[STD] The Price Is Right At The Right Time

Define STD: STD for The Underground Blog is short for Savvy Tech Dude/Dudette. The STD story is my attempt to share some insight into some of my practices, as well as others as to how they are using technology to make their life better, saving money, or perhaps bettering the environment. (Hopefully, I can find a female contributor…  )

Frequency of Story: When it feels right.

Personal Comment: I really love the STD idea, and with topics so broad, I can go anywhere with this series. The question is, how far down the rabbit hole do you and I want to go? 

In the meantime, I encourage all forms of interaction. Please sound off in comments, I’d appreciate it. If you have an idea, or want me to consider something different, I will. If you want to spread the word, be my guest. As time goes along, I’m asking for people to contribute, or if you want to be interviewed (I’ll protect your identity), then we can dig deeper. Please consider my offer, thanks!

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Near my house Blockbuster was going out of business. About two weeks ago, it shut down for good, but through this experience I wanted to share a heartfelt story that despite a recession going on, there are still individuals willing to spend money on movies and not have to resort to downloading.  It’s called buying something because its such a ridiculous deal.

Save money on gas.

In this day and age gas is on just about everyone’s minds, especially with consistent rising prices. I personally have a few ways of saving on gas, but nothing concrete or enough to actually save me some decent money. Here are 13 ways to significantly reduce your gas costs, brought to you by the great folks at About.com:

1: Choice of car. Granted this is very limited for people, 4 door sedans are usually the best bet, and cheaper than the popular SUV pick.

2: Upkeep. Believe it or not, if your car is in bad condition it can increase the gas use by up to 25%.

3: Steel-belted radial tires. They can actually pay for themselves in short time and decrease gas consumption by 10%

4: Gas tier. From the horses mouth itself, having a good friend with several Mobil franchises, I know now that unless your manual specifically states you need a certain level of gas, for example premium or unleaded, get the cheapest one. They’re all the same, save for differences most cars won’t notice.

5: Tire pressure. Every pound of under inflation causes up to 6% more gas usage.

6: Don’t top of your gas tank when pumping gas. Stop when it tells you to.

7: Don’t idle your car to warm it up. Running the engine makes it warm up faster, I also can confirm this. It works wonders on the way to work! I just bundle up before opening the garage door. 🙂

8: Combine your errands. Take the time it takes to drive between destinations each time you come and go from your home, and plan your trips out to save the gas of traveling from home often. This is probably the one you’ll remember and use the most.

9: Accelerate gently. Putting the pedal to the medal will burn your tires, and a hole in your pocket.

10: Watch traffic jams carefully. Plan your stop-and-goes.

11: Coast to stopped traffic ahead of you and apply brakes gradually. Don’t speed up and slam on the brakes.

12: Speed limits are there for more than you think! Driving faster, i.e.: 70 MPH takes more gas than 50 MPH.

13: Maintain a steady speed on the highway. Avoid slowing down and speeding up to match other cars. Cruise control is your friend! Careful not to fall asleep though.

[ Source: http://financialplan.about.com/cs/cars/a/SaveGas.htm ]

God speed and Best wishes.

¥

PS3 Price Cut

 

Sony Corps has recently lowered its 80 GB model PS3 price to $499, from the original $599. The lower end 60GB model will be replaced with a 40GB model, which will go on sale on November 2^nd.

This step narrows the price gap with competing game consoles, but the PlayStation 3 is still the most expensive. Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 costs $350 and Nintendo Corp.’s Wii costs $250.

However, despite the price cut, many experts analyse that it came too late. Comparatively, Wii has sold 9.3 million units, 360 has sold 11.6 million units, and the PS3 only sold 5 million units, as of October 19, 2007.