, we’d say that inline ads are not popular with regular blog readers.

TargetPoint - Contextually and search targeted pay-per-click ads.

IndustryBrains - Place relevant contextual text listings and graphical ads on your site.

BloggingAds - Post one-time ads on your site. Pays via PayPal.

BulletAds - Performance based online advertising network.

AdsMarket - Match your traffic to handpicked advertisers with top-converting products and services.

ROIRocket - Targeted campaigns specific to your marketing needs.

AdKnowledge - Offers complete outsourcing of your advertising management. Runs ads in websites, email and search engine inventory.

Yes Advertising - Payouts for running ads from their sponsors. Also offers a referral program that pays 20% of the referred webmasters earnings.

RevenuePilot - Offers pay-for-performance and pay-per-click advertising for your sites.

SearchFeed - Integrates paid advertisements into your site’s search feature.

Bidvertiser - Display text ads on your site and advertisers bid for placement.

Pheedo - Monetize your RSS feeds with this program.

ValueClick media - Generate revenue by displaying ads through banners, pop-unders and rich media. Be warned that pop-unders are unpopular these days.

OneMonkey - Another text based advertising program.

Yahoo Publisher Network - Use the internet giant, Yahoo, to display targeted ads on your site.

Q Ads - Monetize your site by placing ads anywhere you can add a picture.

Affiliate Networks and Programs

Amazon Associates - Link to Amazon’s products and services and earn up to 10% of the sale price. Converts well for product-focused sites.

ClickBank - Over 10,000 products to promote with commissions as high as 75%.

Commission Junction - Promote the advertiser’s products and services in exchange for a commission on leads or sales.

LinkShare - Pay-for-performance affiliate marketing network. Gives you the ability to use individual product links on your site and generate revenue from sales.

Affiliate Fuel - Serves as a middle man to bring publishers and advertisers together to promote products and services.

LinkConnector - Affiliate marketing network that offers a zero tolerance fraud policy to keep you safe while conducting business.

LeadPile - Affiliate network that allows you to generate and sell trade leads to the highest bidder.

Forex-Affiliate - Affiliate program that allows you to earn commissions from trading Forex (currency exchange) online.

incentAclick - CPA (cost-per-action) affiliate program that guarantees the fastest ROI in the industry.

AdPlosion - Earn revenue by selling leads, clicks and products from their advertisers. Also runs an incentive points program in addition to your commissions.

AffiliateFuture - Another affiliate program that pays you for generating leads, sales and clicks.

ClixGalore - Affiliate network consisting of 7500+ advertisers for you to choose from.

ThinkAction - Affiliate network that claims to have the top payouts and the possibility of earning over $100,000 dollars per month.

RocketProfit - Affiliate network, pays via check after your commissions reach $25 dollars.

CafePress - Earn affiliate commissions by selling your personally branded merchandise.

Avangate - Make money selling popular computer software titles through your site.

Paid Social Media Programs

Dada.net - Social site with a revenue sharing program that pays you for referring friends and driving traffic.

Jyve - Pays you to provide answers, advice and peer support to people in need of some help.

Cruxy - Specializes in social video, but serves as a venue to sell your digital media Writers-Strike-Hurts-LA-Economy .

BitWine - Get paid to give advice and answer questions for people, on subjects of your interests and choice.

Ether - Make money answering questions for your peers over the phone. You set your rates and call availability.

UpBlogger - Social network site that pays you based on the amount of visits you receive to your uploaded content.

JustAnswer - Help others solve their problems and earn money for your knowledge.

MetaCafe - Upload your videos and earn money based on the number of views you receive.

ChaCha - Get paid to offer support to members of their community.

AssociatedContent - Earn money by uploading your videos, text, audio and images to their site. Earnings are determined by the exposure you receive from your content.

myLot - Pays you for posting, commenting and using their social network.

KnowBrainers - Another site that pays you to get involved with the community and answer questions. Optionally you can answer questions through the RSS feeds on your own blog.

Everything Else That Pays

Google User Research - Google Pays you money to participate in their user research studies online.

Microsoft Research Panel - Get paid from Microsoft for providing feedback on their products.

Amazon Mechanical Turk - Amazon pays you to complete simple tasks that their computers can’t understand. Payments are a matter of cents.

eJury - Earn $5 to $10 dollars per verdict rendered as a mock juror for practice trials.

WorkingSOL - This company pays you to handle technical support for many large companies. You can work from home on the computer or by phone and decide what times you are available.

Appingo - Always looking for experienced copy editors and proof readers. Must submit a resume.

IntelliShop - Pays you to shop at stores in your area and write a review of your experience.

Mahalo Greenhouse - They pay $10 to $15 dollars per site you submit to their directory.

Focus Pointe Global - Get paid to join their focus groups and voice your opinion. Available to teens and adults.

Agloco - Sign up, download their toolbar and get paid to surf the internet. This site has been criticized as a “pyramid scheme”, although the founders deny the allegation.

Arise - Make money providing phone, web and email support and sales for 40 plus companies in their network.

CraZoo - Earn money for starting new threads and posting in online forums.

Tutor.com - Get paid to tutor people online.

ForumBoosting.com - Make money posting in forums across the internet.

Share-A-Pic - Earn money by uploading and sharing your pictures on their website.

Opuzz Voice - Earn money by doing voice overs for their clients online.

SlashMySearch - Get paid to search the internet with their search engine.

Here’s an oldie but a goodie. Confounded by trying to track down fancy-looking WordPress themes? Check out this Web-

based theme editor that lets you tweak every nook and cranny of a theme then spit it back to your server to go live. You can add columns, change fonts and backgrounds, even throw in a customizable tag cloud–all with no coding experience required. All you need is a little creativity and some working knowledge of drop-down menus.

While some WordPress themes have excellent built-in support for doing this right from the WordPress dashboard,

many more don’t, and trying to figure out all the little things like text color is made far easier with a WYSIWYG editor than with WordPress’ built-in editing tools.

Advanced users can throw in graphics or design elements they’ve hosted elsewhere on their server (as long

as it’s got a URL to link up to), and when all is said and done each bit of the theme can be grabbed as an individual file to whatever theme you’re currently using. This is an easy way to try out new fonts and colors without making a mess out of your existing style.css file.