Take Charge of Legal Matters
Expatriates know how expensive it can be to handle legal matters at a distance. Now US expats have the option of turning to new legal solutions from H&R Block (www.hrblock.com). The company is already well known for its Digital Tax Solutions.
Home & Business Attorney ($39.95) offers a complete legal software solution, with more than 1,000 customizable legal forms for estate planning, business, real estate and home legal needs; built-in guidance to help with many common legal questions; and a range of other support tools, calculators and reference materials. WILLPower ($19.95) helps people create wills and trusts and manage estate planning and administration.
All of H&R Block’s legal products offer free access for 30 days to online services by RocketLawyer.com that include electronic signatures, an online document editor, online document storage and document sharing.
Run a Successful Spa Business
The University of California (UC), Irvine Extension has debuted its “Spa and Hospitality Operations” Course in a free, online format. The course is offered via the University’s OpenCourseWare (OCW) website at http://ocw.uci.edu/courses/.
The course was created to provide would-be spa owners and managers with an operational blueprint for running a successful spa business. Students can explore how spa operations professionals interface within the spa environment, including topics such as business planning, marketing, compensation models, billing, inventory control, client file management, privacy issues and the development of standard operating procedures, as well as legal, ethical, technical and insurance issues. Students can also learn the guidelines for optimizing energy efficiency in facility operations including design, energy and water and waste management issues.
The spa course is part of UC Irvine’s OCW, a large-scale, web-based resource that houses educational assets that are discoverable, searchable, modifiable and, best of all, free and easily available. UC Irvine is the first University of California campus — as well as the only US West Coast University — to join the OCW Consortium. The consortium (www.ocwconsortium.org) is a group of universities working together to advance education and empower people worldwide through OpenCourseWare.
Which Toy Would You Buy?
It is increasingly difficult to decide which toys are right for your child. To make the selection easier, Amazon.com has unveiled a new feature at www.amazon.com/holidaytoylist, providing information on over 450 of this year’s top toys, videogames and sporting goods. Within the feature, search results may be narrowed by age, gender, price, category, favorite characters and preferred brands simultaneously. In addition, each product page will make available video content demonstrating the toy in action and an option to e-mail the page or add a review.
Online Photo Retouching Service
Fotofix.com is a new online photo enhancement service giving the general public the ability to upload snapshots and, after a brief wait, receive retouched, magazine-quality photos. Customers post photos directly to the site or send them via e-mail or a cell phone.
Even photos that have been stained by water, creased or spotted with mold can be visually repaired. The company can also alter a portrait to improve unsightly scars, blemishes, uneven skin tone or red eye. A portrait can be given the celebrity treatment with high-quality digital enhancements such as skin smoothing, body slimming and tooth whitening. Don’t like the background in a photo or your hair color? No problem, Fotofix can change it and allow you to create your own reality.