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Predicting In Vitro Fertilzation (IVF) Success

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:32:32 -0600

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a method that can predict with 70 percent accuracy whether a woman undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment will become pregnant. This information may someday help the tens of thousands of couples who want to undergo IVF each year, and their doctors, decide on their course of action.

The new method involves using four factors to determine a woman's chance of becoming pregnant from an IVF cycle. These variables may prove "critical in counseling patients, improving treatment, and ultimately in developing... more customized treatments," the authors wrote in a paper that will appear in the July 2 issue of Public Library of Science One.

The research was led by Mylene Yao, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, whose work focuses on early embryo development.

IVF is a treatment given to boost the chances for women to get pregnant. During IVF, a woman is given drugs to stimulate ovulation, and her eggs are removed from the ovaries. The eggs are then combined with sperm in a culture dish in a laboratory.

A typical IVF cycle produces five to 12 embryos, and doctors aim to transfer the "best quality" one or two into a woman's uterus. Doctors use a variety of criteria to identify which embryos are most likely to result in a live birth, including how the embryo looks and whether the embryo has hit certain milestones, such as having reached the eight-cell stage by its third day of existence.

Doctors also look at dozens of additional factors, such as the age of the woman, levels of certain hormones, the quality of her eggs and individual characteristics of each embryo, to help predict the likelihood that the patient will become pregnant. However, according to Yao, there isn't a consistently accurate test yet to determine whether an individual woman will have success with IVF.

"The information isn't yet customized to the individual patient," said Yao. "And what patients really want to know is: 'What is my chance of getting pregnant?'"

Nationwide, the percentage of IVF cycles that result in pregnancy for women using their own eggs ranges from about 18 to 45 percent, depending on age and other factors, according to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology.

Yao said she and her colleagues launched this study in an effort to identify the most important factors in predicting IVF outcome. For the study, they analyzed clinical data from 665 IVF cycles performed at Stanford in 2005. They looked at 30 variables (on patient characteristics, clinical diagnoses, treatment protocol and embryo characteristics) and examined the association of each variable with IVF outcomes, as defined by results of a pregnancy test.

Going beyond previous studies, Yao's team also examined whether some factors influenced others. They found some of the variables were redundant - they didn't add any new information - but others were critical to making predictions.

The researchers found that four factors - total number of embryos, number of eight-cell embryos, percentage of embryos that stopped dividing and would die, and the woman's follicle-stimulating hormone level, a measurement that estimates ovarian function - were most important in determining a woman's chance of becoming pregnant. The four together were 70 percent accurate in predicting whether the current IVF cycle would result in a pregnancy.

The researchers also found that these four factors were more predictive than any single measure of the actual transferred embryo(s). An individual embryo could meet all the criteria for a transfer, but if the IVF cycle produced a small number of embryos, few eight-cell embryos and a high percentage of embryos that stopped dividing, the woman's chance of getting pregnant could actually be quite low.

"If you talk with IVF patients or doctors, they wouldn't be surprised" to hear that the quality of all embryos in a cycle - not just the transferred one - matters, Yao said. "But it's important to go beyond intuition and to prove it scientifically, in order to move the field forward."

Their findings, the researchers said in the paper, call for a "paradigm shift from strictly focusing research efforts on selecting the 'best' embryos to identifying methods that would improve the quality of the entire [embryo group]."

Yao said she hopes the method of using these factors will someday help doctors counsel those patients trying to decide whether to go for another IVF cycle. IVF is expensive - both financially and emotionally - and she suspects many couples would embrace information that would better inform their decision. "People make decisions based on probability," said Yao. "At that point, it's really important to give a more accurate prediction."

Yao said more information is needed before clinicians adopt the new method, and she and her collaborators are now analyzing results from a follow-up study. The larger, more comprehensive study involves four years of data and uses live birth, rather than a positive pregnancy test, as the outcome.

Shopping trends don’t follow LSM rules

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:24:46 -0600

The notion that the wealthier, the middle class and the less privileged elements of society tend to shop within their own market segments and in specifically targeted stores is an urban legend.

This is graphically illustrated by some of the findings in Avusa’s Gauteng Wealth survey.

It is not uncommon for an affluent shopper in the upper LSM (Living Standards Measure) bracket to buy a simple white T-shirt from Mr Price, then invest in a pair of designer jeans from one of the more “fashionable” expensive stores.

As Pick n Pay’s GM for strategic marketing, Lyndsay Webster- Rozon, pointed out: “Our highest LSM segment of shoppers will buy premium goods, but will buy no- name products as well, such as tin foil or paper towels — the products that will do the job. Where brand is not important, customers are quite happy to save money accordingly.”

The research showed that 31% of a sample of the upper LSM groups had used a Shoprite store in the previous four weeks. Shoprite Group marketing director Brian Weyers said: “The emerging middle class, with its increasing disposable income, has remained loyal to the Shoprite brand.”

Niel Victor, MD of market research organisation Research and Planning Intelligence, noted that Shoprite accounts for 60% of all grocery sales in value terms.

He said: “There are shoppers for whom a Pick n Pay/Woolworths type layout would be preferable. Others go for stores that are more clinical, where they can get exactly what they want, and go in and then get out quickly. But for those shoppers who tend to go to Shoprite and some of the more localised supermarkets, shopping becomes something of a social occasion — they tend to shop on a particular day of the week, for instance, because some of their friends do likewise .”

Victor said it was striking that all retailers appear to have performed well. “This suggests that the slightly more wealthy Gauteng residents shop at more places, and are possibly more discerning shoppers, than you’d find across the total population.”

Edgars and Woolworths vie for top spot in the clothing segment. Said Victor: “But the profile of shoppers buying clothing from Edgars and Woolworths would be different. Edgars shoppers may be slightly more fashion conscious, whereas Woolworths shoppers tend to be more conservative, but want good quality.”

The top rating of American Swiss in the jewellery and watches segment suggested that customers — particularly with jewellery — prefer to buy in dedicated jewellery stores, as opposed to departmental-type outlets. “Jewellery is seen much more as an investment and has many emotional connotations to it, often bought for a special occasion.”

Sao Paulo Fashion Week opens with supermodels on the way

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:21:35 -0600

Supermodels Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen and Raquel Zimmerman are scheduled to hit the catwalk for the Sao Paulo Fashion Week, Latin America's top fashion event which kicks off Tuesday.

The two Brazilian beauties, Bundchen and Zimmerman, are sure-fire headline-grabbers for the summer collection unveilings that are to run to July 23.Campbell's appearance though is not certain. The 38-year-old British celebrity is due to appear in court Friday for allegedly assaulting a police officer at London's Heathrow airport on April 3. Her runway assignment in Brazil is set for the following day, Saturday, for the Rio de Janeiro label Colcci.

Zimmerman, the top-paid model in the world according to the website Models.com, is due to strut late on Thursday, while Bundchen's date with the catwalk cameras on Sunday will provide a celebrity climax on the eve of the close.Paulo Borges, the organiser of Sao Paulo Fashion Week, told reporters late Monday that this year's theme honoring Japan coincided with celebrations in Brazil marking the centenary of Japanese immigration.

Brazil today counts the biggest Japanese community in the world outside of Japan itself, estimated at 1.5 million people, most of them living in and around Sao Paulo.Kenzo Takada, the 68-year-old veteran designer and founder of the Kenzo label, was present at the opening media conference.

"Japan is a country which has historic importance in the world of fashion," Borges said."Up to the 1960s, fashion was concentrated in Europe. In the 70s, Kenzo Takada brought about the birth of a new style of fashion, creating a watershed moment," he said.

"He opened the door to everybody who wanted to get into car fashion."

As well as the 49 shows on the program, the fashion week is featuring three Japanese-themed exhibitions: one displaying 20 kimonos from different eras; another showcasing works by Kenzo, Yamamoto, Issey Miyake and Comme des Garcons; and photos by Cristiano Mascaro.

A thematic warm-up for the fashion event was held late Monday following the media conference with a show by the Japanese label Mintdesigns, founded by designers Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi.Their collection featured models wearing rough-hewn or flimsy fabrics over fantasy shoes and topped with headwear in the form of balloons or wigs made from paper confetti.

Save up to $100 on a New Mac and Printer!

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:38:35 -0600

Want to make your new iPod your own? You can engrave any model of a new iPod — iPod shuffle, iPod nano, and iPod. Personalized laser engraving is only available on the Apple Online Store. Engraving is not offered for refurbished iPods.

After you select your iPod from the Apple Online Store, you will be offered the option to enter up to two lines of text for iPod nano or iPod, and one line of text for iPod shuffle. As you type, you’ll see an image of what your text will look like on the iPod pictured on the right of the page. The text will be engraved near the top, on the back of the iPod, just like it appears on the image.

Please make sure that everything is spelled correctly, as your engraved iPod can’t be returned. You may wish to review our Sales and Refunds Policy. You may be able to make changes to the engraved text or cancel your item if your Order Status indicates that your iPod has “Not yet shipped.”

The Apple Online Store makes it easy to create the Mac that is right for you.

Models that can be Customized

iMac

Mac Pro

Mac mini

MacBook

MacBook Pro

Configuration Options

You have several options to build the system that is right for you. After you choose a model with the processor speed and optical drive you want, you can configure, for example:

Memory

Graphics card

Hard drive

Keyboard and Mouse sets

Pre-installed Apple software applications

And more...

Why stop there? You can easily add any of these:

Modem

Apple Cinema Display

AppleCare Protection Plan

.Mac

MagSafe Airline Adapter (for notebook computers only)

How to Customize

Choose whether you’d like a laptop or desktop.

Select the model you want.

You will automatically be directed to the “Customize your Mac” page. Just select the radio button next to the configuration option(s) you’d like. Next to each option, the dollar amount that will be added (or subtracted) from your Subtotal is clearly listed next to each option. The Subtotal, Estimated Ship timeframe, and Specifications list in your summary at the top right of the screen will update as you choose options.

When you are finished building your Mac, click the "Add to cart" button.

Please choose your configuration carefully as your customized Mac cannot be returned. You may wish to review our Sales and Refunds Policy. You may be able to cancel your item if your online Order Status indicates that your customized Mac has “Not yet shipped."

You can also call our experts at 1-800-MY-APPLE and we’ll be glad to help you build the Mac that’s right for you.

Yves Saint Laurent Obituary

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:33:04 -0600

Yves Saint Laurent, one of the greatest fashion designers in history, died at his home in Paris late Sunday at 71 after a long, undisclosed illness. He had been bedridden recently and friends said in the last week he had been unable to eat or talk. Saint Laurent had been rarely seen over the last year, and even then he was wheelchair bound and weak.

The designer's health had been precarious throughout his life. At age 21, he burst onto the scene as the sensational new designer at Christian Dior, replacing the late Monsieur Dior himself. The bespectacled, shy, soft-spoken designer quickly became an icon—and would remain so for the next five decades.

Saint Laurent's contributions to fashion were unquestioned—even if, in later years, many of his collections were considered repetitive of his signatures. In the 20th century, only Dior, Coco Chanel, Cristobal Balenciaga and Karl Lagerfeld, his peer and rival, were said to be on the same plateau.

So strong was Saint Laurent's grip on the world of fashion that if he made a slight change in a hemline or a subtle shift in a waistline, the repercussions rippled around the globe. At the minimum, fashion owes him credit for the invention of ready-to-wear through the launch in 1966 of his Rive Gauche collection. But there also were his iconic tuxedo suit "le smoking," beatnik fashions, the use of safari jackets as a style statement for women and men, the Ballets Russes collection, his unparalleled sense of color combinations, the artistry of his cut, designer denim and the launch of a significant fragrance and beauty business with a designer name.

As the retiring Saint Laurent himself told WWD on the last day in his atelier in 2002, "I always served women and I did it without compromise until the end, with respect and love."

Informed of Saint Laurent's death, Oscar de la Renta said: "His circle had become smaller than small and he saw only his closest and most loyal friends—Loulou de la Falaise, Betty Catroux, Pierre Bergé.… He marked a period of fashion in an extraordinary and exciting way. He had an eye for color, an eye for the exotic. At one point, for a very long time, he was the king of fashion. Everyone wanted to be Yves Saint Laurent. He was such an unbelievably gifted man. He sketched beautifully, he wrote beautifully.

"I think he retreated into a life of his own. He loved his house in Marrakech. I never saw the new house that he bought and decorated in Tangiers. But that part of the world was such an influence on his life, the extraordinary color of that life influenced his work in an extraordinary way. How could you forget the Russians, the gypsies? He just had an extraordinary eye for a fantasy that every woman wanted to be a part of. Just come to Annette's closet. All the dresses are still hanging there."

"He's my big fashion hero and always has been and it's really sad that he's gone," said Marc Jacobs Sunday night of Saint Laurent's death. "I just think to me and to so many others he has been such a great inspiration in terms of everything, first and foremost in terms [of] design. Saint Laurent was the first to look at youth and street culture and take elements and make them chic.

"I and a couple of friends always say, 'How would Saint Laurent do it?' It's a little, funny gauge of a thing being right, a kind of standard for chic, for youth, for sex appeal without vulgarity and overall beauty."

Vera Wang said, "I think I'm in shock. I'm in fashion today because of him. I lived in Paris right next to his first couture house. My mother adored his work and introduced me to it when I was 16. I feel in love with fashion because of Yves Saint Laurent. He was the first international superstar in the modern era."

On the January day in 2002 when Saint Laurent retired, his fellow designers would pack the room to bid him adieu. Yohji Yamamoto said, "I am one of the designers who started in fashion design because of Yves. He is my inspiration. He has been my father and teacher."

Jean Paul Gaultier added, "For me, Saint Laurent is and has always been the absolute master. In his work, I find the energy to do my work. He gave us glamour, he loves women—and he opened a lot of doors for fashion. What we are all doing is because of Saint Laurent. We all love him, and he knows that."

Yet Saint Laurent always seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the fashion world. On the one hand capable of breathtaking creativity, the pressures continually wore on his nervous nature and he would disappear for months to recuperate. There were so many warnings over the state of his health through the Eighties and Nineties that they became a type of macabre joke—rivaled only by quips over what color his hair would be when he would take his bow.

Throughout his life, Saint Laurent shunned the spotlight. With homes in Paris and New York, a villa in Marrakech and a chateau in Normandy, he could create his own environments. He owned paintings by Goya, Matisse, Leger, Munch, Klee, Picasso and Cezanne but it was the writer Marcel Proust whose work most informed his life. At Chateau Gabriel, a 19th-century castle in Normandy that he owned jointly with Bergé, all the guest rooms were named for Proustian characters.

In his office, Saint Laurent kept a framed quotation from Proust: "The magnificent and lamentable family of the nervous is the salt of the earth. It's they and no one else who founded religions and created masterpieces."

Yves Henri Mathieu Saint Laurent was born into a French colonial family on Aug. 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria, the eldest child and only son of Charles and Lucienne Mathieu Saint Laurent. His father was a director of an insurance company and the family lived in a villa by the sea.

As a child, he amused his two younger sisters, Brigitte and Michele, by cutting paper figurines into the shape of dolls and making dresses for them out of swatches of fabric. He presented his first fashion show (with his sisters acting as "clients") when he was 12. A year later, he was taken to the theater in Oran to see Moliere's "L'Ecole des Femmes."

"I realized immediately," he said as a young man, "that I had witnessed a work of genius, never equaled by all I have seen since." His love of theater never diminished. Of his mother, he said: "My mother, who loves to dress, inspired my early interest in clothes, but more than that she helped me constantly to fulfill my inner gifts. And my father never tried to restrain me."

He was a voracious reader, with Christian Berard, Jean Cocteau, Orlean Petit, Louis Jouvet—and, of course, Proust—among his favorites. He said he never wanted to finish reading Remembrance of Things Past because he couldn't bear to part with it.

His parents wanted him to study law. He wanted to go to Paris and study art. In 1953, when he was 17, he did. A year later, he met Michel de Brunhoff, director of the French edition of Vogue, and sold him some sketches. At de Brunhoff's suggestion, Saint Laurent entered a contest sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat. One of the judges was Christian Dior, who looked at the drawings and realized they had a startling similarity to his own sketches. Saint Laurent was hired as an assistant.

On Oct. 24, 1957, Dior died in Montecatini, Italy, at the age of 52. With France still struggling to regain its prestige and economic health after the devastation of World War II, Dior's death hit the nation particularly hard. Within a month, on Nov. 10, 1957, the 21-year-old Saint Laurent was named head designer and shoved squarely into a spotlight for which he was little prepared.

In describing Saint Laurent's reaction to Dior's death, Life reported that he "looked as though he had been crushed by a large rock." Indeed, a photograph of him at Dior's funeral reveals a pale young man with a numb expression, as if the weight of the world were resting on his slender shoulders.

WWD reports at that time described him as "speaking in a low voice" and "extremely shy." It was a description that would have been accurate virtually every day of his life.

His first collection for Dior was shown on Jan. 30, 1958. It featured the Trapeze and won him overnight fame. "Paris never looked younger than it did at the recent spring fashion collections," said The New York Times. "Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior's successor, stole the show."

That summer, YSL showed again and it was the most provocative collection in Paris. While everyone else featured skirts to the kneecap, his lengths were at midcalf. In August, shortly after Saint Laurent turned 22, the House of Dior hired Marc Bohan and sent him to London to design Dior's wholesale collection.

In September, Saint Laurent made his first trip to the U.S. when he became the youngest designer to win the annual Neiman Marcus fashion award, presented for that controversial second collection. "Other designers make what they want; I make what I want," he said.

Over the next few years, his collections for Dior—each one radically different from its predecessor—were the subject of heated debate, particularly in the French press. In July 1960, for example, he unveiled his "chic Beatnik" collection. It featured black leather jackets trimmed in fur and was so heavily criticized, it almost brought his career to a halt when it had barely begun.

That September, after receiving two deferments because 2,000 jobs on five continents depended on his talents, Saint Laurent was inducted into the French army and put on a leave of absence from Dior. Bohan, then 34 and growing tired of playing second fiddle, was brought to Paris to pinch hit for him.

"Two or three successful collections bearing the Bohan name and it is difficult to imagine where Saint Laurent would fit into the picture," said WWD. It was a prophetic proposition. Bohan represented a new direction for Dior. The columnist Eugenia Sheppard wrote that Saint Laurent was "highly dramatic, often stagey. His trapeze and bubble silhouettes were extreme shapes that made headlines around the world." Bohan, she said, is "best known for the pretty, shapely type of clothes." He remained creative director of the house for 29 years.

Within days after Saint Laurent's army induction, he entered a military hospital, suffering a nervous breakdown—the first of many over the next several decades. Two people visited him every day at the hospital: one was his mother, the other was Pierre Bergé, a young man who had become his closest friend.

Bergé had come to Paris to be a painter but became a businessman instead, achieving great success as the man who managed the career of the artist Bernard Buffet. He would, of course, go on to far greater glory—and power—as Saint Laurent's partner, for a time both personal and professional.

Two months after Saint Laurent became a soldier, he was released back into civilian life. Marcel Boussac, Dior's owner, told him he could travel as a Dior public relations man; Jacques Rouet, Dior's administrator, wanted Boussac to open a small separate house under YSL's name. Boussac refused.

Saint Laurent went home and tried to figure out what to do next. He was 24.

In April 1961, under a headline that said "Saint Laurent Comes Back," WWD published the first Saint Laurent sketches since his collapse. They were for Les Forains, a TV ballet starring Roland Petit and Zizi Jeanmaire. That September, together with Bergé, he opened a two-room office in Paris' Rue La Boetie. Within a month, they found a backer—a banker and insurance man from Atlanta by the name of J. Mack Robinson—and the business officially got under way.

The famous YSL logo was designed by Cassandre, one of France's greatest graphic artists. (By then, Saint Laurent had dropped the "Mathieu" from his name.) Workshops became available from the recently closed house of Manguin and a townhouse on Rue Spontini was commandeered. Saint Laurent's first collection under his own name began to take shape. It was presented on Jan. 29, 1962.

In a tribute written for YSL's 20th anniversary as a designer in 1982, John B. Fairchild, then-chairman and editorial director of WWD parent Fairchild Publications, remembered the occasion: "At the end of that historic show Monday, the room erupted in chaos. Saint Laurent was pushed out from behind a curtain. He was mobbed by admirers and had to run into a closet to hide. A potted plant tottered and almost fell. Pierre Bergé stood on a chair, directing traffic."

Following Chanel, Balenciaga and Dior, Saint Laurent had emerged as fashion's "fourth force."

Other accounts of that first show were more restrained. "Saint Laurent broke no new ground in design," said Vogue, while The New York Times said, "Although he produced a very good collection, [he] did not say anything new." Nevertheless, in April, May and June, the private customers started lining up—Lady Diana Cooper, the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Lee Radziwill, Countess Chandon de Briailles, Jacqueline de Ribes.

In August, Saint Laurent unveiled his second collection, and this time the praise was almost unanimously lavish. Time magazine called the collection "the sensation of the week" and spoke of the designer's "elevation to the ranks of the fashion greats," right up there with Balenciaga and Hubert de Givenchy.

The New York Times Magazine said "his first collection was less than a smash, but his second…has lifted him to the pinnacle of Paris couture."

In August 1963, Saint Laurent's picture appeared on the cover of Newsweek. Until his show that summer, the couture was in the doldrums. Many of its regular customers were literally dying off; new technology was making it simpler to copy couture clothes, and many couturiers seemed out of touch with the postwar mood. Saint Laurent revitalized the couture.

With a collection meant to be worn by real women doing real things, he was the unquestioned smash of Paris. He made what one American woman called "dresses I can Twist in [the Twist was a popular dance of the time] and go to the bathroom in."

In an interview with Newsweek, Saint Laurent said, "I know now that you can't take your clothes out of life, away from reality, and have them mean anything. A designer must get out and look at life around him. As soon as I went Twisting at Regine's, I understood the problem older women have in a place like that."

By 1964, his ability to make dramatic new statements with each passing season had become his trademark. Unlike Balenciaga, Chanel and Givenchy—who created a look and stayed with it—Saint Laurent continually shifted gears to keep on top of rapidly changing events. An article in Look magazine said: "His achievements, like those of so many youthful leaders in other creative fields, stem from extraordinary perception and an ability to interpret the times with imagination, artistry and daring."

There were two major events in YSL's life in the summer of 1965. In July, J. Mack Robinson sold his interest in the fashion house for a net price of less than $1 million to Lanvin-Charles of the Ritz, whose president was Richard A. Salomon. Bergé said the house would now become "one of the biggest and most important in Paris…rivaling the $30 million Dior in size."

(Ritz already had the Saint Laurent license for fragrance, and had launched the scent Y in Europe, where it was highly successful. It was introduced in the U.S. that fall.)

At the same time Ritz was buying Saint Laurent, YSL's mother gave him a book on the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. That summer, he introduced a collection based on Mondrian's use of primary colors in rectangular blocks. He would regard it later as one of his greatest successes.

He visited the U.S. in October for a three-week national tour to promote Y. He was a guest on The Tonight Show (then televised from New York), went to Arthur, the most popular discotheque in town, and met with America's leading designer, Norman Norell. On Nov. 9, 1965, he was in New York when a massive power failure blacked out almost all of the Northeast. That evening, dining at Le Pavillon by candlelight, he said he thought a bomb had gone off.

The year before, he had fantasized about his own boutique, telling WWD: "Why not open a boutique in the center of St. Germain des Pres where all the young people would see it?…Now I have an urge to open a boutique 'pour les jeunes.' "

In September 1966, he did. The first Rive Gauche opened at 21 Rue de Tournon, on the Left Bank and Saint Laurent said: "It's just as I want…wild colors and very modern. Black glass for the entrance, a steel pillar and dark orange carpeting, and one huge window."

The first of what would become a string of more than 160 stores, it remained open until midnight and sold dresses for $60.

Saint Laurent often said he wanted to write his autobiography and continually referred to his frustration at not being able to complete it. The closest he came was with the publication of his book, La Vilaine Lulu, in 1967. It recounted the adventures of Nasty Lulu, a cartoon character he had been doodling for some 10 years. Lulu, a squat, sadistic little girl, was in some ways Saint Laurent's alter ego, saying and doing what he dared not. Nasty Lulu once said, for example: "I roar with laughter when all those females, the faithful, the content, the fanatics of fashion, the blue-stockings, the journalists, come to scratch the nape of his neck and murmur with beatitude: 'My Yves.' They whisper to him, flutter around him, and he says nothing. If I weren¹t to be a comic, there would be a lot to say on the psychological level about that shy bird, that myopic being who, behind those eyeglasses like television screens, is never snowed. He immediately detects in another what is true, what is crucial."

It was during the student strikes in France in 1968 that Saint Laurent reevaluated his thoughts about the couture and concluded that as an institution, it had become obsolete. "Real fashion today comes from the young people manning the streets—those between 30 and 35," he said. "The difference between day and evening clothes is outdated. The new fashion freedom permits people to be as they are or as they want to be…to go to dinner, for instance, as they were in the morning in black jersey, or anything else. My new collection is based on the idea of the suit—the practical, modern, easy world of the suit. Not the suit as we¹ve known it…a suit that will look different with a skirt or pants. And pants with coats are part of our life."

The result was his revolutionary CityPants collection, but almost as if he were compensating for hiding women's legs, he also showed a see-through blouse—another symbol of the sexual liberation that characterized the decade.

The same year, the first Rive Gauche shop in America opened on New York's Madison Avenue. Although miniskirts were being worn by women of all ages—and shapes—Saint Laurent shook up the fashion world in 1969, when he dropped hems below the knee and showed the longest skirts since Dior's New Look in 1947.

"It's degenerate, it's decadent, somewhat Proustian," he said. "It's sexy."

It also precipitated one of the most controversial and unsettling periods in the history of contemporary fashion. The following January, YSL showed the longuette and Bergé said, "This has been the most difficult collection I've ever had to produce. We are all expecting a miracle. This house usually has them."

The miracle, said many manufacturers at all price levels, is that they were able to survive a period in which many women were confused about what skirt lengths were appropriate.

Through it all, Saint Laurent kept taking the pulse of the younger generation. "Hippie is more than a way of dressing," he said in 1970. "It's a spirit which fills young people. I don¹t know any young people who are not hippies in their spirit. This is what it is all about. When the revolution comes, it will come from the young people.¹¹ He began to grow a beard.

The Seventies saw a continued growth in his business and a move, in July 1974, to 5 Avenue Marceau. He expanded into footwear, men's wear, luggage and home textiles. He made plans for his line to be made in the U.S. and to bring the number of Rive Gauche boutiques to 100. He also planned to widen his rtw collection and limit his couture designs.

"We're eliminating the show and going back to making clothes, our true trade," he said.

In November 1971, he shocked some people by appearing nude—first in French Vogue, then in other French publications—in an advertisement for his men's fragrance.

Inspired by the Ballet Russe, Saint Laurent dazzled Paris in April 1976 with a collection many people regard as his most beautiful. It was his Big Fantasy collection and from babushkas to boots, it shook up the fashion world with a lush display of color, pattern and texture that moved some people at the opening to tears.

Three months later, when he showed the same look in his fall couture collection, The New York Times put the story on its front page. It was a collection, said the Times, "that will change the course of fashion around the world."

A month later, just after his 40th birthday, Saint Laurent told WWD: "I needed a violent explosion of Fantasy. This collection was a dream that I have had for a long time. I have always wanted to do a collection that included everything that I love in my life. I have always wanted to do a collection that was a reflection of all my tastes."

The effort exhausted him, putting him into a rehabilitation clinic for three weeks.

"He was born," said Bergé, "with a nervous breakdown." Two months later, in October, he had to be supported by his models while taking bows after his latest collection, one he said he created from his bed in the American Hospital in Paris. An article in WWD referred to "rumors of dire illness, drinking problems and drug intoxication."

For Saint Laurent, 1978 turned out to be a year of three major events: In January, he introduced the Broadway suit in a couture collection inspired by Porgy and Bess and the American black culture. It was a huge success. In March, he made more news when he pulled out of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, because its membership had become swollen with second-rank firms. As Bergé put it, the association "has become like a Spanish roadhouse—they let people in from left and right, who only want to capitalize on the reputation and prestige of Paris couture."

Finally, in September, YSL launched his second women's fragrance in the U.S. It was called Opium and it turned out to be as controversial as it was successful. The launch itself was a lavish affair, starting with a mammoth party for 900 in New York aboard a 350-foot, 70-year-old four-master called the Peking. The cost was reportedly $250,000.

The name of the fragrance provoked a deluge of protests from Asian-Americans who felt it was denigrating.

"It was the only name I wanted," said Saint Laurent. "After Y, I wanted a lush, heavy, indolent fragrance. I wanted Opium to be captivating, and it's a fragrance which evokes all the things I love—the refined Orient, Imperial China, exoticism." The controversy lasted into the next decade. So did the name.

The Eighties were a period in which Saint Laurent's control over his business continued to expand, even as he became outwardly more fragile.

It began with an announcement by Bergé in January 1980 that the company would pay $7 million to regain total control of its Rive Gauche rtw by acquiring Mendes Co., which made and distributed the clothing. It ended in July 1989 when Saint Laurent put 10.9 percent of the company's shares on public sale, becoming the first couture house to appear on the Paris Bourse.

While the company was preparing its public offering, Bergé was busy fending off reports that Saint Laurent was either seriously ill, or that he was dying of AIDS. "Everybody knows that [Saint Laurent] has psychological problems," said Bergé, "that he takes too many tranquilizers which make him seem a little confused, but I declare on my honor that he doesn't have cancer, that he doesn't have AIDS—he hasn't even tested positive."

"What can I do?" he asked. "Yves Saint Laurent's illness didn't begin yesterday. People have been talking about it for 15 years."

In January 1982, when he celebrated the 20th anniversary of his couture house, he was virtually a recluse. "I have become a monk," he said, from his apartment on Rue de Babylone.

"Going out is my idea of torture. I want to stay at home. When I'm in my bed with a great book, I feel as if nothing else matters."

He said his happiest and most productive period was the late Sixties and early Seventies, during which he introduced his "rich peasant" look, his gangster tuxedos and his "tarty" Forties collection.

"I work because I have to," he said, "not to make money, but for the people who depend on me. If I don't create the next collection, and the collection after that, they will end up on the streets."

In December 1983, a few months after the launch of Paris, another women's fragrance, the Costume Institute of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art paid homage to him with a historic 25-year retrospective of his work. It was followed over the next several years by retrospectives in Beijing, Paris, Moscow, Leningrad and Sydney. Raisa Gorbachev made a special request to see his collection. His name became an entry in the Larousse dictionary.

The mid-Eighties also brought the first rumblings of discontent from the Rive Gauche shops in the U.S., with retailers citing increased competition from other designers and a lack of newness in the collections. In the last half of the Eighties, Rive Gauche shops in many cities began to close.

In November 1986, the company said it would acquire Charles of the Ritz Group, Ltd.—which owned the YSL beauty business—from Squibb Corp. for $630 million.

The fragrance business, meanwhile, continued to bloom. Jazz, a men's scent, was introduced in 1988, and in August that year, just after his 52nd birthday, Saint Laurent said: "I am happy, so happy, with my success. Yes, I am alone, the King in his Castle. I want to be alone, except for a few friends. I want to be alone. I am happy this way."

As for his health, he said: "Well, the doctor, a great specialist, has spent hours examining me and told me afterward there was nothing wrong with me that he could find. And then when I was so sick, he told me that he had never seen anyone so strong, or anyone make such a quick recovery. I am better now."

Saint Laurent began the Nineties with a spring-summer couture collection that paid tribute to many of those who influenced or inspired him: Pablo Picasso, Maria Callas, Jean Cocteau, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, and two women who were sitting in the audience: Catherine Deneuve and Zizi Jeanmaire. He had lost almost 40 pounds and looked terrific, but eight weeks later, he entered a hospital for two months after collapsing from nervous exhaustion.

"Extreme intellectual pressure" was cited by his doctor, Michael Prendeville of the American Hospital in Neuilly. He missed his own runway show, failing to take a post-collection bow for only the second time in his career. The first was in 1979, when he showed his couture collection. Sensing that it was a disappointment, he ordered all the music stopped in the middle of the show, walked out and went home.

In April 1991, de Benedetti sold his remaining 15 percent interest in YSL Groupe—some 574,000 shares—to Bergé and Saint Laurent for $92.4 million. The move increased the Bergé-YSL holding to 47 percent and ended a relationship that began in 1987, when de Benedetti provided the financial backing that enabled YSL to buy back its fragrance and cosmetics business from Charles of the Ritz for $630 million.

Two years later, YSL introduced a new fragrance. It was called Champagne, but that fell flat with French vintners and with Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton, who won a court ruling against his use of the name. The charge: It violated French trademark laws. All bottles of the fragrance were pulled off the shelves in France.

Nevertheless, the launch in North America provided an excuse for Saint Laurent to return to the U.S. for the first time in 11 years. He and Bergé went to New York for a gala on an island in New York Harbor, a splendid celebration on a soft late-summer night just beneath another French export: the Statue of Liberty.

The end of the decade would bring the decision that eventually would lead to Saint Laurent's retirement from fashion: the sale of the rights to his label to Gucci Group NV, the fast-growing luxury goods group then overseen by Domenico De Sole and Tom Ford. Gucci was eager to gain control of the YSL label, in which it saw significant potential to repeat the success it had had with reviving the Gucci brand. It also acquired the firm's beauty operations, YSL Beauté, which would give it a significant cash stream since YSL's fragrance sales were substantially more than its fashion ones.

The deal would net him and Bergé the equivalent of $264 million and pay off the personal debts they incurred when they bought back 15 percent of the house from Italian financier de Benedetti in 1991. In addition, they would own 10 percent of the fashion business (everything except fragrance and beauty), but have 90 percent of the voting power until they retired. "I find the solution of selling the house whole is like a dream," Saint Laurent said. "It's perfect. This will safeguard the continuity of the house."

The deal effectively valued the whole YSL business at around $655 million.

But from almost before the ink was dry on the deal, Bergé and Saint Laurent battled with Gucci Group management. They remained in control of the couture house, while Gucci took over design of the rtw and oversaw the fragrances. Saint Laurent was briefly succeeded by his chosen successor, Alber Elbaz, but he was dropped after three seasons and replaced by Ford. The imperious Bergé sniped repeatedly at Ford and De Sole, while Saint Laurent also made no secret of his displeasure with the direction Ford was taking his name in rtw. Ford and Saint Laurent rarely met and Ford never visited the Saint Laurent archives, which later would serve as the basis for the formation of the Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.

For the next three years, there would be two visions of Saint Laurent each season: the couture version by the designer himself and Ford's high-octane one. Finally, it all became too much for Saint Laurent and, in January 2002, he announced plans to retire at a tearful press conference attended by many of his longtime fans.

At the end of October 2002, Saint Laurent left his atelier and his office for the last time. "I am much more at peace now," he told WWD, adding he had no regrets. "I am not sad—just nostalgic."

At 1 p.m. Saint Laurent left the premises for the last time, his faithful dog, Moujik, in tow.

Over the next six years, the designer would devote himself to the foundation, mounting exhibitions culled from the house's vast archives. He would appear in public occasionally, always saying he was glad to be out of fashion.

After all, as Saint Laurent said in a phrase that could serve as his mantra, "Fashions fade. Style is eternal."

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Echoserve Launches EchoXpress Website

Tue, 20 May 2008 13:43:59 -0600

Echoserve, Inc. has launched the world's first online portal designed to facilitate the research, purchase and sale of diagnostic ultrasound equipment. echoXpress.com (www.echoxpress.com) provides objective third-party information along with best-in-class research tools to assist consumers with critical equipment decisions. The site aggregates product data from a variety of sources and then scrubs this information to ensure accuracy and thoroughness.

"Our goal in creating echoXpress.com was to bring total transparency to buying and selling ultrasound equipment," said Christopher M. Cone, Chief Executive Officer of Echoserve. "The site has accomplished this goal by combining unbiased product information with true real-time market pricing."

"By leveraging our extensive product knowledge and our nationwide field service group and our relationships with Original Equipment Manufacturers, distributors, dealers and leasing companies we are able to save buyers an average of over 35% on their equipment investment. In addition, EchoXpress.com provides both private and professional equipment sellers the opportunity to showcase their equipment to a broad international audience," added Mr. Cone.

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Diagnostic Ultrasound Technology Still Costly

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:25:51 -0600

The use of the ultrasound technology (echography) as a diagnostic option is still too expensive for the ordinary Cameroonian although the technology has been around for over five decades.

The ultrasound-based diagnostic technique developed in the late 1940s and early 50s in the US and some European countries, is used to examine internal organs such as the bladder, kidney, appendix, muscles, tendons, testes, bone surfaces and others.

Besides, obstetrical ultrasound is commonly used during pregnancy to check the development of the fetus. But even the very basic ultrasound applications in Cameroon are still very expensive for commoners. At the Limbe Provincial Hospital, a patient spends at least FCFA 8,000 for ultrasound diagnosis. At the Baptist Hospital Mutengene, the cost is a little lower at FCFA 7,000 and at the far away Catholic Hospital Njinikom, an obstetrical sonographic examination costs FCFA 4,000.

When The Post contacted the Director of Limbe Provincial Hospital, Dr. Thompson Kinge, he said the difference in cost between what they do and the private hospitals depends on the quality of the materials used for the services.

Meanwhile, one Dr. Roland Besong, a former intern at the Hospital, said ultrasound technology is costlier in Africa due to lack of means to acquire the technology and even to train specialists to handle it. He added that most of the private hospitals do not have amply qualified staff to handle the equipment to good effect.

The ultrasound machine uses sound waves that are sent into the body at a high frequency and to a desired depth and a specific body part. The sound waves hit body tissues, blood cells or organs and some of the waves are reflected to a sonographic machine via a transducer.

The waves are processed by the machine and beamed onto a scanner which produces a digital image of the waves on a computer screen. This enables the user to see clearly the image of that part of the body.This technology enables fast diagnosis and it is said to be very good for pregnant mothers.

Choosing An Ultra-Portable Laptop For Your Computer Needs

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:13:01 -0600

When choosing a laptop, portability is often a key feature. When you are traveling with your laptop frequently, taking your laptop on planes and long drives makes weight (or lack of weight) extremely important. Certainly, no one wants to be carting a ten-pound monster of a laptop in and out of a car or across an airport in addition to everything else you have to carry.

Things to consider when buying an ultra-portable laptop:

• Price

• Features

• Weight of Additional Gear

• Battery life

The prices are steeper with the smaller models of notebook computers, and it increases with processing capabilities and functions such as a DVD/CD-RW drive for your data storage and playback needs, as well as a little entertainment on long trips. Your typical notebook computer packs enough punch to handle wireless networking and all the basic functions (like word processing and other simple programs) just like your desktop PC can. You also have to watch out for mobile laptops that require extra gear. Battery chargers and other cables and accessories should be factored into the weight if weight is indeed the issue for you. Battery life varies with the efficiency of the processor, so check out battery life in any reviews you read.

Best Reviewed Laptops

• Sony VAIO VGN-TX770P

• Toshiba Portege R200

• Averatec 1000

• Dell Latitude X1

Laptop manufacturers have seen the future, and are in a designing war to create the most mobile and smallest notebook computer. Product reviews place the Sony VAIO VGN-TX770P pretty firmly at the top of the list, and weighing in at just under three pounds, it certainly is portable. The VAIO has a great battery life, which is important, but is also one of the most expensive ultra-portable laptops available.

The Toshiba Portege is a little on the expensive side, but was designed with the speed and power for business travelers without the bells and whistles. The Portege does not have an internal CD/DVD drive, but keeps weight down to just over two and a half pounds.

The Averatec 1000 has a shorter battery life than the competition, but also has a much smaller price. It is the heaviest of the laptops listed here, weighing three and a half pounds, and has the largest hard drive at 80GB.

The last laptop we’re mentioning is the Dell Latitude X1, which is light at 2.5 pounds, and has good battery life. It is missing a PC Card slot and an internal optical drive, but for anyone looking to travel light, it is definitely worth a look.

Components to Think About
There are several key components to a laptop that should be considered before any purchase. This is important because it is difficult, if not impossible, to upgrade many of these components in laptops. The primary components are:

• CPU (Central Processing Unit)

• Hard Drive

• RAM (Random Active Memory)

• Screen Size

• Port Types

• Optical Drive (CD, CD-RW, & DVD-RW)

• Removable Media (like a camera memory card)

• Batteries

• Video Card

• Touch Sensitive Mouse Pad

• Wireless Capability

The CPU, or central processing unit, is not upgradeable in most laptops. The CPU is high-powered enough in most laptops to function at a business level without spending extra for a more expensive chip. If you plan to watch videos or play games, however, you may need to find a computer with a faster processor. The most important factors of CPU’s in laptops are the balance between processor power and battery consumption, and heat output (the less heat, the better).

The hard drive is upgradable in a unique way: if by some strange twist of fate you manage to fill up the 60 plus GB that these featured laptops come with, you can purchase portable flash hard drives to store your extra material temporarily. Portable flash drives are thinner than a pencil, just wide enough for a USB connector, and can be shorter than a man’s thumb. A single GB is highly affordable, and up to ten GB are available for big spenders. Unless you are working extensively with digital media, however, this should not become a necessity.

The RAM in laptops is upgradable, and it is always a good investment to pack on the RAM. RAM is what stores data on what programs are running, helping them to continue to run.

The screen size is fixed for the most part, meaning it should be factored in to the purchase of your laptop. A smaller screen is harder to read, however if it is too big it affects portability. A fifteen-inch screen (measured diagonally) is pretty standard for a balance between size and resolution. A large screen or wide screen is advisable for watching DVDs or other video media.

The types of ports that your computer allows are important. Most laptops come standard with up to four USB ports, which are the most common types of port used today. If you have an older mouse that you intend to use with your laptop, remember to buy a USB adapter. USB ports make it much easier to connect peripheral gear.

The optical drive is a simple choice. If you do not want to use a CD drive in any of its variations, then you can find a smaller laptop for your use. If being able to store your data is important, at least look at a system with a CD-RW drive. If you need to backup a large amount of data, look for a laptop with a DVD-RW drive. This option will make your system heavier and more expensive. Some laptops also come standard with a place to insert your media card directly into the computer for fast photo access. This is only important to you if photography is part of your job.

The batteries that come with laptops now are much alike. The battery size matters less than the amount of power that the processor sucks up from it. If your laptop uses a lot of power, look into buying a spare battery so that you can switch them out when the power drops too low.

The video card is not upgradeable, so be sure that if you plan to play intensive games or watch a lot of movies you have a more powerful card. For the average business traveler, however, the card that comes standard is powerful enough.

Most laptops come with a touch sensitive mouse pad. Test it out to see if it is easy enough for you to use, and if you need the extra help then buy yourself a mouse. Just remember that you have to carry your mouse and mouse pad with you on trips.

Last up for consideration is the wireless capability. For a business traveler, it is often important to be able to network wirelessly and connect to the internet wirelessly when opportunities present themselves. A Centrino processor internally or a wireless LAN (local area network) card allow you to connect.

Hopefully this guide has given you a bit to think about before buying your next ultra-portable laptop.

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When You Need A Cheap Weekend Break Look Online For The Best Deals

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:11:53 -0600

Many online travel sites offer several cheap weekend breaks to those looking for a getaway. For the very adventurous traveler they can spend several weekends a year visiting a new and different place. It’s an affordable way to take a trip.

The reason that cheap weekend breaks are so popular is their value. Most airlines strive to fill every available seat on their flights. By offering discounted seats at the last minute they are ensuring that the seat won’t remain empty. This translates to them making some revenue on that otherwise vacant spot.

Hotels see the value in cheap weekend breaks as well. Empty rooms mean lost money to every hotel. If they can offer the room to someone willing to pay a reduced rate because it’s short notice, they will gladly do that. You can often find rooms at many four star hotels at inexpensive rates when you are searching for cheap weekend breaks.

Although many cheap weekend breaks are only offered near the end of the week, with some research you might be able to plan in advance.

You are obviously not likely to find cheap weekend breaks during holiday weekends. Many people travel during these times and airfare and hotel accommodations are often offered at peak rates. However there are certain time periods during the year when cheap weekend breaks are readily available.

These are during the off season months for travel which normally include the latter part of winter, spring and the fall. Obviously it would be difficult to find cheap weekend breaks over Memorial Day, Easter weekend or Labor Day. Families plan months in advance to take a trip during these times to avoid missed school days for their children. Airfare and hotel prices generally are at the high level of the spectrum and if you are flexible you’ll want to find a weekend where the cost is much lower for the same trip.

Regularly checking prices of airlines and hotels is the best way to keep informed of when cheap weekend breaks are available. If you notice a reasonably priced getaway on a weekend when you’ve got free time it’s a great idea to take the plunge and invest in some fun time away from home.

How To Use Viral Marketing To Increase Your Traffic Creativity

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:34:06 -0600

This is one virtue a site must possess to lead the race in the ruthless competition in the Internet based business. With so many competition and rivalry going on, every method of marketing must be employed and utilized.

It doesn’t matter if you have a killer product or a fantastically designed website, if people don’t know that you exist, it doesn’t matter, and you are not going to make it big. Worse of all, you business could just get killed.

While there are so many methods and schemes used by so many e-commerce sites today, there are still some of those that can help you with an extra boost in the popularity ratings. One of these is the so called Viral Marketing.

While the term Viral easily depicts a virus, a word very much dreaded by all computer owners, it is not what it seems. You do not actually use a computer virus to spread your business; on the contrary it just might kill you. Everyone has had enough of all those pop up ads and spywares.

Viral Marketing Overview

Viral Marketing also known otherwise as Viral Advertising is a marketing technique used to build the public awareness of one’s product or company. They use many forms of media to reach out to the public without actually promoting the product by riding on in other forms of addictive means that could get a person hooked and be obliged or amused to actually pass it on, with the product or company advertisement along with it.

In a nutshell, companies ride on the idea that if people like the content of a media they will pass it on to their friends and family. They sponsor the certain media, such as a cool flash game, funny video, amusing story and such, which one may pass on to another with the company brand or logo or the products description or any other content to help promote the company or its product.

Viral marketing has become a popular means of advertising and marketing because they are relatively low cost. To avoid being tagged as spam mail, viral marketing counts on the eagerness of one person to pas on the product. If a person sees the name of the person they know as the sender, they won’t block it and open it as well.

Many companies offer incentives such as discounts and rebates when they help in spreading their viral marketing. They rely on the number of recipients a viral marketing gets from one person in determining the amount or number of incentive they can be attributed with.

Using Viral Marketing to your advantage

The main and foremost advantage of viral marketing is that you get a lot of publicity and public awareness about your site and your company. You get to generate a flow of traffic that are potential customers. With a little ingenuity and imagination, plus some incentives or prizes, you can reach out to a great number of people and announce your existence.

Most every site and companies are catching on to the effectivity of Viral Marketing and Advertising. Not using it could kill your business. Along with other schemes and methods in promoting your site, like Search Engine Optimization and such, viral marketing could easily push you ahead in the rating games.

Viral Marketing could be a sneaky way to get people to know about you and your company. You get them to pass your advertisement along. They are also very low cost that not investing in it could be downright a business suicide. All it takes is a great idea, a good addicting game, a funny story many ideas are still out there. Create a gossip or a buzz, many movies are promoted by using scandals and gossips to make them moiré popular. Remember the movie “The Blair Witch Project”?

Many big companies have tried viral marketing and have had many success stories with it. A classic example is Microsoft’s Hotmail. They were the first known big company to utilize the scheme and it has worked wonders for them.

Now it’s your turn to use viral marketing to work wonders for you. Act now and reap the benefits Viral Marketing will provide for you and your sales figures.

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The Benefits Of Buying Insurance Online

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:40:58 -0600

The Benefits Of Buying Insurance Online

Buying insurance online has becoming more popular than ever, as more and more providers operate online and offer great deals. If you are looking for insurance then you should look online to see what sort of deals you can get. But is buying insurance online really worth it? What are the benefits and problems? Here is some advice on the benefits of buying insurance online.

Getting quotes fast

One of the main reasons for getting insurance online is that you can get quotes online in a matter of minutes, and compare various companies at the touch of a button. Many web sites offer insurance company comparison services where you can compare rates and companies very easily.

Ways to buy online

Buying insurance online can be done in a number of ways, with many insurers combining online and offline services. Some insurers offer all of their services online, with all quotes and policy issues being dealt with online. You look at the policies on a website, then get a quote and pay with a credit card in just a few clicks. This is probably the most convenient way to buy insurance. Other companies just offer their policies and quotes for viewing online, with the final stages being done offline over the phone or in an office.

Convenience of buying online

One of the biggest advantages of buying online is the convenience. You don’t have to travel to an office or be kept on hold on the phone. You simply fill in an online form, get a quote and pay at the same time. It is extremely convenient and can save you a lot of time.

Price of online insurance

Perhaps the biggest reason why people are buying their insurance online is that the prices you can get are excellent. Insurers who operate purely online have fewer overhead costs and so can offer better deals to their customers. Also, being able to compare costs will allow you to find the best deal to suit your needs

Disadvantages of online insurance

Of course, there are also disadvantages to buying online insurance, the main one being that it is impersonal. Buying online is only possible for set policies, and so any special circumstances that you have or extra clauses that you need cannot be considered. Many people prefer to negotiate with someone face to face. However, many online insurers offer a number of extras and features that you can add or take away from your policy. Looking online for insurance is a good idea, because even if you decide to buy offline you can quickly find out what sort of prices you will be looking at for the policy you want. Whatever method you use to buy insurance, the most important thing to remember is to get the level of coverage that you need at a price that you can afford.

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Diagnostic Ultrasound Technology Still Costly

Choosing An Ultra-Portable Laptop For Your Computer Needs

When You Need A Cheap Weekend Break Look Online For The Best Deals

How To Use Viral Marketing To Increase Your Traffic Creativity

The Benefits Of Buying Insurance Online

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