Customer service in this country is bad, no wait.. it’s down right horrific! The practices of many corporations in the USA is so deplorable that you think we lived in a third world country. I don’t think there is a consumer among us that can say they never had a bad customer service experience and some of the experiences I’ve read about or experienced myself is on the borderline of fraud. Yet we are helpless and nearly forgotten when it comes to consumer rights.

Some of the worse case scenarios I’ve read about (here and here) are truly mind boggling! People being thrown out of their homes due to complete incompetence from banks and mortgage lenders. People losing hard earned dollars to companies who don’t process refunds or offer deals they refuse to honor. How sad is it that the greatest nation in the world has fallen and the people it claimed it stood for are sold out every minute of everyday by corporations and politics.

It sickens me whenever I read how many people are abused and taken advantage of  or defrauded on such a huge scale and the government takes no notice. Corporations are rarely prosecuted or even investigated when consumers voice their complaints. The Better Business Bureau is a non-profit organization for protecting consumers and ensuring business’ play by the rules has been involved in numerous allegations of abuse and misconduct of their own. Corporate lobbyists bribing politicians to change laws in their favor. Company web sites being hacked, disclosing millions of consumers private information due to a lack of security and the one of my favorite injustices, having to speak to a CS rep in India who is poorly educated and even less trained for the position. I even worked for a company that would delete all records of you if you called and complained, essentially pretending they never did business with you. The number one complaint from that companies customers “You charged me for products I never ordered”. The company actually made profits stealing peoples money from their credit card accounts when they made purchases in the past, and guess what happened to them? After many complaints to the Better Business Bureau and the state attorney general, not a single inquiry or investigation was ever conducted, Why? The owners of the business made regular monthly donations to the BBB and contributed to state campaign functions. Once again american consumer you loose!

Remember Enron? how many consumers were defrauded or nearly bankrupted  by this companies deceptions? Yet what was really done to rectify the situation for consumers? Absolutely nothing. In fact we payed again for their deeds by sending the guilty parties to prison and us, taxpaying consumers, have to support them while they sit in jail.

Now to some people, these might be the extremes of an unjust society and for the most part you are right. Fortunately Enron’s don’t happen all the time, right? Well let’s see banks failed due to bad loan deals and mortgage companies were closing up shop to avoid prosecution. The auto industry had to be bailed out with your money to avoid layoffs (they still laid off thousands of employee’s even after they received bailouts.) and how your state is finding new ways to increase taxes and fees on anything and everything. This has all happened in just the last two years. The Consumerist web site is updated constantly with new horror stories of how companies today treat consumers and it’s only getting worse. The truth is it’s not extreme rare cases anymore. The fraud is occurring at your door step everyday and there is little to be done about it. Large companies have learned that there is no recourse if they wrong you. You the uneducated citizen will not have the financial means or power to make a stand and companies know this all to well.

Let me leave you with one other point. Would you be willing to spend your money with a company that sold you products or services that you could not try out ahead of time or be guaranteed that item works as advertised? Would you even spend your hard earned money if this company made it clear there would be no refunds once your purchased was made? Well a lot of you do, ever hear of Apple’s App Store! No guarantee what you look at is going to work and officially refunds or credits are not offered on any of their apps. Yet Apple has record earnings and nearly 10 billions apps have been sold. I guess sometimes we sell ourselves out too.

Now I am no expert on business or politics and would not even know where a line could be drawn on how big is too big. But one thing I do know is that for a large corporation to succeed and not be derailed by it’s competitors is to continue to innovate and satisfy consumer demands at a fair market price. The moment a company is no longer able to provide this basic function it is doomed.

So here we are in 2010 and the evidence is all around us that corporations are just too large, there stifling competition which then in turn stifles innovation and leads to inflation. I’ll give you some examples. Microsoft the largest software company in the world, employing thousands of talented people. When they decided to provide the next version of Windows after XP they put together a huge team of engineers, designers and programmers to build the greatest operating system Microsoft has ever developed, but five years and a billion dollars later it was a disaster. Consumers were not happy with it and most did not want to upgrade. As Microsoft regrouped to try and find the problems it was quickly determined that so much energy was spent on meetings and discussing feature sets and what would go in and what would stay out that hardly anything was done right. The programming was sloppy because it lacked focus and direction with no solid plan. Another example is General Motors, producing low quality cars at an expensive price. The executives at GM seemed to more interested in making money on Wall St. then selling good cars. Sure enough the competition surpassed them and we needed to bail them out or risk putting thousands of workers out of work. How about Bank Of America or Washington Mutual making risky investments and backing thousands of unsecured loans and when they went bust guess who had to bail them out? Of course these are the more extreme examples of what happens. What about the companies that affect are daily lives?

How many times have had to call a company to fix a billing issue or make a change to an account of yours only to be met with intense frustration at the lack of incompetence you will inevitably have to deal with. I can personally attest to the fact my self as I was recently contracted by a large computer manufacturer here in Austin. I won’t reveal the name but a google search of large computer companies in Austin and Round Rock area will answer it for you quickly. It became obvisously clear that this company could not get things done effectively for many reasons. The lack of communication from the executives to the worker bees was ramped. There was no longer a focused work flow, managers hardly managed and most employees did the least amount of work possible as there was no incentative on anyone’s part to promote good work ethics. Then there is the philosophy of the knee jerk reaction. Where a corporations only deal with a problem after they realized they have a problem and usually responding in an over the top solution that involes laying off workers. Which now creates a new problem, employees no longer work together but instead compete with each other in order to save their jobs and such as the company begins to tear itself apart.

What about public traded companies? The whole concept of public traded companies is flawed, it’s greed in it’s greatest form. The idea that a company is owned by thousands or in some cases millions of investors who are only interested in one thing.. profits! What happens when a company is constantly forced to produce more profits year after year? Here’s an example, let’s say a company has been very successful selling a popular product, sooner or later the company will likley hit a threshold where just about every consumer who would buy your product has. At some point the profit is going to level out. But investors don’t want to hear that, they want more, and a company is forced to cheating and defrauding anyone and anybody they can for the sake of the investors. It usually comes in the form of crappy sales tactics and misleading offers. Such as extended warranties, and sale prices that are rarely honored.

As I was watching the news today I learned of a huge airline merger between United and Continental Airlines and how already economists were stating how this is going to raise airline fees, provide less seats for passengers and reduce competition. As it stands we are facing some of the worst economic times in are nations history and the larger our companies get the worse it is for us. I strongly urge consumers to get educated and support companies that are more interested in offering good conusmer value instead of larger profits. Check out websites like Consumer Reports and The Consumerist to get more information and to beware of fraudlent practices. As always you the consumer are the most powerful as only you dictate how your money is spent and with this power comes the responsibility of knowing how to spend it wisely.

So let me give you a little background as to what OS’s I use and how and why I use them. I started out in the the 1980′s using an IBM 5150 8088 XT class PC. It was designed in the late 70′s and was handed down to me as something that I could tinker with (little did I know at the time it would spawn a career.) and learn about the world of computing. It was loaded with PC-DOS at the time and I quickly upgraded to MS-DOS. In a rather short amount of time I became a power user, learning all the commands and configuring start up files and batch files for the most optimum experience I could muster out of that old box. Fast forward a decade and I had used every version of DOS and Windows Microsoft had put out.

At this point Apple was something of a specialty outfit to me. Not really leading the way in modern computers. All the innovation and breakthroughs seem to be coming out of the PC camp. I’m sure there are some fan boys who would disagree but truth be told in the 90′s it was the PC side that was making all the noise and getting all the attention.  Windows95 was a new direction for Microsoft with it’s new user interface. Things were much more organized and easy to use, it was going to change how we used everyday computers and it actually did. Some of the key elements were the ability to truly multitask our work and make configuring the computer much easier and simpler.

At this point in my life it was all about Windows. I had played with a few Macs around this time, but never took them seriously. They seemed more like expensive toys not something I could do serious work with or communicate or even play in depth games.  Windows was were it was at… but there was trouble brewing. Microsoft had major success with Windows95 but the next few versions were not so fortunate for the Redmond, WA crew. Windows98 while successful in the amount of copies sold and installed, had more than it’s share of nay-sayers who disliked the direction Microsoft was going in. It appeared Microsoft was locking out the competition and the OS was beginning to get slow and clunky. Reliability was starting to become an issue.  Shortly after, Microsoft released WindowsME and it was a disaster. It was slow and very unreliable. There was no major improvements over it’s previous version and it seemed to be poorly designed and executed. People who were buying new computers were asking for their money back after using WindowsME for a short while. PC development seemed to be slowing down and becoming down right boring in a sea of beige computer boxes.

Apple on the other hand was going through somewhat of a metamorphism. The 90′s were not good times as Steve Jobs was forced out of the company and the new management nearly put Apple out of business. Clearly Apple had lost it’s way and was in serious danger of becoming nonexistent and extinct. The executives at Apple decided to bring Steve Jobs back to save the company and Steve immediately went to work. Making big changes in computer design and started laying the groundwork for a new OS. OS 9 was currently in use at the time and it was really beginning to show it’s age. Job’s knew he had to come out with something really different and thought provoking, almost earth shattering,  and there was no better man for the job (pun very much intended.)

So fast forward a few more years and the war between Windows and Mac is just beginning to get underway. Windows XP had hit the market with more fanfare than Microsoft has ever done. The result was very positive, people really liked using XP it wasn’t earth shattering or introduced anything revolutionary but it was slicker looking and worked pretty well, several service packs later and it was actually quite reliable. All in all Windows XP became the defacto standard running on the PC at the time. Mac OS X had also been released shortly after but not with as much excitement from users. Many thought the change was too radical. OS 9 applications would not run on the new OS and while it’s interface was dramatically improved and simplified most users were frustrated by it’s lack of compatibility.

Windows XP was also not without it’s faults. After sometime it was becoming painfully clear to everyone that the latest version of Windows was not very secure. Exploits, worms and viruses were becoming a serious threat for Windows users. Countless stories of how users computers crashed or how software was remotely installed on them to perform illegal acts. In some cases personal information being was being stolen. Microsoft was dealing with a nightmare. They quickly issued updates, patches and service packs to do whatever they could to to make Windows XP a more secure environment but it was too late. The public was already developing a poor opinion of Microsoft and so they went to work on the next OS Windows Vista. Meanwhile Apple was slowly beginning to have some success with OS X, users were embracing it more and more. Popular OS 9 applications were finally being rewritten for OS X and taking advantage of all the new features OS X had to offer.  Apple had another major breakthrough as well, although not related to OS’s it was significant enough to garner a lot of attention for themselves. It was called the iPod portable music player. With it’s great industrial design and ease of use it was a huge success and got people thinking about Apple again.

Okay so let’s bring things up to today. Windows Vista had been released after 5 years of development and nearly a billion dollars spent bringing it to market, how did it do? Well let’s just say Microsoft was feeling like it was WindowsME all over again. Users were not pleased to see the direction Microsoft took as far as security is concerned. They focused so heavily on locking down the OS for your protection that it became an incredible pain to use. There was constant security checks and permission requests just to perform simple every day tasks. People were really annoyed and to add insult to injury it required most users to upgrade their computers just to run it. All in all it was once again bad times for Microsoft and so they went back to the drawing board for the next version called Windows 7.

Apple on the other hand were enjoying steady growth and adoption of OS X. The OS was really proving itself as a real winner. It was reliable, safe and easy to use, not to mention very pleasing to look at. Windows and Mac wars were really heating up at this point. There were die hard users of both OS’s who would not ever consider using the competitions products. They were later referred to as fanboys. The problem with fanboys is they don’t give very good advice to most people as they are so biased to one product or another. I myself had to take a step back and decide for my self the differences between the Mac world and the Windows world. I purchased my first Apple computer in 2006 which contained OS X 10.4. At this point I had been running XP and with good fortune. I was really content with Windows, but when I got my hands on that Mac and started to learn how the other half lived I was starting to become very impressed. I would catch myself comparing the features between to two OS’s and saying wow that feature works so much better on the Mac or why didn’t Microsoft think of that?

It was not to say that OS X was perfect. There were times where I felt Windows did a better job, such as File and window management or the fact the OS X could only run on Apple’s hardware and nothing else.  But for me the overall experience was so much more satisfying. The truth is with OS X it indeed really just work. There was barely any fussing around and configuring that really needed to be done. I also have started using Windows 7 as well and I must say I think Microsoft has found a much better balance between security and usability. While the interface is not much different then Vista’s it seems a little more polished and thought out. It has certainly been leaned out and made much more efficient and clearly allowing older hardware to run on it. However at this writing Windows 7 is still fairly new and has not yet had the benefit of a service pack released for it. So my first impressions are good except for the fact that this is still a very locked down OS. For me that is a difficult pill to swallow as it is in my nature to want to take it apart and see how it works, to find ways to improve it and make it perform better.Windows 7 is a solid improvement over Vista and in the end works quite well.  So without further due allow me to give my conclusion of Windows vs. Mac OSX.

First off let’s get this right out of the way. Windows and Mac OS X are by far both really great products. Both have come a long way and no doubt have improved our computing lives for the better. While they are two very different approaches to the same task and express very different personalities it can be said that both OS’s can easily get the job done and done well. Now how do we make choice between the two, well that becomes becomes a bit more difficult. The bottom line is, what do you need a computer for and what applications do you require to get the job done? The answer to that question will dictate what OS you use. In other words…

This is how I see the two OS’s being devided. If your computer is used much more for business use you should probably use Windows. If it’s for home use go with OS X. Clearly Windows leads in the business world with robust application suites such as Microsoft Office and it’s huge networking infrastructure that Apple could only wish for.  On the other hand using OS X means minimal fussing with the computer to get your work done. With simplicity and gorgeous looks as it’s major lures the Mac is a no brainier at home. If security is a must, then I must say Windows which may seem to counter what everybody else has to say, but the truth is Microsoft has shown how much more seriously they take security than Apple has. Apple has a luxury of a smaller market share and therefore a less desirable interest in producing malware and viruses for it. Because of the lack of threats in the OS X world, Apple has put more focus in other areas and less on security. Microsoft is just the opposite, it has been hammered so hard by security threats that it appears they have put most of their focus into security. Either way the best thing you can do is research the products for yourself and decide what advantages are better for you. And in the end if you still can’t decide remember that Macs have an advantage. Macs have the ability to run both OS’s it’s actually a feature called bootcamp that will allow you to boot your computer to a choice of OS X or Windows and it does this quite well.

So my experience has allowed me to make a choice, and my personal decision is that I use both Windows and OS X with a strong favoring toward OS X. Windows allows me to take care of business during working hours but the rest of the time it’s all Mac. With beautiful and well designed interface it wins me over every time.

I hope this helps give you better idea of the overall difference between the two and as always I would like to know what you think. Let’s just keep the flaming to a minimum okay!

Twitter is a short messaging service that is very much like texting on your phone. The big difference is that it is universal to all users of the internet. It also has the ability to reach out to more people than traditional SMS texting does. So in theory this should be a great service, and in many ways it is. It has become the proverbial microphone for the world, and there in lies the problem.

I don’t know how many of you remember what C.B. Radios were like in 70′s and 80′s, but it was, at the time, a cheap and easy way to communicate with people all around you. Now granted it’s range was pretty limited but nonetheless it was very popular. C.B. users really enjoyed meeting new people and having short conversations where ever they go. Twitter has had the same effect, and like C.B. radio it also became very noisy and loud.

What I mean by noisy and loud is that suddenly you have millions of people twittering all the time. The majority of this twittering is usually about nothing at all, in fact if you were to peruse the Twitter time line a lot of the messages don’t even make sense, just like when C.B.er’s starting using codes to communicate. Twitter has become so popular these days that it seems more important to be heard on Twitter than it is to have anything important or interesting to say.

One of the big features of Twitter is that you can follow other Twitter users, and instantly be alerted to any messages that user may send. Some users have millions of followers and some have a few. Regardless of the amount of followers a particular user may have, this feature I believe,  will be more of a downfall for this service than anything else. By gathering followers you are essentially gaining an audience and this turns many users into self-seeking performers who’s sole purpose of twittering is to gain more attention and thus adding to the noise. For some this may have even turned into some type of addiction.

Twitter has really become more of a self promotion tool then a simple, fast communication tool for the masses and like the C.B. Radio I believe that its days are numbered. The idea of giving everyone a universal platform to speak from sounds great in theory, but almost never seems to work as there is just too many people who want to talk but rarely have anything good to say. My recommendation for all you Twitter users, make real meaningful connections with people right in your own neighborhoods and for heaven sakes be quiet about it.

Story by Luis R. Martinez

What’s that new humongous structure being built outside your town? Is it a new Mega-Mart where you can spend your entire Saturday getting all your shopping done in one place. Or is it a prison? In many cases it may just be the latter.

Overcrowding in prisons has long been a problem in the United States. If you don’t know how much the United States taxpayers contribute to keeping one person awaiting trial in prison you may want to sit down before you read on. Last year the figure was approximately nine Billion dollars. That’s right, nine Billion dollars. It is a large figure and a decent percentage could be saved and allocated for different more urgent uses. However as with anything else that involves money in this country there is a lot of bureaucratic red tape to wade through.

I’ve always been a proponent for punishments fitting the crime and I also think that if a criminal has done something particularly heinous that the criminal should give up all his rights. But many inmates are in prison for weeks if not months simply awaiting a hearing. Why? Well the plain and simple of it is they lack the necessary funds to post bail.

Take for instance the story of Leslie Chew. Chew a handyman living in Southern Texas who had been having trouble making ends meet (no surprise in this economy) but had been doing his best to get by. He couldn’t afford a room so he slept in his station wagon. One night in December of 2008 when the temperature outside got too cold, he went into a grocery store and attempted to steal some blankets, but was apprehended by the store’s security guard. Mr. Chew didn’t have the $3,500 to post his own bail nor could he pay a bail bondsman a $350 nonrefundable fee to do it for him. So within a few days he was put into the Lubbock prison system. The same expediency however was not put into action in order to get him a trial so he spent eight months in the prison system, costing taxpayers $9,120.

Mr. Chew isn’t the only one that has this tale to tell. According to this NPR article he is one of more than a half-million inmates sitting in America’s jails — not because they’re dangerous or a threat to society or because a judge thinks they will run. It’s not even because they are guilty; it’s just because they haven’t been tried yet.

So what are the options to a costly incarceration? The vast majority of nonviolent offenders released on their own recognizance have historically shown up for their trials, so would seem like an easy solution for Lubbock. But that is not the solution Lubbock has chosen.

County officials have instead decided to build a brand new megajail, costing $110 million. And Lubbock is not alone. At least 10 counties every year consider building new jails to ease a near-epidemic of jail overcrowding nationwide.

There is one other solution a program called pretrial release. Nonviolent inmates are released under supervision, often with ankle bracelets, drug testing or counseling. It costs only a couple dollars a day, compared with the national average of $60 a day in jail.

Sounds like another viable option, however even something that does good is bound to find opposition, and in this case it’s the Bail Bondsmen. Bondsmen lobby to keep programs like this as small and unproductive as possible, so that no paying customers slip though — even if that means thousands of inmates like Leslie Chew wait in jail at taxpayer expense, because they never find the money to become paying customers.

Efforts by pretrial release programs across the country are increasingly locked in a losing battle with bonding companies trying to either limit their programs or shut them down entirely. If you’re not sure how the Bail Bond process works here the short and skinny of it. You’re arrested. A judge gives you $5,000 bail. But you don’t have $5,000, so you pay a Bail Bondsmen a nonrefundable fee — at least 10 percent of your bail — and you get out of jail. Aside from posting your bail their main responsibility is to bring you back to court if you fail to show up.

If a defendant does run, the bondsman is supposed to pay the county the full cost of the bond as a sort of punishment for not keeping an eye on the client. In Lubbock however that doesn’t happen, Lubbock usually settles for a far lower amount than the full bond (about 5 percent).

Consider that math for a minute. The bondsmen charge clients at least 10 percent. But if the client runs, they only have to pay the county 5 percent. Meaning if they make no effort whatsoever, they still profit.

In New Jersey, bondsmen owe $250,000 over the past four years. Sometimes officials stopped trying to collect money because it was too much of a hassle to get the bonding companies to pay up.

It is possible to skip the commercial bail bonding business entirely by just paying cash. Show up for court and you get your cash back. But it turns out that this is not as easy as it sounds. It takes hours longer to post cash bail. And many people don’t even know that it’s an option.

So how did Mr. Chew fare? Prosecutors eventually gave him time served for his blanket theft. But there was a condition: He had to plead guilty to felony theft. Upon release Chew found out his station wagon had been repossessed. Without a place to sleep, he wound up at a homeless shelter. A few months later, he almost got a job as a maintenance man, but when the owners saw a felony conviction on his record, they pulled the offer. In October, Chew walked back into the Lubbock jail and asked the night officer if he could have his old job back, cleaning the jail’s floors. But those jobs are reserved for the half-million people in this country who can’t make bail.

Nobody has seen Leslie Chew since.

I can’t help but think how Mr. Chew’s life would have differed had he not been incarcerated to begin with.

I want to thank Luis R. Martinez for putting together this story and hope to have him here at Spout! again.

I have always been in love with new technology, eager to see what is around the corner. Willing to embrace new ideas of how we consume information and first in line to try the latest gadget to simplify my life. But there in lies a problem, I see technology through very different eyes than most consumers and must constantly remind myself that what is easy for me to comprehend and embrace may be very difficult and confusing for the average consumer to understand and that is why I needed to rethink why the iPad exist.

Since the time I heard the first rumors of a Apple tablet type of device was nearly 2 years ago, and even then I could not understand that if you owned a smartphone and a laptop why on earth would you now need a tablet device. Once Apple unveiled it’s design and price I was even more baffled, who would pay $500 for a device that would be more novelty than an actual daily tool.  It just seemed to me that everyone owns either a smartphone or a computer whether it be a laptop or desktop computer. That everyone has access to their media at anytime. Then I reminded myself most people don’t run three Mac’s in their home or have a half dozen iPods and iPhones lying around.

After thinking about this product for a while it dawned on me that this might be one of the greatest innovations Apple has released to date. It’s not really geared towards us tech geeks, it’s for everybody else. I know, trying to understand that a new gadget is not meant for new gadget lovers is a difficult concept but that is what this is. While Apple has not officially come out and said this is for non-tech people it seems to be the case anyhow. Okay so what do I mean by all of this? Well it’s another choice for computing, it’s not meant to complement your existing computers and portable devices, it seems to me this would be marketed to people who do not have a need for a traditional computer and have no interest in carrying a smartphone. They just want a singular device for all their media, including e-books, browse the web and social networks, read email and occasionally due some light work such as write a document or put together a spreadsheet or two. The device would also be the perfect size, large enough to work with comfortably for extended periods yet small enough to be truly portable.

Think about all the non-tech people you know and how a single portable and really easy to use computer device from Apple for the price of a netbook would be a hit with them and just might turn the computer industry upside down. No more bulky laptops, no need to have to buy furniture to use your existing computer. This could be the device that turns traditional computers into portable appliances that work faster, better and cheaper. Of course this annoucement is for the very first version of such a device so the geek in me is already getting excited about what may be coming in future versions and to see how it matures and enriches our lives.

Apple you did it again!

Very interesting story from switched.com about the attitude of privacy from Facebook.

via Anonymous Employee Reveals Ugly Details of Facebook’s Inner Workings.

Laptop computers have come a long way since it’s early days, they are leaner, faster and more convenient then ever. However desktops have also enjoyed the same advancements as well. So the choice between the two become more difficult all the time. Working with many computers for the last 20 years has given me some insight how best to make this decision a little more simpler. First lets look at the pros and cons of either choice.

Desktops are always a good choice for speed and longevity. desktops traditional designs benefit from it’s larger size and give you the ability to have the latest and greatest components without compromise. They can run the fastest processors and graphics, have the best sound and the most options for storage and displays large enough to easily work with day in and day out. Todays desktops can run quietly and use less energy than ever before. They also have the most options for upgrades and the ability to connect to all kinds of peripherals. The down side to desktops is that they comprise of several large components and therefore make it difficult to travel with you.

Laptops are good choice for convenience, there all in one design makes then simple to use right out of the box including much of the same capabilities of a traditional desktop computer. They also have improved their ability to run cool, quiet and economically. The biggest benefit is the lack of space required to use a laptop which makes a great choice for people who have limited space available. The down side to laptops however can be numerous in some situations. They are heavy especially when choosing a full featured model and more prone to theft and damage.

So when is it better to buy a desktop over a laptop? When you know that you don’t need to carry a computer where ever you go. If you have a smartphone such as a iPhone or something similar you may never need to own a laptop. Desktops are usually much cheaper than a laptop and can stay state of the art for longer due to it’s ease of upgrades. Owning a laptop can usually comes at a much greater cost when all factors have been figured. Laptops will always be more expensive and slower than desktops. To get all of that technology into a small package there will have to be a compromise. CPU’s will be slower to reduce heat and battery consumption and the versatility is gone when everything must fit into one tight package. Smaller hard drives have to be used to make room for other components and video and audio is usually included on one chip reducing it’s abilities. If your someone that needs to stay connected to the internet there may be additional costs involved with alternate wireless services that can run close to a $100 a month.

So when is it better to buy a laptop? When portability is essential. When you have to be connected all the time no matter where you are. Laptops are great choices for the traveling business man or women. To have all that capability with you is considered priceless by some. Another great time to buy a laptop is when you simply don’t have the space such as a student in a dorm room. You may be able to get by with a smart phone for emails and simple web surfing but there are times when you need the power and convenience of a actual computer and this is where laptops shine. Laptops have come so far these days that the performance difference is getting smaller and therefore certainly worth the extra cost.

So what’s the bottom line? If you don’t need to travel with a computer, save the money and enjoy the performance of a desktop computer. If your a road warrior then the choice of a laptop is no brainer regardless of the extra cost.

Please make sure to vote!

Clearly I am in the minority of this discussion, as I view celebrities as simply someone or someones as entertainers nothing more nothing less. I think it’s horrendous that photographers would trespass onto people’s personal property to catch a glimpse of them living their lives. What could possibly be so entertaining about someone going through their day much the same as I would? These are simply people who’s job is to perform and entertain and when that job is done for the day have the right to privacy just as any one of us do.

Another thing that really irks me is when the media or the obsessed make ridiculous excuses for why they stalk these people. Such as “the people have a right to know” or “they chose to live in the public eye”. What a bunch of hogwash! I have read the bill of rights and I could not find anything about citizens having the right to know anything and everything about people who happen to be publicly known. Because someone has chosen to be an actor or musician or anything else that makes them publicly known does not automatically mean that they have given up their right to privacy. If John Q. citizen was treated this way we would be raising hell about our right to privacy.

The paparazzi has long been considered deceitful, scandalous and act more like vultures then professionals in their industry and yet they continue to thrive because we spend our money and attention on the fruits of their labor. Magazines fill newsstands with gossip and unflattering photos of celebrities who happen to be just living their lives. Television shows and websites, make horrible judgments and statements about the famed, replaying their most embarrassing moments over and over  again. In some cases ruining their employment or chances for employment, destroying their family lives and their right to happiness.

Is it true that sometimes the ugly side of someones life spill over into the public view? Yes it does, but that never gives any of us the right to judge and criticize someones choices in life, good or bad. For if the same where to happen to any of us we would demand justice. Where is their justice?

From time to time as I flip through channels on the TV I had come across one particular show called TMZ and it sickens me that these people have made a career on gossip and digging dirt up on people who done nothing more than try to live their lives and excel in their careers. They do it because you demand it. Because you tune in, because you buy the magazines and visit the websites relentlessly. When you stop obsessing over peoples fame and fortune and learn to put the effort in improving your life can we finally get to a place where people no longer judge and those who choose to be entertainers can live normal lives.

It’s time we start repairing the moral fabric of this nation.

As Americans we put so much faith in capitalism and free enterprise to keep us financially supported, but as soon as that systems appears to be letting us down we rush to protect it’s fragile existence. Allow me to give an example of what I mean. We have all watched the government give billions of dollars to the auto industry, most notably General Motors and the Chrysler Corporation, two giant companies that have track records for mismanagement and quite honestly a very bleak future in their industry. The government felt that the economy would be hit too hard if these corporations were allowed to go bankrupt and lay off tens of thousands of workers. But all we did was keep dead companies alive a little longer for a huge price. The billions of dollars lent will most likely be paid back by the working class not corporate America. Think about all the local businesses and factories throughout this country that have gone bankrupt and forced to close their doors in the last year or so, where is their bailout? There was none and there never will be because we believe companies live and die by the rules of capitalism. So why did we bail out the american auto industry? Why couldn’t GM or Chrysler lived and died by capitalistic ways?

I agree that seeing tens of thousands of auto workers go unemployed is pretty horrible, but is it anymore horrible then the millions of other Americans who have been laid off and unemployed? If we could afford to give out billions of dollars why not distribute that money to new businesses, technologies and dare I say it education. Surely investing in the future of our economy seems like a smart move but why is it so hard to do? Why do we go to such extreme measures to protect dead and dying companies. If GM and Chrysler can no longer compete due to old technology and a lack of understanding of how their industry is moving, then they don’t deserve to prosper. Mercedes Benz did not make it to the top of the industry because they built outdated automobiles.

Why do we support banks and investment firms who make bad decisions over and over again, who gave out executive bonuses while claiming they made no profits and depended on the government to pay the bills? Why do we continue to reward Wall St. when Wall St. is only interested in it’s own greed and not what is best for the country. I wish I had an answer to these questions, but I don’t. Unfortunately  I too am one of the working class and so the government does not tell me why they do the things they do nor does any corporation promise to pay me back. But I do know that somethings got to give, somethings got to change in how we think and take responsibility for our actions.

For a long time we agreed to separation of church and state, that the government would stay out of our individual beliefs and allow Americans to experience spiritually on it’s own terms. Why don’t we have separation of corporation and state. When do we start becoming innovators. When do we start becoming producers of the world instead of the lazy and rich society that no longer rewards hard work? When do we invest in ourselves? When do we stop making capitalism more important than the welfare of our nation? When will we demand our government start looking out for the interests of the people and not the companies. I wish I knew the answers, for I myself am just another American trying to get a job.