Blog

We find ourselves very much attracted to the BMW M3 Sedan, however, many of you aren’t on the same page as us. So much so, that sluggish sales of the new BMW M3 Sedan has forced the German automaker to drop the variant when it comes time to develop the next-generation of the M3.

Apparently it doesn’t make sense for BMW to do an M3 Sedan seeing as sales have been somewhat disappointing and the cost involved with developing the variant to bring it to the market.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 BMW M3.

Nonetheless, all of you high-performance sedan lovers can hold out for a performance version of the next-generation four-door 3-Series – we hear it’s going to be something similar to the new 335is seen at the 2010 New York Auto Show. At least that will give the Audi S4 sedan a true competitor.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: BimmerFile

Yesterday, President Obama issued a powerful statement as people in North America, Israel, and around the world observed Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Noting that this year marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, the President stated that “we must recommit ourselves to honoring the memories of all the victims and ensuring that they remain a part of our collective memory.”

President Obama also spoke strongly about the continual imperative to address anti-Semitism and genocide today. An excerpt of his statement can be found below, and more resources on Yom Hashoah and Holocaust education are available from the URJ’s holiday resource page.

“On my visit to Buchenwald last year – and during my visit to Yad Vashem in 2008 – I bore witness to the horrors of anti-Semitism and the capacity for evil represented by the Nazis’ campaign to annihilate the Jewish people and so many others. But even at places like Buchenwald, the dignity and courage of those who endured the horrors of the Holocaust remind us of humanity’s capacity for decency and compassion.

“The memories of the victims serve as a constant reminder to honor their legacy by renewing our commitment to prevent genocide, and to confront anti-Semitism and prejudice in all of its forms. We must never tolerate the hateful stereotypes and prejudice against the Jewish people that tragically continues to this day. We must work, instead, on behalf of a world of justice and peace, in which all nations and peoples value the humanity that we share, and the dignity inherent in every human being.”

By Matt Holdridge

From the Washington Times: 

States say they’ve been kept afloat during the economic downturn by critical federal aid, but, with stimulus money set to run out soon, a report from conservative economists argues that another infusion would postpone, and could worsen, states’ eventual reckoning with troubled budgets.

Last year’s stimulus bill designated hundreds of billions of dollars to states, either directly or indirectly. The aid peaked this year before dropping dramatically. States say they’re still hurting, though, and Congress is trying to figure out how much more aid to extend, and for how long.

The article continues, 

Jonathan Williams, director of the tax and fiscal policy task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council, said continued federal aid will only feed “the do-something disease in Washington,” where the federal government sees a problem and decides taxpayer money can help.

In a new report on states’ fiscal stability, Mr. Williams and several other conservative economists said the stimulus amounted to a “get-out-of-jail-free card” for state lawmakers who let their budgets grow too fast while the economy was strong but were reluctant to make cuts during slimmer times.

“The recession should have been the wake-up call: Pull back on spending. Unfortunately, the stimulus money is interfering with this normal, albeit painful, corrective step to get states permanently back on more sustainable spending paths,” they said in their report.

This underscores the importance of being involved in your local and state government. We can solve a lot of problems in Washington by being active outside it. 

China’s rapid transition from participant to international leader is a challenge both for China itself and for the world.

President Hu Jintao’s decision to attend the nuclear summit in Washington this week is a welcome indication of China’s recognition of the need for it to participate in global leadership. China has traditionally been quite reluctant to expose its leaders to uncontrolled international events. In the past year, however, that has begun to change; seven months ago, for instance, President Hu became the first Chinese leader ever to address the United Nations General Assembly.

Just showing up is the first requirement for participation in global leadership. But much more is necessary. China still has a difficult path to navigate, and thus it should not be surprising if it is cautious and often defensive as it explores a new role.

After December’s contentious Copenhagen climate meeting, China was criticized heavily by some for failure to exercise leadership. But it’s important to consider the speed at which China is evolving into a global leader, and the implications for both China and the world. Just six months earlier in L’Aquila, Italy, China attended the summit of the G-8 group of leading economies that traditionally coordinated global economic policy. It was not one of the main group of eight, but was relegated to a second tier unglamorously called the “Plus Five” countries (along with India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico). The Plus five were treated in every way as additional and not key decision-makers.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, international relations are changing more rapidly than at any time since the end of World War II. L’Aquila marked the G8’s swan song, and by September it was effectively eclipsed by a more inclusive and relevant G20. Both continue to meet but the shift from G8 to G20 in global importance is clear.

And within this larger grouping, there is an expectation that certain countries will step forward to lead. The United States has long assumed this role, as have a number of European countries. But the pressure is now inexorably on China to participate not just as part of a larger group of twenty, but to be one of the very few nations that actually moves the world community forward.

This is a difficult transition for China, which has traditionally viewed international relations defensively and cautiously. As with its World Trade Organization (WTO) accession a decade ago, or its assumption of its United Nations seat in 1971, the international institutions with which China has engaged were already well established. Since it had no influence over the origins or governance of those institutions, China generally assumed the role of an outsider.

Now China is expected to quickly transition to the ultimate insider.

The Chinese are comfortable with their conventional role in diplomatic negotiations, which typically involves expert-level editing of lengthy text and incremental progress. This role mirrors China’s domestic political processes quite well. A leadership role is something quite different, as we saw in Copenhagen, and are likely to see again in the future. Chinese decision-making is collective and bureaucratic, which makes it very difficult for even a Chinese leader to make rapid-fire decisions during negotiations. Absent elective government, this collective, bureaucratic form of government is an essential check on absolute power by an individual, but it can make the Chinese government appear frozen as leaders cannot move from predetermined positions during negotiations.

Moreover, Chinese leaders emerge from a bureaucratic system, rather than the political rough and tumble of electoral politics that typifies not just the developed world but other key developing countries like India and Brazil. Politicians are used to public criticism, often from the domestic press as well as opposition parties, and they are used to cutting deals in the moment and leaving it to bureaucrats to work out the details. Bureaucrats, even in Western democracies, are more cautious and averse to criticism. A system that throws bureaucrats into leadership positions can thus appear far more defensive and inflexible. Others need be aware of this as they establish their relations with this emerging power.

These are challenges that the Chinese will need to deal with. Leadership is unavoidable for the world’s second-largest economy, particularly a nation whose very dynamism means that it will have a dramatic influence on critical issues. But others should be aware of how fast China has been thrust into a leadership role and what a challenge this is for China. There is an opportunity for China’s key interlocutors to engage China as it grapples with its new position in ways that support its interest in embracing responsibility and global leadership.

Found under: Palm, Pre, Linux, Open Office, Desktop, WebOS,

The Palm Pre is one of the best phones out there WebOS is one hell of a mobile Operating System that gets no real recognition from anywhere on the Internet apart from Palm centric blogs. Being an OS that is Linux based its good to see some really awesome hacking taking place on the WebOS platform what can be cooler than the possbilities of running any current Linux application on the Palm Pre Nothing not even sex with Jessica Biel….heh heh…that was a jokeThe WebOS Internals tea

Read More

Read more in mobile format

Perhaps building on the US IMPACT Public Library Study that came out late last month, Minnesota Public Radio ran a story today on the role of libraries and librarians play in the lives of many job seekers. It’s a theme that’s been popular lately – which is a good and a bad thing. It’s great to see libraries rise to the occasion; it’s unfortunate that there’s so much need. 

The library looks like a microcosm of so many communities in Minnesota in that access to technology is necessary, but not sufficient. People are coming to learn how to use technology, get advice and find peace or add structure to their days.

There’s a quote in the story that sort of gets at the root of role of the library…

“It’s like the new normal to have social work be part of being a librarian,” said Kim Poole, a librarian at Hennepin County’s Southdale Library in Edina. “Sometimes as a librarian you feel like you’re throwing out a life preserver to a person … they are often at the edge of an abyss.”

The death toll from Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine explosion last week has reached a total of 29 miners, the worst coal disaster in 40 years.  The reckless CEO behind the disaster — Don Blankenship — cares more about his anti-science crusade than he does about the safety of its employees, as Brad Johnson explains in this repost.

The death toll from Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine explosion last week has reached a total of 29 miners, the worst coal disaster in 40 years. When the disaster occurred, Massey was contesting millions of dollars in major safety violations levied against the mine. At his Labor Day anti-union rally last year, Massey CEO Don Blankenship attacked the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), claiming it “seeks power over coal miners.” He mocked both “Washington politicians” and local elected officials who attempt to ensure miner safety, calling their efforts “as silly as global warming”:

We also endure a Mine Safety and Health Administration that seeks power over coal miners versus improving their safety and their health. As someone who has overseen the mining of more coal than anyone else in the history of central Appalachia, I know that the safety and health of coal miners is my most important job. I don’t need Washington politicians to tell me that, and neither do you. But I also know — I also know Washington and state politicians have no idea how to improve miner safety. The very idea that they care more about coal miner safety than we do is as silly as global warming.

Don Blankenship — who uses his position on the boards of the National Mining Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to promote his conspiracy theories about global warming — said he spent one million dollars to put together the “Friends of America” right-wing rally and rock concert in Holden, WV on September 7, 2009, which starred Ted Nugent, Hank Williams, Jr., and Fox News host Sean Hannity. In 2009, Blankenship also complained that “politicians get emotional” about disasters and establish “nonsensical” safety rules.

Related Posts:

• Deadly Record: Massey’s Montcoal mine cited for 3,000 violations, over $2.2 million in fines
• FLASHBACK: Don Blankenship warned West Virginia that he believes in “survival of the fittest”
• Don Blankenship’s record of profits over safety: “Coal pays the bills”

Ron Paul talks about his strong showing in the SRLC straw poll and explains his bill to repeal Obama’s healthcare mandate.

Channel: Fox News
Date: 04/12/2010

Related posts:

1. Ron Paul on the Dylan Ratigan Show Ron Paul was interviewed by Eliot Spitzer on the Dylan…
2. If Ron Paul Wins Another Straw Poll Republicans May Stop Using Them! Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll earlier this year….
3. Ron Paul Wins CPAC Presidential Straw Poll Ron Paul wins this year’s straw poll at the Conservative…

Apparently Malaysia is saying this has nothing to do with today’s Washington Nuclear Security Summit — opening kickoff of which comes at 5 p.m. EST — but over at Arms Control Wonk, Joshua Pollack makes the case that Malaysia’s decision to finally pass an export control law is a great victory for the goals of the summit in any event. A.Q. Khan, the world’s foremost nuclear proliferator, used Malaysia’s old see-nothing export policy to construct and ship centrifuges to his Libyan customers. Sure, Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was one of a handful of national leaders to meet with President Obama one-on-one today, but let’s take the Mayalsians at their word.

Last week, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) asked the White House to lend West Virginia’s lawmakers periodic briefings on the investigation into last week’s deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine south of Charleston. The first of those briefings, Rockefeller just announced, will be this Thursday.

“We must leave no stone unturned in our quest for answers,” he said in a statement.

No word yet on how free the West Virginia delegation plans to be with the information they’re given. And a private briefing for a handful of lawmakers is a far cry from the public investigation that good government groups are already calling for.

It’s probably not the car you expect to tout a Nurburgring-Nordschleife circuit lap time but the Mini E today completed a lap of the “Green Hell” in 09:51.45. Known as the Mini E Race, a modified version of the electric-Cooper ran the famous German circuit and hit a top speed of 187 km/h (116 mph).

“The length and profile of the Nordschleife place extreme demands on the technology of our electric car. But the MINI E Race met this considerable challenge with great authority,” said the BMW Group’s Peter Krams, who headed up the project. “The aim of this unique undertaking was to provide an impressive showcase of the great potential of the MINI E and its environment-friendly drive concept.”

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Mini Cooper.

The Mini E Race was piloted by former DTM racing driver Thomas Jäger from Munich. “I’ve driven this circuit many times, but never in such an extraordinary car,” said Jäger, the MINI Challenge champion in 2006. “The power of the electric motor has an incredible effect, as you can access its full reserves of torque at all times. Another element of this fascinating experience is the lack of noise from the drivetrain. All in all, that was certainly the cleanest and quietest race lap I’ve ever driven.”

Click through for a video of the Mini E Race’s Nurburgring lap.

Mini E Race at the Nurburgring:

– By: Omar Rana

A new study of brand recognition in kids shows that even kids who can’t read can recognize corporate logos like Disney, McDonald’s and randomly… Toyota.

From ABCNews:

The study, which involved 38 Australian preschool children ages 3 to nearly 5 years old, found that while the children were not yet able to read, they often knew exactly which logo corresponded with which brand. Certain logos — including those for fast food chains (McDonald’s), entertainment companies (Disney, the parent company of ABC News, and Warner Brothers) and cars (Toyota) — proved especially recognizable. Others, including those for clothing (Nike) and personal care (Kleenex), fared considerably worse. (No children in the study recognized the Kleenex logo. Kleenex spokesman Joey Mooring said he was unfamiliar with the study but added that Kleenex’s “primary consumer demographic” is “moms.”)

The researchers were especially surprised to find children identifying brands whose marketing doesn’t appear to target kids, including Toyota, which was recognized by 80 percent of the study’s participants, and Shell, which was recognized by nearly 53 percent.

McAlister had a couple of theories to explain why brands like Shell and Toyota get kids’ attention. For the former, children might associate trips to the gas station with stops for treats at a gas station convenience store, she said. For the latter, children may recognize car brands because they’ve learned to distinguish between their parents’ cars and those of others.

Personally, I had a lot of toy cars when I was just a wee little thing, so I knew car brands.

What brands did you know/like when you were a kid?

What Kids Know: McDonald’s, Toyota, Disney [ABC News]

DOW 11,000!

First, your scorecard:

• DJIA: Up 8 points to 11,006.
• S&P 500: Up 2 points to 1196.
• NASDAQ: Up 3 points to 2457.

Today’s big gainers:

S&P 500:

• American International Group (AIG): $43.89 / +9.83%
• NYSE Euronext Inc (NYX): $32.26 / +5.74%
• Leucadia National Corp (LUK): $26.99 / +5.51%

DJIA:

• Caterpillar Inc (CAT): $66.82 / +2.37%
• Alcoa Inc (AA): $14.62 / +1.60%
• General Electric Co (GE): $18.80 / +1.51%

Commodities round up:

• Oil: $84.24 / -$0.68 or 0.80%
• Gold: $1155.20 / -$6.70 or 0.58%
• Silver: $18.16 / -$0.19 or 1.04%

Now here’s what you need to know before you leave work today:

• Pimco’s Mohamed El-Erian has questioned the Greek bailout package suggesting that it only deals with short term funding concerns, rather than its underlying government insolvency.

• Germany is bearing the burden of the Greek bailout handling 8.4 billion euros ($11.4 billion) of the 30 billion euro ($40.8 billion) Greek assistance package. Pressure is rising on Chancellor Merkel, who had previously said no to any significant part in helping Greece.

• Palm’s price has gone up 20% today on rumors the company is about to be bought. The company has hired Goldman Sachs and Quattrone’s Qatalyst Group to sell the company.

• President Obama plans on using this week’s nuclear summit in Washington to push Chinese President Hu Jintao on the issue of Iranian sanctions. There were some concerns that China would not attend the conference after offensive U.S. moves in previous months, including the Dalai Lama’s meeting with President Obama.

• While the Dow may have held 11,000 today, Hussman is saying the market is in for a painful correction. Investors are relying on the economy to continue to be strong, so they will get hit even harder.

Join the conversation about this story »

OK, so the Sprint Evo 4G doesn’t really cost $5,555. As you should all well know, it’s common for carriers and retailers to assign outrages prices to a phone when it’s first put into inventory. And as the Evo 4G isn’t expected to be sold for another couple of months or so, it’s a pretty good bet that Sprint doesn’t even know what the price is yet. That said, it is the Evo 4G we see here in this inventory shot, so it’s another step forward. You’re all waiting patiently, right? [Engadget]

Jerry Rice, the former standout wide receiver who is best known for his playing days with the San Francisco 49ers from 1985-2000, is once again trying to sell his Atherton, CA home — this time for the same price as last time: $14,750,000.

Rice put the home on the market in 2007 for $22 million and it failed to sell. He then listed it again in 2009 for $14,750,000 and it didn’t sell. The reason for the sale is likely to finalize assets for Rice and wife, Jacqueline, who filed for divorce way back in 2007. The couple purchased the home in 1997 for $2,656,354.

The home is the ultimate in luxury. It has three stories and 15,000 sq ft of space, with an elevator and full security system. Plus, get this — it has an underground 7-car garage. There is the requisite pool, spa, outdoor stone fireplace and guest house on the 1.4-acre property.

> See more Atherton real estate

> See Atherton home values

A new Boston University study has found that women living in the Northeast are more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA) due to a lack of exposure to sunlight, suggesting a possible link between the condition and vitamin D deficiency.

For the study, Veronica Vieira, associate professor of environmental health, and her colleagues compared the medical data of 461 women suffering from RA to a control group of 9,220 healthy participants.

They were surprised to discover that women residing in states like Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont were at a significantly increased risk of developing the autoimmune disease than were those from sunnier climates who could absorb vitamin D naturally.

"The results were unexpected," Vieira said. "Prior to the analysis, we were more interested in the relationship with air pollution. I hadn’t given latitudes much thought."

She added that decreased solar exposure and vitamin D deficiencies have also been linked to several other autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease.

Good sources of the vitamin D include fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel. The nutrient is also available as a dietary supplement.

Remember all those Nexus One leaks before the official launch? Google handed out a sizable number of units to their employees (in order to test out) and new details began to emerge day by day until it was finally announced.

T-Mobile appears to have taken a similar strategy with their new myTouch Slide. Our sources tell us a select group of employees obtained myTouch Slide demo units last week in Las Vegas and new details are beginning to pop up over the web.

TmoNews has posted several new pics that show off the Slide in black and red. The phone is running the latest Android 2.1 with HTC’s new Sense UI codename Espresso. This is the same UI we saw from the leaked Espresso ROM back in January, but it has the new Sense UI features like Leap (pinch zoom homescreen).

No official specs have been revealed, but we are hearing it will be an improvement over the original T-Mobile myTouch 3G. At first I was told the device would feature the same 600 MHz CPU as the HTC Legend (MSM7227), but new information suggest it could be clocked up to 750 MHz. That is an odd clock cycle for a processor, so I’m not sure which model Qualcomm they are using yet.

The myTouch Slide is rumored for a May release date and has already appeared on the FCC’s site.

Related Posts

• T-Mobile myTouch Slide details slip out
• MyTouch Fender LE announces comeback tour
• Watch the entire HTC press event from MWC
• First images of the T-Mobile myTouch Slide
• MyTouch 2 “Slide” rumored to feature latest HTC Sense UI

Numbers for the iPad is an outstanding standalone application. The creation of basic spreadsheets is uniquely optimized for the iPad layout. However, Numbers does not share well with others, and if you use Excel at all, you should probably just move along to another app. Numbers is “fun” but not terribly functional.

When first opening the Numbers app, a “welcome” spreadsheet walks you through the very basics. A spreadsheet on making spreadsheets! Once you do the walkthrough you can either create a new blank spreadsheet or use one of the 15 provided templates including a Mortgage Calculator, Auto Log, Travel planner and more.

Usage

Navigation within the spreadsheets is very similar to the desktop version of Numbers. Tap on a cell to change the contents and a specialized calculator shows up at the bottom of your screen. From there you can tap out your info or use the side pad to switch to functions (250 are included), standard input keyboard, date/time functions and logic. One difference between desktop and iPad versions is the use of tabs. The iPad version has stylish tabs at the top to move between sheets, while the desktop version puts sheet navigation on the side.

Similar to desktop Numbers, the Inspector includes the ability to insert Photos, Tables, Charts, and Shapes. Items naturally flow around existing data and editing a chart is simply a tap and drag. Instead of being a palette, the inspector is a drop menu in the upper right hand corner of the iPad. As with other applications, undo can be accessed from a button or by simply shaking the iPad. Even if you aren’t familiar with Numbers (Excel fan here!), it was extremely easy and intuitive to understand.

Getting help on the iPad version of the iWork suite requires a connection to the internet. When you choose Help from the Tools menu, Safari opens to a custom Apple webpage. This significantly limits Help’s usefulness, especially in situations such as an airplane when internet access is unavailable or cost prohibitive.

Importing Limits

If you want your spreadsheets to live their lives from creation to deletion inside the iPad ecosystem, this review would be over. Awesome product well worth the $9.99. However, the process of importing and exporting documents complicates things significantly. Mark Crump’s and Chris Ryan’s observations of the obfuscation are similar to mine.

To get spreadsheet information into the iPad, you have a three basic choices. The most obvious one, using your iDisk, is not supported! That’s a game-ending flaw in my opinion. Before using Numbers, I used Quickoffice to edit files on my iDisk. Unfortunately, as of this writing Quickoffice has not been recompiled for the iPad and looks ugly. Whichever method you choose, it’s important to note the changes are not synced directly. The iPad makes a copy and changes you make are saved to internally to the iPad.

So how do you get an existing spreadsheet into Numbers on the iPad? First, you can access it via an email attachment either through the iPad Mail app, or via Gmail’s web interface. Safari was smart enough to allow me to open an Excel attachment from Gmail into Numbers. That was a welcome surprise.

Second, you can access it via the iWork website. Open up a spreadsheet there and the iPad will offer to open it within Numbers.

Finally, you can use the iTunes file sharing function. Plan in advance though, because you can only do this via a direct iTunes USB sync with your desktop.

Exporting Problems

After completing your work, your options for getting your spreadsheets off of your iPad are extremely limited.

Unlike the importing of a spreadsheet, Numbers does not allow exporting from the iPad into Excel format. Windows users can just sit this one out, since Numbers is not made for Windows. You can export to .pdf so the file can be read in Windows, but not edited.

Similar to the import function, you can email a copy of the spreadsheet in Numbers format or PDF via the Mail app or place it on iWork.com. If you want to re-edit that same file, you’ve got to import the spreadsheet again which unfortunately leaves you with multiple copies of the same spreadsheet on your iPad. The export function is designed for a final product and “sharing” isn’t really supported. Worst of all a 500K Excel converted spreadsheet was considered a “large file” and took over a minute to compile for mailing.

Using the iTunes File sharing function will prevent multiple copies of the same file, but it requires you to do a sync in order to access it. This is a cumbersome function for a mobile device and downright stupid for purchasers of MobileMe who rarely if ever sync to their desktop.

For spreadsheet novices, Numbers might be a great way to store and calculate information while on the go. If you want to actually share the spreadsheet with your desktop computer, Excel, or Windows users, wait for Quickoffice to be optimized for the iPad or another product that supports richer import and export functions.

On the heels of the passage of his landmark healthcare reform bill, several newly released polls have found that President Obama’s approval ratings have fallen to new lows.

While 45 percent of Americans still approve of how Obama is running the country, more than 48 percent disapprove, marking the first time in the president’s term that the majority of those polled have objected to the manner in which he governs, according to the Gallup daily tracking poll.

Meanwhile, a poll conducted late last week by Rasmussen Reports revealed an even gloomier picture for Obama. The new survey indicated that only 29 percent of Americans strongly approve of the president’s job performance, compared to 43 percent who strongly disapprove of his actions, Press TV reports.

Although his numbers have only fallen a few points since the last poll, many political commentators believe the numbers to be statistically significant, as they have not increased following the passage of healthcare overhaul legislation.

However, some pundits judge that the stagnant economy is the reason behind the Obama’s poor approval ratings.

"Because we tend to tie a lot of our vote decisions to how the economy is doing, the unemployment rate is what people are going to be looking at," St. Norbert political science professor Wendy Scattergood told WBay.com.

… or maybe they just have it out for me. I’m not sure. Read on and let me know in the comments.

This story starts when I as a junior in high school. Realizing that I’d have to write a number of papers in college, I went out an bought one of the best laser printers printers on the market. I used $600 of my money from working at Papa Gino’s and bought a Hewleet-Packard LaserJet 4L. I knew it was a lot of money upfront, but it was 7 years before I had to buy any more ink… and I printed all my papers and many friends’ papers. I still have the printer today. It works like a dream… if only I could get it to work with today’s computers that tend to only have USB ports. (I’ve tried a converter cable, but I haven’t been one of the 4 people on the Internet who were able to get it to work.) I’m not the only either as you can still buy the printers on Ebay.

When I couldn’t get that printer working, my wife and I realized that we should move on to something newer and better. We chose to go with one of the All-In-One printers, copiers, scanners, fax-machines, and dog groomers (just checking if you were paying attention). The other benefit I got was the ability to finally print in color. I wanted that Dororthy stepping into Oz experience. Of course since Hewlett-Packard did a great job before, they earned my business again.

We sprang for the HP L7650, which was around $300 (Having a blog is a great way to keep track of your purchases). Like my previous HP printer, it’s still in good working order. So what’s my problem?

Unknown to me, the L7650 has printer heads that require replacing every two years. There is an expiration date on them. We were able to get more than two years out of them, but a couple of weeks ago, my printer just shut-down and said, “No more. I’m not going to use these print heads any more” It wasn’t going to use those printer heads any more. At least you get a warning with low ink.

My wife and I went on Ebay to look to see how much the printer heads. You can save a good amount of money buying printer ink on Ebay, so it was a natural place to look. The cheapest printer head was $55 after shipping. I probably should have mentioned it before, but the printer requires two printer heads – one for black and yellow and another for magenta and cyan.

The cheapest solution to getting this printer back working was going to $110. If I wanted to get genuine HP parts, it would be $140, plus shipping. I looked at OfficeMax online and a HP J4500 was available less than $80. We called up HP and asked if there was anything they could do. We don’t want to recycle a perfectly good printer that simply needs two parts the size of a deck of cards – it is a waste and it’s not environmentally friendly. HP told us that was the only option. Also, the ink cartridges that they used less than three years ago can not be used in any of the current models. I didn’t realize that ink cartridge technology advanced so fast. (I’m being sarcastic as I think HP simply discontinues sizes every now and again to keep you throwing out and buying new ink every time you change printers. It only stands to reason because they have what seems to be a hundred variations of catridges.)

I’d like to say that we did the smart thing and voted for another brand with our wallet. However, that HP J4500 that we went with was by far the cheapest that fit our needs. It really is a shame that the printer companies decided to go with the cheap razor and expensive razorblade model… especially when they make it cheaper to buy new razors and dispose of old working ones.

Related posts:

1. Big Savings on Laser Printer Ink I’ve been lucky enough to have the same Hewlett-Packard 4L…
2. Capital One Hates the Environment It’s true… I have proof. Look at the picture…
3. Five Things I Will Spend My Dimes On Golbguru of Money Matters and More Musings is one of…
4. What’s in My Wallet: The Mint Interview The people at Mint, a company creating a web site…
5. Weekly Financial Review #17 Here are some of the things that went on financially…