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  • Trailrunner7 writes "Google has released a new version of its Chrome browser and has included more than a dozen security fixes in the update. The new version, 6.0.472.53, was released two years to the day after the company pushed out the first version of Chrome. Google Chrome 6 includes patches for 14 total security vulnerabilities, including six high-priority flaws, and the company paid out a total of $4,337 in bug bounties to researchers who reported the vulnerabilities. A number of the flaws that didn't qualify for bug bounties were discovered by members of Google's internal security team." (Read on for more, below.)
  • itwbennett writes "According to Harvard magazine, Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted at its meeting on May 11 to require instructors to officially inform the Registrar 'at the first week of the term' of the intention to end a course with a formal, seated exam, 'the assumption shall be that the instructor will not be giving a three-hour final examination.' Dean of undergraduate education Jay M. Harris 'told the faculty that of 1,137 undergraduate-level courses this spring term, 259 scheduled finals — the lowest number since 2002, when 200 fewer courses were offered. For the more than 500 graduate-level courses offered, just 14 had finals, he reported.'"
  • Hugh Pickens writes "Ryan Lawler writes on GigaOm that although many have touted the availability of Flash on Android devices as a competitive advantage over Apple's mobile devices, while trying to watch videos from ABC.com, Fox.com and Metacafe using Flash 10.1 on a Nexus One over a local Wi-Fi network connected to a 25-Mbps Verizon FiOS broadband connection, mobile expert Kevin Tofel found that videos were slow to load, if they loaded at all, leading to an overall very inconsistent experience while using his Android device for video. 'While in theory Flash video might be a competitive advantage for Android users, in practice it's difficult to imagine anyone actually trying to watch non-optimized web video on an Android handset,' writes Lawler. 'All of which makes one believe that maybe Steve Jobs was right to eschew Flash in lieu of HTML5 on the iPhone and iPad.'"
  • cgriffin21 writes "Samsung is making no bones about it: Google Android is its future. And with the revealing of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the company is showing that it's all in when it comes to Android. At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Samsung finally pulled the curtain off the long-rumored and teased Galaxy Tab, the electronics maker's touch-screen tablet and answer to the Apple iPad."
  • devjj writes "For the past year or so I have been trying (and failing) to figure out a reasonable solution for bringing my large media library to my living room. All of my media lives on an Ubuntu server that sits on my network. It's been very reliable and it's fast enough for streaming purposes. My content is exposed via SMB. It's the living room side where I keep running into problems. I am currently using Windows 7 and XBMC, but the case is too big and noisy, I don't particularly care for Windows, and the whole thing just seems overkill. What I want is a device that can present a decent UI that the non-Slashdot crowd would be able to use, but that is still powerful enough to stream full-fidelity 1080p. I dream of a small box that can transcode video over a network, but that's probably a pipe dream. The new Apple TV would be great if it could connect to network shares. What say you, Slashdot? Is what I'm looking for possible, or should I just give in to the iTunes/Amazon/whatever juggernauts?"
  • dh003i writes "Canon has developed a 8 x 8 inch CMOS digital sensor. It will be able to capture an image with 1/100th the light intensity required by a DSLR and will be able to record video at 60 fps in lighting half the intensity of moonlight. There are already many excellent quality lenses designed to cover 8 x 10 inches, although Canon may develop some of their own designed specifically for their requirements."
  • donniebaseball23 writes "EA's Medal of Honor reboot doesn't ship until October 12, but it's already seen a fair amount of controversy thanks to the publisher's decision to allow people to play as Taliban in multiplayer. The controversy just got escalated another notch, reports IndustryGamers, as the world's biggest games retailer GameStop has decided it won't sell the title at its stores located on US military bases. The new Medal of Honor won't be advertised at these stores either. GameStop noted that they came to this decision 'out of respect for our past and present men and women in uniform.'"
  • donniebaseball23 writes "EA's Medal of Honor reboot doesn't ship until October 12, but it's already seen a fair amount of controversy thanks to the publisher's decision to allow people to play as Taliban in multiplayer. The controversy just got escalated another notch, reports IndustryGamers, as the world's biggest games retailer GameStop has decided it won't sell the title at its stores located on US military bases. The new Medal of Honor won't be advertised at these stores either. GameStop noted that they came to this decision 'out of respect for our past and present men and women in uniform.'"
  • eldavojohn writes "A new paper up for prepublication from the controversial solid-state physicist Godfrey Louis claims that the cells Louis collected from a Keralan red rain incident divide and produce daughter cells at 121 degrees Celsius. While unusual, this is not unheard of as the paper recalls cells cultivated from hydrothermal vents are known to reproduce at 121 C as well. Of course, caution is exercised when dealing with the possible explanation surrounding the theory of panspermia but the MIT Technology Review says researchers 'examined the way these fluoresce when bombarded with light and say it is remarkably similar to various unexplained emission spectra seen in various parts of the galaxy. One such place is the Red Rectangle, a cloud of dust and gas around a young star in the Monocerous constellation.'"
  • Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian reports that in his new book, The Grand Design, Professor Stephen Hawking argues that the Big Bang, rather than occurring following the intervention of a divine being, was inevitable due to the law of gravity. 'Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,' Hawking writes. 'It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.' Hawking had previously appeared to accept the role of God in the creation of the universe. Writing in his bestseller A Brief History Of Time in 1988, Hawking wrote: 'If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God.'"
  • crimeandpunishment writes "The top man in telecommunications at the United Nations is weighing in on the Blackberry battle ... and he says share the data. The UN's telecom chief says governments have legitimate security concerns, and Research in Motion should give them access to its customer data. In an interview with the Associated Press, Hamadoun Toure said 'There is a need for cooperation between governments and the private sector on security issues.'"
  • rsmiller510 writes "Could Apple's announcement about Ping, a music-based social network be Apple's social networking trojan horse? Facebook might want to be concerned." Of course it is. Update: 09/02 19:26 GMT by T : Jamie points out this post on Daring Fireball, according to which Steve Jobs blames the non-integration on "onerous terms" suggested by Facebook.
  • pickens writes "David Pogue writes in the NY Times that when you buy a new Windows PC, it comes festooned with stickers on the palm rests: one for Windows, one for Skype, one for Intel, one for the laptop company, maybe an Energy Star sticker and so on. 'It's like buying a new, luxury car — and discovering that it comes with non-removable bumper stickers that promote the motor oil, the floor mat maker, the windshield-fluid company and the pine tree air freshener you have no intention of ever using,' writes Pogue. But the worst thing is that when you peel them off, they shred, leaving adhesive crud behind. 'When you've just spent big bucks on a laptop, should you really be obligated to spend the first 20 minutes trying to dissolve away the sticker goop with WD40?' But AMD has a solution. Starting next year, AMD will switch to new stickers that peel off easily, leaving no residue; after that, it's considering eliminating the sticker program altogether."
  • wiedzmin writes "Public broadcaster ARD's show 'Plusminus' teamed up with the known hacker organization 'Chaos Computer Club' (CCC) to find out how secure the controversial new radio-frequency (RFID) chips were. The report shows how they used the basic new home scanners that will go along with the cards (for use with home computers to process the personal data for official government business) to demonstrate that scammers would have few problems extracting personal information. This includes two fingerprint scans and a new six-digit PIN meant to be used as a digital signature for official government business and beyond." That was quick. Earlier this year, CCC hackers demonstrated vulnerabilities in German airport IDs, too.
  • eldavojohn writes "A Michigan judge removed a juror after a Facebook comment and also fined her $250 and required her to write a five-page paper about the constitutional right to a fair trial. The juror was 'very sorry' and the judge chastised her, saying, 'You violated your oath. You had decided she was already guilty without hearing the other side.'"
  • rexjoec writes "Cisco is making a bid for Skype. The deal, if successful, would derail a planned initial public offering from Skype and redraw the battle lines in the lucrative market of video communications." The rumored price is $5B.
  • A few readers have noted that another gulf oil rig has exploded. This one is off the coast of Lousiana. So far all the workers are accounted for, but they are in immersion suits waiting for rescue.
  • tlhIngan writes "Despite all the lawsuits and injunctions by Sony to keep the PS3 Jailbreak out of modder's hands, it appears that a third party has made a clone. The best part is, it only requires a cheap (approximately $40) development board by Atmel, and the requisite software is open-source. Get the Atmel code from GitHub and apply a small patch which will enable backup play (the code by itself only lets you run unsigned code, the patch allows for BD backups). The code is GPLv3. It would be highly ironic if someone ported this to Linux USB Gadgets, then you could use a Linux device to jailbreak your PS3, to which Sony removed Linux functionality. An Android phone would be suitable."
  • eldavojohn writes "A Michigan judge removed a juror after a Facebook comment and also fined her $250 and required her to write a five page paper about the constitutional right to a fair trial. The juror was 'very sorry' and the judge chastised her saying, 'You violated your oath. You had decided she was already guilty without hearing the other side.'"
  • We recently discussed a man who sued NCsoft for making Lineage II "too addictive" after he spent 20,000 hours over five years playing it. Now, several readers have pointed out that the lawsuit has progressed past its first major hurdle: the EULA. Quoting: "NC Interactive has responded the way most software companies and online services have for more than a decade: it argued that the claims are barred by its end-user license agreement, which in this case capped the company's liability to the amount Smallwood paid in fees over six months prior to his filing his complaint (or thereabouts). One portion of the EULA specifically stated that lawsuits could only be brought in Texas state court in Travis County, where NC Interactive is located. ... But the judge in this case, US District Judge Alan C. Kay, noted that both Texas and Hawaii law bar contract provisions that waive in advance the ability to make gross-negligence claims. He also declined to dismiss Smallwood's claims for negligence, defamation, and negligent infliction of emotional distress."
  • beschra writes "BBC writes of 'terra-forming' Ascension Island, one of the islands Charles Darwin visited. He and a friend encouraged the Royal Navy to import boat loads of trees and plants in an attempt to capture the little bit of water that fell on the island. They were quite successful. The island even has a cloud forest now. From the article: '[British ecologist] Wilkinson thinks that the principles that emerge from that experiment could be used to transform future colonies on Mars. In other words, rather than trying to improve an environment by force, the best approach might be to work with life to help it "find its own way."'"
  • An anonymous reader writes "It appears that Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones and her lawyer were so upset by a comment on the site TheDirty.com that they missed the 'y' at the end of the name. Instead, they sued the owner of TheDirt.com, whose owner didn't respond to the lawsuit. The end result was a judge awarding $11 million, in part because of the failure to respond. Now, both the owners of TheDirty.com and TheDirt.com are complaining that they're being wrongfully written about in the press — one for not having had any content about Sarah Jones but being told it needs to pay $11 million, and the other for having the content and having the press say it lost a lawsuit, even though no lawsuit was ever actually filed against it."
  • adeelarshad82 writes "IBM revealed details of its 5.2-GHz chip, the fastest microprocessor ever announced. Costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, IBM described the z196, which will power its Z-series of mainframes. The z196 contains 1.4 billion transistors on a chip measuring 512 square millimeters fabricated on 45-nm PD SOI technology. It contains a 64KB L1 instruction cache, a 128KB L1 data cache, a 1.5MB private L2 cache per core, plus a pair of co-processors used for cryptographic operations. IBM is set to ship the chip in September."
  • Buffalo55 writes "For the most part, classic games manage to reappear on different systems. Just look at Nintendo. The publisher has done an excellent job bringing NES, SNES, Genesis and even old school Neo Geo titles to the Wii's Virtual Console, while Microsoft's Game Room brings the best of Atari's 2600 into the living room. Of course, not every console was a success. The '90s, in particular, saw quite a few flops from companies like Panasonic, Sega and Atari. Just because a system is a failure, though, doesn't mean all of its games suck. On the contrary, most of these machines have a few gems that fell between the cracks once the console croaked." What overlooked game on a failed platform would you like to see revived?
  • aarondubrow writes "Three years ago, researchers from Caltech and The University of Texas at Austin came together to create a computational tool that could model the Earth and answer the most pressing questions in geophysics: What controls the speed of plates? How do microplates interact? How much energy do the plates generate and how does it dissipate? Using a new geodynamics software package they developed, the researchers have modeled plate motion with greater accuracy than ever before. The project is also a finalist for the Gordon Bell Prize — high performance computing's Oscar — at this year's SC10 conference."
  • Robert Rodriguez tackles immigration issues by decapitating dissenters.
  • syntaxgs: An internet hero
  • Filed under: Videos, Busted!I'll tell you right away, not because I like you but so this post shows up in search results: These balls full of orange paint are anti-theft devices. When someone robs a store, the clerk can throw the ball at the perp (or at the perp's feet) so they're easily identified after they escape. According to the Japan Times, though they're only thrown in 7% of robberies, the balls mostly work as a deterrent, since stores prominently display them. They're so visible that foreigners in Japan often wonder what they're there for. And in the video below, the clerks act adorable as they awkwardly explain why the visiting American shouldn't try to buy those orange balls on the counter. via:// reddit Permalink|Email this|LinkingBlogs|Comments
  • In Case of Zombies, a classic Threadless t-shirt by Olly Moss. This is a blog post from Laughing Squid, subscribe via RSS, Email, Twitter, Facebook & Tumblr. Here are a few other possibly related posts you might enjoy:-A T-Shirt For People Who Love Killing Zombies -Plants vs. Zombies -Warning: Zombies Returning To San Francisco -Zombies Invade San Francisco! -$0.99 Cardboard iPhone Recession Case
  • #xbox360 Oh dear. It's not just Spaniards who won't be able to control Kinect with their voices when the peripheral launches. It's everyone who doesn't live in the US, Mexico or United Kingdom. More
  • The implosion of Digg is happening. It is an unstoppable conclusion to events that have been in motion since last week and will continue until the full
  • The shape of information science is changing more radically and rapidly than ever, and our libraries can’t keep up.
  • On August 8th, 2010, sometime in the late evening, investment banker, oil industry insider and energy advisor to President George W. Bush, Matthew Simmons, put on a pair of swimming trunks, climbed into his hot tub at his Maine home and attempted to relax after a long day’s work. By 10:00pm Simmons had been found dead, floating in the hot tub of an apparent drowning.
  • Storm expected to weaken as it approaches New England on Friday Hurricane Earl Advisory No. 33 NWS TPC / National Hurricane Center Miami FL11:00 a.m. EDT Thu Sept. 02 2010 View full sizeNOAAHurricane Earl is shown southeast of the Carolina coast in this current infrared satellite image. Dangerous Hurricane Earl heading for the Outer Banks of North Carolina, hurricane warnings issued for portions of Massachusetts. At 11:00 a.m. EDT the eye of Hurricane Earl was located near latitude 30.9 north, longitude 74.8 west. Earl is now moving toward the north near 18 mph, 30 km/hr. A turn toward the north-northeast with an increase in forward speed is expected on Friday. On the forecast track, the center of Earl will pass near the North Carolina Outer Banks tonight, and approach southeastern New England Friday night. Maximum sustained winds are near 140 mph, 220 km/hr, with higher gusts. Earl is a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. No significant change in strength is expected today, but gradual weakening should begin on Friday. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 90 miles, 150 km, from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 230 miles, 370 km. Estimated minimum central pressure is 932 mb, 27.52 inches. Summary of 11:00 a.m. EDT information: Location: 30.9n 74.8w about 300 mi, 485 km s of Cape Hatteras North Carolina about 765 mi, 1230 km ssw of Nantucket Massachusetts Maximum Sustained Winds: 140 mph, 220 km/hr Present Movement: n or 355 degrees at 18 mph, 30 km/hr Minimum Central Pressure: 932 mb, 27.52 inches Summary of watches and warnings in effect: A hurricane warning is in effect for, * Bogue Inlet North Carolina northeastward to the North Carolina/Virginia border including the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds. * westport Massachusetts eastward around cape cod to hull including Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket Island A hurricane watch is in effect for, * north of the North Carolina/Virginia border to Cape Henlopen Delaware. A tropical storm warning is in effect for, * Cape Fear to west of Bogue Inlet North Carolina. * north of the North Carolina/Virginia border to Sandy Hook New Jersey, including Delaware bay south of Slaughter Beach and the Chesapeake Bay south of New Point Comfort. * the eastern portion of Long Island New York from Fire Island Inlet to Port Jefferson Harbor. * New Haven Connecticut to west of Westport Massachusetts, including Block Island. A tropical storm watch is in effect for, * north of hull Massachusetts to Eastport Maine. * the coast of Nova Scotia from Port Maitland to Medway Harbour. * the coast of Long Island west of Fire Island Inlet and Port Jefferson Harbor. Hazards affecting land:Winds: Tropical-storm-force winds are expected to reach the North Carolina coast within the warning area by this afternoon. Even if the center of Earl remains offshore, hurricane force winds are expected to occur in the Outer Banks by tonight. Tropical-storm- force winds will likely reach the coast from Virginia northward to New Jersey tonight or early Friday. Storm surge:A dangerous storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 3 to 5 feet above ground level within both hurricane warning areas and the lower Chesapeake Bay. Elsewhere within the tropical storm warning area, storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 1 to 3 feet above ground level. Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves. Rainfall: Accumulations of 2 to 4 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 6 inches, are expected over portions of eastern North Carolina including the Outer Banks. Accumulations of 1 to 2 inches are possible farther to the north along the immediate mid-Atlantic coast. Surf: Large swells from Earl will continue to affect the Bahamas and the east coast of the United States through Friday. These swells will likely cause dangerous surf conditions and rip currents.
  • One of the most famous parts of the White House, the president's Oval Office, is redecorated for Barack Obama.
  • A 4-year-old Brooklyn girl who weighed only a shocking 15 pounds was found dead this morning, with her arms and legs tied to a crib with twine.
  • Israelis feel prosperous, secure -- and disengaged from the peace process with the Palestinians. Is that wise?
  • Coast Guard: Offshore oil rig in Gulf of Mexico explodes; west of site of BP rig
  • #iphone Gears of War and Unreal Tournament creators Epic Games will bring competitive multiplayer sword-based combat, powered by its Unreal Engine, to the iPhone later this year with slash-em-up Project Sword. More
  • App store analytics provider Distimo yesterday published its latest report, once again zooming in on the pricing of mobile applications across a variety of platforms. Consistent with its previous findings, Googles Android Market has by far the largest share of free applications available compared to other mobile app store, but the gap is also widening. In July 2010, 60% of all applications on Android Market were free of charge, representing an increase of 3% since May 2010 when it was 57%. As you can tell from the graph below, that share is more than double the share of free apps on other mobile app stores, with the exception of Palms App Catalog (albeit barely). The share of free applications is smallest on Windows Marketplace for Mobile (22%), followed by the Apple App Store for iPad (26%) and BlackBerry App World (26%). (click image for full size) Lets take a closer look at the prices of paid apps across mobile application stores. Distimo posits that the average price of the 100 most popular apps in Android Market and Palms App Catalog is higher than the average price of the entire catalogue of applications. While the average price of all applications is only 16% higher in the Apple App Store for iPad than in the App Store for iPhone, the average price of the 100 most popular applications is nearly three times as high in the former. More than 60% of applications are priced below or equal to $2.00 in the App Store for iPhone, Android Market, Nokias Ovi Store and Palms App Catalog. The proportion of applications priced below or equal to $2.00 is much lower in the App Store for iPad and Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Notably, it seems prices of apps for iOS devices are on the rise. The proportion of paid applications priced below $1 on the Apple App Store for iPad and Apple App Store for iPhone has decreased in both in July 2010, from 30% to 25% and from 49% to 45%, respectively. (click image for full size) (click image for full size) [crunchbase url="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/distimo" name="Distimo"]
  • A study on energy supply conducted by a German military think tank reports on the potential for serious consequences as oil production declines.
  • The Wall Street Journal is very confident! Using the word guaranteed in the financial world is like telling a pitcher hes got a no-no going in the 6th inning. But apparently the WSJ doesnt care. They have found 10 money moves that will always, always pay off guaranteed! Aside from the catchy title luring me in, I had to see what financial advice they were talking about, and of course, I wanted to weigh in on it too. So, here are their 10 sure-fire money ideas and financial advicewith my side commentary. 1. Max that 401(k) Heres what WSJ says: This is a slam dunk for you. Every dollar you invest saves you money on taxes because it comes off your taxable income. So Uncle Sam is effectively chipping in. I agree with the concept max your savings and youll have more for retirement. You also get a tax-break now, which is great financial advice. But, tax rates are going up next year and although we dont know where tax rates will be in the future, theres a pretty good chance that theyll be much higher than they are now. Tax rates are at a historical low. You may be creating a tax time-bomb that is just waiting to go off! In my opinion, dont fall in love with your 401k!! Anything beyond the company match is up for debate in terms of contributions and really, you should be looking to diversify yourself from a tax perspective any way. 2. Give up the vacation home What WSJ says: Most of the time we use them for a few weeks or months of the year. They cost money to buy. There are annual upkeep, maintenance, condo fees and taxes. Ok, this makes sense. Get rid of excess, trim the fat, reduce expenses. All smart things. But, what if you could buy a vacation home at or near the bottom of the market and you can use it to build True Wealth? That is, of course, you can afford it! 3. Put $5,000 into an IRA account or Roth IRA tax shelter WSJ says: If youre over 50, put in $6,000. And make sure your spouse does too. IRAs are a great deal. There is a big difference between putting into a Roth or a Traditional IRA and that has to do with IRA withdrawals! Again, the idea of saving money is great financial advice! Not everyone is eligible for a Traditional IRA or a Roth for that matter. So make a careful decision when figuring out which retirement account is right for you. 4. Pay off your credit-card debt WSJ: Eat macaroni and cheese for three months if you have to, but pay off those balances. Youre probably paying at least 15% interest. You may be paying a lot more. Youd have to earn maybe 17% before tax on an investment just to keep pace. Boring? Nobodys making 17% these days. So pay off your credit-card debt and brag to all your friends that you just beat Wall Street. Amen!! Paying off credit-card debt is possibly the greatest sure-fire money move you can make. Of course, you knew that piece of financial advice already, but its time to do it! Heres a good tool to knowyour credit-card payoff amount . 5. Fire your banker Heres what WSJ says: If youre like most people, youre probably paying hundreds of dollars a year in account service fees, ATM charges for access to your own money and the like. Im actually not paying account service fees or ATM charges because I dont overdraft and I dont use outside ATMs! 6. Get your tax refund early WSJ: How? By not overpaying your taxes in the first place. Every year, millions of people cheer when they get a check back from Uncle Sam. But that just means they paid too much withholding tax during the year. So Uncle Sam got an interest-free loan. I do like this point, unless of course, you need a tax refund because you simply wont save that extra money! 7. Buy inflation-protected bonds According to WSJ: Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS, arent sexy. They wont make you rich. But theyre guaranteed twice over. Theyre issued by the U.S. government, so they are guaranteed against default. And they are protected against inflation because coupons and principal will adjust to reflect it. Really? Hmm. It seems like everyone has jumped on the TIPS bandwagon and those things are completely oversold leaving an opportunity for a TIPS bubble to burst. So theyre guaranteed by the U.S. government, but it doesnt mean they wont drop in value. Im not saying you dont want some exposure here, but to make it sound like its a no-lose proposition is a little scary. 8. Buy a bread machine WSJ says: If a $50 breadmaker saves you, say, $7 a week on buying bread, thats $350 year. The easiest dough youll make. Modern breadmakers are, well, a piece of cake to operate. The return on investment: 600% in year one and 700% after that. Wow, they are stretching for financial advice now!! Id bet that once the novelty wears off after four or five times using it, youll be right back to buying bread once a week at the grocery store.and youll be out $50 for the bread machine! My wife and I always talk about making bread and then we go buy some at the store. 9. Play hardball with your insurance company WSJ says: Call competitors and ask them to quote you prices for your current house and auto policies. Amen!! Heres how to negotiate your home and auto insurance. 10. Get a freebie from a bank WSJ says: Sign up for a credit card with a big bonus like a free air ticket or weekend hotel stay. Use the card enough to qualify. Then cancel the card. I know its a free airline ticket, but I have never done this mainly because it sounds like such a hassle. I hate calling customer service lines. Id almost rather pay for the ticket than deal with the headache. What Are Your Thoughts onThese Sure-Fire Money Moves? Let me know in the comments below!
  • Yesterday Digg announced that Matt Williams, currently an executive at Amazon, will be joining at CEO in September. From Kevins post: Matt has spent the past 11 years in a variety of roles at Amazon, most recently as GM for Consumer Payments, and earlier in his career he led Amazons community efforts. He was the Founder and CEO of LiveBid.com, which was acquired by Amazon in May of 1999. Matt brings seasoned management experience and has a reputation for delivering innovative products and excellent results. Welcome, Matt!
  • Do you remember the Nintendo Family Computer, or Famicon? Well, you might not -- it came to earth in 1983 and was Japan's version of the NES. Now, continuing its week of vintage teardowns, iFixit's gotten its hands on one of these colorful gems and done what it does. The Famicon is pretty easily dismantled, and simple inside, as well. As you can see, there's almost nothing going on in there! There's one more photo below, but hit up the source link for the full set.Continue reading iFixit tears apart the Nintendo FamiconiFixit tears apart the Nintendo Famicon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | iFixit |Email this|Comments
  • Impulse buying is something weve all done. Maybe it was a glossy magazine in the checkout line or a pair of shoes being offered at a price you couldnt pass up. These small, irrelevant items that find their way into your shopping cart can add up quickly. Although impulse buying has dealt a fatal blow to many a household budget, the good news is yours doesnt have to be next. Arming yourself with a few tips before you go out shopping can ensure you resist the urge to make these trivial (and costly) purchases for good. 1. Track spending trends. At the beginning of the month, start a log. Write down everything you spend for a full month. At the end of that month, review your trends to see how much you spent impulsively. The results may startle you enough to kick start your anti-impulse buying campaign. 2. Make a list. Know what you need before shopping. This cuts down on time spent browsing, which is most often when the impulse to buy strikes. 3. Use coupons. If you do need to purchase an item, seek out a coupon first. These days, you can find a coupon for almost any product, from any retailer online. Gone are the days of coupon clipping. For example, if youre looking for Macys coupons, then simply go to your preferred search engine and type that in. Youll get pages full of website that publish coupons and deals. 4. Learn to separate needs from wants. Make every attempt to justify your purchases based on a need instead of a want. Just because you want that leather jacket you saw on sale at the mall doesnt mean you need it especially with four others hanging in your closet. 5. Shop alone. Friends, spouses and children can all be a hindrance on a budget-conscious shoppers mission. The urge to splurge gets stronger around certain influences such as shopaholic friends and crying children. 6. Eat before going shopping. It sounds silly, but a lot of impulse shopping happens when people grocery shop on an empty stomach. Every thing is tempting, making shoppers more likely to buy pricier things than they would normally buy to satisfy a food craving. 7. Avoid temptation. Some impulse buyers have a particular weakness. It might be cosmetics, clothing, DVDs or even books. Avoid these items. Dont even shop at the same stores. Change your shopping routine completely to get out of this rut. 8. Develop a mantra. Remind yourself that every impulsive purchase you resist is $X toward a vacation or other special treat, $X more dollars in your savings account or $X less dollars in debt. 9. Shop sales smartly. Some people wait all year for Black Friday when its possible to get the same kind of deals online. Cyber Monday is a holiday introduced a few years ago that allows online retailers to get in on the Black Friday madness. Its also easier to comparison shop online as some merchants normal prices are considerably higher than others. 10. Sleep on it. If you find something that you think you truly cannot live without sleep on it. Return to the store the next day. If the urge is still there and still as strong, you might consider making the purchase. If not, recite your mantra from #8 and give yourself a pat on the back. What tips do you have to curb impulse spending? Helen Fang is an avid deal hunter and works for a Dealio.com, a comparison shopping, online coupons and daily deals website. Helen never pays retail and you shouldnt either. Get fresh coupons daily by following Dealio on Twitter.