Gas Saving Tips
April 23, 2008
I don’t know about you, but I felt robbed at the gas pump yesterday when I had to pay more than ever to keep my car going…What can I do to keep my costs down? Here are some tips that can be helpful:
* Restrain yourself from topping off at the pump.
* Check and replace air filters.
* Keep your tires inflated.
* Maintain your car regularly.
* Use cruise control when you can.
* Don’t speed up and slow down frequently on highways.
* Drive at lower speeds when you can to increase fuel efficiency.
* Don’t let your car sit idle for long periods of time.
* Unless your car requires it - don’t buy high octane gas.
* Check your oil regularly.
Go to GasBuddy.com and find the best gas prices in the area. Good luck with squeezing your pennies!
Redesigned iPhone?
April 19, 2008
Apple, Inc., is tuning in to business. For many years, Apple products have been designed for consumers. Now Apple CEO Steve Jobs wants a business product.
What Jobs wants, he usually gets. His current goal is to move his Web-browsing iPhone into the corporate market. He plans to develop more software for the phone, improve security and make it work with popular email programs.
Apple’s goal is to create an iPhone that does more than the BlackBerry, which is mostly used for email.
This will probably mean a redesign of the iPhone keyboard. Right now, it requires people to type messages on a touch screen, usually with one finger. The BlackBerry, with its two-thumb capability, is faster according to Business Week.
Some analysts say employees are already waiting for a fashionable alternative to the BlackBerry and other such devices. With their companies paying part of the projected $400 price tag, they could afford to buy one.
A situation Apple will have to address: Many companies have already invested in RIM technology and RIM servers that ensure email remains up-to-date and secure. RIM is the market leader with 12 million users.
To compete with them, Apple will have to develop infrastructure technology that is far more complex than what it has now. Software developers say they are ready to help.
Because the iPhone is a tiny Mac computer with more memory and processing power than most competing devices, it can run a huge variety of software.
Predictably Irrational
April 18, 2008
I took some time off to take care of my health at the local hospital. I made a mistake of bringing my assistant Blackberry with me. Here I was, one hour after my surgery drugged up and happy, talking business on my “Crackberry”.
Why did I feel a need to take care of business when I had a perfect reason not to.
Why do we make foolish and irrational decisions?
Read “Pedictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely. You may get some answers.
You’re already thinking the author of Predictably Irrational is not talking about a smart, practical person like you. But he is.
MIT professor Dan Ariely has been studying behavioral economics for 20 years. He contends that irrational behavior is a part of human nature. Don’t be put off by his academic standing. His new book is an entertaining read.
It’s a fascinating romp through the science of decision-making. Ariely shows how emotions, social norms, relativity and expectations lead us astray.
He illustrates how people keep their options open, even when one is obviously better; why a woman can’t decide on one of two suitors though one has demonstrated that he is better.
Want to know why a penny difference in price can prompt you to choose a different candy than the one you really want? Why coffee in a nice setting tastes better? Why a person looks more attractive when a less-attractive person enters the room? Or why people who would never steal money take office supplies?
Ariely says our understanding of economics is now based on the assumption that people behave rationally. It should be based on the natural irrationality of human beings. But once understood, irrationality can be overcome.
Some of his experiments had surprising outcomes. In one, people were asked to write down the last two digits of their Social Security numbers. After they did, it was found that people with numbers ending in the highest digits (80-99) were willing to pay more for items like wine and chocolates than those with the lowest numbers, those ending in 01 to 20.
Economists are using the new-found knowledge to design fixes for problems ranging from drug addition, to undersaving for retirement, or to the positioning of cookies and fruits in the cafeteria.
Go and buy Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, HarperCollins, 304 pages, $25.95.