Are you looking for a free WordPress theme that is both elegant and contemporary? Tired of seeing the same old white background everywhere you go? Then it might be worthwhile for you to consider the Raindrops theme by Zaryl Dot Com.

This is definitely a darker theme, featuring a mostly black background highlighted by yellow and orange circles, but it is still very easy on the eyes and very easy for readers to enjoy. The basic navigation is provided along the top of the site, giving access to the various pages that you have set up with your WordPress blog. The wide sidebar is located to the right and, from what I can see, it is widget-ready.

The sidebar has been pre-configured to include an ad box, social media buttons, recent posts, top commentators, and more. In fact, unlike many other sites, the top commentator list actually includes the Gravatar of the people leaving the comments. A theme like this is great for personal blogs, but it may not be as appropriate for a conservative business blog. That’s up to you decide.

You can try the demo on the Zaryl website. The download link can also be found on the site, along with several other WordPress themes designed and developed by Zaryl Dot Com.

As another work week draws to a close, we pause for a moment to see what the blogosphere had to offer us. We’ve gathered quite the variety of posts here, so there should be a little something for everyone.

Darren Barefoot needs your help. It seems that his Nikon D70 is reaching the end of its life, so Darren is in the market for a new camera. He wants a decent digital SLR and he’s prepared to spend upwards to $1500 to get started, including a starter lens of some kind. Do you have any recommendations in that price range?

Tayler Lindstrom reminds us of a very simple but difficult to grasp concept: imperfection is a good thing. We don’t want to be perfect and we don’t want other people to be perfect either. It is much more inspiring to hear about someone who has tried and failed than it is to read about someone who has always had the silver spoon in his or her mouth. It’s about reaching for perfection but always falling just short of it.

Thursday Bram is one savvy freelancer, but she also knows to ask for assistance when she needs it. That’s why she’s quick to recommend 13 IP lawyers who can help you with your patent. Dealing with intellectual property laws can be a complex and confusing process, so it’s probably best to leave the work up to the experts to handle. Do you need to file a patent?

Hadouken Online comes filled with all sorts of exciting news for fighting game fans. Super Street Fighter IV may be just around the corner, but Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is bound for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Spring 2011. This sequel has been a decade in the making and it seems that Capcom is bringing over thirty combatants into the 2.5D arena.

Joseph Planta of the Commentary is celebrating the 500th interview on this On The Line program. He shares this momentous occasion with Walter Kinsella, who first appeared on On the Line nearly six years ago. The political commentator and columnist discusses everything from Rahim Jaffer to the new Apple iPad. Walter has opinions on everything!

I was watching television the other night when a Burger King commercial caught my eye. I don’t think that it was the best strategy on the part of the fast food chain, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

You can watch the commercial on YouTube, but the gist of it has the Burger King’s mascot (“The King”) breaking and entering into McDonald’s headquarters to steal the recipe for the sausage and egg McMuffin. He escapes largely unscathed and reproduces it as the breakfast sandwich at Burger King.

Meanwhile, the narrative voiceover for the commercial says, “It’s not that original, but it’s super affordable.” In addition to the actual action on the screen, this confirms that Burger King knows its “new” product is not original and that it has been “stolen” from a direct competitor (McDonald’s).

Personally, I don’t think that Burger King should have taken this strategy. First, it implies that Burger King is a thief and you don’t really want to connect your own brand with illegal activities. Further still, it’s saying that the only thing differentiating its breakfast sandwich from that of McDonald’s is the price: “It’s only a buck.”

Yes, that’s cheaper and that’ll attract some customers, but it leaves for an unsavory image of the Burger King company. What do you think? Is the ad just funny or is a bad marketing effort on the part of BK?

It’s not uncommon for businesses to have multiple sections to the same company website or to even have several websites across the same brand. This is the case with BlueFur, for instance. You are currently reading the blog, but there is the main website too.

As you may have noticed, the blog recently underwent a fairly dramatic design change and the same update was carried through to the rest of the site. This creates a consistency in the brand messaging and imaging. In this way, whether someone is reading the blog or checking out the product and services page, they are offered the same overall branding.

A similar strategy is employed by Michael Kwan with his freelance writing business and with his personal blog. They are both powered by WordPress and make use of a very similar custom theme. The template was altered slightly to suit the specific needs of each site — like the removal of the sidebar for the freelance site — but the overall look is consistent.

If you run multiple websites that all fall under the same company banner and use the same branding, it is important that these sites carry through with a consistent look and feel as well. The easiest way to do this is to use a single WordPress theme and have it altered to suit the specific needs of each site.

If your office is anything like so many offices across the country, there’s a good chance that you have a common coffee machine in there somewhere. You might also have a water cooler for both employees and customers to use to quench their thirst. These are good things to have in an office, to be sure.

However, if your office is anything like so many other offices, there’s a good chance that you’ll find a stack of disposable paper cups next to the water cooler and another stack of Styrofoam cups next to the coffee machine. These are there as a matter of convenience, but they’re far from being the most environmentally friendly option.

While you may want to have a small supply handy for incoming customers, it is a great idea to encourage employees to bring in their own reusable mugs, tumblers, and cups to use with the coffee machine and water cooler. While each individual disposable cup makes little difference, this can have a dramatic environmental impact when you consider the thousands of cups filling our landfills every year.

Have a little green initiative in your office and, better still, offer promotional mugs and other products to your employees and customers. This way, not only are you doing your small part to help Mother Nature, you’re also offering another way to promote your brand and market your company.

For the traveling professional, one of the most frustrating situations is when you’re late for an early morning meeting and your car doesn’t start. You crank the key and you get nothing. When you’re in need of a jump start, the last thing you want to happen is to get that well-pressed shirt dirty.

Sure, you could take the conventional route with a jump start and look for a good Samaritan who will help you with a set of jumper cables, but that could get your clothing quite dirty. That’s not the impression you want for your important business meeting. As such, it may be better to consider a simple product like the Closed-Hood Car Jump Starter. Can you guess what it does?

Instead of popping the hood on the dead car (yours) and the helper car (the good Samaritan), all you have to do is plug the respective ends of the Closed-Hood Car Jump Starter into the cars’ 12V cigarette jacks. After five to ten minutes, the green light turns on and you can give your car another crank of the key. Before you know it, you’ll be on the road and on your way to another successful business meeting.

Find the Closed-Hood Car Jump Starter on ThinkGeek. It retails for $24.99.