Author: Phil Villarreal

With its finger on the pulse of the industry, eagle-eyed Sony developers have uncovered secret knowledge that Apple has released a device that lets you talk on the phone, listen to music and download video games. And as a result, it has decided to give one of its next redesigned PSPs the ability to call, text and email, the Wall Street Journal reports.

This adds to the feature set of the previous PSP: collecting dust. From the WSJ story on the matter (subscription required to read the full story):

Threatened by Apple Inc.’s growing stable of portable devices, Sony Corp. is developing a new lineup of handheld products, including a smart phone capable of downloading and playing videogames, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Japanese electronics giant also is developing a portable device that shares characteristics of netbooks, electronic-book readers and handheld-game machines. The device is designed to compete against multifunction products such as Apple’s coming iPad tablet, these people said.

Would you go for a PSP Phone over an iPhone?

New Sony Gadgets Take Aim at Apple [The Wall Street Journal]

Aten Design Group of Denver hosted a funeral for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 last week, after Google Docs and Google Sites stopped supporting the browser. YouTube will drop IE 6 — released in 2001 — Saturday. CNN reports the story of IE 6’s sendoff:

This is not the first time someone has tried to bury Internet Explorer 6. A handful of Facebook groups are dedicated to killing off the browser, and an “IE must die” movement has circulated on Twitter.

While Microsoft would not comment on Thursday’s IE6 funeral, the company has consistently recommended that consumers upgrade to its latest version of Internet Explorer and acknowledges that its dated browser is no longer the most efficient way to surf the Web.

“While we recommend Internet Explorer 8 to all customers, we understand we have a number of corporate customers for whom broad deployment of new technologies across their desktops requires more planning,” a Microsoft representative wrote in an e-mail to CNN.

IE 8 was released a year ago. Let us know which browser you prefer in this poll:

‘Funeral’ held for aging Web browser [CNN]

How can you tell when the housing market has truly bottomed out? When you can buy a home for a buck. A Guardian story says such deals actually exist in beleaguered Detroit.

Here’s how the story begins:

Some might say Jon Brumit overpaid when he stumped up $100 (£65) for a whole house. Drive through Detroit neighbourhoods once clogged with the cars that made the city the envy of America and there are homes to be had for a single dollar.

You find these houses among boarded-up, burnt-out and rotting buildings lining deserted streets, places where the population is shrinking so fast entire blocks are being demolished to make way for urban farms.

“I was living in Chicago and a friend told me that houses in Detroit could be had for $500,” said Brumit, a financially strapped artist who thought he had little prospect of owning his own property. “I said if you hear of anything just a little cheaper let me know. Within a week he emails me a photo of a house for $100. I thought that’s just crazy. Why not? It’s a way to cut our expenses way down and kind of open up a lot of time for creative projects because we’re not working to pay the rent.”

Houses on sale for a few dollars are something of an urban legend in the US on the back of the mortgage crisis that drove millions of people from their homes. But in Detroit it is no myth.

Have you come across bargain basement deals like this in your own city?

Detroit homes sell for $1 amid mortgage and car industry crisis [The Guardian, via StockTickle]

On his Reflections of a Newsosaur blog, Alan Mutter says a company called Attributor has rounded up several big media companies and is set to go after sites that hawk their content for free.

Mutter writes:

The first offending sites to be targeted will be those using 80% or more of copyrighted stories more than 10 times per month.

In the first stage of a multi-step process aimed at encouraging copyright compliance instead of punishing scofflaws, Pitkow said online publishers identified by his company will be sent a letter informing them of the violations and urging them to enter into license agreements with the publishers whose content appears on their sites.

If copyright pirates refuse to pay, Attributor will request the major search engines to remove offending pages from search results and will ask banner services to stop serving ads to pages containing unauthorized content. The search engines and ad services are required to immediately honor such requests by the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Do you think this technique has a shot at working, or is it just the desperate flailing of a dying industry?

First web copyright crackdown coming [Reflections of a Newsosaur]

Peter has stumbled upon a McDonald’s secret menu item that can only be ordered during the changeover from breakfast to the standard menu. The Mc10:35 is the unholy but oh-so-hot union between the McDouble and Egg McMuffin.

He writes:

I heard about this from a cashier at one of the local McDonald’s. He said it’s getting kind of a cult following in San Francisco.

1. Go to McD’s right when they are transitioning from breakfast to lunch.

2. Order one of the remaining Egg McMuffins from the breakfast menu and also order a McDouble since the lunch menu is now open.

3. Take the egg and Canadian bacon from the Egg McMuffin and put it on the McDouble.

The guy at the register said people call it a Mc10:35 because that’s pretty much the only time you can pull this off.

They’re damn good when hungover!

If you’ve sampled the Mc10:35, let us know what you think.

Michael says T-Mobile stuck him with a costly pre-paid “flex” account because he had poor credit. He agreed with the assurance that if he paid his bills on time for a year he’d be able to switch his service to a more reasonable plan. But when the time came, the tele-CSRs denied him. Just when Michael was about to lose his cool, he went into a T-Mobile store for some face time. And the move paid off.

He writes:

I was flabbergasted. Irritated. And completely done with T-Mobile. I started looking that day at other companies. Unfortunately with my credit I had no success, unless I wanted to pay out the butt.

A few weeks ago, I went into my local T-Mobile store, just to pay my cell bill and figured I’d ask about phone upgrades for a flex account. Jeremy looked up my account, and instantly looked back at me and asked “Um, is there a reason you’re still on a flex pay account?” Of course I answered “well, because you guys told me I couldn’t switch over?”

He told me whoever said that was wrong, and looked up what it would cost to upgrade my phone, and switch over the account. I ended up walking out of the store with a brand new MyTouch Android phone, 3G data coverage and unlimited texting all for about twenty bucks more than I was planning on spending for my phone bill. And, my bill is about thirty dollars less than I was paying previously. AND, Jeremy was so kind as to give me the student discount, and set my bill so that I wouldn’t have to pay for a month and a half. So essentially I got two and a half months of cell service.

The beauty of face time is it makes it tougher for companies to mistreat you. How has the technique ever worked in your favor?

How to fix dwindling loyalty in a company, or brand. [10 Cents Worth]

Target says it’s not into saving on salaries by demoting and laying off longtime workers, but the Tucson Weekly reports a bunch of fired longtime Target employees believe the company discriminated against them because of their ages, among other reasons.

From the Tucson Weekly story, in which the former employees say Target’s upper management took a year to fling baseless accusations at the workers in an effort to drum up reasons to let them go:

(Manny) Lovio says he went to see a lawyer, but realized he could not afford legal action. But shortly after his dismissal, his best friend at the company, Lavonne Beckford, was also fired. And over the last five years, other longtime employees he knew from his early days at Target were also forced to quit or were fired. The former co-workers started meeting with each other and sharing their stories.

They say they began to notice a pattern. Their group, mostly hired in the ’80s, had each been with the retail company for 20 years or more. Most of them were salaried executives, making more than $50,000 a year, sometimes even more. Besides the wages, the employees had full benefits, and most were eligible for up to five weeks of vacation.

“They could hire two or three people at the price they were paying us,” (Manny) Lovio says.

Attention current and former Target Team Members — do you believe there is merit to such complaints, or is it just sour grapes?

Getting the Ax: Longtime Tucson Target employees say they were forced out because of their higher salaries [Tucson Weekly]

It’s been nearly three years since Meg put together that epic list of every secret menu known to mankind, and now Coupon Sherpa is following up with 24 items you may not have known you could order.

From the Coupon Sherpa post:

Starbucks
Biscotti Frapuccino – This is a typical frapuccino but it has a biscotti blended inside. You will have to purchase the biscotti separate when you are checking out, but you can have it in any flavor frap.

McDonald’s
Land, Sea, and Air Burger – The Land, Sea, and Air burger, has a beef patty, chicken patty, and fillet-o-fish patty all piled high onto a bun.

Chipolte
Quesorito – A quesadilla with any of the fillings used in a burrito, rolled together and baked in the tortilla warmer. This is a crispier version of a quesadilla.

What are your favorite secret things to order?

24 Secret Restaurant Menus Revealed [Coupon Sherpa]

Dan spotted the pictured address bar as he filed his taxes and the free version of TurboTax propositioned him to download the state version of the software.

In case it’s too small to read, it says “stateupsell” right there in the URL.

Spotted this while I was filing my taxes using Turbotax’s free federal service.

To file with your state it’s $28.

Happy they’re not BSing it, I guess?

Would you rather be told you’re being upsold, or be finessed into shelling out money after using a free service?

Steve was taken aback when Lowe’s asked him and other customers for their phone numbers as they were checking out.

He writes:

I was wondering if you’d heard any other reports of this. I went to Lowes tonight to buy some cinder blocks (great for DIY speaker stands — why spend $40 at Best Buy on plastic sticks?), and while in line to checkout, the customer in front of me paid with a credit card. The cashier asked for their phone number, and they obliged. I thought, “That’s odd, I’ve never had that happen to me shopping before,” and just shrugged it off, figuring maybe they were doing it with CCs.

Anyway, I paid cash for my awesome rocks, and I got asked the same thing. I was actually standing to the side of the register too, and saw the little popup that was on their CRT specifically asking for it before they could continue checking out. For the record, my answer was, “I’ll pass.”

This kind of thing is more common than Steve realizes, but is jarring the first time it happens to you. Giving a corporation your phone number can make a lot of things happen, few of them good, so it’s probably best to act like 90 percent of the women I approached when I was single and shoot cashiers an “are you kidding me” glare.

Which retailer first hit on you at check-out?

If you really love those Freecreditreport.com commercials just the way they are, take this next half year to pause and reflect on what they mean to you, because in September, the Huffington Post reports, owner Experian will have to start telling people their side business isn’t the real way to get free annual credit reports from the government. We had this story last year, but in the wake of CARD act reforms, it bears repeating.

From that Huffington post:

While credit card companies have had nine months — from May 2009 until February 22 — to come up with a business model less reliant on abusing customers, Experian, the credit reporting company behind FreeCreditReport.com, will have until September before it has to inject some honesty into its ubiquitous TV spots.

The ads, in case you somehow haven’t seen them, say you can get a free credit report if you go to FreeCreditReport.com. You can, but only if you enroll in a $14.95-a-month credit-monitoring service and then cancel it within a week. The site for truly free credit reports is www.AnnualCreditReport.com.

Let’s see Experian’s ad wizards work a disclaimer into that not-so-catchy jingle of theirs.

FreeCreditReport.com Commercials To Be Curbed, But Not Till September [Huffington Post]
(Thanks, Jorge!)

After somehow managing to break just about every older PS3 out there by letting its network crash, Sony claims it’s fixed the issue and everyone can start playing their stations again.

Sony’s Patrick Seybold on the PlayStation blog post declaring “mission accomplished:”

We are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model, recognized the year 2010 as a leap year. Having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1 (both GMT), we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally.

If the time displayed on the XMB is still incorrect, users are able to adjust time settings manually or via the internet. If we have new information, we will update you through the PlayStation.Blog or PlayStation.com.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sony seems to be sure everything is fine. But what really matters is what you PS3 owners have to say on the matter.

PlayStation Network Service Restored [PlayStation Blog]

Rachel and her husband ordered a DVD set from a seller who shipped via USPS, but the package can’t seem to make its way to them. Their saga includes a cryptic email update and a notice of a delivery attempt they say never occurred.

Rachel writes:

My husband and I recently bought ourselves a big present for our First Valentine’s Day as a married couple: The (mostly) entire Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD set! We were so excited when USPS sent us an email letting us know the shipper had mailed the package, and we would be informed of all future updates. Well, a few days comes and goes, and I get antsy. On Thursday, the 25th, I decided to look up the label number again, and see where my package was. Imagine my surprise when it said: “Notice Left – February 25th”

I look up at my husband, who had been there all day (I work days), and I asked “Was there a notice from USPS under the door?” He replied in the negative. “Did anyone knock today?” Again, no. We were baffled. He guessed that maybe he had been in the restroom when they came by, but our apartment is not large. It’s doubtful he would not hear someone knocking. And the bigger question was – where is this danged notice?

I immediately attempt to arrange a redelivery, using their online function. It allowed me to carry through the request without the specific “article” number from the notice slip, and I just used my label number in its place. Friday, the 26th, was an option for redelivery, so I crossed my fingers and pushed it through. I also signed up to be emailed for any and all future and current developments on the shipping of my package.

Friday came and went. Nothing. I checked the Track & Confirm, and as far as I could tell, nothing had come of my package since the notice was left. We grumble and furrow our brows but we shrug and say “I guess we can just pick it up in the morning at the actual post office.”

That brings us to today. We wake up, and we stop by our actual mailbox (we’re bad about checking our mail, I admit it) before heading out. Hey! It’s a delivery attempt slip! Imagine that. Weird how it was down in the apartment mailbox and nowhere near our actual apartment! But since I had checked the Track & Confirm again before heading out and it seemed like our package hadn’t gone anywhere since the first failed “attempt”, we sally forth to the Post Office. After waiting about 15 minutes for a lady to come by the pick-up door, we are told that they can’t find our package and it must be “out for delivery” they guess. I asked “Is it showing as out for delivery? because I checked the activity and it doesn’t look like it’s gone anywhere.”

The lady just shrugged and said that must be it, because she can’t find it. So helpful. A++ for effort.

With much grumbling, my husband and I pack up and head back home, hoping that A) the package delivery hadn’t been “attempted” again while we were gone, though we assumed it would have because we fall firmly in Murphy’s jurisdiction, and B) that somebody hadn’t stolen our MST3K DVDs, because nobody seemed to have a clue where our package actually was. It isn’t showing up as being checked in anywhere, or moved around at all, and it isn’t at the place the delivery slip said it should be.

So, we go back home and keep our eyes peeled for a USPS truck. We find one at the apartment complex across the way. I approach the mailman waving my orange delivery slip as a token of friendship and peaceful questioning, and he informs me that he doesn’t deliver to us, but the guy who does should be around within an hour and hasn’t been by yet. Perfect! So we stake a vigil. We get bored after Car Talk ends and before Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me comes on, and decide to ask the office ladies to keep an eye out for us and jump the mailman when he arrives.

Our apartment staff lady then tells us (I love this part), that the guy who delivers our MAIL is not the same as the guy who delivers packages, and that packages should be delivered before noon on Saturdays, so he should be by soon. So many questions run through my mind. How did the package delivery slip end up in our MAILBOX if the mail guy doesn’t deliver packages? Why did USPS let me pick dates for redelivery and then not stick to them? What the hell do I do now?

We go back home and flop on the couch and hope that someone comes and delivers our package. Doesn’t happen. I notice that our label number ( the original delivery #) and the “article” number on the delivery “attempt” slip are different. I check Track & Confirm on both sets of numbers. Only the original number comes up with anything, but it still hasn’t changed since Thursday. The other set of numbers is like some weird amalgamation of our zip code and the old label number, but doesn’t turn up anything.

I’ve tried using the official article number to request a 2nd redelivery on Monday, but I’m getting worried and frustrated. We have 1 car, I work during the day and go to school at night, so a lunch break is the only chance I have at visiting the post office again during the week, and it seems like nobody has a clue where our delivery is, so who knows if visiting again will even help. Even better, the FAQ for Redelivery on the USPS website returns this:

Redelivery scheduled and no one arrived

If your mailpiece was not redelivered as you requested, call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) and our Customer Support Representatives will assist you.
Ha! Fat chance. All that number gets you is a phone tree that flat out tells you “All of this information is up to date, and customer service is not an option at this time.” Except I just tried it again and if I hit 0 enough times at the right moments, it dangles the option in front of my face, but says that I have to call during “business hours.” Even when I tried calling on Friday during the afternoon, I kept getting put in robotic loops that refused to connect me to a CSR, so I’m not sure I believe it this time, either.

At this point:

– I don’t believe anyone attempted to deliver anything. We live upstairs and the mailman probably thought he had something better to do than bother knocking on our door in the afternoon, so he just put the slip in the mail and let it ride.

– I don’t know where the heck my package is, and nobody at USPS seems to know, either, not that I can get one on the phone at all or in person for more than 20 seconds.

– I really want to watch some Tom Servo 🙁

Long (hopefully not entirely dull) story short, I just want someone to help me find my delivery. Am I misusing the article number on the delivery slip? Will they actually update the Track & Confirm status if it’s loaded up to be redelivered, or will it just show up? Is it listed under a different number now that it’s been “attempted”? And how do I talk to a living person without pissing off the nice robot lady who really wants me to believe that she can help me and I don’t need to speak to a human being?

I’ll try calling the post office again on Monday, I just fear that their answer will be the same as today’s. “Well, it’s not HERE.” Yeah, thanks. It’s not here either. So that’s two places it isn’t. Only 20 googillion more to check.

If you’ve spotted Rachel’s MST3K package, please trap it and send it her way. Probably not via USPS, just to be safe.

No matter how much heat Joseph buts on GE to fix his oven, he can’t get things cooking. Despite dumping big money into repairs, he isn’t sure whether or not he should continue the latest bungled fix-up process or just buy a new oven.

He writes:

I’m looking for advice on what to do about my oven situation.

In 2004, I purchased a GE wall oven ($998) to replace my existing oven, which only had two temperatures – “off” and “smelt”. When I looked at all of the products, there was no doubt in my mind I’d get a GE oven, as my other GE products have been very dependable, and GE is in the top 10 for customer support on Consumerist (http://consumerist.com/2006/11/top-10-companies-for-customer-service.html) . I also got a GE range and hood to match, and wound up at approx $3,000. I’ve been very happy with my purchase, as both products have worked admirably in that time-frame – until the troubles began with the wall oven.

In September 2009, the oven would not light. As this is a purely electric appliance, you can’t even just light it with a match or similar, as there is no pilot light, but a electronic igniter which does not release gas until hot – it’s unusable until repaired. I called GE’s nonwarranty support, who dispatched a repairman a week later. The whole of it was $240, which included a $75 trip charge, which was required to have the technician show up and make a diagnosis. I was assured that the replacement part was covered for 5 years, so felt OK with spending 25% of the cost of the oven on a single part.

Flash to Mid-January 2010, the same thing started happening again – the igniter failed to ignite. I called GE, who again sent a technician a week later. When he arrived, he told me the $40 part was indeed covered under warranty, but I’d still have to pay the $75 trip charge and his labor – in other words, the repair of this part under warranty would still cost approx $200. I was fairly unhappy with this, but understood the labor costs so agreed to pay it. He replaced the igniter, and it still didn’t work – he determined that an integrated electronics package that is actually at fault. The repair would actually be $350. At this point, I would have spent nearly $600 in repairs on a $1k oven – but decided that the oven was worth it. He didn’t have the part he needed, so he had me pay the $75 trip charge and stated he’d come by a week later (2/5). I instead asked him to come by on my next payday (2/12) when I’d have a little more cash to cover it.

This is where things started to go off the rails.

On 2/12, he calls and asks if I had the part. I said we agreed it was to be shipped to him, and I hadn’t gotten anything. He stated that that’s how he recalled it, but he got nothing from GE parts and wondered if they had perhaps shipped it to me by mistake (they hadn’t). He called and orderd a new one, stating they told him the recent storms were to blame. Now, the appointment was originally supposed to be February 5th – the storms didn’t start till the 7th or 8th. In any event, we rescheduled for the 19th.

On 2/19, he calls and states that the part had not arrived again. He called GE parts, who had no idea what had happened. No tracking number was ever sent, no part. We rescheduled again for 2/26. Less then happy, I called GE customer care. They stated that this was not how things are usually run, and that they’d supply the part at no charge due to the mishaps. Somewhat mollified (knowing that the part is only a fraction of the repair cost, anyway), I agree this is fair.

On 2/26, he calls and states the good news is, he’s spoken with GE parts, who indicated that the part would be free, and it’s arrived. the bad news is, it came broken! He called them and asked that the part be checked prior to shipment, and then booked and appointment with me for 3/5.

At this point, I’m not sure what to do. It does not seem like GE parts will be able to actually supply the part that I need. We haven’t been able to use the oven for nearly a month and a half, and this is causing a fairish problem with cooking stovetop-only dinners for a family of 6. As the cost of the repair is a large chunk of the way towards the cost of a new oven, I’m tempted to just purchase a new, non-GE oven – and eat the $75 trip charge and all my wasted time. However, I do like the oven a great deal. What should I do, Consumerist?

Any advice for Joseph?

Personal finance blogger Debt Ninja writes that he has $22,000 in savings, and isn’t sure whether to use the majority of that to blast away his $15,000 debt. On top of that, he’s got a wedding and honeymoon to save up for.

He writes:

Situation Uno: You could have $20,000 in savings, but also have $15,000 in mid-interest debt (7%).

Situation Dos: You could have $5,000 in savings, but zero debt.

I’m currently sticking with situation uno. I have $22K in the bank and a little over $15K in debt. I could pay off my student loan tomorrow, be truly debt free, and still have a small emergency fund. I chose not to. Dave Ramsey would be pissed! My blog’s title is Punch Debt In The Face, but by choosing to remain in debt, perhaps I should change the name to Punch Debt In The Face When You Feel Like It. It doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it?

Most debt-conscious savers find themselves in such a conundrum at one time or another. What would you do in Debt Ninja’s situation, or what have you done when facing similar circumstances?

Do I have to change the name of my blog? [Punch Debt in the Face]

A Michigan State University study found the majority of consumers look for labels that signify products they’re buying were inspected for safety, and that about a third are willing to pay more for such labeling.

From a press release on PRWeb:

In addition to indicating a high sensitivity to food safety issues, US consumers say they want to see evidence on product labels that the food they are buying has passed some kind of independent safety certification process. Moreover, slightly more than one third of consumers indicate a willingness to pay a premium, upwards of 30 percent more.

“It is interesting and important to note that higher price alone is not a direct signal of safer food,” says Dr. Chris Peterson, director of the Product Center at MSU. “Even brand name recognition is not the most powerful indicator of safety. Voluntary third party certification compares favorably with mandatory government inspection and slightly ahead of traceability labeling in the mind of the consumer. In fact, most consumers would advise the food industry to invest proportionately more in certification programs than in government inspection or traceability.”

How about it, Consumerists — which signage do you pay more attention to, a certification label or the price tag?

DNV and Michigan State University Release Initial Findings of U.S. Food Safety Survey [PRWeb]
(Thanks, NORMLgirl!)

Craig at BudgetPulse thought he’d fly down to Miami for the weekend, but ran into trouble when his US Airways flight was canceled due to mechanical problems. Because he had purchased his departing and returning flights separately, he said the airline wouldn’t refund that now useless return flight. He writes:

He said he would gladly refund my flight down to West Palm because of the maintenance issue, but since I booked two one way trips since I was leaving from a different city, and that flight wasn’t technically affected from the maintenance issue, he would not issue me a refund for the flight from Miami back to DC.

Of course I did not understand, especially since my flight back was directly affected by the maintenance issue. I had no use for the flight back from Miami if I could not get down to Florida in the first place.

If you have any tips for Craig on how he might get his money back, please leave them in the comments.

US Airways Screwed Me Out Of Money After Their Plane Broke [BudgetPulse]

Filling out the FAFSA every year is as much a part of college as binge drinking and the morning after pill. But Jackie points out how easy it is to miss out on this seminal, government-subsidized loan and grant hunting experience by accidentally clicking on FAFSA.com, run by a non-government entity that soaks you for $80 to use its financial aid-finding services. The site you’re looking for is FAFSA.gov, which is free.

Well, that is until you graduate and end up having to get a job and pay those loans off for the rest of your life.

Jackie writes:

FAFSA is the government financial aid form that college students fill out to recieve loans and grants and what not to make it through the high college tuition bills that are to come in their education. The correct website to fill out this form at is “fafsa.gov”. However, now when you type “fafsa” into google, the first site to pop up is “fafsa.com.” Looking at fafsa.com there is little different from the real website. It even asks all the same questions as the form you’re supposed to be filling out, until at the end there is an $79.99 fee tacked onto the form! But what makes this particularly dangerous is the fact that since it is a government form, this scam site is asking for information like your social security number and other personal information.

I have filled out the fafsa form 3 times, and even I was fooled until I hit the portion of the page in which you had to enter credit card information. While on the website it does say that it is a helper (albeit, in very fine print), this site is obviously a scam to lure in parents of and first year college students into A giving away important information, and B giving them money.

It’s a shame that when someone is trying to do something good, like get a college education, there are people trying to trick them in such a manner.

Tell a college student friend or relative about this, that is unless you carry a vendetta against them.

Although Apple’s App Store may be getting considerably less steamy, the opposite is true of gamers who use Macs for console games. Kotaku reports Steam, the digital distribution platform that lets you buy games on demand, may be headed Macward, usable on OS X.

From Kotaku:

Steam forum members dug through newly released files from the recently launched open beta and dug up a handful of Mac OS X-specific graphics, like the open, maximize and minimize jewel icons that are used in the operating system’s windows.

While those icons could be chalked up to Steam’s change to a WebKit-based rendering engine for the client—Valve has moved away from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for Steam’s new UI—there are a few other Mac-specific graphics buried within. That includes system dock graphics and a handful of OS X menu files.

If you’re a Mac-only user, you probably don’t care much about computer gaming. But is anyone excited about this?

Is Valve Bringing Steam To The Mac? [Kotaku]

Nathan didn’t want a gargantuan box with his ski poles, but that’s exactly what he got. Should the poles reproduce and start a society, they will not lack a shelter in which to live.

He writes:

I noticed you sometimes post entries on ‘wasteful’ packaging; here’s my brief story.

I placed an order for ski poles on Amazon; after completing the order, my wife decides she wanted a pair too. As I have Amazon Prime, packages ship quickly so I had to place two orders.

The first packaged arrived, no problem. The 2nd packaged arrived at my office and the UPS guy had to bring a dolly because he couldn’t carry my package with any other packages for the building. You could probably fit like 40 other poles in that same package.

At least Nathan got a bonus ski ramp with his order.