Here at Lavia we can’t live without our computers, and we take all measures to protect them from dying on us. So the Wet Circuits power strip is a perfect product for us. Designed by the Taiwan-based technology company Shohero, this power strip is water resistant so in a short-term flood computers still stay on, and no one gets electrocuted (always a good thing). The Wet Circuits also has spark prevention, overheat protection, and child safety protection. It also offers a lifespan four times longer than other standard power strips. They’re great to use in bathrooms, kitchens, outdoors, or if you’re like us and are constantly spilling coffee, in the office. The Wet Circuits are available to buy for 70 bucks on their site, where they also have some lame infomercial style demonstration videos.

Have you ever wanted to rent a Ferrari through a vending machine? Well now you can! The Hudson Hotel in New York City has launched THE coolest vending machine, called Semi-Automatic at Hudson. It’s an oversized vending machine, offering items such as a Paul Smith toothbrush, an ouija board, copies of Catcher in the Rye, a Dagger Rosary by jewelry designer Pamela Love, 24k gold handcuffs by Kiki De Montparnasse, a black sequin mini skirt by Haute Hippie, a personal portrait shoot with photographer Ben Watts for $8 000, and a $10 000 a week red Ferrari 599 GTB for rent. The Semi-Automatic concept originally debuted last year at the Mondrian in South Beach offering everything from toothbrushes to Bentley Arnages. I think someone should put some Semi-Automatics in out Lavia offices, please and thank you (and pre-pay for the Ferrari).

Yesterday Twitter unveiled some big changes in store for the micro-blogging site. So what’s new? The biggest change is that the site will now feature two panels: The left-side panel will feature the traditional stream of tweets; the new, right-side panel will display videos, images, maps, and “related content” from tweets that are clicked in the left-side panel. TechCrunch shows you what it looks like. The new Twitter also features infinite scrolling so you don’t have to click a “More” button anymore. The changes will be rolled out as a preview over the next several weeks. Can’t wait, we were getting really tired of this site. Click here to follow Lavia.

If you’ve already signed in to your Gmail account today you probably noticed the new “Call phone” button at the top of your chat list. Starting today, you can call any number right from your Gmail (Check out the cute video above). This is awesome! Calls to Canada and the U.S. are free, for at least the rest of 2010, and calls to other countries have a pretty low rate. And if you’re a Google Voice user, you can receive calls made to your Voice number right inside Gmail. Everyone at Lavia was so excited for this new feature that we called everyone we know with our Gmails.

And we thought the Snuggie was ridiculous. There’s a new product called the Snazzy Napper (above video) that takes the cake over all the stupid products out there. It’s a bib/blanket/burqa hybrid that is supposed to be a “comfortable and cool, soft and lightweight sleep and privacy shield” that will help you sleep in any public setting. “It’s like privacy in a bag!” It also has adjustable straps and a hole for your nostrils so you don’t suffocate looking absolutely ridiculous. Who the hell would wear this in public? What’s wrong with a regular eye mask? This makes the Snuggie look almost normal. And what is up with the voice over? “SOOOOOO convenient.” And could they really not come up with a better name than Snazzy Napper? One of the worst commercials and the stupidest product Lavia has ever seen.

Okay, this makes us really excited. Mydeco, the “one-stop” online furniture shop, has created a 3D room planning tool that allows you to easily build, plan and decorate spaces, whether you’re a professional interior designer or an amateur.

You can scan a floorplan or use and modify one the existing templates that is available to create a room to scale. Then you can design and furnish it using items from their extensive library, that includes flooring, door and window types and styles, furniture, accessories, art, plants, etc. The tool also allows you to see the room from a bird’s eye view, a 3D view which lets you get a sense of the scale, and a “smart camera” view which renders your image and shows you how  the decor looks in context.

Mydeco has also created an iPhone app, which will soon be available for the iPad as well, that is similar to the 3D room planner. You take a picture of the room or area that you want to furnish and then furnish it with items from your wish-list or their library. The mydeco app is free and is available at the iTunes store. We’ve used the app to see how our Lavia offices would look with different furniture. So much fun!

One of our favorite iPad apps at Lavia, after Plants Vs Zombies of course, is the Annamika kaleidoscope. A digital take on the classic toy, this app keeps us entertained when we’re bored and inspires us when we’re looking for some creative stimulation. It comes with ten preset images, created by Catherine Hubert, or we can choose a picture from our iPad photo gallery, and the program takes them through a filter and creates crazy cool images. Once the image is uploaded we can drag our finger across the screen to create swirls and loops, pinch the screen to zoom into the swirls, tap the image to start and stop animation, and double tap the centre to create a classic kaleidoscope view by darkening the corners. We can also change the color scheme of the image, and distort the image for a projector display. The application is compatible with iPad’s video output option, so the designs can be projected on any screen, which make pretty cool backgrounds when animated. The Annamika is available at the iTunes store for $5, and will soon be available for the iPhone as well. Check out the image of our Lavia homepage after it’s gone through the kaleidoscope filter above.

On July 28th, Kanye West joined Twitter (even though a few months ago he got really angry at people impersonating him on Twitter and said he wouldn’t use it) . He quickly got about half a million followers, and started writing a storm of meaningless and ridiculous (and misspelled) tweets. Paul and Storm, a musical comedic group, were inspired by Kanye’s profound tweets and decided to mash them up with classic New Yorker cartoons, creating a brilliant and hilarious collection of cartoons. Check them out here. And click here to follow Lavia on Twitter.

S2S Nation, one of Lavia’s clients, has launched their online shop, featuring limited edition eco-friendly t-shirts. The shirts are made from 70% organic bamboo and 30% organic cotton. By now probably everyone knows the benefits of the bamboo plant. Bamboo grows really quickly and naturally without pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. It absorbs way more carbon dioxide and produces more oxygen than other trees.  Cotton provides about half of all the world’s fiber needs so it makes a big difference to use organic cotton, which is grown without pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, chemical fertilizers or any other chemicals. Unlike conventional cotton, which damages the planet, organic cotton uses agricultural methods designed to help sustain the land it grows on, the people who grow and harvest it, and the planet in general. S2S Nation believes in giving back to people less fortunate. So with every purchase, 5% of that purchase goes to a charity of your choice, helping orphanages and children, health, the environment, towns and communities, and artists.
Besides being environmentally and socially conscious, these shirts are pretty unique. They’re made in limited edition runs of 500, making it unlikely to run into someone with the same shirt. Anyone can submit a design to S2S Nation, monthly competitions are held, where the top 5 designs, voted by people on the website, are printed. One of our very own Lavia designers, Andrew Waring, submitted a winning design that is currently available at the S2S shop. Check out their online shop, and if you’re feeling creative, submit a design. (Oh and there’s a sale going on! Enter the promo code: S2SSUMSALE15 and get a 15% discount on everything.)

The most successful online businesses have well recognized blogs associated with them. Blogs can do a lot for your website which will let you achieve the goals you have striving. Here are some of the most known benefits of having blogs for websites.

1. Increasing your page ranking

Google page rank is very important for sites to become efficient, it determines the importance of contents to your site. A blog can increase your search engine optimization by updating it regularly.

Search engines recognize the new content you put on your blog which they make note of it, put importance to it and increase your page ranking.  Proper use of keywords and their placement makes your blog more efficient.

2. Improving your visibility

Maintaining your blog with high page ranking lets you stay on top of the searches. Whenever people search for the service or products you offer, your blog will be put on top of the search results which has the ability to be viewed more often.

3. Generating more traffic

Posts you write may contain backlinks leading to your blog as you submit to article directories. Every time your post is viewed by someone, your blog is also viewed which then leads to your site. Your high page rank blog increases your visibility and generates more traffic.

4. Attracting more potential clients

Your visitors read your blog because it interests them, there is a great possibility to make them your potential clients. There is also a chance that your followers recommend your blog to other people, which can mount the number of your potential clients. These potential clients have the immense opportunity to become your actual clients.

5. Producing more profits

Increasing your potential and actual clients obviously produce more profits for your business.

6. Interactive means for your business

Blogs lets you express your ideas, insights and commentaries which states good points to your service or products. In return, your readers can leave comments and feedbacks according to your blog content, this serves as a means to satisfy their queries. Moreover your blog can give you the opportunity to weigh the opinions and suggestions of your clients which can give you ideas to improve what you’re doing.

Blogging is one of the cost-effective methods in achieving success for online businesses and is widely used because of the proven benefits it can provide. What are some of your favorite blogs (besides Lavia’s of course )?