I came across a very interesting story today that is about an eBay seller who is attempting to get out of an auction because the final selling price is so low.  Here are excerpts from the story:

This is the response of the seller when returning the buyer’s $250 deposit:

We are devastated with our discovery this morning of a swarm of Africanized killer bees in the 2007 Sandpiper 325RG 5th wheel that you have a deposit on. We have used multiple poisons in an attempt eradicate them. We have vacuumed up the bees that covered the floors, cabinets, and furniture. We tried to clean the traces of honey on the countertops and cabinet tops as completely as possible. This is one of the terrible acts of Mother Nature we have in Arizona. As best we can determine, the bees entered from the door that had been left opened yesterday morning. The interior of this trailer does have a strong chemical odor from the poison and is TOXIC. Our insurance regulations prohibit us from selling this 5th wheel at this time.

Due to these circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to proceed with the sale of this 2007 Sandpiper 325RG 5th wheel… Link

Buyer’s reply:

After discussions with my attorney today and reviewing material safety data sheets of both the Ortho and Hot Shot brand indoor foggers that you used, I have decided that I will still take the 5th wheel. Thank you for disclosing the unfortunate event.

I would like to send a local representative to your dealership to inspect the unit as my agent. I would also like to resubmit the necessary deposit as required in our contract.

Please call me to arrange a time for closing as I intend on traveling to Arizona to pick up the Sandpiper within the next week… Link

And perhaps the most disturbing email, which is the last contact with the seller:

Angelita got on the phone and said “You did not buy a trailer from us and to quit calling and e-mailing us.” I Responded that the trailer was offered to the highest bidder in an auction, and that I was the highest bidder. Therefore I believe we have a contract for the sale. Angelina replied forcefully, “There is no contract! And we don’t even have the trailer anymore.” I responded by saying, that is not what the e-mails I have from you say, and I hope you still have the trailer because we have a deal. She then said in a very angry tone, “We do not have a deal! And we will not allow you to swindle us out of $15,000.” At which point the phone went dead…Link

I highly suggest reading the whole story, as I have only given excerpts and I have left out the pictures.

It looks like this is a desperate attempt for the seller to get out of this sale so they do not have to take such a large loss of income.  If this is the case, I do hope that eBay takes some sort of legal action against the seller.  It is ridiculous that a seller can get out of a sale only because they want more money; that is the point of a price reserve.

Justin

Imagine the power of a MacBook, with the touch-screen capabilities of the MacBook Touch.  The idea is innovative, and would draw in a large user base.  Touch-screen computers are becoming the next ‘it’ when it comes to portable computing.  Apple is one of the few computer giants that does not have a touch screen computer.  Well, they still do not have the touch screen portable computer.  The idea is only a rumor and can neither be confirmed or denied at this point.

So says our source - the same one who tipped us to wireless iTunes Store sales direct to iPod, iPhone a week before Apple debuted it - in staccato fashion:

Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured Multi-Touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion’s haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at “low” price that will reduce margins. Apple wants to move these babies. And move they will. This is some sick shit. App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too. By October at the latest.

Link: MacDailyNews

After owning a HP tablet PC for about six months, the idea of a touch screen laptop scares me.  HP was not able to successfully implement the idea.  However, Apple already has the technology, the iPod Touch.  If they can duplicate it on a larger scale, I think they will have a very good product.

Would you buy a MacBook Touch?  I am interested in your opinions.

Justin

Whether it is for email, browsing or both; there are a good number of people who use their computers for only web-browsing.  How nice would it be to have an inexpensive computer that was solely designed for internet browsing.  This is exactly what some people want.

Here’s the basic idea: The machine is as thin as possible, runs low end hardware and has a single button for powering it on and off, headphone jacks, a built in camera for video, low end speakers, and a microphone. It will have Wifi, maybe one USB port, a built in battery, half a Gigabyte of RAM, a 4-Gigabyte solid state hard drive. Data input is primarily through an iPhone-like touch screen keyboard. It runs on linux and Firefox. It would be great to have it be built entirely on open source hardware, but including Skype for VOIP and video calls may be a nice touch, too.

If all you are doing is running Firefox and Skype, you don’t need a lot of hardware horsepower, which will keep the cost way down.

Link: We Want a Dead Simple Web Tablet…

The article is an interesting read, but I do not know if any of the big computer companies would take the time to develop such a simple piece of technology.  They would have to sell a large number of these computers in order to make a profit.  More importantly, ASUS already has something similar on the marketl the Eee PC.  For under $500 dollars a user can get a small laptop that runs the bare necessities, but the monitor is rather small.

What do you think?  Would you be interested in a tablet-touch-screen, internet only laptop?

Justin

Computer users are trying to beat the high gas prices by staying at home and doing their shopping online.  With grocery stores starting to offer at home delivery, it is almost possible to have everything you need delivered right to your home.

A number of retailers - including Gap, Victoria’s Secret and J. C. Penney - are experiencing double-digit sales growth at their shopping Web sites, creating a surprising bright spot during an otherwise gloomy time for sales in brick-and-mortar stores.

One popular strategy for getting shoppers’ attention is offering free shipping, in contrast to many other businesses, like airlines, that are adding surcharges and other fees to offset their higher costs.

Link: To Save Gas, Shoppers Stay Home…

But is this really saving shoppers money?  While a lot of stores are offering free shipping, those who do not are charging an arm and a leg to ship an item.  Companies like TigerDirect.com have outrageous shipping prices; but their products come wrapped in bubble wrap and guarded with Styrofoam peanuts.  Other companies sometimes charge more for shipping than the cost of the actual item.

My advice, if you are going to shop online use Google to find some free shipping coupons.  Free shipping is the only way you will save money because as gas prices go up, the shipping companies are going to increase their rates to help offset the costs of the rising gas prices.

Justin

My favorite email and e-calendar web-applications are finally going offline!  No, they are not shutting down, in fact they are going to become even more user friendly.  Gmail and Google Calendar will adding offline support in approximately six weeks.

It seems that this year Google’s most popular web applications will work offline. After Google Reader and Google Docs, two other services will integrate with Gears. Andrew Fogg saw a preview of the integration at Google’s offices and found that Gmail and Google Calendar will add offline support in approximately 6 weeks.

In the past months, Google accidentally enabled the option in Google Calendar and some users saw the dialog illustrated below: “To view and edit the next 3 months of your Google Calendar when you’re not connected to the Internet, click OK.”

Link: Gmail and Google Calendar to Add…

I cannot explain how excited I am for this change.  I have wanted to be able to access my Google Calendar while offline for such a long time.  I do not want to have to deal with updating my Outlook calendar (especially when I don’t use Outlook) and then have it sync to Google.  It takes too long, and can be a huge pain to work with.

My Blackberry Curve syncs with my Google Calendar online, which works near flawlessly.  This has been the closest I have gotten to working with my Google Calendar while offline.  I look forward to this addition Google.

What about you, do you like this change? hate it?  I want to know your opinions.

Justin

I am a huge fan of saving money, and about a year ago I discovered refurbished printer ink.  Even more recently I have discovered 4InkJets.com.  A company that sells quality refurbished ink and backs up their product with a 365-day money back guarantee.

I bought from this company for the first time last week.  I got my three Dell 720 cartridges in the mail and opened up the first cartridge.  Turns out that the cartridge sat in the 110F heat a little too long and exploded.  Same result with cartridge two and three.

I called 4InkJets and they apologized and sent replacement cartridges out the same day.  They also included a postage-paid label for me to return the bad cartridges back to them.  The replacement cartridges worked great, and have amazing quality.  They will definately get my business next time I need printer ink.  Each cartridge comes with an envelope for you to mail in your empty cartridge so they can reuse the parts.  You don’t get a discount, but it helps keep their costs low.

Give 4InkJets a try, I do not think you will be disappointed.  If you are, they will give you your money back!  You can get 10% off your order and free shipping when spending $50 or more, until the end of July, 2008.

Get 10% Off Ink, Toner and Much More at 4inkjets, Free S&H on Select Orders, Code YB443X, exp 7.31.08

A recently discovered security flaw within Gmail explains how spammers are able to personalize their spam; with almost no work.Here’s a cute vulnerability in the gmail system that comes from the strong tie-ins between gmail, the google calendar and all the other services.

How to do it:

- Go to the ’share this calendar’ tab

- Enter the email address in the ‘person’ box

- Click ‘add person’ and ’save’

- When you return to this screen you will see the first and last name along with the gmail address

Link: Finding the name behind the gmail address

Way to go Google.  This is a pretty big screw up on your part, and something that makes me fairly angry.  I get at least five emails a day from Viagra spammers who all seem to know my name.  At least now I know where they got it from.

Thanks Google; please fix this,

Justin

These new smoothies from Starbucks Coffee come in two flavors; Orange Mango Banana and Banana Mocha.  Out of the two, my favorite is the Orange Mango Banana blend.  Both smoothies come high in protein and fiber and are equal to or under 270 calories per serving (16oz).

The orange mango banana blend has the following:

• Orange Mango Naked Juice
• Your choice of milk (2% is default)
• Whole, fresh banana
• Ice
• Protein powder
• Option of adding Green tea matcha powder or the Starbucks energy powder

The Mocha banana blend contains:

• Your choice of milk (2% is default)
• Mocha syrup
• Protein powder
• Whole, fresh banana
• Ice
• Option of adding a shot of espresso or the Starbucks energy powder

They are both fairly good, and are fairly filling.  Head into your local Starbucks Coffee today and try a sample.  Some stores are giving out free coupons for you to come back and try one on them

Justin

Earlier in the week I posted about gas stations charging customers more (the 2% fee that VISA charges the gas company) when purchasing gas at the pump.  With this story getting a lot of hype, VISA has offered an official policy in regards to the legality of the issue:

You may have noticed that gas stations are starting to offer a different, higher price for credit cards. This isn’t technically allowed- unless it is marketed as a “cash discount.” In other words, if you fill up your car and find that you’ve been charged more than advertised because you paid with a credit card - that’s not allowed. If, however, you decide to pay with cash because you saw an advertised “cash discount” to the “regular price” - that’s ok. A subtle distinction, but an important one. 

Link: Credit Cards:…

There you have it, gas stations simply cannot charge credit card customers more than the advertised price.  The only way that a credit card customer is charged more is when the gas station offers a discount to customers paying with cash.  In this case, customers using a credit card are still charged the advertised price.

If you find a gas station that violates this rule, you can report them online.

Here’s Mastercard’s Merchant Violation form. To report merchant violations to VISA, they ask that you report them to the financial institution that issued you your Visa card. You should be able to find the number your on Visa statement or on the back of your card.

Justin

With more and more companies going electronic, the security of the internet is under investigation. In the old days, medical records used to be stored in a doctor’s office. Now, records can be stored electronically and this move has great benefits. Data can be shared between doctors, or doctors can view x-ray results from their own home. Storing data electronically also takes up less physical room. However, the move to electronic storage has its faults as well.

No matter how much effort is put into the security of online data, there is always going to be some risk that the data can be compromised. Even if the risk is small, it still exists. As we can see, paper data is not even as secure as we hope it is.

Saying his medical records have periodically been breached, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday called on hospitals to better protect patients’ privacy amid a growing list of celebrities, including his wife, who have been victims of snooping at a Los Angeles hospital.

California first lady Maria Shriver is one of more than 30 high-profile patients whose confidential records were improperly looked at by an employee at UCLA Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported. (Link)

If we cannot secure data on paper, how can we expect to secure it digitally? This is just another reason why everyone needs to be careful with what they put on the internet. Once it goes up, it can technically exist forever. As a patient, you have a right to know where your medical files are being stored and who can access them. Do not be afraid to ask questions.

Justin