Sunglasses are one of the most popular fashion accessories in the world. Men, women, children, seniors and people from all walks of life wear sunglasses, and the proliferation of retail outlets and online web sites that offer discount sunglasses make this fashion accessory affordable for anyone. There are many reasons to wear sunglasses, but there are three reasons in particular. The first is to protect your eyes of course, the second is to look stylish and the third is to hide your eyes. The exact origins of sunglasses are unknown, but we do know what they were used for in the past, and surprisingly, it does not differ much from modern day uses.

The first reason to wear sunglasses is to protect your eyes. Sunglasses brands such as Gatorz sunglasses are designed specifically to shield a person’s eyes even while playing extreme-sports. Ultraviolet rays from the sun can cause long-term damage to the eyes, causing certain disorders involving temporary and permanent blindness, cancer and cataracs. During the 19th century and the 20th century there was an outbreak of syphilis. One of the symptoms of syphilis was increased light sensitivity; many doctors prescribed darkly tinted spectacles for their patients to curb this side-effect. Even today many doctors give their patients sunglasses to wear after certain eye dialating and eye dying exams to protect their eyes from excessive light to sensitive eyes. Sunglasses are also important to wear while driving. To protect themselve as well as others, autoists around the world wear sunglasses. The glare of the sun can make vision impared and cause strain on the eyes, making it difficult to drive safely. Sunglasses deflect the glare and dim the brightness of the sun.

The second reason to wear sunglasses is to look good. Sunglasses have been a major component of style for decades. The five most popular and stylish glasses are listed below.

Aviators- Aviators were introduced in 1936 by Ray-Ban as a standard issue to the United States Military for aviators. They are characterized by overzised teardrop lens and a thin metal frame. This style has been particulary popular with law enforcement officers and people in the military. It has also been very trendy in the rock music scene.

Teashades- Teashades enjoyed their celebrity for most of the 1960’s and 70’s. They have small circular lenses and thin wire frames. The tint of the glasses came in various shades and was made popular by celebrities such as John Lennon, Ozzy Osbourne and Mick Jagger. They were also very popular within the counter-culture youth of the 1960’s. They are still sold today, but are much less sought after.

Wayfarers- Wayfarers are arguably the most popular sunglasses. They are characterized by thick plastic rims. The wayfarers were first introduced in 1952 by Ray-Ban and were made famous by Hollywood actors like James Dean. This style remained popular throughout the decades since its introduction and is still one of Ray-Ban’s best selling designs today.

Oversized- Oversized sunglasses are look just as they are named- oversized. The lenses are dramatically large and the frames are typically thick, plastic, and colorful. These sunglasses are not worn so much for protection as they are for silly style and entertainment. Elton John is famous for his oversized sunglasses.

Onassis- The Onassis style of sunglasses was named after Jackie Onassis Kennedy. The Onassis style is worn by women mainly. They are very large glasses, though not oversized. The lens shapes vary from oval to square and are darkly tinted. The frames are thick, more so towards the sides of the rim and are plastic.

The third reason to wear sunglasses is to hide your eyes. During the 12th century in China, Chinese officials would wear sunglasses to hide their eyes and expressions while questioning witnesses. Today celebrities wear sunglasses to hide their eyes and escape being noticed by paparazzi and overbearing fans. Sunglasses are also used to conceal black eyes, injuries to the eyes and eye deformities. Many people with eye impediments such as blindness, lazy-eye or cataracs wear sunglasses to conceal their eyes to make others uncomfortable and to aviod being socially ostracized because of the appearance of their eyes.

We are officially in a credit crunch. Banks have so many bad loans on their books that they claim they do not have money to lend (even though the U.S. government has been providing them billions of dollars for this purpose).

How is this going to affect technology companies? There are a few ways that I see:

Electronics Consumers - Purchasers of consumer electronics products will not be able to purchase as many of the latest technological devices and gadgets as they are used to. Even though many electronics products have been coming down in price steadily, many products are still hundreds to thousands of dollars. Most people simply cannot afford to pay cash, and are forced to pay higher interest rates unless they have top credit or they know how to fix bad credit.

Early Adopters - The latest technology is always more expensive than technology that has already been accepted by the masses, so early adopters will have to pony up more cash for their purchases. This will lengthen the time it takes for new, innovative products to be tested and migrate over to the mass consumer market. This will hurt the last category…

Technology Companies - Many companies have already gotten out of some markets (e.g. Pioneer and HDTVs), and even some nationwide retailers like Circuit City have declared bankruptcy. What I am most concerned about is that - depending on how long the economic recessions and credit crisis last - we could enter a technological dark ages where almost NO new technologies are being brought to market. (Remember, a generation in high-tech industries is typically 18 months or less!) With the shrinking economies and resulting layoffs that are occurring around the world, research departments must be affected. The short term lack of cash flow today might affect technological progress in the future.

I hope things turn around quickly… I want my future grand-kids to be amazed when they ask me about all of the technological gadgets that I had to live without.

Every retailer seems to be nervous as 2008 comes to a close, with no one expecting any sales records to be set this holiday season. In fact, it seems that many retailers are expecting trouble from now to the end 2008, and are having several early “Black Friday” sales in order to mitigate the situation.

Having multiple Black Friday sales is in itself a misnomer. Black Friday (traditionally the Friday after Thanksgiving; usually the busiest shopping day of the year) is named “black Friday” because - for many retail stores - it is line that marks a retailer going from the “red” to the “black,” and the sales for the rest of the year define how profitable the company will be that calendar year. More accurately, these early weekends specials should be called “pre-Black Friday” or “pre-holiday” sales.

WalMart, the leader in discount retail sales, has already had pre-holiday sales. As usual, they have been offering VERY low prices on attractive products like laptop computers, but when you got to the store, they were “out of stock.” (NOTE: I can’t help but wonder how many store employees set aside these best bargains for themselves before the doors even open to the public.)

Online sales are usually a little more reasonable, i.e. more available to the masses. Although you usually won’t find such drastic price cuts as you will with the brick-n-mortar loss leaders (since the available quantities of online goods are usually and essentially “unlimited” — if they weren’t, many online orders would be canceled and the online store’s reputation, spread virally via social networking, would take a big hit!), you can still find some really good deals plus take advantage of incentives such as paying no sales tax or free shipping.

Ritz Camera’s online store is a good example offering what appears to be two months’ of “Black Friday sale” items for the 2008 holiday season. Every Friday from November 7th through November 21st (the actual Black Friday), Ritz is offering special prices on a slew of different merchandise, and the sales will most likely be extended all the way through Christmas Day itself. In addition to special prices on popular digital cameras (always one of the most-requested holiday gifts) they are also offering “free printer” deals, gift cards good for future purchases, and other goodies for shopping early and shopping often. Not specifically a holiday incentive, Ritz always pays your sales tax and offers free shipping on most camera and photography equipment purchases of $100 or more.

Good shopping!

As you know, digital camera technology changes — and gets less expensive — by the time you’re finished reading the owner’s manual of that brand new digital camera. And before you know it, your “new kid on the block” camera is a has-been while you jealousy eye your friends showing off their new cameras.

What’s a person to do?

Ritz Camera is offering a camera trade-in program that lets you exchange your old, half-as-many-pixels-as-it-should-have digital camera for credit in purchasing one of the newest digital SLR or compact cameras.

The process for trading in your old camera is pretty simple:

• List the equipment you would like to trade in using the no-obligation quoting system
• You are provided an instant online quote for your gear
• If you like the quote, pack up your equipment and ship it using a pre-paid shipping label
• You are provided credit that you can use to purchase anything on the RitzCamera.com web site

Happy upgrading!

Running a successful business is definitely a hard thing to do in today’s world. One of the most important parts of succeeding in today’s business world is keeping track of your employees, your product, and your equipment.

At one time, keeping track of everything meant making frequent phone calls, relying on others to give you accurate information, and even some late nights dealing with the changing time zones to follow up on deliveries around the world.

Luckily, the advent of technology and something called a GPS tracking device has made the job of keeping track of things a little bit easier. Here are a few reasons why investing in a GPS tracking device might be a great idea.

Reason # 1: Keep Track of Your Company Vehicles

With the prices of gasoline on today’s market, going on the most efficient delivery route is essential. Prior to the introduction of a GPS tracking device, whether or not your employees strayed on those routes was completely unknown.

Now, by installing a GPS tracking device, you’ll be able to see in an instant where your delivery is, and approximately how long it will take him to get to the destination

Reason # 2: The Safety of Your Employees

Traveling is part of the business world; everyone knows that. In addition, depending on where your employee is going, and what they are carrying, the potential danger might increase accordingly. The ability to keep track of the location of your employee in real time means that you can be there to offer help if needed quickly.

No one likes to think that an accident could happen to one of their employees, but if it does happen, having a GPS tracking device on the vehicle can truly be a life saving device.

Reason # 3: Recovery of Stolen Merchandise

Like it or not, there probably will be a time when a company vehicle is stolen. Most police will tell you that without a GPS tracking device, the likelihood of finding the vehicle before it has been stripped for parts is pretty unlikely.

A GPS tracking device is a great help to police and other criminal authorities in finding and obtaining the stolen vehicle before too much damage has been done.

These are but a few of the reasons why investing in a GPS tracking device for your next company vehicle might be a good idea. The best course of action would be to sit down and consider the different options available to your company, and decide which device is best for you.