PayPerPost are hosting an event called PostieCon on the 10th of November. It is basically a one of a kind blog conference in Las Vegas Nevada at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It has targeted sessions aimed at helping bloggers to market themselves, as well as how best to use the PayPerPost website to their advantage. The conference will have a host of experienced bloggers who are willing to share their knowledge with you. Topics will includes things issues such as how to build traffic, how to monetise your blog and how to build up readership.

Among the bloggers attending are Shirley Frazier who will talk about building your niche blog; David Ponce who will discuss turning visits into cash; Sherry Heyl who will talk about why you should live your life online and Paul Lewis who will do a session on connecting with advertisers. All of these talks sound like really useful stuff that should help anyone who has a blog make a success of it. The session I think would be of most interest to me is one by Jim Kukral on the secrets to long-term blog success. Registration for PostieCon is free but places are limited so if you want to go, you need to register your place soon. If you are one of the first 100 people to register you can also get into BlogWorld for free.

Unfortunately for me being in the United Kingdom it is a little far to go for the event. I wonder whether PayPerPost might make the main points of the conference sessions available online for people such as myself that are too far away to attend. It would be also be interesting to see if PayPerPost might think about arranging some United Kingdom or European PostieCon events for their international base of bloggers.

If you are trying to eat healthier food but feel you need a bit of help you might want to try mysupermarket.co.uk In addition to their price comparison service they have now launched a service that allows you see nutritional information about your shop including the calories and fat and salt content. It then asks you if you want to switch any of the foods that are high in calories for a lower calorie alternative. They claim that using the service could knock around 4,000 calories off a families consumption.

Tesco are to launch a comparison website called tescocompare.com. The website will allow users to compare insurance from a range of providers. Whilst initially geared towards car insurance, the website will also cover other financial services such as mortgages, homes loans and credit cards in the future.

There have been a number of incidents regarding Crocs shoes and escalators. The shoes which are known for their flexibility and grip can become caught in the teeth at the bottom or top of an escalator. In one incident mentioned in this article a young boy’s shoes became caught causing the name on his big toe to be nearly ripped off. The Washington Metro has even posted adverts warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways. In Japan, the government warned consumers last week that it has received 39 reports of sandals mostly Crocs or similar products getting stuck in escalators from late August through early September. There have other reports from other countries of similar incidents most of which have involved young children. It might be better not to let your children wear their Crocs when using the escalator.

A new payment card has been launched that combines an Oyster travel card with a payment card. It is called the Barclaycard OnePulse and can be used to pay for items that cost less than £10 without the need to input a pin number. It can also be used for purchases over £10 but these transactions will require a number or a signature to be authorised.

A textiles company that supplied three high street chains has been accused of using slave labour. The company CMT makes garments for Topman, Next and George. They currently pay staff in their Bangladeshi factories only £70 a month for up to 70 hours work a week. In many cases workers were promised a good wage from a union official but actually received much less when they paid.

Lloyds TSB is the first high street bank to introduce plans to cut overdraft charges. The banks will introduce the new charges on the 2nd of November. They plan to cut the interest rates for unauthorised borrowing by a third as well as reducing the charges for going overdrawn. They will also reduce the charges for bounced cheques. Lloyds say they are reducing charges in response to customer feedback. They will still charge customer £15 a month for going overdrawn and then a daily rate of between £6 and £20 depending on the size of the overdraft. I think the fact that they are reducing charges is a positive step, it will be interesting to see if other high street banks follow suit.

Many things affect the cost of your insurance but the main reason you are paying more could be your post code. I was reading this article that suggests residents in South Norwood pay more than three times as much for building and contents insurance as someone who lives in Barnstaple. The website also provides a post code checker so you can see how the area in which you live affects what you pay. The results show you a typical annual premium for a house in your area, as well as where it ranks in the country. My breakdown was as follows:

Your postcode breakdown:  
•    Your league position: 1365 out of 1659
•    Your premium: £190.25
•    The national average is £169.45

I just opened a bottle of Vashon Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. This is a really fruity full bodies red wine. It has a slightly oak like taste. I thought this was a really nice wine and good for the price of £6.49 a bottle. Slightly strong at 14% volume but it still gets five stars.

Pingo is a company that offers a virtual calling card with really low rates. They have a number of different plans including Pingo Mobile which is designed to save you money on calling international cell phones. They also offer a Pingo Business plan which allows you to buy a long distance service directly from iBasis, one of the largest carriers of international phone calls.

You can currently use Pingo in 35 countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. When you sign up you receive $5 worth of free calls. They currently have a special phone card discount coupon if you quote the code ppp3. This entitles you $3 off at Pingo. They offer come of the best competitive rates worldwide including a cheap calling card to India. Their international calling cards have a small monthly fee of 98 cents a month but no additional fees. Their service also includes Pingo RateWatcher which means they are always looking for ways to reduce their costs and pass these savings onto their customers. In additional if you can receive a $5 bonus for every friend you refer to Pingo, and if you refer three friends they will give you an added $5 bonus, so you get $20 worth of calling time.

It’s good news for the traditional British pint, which was due to be scrapped under EU rules. The EU have now announced a U-turn on the policy which would have meant grocers would be unable to sell produce in pounds and ounces and pubs would have to stop selling pints. The EU has now ruled that pubs can go on serving beer in pints after 2009. Personally I couldn’t see myself ordering a litre of beer, mines a pint landlord.

It’s getting to that time of year when I start thinking about buying Christmas presents. I usually find it’s less stressful to do all my Christmas shopping online to avoid the crowded shops. I was having a look on the Coupon Chief website the other day to see whether I could save a bit of money on my purchases. I came across some Only Natural Pet Store deals, after all pets’ need Christmas presents too. In their gift range I found a peek and play toy box and some gourmet meals that should  make the cats happy. I also found some My Wines Direct coupons. They do some nice wine baskets which are perfect for Christmas gifts.