Understandably, there has been a resurgent interest in gold lately, in particular gold bullion. You can buy gold bullion as a way to supplement an existing investment portfolio, or as a standalone investment.

According to GoldCoinsGain.com, when you buy bullion you are buying an asset that moves against paper investments, sowhile your stocks are tanking then your bullion will remain a solid–sorry, bad pun–investment.

• Paving the area on the side of the house and decorating it with outdoor planters. I’d love to use cacti but I don’t think our mailman would appreciate it.
• Putting another outddor planter or two on our back patio. There’s a dearth of color back there so I’d want it to be bright — oranges and reds, maybe?
• Inside we’ll have indoor planters with low-maintenance plants. Can I get away with putting cacti in every single indoor planter, even though we don’t live in the Southwest?

I’ve been browsing the online selection at EPlanters and getting a lot of fantastic ideas. I love that they show their planters actually being used; I really need a visual when it comes to making the most of the flowers and plants on our property, so it helps to see what looks good. I especially like the jazzy, modern-designed planters. Also, the colored planters. Time to go shopping!

Looking at the page for the Mercedes-Benz E-Class you’ll see that they have over 11,000–yes, really–pieces of content about this model. The content ranges from in-depth reviews and photos to all the specs. The sheer volume of the information available is incredible.

So let’s look up another popular model. The main page for the Hummer H2 lists the most recent news for that model. The site is unbiased–everything from recall information to shopping guides are there for every concievable car model.

Take the Mini Clubman. Even though it is by no means the most popular car on the market, The Car Connection agregates 11 expert reviews and nearly 150 user reviews. This is a great “Rotten Tomatoes”-type effect: By bringing in a volume of information, the opinions will level out and give an accurate picture of how the car ranks, on average. (In the case of the Clubman, it’s an 8.4 out of 10.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my favourite feature of the site, which is the 360 degree views. Want to check out the Kia Rio but don’t have time to visit the dealership? The 360 degree view feature gives you a virtual walkaround of the car’s interior and exterior. I don’t know how they did it but again, the depth of information is awesome. The next time I’m car shopping (or even dreaming of my next car, which happens a lot), The Car Connection will be my first stop.

The site is ideal for school administrators or project managers tasked with redesigning locker rooms and storage areas. There are solutions for every budget, from wood lockers made from fine cherry, mahogany and maple finishes, to more basic steel school lockers. Many of these options are available in multiple colors, so they fit into your existing color scheme.

When you’re shopping for such a specialty item, using a knowledgeable supplier is of the utmost importance. Rather than choosing from only a few options out of a catalog, you have thousands of locker solutions to choose from here. They stock a wide range of accessories too, with locker room benches, locker panels, shelves, locks and keys, screws, add-ons, ID plates and more available. And, like all good e-stores, the site has a Knowledge Base with FAQs, plus an extensive Help Center that answers all the essential shipping, returns and warranty questions you didn’t even know you had. What more could you want from a specialty locker retailer?

First of all, I love the design of the site. It is clear and easy to navigate, with big, bright buttons where it matters. Once you search for an item, there is also a prominent filtering engine on the right side that helps you narrow down your search by criteria such as price, color and stores. They also feature other products you might be interested in–a search for “casserole dish” also uncovered a featured Pyrex dish set for sale at Amazon.

In addition, ShopWiki has main pages for products that provide shoppers with more information. For example, the Microwave Ovens section provides pages of info on how to buy a microwave. Once you find an item you like (I picked the Whirlpool Over Range microwave), you’re taken directly to a comparison shopping page filled with, in many cases, hundreds of stores stocking the item you want. (Then I filtered it down to just show the black microwaves, of course, because the color-filtering feature is so cool!)

To me, it’s the perfect synergy between search (which we’ve all become accustomed to) with information, all at our collective fingertips.

Mailboxixchange is an e-commerce site that sells all sorts of contemporary mailboxes, from large commercial mailboxes to modern mailboxes for individual homes. They have an extensive selection that suits all tastes, but the predominant style is classy, cool mailboxes that will make your home look unique.

The site is really easy to navigate, with helpful videos, useful product descriptions and live help. You can even shop for options like newspaper holders and custom letters and numbers. Overall, it’s the perfect site if you’re thinking about ditching your old, boring mailbox.

Edward’s offers a handy guide on how to spot fake GHD hair straighteners and the comments on that article point to this being a worldwide problem.

It’s a shame that consumers and shops alike (not to mention GHD) are suffering from these knockoff products. Shops like Edward’s Hair Solutions, which is an authorised seller of GHD hair straighteners, not only have to compete against the prices of counterfeit products but must convince informed consumers that they’re the real deal. It’s a conundrum - you either have people shopping on price alone who would much rather pay £50 than £85, or you have saavy consumers who are skeptical that a non-High Street store could be legit. (Worth noting that fakes have even been reported on Amazon, so nobody is immune to this criticism.)

What are you doing this holiday season? Are you even going to try to buy straighteners with all the confusion in the marketplace?

And, like many of the Wii Fit’s biggest - and less famous - fans, he did something about it. Bell lost 25lbs this offseason in a workout regimen that included playing games on the Wii Fit. It’s now being reported that he looks “svelte” and better than ever, with his coaches even asking him not to lose more weight in order to keep his velocity up.

Heath Bell may be the first athlete to unofficially endorse the Wii Fit. How about the rest of us? Have you lost weight using the Wii Fit, or did you throw the balance board back into the box when the game called you fat?

Ask anyone who has applied for a business loan, mortgage or even a credit card in the past year, and there’s no disputing that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to secure a line of credit. Businesses, in particular, are hurting from this belt-tightening - moreso than individuals, many businesses live on credit and floated money. With the world credit markets in crisis, many businesses are facing the option of changing the way they handle their finances, or going under.

Businesses who have been let down by banks and other traditional lenders in the past 12-18 months are increasingly looking to alternative methods to pad their capital requirements and pay the bills each month. Alternative services include seeking financial services from third-parties, who have the ability to transfer funds through ACH processing, eliminating a company’s need to rely strictly on banks for their loan needs. For many businesses, this means getting instant access to cash without delays due to paperwork, payment hold times or snail mail applications.

With electronic payment processing, businesses are able to move money securely and instantaneously, benefiting their customers and their supply chain in the process. It may be a break from popular, traditional methods, but there’s nothing popular about the current economic situation!