By pmiller(view all posts by pmiller)
at 9:01AM Thursday February 2, 2012
under
Newsworthy
Rising oil prices are great news if you're
Exxon Mobil,
but not so much for the rest of us. And, while those of us who drive
regularly were hoping that the cost of hybrid cars would drop, it
instead looks like car manufacturers are
moving away from hybrid cars altogether. What's a cost-conscious commuter to do?
Read More »
By pmiller(view all posts by pmiller)
at 4:15PM Thursday January 26, 2012
under
Newsworthy
After
JCPenny announced its new pricing scheme, many financial sites portrayed the new policy as manna from heaven. If you judged by the headlines alone, you'd think that JCPenny was now selling everything for 40% less than suggested retail, no questions asked.
Photo courtesy of Mike Kalasnik, via Flickr.As is often the case, the reality is more complex. Read on to find out what the new policy means, and what it means for you.
Let's
start with what the policy isn't. Despite some of the reports you may
have read, JCPenny is not doing away with all sales. Instead, JCPenny is
lowering the prices for all of its merchandise an average of 40%. They
are also doing away with most sales, not all. There will still be weekly
and monthly discounts on certain items, and these will be designated by
special tags.
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By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger(view all posts by Rick.Broida)
at 1:05PM Thursday January 19, 2012
under
Product Review
By BeckyHarks(view all posts by BeckyHarks)
at 12:48PM Friday January 13, 2012
under
Newsworthy
Facebook, Inc, recently launched a brand-new ad format, called a
"Featured Story," which dumps paid content - rather than updates
from Great Aunt Lynn about her recent biopsy or one of those
internet memes - squarely into our news feeds. Worse, these paid
advertisements (a.k.a. "news feed) shows the actions of the
Facebook users friends and these ads are front-and-center on our
Facebook news feed.
Great. More ads.
I've been mildly annoyed by the ads (read: "Sponsored Stories") on
the sidebar of Facebook, but have been able to tune them out. Now,
when I'm blearily checking to see if I've gotten any response to my
"Which Disney Princess Are You?" post, I'm bound to accidentally
click a Featured Story.
You know what? I'm sick of ads.
Because I have to sell my firstborn son in order to see a movie
these days, I do it perhaps twice a year.
Read More »
By stella.louise(view all posts by stella.louise)
at 9:58AM Thursday January 12, 2012
under
Newsworthy
Recently celebrity financial advisor Suze Orman launched her own prepaid debit card--which is somewhat baffling in and of itself. After all, it certainly couldn't be one of "The Nine Steps To Financial Freedom" to tie your money up in a fee-laden piece of plastic, could it?
A number of noted personal finance bloggers called the Oprah Allstar out on the move, resulting in her
waging a Twitter war and calling them "idiots."
Read More »
By pmiller(view all posts by pmiller)
at 7:55AM Thursday January 12, 2012
under
Newsworthy
Photo courtesy of laffy4k, via FlickrThere's nothing like a gross-out news story to offer a little
perspective. Last week, I might've complained that shipping was taking
longer than expected. Now, I'm just glad that my gadgets don't arrive
covered in gum and vomit.
As The Consumerist reports, this was the sight that greeted a Dell Outlet customer when his
refurbished laptop arrived with gum on the inside and a barf-like substance on the outside. What's worse, Dell initially blamed FedEx.
Thankfully,
the problem seems to be mostly sorted out, and the man will soon have a
shiny, new, non-waste-covered laptop on the way. And, thankfully, the
vast majority of refurbished laptops don't have this problem, or any
problems, really. We should be careful not to take the wrong lesson from
this. Refurbs are still a smart choice. Read on to learn why.
Read More »
By Rick.BroidaGuest Blogger(view all posts by Rick.Broida)
at 11:56AM Tuesday January 10, 2012
under
Product Review
Remember the Cisco Umi, a fancy consumer-oriented webcam that turned your TV into a Jetson-ian video phone?
It was an intriguing idea hampered by a ridiculous pricing structure: $600 per unit, plus $25 monthly for Cisco's proprietary video-calling service.
Earlier this year, the company lowered prices a bit--but no way was anyone going to shell out that kind of cash when they could accomplish the same thing for free with Skype and a laptop webcam.
Read More »
By LKnerl(view all posts by LKnerl)
at 8:55AM Tuesday January 10, 2012
under
Loose Change
If you're an avid freebie-finder, deal-seeker, or giveaway enterer,
you likely use Facebook as part of your daily arsenal to get more
for less. Facebook is one of the hottest online properties
for companies to tout their special savings offers, newest
sweepstakes, or even customer loyalty rewards. If you're like
me, you check your message daily, and likely do so only after being
prompted by the bright red number hovering over your message
notification icon.
Were you aware, however, that this is only alerting you to half
of your messages -- the half that likely won't tell you about the
most valuable opportunities?
Read More »
By benjamindsearle(view all posts by benjamindsearle)
at 8:57AM Monday January 9, 2012
under
Newsworthy
The
iPhone
4S comes with one of the most revolutionary features we've seen
on a phone yet: Siri. For those of you who haven't seen the
commercials yet, and have managed to avoid the hype, Siri is a sort
of personal assistant within your phone. You can talk to your
iPhone in natural language, and Siri is the program that sorts out
what exactly it is that you're asking for and tries to get it for
you.
Read More »
By Dealman(view all posts by Dealman)
at 11:57AM Friday January 6, 2012
under
Loose Change
Image courtesy of ICanHasCheezburger
This week we have a money app for kids, money apps for adults, ways to make sure you use those money apps, Apple's problems, cheap oil, and saving money at your job.
Plus, an animal year in review.
Read More »
By BeckyHarks(view all posts by BeckyHarks)
at 9:57AM Friday January 6, 2012
under
Newsworthy
Image by Richard Cordray (Wikipedia:Contact us/Photo
submission) [CC-BY-SA-3.0],
via
Wikimedia Commons
In a outlandish move, President Barack Obama enlisted Richard
Cordray (
someone just informed me that it WAS NOT Rob Corddry
of the Daily Show, so perhaps it wasn't an outlandish move on the
President's part after all...) as the
new
Head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday
January 4, 2011. I'm not exactly sure what a Head of Consumer
Financial Protection (
a lilting "HCFP" acronym) does,
besides punish the bad bankers and financial players, but I do know
what I want him to do for me personally.
Read More »
By pmiller(view all posts by pmiller)
at 7:56AM Thursday January 5, 2012
under
Newsworthy
Photo courtesy of Roger Price, via FlickrEvery year, Duke University's Center for the Study of the Public Domain
celebrates "Public Domain Day." This is the day-- January 1st, to be
precise-- when works officially pass into the public domain. This means
that old movies, books, TV shows, cartoon characters, and other works of
art will officially become free to download, watch, share, alter,
distribute, and otherwise enjoy.
Read More »
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