Getting smartphone functionality doesn’t mean that you need to break the bank. The Nokia 5230 obviously isn’t the hottest new device on the block and it won’t be able to compete with a Samsung Galaxy S or an Apple iPhone 4. However, it is priced accordingly and will offer many of the same functions.

The Nokia 5230 Nuron is powered by the company’s signature Symbian operating system and it comes equipped with a fairly large 3.2-inch touchscreen interface. It comes packed with GPS, Nokia Maps, and high-speed 3G data connectivity. Naturally, there is also a camera on the back for taking quick pictures.

Other highlights include the built-in music and video player, microSD expansion slot, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, microUSB port, and Flash Lite 3.0, as well as stereo FM radio with RDS.

While other newer smartphones can easily cost you $500 or more for an unlocked model outside of a contract, the Nokia 5230 Nuron is less than $200 when purchased through Amazon. It’s compatible with Rogers, Fido, Bell, Telus, Virgin and Solo in Canada, as well as AT&T in the United States, plus many other countries around the world.

All kinds of people from all kinds of different industries and disciplines choose to host their websites with BlueFur. Each week, we highlight one of these customers as a way of giving back and saying thanks. Today, we look at Doug Brown.

More specifically, we take a look at Doug Brown Music. Doug Brown describes himself as a composer, performer, and multi-instrumentalist with a leaning toward jazz and folk music. He has been featured at a number of festivals around the world, including Ireland, Germany, and Winnipeg.

Along with this main discography that dates back to 1980, Doug Brown has also worked closely with Michelle Duvall on several projects. They’re “rapidly gaining a reputation in the Midwest for playing some of the most swinging and refined jazz around.” Samples of their recordings can be found on their website for your browsing pleasure.

Do you use BlueFur to host your websites? Let us know and we can feature you in a future blog post. Send an email message to blogfeature@bluefur.com with your name, website URL, and a brief description of what you’d like to see highlighted.

While most contemporary sites have moved towards using black text and a white background, there are still situations where the reverse color scheme may be more appropriate and more attractive.

If you find yourself leaning toward that kind of style, you might want to take a look at the new Shiword WordPress theme by the kind folks at TwoBeers.net. It features a darker grey background with lighter colored text. The overall layout and design are kept quite simple too.

There is a “quick links” menu, an easy navigation toolbar, support for custom headers, and a integrated print preview function. The developers have also included a skin builder, making it easier to customize Shiword to best suit your particular needs and preferences. The theme can be used with either one or two columns and it can have up to five widget areas.

For a live preview and to access the free download link, visit the Free Themes Directory on WordPress.org.

The blogosphere is a wonderfully varied place with wonderfully varied articles. Here are a few from the week that was.

Therese Borchard offers some interesting advice on how to leave your job. If you’re not satisfied with the rat race (or you want to get into a different race), the seven suggested solutions should help you put the wheels in motion, hopefully pointing in the right direction.

Travis King recognizes that different tools are needed for just about any professional. With his review of Blinksale, he offers insight into whether the invoicing service is a good option for the many entrepreneurs and small business owners in the audience.

Simon Mackie follows up on the recent debacle at Google by letting readers know how to back up their Gmail accounts. You want to have proper recourse should you suddenly lose all those messages and contacts. This is just one method, of course, but it gives you a good plan of action should the cloud fail on you.

Jenny Dean has a guest post published on Problogger’s site, outlining how you can brand your YouTube channel to your blog’s benefit. Far too many people leave the default configuration the way it is; they’re leaving viewers (and potentially revenue) on the table.

Rebecca Bollwitt decided to celebrate her five-year wedding anniversary with a staycation in Richmond. More specifically, she and her husband went for a short trip to historic Steveston, engaging in a fun and inspiring scavenger hunt.

One of the best ways to make for an effective marketing campaign is to make sure that it is fun for all parties involved. This helps to build up more of a viral sensation and you allow your customers to act as your advocates. For certain restaurants, the “food challenge” technique can be quite effective.

Sure, the regular menu is where you want to attract most of the attention, but you need to get some people through the door in the first place. Hog Shack has a Flatliner burger challenge. Pho Garden has its pho challenge and Sushi Delight has its six pound sushi challenge. These walls of fame (and shame) can help to drive tremendous traffic.

People are motivated by challenges, but they’re also motivated by getting things for free. That’s so many of these challenges are designed such that if the participant manages to finish the monumental plate or bowl of food, he or she gets it for free. If he or she doesn’t finish it, he or she gets on the hook for a bill that is likely bigger than what they would have paid otherwise.

A food challenge may not be appropriate for a fine dining establishment, but for a restaurant that focuses more on casual fare, this marketing tactic — promoted effectively through social media, Internet campaigns, print campaigns, and word of mouth — can really help to put an otherwise indistinguishable eatery on the map.

Some plugins allow you to add certain functions to your blog, like showing your top commentators or selectively pulling your related posts. Others help to integrate your site with your social media accounts, like Facebook and Twitter.

This WordPress plugin is quite different. WP Minify won’t actually alter the way that you site looks, but it can make a dramatic improvement in the overall user experience. This is because it can drastically improve your page load times, allowing visitors to actually see your content in much less time.

The way it does this is that it effectively combines multiple Javascript requests into just one, further reducing redundancies and making for a smaller file to load. The Minify engine is able to return a “consolidated, minified, and compressed script or style.” The best part is that it is all automatic and requires no configuration on your part.

For more information, including screenshots, FAQ, and installation instructions, check out the developer’s site at Omninoggin.com.