| Pimp Out Your Air. Paint and Customize
Just finished writing about a too-good-to-be-true story and while this here image would have you thinking the same thing, I can assure you that this is not the case. You can indeed pimp out your MacBook Air to look like the one in the image to the left, or even better, but it's gonna cost you. Oh, it's gonna cost you a lot! About $500 in cash (no, actually I'm pretty sure you can pay .
Brandy's Mom: Kim Kardashian Abused My Credit Card
R&B singer Brandy Norwood's mother filed a lawsuit Monday against Kim Kardashian accusing her of running up more than $120,000 in credit card charges without permission. The suit, which also names Kardashian's siblings Khloe, Kourtney and Robert Jr., alleges they ran up the charges on the mother's card in 2006 and 2007. It seeks the return of the money plus 10 percent interest. In a statement, the Kardashians denied the allegations. "The charges against the Kardashians are meritless," the statement said. "Both Kim and Khloe were employed by the Norwoods and never used their credit cards without their express authorization. The Kardashian family looks forward to proving the absurdity of these claims in a court of law." In the lawsuit, Norwood's mother, Sonja Norwood, who is also her manager, alleges Kim Kardashian had only been authorized in 2004 to make one purchase on the Norwood American Express card in Kim's then-capacity as a stylist for Brandy (Brandy's brother, Ray J, also appeared in the infamous sex tape with Kim).
BCS Championship game: Online ticket buyers risk getting sacked
Only the event, the venue and the event's authorized ticketing company can guarantee that the ticket purchased online is legitimate. You take a risk when buying on the secondary market. When buying from an individual through an online exchange, don't be lured away from the Web site by the seller. Even if you met the seller on the new Web site, the company may not guarantee any lost money if a transaction occurs outside their domain. If you buy tickets through an online auction, choose a seller with a long, continuous history of satisfied customers by checking the person's history through the site. Scammers can hijack old accounts, so make sure they have recently bought or sold other items. Never pay with a cashier's check or wire money to a seller; you'll have no way to get your money back if the tickets do not arrive.
Moneysupermarket.com boosts profits more than 50%
Moneysupermarket, the price comparison website, has seen a strong start to the new year and unveiled higher-than-expected profits today. The firm, which floated on the stock market in July, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 57% to £52.9m, beating City expectations of £51.8m. Revenues climbed 56% to £163m. The shares, which were priced at 170p at the flotation, were down 1p to 132p on Tuesday. "We have made a strong start to the current financial year," said chief executive Simon Nixon. The money division has enjoyed double-digit growth in the year to date, with a broadly flat performance in loans and mortgages offset by very strong growth in credit card and savings products. The division managed to shrug off last year's credit turmoil and saw revenues grow by 48.7% last year.
Offshoring Spreads Its Wings
Far less fearful of a public backlash than before, companies today have a world of options when it comes to offshoring arrangements. "It's become a global bazaar," says Raffy Ohannesian of DLC, a finance and accounting-services firm. "Whatever you need, you will be able to find it at a lower cost, with a minimal or acceptable level of quality degradation, or sometimes even improvement. It's just a more mature market." Offshoring, in short, has grown up. Learning from Experience
This new maturity is reflected in the way executives now think about offshoring. "There is significantly more awareness," says Vivek Sharma, a director at THL Partners, a Boston-based private-equity firm. Sharma works with portfolio companies to help them choose and deal with offshore partners.
Starwatch consumer: Safety commission recalls 24,000 cribs
Safety officials announced a recall of 24,000 cribs Thursday and also warned parents against putting their babies to bed with pillows and other soft bedding that could suffocate them.</p><p>The cribs, which were imported by <strong>Munire Furniture Inc.</strong>, have improper brackets that don't allow their mattresses to be fully lowered.</p><p>For more details, call 866-586-9639 or go online to www. munirefurniture.com.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Ford engine fires</span></strong></p><p>The <strong>U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration</strong> urged <strong>Ford Motor Co.</strong> vehicle owners to return about 5 million previously recalled vehicles to fix a cruise control switch that can overheat and cause a fire.
Banking on the Future: The Two Biggest US Banks To Dedicate Billions ...
Citigroup and Bank of America have pledged billions of dollars to help fight climate change while a new report questions Chinese banks' environmental policies. SocialFunds.com -- Last week Citigroup announced an allocation of $50 billion in investments and financing to mitigate climate change over the next decade. This follows Bank of Americas announcement in March that they are pledging $20 billion to support environmentally sustainable businesses and combat climate change. With the USs two largest banks pledging to change the way they do business to support sustainability and the environment, it seems there is a new awareness of the need to do something now to alleviate and adapt to global climate change.
However, a new report released from Friends of the Earth (FoE) and Banktrack shows that Chinese banks still have miles to go before they can be considered green.
A gift is a gift - even if someone got it first
The site features regifting dos and don'ts. There's also a link (www.regiftable.com/Lyrics.aspx) to "Regifting for the Holidays," a catchy ditty by the band The Alice Project. I found myself bopping to the Beatles-like tune and these lyrics depicting a cash-strapped holiday shopper: "As I sat looking in my room, my eyes spied a sweater from Aunt Sue. The idea hit me like a boot to the head. Gonna give that sweater to my cousin Ted." With a sense of humor, the chorus goes, "I'm regifting for the holidays. I'm packing up all that crap, adding new wrap and giving it back to you." Of course, you wouldn't give something you thought was junk. But to illustrate the good and bad of regifting, MMI is running a contest looking for the best regift tales. Entries are due by Dec. 31.
Understanding Your Rights When Debt Collectors Call
For 2005, collection agencies ranked No. 6 on the BBB's list -- with more complaints than banks, phone companies, credit card issuers and auto repair businesses. The matter has become so bad that on Oct. 10, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to end private collection of U.S. tax debts, citing the abusive tactics collectors sometimes use and the fact that government employees will be both cheaper and easier to rein in. According to the National Consumer Law Center, 97 percent to 98 percent of consumers pay bills on time. But those among the 2 percent to 3 percent who fall behind -- or people wrongly accused of owing payments -- can suffer from constant calls from debt collectors. Since 1977, the United States has enforced the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) to protect consumers from shady debt collection tactics.
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