In coming years, people who own electric cars will need someplace -- other than their homes -- to plug them in when they are out and about. Coulomb Technologies hopes to supply that service in the form of recharging stations located in public and private parking lots. To that end, Coulomb has expanded its reseller program to 28 states. A recharging station is simply a conveniently-placed electrical outlet that requires a prepaid debit card. Why not have them accept credit cards? "Because the credit card [service] charge will be more than the cost of the [electric] charge," explains one...
Filed under: Newsletters, Stocks to Buy, Financial Crisis Banking analyst Meredith Whitney is credited with questioning assets on bank balance sheets given the collapse in the real estate market. Taking advantage of a complete lack of information, Ms. Whitney triggered a massive collapse of trust in an industry by claiming that mortgage-backed securities were worth far less than what the market had perceived. While she may have had a basis for her claims, her assessment was more sensational than factual. Mortgage-backed securities are quite complex instruments whereby loans are sliced, diced and packaged for sale to a global market....
I’m starting to become a really big fan of Gift Cards. They’re great because, unlike debit and credit cards they’re separate to your personal banking. I’ve found that this gives shoppers some form of accountability while they’re shopping, they have a set amount to spend kind of a thing. GiftCardLab.com is a great place to get your Gift Cards Online. Not only do they have marvelous service online but you can upload your own photos and completely customize those cards. To top it off your Visa gift cards are FDIC Insured. Unlike store brand gift cards, if a store goes...
Some of you may remember when Coolest Gadgets covered CNN’s supposed “hologram” of will.i.am covering the American election last month. Of course, that hologram was nothing more than special effects, but here is an article about the real deal. I’m not talking about those tiny holograms on your credit cards or certain magazine covers, and I’m not talking about the ones as cool as Princess Leia’s distress call in the original Star Wars. The holographic technology that I am writing about now is the Holocube 3D, somewhere in the middle of these two advancements. The Holocube 3D is a box...
A group of students at M.I.T. have set aside their privacy and volunteered to become guinea pigs in an experiment which examines digital trails, and the information that can be extracted from them. Using this “collective intelligence” researchers hope data can be gathered from which valuable and hidden insights can be gleamed. The New York Times reports: Mr. Brown and about 100 other students living in Random Hall at M.I.T. have agreed to swap their privacy for smartphones that generate digital trails to be beamed to a central computer. Beyond individual actions, the devices capture a moving picture of...
The end of the month is coming and I’ll have a little bit of money sitting in my PayPal account but it leaves me in a little bit of a quandary. Like, do I transfer some; or all of it, to my bank account so I can get that Christmas shopping down. If I leave some of it in my PayPal account then I am stuck dealing with the sometimes depressing online shopping experience. It’s not always depressing; as buying digital goods is fairly simple and painless - at least it isn’t affected by one or more of my...
When Anadel Carrizales pulled over to help a blonde in a black miniskirt whose car appeared to have broken down on a Mexican highway, he thought that he was his lucky day … but all he got was a super sticky situation: Once he had stopped, the woman walked up and told him an accomplice was pointing a gun at him, said David Perales, a spokesman for state investigators. She then tied him up with packing tape, super-glued his hands to the steering wheel of his truck and demanded money. Carrizales didn’t have any cash, but the woman took his...
I got back and had a look at PuskaRadio. Alas I haven’t got a decent Nokia around to actually use. So I’m imagining it sounds good. That together with the tons of positive feedback I’ve had from folk this evening raving about it. Got a Nokia? Download the app and have a go and tell me what you think. puskaradio Sharing your location with your friends has never been this easy! And its free!* No registration. No credit cards. No hassle! To share your location you need a mobile phone with an internal or an external GPS, and a network...
