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!

This blog post is as “live” as you’ll ever get on Modern Cheek. I’m typing it, and then I’ll post it, and you’ll read it and that’ll be it. Simply put, I don’t “get” live blogging.

Take the Super Bowl, for instance. Several popular blogs are live blogging the Super Bowl and its commercials. The theory is to have people follow the blog for 4+ hours during the game, reloading the page and, presumably, seeing as many ads as possible. Live blogging is also popular during events like the Academy Awards and last year’s U.S. presidential debates.

Sorry, but I don’t see the allure of live blogging for the audience. While it seems to be popular, you must remember it’s happening on sites that are pretty popular to begin with; your average Joe Blog is live blogging to a zero audience. So it takes popularity, and I think that ought to be enough. Live blogging might make some readers feel in touch with what’s going on, but so does actually watching the game or attending a Super Bowl party. But instead, live blog readers are commenting on people commenting on an event, and spending countless hours giving up watching the actual event in exchange for someone else’s opinion.

For people who actually care about the Super Bowl, wouldn’t you rather see a nice catch than read, “Fitzgerald takes it to the house! Cardinals lead!”? I know I would.

Giving Jason Shankey and his fabulous hair a run for his money is Edward’s Hair Solutions, a new UK hair products site.

Edward’s is based around a quaint Southampton salon of the same name and offers GHD and Wella hair products direct to consumers. Visitors can also get hair advice from Edward’s head stylist (pun intended) via the “Ask Giles” feature. This looks like a great idea; and Giles seems to know his way around a head of hair too! I wonder what he’d do with my ever-present ponytail?

Stores like Edward’s that focus on one or two brands can be a blessing or a curse; on one hand, you aren’t getting the extensive selection you might find on the high street. On the other hand, you’re not getting the crazy-extensive selection you’d find on the high street! As long as you’re buying quality brands (like Wella and GHD), it’s okay to shop at a specialty store. Not only can they steer you in the right direction with how to use their products, but they’ll often have deals that far surpass what you’d find at Boots or other high street retailers.

Case in point: Edward’s Hair currently has the UK’s best price on the super-popular GHD IV styler. They actually manage to beat Amazon! That makes Edward’s the place to go for GHD hair straighteners (well, maybe not the obnoxious pink one) and lots of other GHD and Wella products. Add to that the advice they offer - what does Amazon know about hair anyway? - and Edward’s Hair Solutions looks like a winner.

Watch out, Jason Shankey!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the new kid on the web development block. People with SEO skill sets help to build and market your website so that it gets high search engine rankings and maximum traffic; after all, traffic = conversions = profits.

Apogee Search, one of the world’s largest Search Engine Optimization firms, has lots of great resources on their site for both new and seasoned SEO professionals. One of my favourite resources is their very in-depth Search Engine Marketing Glossary. The glossary introduces SEO-specific terms - both technical (301 redirect, alt tag, etc) and non-technical (link farm, keyword density). This portion of the site is extensive, highlighting a few terms that even I’ve never heard of (and SEO is one of my day jobs)! (more…)

It’s a familiar scenario, at least in our household - we find a fantastic airline fare online and are shocked to find that, once taxes and surcharges are added, the price has doubled, or more. Well, let’s say we were once shocked; now it’s a normal way of life and something we come to expect.

But why should a £1 cheap fare have £50 in taxes? What, exactly, are they taxing?

Most airlines don’t tell you, or they don’t make it obvious where the charges come from. But U.S. Airways’ website does. (more…)

Plastic surgeons are one of the few groups of professionals who can, nearly across the board, afford to have an awesome website for their business. So while we’ve all seen sub-standard, FrontPage-crafted sites for mom and pop shops, B&Bs, and other family establishments, there’s no excuse for plastic surgeons.

Here are five features that are essential for a great plastic surgery website, using Dr. Philip Miller (rhinoplasty Manhattan New York) and his excellent website as an example. Follow along on his first-class site as we go through the list. (more…)

Despite having lots of experience in sales and marketing and therefore knowing exactly how things work, I’ve been stuck in the marketing machine for years. For the past decade, I’ve been purchasing “whitening” toothpastes - the foaming crystals, the blue strips of cleanliness, added ingredients, this and that - and I continue, to this day, to do so, knowing full well that it’s never made a bit of difference for my teeth.

I don’t even entertain the possibility that the whitening toothpaste has canceled anything out - i.e. that I’d be much worse without it. I know I wouldn’t. Moreso, I’m not your average adult; I don’t drink a lot of coffee, I don’t smoke, and sugar is probably my only weakness. So, why the crutch? (more…)

Okay, you’ve decided to spring for those 34DD breasts you’ve always wanted, or maybe you’ve lost a lot of weight and are in need of a tummy tuck to remove loose skin. With so many plastic surgeons out there, how do you find a good one?

Let’s say, for example, that you want to find a cosmetic surgeon in Los Angeles. Google brings back over a million results! What now? (more…)

Yoga is the neo-yuppie craze that’s found its way into mainstream American gyms - and homes - over the past several years. It’s got a certain social status attached to it now; you can almost picture the big name celebrities going to their yoga and pilates classes, right? Unfortunately, this leads to a public perception that yoga isn’t for everyone, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Hatha yoga - the most popular - is marketed by gyms as a fitness routine and one of the less cerebral forms on offer. You don’t need to assemble an altar to practice it; you just need to buy a mat and some really cool yoga pants. (more…)