ECardBasket.com

With April Fool’s, comes jokes, laughter, and fun. A great way to get a laugh out of someone is to send them a hilarious April Fool’s ecard. BlueMountain offers some of the funniest ecards on the block, and you get a free 1 month trial to send out as many as you want. Perfect timing for Wednesday around the corner to send out to all your friends. Or enemies if you’d rather! Plus, it’s green, so your saving the planet at the same time you are pulling practical jokes. Fun huh?

But, where did April Fool’s day come from exactly? France of course! In the 16th century, the new year was celebrated in France just as it was here in the states, but instead of January 1st, it was celebrated on April 1st. Then, in 1562, the calendar was changed by Pope Gregory, and January 1st became the new New Years Day.

However, there were many folks who either never knew about the new calendar, or ignored it and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1st. These folks were then made fun of and played tricks on by the rest of the population and called April fools. Viola! April Fools Day was born!

So, if you are still sitting around trying to figure out the perfect way to cuckold your best friend and play the perfect April Fool’s trick on them, consider a BlueMountain April Fool’s Day card. They are cute, funny, and feature a surprise last minute gag at the end. My favorite is this one, called Gotcha!

They also have one called April Fool’s Day that is fun and entertaining, and a whole lot more to choose from as well. And if your not on the look out for an April Fool’s Day ecard, you can of course find a ton of other fun and interesting ecards to suit just about any occasion.

Happy April Fools!

It seems that the saying ‘no crime goes unpunished’, isn’t always the case, or at least in Thomas Taylor’s situation anyway. A U.S. Connecticut native, Thomas Taylor and friends used fake electronic greeting cards to spread serious malware that for four years was used to hijack sensitive financial information from trusting AOL users.

So how did he do it exactly? AOL members first were hit with spammed ecards supposedly sent from either BlueMountain.com or Hallmark.com. However, these bogus ecards contained a little gift for the recipient in the form of a malware payload.

This malicious software was a Trojan horse used to trick users into passing along sensitive info such as banking information, social security numbers, and other personal info by preventing AOL customers from logging into their accounts, and instead inputted their info into bogus sites that the hackers had control of.

Once the hackers had control of all of this sensitive information, they then used it to make fake ATM cards that they could then use to cash out the account completely, or use to buy merchandise like gaming consoles, gift cards, and laptops among others.

Unfortunately, Taylor copped a guilty plea to fraud and identity theft and is apparently avoiding jail time. Instead he was sentenced to four years of probation and ordered to pay restitution to the victims in the amount of 33,714 dollars. I think that for someone involved in such blatant theft of personal information, they should definitely do some jail time and not just be put on probationary discipline.

Fortunately though, they didn’t all get off so easy. The mastermind behind the whole operation, one Michael Dunn managed to land himself seven years of prison time for his efforts in 2008. Too bad they aren’t all given such a sentence, if only for the distress and mental pain they caused their victims.

For myself, I know how tight money can be from week to week and if someone cleaned me out one day, I would be in very dire straits indeed. That sort of distress is unnecessary and people who cause it should be punished appropriately. Probation is just too easy.

If you like ecards and sending cute little notes to your loved ones, Cardboiled.com is ready to deliver. Cardboiled is a brand of Mindspark Interactive Network Inc. Mindspark is a leading developer of informational sites, social networking applications, and other creative portals for visual expression online.

Cardboiled.com is the latest and greatest Mindspark property and is a new online greeting card website that caters to the fun, quirky, sentimental heart, and leaves recipients with a bright smile on their face.

Whether your choice is an animated ecard, a post card, a static ecard, or even a custom photo card, Cardboiled.com has something for everyone. According to the American Greeting Card Association (yes there is such a thing!) it is estimated that 500 million ecards are sent out by people world wide each year!

That’s a lot of electronic mail! The reason the popularity of ecards is growing so quickly, and across such a wide ranged age group is because they are a spontaneous, fun, and easy way to spread a little love and good cheer from person to person.

No matter what the occasion, Cardboiled.com has the card for you. Whether it’s a get well card, telling a long distance lover how much you miss them, or an easy happy birthday card, you can find the perfect fit at Cardboiled.com.

A neat thing about Cardboiled too, is that while registering isn’t necessary to send and receive cards, it is handy. Registered users can save the different cards they download for future use, and also have access to premium cards from a partner site.

In the not too distance future, registered users will also be getting a few other perks. They will be getting address and calendar book functions, and also be able to remember those special occasions by setting up email reminders. Regardless, Cardboiled.com is an excellent choice for all of your ecard needs!

There is a new e-card virus currently making the rounds that is targeting your cash and wreaking mayhem on your computer. Experts are calling the virus ’severe’, and it is being disguised as a Hallmark greeting card.

Basically there is an email going around, that in one case even came to someones inbox as an email from ecards@hallmark.com. It says something along the lines of you have received a Hallmark greeting card from a friend, to view it click the attachment, which is named postcard.zip.

However, Hallmark doesn’t have any e-cards that they make you download. This is a virus, and it’s after your money. It’s primary goal is to steal your financial information, like your banking pin number and the like. It has been making it’s way from Eastern Europe, and could just send the greeting card business back to paper cards, it is that bad.

It works by infecting core Window’s files slowly, so that you never even know it’s there, and it’s going to be just about impossible to fix it with your run of the mill anti virus. So what kind of protection efforts are being made?

Well with Hallmark, they never require any downloading of files, nor do they use .exe files. If you get an e-card from Hallmark that asks you to download something, delete it. It’s not genuine and will infect your computer.

Also, with Hallmark, e-cards are always sent from the sender, not from Hallmark itself. So if you receive something from Hallmark itself, or don’t recognize the sender, again it isn’t genuine, and you need to delete it.

They never require the receiver to enter any type of personal info or user names and passwords to retrieve an e card, and all notifications will have a link to the card on Hallmark.com, and a URL to the e card inside the actual email.

Bottom line? Don’t open any e cards from unfamiliar people, and until this threat passes, it is probably best to refrain from getting e cards altogether.

It’s always great fun to send out holiday greeting cards to friends and family. E-cards make things even easier because you don’t have to worry about the time consuming process of browsing the store, and then paying good money on a piece of paper that will probably get scrapped anyway!

E-cards are also great because in most cases they don’t cost a penny of your hard earned money. There are literally tons of websites dedicated to the creation and sending out of e-cards. I have found one though, that could make those holiday greetings even MORE fun. Www.MP3Musicgrams.com!

Users can either upload their own graphics, or pick and choose from some of the great new holiday graphics they have available for their e-cards, and choose a favorite song to attach to the e-card. They can then click a button and send the e-card out to up to 10 people all at once. The cards are designed to encourage music lovers to spread holiday cheer and music together.

While a fun and creative way for users to send out holiday greetings, I think it’s even more important to look at the marketing benefits something like that could bring an artist or performer. On their site, users have the option of uploading their own mp3 music to the musicgram library.

Artists can add a photo as well as their mp3 to the musicgram, and send it out to friends and family. Then, those friends and family may send it out to more friends and family. This can create a viral effect on the artists music and sound, there by spreading the word. Pretty good marketing huh?

So, if your a performer, or band on a budget, and want to get some free advertising circulating about, head over to www.mp3musicgrams.com. Put together a great cover image of you or your band, create your demo track and convert it to mp3, and then upload them both. Also remember to create a short bio to go along with it. Your fans will have the option of previewing your track before downloading the e-card. If they like it, then viola! Your music will be headed to the inbox’s of the masses!

Everyone is using them…Why not you? Why are E-cards so popular in todays digital world? Well, simply because today is a digital world of course! Media is switching to digital right and left, and in the age of convenience, it just makes sense to use an e-card rather than boring old paper ones. Not to mention the killer graphics you can attach to a digital card, that makes them fun and entertaining for their readers!

But let’s talk about specifics on why e-cards have grown into such popularity. First of all, if you are involved in Internet marketing at all, you view e-cards as a way to garner more traffic to your website. This follows along the lines of viral marketing. Attaching your business name or logo to a unique or funny e-card, means there is a great chance it will get forwarded along and go viral!

It’s easy to spread the love. Not only is it easy to go viral with your customer base, it’s just easier to send an e-card to loved ones. Not to mention, during holidays you get to bypass the huge post office rush, and rest secure in the knowledge that YOUR greeting card is reaching it’s recipient in time! Neener, neener, neener!

It’s also a winner with the Eco friendly folks intent on ‘going green’ in today’s polluted and misused world. Not only do e-cards save trees, fuel, and paper, they also reduce the waste that is created printing out large quantities of paper cards. Environmental groups are all gung ho for them for this very reason!

Not to mention the fact, that it’s just downright more convenient all around. Who actually WANTS to go to the store just to pick up a greeting card, and then have to purchase postage and perhaps visit the dreaded post office? Definitely not I! You?

So save yourself some trouble, stop resisting, and just jump on the e-card bandwagon already. I promise, tree’s will thank you!

Nowadays, with the number of people still having unprotected sex it’s pretty darn easy to pick up an STD with out ever knowing it. And guess what? If your partner never mentions it, you might never find out! Now tell me, wouldn’t that be something you’d like to know, if your partner had a bad case of herpes and just didn’t tell you?

Well how about an e-card to give you the heads up? Cowardly? Maybe. Does it do the job? Most definitely! A lot of people are uncomfortable bringing up the topic if they have an STD that it’s possible you can contract.

So in defense, they just don’t say anything at all, which leads to whatever they had getting spread around further by you! You can bet your future partners won’t appreciate it, but even worse than that could you imagine finding out you have herpes from the new lady friend you just gave it to?!

So folks now are resorting to anonymous e-cards to break the news to their partners and give them a heads up to go get tested. While it may be slightly insensitive, researchers are saying that it’s more a public health service, and it’s better than never being informed at all!

The e-cards come in a variety of styles you can choose from to pass along the news. Some are flirty some are more serious. You can check them all out at www.inSPOT.org and choose the best fit for your situation.

There is some concern that the site could be abused and people send out prank e-cards, but so far the number of complaints in that regard are very low. Another great feature is that if the card receiver lives within one of the 10 cities the site has teamed up with, the card recipient is then directed to the nearest local testing and treatment location.

So far these e-cards are being seen as a positive way to impact the sexual community and keep folks from spreading the love around indiscriminately. However more testing and research is being done by health officials to see if it could have a real and lasting effect on improving sexual health and awareness.

E card popularity is increasing all the time. So many people are becoming more aware of the environment, and the pollution and degradation of our resources and are starting to come up with little ways that they can ’save the planet’ and cut down on the waste of paper. Electronic cards happen to be a way that they can do that, and have fun too.

With the Internet becoming increasingly pervasive in all areas of personal life and business, it just makes sense to jump on the bandwagon and go electronic. Email is now a preferred method of communication between two people, and it is simple as the click of a button to pop off a funny or heart warming e card to your best friend or your grandma that lives in Kentucky!

Choosing a nice Christmas or holiday e card just takes a few minutes of browsing an online provider, choosing the one that suits you best, and personalizing it a bit if you wish with your own message. Compare that to the old method of driving to the store, spending an hour browsing through the cards, and then paying for postage just to send a holiday greeting, and it’s no wonder ecards are gaining in popularity.

Another draw to ecards, is the ability to personalize it with a short video if you want. Paper cards are great, but which do you think will bring tears to a Grandma’s eyes faster… A paper Christmas card with a photo of little Junior? Or an e card with a short clip of little Junior telling Grandma he loves her and misses her, and to have a Merry Christmas! I know which I’d rather have.

American’s these days are all about convenience and instant gratification. That is what the original paper cards were invented for in the first place, to save time. Fortunately ecards are the perfect way to cater to that need, and are just the new wave technology to eventually make paper cards obsolete. And if you take into account that most ecards are absolutely free to send, what’s not to love about them?

The holidays are a time for giving and exchanging gifts. However, coming up with gift ideas for everyone on your list can be a challenging task. So what better gift to give your gardening friends than something to enhance their gardening experience?

There is nothing nicer than giving one of the best gardening gifts to friends and relatives who love nature and all its beauty right on their own backyard. The problem you may encounter is choosing the best gardening gift your loved ones.

To ensure that your gardening gift will be appreciated by the recipient and also your budget, here are some guidelines you might want to consider:

In choosing the type of gardening gift, consider your budget. When your budget is holding you back from buying the best gardening gift, don’t fret. There are garden accessories and gardening wear that would suit your fund.

Gardening gloves, footwear and kneepads, may be bought in a variety of colors, texture, and materials. You can choose the perfect gardening accessory, which won’t break your holiday shopping budget. Simply do your homework – research either on the Net or browse through catalogs.

Common garden hand tools may be found in most hardware stores. The handiness of hand gears like pruning shears, secateurs, hoes and a watering can will never lose their magic touch. Surely, with these hand tools, the recipient will appreciate how much you know how much he/she really is into gardening.

If you have a bigger budget, specialized gardening tools will be a big hit. Before choosing which tool to purchase, make sure to check which tool is missing from your gardening friend’s tool shed. To prevent duplication, you may even stealthily ask your friend which gardening tool he/she dreams of having.

Digging tools like rakes, shovels, pitch forks and spade are some of the basic tools used by professional gardeners as well as beginners. These types of equipment may be expensive, but it surely will be money well spent.

The most extravagant gift you could give a friend is some type of heavy gardening equipment. These types of gardening machinery could also serve well as a wedding present or a housewarming gift for a gardening enthusiast.

Automatic lawn mowers, electric cultivators, dirt diggers, hedge trimmers, brush cutters, or trolleys could provide so much ease to your gardener friend’s daily routine. These gardening gifts, which are considered a nature lover’s dreams, may give your friend a reason to smile all year round.

Your gift could be as simple as water-resistant garden gloves or a more expensive gift like an electric cultivator. When the recipient realizes you have given a gift that complements his/her passion, expensive or not, it would certainly become the best gardening gifts your friend has ever received.

Gift giving for the work place can be a challenging task. Whether it’s an office party, an upcoming holiday, or just a simple “Thank You”, it’s often hard to know what’s going to be the perfect fit. Every office environment has a variety of people working in it. Below are some techniques of observation that you can exercise to discover just the right gift for any person at your office:

1. Look at their workspace – if it’s cluttered with post-it notes, then a nice paper and pen set may be the gift of choice.

2. Notice the lunch patterns of your office mates, if someone always seems to bring back a cup from Panera Bread or McDonald’s – then a gift card may be highly appreciated.

3. Watch the breakroom – as anyone leaving more than three times a day with a cup of coffee may be an addict who will surely appreciate a Starbucks gift card or pound of coffee.

4. Be on the lookout throughout the year for people who decorate for any holidays – even a little. For them, a small trinket for their Christmas-Decorated desk could win them over.

5. Keep an eye on the office radio, or the music others are listening to – if someone is always listening to music, then a gift card to Amazon.com or any local music store would show that you’re listening to them.

6. On Monday mornings and Friday afternoons listen to the office talk (and join in) – listen for any hobbies or interesting adventures. These are powerful clues as to what each person chooses to do in their upcoming or recently passed free time. Match this knowledge up with a book or gift card relating to it and you’ve found a winner!

7. When in doubt as to what to get, use your intuition and go for one of the following:

• Aromatic Candle in a jar
• Grocery store gift card
• Bookstore gift card
• Coffee shop gift card
• Cinema gift certificate
• Blockbuster gift certificate.

In addition to these tips, be aware that any small gift will always be accepted. It’s when you start giving gifts of value over $15 or so that people become noticeably uneasy. So keep the gifts small and meaningful. It’s the heart behind the gift that matters most – so always include a card explaining why you felt so drawn to give your gift. Mentioning any good deed done by them towards you will suffice very well for the reason behind the gift.