Mossberg Video: Buying a Decent Computer on the Cheap

Are you in the market for a computer? Walt Mossberg shares some tips on finding a decent computer during these tough economic times. You might want to bookmark this article for the day when your computer goes adios. Also discusses Apple versus PC. Not surprising, says if its PC stay away from Vista. Some good stuff and cheap like he says.

Oops: Mich. Democrats put number for sex line on campaign mailer

I suppose business is going to boom after this snafu.

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Some voters got a surprise when they called the toll-free number on a mailer from the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee. Instead of hearing Barack Obama's voice, WJBK-TV says callers were greeted by a recording in which a woman makes some racy comments before inviting them to type in their credit card number. Party officials blamed the mixup on a typographical error, according to the Associated Press. Here are some of our earlier postings about such incidents: •  Oops: Phone company mixes up numbers for governor, sex line •  Oops: Some E-ZPass customers misdial, get phone-sex line •  Oops: Verizon directs customer service calls to sex line

Circuit Breaker Halt Trading on the Dow Jones

The Dow Jones industrial average would have to fall 1,100 points on the day to trigger the first trading halt.

If that decline is reached before 2 p.m., the market will shut down for an hour. If the threshold is breached between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., the halt will last 30 minutes. No trading stops would take place if the plunge occurs after 2:30 p.m.

If the index were to fall 2,200 points before 1 p.m., the market would close for two hours. If such a decline took place between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., there would be a one-hour pause. The market would close for the day if stocks sank to that level after 2 p.m.

In the event of a 3,350-point decline, the market would close for the day, regardless of the time.

Twitter Management Shakeup

Twwet.

clipped from bits.blogs.nytimes.com Jack Dorsey is out as chief executive at Twitter, the micro-blogging start-up that has become famous in the tech world for a lot of buzz and little revenue. Evan Williams, Twitter’s chairman, co-founder and chief product officer, will take over as chief executive and run day-to-day operations at the service, which allows people to broadcast messages of 140 characters or less. Mr. Dorsey is becoming chairman. the company has no real source of revenue Twitter is backed by Union Square Ventures, Digital Garage, Spark Capital and Bezos Expeditions, a venture capital company led by Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon. The decision is somewhat surprising since Twitter has actually become more stable recently, holding up particularly well during the heavy barrage of messages exchanged by users during the recent presidential debates.

Stasia and Bob: 'Joe the Plumber' a Fraud

Stasia and Bob: 'Joe the Plumber' a Fraud

MRSA Infections Come to the Doctor’s Office

Follow the links to read more about this nasty stuff.

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a tough-to-treat infection that in recent years has migrated out of the hospital and into the community. The cases above come from the country practice of WSJ.com columnist Ben Brewer, who writes this week about his experience treating the infection. clipped from online.wsj.com We all harbor skin bacteria. Some bugs are worse than others. About 25% to 30% of people carry staph bacteria on the skin or in the nose and can pass it to others. Only about 1% of the population is walking around with MRSA. Even so, nearly 18,650 people died from MRSA infection and 94,000 others were seriously sickened in 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The basics of MRSA prevention are hand washing, wiping down surfaces and covering cuts. Keeping personal care items separated from others also helps. For more information on MRSA and how to prevent its spread, see this report from the Mayo Clinic.

MDI's AIRpod Is a Minute Air-Powered Car

Want one for the trunk of your car?

clipped from www.goodcleantech.com Europe-based company MDI Corporation already promised a six-seater compressed air-powered car for the US come 2010. Here's another vehicle from the brand, although it's far from the family-sized vehicle the US will get. The AIRpod is a minute car by MDI powered by compressed air that's slated for a Europe release on 2009. The vehicle can seat three (non-claustrophobic) people, with one forced to sit facing backwards (that someone would probably have to be immune to motion sickness). The AIRpod has a maximum range of 130 miles (220 kilometers) and a top speed of 40 miles per hour (70 kph), making it suitable for city driving which is probably the company's aim in the first place. Using compressed air as a power source means huge amounts of air are compressed into a small tank that would have to be released slowly to move the car's pistons , the AIRpod is expected to be really efficient and of course, since it runs on air instead of fossil fuels, it's also environmentally-friendly.