| Interactive Wireless Security Systems Posted: 10 Jun 2009 07:58 AM PDT Do you ever fear for your home or loved ones? Do you wait up at night listening for every creak and crack of your old home with your imagination running wild? Ever worry about how your cats are doing while you're at work? These are all common fears, and you are not alone. Lets face it the world we live in is dangerous, and it is most certainly not getting any safer. So to stop fearing the unknown why not install a home security system? Isn't it worth the peace of mind that a wireless security system provides? Among my hunting rifles I also have a short nosed, pistol gripped shot gun for home protection use. But one of my biggest fears is not being warned in time to get it out of the gun safe. Leaving a weapon outside of the gun safe is only inviting an intruder to have access to your weapons thus making the situation more dangerous for yourself. So what do you do for added security? Getting a home security system like the ones available from ProtectAmerica.com is the perfect solution. I like their Bronze Package that includes 7 Entry Points, and 1 Motion Detector. Which with my house covers all doors ground reachable windows, and adds the security of a motion detector to give me plenty of warning if my home is entered. Plus with Protect America I know that I can always reach them toll free with their customer support line 877-470-2751 (as an added bonus calling that number will get you two free remotes with your purchase of a home security system.) Protect America was founded in 1992 by Thad Paschal and has grown into one of the largest national burglar alarm companies in the United States. The Good: Since 1992, Protect America has been very focused on its role in the community. It has have proudly supported and continue to support feed the Children, The Ronald McDonald House, Any Baby Can, and several U.S Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Protect America, Inc has protected over 240,000 families nationwide with the state-of-the-art GE Wireless Home Security System. It is one of the fastest growing home security companies in America with customers coast to coast! Among other home security companies, Protect America, Inc. has ranked in the Top 10 in volume of residential wireless security system installations for the last three years according to SDM Magazine.
As one of the fastest growing home security companies nationwide, Protect America.com uses cutting-edge computer technology to provide instantaneous product support and 24-hour protection of your home and family. At the End: If you are having problems with your home security alarm system, or if you simply have questions regarding your home security alarm system, please contact it. ProtectAmerica.com customer support staff is here to help you with any issue concerning your home security alarm system. 
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| tradeMONSTER Stock Broker Review Posted: 10 Jun 2009 04:03 AM PDT  Trade MONSTER offers a fast online trading platform built for traders by traders. Their argument is simply, "With useful trading tools, easy customization, integrated education, and flat-fee commissions Trade MONSTER offers an all around good trading experience."
Look and Feel - System: - Overall, I have to say, this system offers a much better interface, user-friendly tools and a true "trader" look than what I was used to with Ameritrade. Some examples of places where they clearly took the time to understand and build in user preferences are: dropdown tickers based on your recent entries (saves you the time/effort in retyping symbols you routinely track/enter), scrollable recent news items, nice candlestick charts with mouse rollover data displays…all in the same screen.
- For traders that are into technical analysis, the system offers nice tools for charting, trending, drawing your own patterns on the charts, etc., with the same easy interface. (see screen shot below).
- Each of the screens offer A LOT of customization. For instance, you can check boxes to set preferences for whether you'd like to see YTD gain, days left til expiry on options, cost basis, profit target, etc. I haven't seen these customizations on other tools.
- You can actually drag tags and windows around (reminds me of Apple's interface over Windows) and customize your view in all screens. It's easy to expand/collapse these windows, pretty neat.
- From your watchlist, if there's a stock you've been tracking, you simply click on the symbol and a new window opens up to allow for a quick trade. This is so much quicker and easier than what I'm used to where I need to type in the symbol in a small window, etc.
- They actually have a pretty cool intro video showing you all these interface capabilities right at the home page.
I've included a charting screenshot: 
Pricing - The Bottom Line: The pricing they list is pretty transparent and depending on the type of trading you do, this system could save you some serious money. I've just included the screen shot here instead of listing it all out. In short, you could save a bit more on stock trades with TradeKing given their $4.95 commissions, but they're clearly after the low-end discount market. For options trading, they're on par with Tradeking for 1-10 contracts and then TradeMONSTER becomes cheaper for larger orders. The Monster blows away all the other higher end services listed. 
Areas for improvement: - For some of the tabs/buttons you need to click on, like to "Launch Trading", rather than a quick transition to the next page or tool, there's a brief loading period. Upon inquiring with their rep, I was told the platform itself is built on Adobe Flash technology so just as flash videos load, so does our application. The faster the internet connection, the faster the load time. Also, if you are set up correctly, once you load it, you don't have to go through the loading again as the framework is "cached". For me, once the trading screen was up, most of the transitions were expanding/collapsing boxes, so perhaps not a routine thing. I guess a few seconds of loading is the price you pay for all the interface benefits.
- They offer a "Trade Ranking" for stocks, but it wasn't clear to me what criteria were used for this ranking and what kind of history these rankings have demonstrated versus random broad market representation. Some of the research identified the typical leveraged ETFs as top performers (all short ETFs of course). Given these new 2X and 3X ETFs, they should consider having a screen for sector ETFs that exclude the leveraged types (since some of those are ONLY top performers due to the leverage). As of now, the rankings are purely data-driven so there's no method to screen these out.
- On pricing, they obviously don't match Zecco.com, which offers free stock trading and cheap options trades, albeit with varying levels of execution and customer service troubles for limited trades per month, so I can't say they're "high priced" at all, but for people that are already happy with Tradeking and haven't tried out the new interface, tools and benefits of the system, they may be tough to win over. In the end, a $7.50 stock trade vs. a $5 stock trade is not a tough sell though, when you're paying $10-$13 at Ameritrade and E*Trade.
Some of the reasons for investors to choose stock broker tradeMONSTER are: 1. $7.50 Flat Fee Stock Trades* 2. Options just $.50 per contract** 3. Trade Stocks, Mutual Funds, Options, ETFs, and Bonds 4. A browser based trading platform offers maximum flexibility and customization for any investor 5. Free stock simulator with the actual trading platform encourages practice before making live trades 6. Free Education including live Webinars, Articles, and Interactive Courses 7. No Annual Fee IRAs * Trade Commissions - All equity trades are $7.50 per trade unless trading in after-hours where there is a 1.5 cent per share added charge. ** Options Commissions - 0.50 per contract with a minimum commission of $12.50 for single leg orders and $7.50 per leg for multi-leg orders. 
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