1. An older person can read a classic that he normally doesn't see on the shelves. There is a site called Gutenberg where a person can access some of the world's most famous classics.
2. A lot of people like window-shopping over the internet and this has the advantage of saving a lot of legwork to see things they wouldn't normally buy or to compare prices
3. People can plan a trip by checking out travel agency deals and seeing what various hotels have to offer
4. It is convenient to pay your bills on line so that you don't have to wait for a teller or worse have to fit your work schedule around their availability
5. There is a certain appeal for solitaire on the internet or interactive games like scrabble, chess or other games. This helps to kill time especially if the older person doesn't have a neighbour that is free to play the game.
6. A lot of people like catching up with the news and they can pick their favourite channel and get some news on what is current
7. Sending emails to friends has always saved on postage and one can even send a wide choice of ecards through the internet. Nothing beats getting a birthday card on the mail though.
8. An older person may want to look up where he can do volunteer services and there are websites that he can frequent so as to choose the right resource
9. Writing on the internet offers another means of exposure and that writing could be in the form of poetry, prose or narratives. There is a wide choice of websites that will even pay for submissions although one should be careful of those that offer quick riches.
10. One can consult the internet for rentals in the house or car market. This also saves a lot of leg work
11. Calls can be made over the internet if the person is outside the house and wants to speak to someone. All one needs is to download a program to make the call and attaché a microphone into the jack of a laptop.
12. Opinions and comments can be done over the internet especially if one is concerned over the nature of an article and wants to voice his differences

1. If you get a notice that you have receives a package in the mail from France and are required to click on the attachment to sign a form, delete the file immediately. This is a phising scam that will identify your computer if you click on the attachment or it will release a virus. People should know whether they're expecting a package from France in the first place.
2. Beware if you receive a notice from hotmail saying they will delete your account with them because it has been inactive for sometime, unless you click on a link to notify them it is still be used. Hotmail would not contact you in this manner and the company does not need to advise people of a limitation of space by requiring them to click on a link in a separate notice mailing.
3. There are also scams generated by companies posing as Paypal, Ebay and the like enticing people to verify their accounts in order that they stay active. I am sure that these companies do not notify people in this manner. The same can be said for credit card companies where yours truly advised people what to do about any suspected phishing scam.
4. Banks also do not advise people to open up strange links in order to verify their ownership of certain accounts. Banks do not solicit over the internet and if anything would send a snail mail warning.

Now I went through the trouble of putting my paintings up for sale on eBay but found out that the artist has to pay for the space he uses on the site. Now this is a good scheme to get exposure but if the artist wants to come away with a profit, he had better consider the cost of having the site host his paintings. What I did not like about the web advertisement besides the cost was the presentation; the paintings appear in a list among other artistic works. Being on a large search engine has its advantages because Ebay has developed a name for itself but the disadvantage is unless the artist can come up with something original, his work is not going to stick out from the rest. The result is that some good work often gets overlooked

If the artist is going to chose a site to sale his works he should know that people do prefer to see the painting directly. Many like the idea of standing up close to a painting to see its composition and texture clearly. Websites are getting close to seeing the real thing but there is nothing like seeing it first hand without the polished look it will have on a digital image screen. He should then look into sites that have the best ratings. A site with a counter will be a good indication of how many potential buyers visits it in order to buy. So this is something for the artist to look for on a website when choosing one to host his artwork.

One art site was set up which allowed the artist to set up a mock room with his picture hanging on a wall surrounded by furniture and the like. It offered an idea of an interior decorated room. This sort of site would be something to look into especially when the buyer is interested in matching a painting to the upholstery of his couch. Now this might be a total turn off for the artist who considers his work as independent of home furnishings. However it is the buyer who is going to pay money for his work so both parties should be satisfied. At least the person is getting exposure.

Serious exposure is better than none and so an artist must exhibit his paintings at reputable places in order to increase his credibility. A lot of fine work is also exhibited at cafes and bistros so I am not negating those venues but usually there are richer buyers who frequent the well-known galleries as opposed to buying art at a café. Again this is not to say the artist cannot sell a painting at a café; your truly has and continues to do so when galleries are too expensive to rent. It is just that there is the awful reality that many people associate better quality art as being exhibit in established galleries and if these people are going to make a serious investment, they will likely go there instead of the corner café.

The artist should never sell himself too low. In other words he should study the range of prices that exist out there and govern himself accordingly. There is a formula that I was given in order for the artist to come up with a price but this system considers that the art is dependent on the size and not on the artistic value of the painting, installation or work of art. So the artist has to ask himself if he wants to be recognized as an artist who gets paid by the square inch or someone who will merit him for the amount of work he puts into his work. Now there are tons of people who have no idea of how many hours of painstaking work it takes to get special effect on a painting. These are most likely people who you do not want to sell to.

If you are going to depend on a website listing your art will get lost among the masses so the best solution here as for other art producers like writers, is to have your own website with a minimal amount of advertisement. Having advertisement on the site will help drive people to your site and Google had come up with a valid scheme to incorporate ads that will do just that. The website should be pleasing to the eye and the paintings should be shown individually and not just as thumbnails on some international websites. The visitor will want to click on the art piece and zoom in to get a closer look.

Once the site has been created it is up to the artist to make sure the word gets out about it. One way would be by adding a link to your site on art search engines and referring to your site on blogs and forums where possible. One never knows the type of visitor who will look in on those sites so the best thing is to make sure you market your site on diverse locations.

The artist should also consider reinventing himself from time to time so that viewers will always be surprised. This means you will have a better chance of being recognized as someone who keeps up to date. The road is long when it comes to being successful but if you are tenacious some success will arrive.

There would be somebody needed to use part of the studio to put up a small set and film some shorts that would get incorporated into the site. Some of the clips may also be used to produce a short film or to provide stock material for film promotions, commercials and other uses. Since the studio would be at its beginning stage I would have the same person who prepares the studio for the short shoot also work on editing the small clip that is then posted. He would also be responsible to uploading those same clips on other social networks so as to advertise them. I would also like to see an editor present who would take small clips as they are filmed and post them on the website.

Part of space could be used for model shoots but since I am also an artist, I could then have someone work to upload the pictures on the site and on other personal sites. That same person would be responsible to see that the art is submitted to art mags and is available for book covers and other media.

Then I would have to approach sponsorship organizations eager enough to see their logo on the website so as to promote their cultural event. One would have to continually add events to the website and have those them publicized well before they occur.

Where was I before the Facebook thing? I was using my space but only for a short time and that website already had people uploading their little videos.

I don't know if Facebook already had the technology to do the same but I get the feeling that the company is going as I speak and that there are nooks and crannies that are being added all the time. I was happy with doing the blog thing two years back and now just being on a blog site is unpopular; there is this ongoing tendency for convergent technology to occur even before I have a chance to fully appreciate the blog for what is worth. For people wanting more than just posting their opinions, where they can exchange that with their friends and also show their friends what activities they are doing, Facebook is still quite good.

As far as putting all my information out on the web, I have my reservations and when I see what is out there I feel better knowing that I have kept some things for myself. I refuse to divulge everything that I do and live the cyber space thing to the hilt. It is a convenient means of keeping in touch with someone but as far as the old phone is concerned; cyberspace fails when you can get in touch with the person and hear what he has to say.

There is a lot of information one can learn from a person's tone of voice than with the choice of words he has decided to type. That is the main issue for me and think the same issue is felt for other people looking for something that is less superficial. One cannot be guaranteed that phone messages will not be superficial and there are many good con artists out there, but at least you have an extra means of understanding what the person wants to say.

My other reservation over this extended use of cyberspace is that all this information could be misused by big brother organizations that invade your privacy to find out information you would otherwise want to keep to yourself. Cyberspace is still going to be a successful means of meeting people for some people though. People do find their matches on-line and will continue to do so but maybe it is not a means for everybody.

1. Buying a small salad. Many bistros will offer a salad on the side besides the complete meal, so if you ask you may fond something that is balanced. In other words it might contain another food like some cheese or egg.
2. I Am not advocating bringing your own sandwich to a bar but if you can get away with just buying a cappuccino, then all you have to do is take a break and eat the sandwich outside.
3. Trying to avoid the bars that require you to pay for internet service. Many bars will provide their own internet connection and I think it is fair to expect that in exchange for consuming a hot chocolate, providing you are not there for an entire afternoon.
4. Choosing a place that is open all day long. Second Cup provides outlets and is open to 2pm. One may find a free connection to the internet.
5. Deciding on a place where the music is not blaring. Loud places just don't allow me to think, as a writer should. The ambient should not be distracting.
6. One wants to look for a place where the lights are not unnecessarily dimmed at night to get the happy hour crowd or the after supper group. If candles are being laid on the table at a certain hour that is a good indication that luminosity is going to cut down later in the evening.
7. Choosing a place where the staff is courteous and friendly and not overly so. If they are too demanding or restrictive in where you can sit and limit the time you can stay because they have "better paying" customers, I would not stay.
8. There should be no discrimination based on how much you consume but one bar actually told me I could not take a window seat because that is where his better paying customers sit. None of that nonsense, segregation ended a long time ago. In other words go where people are internet friendly.
9. Picking a place where you can plug in, especially if you are with a battery powered laptop that dims when you without an alternate energy supply.
10. Looking for a bar where there is a choice of seating arrangement. A place which offers you a window seat during the day gives you chance to save on your eyesight because of the natural lighting.