Crap! Less than a month after I picked up my iPhone, and now rumors are swirling that a new iPhone with 3G and GPS is slated to ship in May or June! In addition, there’s a rumor that the new phone will have two cameras - One for video chat, and one for taking pictures.

Hard to say if it’s true or not, but all three NYC Apple stoes were out of iPhones, according to The Huffington Post. Read into that what you will.

EDGE really is WAY too slow to surf the web (or even queue up a YouTube video), but is sufficient for e-mail and emergency web searches.

The big question - What is the new iPhone going to cost?

Companies tend to focus solely on increasing website traffic, but more important is what visitors actually do once they are on your website. Profits are determined by sales and so an effective website is one that will persuade users to take the action you desire practically every time and make the sale.

Conversion optimization refers to structuring a website to be as user-friendly as possible so that more visitors are converted into customers. You might have taken steps to increase traffic to your website but perhaps you are not seeing a proportionate increase in your sales.

In order to convert as many users as possible into customers, you must take several aspects of your website into account:

These are just a few examples of the ways in which any website can be enhanced to optimize conversions.

In order to increase your conversions, you must first ask yourself what the ultimate goal of your website is: an online purchase, download of information, signing up for a newsletter, etc. This goal can vary widely depending on the nature of your business.

Once you have identified your website’s goal, you can more easily determine what changes should be made in order to make the user’s experience a great one, so that they cannot help but become your customer. Focus on making the process from home page to your conversion easy, friendly and quick.

Increased traffic is a step in the right direction, but more conversions will ultimately help your business reap more profits. Focus on your conversion goal and remember to see your website from the user’s perspective.

Do you ever feel like you have more and more to do but less time to do it? Feeling stressed at the thought of all the things that need to get done? Effective time management will help you accomplish more each day, and by maximizing productivity, you can save time and cut down on stress.

Here are 5 tips to make the most of your time:

1) At the start of each day, take 10 minutes to plan your to-do list.

Planning your day can help you feel more in control of your life. Write a to-do list, putting the most important tasks at the top. Keep a schedule of your daily activities to minimize conflicts and last-minute rushes. By prioritizing your tasks you will be able to ensure you work on tasks that are the most important first. Also, by having a written to-do list, you eliminate the possibility of forgetting to take care of an important task, thereby decreasing your stress level.

2) Keep your desk and e-mails organized.

Having to search for what you need adds up to many wasted minutes each week as well as increasing your stress levels. Instead, save time by organizing your desk, computer and e-mail system so information is easily accessible.

3) Take breaks and eat lunch.

No matter how busy you are or how long your to-do list is, take short breaks and eat lunch. Study after study has shown that everyone works better with an occasional break, and no one can continue to function at peak efficiency without food. You might not feel hungry, but your body (not to mention your brain) needs nourishment.

4) Do not multitask.

There is an illusion that we will accomplish more if we multitask, but several studies have shown that this isn’t true. Be sure that you work on only one task at a time. Focusing on one task allows you to have the necessary concentration to accomplish the task with the highest possible standard.

5) Practice the 10-minute rule.

Work on a dreaded task for 10 minutes each day. Once you get started, you may find you can finish it. Also, if you divide large, time-consuming tasks into smaller tasks you can work on them a few minutes at a time until you get them all done.

So the perpetual bachelor finally decided to get married.. Crazy, isn’t it?! But my wife has been my biggest supporter throughout this crazy jouryney. When I decided to quit my steady 9-5 job so I could “make a living online”, she didn’t question it. If money was ever tight, she’d offer to help without a second thought. And she doesn’t mind my wandering eye, as long as all it does is wander.

We decided to go to Vegas, as we didn’t want a big production.. We flew out on Wednesday night.. Combine the incompetence of USAir with the miserable air traffic controllers at the Philadelphia Airport, and you get a 3-hour delay leaving Philly.. Thanks to that delay, we didn’t land in Vegas until 2am (5am EST)! Then, we head over to the Luxor to check in, and there is a line a mile long. I guess they weren’t expecting 30+ people checking in at 2am, as they only had 2-3 people working the front desk. 55 minutes later, we finally get checked in, and they even upgraded to a suite!

I’ve never stayed at the Luxor before, and I was pleasantly surprised. I stayed at TheHotel at Mandalay Bay during my last visit, and my room there was unbelievable. But so was the price! The Luxor offers 8/10ths of the room for 1/4th of the price. My only complaint is that the East Tower is so far from the rest of the casino that it literally takes 10-15 minutes to get from your room to the parking garage. At The Palms, they have a seperate parking garage for their new tower, which was smart.

Food

I’m not John Chow, but Vegas is known for their food and buffets, so I might as well post about it.. Thursday morning started with the Breakfast Buffet at the Luxor. I’ve actually eaten at this buffet in the past, so I knew going in that it was going to be good, and it didn’t disappoint. I would wholeheartedly recommend this buffet if you’re looking to load up on breakfast before hitting the strip.

We skipped lunch, and instead got some much-needed sleep before our wedding. Afterwards, we decided to hit up the Seafood Buffet at the Rio for dinner. This one’s pretty pricey at almost $40/person, but it’s the only buffet on the strip that serves lobster! I loaded up on the lobster, while the wife went crazy with the crab legs. The buffet has something for everyone, but I stuck with the lobster and shrimp, and then pigged out on the desserts (of which there was no shortage)..

We were pretty full from the day before, so we started off Friday with just coffee and donuts for breakfast. Still not that hungry by lunchtime, we just hit up the McDonalds in the Luxor. But for dinner, we headed over to The Palms and ate at the N9NE. The wife had wanted to go there ever since seeing it on some reality TV show. One look at the menu, and I knew I was in for an expensive night! Sadly, I was completely underwhelmed with the food there. I had the $25 Kobe Burger, and it tasted worse than a burger you’d get at TGI Fridays. Absolutely overrated. The wife got a $19 crab appetizer that she LOVED, along with a salad that was REALLY good.. With drinks, the total bill for the night came out to about $80. For that price, I would have gone back to the Seafood Buffet at the Rio.

Saturday was our last day in Vegas.. We got a quick breakfast at McDonalds before checking out. Later in the day, we made our way to the Monte Carlo lunch buffet, since every other casino was only offering overpriced “champagne brunch buffets”. The food here was fantastic. But what really wowed me was their Philly Cheesesteak station - The sandwiches were AWESOME, on par (if not better) than most of the cheesesteaks back here in Philly! And keeping it real, they even topped it with Wiz!! Kudos to the Monte Carlo for getting it right. If you’ve never experienced a real Philly Cheesesteak, this is as close as you can get without coming here.

Entertainment

FANTASY reveals seductive secrets & sensual desires. It’s the ultimate adult revue created to excite couples! Finally a topless adult show featuring stunning women, spectacular live singing, comedy and great choreography (by Chris Judd) FANTASY engages its audience of men & women, conveying wild fantasies and secret seductions. See why AOL CityGuide rates it the “Sexiest Show in Las Vegas Entertainment!” Don’t miss this hot Las Vegas action!

Besides that, we hit up a couple of nightclubs.. Our trip happened to fall during spring break, so the place was FULL of scantily-clad women! It definitely made for a memorable trip, that’s for sure..

That’s it for now.. Later!

Unfortunately, I had to come home yesterday night, so I won’t be attending the rest of SES NY. Why, you might ask?

I’M GETTING MARRIED! Tomorrow! In Vegas! Yikes!?

I’ve been with my fiancee for a LOOOOOONG time, so I figured it was time to make it official. Or as my buddy said, “So I guess you don’t like sex, eh?”

I’ll be back Sunday, with lots of pics! Later!

Day 2 started off with the opening keynote by Nick Carr. As keynotes go, it wasn’t too bad.. I’m looking forward to reading “The Big Switch” in it’s entirety.

The Expo Hall opened up at 10am, and it was absolute chaos. I’m not sure why they waited until Day 2 to open up the hall, but I had lots of down time yesterday when I could have been walking the hall. Just like with AdTech NY last fall, they had to split up the exhibitors over 3 floors. Again, I don’t understand why these conference organizers don’t find a bigger venue to hold it in. It’s a mess trying to get around. Thankfully, later in the day there were less people wandering the Expo Hall, and it was a bit more managable.

(I found it odd that GetUpdated was one of the key sponsors of the show, yet their booth was tucked away far in a corner on the highest floor.. Maybe it’s just me)

Converting Visitors Into Buyers was my first session of the day. I was eager to attend this one, because the session notes said, “The latter part of the session takes volunteers from the audience and examines their websites live to provide general feedback about changing them to improve visitor conversion.” Unfortunately, the 4 speakers used up all of the time in the session, and this part never happened. Still, it was a very informative session, and I’ll surely use some of that newfound knowledge to further optimize my ecommerce site in the future.

Another Networking Lunch, and this time the food was a bit different. I opted for something “safe” (or so I thought), and took the smoked turkey. Little did I know that it would be in a pita with tofu on top. To snack on, organic vegetable chips. WTF?! Again, made a few good contacts, and came up with some new ideas to implement out of some conversations at the table.

After lunch was another Orion Panel, on Universal Search. I spent too much time wandering around the Expo Hall, and showed up about 20 minutes late. There were people sitting on the floor, it was that packed. It sounded like a good session, but I wasn’t going to stand for an hour or more, so I left and caught up on some e-mail instead.

3:15pm brought about the sponsored sessions. I was really conflicted here, as I wanted to go to the Hitwise session, but also wanted to go to the Microsoft session on Live Search. I ultimately made the wrong decision, and went to the Live Search session. My ecommerce site used to have page 1 listings on MSN for many of our major keywords. But when Live went live in October 2007, our rankings disappeared overnight! I asked one of the panelists (a Microsoft employee) about this, and she indicated that it would be addressed during the session. Instead, the session focused 90% of it’s attention on adCenter. The Live Search speaker had only been with MS for 1 MONTH, and couldn’t really answer any questions on Live. Her answer was to talk to the people in the booth (who weren’t much help either). I was pissed. And to add insult to injury, people that went to the Google session got free t-shirts!

Last up for the day was Landing Page Testing & Tuning, presented by Tim Ash. A great session, though it almost felt like a big infomercial for his company’s services.. I would have liked to walk out with some definitive suggestions, but instead it was more of an overview to make you look at your site and landing pages in a different light. I’m going to have to pick up his book, as I’m sure that will go further in depth.