The iPhone 4S along with its technological advancements went on sale in New Zealand yesterday. Its new features include a faster processor, 8MP camera, iCloud and of course iOS 5 that Apple touts as the most advanced mobile operating system. iOS 5 in itself adds over 200 new features to the iPhone which may make the millions of people who love it, love it even more!

The phone’s hardware and software advancements open a window of opportunity for the development of apps that once couldn’t be developed being developed. A good example of this in action is from the folks over at 1000memories.com. The site amongst other things allows its users to share old photos with family and friends. With the photos being old, more often than not there is a need to digitise them. The sharpness of the 8 megapixel camera on the iPhone 4S can effectively turn it into a high end scanner. 1000memories jumped on this and developed Shoebox, an app that turns the iPhone into a pocket scanner. The app gives its users a faster way of scanning and sharing old paper photos.

Shoebox took advantage of one of the many iPhone enhancements and created something that their users will value. There will be a number of people out there who have creative minds and may have already thought of iOS apps they would like to develop.

The main stumbling block for a lot of people who want to make their idea into a reality is where to begin? This is even more the case if they don’t have any programming skills. Just looking at the associated programming terminology and jargon is enough to put people off the thought forever.

If you have an idea for an app (or game), there are a number of avenues you can take to making your idea a reality. One easy way could be to turn to an app designer to do the work for you. If you have budget constraints, the next option would be to build the app yourself.

After taking a look around at the “do-it-yourself” application development options, the best that I have come across is iPhoneDevSecrets.

Why iPhoneDevSecrets?

Over the course of a few short weeks, the course takes you through a simple step-by-step process that will in no time see you idea become a reality. And remember, this is all done without any programming skills.

Another iPhoneDevSecrets draw card is that it isn’t only about building the app. It also covers topics such as ad network integration, marketing and selling which are just as important if not more important than building the application for the following reasons:

Ad Network Integration – not everyone likes to spend money on apps and people may be more inclined to download free ones. Offering an app free of charge doesn’t mean that you can’t earn money from it. Ad network integration creates your revenue stream

Marketing – To be able to make your development efforts and your app a success, you need to market it well. The course runs through how to successfully market and sell your application and hopefully make it a hit on the App Store

With the ever-evolving world that we live in, there is always something new that makes life just a little easier. An added advantage of iPhoneDevSecrets is that it can be easily updated (and is updated when need be) meaning you have access to current and relevant resources on app development. The course is a lot cheaper than what you may think it would cost and to get you going, you can start off with a $1 30 Day Trial of iPhoneDevSecrets to see if it is worth your while.

A couple of year ago, I was in need of someone to design a logo for one of my sites. There are a number of avenues that I could have chosen to meet my design needs but for various reasons I settled on a small logo design company. What I got in the end wasn’t quite what I was looking and the whole process was pretty much a waste of time and money. One thing that I put it down to was that the designer could not quite visualise my vision.

When I came across 99designs, my mind went back to my failed attempt at getting a logo designed. After reflecting on that attempt, one thing I thought would have been good was having pool of designers working on my project. If I had known about 99designs back then, it would have been the obvious choice for my design needs. The main reason for this is the crowdsourcing nature of their service. It would have given me access to a different designers all submitting concepts for me to chose from.

In a nutshell, 99designs is a creative design marketplace where designers submit concepts based on client needs. The client then chose’s the concept that best fits their needs and the winning designer gets paid.

• client posts a design contest that includes specifics of what they are looking for and how much they are willing to pay for the design
• designers start working on the project and send concepts through to the client
• client provides feedback on the concepts and designers make necessary tweaks to get the design just right
• after a few days the client chose’s a winning design from a large pool of concepts and the winning designer gets paid
• client receives the final design and the copyright to the work

Their services are not limited to just logo designs. They have designers that can cater to all of the following design needs:

The fact that you get to select the best design from concepts submitted by multi designers increases the chances of you getting what you want. Since there are number of people working on your project, the chances are much higher that there will be someone who can visualise exactly what you want and design it for you. An added bonus with 99designs is that if you aren’t happy with what you get, they have a 100% money back guarantee. You’ve got nothing to lose and a great design to gain.

There are countless numbers of jobs that are continually being outsourced by individuals and organisations and posted on freelance marketplaces such as oDesk, Elance and Freelancer.com just to name a few. The good thing about a lot of these short term projects is that you can work on them from the comfort of your own home and for anyone from anywhere in the world.

So many of us have expertise and knowledge that we don’t make full use of and these can range from web design, graphic design, writing, mobile app development, marketing, social media and the list goes on and on. More often than not, these areas may be something that you have taken up as a hobby and enjoy doing and they could be turned into an income stream. The thing is, there are a lot of people out there in the world who are looking for people with certain areas of expertise to help them complete projects they are working on.

In this day in age, finding freelance work is not that difficult as you can simply go to marketplaces such as those mentioned above and search for something suitable. That may not be ideal for everyone as one marketplace may not suit your needs as well as another. DoNanza is the perfect solution for people who want to be able to search for jobs available across the web. They are in a nutshell, a site that aggregates freelance projects from marketplaces and crowdsourcing platforms across the web. This increases the chances of you finding something that suits your needs without having to visit multiple sites.

They also have a publisher program that allows users to add a widget or project board to their site and earn money. Publishers are paid when users bid or work on projects. Publishers are also paid when employers post projects directly on their board. Payments are sent out monthly via cheque or PayPal.

Here is an example of a project board – Ninety Nine Ways Job Board

Freelancing is something that you should look into if you are out to make a little extra money or even take up full time. This is something that is open to anyone and everyone, the only requirement is that you are knowledgeable on whatever it is someone may need work on and that you can deliver!

The 2011 Rugby World Cup is only a few months away and events like this usually generate a considerable amount of revenue. In most cases it is the organisers and a few savvy retailers who take advantage of the influx of visitors to the event.

This rugby world cup is no different to other events of its magnitude in the fact that organisers want to be the only ones who profit from it. Just like the 2010 Football World Cup, they have made it clear that people cannot associate themselves with the Rugby World Cup when marketing themselves to the masses. This leaves people in a situation where they have to be very creative in order to make extra money during the world cup. For everyday people who also want to get in on this action, one of the easiest ways of making money from it is by renting out their home.

With the tens of thousands of overseas visitors expected in New Zealand, accommodation will be in demand. If you happen to have a house or even rooms available for rent in any of the host cities, you may want to consider renting it out for a week or two or three.

iStopOver is an online platform where home owners can list short term rentals for free. Once a listing has been posted it becomes viewable to scores of travellers from around the world. Homeowners then have the opportunity to communicate with potential guests and if comfortable with them, they can approve them. The guest then makes a payment which is held in escrow by iStopOver and paid out once the guest checks in. Payments are paid out via PayPal (you can Sign Up Here if you don’t have an account), direct deposit or cheque. All that iStopOver charges for this hassle free service is a 3% admin processing fee.

At the moment they are putting quite a bit of focus on the Rugby World Cup and they are putting in a lot of work to make sure that all available rooms get filled. A few similar sites have sprung up over the past few months but none of them are as established as iStopOver or have anywhere near as much traffic to their sites as they do. This means that the chances of filling up your rooms are just about guaranteed and you can be rest assured that you will get paid for your rental.

eBay recently posted higher than expected third quarter profits which is a good thing for them but also a good thing for sellers. I saw it as a sign that more stuff is being sold on eBay and figures show that this was the case. Being a seller myself I experienced a slump in sales when the little global crisis hit and almost gave it up altogether. Over time eBay has been trying to lure sellers back by lowering or getting rid of listings fees now and then. Them taking that stance helped in getting me back onto the marketplace.

Because of the recession, some people have found it harder to get back into selling because of not having capital to get inventory and so on. One solution provider that caters specifically to eBay marketplace sellers is Kabbage. They provide funding to kick-start and help your business grow. They have a quick and simple application process where on approval, funds are deposited into your PayPal account (you can Sign Up Here if you don’t have an account).

The process of getting a loan through them is pretty simple with you only having to go through the following steps:

• provide them with your ebay seller ID to see if you qualify
• complete an application form
• accept the terms and conditions (if they are to your liking)

The money is deposited into your account soon after and you can get going with growing your business. As with any other financial institution you get an advance from, Kabbage charges fees with theirs being a flat rate per $100 (rates information can be found in the borrower agreement). Repayments are made by auto pay from either your PayPal or checking account or you could chose to pay directly on their website or via cheque.

For some of you out there, this may work out as your best option when looking for funding to get your business back on track. At the moment they are only available in the United States but they will expand to other countries in the future.

More and more individuals, bloggers and companies are turning to Facebook as a way of connecting with people, increasing blog traffic, building a brand and the list goes on. Some people are taking that further and are selling their products right on Facebook. Having that functionality makes it a lot easier and more convenient for people to purchase your items since they don’t have to leave Facebook.

Payvment provides you with a Facebook e-commerce solution that allows you to set-up a store and best of all, it won’t cost you a thing. To launch your storefront you need to enter your PayPal (If you don’t have an account, click here to get one) username to receive payments, a store name and a currency type such as USD or NZD. After you have gotten that out of the way, the next steps are pretty much the same as you would follow with any other storefront where you enter your store categories, products, shipping, tax and so on. The way I see it, it really couldn’t be any easier to set up a store on Facebook with Payvment.

One of the nice features that the application has is the “fans only” discount where after someone becomes a fan of your page, they get access to discounted prices that you have set. This I see as a good thing because it encourages people to buy your products and at the same time you are building your audience.

Something else that that you can do is, if you are someone who sells arts and crafts on Esty Etsy – The Place To Sell Handmade Crafts, they have a Etsy-to-Facebook import tool. It allows Esty sellers to import their entire inventories to Facebook and sell them on their pages. This is the only import tool of its kind available but Payvment plans to launch import tools for other online catalogs.

If you are looking for another avenue through which you can sell your products, you should give Payvment a try. It opens you up to a world of opportunity by allowing you to sell your products on a 500 million member social network and best of all, all for FREE!

Some of you may be good with your hands or are bond to know people who are good at making all sorts of weird and wonderful arts and crafts. Some of you may want to sell your items but hit a snag when it comes to where to sell. Etsy is an online handmade goods marketplace that connects makers and buyers and way of turning a hobby into revenue earner.

Etsy lets you sell handmade items that you have made yourself, vintage items (by that they mean 20 years or older) and crafting supplies. The process of selling items works just like any other good online marketplace where you list your items, wait for people to buy them, get paid and then ship the items off to the buyers.

They charge a 20c listing fee per item but that allows you to list your item for four months which should give plenty of time to attract a number of potential buyers. Sellers have the option of being paid for their items via Paypal, cheque, money order or any other method not listed on the site that they would prefer. Once a sale has been completed, Etsy charges a fee of 3.5% of the sale price.

All in all, it looks like a good place where people can sell their handmade things to a global community. There is no harm in giving them a try and if that fails, you could always try the likes of (if you haven’t already done so) and other marketplaces I will write about in future posts.

Being a university student all over again, I felt the need to look around for something that could work for college/university students. That being said, I happened to come across a couple of services where students can sell their lecture notes and study guides.

Notehall.com and ShareNotes.com are two such services that operate in pretty much the same way. They provide a platform where students can get their hands on course material for a nominal fee. To be able to provide this service, they need to get their hands on relevant material that they get from students and pay them for it.

Notehall.com pays out $1 per study guide and $0.25 per lecture note downloaded. They also have a referral programme where you can earn money by referring friends to them. Students earning money with them are paid out via cheque or PayPal.

ShareNotes.com charges a 10% commission on every sale which means you get to keep 90%. To add to what they pay for notes, they give members rewards points for completing certain tasks such as downloading notes, posting notes and referring friends. Rewards points can be redeemed for items such as iPods and gift vouchers.

If you are a good student that takes good notes then you really don’t have anything to lose. If you have sellable material you don’t have to do much work apart from signing up and uploading your material.

Not every single college will be listed in their databases and one service may work better than the other for person to person. As time goes by they will add more and more schools but at the moment a number of people will be able to enjoy their services. The only thing that sucks for someone like me is that they are limited to the US. Maybe one day they will make their way to this part of the world?

A few years ago I used to travel to North America or Europe and on the odd occasion home (Zimbabwe) at least once or twice a year. Living in New Zealand, that meant spending a lot of time on planes and covering huge distances. It only made sense for me to sign up to a frequent flyer program and with the destinations that I travelled to the most, the Qantas Frequent Flyer programme was the best programme for me to join.

Over the years I accumulated a lot of frequent flyer points which I eventually redeemed and got a few reward flights for my wife and I. I still had quite a few points left over after that my wife and I used them to get a few things for our baby girl. By converting our frequent flyer points to gift cards from various stores, we were able to get a few things for our daughter without having to shell out the hundreds of dollars that we would have otherwise had to pay.

What I am getting at with all of this is that it may be a good idea to consider using your frequent flyer points to save yourself a bit of money. You may have frequent flyer points sitting in an account somewhere and some which may even have an expiry date. If you are not going to redeem them for award flights you may be able to use them to get gift cards or make purchases with the points directly from the particular frequent flyer store (if they have one). If the particular program you are part of does not have such programmes available for you to take advantage of, Points.com may just be your answer.

About Points.com

It is a site that brings a certain flexibility to points from various programs and gives it users a range of options for what to do with their points.

They allows users to:
- Trade points and miles with other people on GPX (Global Points Exchange)
- Exchange points and miles between your programs
- Buy points or miles so that you reach the required level to get the flight or reward you want
- Share points between the same programs with family or friends
- Redeem your points for gift cards from more than 200 retailers and restaurants

It’s free to join and really doesn’t hurt to give them a go. You would be surprised just how much you may get out of becoming a member.