Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Promotion for Harry Potter Half Blood Prince started more than 4 yrs ago; Deathly Hallows more than 3 yrs before movie - http://bit.ly/hkgs4

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Learn the Hidden Benefits of Credit Cards [Credit Cards]

Extended care warranties, car rental insurance, trip cancellation protection—you know they're just margin boosters for companies, but you can't shake that vulnerable feeling. Personal finance author Ramit Sethi says you need only look in your wallet.

Photo by TheTruthAbout.

Sethi, author of the I Will Teach You To Be Rich blog, and book of the same name, notes that most credit cards extend purchase warranties to one year automatically, on top of the 30- or 90-day standards included in the box. Car rental insurance is also included in most card policies, and even if the airline tries to stiff you for a "late cancellation," many credit issuers grant their users $1,000-$2,000 per year in trip cancellation paybacks.

Sethi details these perks and others in a recent CNBC appearance, along with a free book chapter and related posts linked below.

What "secret" credit card perks have you discovered, accidentally or through fine print research? Share the hidden wealth in the comments.

Hidden perks of credit cards [I Will Teach You To Be Rich]

Beginner's Wiki Luminotes Goes Open Source [Notes]

Luminotes, a personal wiki in the vein of PBWiki or TiddlyWiki but with a focus on helping beginners get started, has made its portable wiki package and desktop clients free and open source for all.

We previously peeked at Luminotes when it was a partially free service, but desktop clients, self-hosting, and other features were locked behind a pay wall. Many commenters noted a preference for the already free alternatives like PBWiki, but with Luminotes now free and available for use in browsers, off thumb drives, and from Windows-based clients, it's perhaps a more intriguing package for anyone who wants one place to drop all their thoughts, links, ideas and images, but finds Wikipedia-style markup a bit too intimidating to dive right into.

big news: Luminotes is now free! [Luminotes via Web Worker Daily]

A large addressable audience is no longer necessary (push) when every individual can search for what they want when they want it (pull).

Windows Marketplace taking app submissions on July 27, coming to WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 later this year

Windows Mobile devs should start dotting their I's and crossing their T's, because Microsoft's going to be ready to take a good, hard look at their latest and greatest apps come the 27th of this month when the company finally swings open the doors to the submission processes for inclusion in the Windows Marketplace. The announcement has been made at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference this week as it gears up for an onslaught of devices running WinMo 6.5 at retail later this year, though the retail channel might not be where much of the action lies; unlike the Apple App Store, the Android Market, Palm's App Catalog and others, Microsoft is putting major emphasis on a segment of Windows Marketplace it's calling the Business Center where corporate-focused apps and utilities will have a place to live. Boring, yes -- but probably also very profitable in the business fleet market segment where WinMo tends to thrive.

Though the company had previously indicated that Windows Marketplace would be a 6.5 exclusive, we've got great news for legacy device owners who don't expect to get an upgrade: Microsoft has also announced today that the Marketplace will be coming to WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 before the year's out. Considering that 6.5 won't be hitting the street until fall, that's not too bad of a wait; now all it needs is a rich catalog of great software to go along with the great hardware some of its partners are producing, right?

Gallery: Windows Marketplace taking app submissions on July 27, coming to WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 later this year