Amazon has entered the ring of online payment services which will compete directly with PayPal and Google Checkout.

Amazon’s new service is called Amazon Checkout. Surprised? I’m not! Big companies do well keeping things simple. That old KISS principal

I logged on and signed up. The process was pretty painless and very similar to that of PayPal and Google. The whole email, bank and cell phone verification aid in proving to the Amazon Overlords you are who you say you are. If you are familiar with the other services mentioned you have jumped through these hoops before.

As someone who has been on the hunt for an obscure product for some time now I know the power that Amazon Watcher can wield.

My 8 month old daughter has been eating an Israeli cereal by a brand called Taami. I was always able to buy it in the store around my neighborhood in good old Brooklyn, New York. But one day it wasn’t available anymore.

They stopped producing it and I went to Amazon. I was able to buy a few cases that lasted me until a month ago.

Amazon Gift Central’s motto must be “helping even the most gift-giving challenged people the opportunity to give great gifts year round!”

Many of us do not have ready access to malls or enjoy shopping for gifts for our friends and family members. However, Amazon Gift Central provides a clean, easy to use interface that prepares you to select great gifts for your friends and family members without the hassle of driving to a mall or taking hours and hours to find the “perfect” gift.

I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from people regarding my post on helping to create user-generated content on the web. So since this seems to be something that people find interesting, I decided to “do a George Lucas” and write a sequel! A long time ago in an internet far far away…..