Apr 15
The advent of the internet has put the local drugstore at our fingertips. E-mails and other forms of spam bombard us with the promise of obtaining name brand drugs at cut rate prices. The question is are these on line pharmacies safe and are there risks to consumers that do business with them?
It must be stated that there are real dangers in ordering drugs online. Some sites ship substandard drugs. Others may not adequately check for drug interactions. Sites that prescribe drugs without a physician’s consultation may offer pills that are dangerous for certain individuals, such as those with compromised immune systems. Furthermore, two Internet pharmacy offerings — cheap drugs from Canada-based online pharmacies and prescriptions obtained online without actually seeing a doctor in person — raise some questions.
Here are some guidelines from the FDA to protect yourself when purchasing drugs over the internet:
- Check with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (http://www.nabp.net, (847) 698-6227) to deternine whether a web site is a licenced pharmacy in good standing
- Don’t buy from sites that offer to prescibe a prescription drug for the first time without a physical exam, sell a prescription drug without a prescription, or sell drugs not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- Don’t do business with sites that don’t have a registered pharmacist available to answer questions.
- Avoid sites that don’t identify with whom you are dealing or don’t provide a U.S. address and phone number to contact if there is a problem.
- Don’t purchase from foreign web sites. It is illegal to import the drugs bought from these sites, the risks are greater, and there is very little the U.S. government can do if you get ripped off.
- Beware of sites that that advertise a “new cure” for a serious disorder or a “quick cure” for a wide range of ailments.
- Be careful of sites that use impressive sounding terminology to disguise a lack of good science or those that claim the government, the medical profession, or research scientists have conspired to suppress a product.
- Steer clear of sites that include undocumented case histories claiming “amazing” results
- Talk to your health care professional before using any medications for the first time.
There are some incredibly beneficial pharmaceuticals on the market today but care is needed when using these powerful drugs. Visit your local physician for an exam, and if a prescription is necessary, have the prescription dispensed through a VIPPS certified pharmacist.
Apr 15
The next phase in online shopping may soon utilize your cell phone. With the current influx of shoppers choosing the Internet to do their shopping Sprint Nextel Corporation has added something new for the consumer. Developed in collaboration with mShopper.com, Mobile Shopper is a mobile portal intended to enable shoppers to purchase seven million products from 30 reputable and popular online retailers including Wal-Mart, shoes.com and bluefly.com.
Using the wireless broadband infrastructure of one of the most popular and largest telecommunications company in the United States today, users can access and use Mobile Shopper without having to pay for extra subscription fees. This first feature of this kind in the US will result in a big opportunity for Sprint to increase its data usage as well as expand its user base. Unlike other existing mobile Internet services offered by hand-held mobile companies, Mobile Shopper will simply earn from the Internet fees that are charged on mobile online users while revenues from online advertising will help maintain the mobile shopping features.
Mobile Shopper is revolutionary in that it will enable customers to shop for virtually anything from clothing to appliances by using their hand-held mobile phones. The goal of mobile online shopping is to generate revenues as well as to widen the mobile phone user base by pushing them to use their cellular phones for data services such as Internet surfing and video and music downloads. With faster wireless data speeds and better user friendly handsets could help expand the mobile shopping market using a mobile commerce adaptation of mainstream online shopping. Internet marketing analyst Alan Goode of Jupiter Research believes that with the launching of Mobile Shopper, the market for mobile online shopping in North America alone could reach $505 million by 2008 and increase to $1.9 million in 2010.
When using Mobile Shopper, users can conveniently search for a particular product at the lowest price or browse for products by retailer or category. Once the particular product is selected, customers can email product details to themselves for future reference, forward it to a friend or buy the product directly using their cellular phone.
To make mobile online shopping even more convenient, customers can create a Mobile Shopper account using their mobile phone or on a computer by clicking on www.sprint.com/mobileshopper where they will be asked to provide their shipping address as well as credit card information with a secure PIN. Using their Mobile Shopper account, users can easily make a purchase by simply selecting a product and entering their phone number and PIN without having to key in account information. Purchases made through Mobile Shopper will be reflected on the customer’s credit cart statement similar to online purchases made through the Internet.
Apr 15
Tiger Woods underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday to repair cartilage damage. This is Woods second operation in five years on the same knee. He will require at least a month to recover.
The surgery, announced on his Web site, came two days after Woods finished two shots behind Trevor Immelman in the Masters. He most likely will miss The Players Championship, but should return in time to play the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on June 12.
Woods was upbeat about the procedure remarking: “ The upside is that I have been through this process before and know how to handle it. I look forward to working through the rehabilitation process and getting back to action as quickly as I can.”
The recovery is expected to be four to six weeks, meaning Woods will not be able to defend his title May 1 in the Wachovia Championship. He likely will miss The Players Championship, one of three non-majors he has never missed since turning pro.
Apr 15
On paper it looked like this might be Detroit’s year. Many sportswriters picked them to not only play in the post season but to win their first World Series in 24 years. Instead the Tigers are owners of a 3-10 record, the worst in baseball. They have already dug themselves into a deep hole from a historical perspective.
No team that started 2-10, as Detroit did, has won a World Series and only three rallied from such a rocky start to even be in the playoffs: the 1951 New York Giants, 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates and 2001 Oakland Athletics.
Despite a lineup with seven All-Stars, Detroit ranked last in the majors in runs, hits, slugging percentage entering Monday and was tied for the most double-play groundouts and was next to last in batting average and extra-base hits. The pitching is nothing to write home about either.
Miquel Cabrera is off to a poor start. The entire team is struggling but his lack of production stands out because the team signed him to a fat contract worth over $152 million over the next eight seasons.
Cabrera averaged 32 homers, 115 RBIs while hitting .318 the previous four seasons in Florida.
The third baseman on Monday went 2-for-4 with an RBI, just his second since the opener, to improve his batting average to .205 against Minnesota.
Reigning AL batting champion Magglio Ordonez was hitting a miserly .234 before going 3-for-4 Monday. Placido Polanco, Gary Sheffield and Ivan Rodriquez all had sub-.200 batting averages through Sunday.
When you factor in that the Tigers possess the second highest payroll in baseball at nearly $139 million dollars, this could prove to be a long hot summer in Motown.
Apr 15
A recent JupiterResearch and PayPal study revealed that consumers value payment security and payment choice more than rewards when making purchases online. The two firms conducted a series of surveys focusing in on what payment methods the U.S. population uses when shopping online. The study revealed, that when consumers are confronted with two merchants who offer the same product at the same price, the two most influential factors when choosing where to buy are payment security and payment choice.
The study also indicated that consumers value security over merchant incentives like rewards and discounts. In fact, more than half of the survey respondents consider the security of their financial information as the deciding factor when they make purchases. An additional two thirds of shoppers feel more secure when they don’t have to enter financial information.
Additionally it was revealed that more than half of online shoppers think about the payment method they will use before they click on the merchant’s checkout button. Sixty-six percent of consumers prefer e-commerce sites that offer multiple payment methods, and about half of online shoppers prefer the convenience of using alternative payment methods.
