DurAlt Fuel Additive Review

In today's market place there are a lot of different products on the market that claim to help you get more mileage out of the gas that you put in your gas tank. These products include detergents and many other additives. In this article I am going to review an additive that has been on the market since 1985. The name of this product is DurAlt.

DurAlt came out on the market in 1985 as a commercial product. It was put into limited use mainly by large truck fleets and in marine harbors as an after-market bulk treatment fuel conditioner. Since 1985 it has been marketed in different ways, including some private labels. The two most prominent private labels are the Harley-Davidson Genuine Fuel Additive and Freedom Fuel Additive.

Whenever a new fuel additive or conditioner comes out on the market, its amazing how many of them have outlandish claims about what they can do for your gas mileage, but have very little in the way of backup data. This is one area where DurAlt shines. DurAlt has been tested and approved by many independent laboratories and companies including Ford Motor Company, Harley-Davidson, Columbia University, and Total Fina Elf.

Here are just a few of the benefits that have been tested and proven for gasoline engines:

• Increases fuel mileage 8-12% on average
• Reduces Octane Requirement by 3 to 4 numbers
• Reduces engine knock
• Inhibits the formation of combustion chamber deposits
• Protects against fuel system corrosion
• Increases lubricity, extending life of fuel pumps and top end of engine
• Protects injectors
• Reduces hydrocarbon emissions
• Improves fuel stability during storage
• Protects storage tanks from rusting
• Reduces engine maintenance costs

DurAlt has also been proven to work in diesel engines as well. Here are some of the proven benefits for diesel engines:

• Increases fuel mileage up to 8-12%
• Increases lubricity, extending life of injection pumps & top end of engine
• Protects injectors
• Increases cetane by 2.5 numbers
• Up to 20% decrease in emissions
• Improves fuel stability during storage
• Protects storage tanks from rusting
• Ideal to use for bulk treatment
• Up to 20% decrease in engine maintenance

For those of you that are worried about what effect using a product like DurAlt may have on the environment, DurAlt has also been reviewed by the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) and other environmental organizations. The EPA has said that DurAlt does not pose any greater health or environmental risk than unleaded gasoline. They have said that is it 'substantially similar' to unleaded gasoline, and so it is no more dangerous than the gas you already put in your tank.

From its proven benefits to the companies that have tested it, DurAlt is a product that is definitely worth your consideration if you are looking for a product that is proven to actually do what it says it will do: help your car run better!

Bitcoins - Should You Use Them?

Bitcoin was launched as a private initiative in 2009. Unlike traditional arrangements, such as the Euro, Sterling and Dollar, it is not controlled by a central monetary authority. Instead, it is underpinned by a peer-to-peer network of its users' computers. This is similar to how Skype, a video chat service, operates.

The basic unit of value is the bitcoin . However each bitcoin can be subdivided into satoshies. One satoshi is equal to one hundred millionth of a bitcoin (ie, a bitcoin divided into eight decimal places).

Bitcoins and satoshies can be transferred from one internet user to another in order to pay for goods or services at virtually zero cost. This allows you to make international transfers without having to mess around with exchange rates and onerous bank charges. Bitcoins can be bought and sold for traditional cash at special exchanges.

Bitcoin wallets

In order to use Bitcoin, you need a wallet , a special piece of software in which you store, send and receive bitcoins. There are three kinds of wallets, software wallets, mobile wallets and web wallets.

Software wallets are installed on your computer and they give you full control over your wallet. Mobile wallets are installed in your smartphone or tablet and allow you to use Bitcoin for daily transactions in shops and supermarkets by scanning a quick response (QR) code. Web wallets are located on the World Wide Web, ie they are a form of cloud storage.

Payments using bitcoins are super easy. They can be made from wallets on your computer or smartphone just by entering the receiver's address, the amount and then pressing send. Smartphones can also obtain a receiver's address by scanning a QR code or bringing two phones that contain near-field-communication (NFC) technology, a form of radio communication, close to each other.

Receiving payments is just as easy ... all you have to do is give the payer your bitcoin address.

Protecting your wallet

A bitcoin wallet is like a wallet full of cash. To reduce the risk of loss, you should keep only small amounts of bitcoins in your computer or smartphone and keep the bulk of your bitcoins in a safer environment, such as an offline wallet. Provided your wallet has been encrypted, an offline back-up will allow you to recover your wallet, should your computer or smartphone be stolen.

Encrypting your wallet allows you to set a password that must be input before funds can be withdrawn. However, recovering a bitcoin password is impossible if it is lost. That is why you need to be absolutely sure you can remember your password. If the value of your bitcoins is significant, you could store the password in a bank vault or where you store important papers.

In order to be as secure as possible, you should store off-line back-ups in multiple locations using various media such as USB flash drives and CDs.

Because bitcoin runs on software you download to your computer (PC or laptop) or smartphone, you need to update this software regularly in order to keep your wallets and transactions safe.

Advantages of bitcoins

Bitcoins have several significant advantages:

1-you can send and receive limitless amounts of money instantly at any time to and from anywhere in the world.

2-processing does not cost any fees or only very small fees.

3-bitcoin transactions are irreversible, which protects sellers from the fraudulent charges that are increasingly common with credit cards.

4-payments are made without personal information being upgraded, which provides strong protection against identity theft.

5-the receipt and payment process is completely neutral, transparent and predictable.

Disadvantages of bitcoins

However, using bitcoins has several disadvantages:

1-they are not yet accepted universally and then can not be used everywhere.

2-their value is volatile because the number of bitcoins in circulation is quite small so relatively small transactions can affect their price significantly.

Should you use bitcoins?

The short answer is NO or, at least, not in a major way yet.

Bitcoins are fungible assets with durability, portability, divisibility and scarcity, ie they have all the characteristics of conventional money (Euros, Dollars, Pounds etc). They have value so they can be changed for other currencies at exchanges.

Therein lies the danger. There are times when the value of the bitcoin can fluctuate broadly, by 50% in one day. So, as a store of value, they are not for the faint-hearted. In other words, you should not have more money than you can afford to lose in the form of bitcoins.

However a wallet with small amounts of bitcoin in it could have been used for minor day-to-day transactions which would help familiarize you with internet treaties. As the amount of bitcoins in circulation increases, their value viz-a-viz other treaties should stabilize and you can start using them for larger transactions.

Maintenance Of Car Interiors

For some, it is just a walk in the park to get your car looking all shiny from the outside. However, it is an entirely different story when it comes to keeping the interiors looking the same way.

It is of vital importance to take good care of the car's interior as it not only keeps it clean and fresh, but in the long run will also impact in adding to the resale value of the automobile. A well maintained interior unduly improved the driving experience as well.

Taking a few precautionary measures would not hurt, as this would reduce the burden of cleaning the interiors later on. The following guidelines would keep your car looking as good as new always.

1) Use of rubber mats:

We tend to bring in a lot of dirt into the car through our footwear. It would be a great idea to supplement the factory cloth mats with rubber or plastic mats. These mats protect the fabric below as they act as excellent dust collectors. They are also less prone to damage when compared to cloth mats.

2) Drive with air conditioning on:

There is a lot of dust in the atmosphere. Accumulation of dust in a car causes the interiors to age much faster. This reduces the overall aesthetic beauty of the car and hence affects its resale value. Here is always advisable to drive with the air conditioning on.

3) Do not eat, drink or smoke in the car:

We all try to be careful while consuming beverages in the car. Do not we? Irrespective of our efforts, we tend to make mistakes which clearly stain the upholstery of the car. You can always make out from the interiors of a car to identify whether the driver smokes or not. More often than not you would always find burn patches here and there which are non-repairable.

4) Vacuuming:

Vacuuming is the best method to keep a car's inside spick and span. It helps remove dirt hidden in various nook and crannies of the car. It helps you reach areas that are non-accessible to your hands and hence helps in deep cleansing of the car.

5) Upholstery cleaners:

Although Vacuuming helps to capture loose dirt, it is of little use when it comes to cleaning tough stains. Use high quality upholstery cleaners in order to do away with the blemishes. To retain the suppleness of the fabric, always blot the stains with the cleaner instead of rubbing over them.

A Guide to Hiring an SEO Provider

If your business has any online components (such as a website), then SEO is critical to the ongoing success of your business. You may have the most expensive website in your industry, but without web traffic (visitors) to that website, it is essentially useless. It is not just traffic that you need, but targeted traffic. A good quality SEO service can provide relevant, consistent web traffic to your website (s). This guide will allow you, as a non-expert, to distinguish between good and bad SEO providers. There are many of both kinds, this guide should help you to find the good ones.

SEO needs to be implemented in a way that is effective in achieving your SEO goals and providing that all important meaningful presence on the World Wide Web.

Quality SEO is a critical investment when it comes to developing successful expansion and growth strategies.

Ineffective SEO implementation, renders your SEO efforts wholly ineffective and a waste of your money.

6 things you need to know and understand before hiring an SEO provider:

1) Hiring an SEO provider should be seen as an investment in your business. You should not view it as a business expense, but rather a business strategy and an effective way of enhancing your business presence within your business sector. Try not to begin your search with the intent of "buying some SEO". Hiring an SEO provider should have viewed rather as hiring an employee that understands and cares about your business and its online objectives.

2) The first page of Google (or any search engine) is everything. Few people ever go to the second page of the search results anymore. Google is so good at being a search engine that people blindly trust Google's ability to deliver the most relevant results on the first page. Think about how often you click through to the second page. This means that if your business is not on the first page, it's almost as good as now. The top positions on page one get the most clicks, which decrease as you progress downwards on the page.

3) The 'big' keywords are not everything. It is better to be on the first page for a fewer smaller keywords, than try to rank for larger keywords and not be on the first page at all. For example, an accountancy business in Preston may not rank for the highly competitive keyword 'accountant' (unless they have a lot of SEO budget and time to wait for rankings); but the same business could conceivably rank highly for the keyword 'chartered accountant Preston'. A good SEO provider should research the keywords that your business could literally rank on page one for and also keywords that have enough search volume to be worthwhile for your business to try ranking for.

4) SEO is all about beating your competition. There is no guarantee from the search engines to say you will be on the first page of Google if you do certain things. Put simply, SEO works like this:

The search engines have their conventions; websites that conform by giving the search engines what they want, will find them making achieving search engine rankings. The only thing standing between you and the top spots in the search rankings is your competition. Not your actual business competitors, but your online competitors. The websites that currently have the top spots in the search engines for your desired keywords are your online competition, and you need to beat them out of those top spots. Some keywords will be easy to rank for, others will be more difficult. It is only your online competition that dictates which will be the case for each individual keyword. A good SEO provider will research the competition for each of your keywords. Then, after the most effective keywords for your business sector have been identified that they should be implemented in accordance with point number three above.

5) On-page and Off-page SEO.

Search engine optimization is a complex and ever-evolving science, but in order to intelligently interview a prospective SEO provider you need to understand that there are two main types of SEO.

On-page SEO relates to the factors on your website that affect your SEO (keywords, usability, page headings, outbound links, internal links, etc.).

Off-page SEO are the factors that relate directly to matters outside of your website that affect the SEO of the website, such as back links, citations, social sharing, etc.

SEO providers can work on your off-page SEO fairly easily, but if you are not willing to change on-page SEO, according to their recommendations, you can not blame them for lack of results. A good SEO provider will review your website and report back about your on-page SEO, and how it can be improved. You should have your web designer make the adjustments. (Remember he is the expert in this field)

6) An increase in search engine ranking is not necessarily an increase in leads and sales. All your SEO provider can do is get your website, videos, Google Places, articles, blog posts, etc. further up the search engine results. They can not guarantee an increase in sales or leads, because that factor is determined by your own sales funnel. It is not the SEO provider's job to make sure that the extra web traffic you receive will convert to more leads or sales. Your website needs to convert those visitors with good marketing, which is an issue for your marketing consultant to deal with.

The key differences between 'good' and 'bad' SEO providers:

Good SEO Providers
Good SEO providers know and understand the points mentioned above. You can judge this by their answers to the questions provided later in my next article.
Good SEO providers want to build a solid foundation and a proper SEO plan for your business, with an extensive initial keyword and market (competitor) research. They will often insist upon it, even if the prospect client does not see the need. Sometimes a good SEO provider will refuse to work with a client that does not want the important groundwork to be done, because they know that without it they will not be likely to provide the client with the results that they want. A good SEO provider will want to provide their client with results as their first priority. Often a client will say "but I've already done the keyword research myself". Many potential clients sit down for 5 or 10 minutes to write out all the keywords that they think are relevant to their business, and then think that they have now done all the keyword research that is needed. Real keyword research is a lengthy, investigative process.

Good SEO providers use responsible SEO methods, such as paying more attention to on-page SEO, securing quality back links, improving citations, helping social sharing, including a good user experience, etc.

Bad SEO Providers
Bad SEO providers will want to take their clients' money as their first priority. They will not conduct proper keyword and market research, but will say, for example, "what are your three keywords and your URL that you want to rank for". If this happens (as it often does) you can be sure they are simply plugging your website into software to get irrelevant back links all over the internet, using spam blog comments, link farms and other means. In many cases this approach is ineffective because the URL, or domain, may not match the client's desired keywords. This can also damage the reputation and, ironically, the long-term SEO and credibility of the website.
Bad SEO providers use bad quality SEO methods (Sometimes referred to as Black-hat methods), Utilizing these methods can have an extremely detrimental effect on how your website is perceived by search engines. This in turn may result in your website being (Sand boxed). Needless to say this is extremely undesirable, as damage such as this is extremely difficult to reverse.

Ensure you get the specialist SEO who knows how to highlight the attributes of your company and can draw attention to your products and your services in a way that really makes your business stand-out on the worldwide web.

How to Make Money Using Your Passions

The Empire Formula Stage! Start With Nothing ... Follow the Formula ... Hit the $ 300,000 sweet spot. Do you have a passion for a particular product and want to use that passion to make money online?

Using these 4 simple steps. Nothing held back! You can start your own online empire formula.

Step 1

If so, you have the first principle beat for making money online. The best way to start marketing online is to use that strong emotion for a particular product and / or service to your advantage! Your enthusiasm for your product gives you the drive you need to learn more and share how great that product is with the world! This is Called the market formula Passion + Interest + Big Competitive Market x Data from Research Tools = Your Niche Market

Passion makes it easier and more interesting for you to do the investigation for the facts that you need to learn to be successful.

It is true that many online entrepreneurs are so good at what they do (market products for profit) that they ignore passion because they have learned how to sell anything. Before you get to that stage you have to pay your dues!

Step 2

Too many people jump in the online marketing game before they are ready to get started. Please do your homework. As with any profession one must learn, study and understand what they are doing before they can be successful. You do not go into a profession you know you will not enjoy. If you hate water you are not going to be a fisherman! As with any business venture there has to be something in it for you! This is called the Product formula Competitor Research + Type of Product x Automated Development (Outsource) = Empire Product # 1

Along with your passion of a particular product you also need to have some eagerness and devotion for learning how to market online. It does not happen overnight. You do need to put a lot of energy and thought into this business.

If you have that burning desire to work from the comfort of your own home, the research skills and discipline to learn and grow this business you will not have to punch a time clock and you have a tremendous opportunity to make a TON of money.

Step 3

To be successful you must also have a good website, good marketing, widespread advertising, effective keywords, etc. This is called the Marketing & Traffic Formula Free Traffic + Paid Traffic x Sales Funnel = Empire Building Sales.

Step 4

This all Results in the list empire Formula which is Leads List + Customer List x Strategic Promotions = Diversify & Explode Empire Revenue. Internet search engines are a great resource to learn about the Internet Marketing industry for business opportunities, USE IT! Find a product or service you are excited about and use that excuse to give you the energy to promote that product online. Start moving forward with your online marketing business today!

Major Differences Between Chinese and Japanese Cloisonne

Cloisonné are metallic objects made with intricate designs and artwork which have been a unique piece of art and creativity since ancient times. It is a unique way of designing metal objects with gemstones, glass materials, enamel paints and other decorative objects which make this art an edge over other handicraft materials. The decoration on the metal objects by initially adding comparisons to the metal objects with gold and silver wires. Once the soldering is done, they are finalized with enamel paints and then they are fired in a kiln. This piece of art has its existence since ancient times and has been as old as since 13 century BCE.

The existence of this piece of art has been majorly in Europe, Asia and North America. However this delicate piece of artwork has its existence majorly in china and Japan. Although Chinese and Japanese cloisonné are almost similar, yet there are some difference that will help you to buy the right piece of artwork.

In this article I will provide you with the common difference between Chinese and Japanese cloisonné.

Read on!

1. The simplest and the easiest way to differentiate between in the Chinese and Japanese cloisonné is to look at the border and rim of the two metal objects. Chinese cloisonné are finished products of smooth and bright turquoise interior. On the contradiction, Japanese cloisonné have an orange peel texture on the enamel. Chinese pieces have their borders decorated with Ruyi. Ruyi are colored decorative items which are 1 inch in width. They look like an upside down cloverleaf with a dot in the center of each clover. However, Japanese cloisonné do not have any such wide borders on their metal pieces. Instead they use thin decorations at the rim which are mostly of reddish brown, blue or green in color. These thin decorations are dots which are decorated at the edges of the metal piece.

2. There is a strike difference in the birth of the cloisonné objects in china and Japan. Chinese cloisonné were well developed and were open to trade before Japan. In contrast, Japan has always kept itself secured and protected from the entire world and since they developed this art and started to trade few centuries later. Chinese cloisonné began developing this artwork as early as 1300s and gradually it was adapted by other artists. Japan too initially adopted Chinese method of decorating metal vases and bowls in 1830s and laTely in 1870s that they developed their own unique style of creating and finalizing the artwork. So in other words, we can say that the roots of the cloisonné lies in china and later on in other countries. However, Japanese have provided them an ance in cloisonné objects.

3. Although Japanese cloisonné came late into existence, however, they have excelled past china. And henceforth, Japanese cloisonné have a greater variety of cloisonné in comparison to chinese cloisonné. Most famous kinds of Japanese cloisonné is Ginbari, Akasuke and Totai. The different in the three styles lie in their finishing. Totai was coated with a brown tree bark texture, Ginbari with bright, translucent enamels and Akasuke with a clear red enamel.

4. Difference also lies on the marks or the seals of the cloisonné from two countries. Chinese cloisonné were often sealed or marked in bright enamel. The sealed was impressed between 1897 and 1921 for export trade and often encrypted with "made in china" after 1921 and only "china" from 1897 to 1912. On the contrary, Japanese cloisonné were not marked or sealed. This was mainly due to the reason that Japanese cloisonné were exported from local clients which did not require any exportation marks.

5. There is a slight difference in the enamel coating of the cloisonné of the two countries. The bottom of the Chinese cloisonné is covered with enamel in order to strengthen it for high heat of kiln. Enamel coating was done to protect the base to crack or wrap from excessive heating. Japanese cloisonné did not have any such enamel coating and instead they were decorated with cloisonné wires with orange peel texture coating.

6. The designs of the two art pieces were also different. Chinese cloisonné were mostly designed and decorated with symmetrical designs symbolizing nature like seasonal flowers or Buddhist lotus pattern or mythical animals such as kara-shishi, winged horse or phoenix. Japanese cloisonné used symbols such as the Japan's empress or emperor symbol. They use mostly asymmetrical designs with more crowded appearance than Chinese cloisonné. A common design which was used by the two countries was a dragon motif. The only difference in the dragon motif lies in the number of toes depicted. A Japanese cloisonné had three toes depicted whereas Chinese cloisonné had four or five toes depicted.

7. In terms of the gilding and finish of the two cloisonné; Chinese cloisonné use gilding with gold in order to protect them from heat. Often the surfaces of Chinese cloisonné are glassy and are bright in color. In case of Japanese cloisonné, all the metal objects are not gilded instead had a combination of copper, silver and brass wires.

8. Most of the Japanese cloisonné were of unusual shapes and sizes in contrast to the Chinese cloisonné's which had a symmetrical shapes consisting of incense burner, a vase and two candle sticks.

9. The bodies of Japanese cloisonné were mostly made up of copper or bronze and Chinese cloisonné had bronze bodies. However, sheet- copper bodies in Chinese cloisonné were introduced in the early sixteenth century.

10. In comparison to Chinese cloisonné, Japanese cloisonné are more polished and reflect light.

I believe, that more we come to know the difference between the Chinese and Japanese cloisonné's, the better we can differentiate between the two and can gather more knowledge while purchasing them. Although there is a difference between the two countries, yet you will find a wide variety of antique designs and creativity in both of these metal pieces.

How to Pay Off Your Home Loan Sooner

Are you looking for ways to save on your home loan? Following these simple tips will put you on the path to paying off your loan sooner or if your goal is to purchase an investment property, creating equity from which you can draw on.

Increase your repayments amounts
The simplest way to pay off your home loan sooner is to increase the amount you repay. By repaying more than the minimum you can cut the overall term of the loan and save thousands of dollars in interest. The more you pay off earlier on in your mortgage, the more you'll save over time. Some products may charge you an early payment fee for paying your loan in advance. These costs can be large, so it's best to always check beforehand.

Consider how mortgage features can help
Think about how using an offset account or a credit card linked to your home loan might help you keep your loan balance low. If you're looking for ways to keep your interest down, it's worth investigating what other features your mortgage comes with.

Take advantage if there are variable rate cuts
A lower interest rate will reduce your repayments, but if your lender reduces the interest rate, consider repaying more than the minimum loan repayment amount. This can help you save on future interest payments. Do not pay the interest-only An interest-only loan may mean you're able to make lower repayments for the first few years, but this means your repayments will be larger when it comes time to pay off the principal.

Consider re-financing
If you've had your mortgage for 12 months or more, re-financing might be able to get you a better deal on your home loan. There may be costs associated with re-financing and it's important to take this into account.

Consider a split home loan
A split loan allows borrowers to divide their mortgage into both variable and fixed components. You can lock in a low fixed rate on part of your loan, if you only want to limit exposure to the variable rate.

Explore your options
Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you've explored all of your options. It's worth looking into whether you can get a discounted loan rate with a financial package that includes special rates on other products and services. With just a few easy steps, borrowers can significantly reduce the length of their loan and save thousands of dollars in the process.

If you're interested in paying off your home loan sooner, contact your mortgage broker .