A relatively new website called Tweet Your Prayers just opened online. They will print out and place the prayers that you tweet to them, on the wailing wall in Jerusalem. The wailing wall, also known as the Kotel is Judaism's most holy site. There is no charge for the service, but they do accept donations through a link on their site at www.tweetyourprayers.info.

Amazon just bought my favorite shoestore...Zappos. Zappos is the only store online or offline that I know of, that gives you a YEAR to return your shoes if you aren't pleased with them. They also pay for the return shipping. I hope Amazon doesn't change anything. Amazon says the shoestore will remain unchanged, and the current employees will be remaining. Zappos is only 10 years old, and the deal is said to be worth around $850 million.

I knew after the first pair of shoes that I bought there, almost 10 years ago, that the company would do well. I've never returned one pair of shoes, of the countless pairs I've purchased there, but I knew I could return them for free if I wasn't happy. I know that the service Zappos offered, made it easier for me and apparently millions more, to purchase online, at a time when buying online was a new experience.

Tony Hsieh, Zappo's CEO, said in a letter to employees, “We realized that Amazon’s resources, technology, and operational experience had the potential to greatly accelerate our growth,” and I guess that's the bottom line. Amazon already has an online shoestore named Endless.com where they offer free overnight shipping. They say they will keep the two companies as separate entities, we'll see. I would like to see Zappos stay as innovative and fresh as when they began, back in 1999. What do you think? Post a comment.

Image supplied by Flickr and displayed as attribution share alike...for artist click here.

Remember AOL? America Online was the first king of "dial-up" internet access at one time. Their favorite marketing technique was to send out countless floppie disks (remember those?) through the mail, to potential users. I would venture to guess that many of the people reading this article had AOL at one time, if you're over 30. I used them myself, many years ago. Well, with the new Google crew they just got onboard, they plan to return to simpler times with fewer onsite ads.

I don't think so, but it looks like Amazon will finally be getting some competition. Barnes and Noble just revealed their new online digital bookstore with over 700,000 titles.

Unlike Amazon's Kindle only policy, the digital books offered by Barnes and Noble will be readable on most
popular handheld devices, including your iPhones and Blackberries.

Los Angeles, the nations second largest city, has been considering tossing it's current computer network, and using Google Apps instead. As you read here last week, Twitter, the popular communications company, was hacked recently, and the Google Apps program was involved.