See, I told you I couldn’t stay away for long. Here are some interesting links I came across today:
* 
The Flickr tag: knockoff. First of all, Flickr is a photograph sharing site where items are “tagged” with a category. The “knockoff” category is a repository for photographs of generic consumer products that are designed to look like their brand-name counterparts.
* Dan Bricklin, the guy who invented the electronic spreadsheet (think: Microsoft Excel), produces podcasts now (among other things). Here is his recording setup.
* Here’s an interesting search concept: Yahoo Mindset. Search the web using terms as usual, then pull the slider from one direction (shopping) to another (researching). It’s search based on intent.
Popular people find themselves invited to a number of their friend’s events, such as weddings, anniversaries, bridal showers, baby showers, bachelor parties, bachelorette parties, etc. These are the typical events that generally take place between getting out of college and middle ages. How can a popular person afford to attend all these social events?
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The “Personal Services” industry has been growing. More people are willing to pay others for tasks considered inconvenient, like shopping, washing laundry, and possibly even “wiping.”
This article by Gordon T. Anderson describes various mundane tasks for which you can hire a specialist. If you want to make money in this industry but you have no skills for which you can sell yourself, you can always invest.
What personal services would you pay someone to do? I’d gladly pay $30 for someone to do my laundry every two weeks.
Unrelated note: While searching for information on this topic, I came across a new beta product by Google: Google Gulp. It’s an invitation-only beta program, so you’ll have to know someone who has already enjoyed the product. Leave a comment here for a referral and I’ll send you a cap.
Here’s something fun for Friday. The Retail Alphabet Game gives a player the alphabet, with each letter coming from a different brand logo. See if you can guess the brand belonging to the letter. Note that the only official way to receive a clue is to buy one from the author.
MSN Money often recycles older personal finance articles for its front page. I don’t really mind since I might have missed one in the past. They don’t date their articles so you never know when something was originally posted.
They are featuring an article on finding deals on hotel rooms. They give some examples, but here’s the bottom line procedure:
* Start your search on Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity. Each site will give you a different mix of results.
* Pick one hotel you like and visit that hotel’s website (or the hotel chain’s website) to find a lower rate.
* Call the hotel, ask for the lowest rate, and then negotiate using the familiar line, “Is that the best you can do?” Calling the hotel on Sunday gives you a better chance to get someone who’s free to negotiate on price. Call again at the last minute. Some rooms may have opened up or prices may have changed.
* If your web search returns “no availability” for a particular hotel, check the hotel’s website anyway.
The article has further suggestions for upgrading hotel rooms or aiming for super non-refundable rates through sites like Hotwire and Priceline (PCLN) but that can be risky.
I’m thinking of going out to California next month. I’m checking flight prices with a new fare search from Yahoo (although it is still in beta). It queries “discount” carriers in addition to the bigger airlines. With some time, I’ll compare it to the fares other search engines find. In the mean time, check it out if you’re booking a trip.
From the YouCanSellAnythingOneBay Department:
You can now bid on a stripper’s removed breast implant. At the time the article was written, bidding was up to $14,000. Don’t get hasty, you can bid on the item only after approval from Tawny Peaks, the seller/porn star.
Wal-Mart already performs a million financial transactions a week and has good deals — better than most banks — on money orders and wire transfers. They’ve attempted to buy a local bank in the past. What if Wal-Mart did enter the banking industry?
Liz Pulliam-Weston speculates on the consequences which seem favorable. For instance, Wal-Mart’s customers have an average income below the national average and most of those people do not already have bank accounts. If Wal-Mart brings its low-cost philosophy to banking, it could mean savings-seekers will have more and better options as discount banks compete.
Sidenote: You may have noticed I’ve added a link on the website for accepting donations. I don’t expect to garner much, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt. If you like what you read here, feel free to drop a buck in the bucket. PayPal takes care of the transaction and takes a fee out of my side for every payment accepted, but it could be worth it.
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