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If you have wondered how much you should tip, here are some general guidelines from EmilyPost.com…

RESTAURANTS:

Wait service (sit down)
15-20% pre-tax

Wait service (buffet)
10%

Host
No obligation
$10-$20 on occasion, if you are a regular patron

Take Out
No obligation
0-10% if the person went above normal service

Bartender
$1 per drink or 15-20% or tab

Tipping jars
No obligation
tip occasionally if you are a regular or if the person went above normal service

Restroom Attendant
$0.50-$3, depending on service

Valet
$2-$5

TRAVEL:

Skycap
$2 first bag, $1 per additional bag

Doorman
$1-$2 for carrying luggage
$1-$2 for hailing cab
$1-$4 beyond the call of duty

Bellhop
$2 first bag, $1 per additional bag

Housekeeper
$2-$5 per day, left daily

Concierge
$5 for tickets or reservations, $10 if hard to get; no need to tip for answering questions

Taxi driver
15% plus an extra $1-$2 if helped with bags

SALON/SPA:

Hair Dresser
15-20%, ask to be split among those who served you

Manicurist, facial, waxing, massage
15-20%

As promised, here are fourteen through sixteen from the article in Real Simple Magazine called 18 Common Phrases to Avoid in Conversation…

What Not to Say to a Single (or Newly Single) Person

Don’t Say: “You were too good for him.”
Why: You are basically saying she has bad taste. And you’ll be embarrassed if they ever patch it up.
Instead Say: “His loss!” It gets the same point across without disparaging her judgment.

Don’t Say: “I’m glad you got rid of him. I never liked him anyway.”
Why: She’ll wonder about your fake adoration for him while they were together.
Instead Say: “I’m confident you’ll find someone who will give you exactly what you want.” It focuses on what’s to come, not on the dud you’re glad she’s done with.

Don’t Say: “How could someone as perfect as you still be single?”
Why: A statement like this comes off as a backhanded compliment. What she hears is “What’s wrong with you?”
Instead Say: “Seeing anyone?” If she’s tight-lipped about her love life, move on to other topics.

Expert: Bethany Marshall, Ph.D., a psychotherapist in Beverly Hills and the author of Deal Breakers: When to Work On a Relationship and When to Walk Away (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $23, www.amazon.com).

If you are one of the millions who now own an iPhone, I thought you would be interested in hearing about some of the best software programs you can download at Apple’s App Store.

Here are the Top 10 applications according to the USA Today story Apple’s new App Store for iPhone stuff is addictive by Edward C. Baig…

•Pandora. You type a song or artist name, and Pandora creates an instant radio station inspired by your selection. The free iPhone version works the same as it does on PCs and Macs, right down to letting you fine-tune stations by indicating whether you like the music being played.

You can also buy songs you hear on Pandora through iTunes, if available. I especially enjoyed Pandora in my car, after hooking up the iPhone through an auxiliary jack in the vehicle. A power adapter to preserve the battery is recommended.

Imperfections: It takes a long time to go from one track to another. And I experienced hiccups and dropouts in service when network coverage was iffy.

•AOL Radio. The same good news/bad news scenarios apply to AOL Radio: It’s great with coverage, frustrating otherwise. AOL’s own Internet radio stations are currently available only via Wi-Fi. But you can access more than 150 CBS Radio stations across the USA and India, letting a New Yorker, say, listen to a station in Chicago. You can also take advantage of the iPhone’s location-based capabilities to find stations in your neck of the woods.

•Super Monkey Ball. Sega’s $9.99 game was among the first to be featured by Apple and with good reason. It makes fine use of the iPhone’s “accelerometer” motion sensor. The object is to steer a little monkey trapped in a clear ball across a series of obstacle courses. It’s not easy: The accelerometer is really sensitive.

•MooCowMusic Band. This enjoyable program lets you play a virtual on-screen piano, bass, drum set and other instruments on the multitouch display. Keys are animated when you press them, and you can record your compositions. But at $9.99, it strikes me as a bit overpriced.

•Etch A Sketch. Freeze Tag’s $4.99 version of the classic children’s toy lets you draw on the iPhone’s multitouch display with your fingers or on-screen knobs. It has authentic sound effects and lets you wipe out what’s on the screen by shaking the phone, just like a real Etch A Sketch. Promised soon: a “tilt-to-draw” mode that will let you draw with the accelerometer.

•Connected Flow’s Exposure. The marketing spiel is “Flickr in your pocket.” And that’s just what this free app delivers. You can look at your own Flickr photos, those of friends, or use location services to find pics from folks nearby.

•Urbanspoon. Tired of the same old restaurants? Urbanspoon can help you pick an eatery at random, based on your location or another city. The screen resembles a slot machine with three spinning wheels. One represents neighborhood, the second a food type (steakhouse, sushi, etc.), a third, price. Shake the iPhone, and the wheels spin, landing on a random place to eat. You can access a restaurant’s phone number, address and sometimes reviews. You can “lock” a wheel to stick to a price range or given neighborhood.

•Midomi Mobile. You know the old joke about humming a few bars and faking it? Here, you start humming a song to have this addictive program try to recognize it. Midomi recognized my hums of Fly Me to the Moon and As Time Goes By. It didn’t get it right all the time. With a match, you can hear samples from the singers, jump to YouTube videos or buy the track in iTunes. You can also hear how other people hummed or performed the same material.

•Shazam. Ever wish you knew the name of a song you hear in the car or a club? Another free music-searching application, Shazam, can help. Hold your iPhone up as a song is playing, and Shazam will attempt to tag it, usually in less than 20 seconds. Shazam correctly recognized Patsy Cline’s I Fall to Pieces, Joan Osborne’s version of What Becomes of the Brokenhearted and John Lennon’s #9 Dream. It missed a few obscure tracks and some opera. In some cases, you can buy an identified track in iTunes. Sorry, no humming.

•Remote. This aptly named app from Apple turns the iPhone into a handy remote control you can use with Apple TV and iTunes on your PC or Mac. You control all the usual functions (play, skip, shuffle, etc.) and view album art on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Remote works with Wi-Fi so you can control iTunes from another room in your house.

As promised, here are eleven through thirteen from the article in Real Simple Magazine called 18 Common Phrases to Avoid in Conversation…

What Not to Say About Pregnancy and Babies

Don’t Say: “Are you pregnant?”
Why: You ask, she’s not, and you feel totally embarrassed for essentially pointing out that she’s overweight.
Instead Say: “Hello” or “Great to see you” or “You look great.” Anything besides “Are you pregnant?” or “What’s the due date?” will do. Save yourself the humiliation and never ask.

Don’t Say: “Do you plan on breast-feeding?”
Why: The issue can be controversial, and she may not want to discuss her decision publicly.
Instead Say: Nothing. Unless you’re very close, don’t ask. If you slip, make up for the blunder by adding, “And do you feel comfortable telling me?”

Don’t Say: “Were your twins natural?” or “It must have been hard for your child’s birth parent to give him up.”
Why: You’re suggesting that natural conception is better than in vitro fertilization (IVF) or adoption.
Instead Say: To a parent of multiples, try a light “Wow, you have your hands full!” To an adoptive parent, say the same stuff you would to any other parent: “She’s adorable!” or “How old is he?”

Expert: Kim Hahn, founder and chief executive officer of Conceive magazine.

Here is another way for you to stay in tune with pop culture and to build your business relationships…

According to the Associated Press story XBox 360 to stream Netflix movies by Barbara Ortutay…

“July 14, 2008 - LOS ANGELES - Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console will be able to stream thousands of movies over the Internet, thanks to a deal announced Monday with Netflix Inc. that highlights the way gaming devices are expanding into all-purpose home-entertainment hubs.

The arrangement, revealed at the E3 Media & Business Summit in Los Angeles, will let Netflix subscribers stream 10,000 movies and TV shows to Xbox consoles for viewing on television sets, beginning this fall. Xbox had movies and shows available for download before, but only half as many.

Microsoft already has sold more than 10 million Xbox 360 consoles in the United States. More than half of Xbox 360 owners pay $50 a year for a “gold” membership, which will be required for access to Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” library. They also must subscribe to Netflix, which charges $9 per month for the least expensive plan that includes unlimited streaming.

In partnering with Microsoft, Netflix may be building the streaming service to prepare for the day when the convenience and widespread availability of video downloading kills its DVD-by-mail service.

Although Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings still believes DVDs will be around for years to come, he has already poured more than $40 million into developing the streaming service.

Until recently, Netflix’s streaming service hadn’t been a big hit with the company’s 8.2 million subscribers, because there was no way to easily watch the movies on anything but a computer.

That began to change two months ago when Roku began selling a small set-top box that could stream to movies to any television set. Roku sold out its initial supply of the $100 player in just two weeks. The device is now back in stock.

Microsoft had been widely expected to embrace Netflix’s streaming service, partly because the two companies seem like natural allies. They share a common rival in Apple Inc. (AAPL), which has battled Microsoft in the personal computer market for decades and last year emerged as threat to Netflix with a downloading service for renting movies and TV shows.

While the Xbox 360 will have exclusive rights among the video game consoles to the movie streaming service, Netflix is still looking for other ways to reach TV sets. The company already has announced that LG Electronics will include streaming capability on a Blu-ray DVD player that will debut this year. Hastings also has promised at least one more major consumer electronics company will unveil a set-top box for Netflix before 2009.

The popularity of the Roku device already has proven that Netflix subscribers want to be able to stream entertainment from the Internet to their TVs, Hastings said, though he acknowledged that “the quality of content” is still lacking. Netflix’s DVD rental library is 10 times larger than the streaming service, which rarely offers the latest home-entertainment options from movie and TV studios.

Hastings hopes to add about 8,000 more titles to the streaming service during the next 18 months.”

If you are living in California or one of the US States that recently outlawed using your cell phone while driving, you will be happy to hear about Jott.com… Jott can convert your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists, and appointments from any cell phone.

Simply go to Jott.com and sign up for a free account… in turn, you can call one designated Jott number (which you can program into your speed dial)… then use the voice activated commands to choose a recipient or task… choose a procedure (email, text, list, etc.)… then dictate your message. All of which can be done handsfree with your bluetooth headset or bluetooth car audio. It even works with the new iPhone 3G!

Currently available for US and Canadian residents.

According to Jott.com…

“Headquartered in Seattle, WA, Jott Networks operates a voice to text service that makes staying organized and in touch easy. Jott allows consumers to easily and safely send emails and text messages, set reminders, organize lists, and post to web services with their voice. Since its introduction in late 2006, Jott has made world class voice transcription accessible to anyone with a cell phone.”

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last few months I am sure you have heard the new iPhone 3G is upon us… in fact, it is being launched today in the US as well as several other countries… therefore I thought I would share an initial review by Marc Saltzman from TheStar.com…

“July 10, 2008 - It’s arguably the most-hyped consumer electronics gadget in history and Apple’s iPhone is finally available. With all the media hoopla surrounding this sexy smartphone there’s probably very little you don’t already know about it.

But a laundry list of impressive specs on paper isn’t the same as playing around with the device – something we’ve had the privilege of doing over the past 10 days.

And so, we take a page from Miley Cyrus’ new song “7 Things” and present seven things we love about the iPhone 3G, and seven things we don’t.

What do we love about the iPhone 3G?

1. It’s so wireless. Ten different radios are under the hood of the iPhone 3G, including Wi-Fi (to surf the Net while on a wireless network), Bluetooth (for hands-free headsets), GPS (to navigate to a destination) and 3G connectivity for high-speed wireless connectivity through Rogers’ HSPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) network.

2. The display. The 3.5-inch multi-touch screen makes it a breeze to navigate through the phone’s features. Use your fingertip to flick down your contacts like a digital Rolodex. Pinch and expand to zoom into your photos. Tap to preview and play music via the iTunes Wi-Fi store.

3. Shhh, it’s really a computer. You haven’t surfed the Net on a phone until you’ve used an iPhone, thanks to a real HTML-based Safari browser with support for photos and some videos (such as QuickTime). Turn the iPhone sideways and the built-in accelerometer automatically flips the screen horizontally.

4. It’s an iPod. Store up to 8GB or 16GB (depending on the model) of music, podcasts, audio books, photos and videos – all copied over when synched with your iTunes software. But unlike any previous iPod, the iPhone also has a built-in speaker so you don’t need ear buds if you don’t want to wear them.

5. Programs galore. Apple opened up the platform for third-party developers. The AppStore means you can download thousands of applications to run on the iPhone, ranging from 3-D video games and song-writing software (think GarageBand for your pocket) to medical encyclopaedias and digital cookbooks with video tutorials.

6. It’s stable. The operating system is rock solid. We haven’t experienced a crash once. Any time you want to get out of a program you don’t have to look for an “X” to tap in order to close it – simply tap the solitary “Home” button at the bottom of the iPhone. It might not be a sexy feature, but there’s nothing more un-sexy than a crashing OS with a complicated interface.

7. Coffee is close by. Type in something you’re looking for in the Google Maps search field – such as “coffee,” “gas station,” “Indian food,” “CIBC” or “hotel” – and you’ll immediately see pushpins fall onto the satellite image. Tap the closest “point of interest” and it will present the phone number (tap to call), website, address and directions.

What don’t we love about the iPhone 3G?

1. The soft QWERTY keyboard takes some getting used to – especially for those with fat thumbs. And while you can hold it horizontally while surfing the web (to make the keyboard bigger), emails must be typed on the vertical layout.

2. No video recording. What gives? Plus, the 2-megapixel camera is the same as last year’s model (5 megapixels would’ve been nice).

3. No MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) support. You can take a photo and email it to someone but you can’t send it to a friend’s phone with a message.

4. No voice-activated dialing (e.g. “Call Home”), as you can with most other phones. On a related note, there is no voice recording feature (an invaluable tool as a journalist).

5. Google Maps doesn’t give you audio-based turn-by-turn instructions, so it’s basically useless while driving.

6. You can’t copy and paste text on the iPhone, such as a copying some words from a website to the Notes section. With any luck this oversight will be fixed with a firmware update.

7. More memory, please. Rumour has it a 32GB version is in the works. At the very least offer support for expandable memory cards, no?

As promised, here are eight through ten from the article in Real Simple Magazine called 18 Common Phrases to Avoid in Conversation…

What Not to Say During a Job Interview

Don’t Say: “My current boss is horrendous.”
Why: It’s unprofessional. Your interviewer might wonder when you’d start bad-mouthing her. For all you know, she and your current boss are old pals.
Instead Say: “I’m ready for a new challenge” or a similarly positive remark.

Don’t Say: “Do you think I’d fit in here?”
Why: You’re the interviewee, not the interviewer.
Instead Say: “What do you enjoy about working here?” By all means ask questions, but prepare ones that demonstrate your genuine interest in the company.

Don’t Say: “What are the hours like?” or “What’s the vacation policy?”
Why: You want to be seen as someone who focuses on getting the job done.
Instead Say: “What’s the day-to-day like here?” Then, if you’ve really jumped through every hoop and time off still hasn’t been mentioned, say, “Can you tell me about the compensation and benefits package?”

Expert: Mary Mitchell, president of the Mitchell Organization, a corporate-etiquette training firm in Seattle, and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Etiquette (Alpha, $17, www.amazon.com).

If you are looking for a new desktop PC, check out the new HP Touchsmart PC’s that allow you to control your programs by simply touching the screen (similar to the iPhone).  Pretty cool!

According to HP.com…

“HP unveiled a new generation of all-in-one PCs that change the way people interact with their computers by making digital entertainment a truly compelling, hands-on experience.

The new HP TouchSmart family of PCs features HP software designed specifically for touch. A finger tapped or swept across the high-resolution screen delivers quick access to information, entertainment and social networks. Without using a keyboard or mouse, consumers can play music and create playlists, zoom in or out of photos, and quickly check the weather or watch TV.

HP TouchSmart PCs are designed to resemble the lines of a messenger bag and to fit wherever life happens, whether in the living room to entertain friends, in the den as a social hub, or in the home office. The simple yet sleek design and natural user interface adds style and elegance anywhere it is placed.

HP TouchSmart IQ500 series PC software brings a new level of enjoyment to photos, videos and music by making it easier for people to access and interact with their media. For example, consumers can browse a music collection by album art in a tiled fashion or fan view. People can crop, edit and share photos as well as upload them directly to Snapfish from HP without the need to use a keyboard or mouse.

Consumers also can watch and record their favorite TV shows, burn personal videos with the built-in DVD burner, upload videos they create directly to YouTube, and enjoy high-quality sound with the integrated premium stereo speakers. The built-in webcam and microphone help users keep in touch with friends and family anywhere they have Internet access through video chat and conference.

“The introduction of a touch computer with such a strong focus on digital entertainment opens the door to an entirely new way for consumers to engage with their content,” said Stephen Baker, vice president, industry analysis, The NPD Group. “HP TouchSmart PCs will allow people to interact with their photos, videos, music and games in unique ways, plus they do everything that you’d expect from a traditional PC.”"

Currently available at Amazon.com starting at $1299.99 USD.

As promised, here are five through seven from the article in Real Simple Magazine called 18 Common Phrases to Avoid in Conversation…

What Not to Say in the Workplace

Don’t Say: “That’s not my job.”
Why: If your superior asks you to do something, it is your job.
Instead Say: “I’m not sure that should be my priority right now.” Then have a conversation with your boss about your responsibilities.

Don’t Say: “This might sound stupid, but…”
Why: Never undermine your ideas by prefacing your remarks with wishy-washy language.
Instead Say: What’s on your mind. It reinforces your credibility to present your ideas with confidence.

Don’t Say: “I don’t have time to talk to you.”
Why: It’s plain rude, in person or on the phone.
Instead Say: “I’m just finishing something up right now. Can I come by when I’ve completed this?” Graciously explain why you can’t talk now, and suggest catching up at an appointed time later. Let phone calls go to voice mail until you can give callers your undivided attention.

Expert: Suzanne Bates, president and chief executive officer of Bates Communications, an executive-training firm in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and author of Speak Like a CEO (McGraw-Hill, $22, www.amazon.com).

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