5/13/10
Best Buy Sprint EVO pre-order ready
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5/12/10
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Shop At Costco Without a Membership
Costco is known for their large quantities, cheap prices, and great return policy. They're also known for their membership fees, which start at $50 a year and can get as high as a hundred (Executive Membership). Did you know that you can shop at a Costco without a membership?
The key is to get a Costco Cash Card, which is their gift card. If you have the Costco Cash card, you don't need a membership. The gift card lets you go into the store and buy anything you want. You'll need to use the cash card to pay for your purchases and, if it doesn't have enough on it, you can use cash or debit card to pay for the rest.
The downside to this strategy is you can't buy a new card or reload the card without a membership. You'll have to find a Costco card-carrying friend to buy them for you and the minimum is $10. If you don't know anyone, you can always try to buy the cards off Craigslist or eBay, but proceed with caution.
Oh, and if all you want is some alcohol, you don't need a membership to buy booze in certain states.
Better Groceries for Less Cash
Every Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book or other book of interest.
Better Groceries for Less Cash by Randall Putala has a subtitle that pretty clearly describes what you’ll find inside the covers: 101 Tested and Proven Ways to Save on Food. While organized into chapters, this fairly short book’s main purpose is to simply relate a lot of methods for saving money on food purchases.
My wife and I already do a lot of things to reduce our grocery bill, from using grocery lists to making meal plans and clipping (some) coupons. Yet we still look for ways to trim our food costs even more, so this book was a welcome read.
While Better Groceries for Less Cash is organized into chapters, the focus of each chapter is simply to deliver a few specific tips on how to save money on some aspect of grocery shopping. So, rather than giving my usual chapter-by-chapter review, I picked out ten interesting tips to share and discuss.
Start your own cookbook The key to saving money on food preparation while still getting delicious meals is simply knowing how to cook. Randall suggests simply making up your own cookbook where you jot down notes on what works for you for every new thing you try. Just list the steps you take in a way that you can understand later. If it doesn’t quite work, note that and make a change to your steps (changing cooking time from seven minutes to eight, for example). Then try doubling the quantity (six eggs scrambled instead of three) and seeing how that works. It’s all about learning how to do it so you feel confident with raw foods.
Ignore lying signs Just because there’s a big sign advertising a great deal doesn’t mean that it’s really a great deal. Often, it’s the same old bad deal you’d get otherwise – they just put up a sign to make it look good. Stick to your list and ignore the “sales” you find inside the store unless you’re absolutely sure that they’re great buys.
Clip for products, not for brands If you need toothpaste, clip every toothpaste coupon you can find. Then, when you go to the store to buy the toothpaste, you can match the coupon to the toothpaste brand with the best price (possibly one on sale in the store). This often results in items that have an extremely low price, sometimes even free.
Ignore the picture The picture on a coupon is there for advertising purposes, to try to instill knowledge of that brand in your mind. It may or may not even be the item that the coupon is good for. Instead, read the coupon and know what the coupon itself is good for – it might be for a different flavor, a different size, or something else entirely.
Generics are often exactly the same as store brands Yes, sometimes you have to do a little bit of testing, but many store brands are identical to the name brands. The best way to find out is to compare ingredients and try it yourself. If the ingredient list is identical, then the item is probably identical. If it doesn’t have an ingredient list on the store brand (like toilet paper, for example), try the store brand (or at least research it online).
Sign up for frequent shopper programs at every store They’re often effortless (you just swipe a card and coupons are applied to your bill automatically) and send a signal to store management that you’re seeking low prices. If you’re concerned about privacy, then sign up for a post office box or a work address.
Use leftover ingredients If you prepare a meal and find some ingredients are left behind, actively seek out a way to use the items in something else. Throw some leftover chicken into a salad to make it more filling. Put leftover scrambled eggs in a tortilla with some salsa tomorrow morning. Use those vegetables in a stir fry. It simply stretches out the number of meals you can get out of the items on hand, meaning more time between grocery store trips and less spent per month.
Raw foods simply are cheaper Food manufacturers don’t sell food kits because they’re a bargain. They sell them because they make a healthy profit. The only difference is that they’re just sticking their fingers in the pie between you and the actual food producer. Instead of buying prepackaged meals, buy the same raw ingredients and make it yourself. It’s usually not much harder, it’s often cheaper, and it’s usually healthier and tastier (thanks to a lack of preservatives).
Focus on core ingredients If you know how to make a lot of meals with a few core ingredients (like tomatoes, for example, or flour), then you can always buy those and always turn them into something delicious. You can also cross-match them with whatever’s on sale to make unique meals for the week. For us, core ingredients include chicken, broccoli, cheese, rice, tomatoes, apples, and spinach.
Cheapest is often best when it comes to produce Why? Because the cheap items are the ones that lots of people buy. Thus, the stock of that item has to rotate more frequently, which means you’re likely to get the freshest produce by buying the cheapest stuff. Sweet corn in August comes to mind here, as it gets heavily rotated and it’s very cheap around here.
Better Groceries for Less Cash by Randall Putala has a subtitle that pretty clearly describes what you’ll find inside the covers: 101 Tested and Proven Ways to Save on Food. While organized into chapters, this fairly short book’s main purpose is to simply relate a lot of methods for saving money on food purchases.My wife and I already do a lot of things to reduce our grocery bill, from using grocery lists to making meal plans and clipping (some) coupons. Yet we still look for ways to trim our food costs even more, so this book was a welcome read.
While Better Groceries for Less Cash is organized into chapters, the focus of each chapter is simply to deliver a few specific tips on how to save money on some aspect of grocery shopping. So, rather than giving my usual chapter-by-chapter review, I picked out ten interesting tips to share and discuss.
Start your own cookbook The key to saving money on food preparation while still getting delicious meals is simply knowing how to cook. Randall suggests simply making up your own cookbook where you jot down notes on what works for you for every new thing you try. Just list the steps you take in a way that you can understand later. If it doesn’t quite work, note that and make a change to your steps (changing cooking time from seven minutes to eight, for example). Then try doubling the quantity (six eggs scrambled instead of three) and seeing how that works. It’s all about learning how to do it so you feel confident with raw foods.
Ignore lying signs Just because there’s a big sign advertising a great deal doesn’t mean that it’s really a great deal. Often, it’s the same old bad deal you’d get otherwise – they just put up a sign to make it look good. Stick to your list and ignore the “sales” you find inside the store unless you’re absolutely sure that they’re great buys.
Clip for products, not for brands If you need toothpaste, clip every toothpaste coupon you can find. Then, when you go to the store to buy the toothpaste, you can match the coupon to the toothpaste brand with the best price (possibly one on sale in the store). This often results in items that have an extremely low price, sometimes even free.
Ignore the picture The picture on a coupon is there for advertising purposes, to try to instill knowledge of that brand in your mind. It may or may not even be the item that the coupon is good for. Instead, read the coupon and know what the coupon itself is good for – it might be for a different flavor, a different size, or something else entirely.
Generics are often exactly the same as store brands Yes, sometimes you have to do a little bit of testing, but many store brands are identical to the name brands. The best way to find out is to compare ingredients and try it yourself. If the ingredient list is identical, then the item is probably identical. If it doesn’t have an ingredient list on the store brand (like toilet paper, for example), try the store brand (or at least research it online).
Sign up for frequent shopper programs at every store They’re often effortless (you just swipe a card and coupons are applied to your bill automatically) and send a signal to store management that you’re seeking low prices. If you’re concerned about privacy, then sign up for a post office box or a work address.
Use leftover ingredients If you prepare a meal and find some ingredients are left behind, actively seek out a way to use the items in something else. Throw some leftover chicken into a salad to make it more filling. Put leftover scrambled eggs in a tortilla with some salsa tomorrow morning. Use those vegetables in a stir fry. It simply stretches out the number of meals you can get out of the items on hand, meaning more time between grocery store trips and less spent per month.
Raw foods simply are cheaper Food manufacturers don’t sell food kits because they’re a bargain. They sell them because they make a healthy profit. The only difference is that they’re just sticking their fingers in the pie between you and the actual food producer. Instead of buying prepackaged meals, buy the same raw ingredients and make it yourself. It’s usually not much harder, it’s often cheaper, and it’s usually healthier and tastier (thanks to a lack of preservatives).
Focus on core ingredients If you know how to make a lot of meals with a few core ingredients (like tomatoes, for example, or flour), then you can always buy those and always turn them into something delicious. You can also cross-match them with whatever’s on sale to make unique meals for the week. For us, core ingredients include chicken, broccoli, cheese, rice, tomatoes, apples, and spinach.
Cheapest is often best when it comes to produce Why? Because the cheap items are the ones that lots of people buy. Thus, the stock of that item has to rotate more frequently, which means you’re likely to get the freshest produce by buying the cheapest stuff. Sweet corn in August comes to mind here, as it gets heavily rotated and it’s very cheap around here.
Video: Inside New York’s Spycam HQ
In this clip, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly takes CBS News inside the nerve center of the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative. The idea is to use video intelligence algorithms and an array of 3,000 cameras to spot terrorists before they strike in the financial district.
The project is behind schedule, as we’ve previously noted. Right now, there are only “several hundred” cameras integrated into the system, Kelly admits. There are plans afoot to replace the LMSI in midtown, near the latest bomb attempt. But those cameras are years away.
Still, Kelly tells CBS’ Steve Kroft how the NYPD was able to retrace the steps of would-be Times Square terrorist Faisal Shahzad using the existing spycams that the city and private companies have scattered around the city. Then Kelly shows a giant, overhead image of 45th and Broadway — where Shahzad parked his car bomb. It’s a little higher resolution than a Google Earth image. But it’s certainly not a view that would have prevented a bomb from going off.
Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/05/video-inside-new-york-spycam-hq/#ixzz0ninHkNYC
The Battle Continues Among Wireless Industry Leaders
By Andy Golub and Paul Carton
May 4, 2010
During March ChangeWave surveyed 4,040 consumers on their attitudes towards the wireless service provider industry – including trends in customer satisfaction and loyalty, future market share demand, and the issue of dropped calls.
The survey also took a close-up look at the potential industry impact if Verizon were to offer the Apple iPhone.
Customer Satisfaction
As in previous ChangeWave surveys, Verizon remains the clear industry leader in customer satisfaction – with nearly half of Verizon’s customers (49%) saying they are Very Satisfied with their cellular service.
We note that Sprint/Nextel (35%) is now second in terms of customer satisfaction, with T-Mobile (23%) and AT&T (23%) lagging well behind.
Dropped Calls. Verizon also ranks best in terms of number of dropped calls, with Verizon customers reporting only 1.5% of their calls being dropped over the past 3 months. This compares to 2.4% for Sprint/Nextel, 2.8% for T-Mobile and 4.5% for AT&T customers.
Importantly, while Verizon has its all-time best dropped call rating in the current ChangeWave survey, AT&T has just reached its all time worst rating on this all important measure.
Customer Loyalty
To measure subscriber churn rates, we asked respondents how likely they are to switch wireless providers over the next 90 days. Only 8% say they plan to make a change – matching the lowest level recorded in a ChangeWave survey.
At the provider level, 7% of Verizon’s customers and 8% of AT&T’s say they’ll switch. Sprint/ Nextel (10%) and T-Mobile (14%) lag behind the two industry leaders.
AT&T’s low churn rate – despite its relatively poor Very Satisfied rating and its high percentage of dropped calls – is attributable to the huge advantage it continues to maintain as the exclusive U.S. service provider for the Apple iPhone.
Which Provider Gains Most From Customer Switching?
Thanks largely to a huge influx of Motorola Droid buyers, Verizon showed a leap in new customers in our previous survey. In the current survey, the percentage of customers who say they’ll switch to Verizon has settled back a bit – dipping 4-pts to 27%. Nonetheless they still hold a sizable lead over their top competitor – AT&T (18%) – which is 3-pts lower than last quarter and a full 14-pts lower than 9 months ago.
We note that Sprint/Nextel (7%; up 4-pts) is experiencing an uptick in terms of future share, which could be due to their new 4G wireless offer combined with some of the lowest price plans in the industry. It remains to be seen, however, whether Sprint’s latest rise will have staying power.
Potential Impact of a Verizon iPhone
The current survey was conducted before the latest Verizon iPhone rumors kicked up again. But one of the most interesting findings involves how likely non-AT&T customers would be to buy an Apple iPhone if it becomes available on their current provider:
Among Verizon, Sprint/Nextel and T-Mobile subscribers, an astonishing 49% say they’re Very or Somewhat Likely to buy an iPhone for themselves or someone else if it becomes available on their carrier.
But when we looked only at Verizon subscribers, that number rises to 53% – with 19% saying they’d be Very Likely and 34% Somewhat Likely to buy a Verizon iPhone.
In sum, the survey results show an unprecedented level of pent up demand for the iPhone among Verizon subscribers. If Verizon were ever to offer the iPhone, the evidence points to it having a profound and likely transformational impact on the industry.
In comparison, 11% of Sprint/Nextel customers say they’re Very Likely and 33% Somewhat Likely to buy an iPhone if it becomes available. Among T-Mobile customers, 11% say they’re Very Likely and 28% Somewhat Likely.
May 4, 2010
During March ChangeWave surveyed 4,040 consumers on their attitudes towards the wireless service provider industry – including trends in customer satisfaction and loyalty, future market share demand, and the issue of dropped calls.
The survey also took a close-up look at the potential industry impact if Verizon were to offer the Apple iPhone.
Customer Satisfaction
As in previous ChangeWave surveys, Verizon remains the clear industry leader in customer satisfaction – with nearly half of Verizon’s customers (49%) saying they are Very Satisfied with their cellular service.
Dropped Calls. Verizon also ranks best in terms of number of dropped calls, with Verizon customers reporting only 1.5% of their calls being dropped over the past 3 months. This compares to 2.4% for Sprint/Nextel, 2.8% for T-Mobile and 4.5% for AT&T customers.
To measure subscriber churn rates, we asked respondents how likely they are to switch wireless providers over the next 90 days. Only 8% say they plan to make a change – matching the lowest level recorded in a ChangeWave survey.
At the provider level, 7% of Verizon’s customers and 8% of AT&T’s say they’ll switch. Sprint/ Nextel (10%) and T-Mobile (14%) lag behind the two industry leaders.
AT&T’s low churn rate – despite its relatively poor Very Satisfied rating and its high percentage of dropped calls – is attributable to the huge advantage it continues to maintain as the exclusive U.S. service provider for the Apple iPhone.
Which Provider Gains Most From Customer Switching?
Thanks largely to a huge influx of Motorola Droid buyers, Verizon showed a leap in new customers in our previous survey. In the current survey, the percentage of customers who say they’ll switch to Verizon has settled back a bit – dipping 4-pts to 27%. Nonetheless they still hold a sizable lead over their top competitor – AT&T (18%) – which is 3-pts lower than last quarter and a full 14-pts lower than 9 months ago.
Potential Impact of a Verizon iPhone
The current survey was conducted before the latest Verizon iPhone rumors kicked up again. But one of the most interesting findings involves how likely non-AT&T customers would be to buy an Apple iPhone if it becomes available on their current provider:
Among Verizon, Sprint/Nextel and T-Mobile subscribers, an astonishing 49% say they’re Very or Somewhat Likely to buy an iPhone for themselves or someone else if it becomes available on their carrier.
In comparison, 11% of Sprint/Nextel customers say they’re Very Likely and 33% Somewhat Likely to buy an iPhone if it becomes available. Among T-Mobile customers, 11% say they’re Very Likely and 28% Somewhat Likely.
Jay-Z's SNL Performance
Sprint EVO training
AndroidGuys has been privileged to receive a plethora of screenshots showing Sprint's EVO 4G training materials. According to our source, today's the day that Sprint employees are beginning to train on the new WiMAX phone. Rumors have the phone pegged for a June 6th launch. With employees already training, that date not only looks possible, but very likely. However, I was unable to get a release date confirmation. For all we know, Sprint may decide to launch the device next week at their event in New York City. **yes it does have youtube and microsoft exchange activesync.
Unlike the leaked promotional stuff from Radio Shack, this stuff is from actual training material. Yes, the device will come pre-loaded with Sprint specific apps. From the language of the materials, it seems that the EVO 4G will require special rate plans. This especially applies for use of the phone's mobile hotspot functionality.
Interestingly, you'll see that Sprint Navigation is present on the device. It's unclear what this means for Google Maps Navigation. Let's hope that both are there and Sprint didn't decide to go all AT&T on us and strip out native Android apps. More information as it comes.
UPDATE:
- Hotspot feature will support WEP and WPA encryption
- FM radio is a go
UPDATE 2:
- Google Navigation and Sprint Navigation are both present
- Reset and recovery menus are navigated with volume rocker (good to know if you're a modder)
5/11/10
Def Jam's New Artist - Sheek Louch @realsheeklouch
As 1/3 of the Lox, he made the announcement early yesterday on his twitter - follow him @realsheeklouch
Home Theater on the cheap for streamers
Need a small home theater for streaming video to your HDTV or your 3dTV?
Here are 2 solutions, that might do the trick on the cheap..(click on the names for more information)
Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150
Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11
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