According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, college texbooks prices have increased at twice the inflation rate over the past 20 years with students spending an average $1,000 a year on books, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Fortunately, there are several textbook rental companies in the market place ready to save cash-strapped college students, some serious money. Three companies were comparatively studied by the Wall Street Journal for prices, availability, ease of return, buyback options etc; they are: Bookrenter.com, campusbookrentals.com and chegg.com. A fourth company, textbooks.com doesn't rent books, but with its guaranteed buybacks, acts like like one.
In general, the study shows that renting books is cheaper than buying, be it used or new with the prices of books for shorter semesters, lower than those for longer ones. That goes without saying that if you plan to keep a book longer than one semester, you may be better off buying it.
By comparison, not only books rented from Chegg.com were the most expensive of the three, that was also the only one who charged sales tax.
One general rule is to keep the rented books free of damages otherwise you could be charged the full retail price.
For more, see WSJ.com
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Maybe feeling the pressure from Congress and some consumer groups, Verizon wireless, the U.S. largest carrier in term of subscribers, shocked the cell phone world by announcing last month that it will in the future, limit the length of its exclusive deals with handset manufacturers to no more than six months.
The new measure would opens the doors for small wireless carriers to the most sought after and therefore profitable handsets in the market. However, the new arrangements would not affect existing deals like Verizon's exclusive one to carry the Blackberry Storm made by Research in Motion Ltd. Also, some mid-size carriers like Virgin Mobile and U.S. Cellular Corp do not qualify to benefit from the measure.
Other large carriers have yet to respond to Verizon latest move, but you bet they do not have a choice but to follow suit.
For more, see WSJ.com
The new measure would opens the doors for small wireless carriers to the most sought after and therefore profitable handsets in the market. However, the new arrangements would not affect existing deals like Verizon's exclusive one to carry the Blackberry Storm made by Research in Motion Ltd. Also, some mid-size carriers like Virgin Mobile and U.S. Cellular Corp do not qualify to benefit from the measure.
Other large carriers have yet to respond to Verizon latest move, but you bet they do not have a choice but to follow suit.
For more, see WSJ.com
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Electricity usage monitoring devices for your home.
If you are sitting at home and wondering what areas of your monthly expenses you can trim to save a little cash, a good place to start would be your electricity use. For too long, most people have paid too little attention to their power consumption around the house for many reasons, one of them being the lack of awareness of the cost per use for all the devices that run on electricity. To help make that knowledge accessible, several companies have seized on the opportunity with different gadgets offerings. According to a test done by the Wall Street Journal, three products currently in the market, do a decent job at an array of price tag. Here, they are listed from the least to the most expensive:
First is the Power Monitor from Black & Decker retailing at $99.99 and the most cost effective when it comes to achieving your goal to cut your power usage because of its easy to read and right to the point display.
Every time you turn on an appliance or a light switch, you get a reading of your actual electric cost per hour or find out how much electricity is being consumed by any given device in use.
Second is the PowerCost Monitor from Blue Line Innovation Inc selling for $109 and which offers a slighter wider display screen and allow a longer range for the wireless signal that transmit the data from the electric meter.
The last of the three, is The Energy Detective 5000 by Energy Inc, with a price tag of $199. What that money will buy you essentially, is a more detailed and sophisticated display that most of us do not need or even understand. It is also the most difficult to set up, requiring a qualified technician while the two first ones are a breeze to connect.
But if you are not ready yet to add these devices to your to-do list, you may be in luck because several power companies are testing their own smart meters which will allow a two-way communication between you and the companies with cutting costs as the objective. And better yet, Google, yes Google the Internet search company's philantrophic foundation Google.org, is in collaboration with some power companies to create a free service that would allows you to monitor your power use Online, through a widget.
For more, see the WSJ.com
First is the Power Monitor from Black & Decker retailing at $99.99 and the most cost effective when it comes to achieving your goal to cut your power usage because of its easy to read and right to the point display.
Every time you turn on an appliance or a light switch, you get a reading of your actual electric cost per hour or find out how much electricity is being consumed by any given device in use.
Second is the PowerCost Monitor from Blue Line Innovation Inc selling for $109 and which offers a slighter wider display screen and allow a longer range for the wireless signal that transmit the data from the electric meter.
The last of the three, is The Energy Detective 5000 by Energy Inc, with a price tag of $199. What that money will buy you essentially, is a more detailed and sophisticated display that most of us do not need or even understand. It is also the most difficult to set up, requiring a qualified technician while the two first ones are a breeze to connect.
But if you are not ready yet to add these devices to your to-do list, you may be in luck because several power companies are testing their own smart meters which will allow a two-way communication between you and the companies with cutting costs as the objective. And better yet, Google, yes Google the Internet search company's philantrophic foundation Google.org, is in collaboration with some power companies to create a free service that would allows you to monitor your power use Online, through a widget.
For more, see the WSJ.com
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Printcasting is a new quick self publishing tool.
Ever dreamed of being a publisher? Now that dream can become reality and you do not even have to leave the comfort of your own home to realize it , thanks to a new Web site called Printcasting.com .
The site launched in March, is free to access and use and is funded by Knight Foundation in an effort to find new avenues for local news and for advertisers to reach local potential customers. For now, the site is rolled out only in few states, but it is looking to expand to other cities.
The site principle is very simple: Potential publishers register with the site as in any social network site, and from there, they choose the name and template of their own magazine and fill it with whatever news articles or blog posts that they have uploaded from the web or from their own work if they have their own blog, or from newspapers or other publications that have registered with Printcasting. If they want, they can use a search function for different topics.When they have a final product, and that is the most interesting part of the site, advertisers have the option to place ads in the publications. The magazines can be viewed online by anyone with a PC or a mobile device or if they want, readers can print their own paper versions from their home printers. Publishers can also print copies of their magazines and choose whichever way they want it distributed.
To place ads on these publications, the site charge advertisers $10 per issue regardless how many copies get printed, but the magazines creators can charge whatever they agreed on with the advertisers.
All the ads revenues are collected by the site which keeps 10 percent of it, gives 30 percent to the authors of the articles and 60 percent to the publishers.
For more, see NYTimes.com
The site launched in March, is free to access and use and is funded by Knight Foundation in an effort to find new avenues for local news and for advertisers to reach local potential customers. For now, the site is rolled out only in few states, but it is looking to expand to other cities.
The site principle is very simple: Potential publishers register with the site as in any social network site, and from there, they choose the name and template of their own magazine and fill it with whatever news articles or blog posts that they have uploaded from the web or from their own work if they have their own blog, or from newspapers or other publications that have registered with Printcasting. If they want, they can use a search function for different topics.When they have a final product, and that is the most interesting part of the site, advertisers have the option to place ads in the publications. The magazines can be viewed online by anyone with a PC or a mobile device or if they want, readers can print their own paper versions from their home printers. Publishers can also print copies of their magazines and choose whichever way they want it distributed.
To place ads on these publications, the site charge advertisers $10 per issue regardless how many copies get printed, but the magazines creators can charge whatever they agreed on with the advertisers.
All the ads revenues are collected by the site which keeps 10 percent of it, gives 30 percent to the authors of the articles and 60 percent to the publishers.
For more, see NYTimes.com
Monday, July 27, 2009
Free Internet calling services for cellphones.
Even if the possibilities have been around for a while, making free international calls via cellphones have remained challenging. Two companies, Skype, the market leader and Fring, an Israel based company, offer the most user-friendly cellphone applications for international calls. But, there are still some hussles and for these applications to be worthwhile, someone has to plan to make a lot of international calls.
For these two applications to work best, they better be downloaded on a phone with WI-FI capabilities with the user staying within the hot spot during the phone call.
For both Skype and Fring, users are assigned an ID or name that they use to dial up with the call going through the service's Internet servers.
Calls made to others members of both services are free while those made to non members using a Skype prepaid account, are at a cheaper rate than the one charged by traditional phone companies.
The Skype cellphone application can be dowloaded directly to a phone using Windows Mobile or to a PC and then transfered to the phone later.
According to the New York Times,"for those without a Windows Mobile phone, Skype recently introduced Skype Lite, which runs on dozens of Nokia and Samsung phones with Symbian software, as well as a few Motorola Razr models. On Skype.com, these users can type in their mobile numbers and Skype will send a message to the phone with a link to download the software."
Skype Lite also runs on the G1, from T-Mobile, also known as the Google phone, which operates on the Android software platform. To get the application,one's only need to visit the “Market,” Android’s app store and click on the free Skype application.
For more, see NYTimes.com
For these two applications to work best, they better be downloaded on a phone with WI-FI capabilities with the user staying within the hot spot during the phone call.
For both Skype and Fring, users are assigned an ID or name that they use to dial up with the call going through the service's Internet servers.
Calls made to others members of both services are free while those made to non members using a Skype prepaid account, are at a cheaper rate than the one charged by traditional phone companies.
The Skype cellphone application can be dowloaded directly to a phone using Windows Mobile or to a PC and then transfered to the phone later.
According to the New York Times,"for those without a Windows Mobile phone, Skype recently introduced Skype Lite, which runs on dozens of Nokia and Samsung phones with Symbian software, as well as a few Motorola Razr models. On Skype.com, these users can type in their mobile numbers and Skype will send a message to the phone with a link to download the software."
Skype Lite also runs on the G1, from T-Mobile, also known as the Google phone, which operates on the Android software platform. To get the application,one's only need to visit the “Market,” Android’s app store and click on the free Skype application.
For more, see NYTimes.com
Friday, July 24, 2009
Fluent News delivers news on the go with iPhone app.
Among the multitude of apps for the iPhone, one turns out to be particularly useful for people on the move with the need to constantly check on the news. A new iPhone app called Fluent News by a company by the same name, is a news aggregator designed initially for the iPhone but available for free to any phone with a browser. When fired up, the screen shows up a list a list of headlines and a summary with the possibility to read the whole story by clicking on it. The news are divided onto 12 categories like business, entertainment, technology etc and only story per topic is shown, helping keep the interface free of clutter.
For more, see NYTimes.com
For more, see NYTimes.com
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Internet banking solutions for small business.
For small business, anything to help them save time and money in the process, is welcome news today more than ever. With that in mind, not having to make the daily trip to the local branch for a deposit, is a breath of fresh air. Thanks to the Internet, bank deposits can now be made by small business owners without setting foot in a branch.
The basic tools needed to make remote deposits are: a PC, an Internet connection, and a scanner.
When it comes down to the scanner, different systems have various requirements. While most systems require a specialized scanner, more and more systems only ask for a multi use scanner or even a camera phone.
The service is not free, and range in prices from $25 to $80 a month. But some banks offer a discount when the service is bundled with other offerings.
Beyond just check deposits, some banks offer software that go further by combining other functions like entering the scanned data into the small business accounting system.
To qualify to these services, small business will need to have good credit history and a healthy relationship with their financial institutions.
For more, see WSJ.com
The basic tools needed to make remote deposits are: a PC, an Internet connection, and a scanner.
When it comes down to the scanner, different systems have various requirements. While most systems require a specialized scanner, more and more systems only ask for a multi use scanner or even a camera phone.
The service is not free, and range in prices from $25 to $80 a month. But some banks offer a discount when the service is bundled with other offerings.
Beyond just check deposits, some banks offer software that go further by combining other functions like entering the scanned data into the small business accounting system.
To qualify to these services, small business will need to have good credit history and a healthy relationship with their financial institutions.
For more, see WSJ.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
