Venditoris

After refusing to sell any Macmillan books or ebooks for three days, Amazon.com today gave in to demands by the publisher that it start charging $15 for Macmillan ebooks, rather than Amazon's customary $9.99. In a statement, Amazon warned that customers might "rebel against such a high price for books that cost far less to distribute than physical books." Will they also rebel against a $259, black-and-white, DRM-laden e-reader that doesn't let you share or re-sell books that you "own," and can yank them back without notice at any time? Publishers have long balked at Amazon's $9.99 price, and many ... [Link] [Cache]

Scott has been a longtime and loyal Sony customer, but the company finally disappointed him. He writes that his lovely 46" LCD began to produce strange images on one side of the screen for ten minutes after powering up--not catastrophic, but not acceptable for a $3,000 TV, either. The regular channels of customer service were no help, so Scott took his case to his blog and to Twitter. The result? He heard from executive customer service within hours, and received a new TV for his trouble. I have been a lifelong Sony customer and have been very pleased with their ... [Link] [Cache]

If you can see this on www.cauce.org, then we've successfully moved the CAUCE North America web site to the Typepad blog hosting service.Unfortunately, Typepad doesn't support the URL scheme we were using before, which means most links into individual articles will now be broken. Many apologies for the inconvenience. [Link] [Cache]

Beer and sausages may indeed be the perfect combination for your Super Bowl gathering, but there's something about this grocery store display from Budweiser and sausage maker Johnsonville that is terribly wrong. I think it's the man's expression as he points to his, er, bratwurst. Thanks to reader Adam, who found this display in his local grocery store. [Link] [Cache]

During a recent trip to Best Buy to purchase a new laptop, Kristene was pleasantly surprised. She discovered that what our anonymous employee tipster told us in the post "Employee: Best Buy Scrambling To Clean Up Optimization Mess" is true, and customers at at least one Best Buy aren't being forced to buy optimized computers. The catch: they have to know to ask. Last night I bought a new laptop at our local Best Buy and my experience absolutely matches what the anonymous employee described in this article. I busted my HP laptop's screen last September I'm widely known as ... [Link] [Cache]

Reader IfThenElvis has a problem with his Newegg account. Well, technically, it's not his account. It was just registered using his email address. I have access to someone's NewEgg account and don't want it. If I was a nogoodnik I could abuse their credit card. He inadvertently created an account using my email address and I have been receiving his welcome, invoice, confirmation, and UPS tracking emails. It took a week but the package was delivered. I have not logged in but can see his name, address, and phone number. Do I contact him? If he's forgotten his password then ... [Link] [Cache]

If anyone is planning to trade in a vehicle at a dealership I have a word of advice. Go online to Kelly Blue Book and look up the trade in value on your car. In my experience the past week with six dealers they give you a value of $5000 to $6000 below KBB trade in value and tell you its because they will just have to sell your car at auction even if your car or truck is less than 2 years old with 19000 miles and is in pristine condition as mine is. What they really do is ... [Link] [Cache]

You've probably heard of the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama. It's where all lost suitcases that are never reunited with their owners end up. This makes it both the world's most amazing thrift store and a collection of pretty weird stuff. A recent mental_floss article rounded up ten of the strangest and most valuable things they've found. 1. Hoggle from the movie "Labyrinth." Yes. Someone checked the orignal puppet. 2. A Gucci suitcase filled with ancient Egyptian artifacts. 3. A rattlesnake. Yes. A snake on a plane. 4. A $250,000 guidance system belonging to the U.S. Navy. 5. A Barbie ... [Link] [Cache]

We know that the newspaper industry is suffering. Subscribers are fleeing, ad revenue is down, and things are generally dark and terrible. However, this does not mean that it is a good idea to throw sacks of junk mail on the lawns of people who won't subscribe to your paper. It will not endear you to them. We're looking at you, Baltimore Sun. Jonathan is one such non-subscriber. He writes that he continues to do battle with the Sun's circulation department...all for nothing. I'm not sure how it works in other cities or with other newspapers, but the Baltimore Sun ... [Link] [Cache]

A GPT or “Get Paid To” site sometimes called a “free paid survey” or “offer” site pays its registered members rather substantially to perform specific online tasks such as responding to a simple survey, completing a free trial offer, ordering products & services you may already be seeking, visiting sponsor’s web sites, viewing advertisements, signing up for newsletters, and such. GPT sites are an excellent source of easy spare-time money. These sites will definitely give you a healthy boost of income proportional to the time and effort you put into them. Many, including myself, have made GPT sites their full-time ... [Link] [Cache]

If you are searching for a reliable, instant-paying and professional get paid to site, then please look no further. I’ve been talking to the owner of GreedyClicks for a few days and not only is he a really cool and nice guy to get to know, he runs a great get paid to site that I would love to tell you more about. Many people go with big name sites. Ones that have been around for awhile. Sometimes, this is not the best decision. Since they are so big, they take a larger chunk of your money. Sometimes it is ... [Link] [Cache]

With such a diverse reading audience I wouldn’t presume to declare that I know which sites, or which types of sites are best for everyone. I, myself, do however have a rather grounded set of qualities I like to see in GPT sites I frequent. For your consideration in order :Don’t EVER Pay to Get Paid - Yes, you may have seen this said in various ways throughout this site and others. Honest, legitimate GPT sites never require payment for registration nor will they require you to purchase an account upgrade to enjoy the full benefits of the site. If ... [Link] [Cache]

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People who lead an aimless life and what they do in life, is largely a matter of chance, determined by the circumstances in which they happen to be placed. Aimless people do not achieve any thing in life. They just live because they have to live. One should have a definite purpose of life. The people who want success in life, first of all, determine their target. No nation can choose a goal to gain his establishment. A man can gain his goal by different way. He can establish his life by many ways. Every way is not easy to ... [Link] [Cache]