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Researchers found that playing a Wii doesn’t burn a whole lot more calories per hour than an Xbox, 167 vs 107, respectively. [icWales via The Raw Feed]
BLOGS
What Is The Most Expensive Drink At Starbucks?
By 12.23.07
How Do You Get The Most Out Of Online Reviews?
By 12.22.07
Products don’t advertise their drawbacks leaving shoppers to rely on online reviews as one of the only ways to determine a product’s true worth. Salon argues in an article heavy on fluff and light on content that reviews are just a meaningless muddle of questionable opinions. We disagree, but the article does raise one good question: how do you judge the value online reviews?
Firebrand, The TV Show That's Just Commercials
By 12.21.07
Firebrand is a new TV show is just 60 minutes of commercials. “CJs” will introduce the ads, interview the stars, and provide banal banter. The show was started by an MTV co-founder, who said, ” “We’re changing the model again… We took promotion videos no one wanted and ran them.” The show runs late-nights on the ION network in LA, the place where all things devoid of substance are born.
By 12.20.07
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Apple has agreed to drop its lawsuit against Think Secret, a website that specializes in publishing in-house Apple rumors and leaks. In return, Think Secret has agreed to stop existing. However, this means the editor also gets to protect his sources. [Think Secret via Gizmodo]
Remove Pen Marks From Dolls With Acne Medications
By 12.20.07
Dirty dolls? Acne medication + sunlight = awesomely removing pen marks from dolls, blogs Baby Toolkit. Acne meds are diluted benzoyl peroxide. This reacts with the UVs in sunlight to release oxidizing agents that dissolve the pen marks, without bleaching the doll or removing paint. Instead of tossing out that dirty doll, you can clean it up.
Family Sues Racist Debt Collector For $854,389.81, Wins
By 12.18.07
Lazy, fat, inbred, black, pathetic, stupid, liar, thief, nigger. Those are some of the defamatory words Merchants Retail Credit Association (MRCA) used on Dolores Madduxes’ family when they tried to collect on a debt Dolores Maddux, who is dead, owed CitiFinancial. For these violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Madduxes sued MRCA and won $854,389.81. Even delinquent debtors have rights and it’s important to know them and call an attorney if they’re being violated.
Get Around Delays By Bringing Airline's Timetable To The Airport
By 12.18.07
Upgrade: Travel Better has five awesome flying tips that could come in handy during the busy holiday travel season, or really, any time. We like this one in particular:
Carry the airline’s timetable, or a list of alternate flights to your destination, which can be downloaded or printed from any airline’s website. This is useful when you try for a rebooking or want to go standby. Let’s say flights are delayed two hours across the board. The previous flight might still be waiting to push back from the gate. Check the timetable you brought with you and make a beeline for that earlier flight. Try to stand by and get out early, instead of waiting for hours for your scheduled itinerary.
What a good idea! Mark says that with this tip you should also keep alternate routes in mind, so if you’re scheduled to go to LA through Chicago, it doesn’t mean you can’t get to LA by passing through Dallas. With the rise in airline delays and cancellations and overbookings, this is a tip definitely worth remembering.
Some Gift Cards Sorta Friendlier, Thanks To FTC
By 12.17.07
Gift cards have fewer hidden fees and expiration dates this holiday season, thanks to FTC action, reports the Washington Post. A survey by the Montgomery County’s Office of Consumer Protection found that about 80% of the 22 retail examined had no fees or expiration dates, could be replaced if lost or stolen and had scratch-off PINS for security.
By 12.16.07
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A critical look at the veracity of the claims mentioned in “Mandatory Binding Arbitration Means Alleged Halliburton Rapists Could Go Free” [Overylawyered]
Peter Pan Driver Idles Bus For Thirty Minutes To Punish Passengers Who Complained About Swerving
By 12.15.07
A Peter Pan bus driver took revenge on passengers who complained about his unsafe driving by refusing to let anyone off the bus while making an unexpected thirty minute stop in Framingham, MA. One angry passenger who noticed the driver’s erratic swerving, Brian Moore, blogged about his experience as a surprise hostage on the trip from New York to Boston.
By 12.14.07
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AdFreak is running a bracket style vote-off to determine the freakiest commercial of 2007. We have a big soft spot for Montgomery Flea Market (featured as an entrant in our “Great Moments In Commercial History” series, but it seems “Orville Deadenbacher” could be slated to sweep the race. [AdFreak]
How Pretexters Steal Your Private Information
By 12.14.07
Al Schweitzer, a former pretexter, described before Congress the underlying principle of how, for fun and profit, he was able to trick various agencies and institutions into giving up other people’s confidential and personal information.
Identify the piece of information you are after; identify who or what institution is the custodian of the information sought; based on real world situations or actual operational procedures of the target institution, figure out under what circumstances and to whom the desired information would be released; be that person under those circumstances.
Emphasis added. Using this method Al was able to get people’s phone records, bank statements, and tax returns for his clients, who were often insurance companies, lawyers, and law enforcement. He successfully pretexted the IRS and the Social Security Administration. Simply put, if someone with money wants it, your personal information is not secure.
By 12.14.07
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What if instead of bailing out SIV owners, we were bailing SUV owners? A satirical look at the subprime-meltdown. [Patrick.net via My Money Blog]
Bill Me Later Can Ding Your Credit Score
By 12.13.07
BillMeLater is a new service that does what its name says: you can buy something paying using BillMeLater, they’ll front the cash, and send you a bill later, but, FiLife reports that what the name doesn’t tell you is that using it could temporarily damage your credit score.
Vampire Electronics Suck Power Even While "Off"
By 12.13.07
As long as they’re still plugged in, most appliances are still sucking energy out of the wall, and dollars out your wallet. GOOD magazine made another one of their pretty graphs, this time featuring a large vampire, to show how much energy and money devices continue to leech. Some people, to combat this vampiric gadget effect, have most of their devices hooked up on powerstrips so they can fully cut power to all non-essential items with just a flick of a few switches.
