Sorry kids, your days of catching enticingly named porn listed next to your cuddly family shows on Comcast’s programming guide are over. Comcast will now place “blocks of dummy channels” to keep family programs away from the racy pay per view channels.
BLOGS
Make A Budget That Leaves You With No Money
By 6.4.09
Budgets are supposed to leave you money left over, right? Well, the zero-based budget takes the opposite view, and thinks you should allocate every single dollar from every paycheck so that you’re left with nothing. Well, nothing that you don’t know what you’re going to do with. The allocation can, and probably should, include savings, for example. Getting Finances Done shows you how to get started with this budgeting technique that can save you time, headache, and yes, money. To jumpstart things, here’s a spreadsheet template you can use.
Leaked Pix Of iPhone's New Firmware Upgrades
By 6.3.09
Leaked photos have surfaced showing off the iPhone’s new firmware upgrades, which include:
- multimedia messaging
- horizontal typing
- compass
- video and voice recording an
- a camera autofocus that lets you select your point of focus by tapping your finger on the touch screen
More photos at the Apple 2.0. blog.
CircuitCity.com Now Allows Returns From HP, IBM and Toshiba
By 6.3.09
CircuitCity.com, newly reincarnated as a Systemax subsidiary, has changed the return policy language that forbid returns from HP, IBM and Toshiba, ZDnet reports. Hooray.
Amazon Releases June '09 Coupon Codes
By 6.2.09
Amazon.com has released the latest batch of special coupon codes and Probargainhunter has the roundup. This month, they seem to all be for groceries.
Inspiration To Save Money
By 6.2.09
“Save a part of your income and begin now, for the man with a surplus controls circumstances and the man without a surplus is controlled by circumstances.” – Henry H Buckley
10 Crappy Cars That Blew Up GM
By 6.1.09
GM is bankrupt so now the hindsighted punditing can kick into overdrive, hence Jalopnik’s gallery of the 10 vehicles that bankrupted General Motors. I always liked the GMC Envoy XUV, pictured, because beneath its pricey and puzzling retractable rear roof each one came with a free set of antique cabinets.
Sorry, You Can't Fly Because Your Name Is Hyphenated
By 5.30.09
Alright everyone, gather round and let me share with you the pain of living with a hyphenated name. Occasionally it’s fun and amusing, a third nipple stapled to your ID. Occasionally, it’s a miserable nightmare, as Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl-McPhee learned when she wasn’t allowed to board a flight after an anonymous airline’s computer severed her hyphenated name. Neither passports, a conversation with the booking agent, nor a printed receipt showing the proper hyphenated name could convince the airline gate agent that Pearl-McPhee was anything more than a foolishly named terror.
Plastics Industry: Reusable Bags Are Bacteria Traps That Will Kill You And Your Family
By 5.24.09
Those green reusable bags that are all the rage? The plastics industry this week released a study concluding that they are nothing more than bacterial totes, which might be scary if it were true. BarfBlog looked at the study’s methodology and then ate through its main points.
"Homeboy Hookup" Scammer Rips Off Renters
By 5.22.09
Apartment scams are the new hotness. Can’t do housing scams anymore because no one can afford a house, so it’s on to rentals. Insert “Merce,” a guy is ripping off renters saying he’s got the “homeboy hookup” and can get them into a rental cheap and with free gas an electricity, but he doesn’t actually own the properties. Fox NY investigates in this video.
Cupcake Truck Hits New York
By 5.20.09
Two words. The first word is cupcake. The second is truck. Started by a recently graduated New York Law School student who realized he wasn’t getting a job this year, Cupcakestop will be scooting around Manhattan, serving up treats like red velvet, oreo crumb, and black and white cookie. $1 for minis, $2.25 for regular size. I think they’re going to be Twittering their location at each stop, too. Innovation in the recession. Tasty.
Host Monster Turns On Customer, Shuts Down Blog Without Warning Or Sensical Explanation
By 5.11.09
Web hosting company Host Monster only has so many SQLs to hand out to people, and can’t go around passing them out willy-nilly. Why, there are probably websites in Africa that don’t have any SQLs. We’re not really sure what “SQL” is but we think it’s used to store blog entries; whatever it is, Joe Posnanski used too much of it. The Kansas City Star/Sports Illustrated reporter upgraded his hosting package a few months ago and was assured by Host Monster that there’d be no problems as his professional blog drew more traffic. “No problems,” except that last Friday they permanently closed his account without warning.
Monitor Swine Flu With Zero Media Hype
By 5.6.09
Trancy.net is a news aggregator that keeps track of the swine flu but removes all the media hype, leaving just the data. The best-part are the auto-updating graphs fed with WHO (World Health Organization) data showing confirmed cases, confirmed deaths, and number of countries reporting confirmed cases.
If You Do What You Love, Will The Money Follow?
By 5.6.09
“Never buy the most expensive home in a neighborhood.” “Your age is the percent of your portfolio you should have invested in bonds.” “You can withdraw 4% of your retirement savings every year.” Many of these sort of short, quick personal finance rules-of-thumb have become so generally accepted that most people don’t even question their validity. In many cases, the guidance these sayings offer are quite good. Yet some of them have morphed from solid money advice to almost zen-like statements that are just as likely to be untrue as true. For example, here’s one that sparks a lot of debate:
Don't Change Oil For 30,000 Miles? Here's Your Engine Carnage
By 5.1.09
This sludge-filled massacre is what happens to your engine if you don’t change the oil for 30,000 miles. The six photos depict abject carnage, a crime scene for cars. Good job, Enterprise-Rent-A-Car. Don’t let this happen to you. Checking and changing your oil is a good weekend project, here’s how to do it. [via Jalopnik]
Not Everyone Is Having a Financial Meltdown
By 5.1.09
For all the financial news of doom and gloom, the Money Crashers blog reminds us that not everyone is hit hard. In fact, they say that for every person struggling right now, there are a majority of people who are doing just fine in this economic climate (note: no data is presented for this claim, but it does sound at least directionally correct). As such, they list five money-related tips for those out there who are not struggling in this recession as follows:
Spread It Around: A Low Balance On Each Card Is Better
By 4.29.09
When the little trolls with the green visors determine your credit score, a big factor in their abacus-shuffling is how much percent of your credit limit you’re using. However, it’s not just your total credit utilization, all of your credit limits added together and divided by how much of that you’ve tapped, but also how much of each credit line you’re using, the individual credit utilization. Say what?
