Modern day cell phones are not just for making phone calls and texting. The cell phone of today has become advanced to a handheld computer.  The number of application for the smartphone rivals the number of applications for the desktop computer. Some are free. Then there are other are cost money.

I have found a selection of free applications that make my use of the cell phone more useful than my desktop or laptop computer. Today, I want to share with you some of my favorite free applications.

No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller is exactly what the title promises. This is more than another book about the Bernie Madoff scandal, this is a fast-paced, blow-by-blow, true-crime story that you have to hear to believe.

In a true David and Goliath tale, the underdog number cruncher uncovers the largest financial fraud in history, and has to fight everything and everyone in the system to bring it down. Harry Markopolos and his team of financial sleuths tell first-hand how they cracked Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme yet, amazingly, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) refused to hear the truth for nearly 10 years.

Told from the perspective of the ultimate whistleblower in modern corporate memory, No One Would Listen is bound to be the definitive narrative of this scandal. Download No One Would Listen by Harry Markopolis for Only $7.49

Audio books are great. They are a great means to listen to current and classic while driving, doing house work or at the gym. The only place I consider for getting audio books is at Audible.com.

I read quite a bit of the classics in literature while in high school and college. It never hurts to listen to them over and over again. I am talking about Mark Twain’s description of Hunk and Tom floating down Mississippi River.  What about Charles Dickinson’s vivid tale set in 19th century England; Christmas Carol. You can find all these classics and much more.

What makes audio books from Audible.com so easy to listen to is that you can put them on iPhone, Android phone, or MP3 player. That means you can listen to them no matter where you go.

Considering we are nearing Christmas. As a special thank you for all those who read The Shopping Nazi, and subscribe to Audible.com. I will pay your first months subscription. That is right, between now and Christmas, If you email the screen shot of your order from Audible.com. Then each Friday I will draw a name randomly. I will pay that persons first months subscription Audible.com.

This past week my daughter had a book fair at her school. She took $5 of her allowance money to buy a book she wanted.

As an adult I rarely have time to sit back a read a book. But I do have time to listen to audio books while driving, at the gym or doing some chores around the house.

That is why every Monday I take this time to tell you why I enjoy audio books so much. I can stimulate my brain and enrich my soul through books, without sacrificing time from other things that I need to be doing.

Right now I am listening through the complete set of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle. This is the famous English detective. The Sherlock Holmes novels is what all other detective books, movies, and television shows are patterned after. It is one of the few fiction books I love reading, or in this case listening too.

You can start with your first audio book for free. Then for a small month subscription you can choose from over 75,000′s of audio books. Just go to Audible.com and sign up today. 

Over 75,000 audiobook titles for your iPod or MP3 player. Get 50% off your first 3 months at Audible – only $7.49/month!

Some people say that the United States has a second language of Spanish. I the same way for quite a few years. Then I recently found out that Audible has a large selection of audio books in Spanish. I got excited.

Now those of you who speak Spanish can enjoy many of the great audio books, I have been enjoying in English.

Even those of you who are learning Spanish can improve on your Spanish vocabulary by choosing from a large selection of audio books listening to in Spanish.

Just Download Audiobooks en Espanol and start listening. Audible makes it easy. You can choose one book for free or start the Gold membership for just $7.49.

There is no reason for English or Spanish speaking people cannot enjoy the richness of books. It does not matter if you read or listen to them. 

Need a scary store to listen to for Halloween? Do you want to set the mood at your Halloween party with a scary story? How about nine spine chilling stories from the masters.

I am talking about stores for nine classic writers like Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jerome K. Jerome, read by Laurence Olivier, Nelson Olmsted, and Basil Rathbone.

You need to buy Scary Halloween Stories, download to your computer, then burn it to a CD, Then you can play it on any CD player creating the perfect Halloween atmosphere.

Why watch a 2 Zombie movie when you can listen to almost 3 hours of classics Halloween tales.

1. ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne
2. ‘Le Grand Breteche’ by Honor de Balzac
3. ‘The Dancing Partner’ by Jerome K. Jerome
4. ‘The Country of the Blind’ by H. G. Wells
5. ‘The Black Cat’ by Egdar Allan Poe
6. ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ by Washington Irving
7. ‘The Suicide Club’ by Robert Louis Stevenson
8. ‘The Signal Man’ by Charles Dickens
9. ‘The Body Snatcher’ by Robert Louis Stevenson

Scary Halloween Stories Nine spine-chilling stories from Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jerome K. Jerome….

Last weeks I wrote about how happy I was when I got an email from Audible. In the email I receive the good news. Audible now has an app for my Android phone. Well, a few Blackberry users came to me upset. They did not like the fact that I didn’t mention there was an Audible app for the Blackberry phones.

I known it has been a long time coming. Only a few month back the people who could listen to their audio books were those who had an iPhone.

I do apologize to all you folks who have a Blackberry phone. I did not mean to leave you out. To get your Audible app just click here.  Then start listening to you books from Audible on your Blackberry.

In all fairness, if you have an iPod and have not gotten your Audible app. Well, just click here and download your app.

I know there are a few people out there who have a Zune MP3 player. Well, Audible has an application for you. Just click here to get yours.

I have had my Motorola phone with the Android operating system for about 9 months. I love it. The only thing I have felt missing was that I could not listen to any of my audio books from Audible on it. Then a couple week ago I got this email from Audible.

It seems that I was not the only one with a phone that has the Android operation system and wanted to be listen to their audio books on it. Now Audible has an app for the Droid X, Motorola Cliq or any other Android smart phone.

I can tell you it is great! When I have time to kill, I plug my ear buds into my phone and listen to whatever book I want to listen to at the time.

You can get your own Audible app delivered to your Android phone by clicking here.

One of the things I like about Audible.com, besides the thousands of audio books to choose is the different ways you can pay for your audio books. You can buy one at a time as you feel like it, or you can sign up for a discounted plan.

Audible has an special offer with its Gold Plan. For the fist three month you pay only $7.49. Then the monthly subscription goes up to $14.95.

What I like about Audible is that you are not locked into any contract. You can cancel at any time. There is no long term contracts. Not even a short term contract.

If you would be listening to more than one book per month you can purchase that extra book or sign up for the Platinum Plan and get a discounted rated on that second book. The Platinum Plan is only 22.95.

Choose the AudibleListener plan that works for you.

If you have not noticed almost every store, is selling Halloween costumes. Some store even have started to Christmas decorations. Thanksgiving decorations are store shelves.

Next to the decoration the Holidays are memorable for the the time with family members. What makes that time with the family is the food.

One of my most memorable Christmas, was a little goat ranch in the coastal mountain range south of San Francisco. Meal planning start months in advance. Cooking of the meal was done in several kitchen from miles around. On Christmas Day dinner was assembled into a mouth watering display. To this day I remember the time together with family and friends, but the food played a big part of the time together.