Many gift cards (or parts of gift cards) go unused. Don't buy gift cards unless you consider the possible disadvantages first.

Way to go Nordstrom! They refuse to get involved with Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving! Now if only everyone else will follow along.

Rather than preventing the problem, many companies are satisfied (and make tons of profit) by inventing new services to attack the symptoms rather than the problem. Don't waste your time or money. Get a credit freeze and don't worry about all the snake oil. (H/T to The Consumerist for the link) Tags: Credit Freeze, Credit Monitoring, Identity Theft

A fairly clever video maker has created a tutorial on copyright law using, of all things, Disney movie clips. It's humorous and informative which is a good combination Just be careful because the speed that he switchs between clips might make you convulse. (H/T to digg for the link) Tags: Copyright, fair use

Here’s a little summary of the battle between the RIAA and university students. Looks like things are getting harder and harder for the RIAA meaning as their exploits become more public, less people are willing to bend over and take their abuse. Tags: RIAA

This is funny and informative. I didn't know that the total number of Vista machines is near the same number of Macs out there. What's that? Under 5% market pentatration? Ouch. (H/T to digg for the link) Tags: Microsoft, Windows

As it should. No better way to encourage voters than to give them e-voting machines that have been proven faulty. Yeah… I really feel my vote counts now. Anyway, let’s hope a well placed lawsuit or two can set them back on the right track. Tags: E-voting

This covers it pretty well. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, watchdog groups sued the Whitehouse for records that they believe will prove that Bush and company lied and generally did bad things. The Whitehouse claims to have deleted all e-mail records from that time. Imagine that. Tags: Accountability MIA, Bush, Bushiness, Corruption

Walmart has tried selling a computer based on a Linux OS before, but this time it seems to be taking. the gPC runs with very light specs (by today's standards), but becuase the system and programs require less memory and processing power, the net result is competitive with today's more beefy machines. Personally, I'm blogging about this article just for this line alone:

Even at the low end, however, image is everything. The gPC is built using tiny components, but put inside a full-size case because research indicates that Wal-Mart shoppers are so unsophisticated they equate physical size with capability.

Ha! JTAG ERROR: No slashdot index defined

Consumeraffairs.com has an article today about extended warranties. With the way they present it, I wonder why anyone would ever buy one. It turns out that I mostly agree with them. I sold extended warranties for a long time and I can guarantee that you'll get your money's worth in some specific cases, but unless you know your rights very well and push for them in the face of opposition from the store and the company, you probably will never recoup your costs. If you don't have the tenacity to fight for your warranty terms, you're better off avoiding the expense. Tags: Retailers