World's Fastest Production Car - $1.7 Million

I would like to introduce the Bugatti Veyron, a $1.7 million supercar. Maybe this is a good way to spend your $600 stimulus check?

It is officially sanctioned as the fastest production automobile in the world. It was originally introduced in 2005, but the current incarnation is heralded as the quickest accelerating and decelerating street-legal production car in the world. Unfortunately, there were only 300 made and they have all been sold.

Check out the stats from Portfolio's recent profile of the automaker (photos + video):

• 12 radiators
• 16 cylinders
• 4 turbos,
• 1,000-plus horsepower
• 7-speed double-clutch transmission
• Top speeds ranging around 255 mph
• Goes 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds
• 0 to 253 mph in a mind-bending 53 seconds
• in a panic braking maneuver, 253 mph to 0 in 10 seconds

Bugatti, a famous racing car brand founded by eccentric Italian designer Ettore Bugatti in 1909, is still making cars at its original Molsheim, France factory. However, it has since been purchased by Volkswagen AG, which created this mind-melting Bugatti Veyron.

Special editions of the original Veyron, such as the Veyron Pur Sang and the Veyron Fbg par Hermès sell for $2 million and $2.3 million respectively. But they are little more than premium paint-job versions of the Veyron.

The average customer for this type of automobile already owns at least 30 other cars. According to the Bugatti comany historian potential buyers don't want just another car, they want another story. The Bugatti name is one of the best stories of a company, between its crazy founder to its current old-school assembly factory in rural France.

If you are lucky enough to afford one, they really take their time putting together the details on these cars. They only complete two a week.

To give you an example of why this car is so expensive. The square-head bolts that hold together the air ducts on the car are made from titanium, and each costs over $100.

Most of the time the car is shipped by plane to the buyer, accompanied by an escort engineer to orient the new owner with his vehicle. A few people have also driven the car right out of the factory though. That must be an awesome way to break in your new car, hop on the Autobahn over in Germany on your way home!

And you won't believe this but, according to the Portoflio article:

At top speed this car will run out of fuel in 12 minutes. That's purely a safety precaution because the tires would melt after 15 minutes.

That should give you a pretty good idea of what you're messing with when you step into one of these. Besides it might soon cost another 1.7 mil to fill the tank.



Also check out this thing race an RAF EuroFighter jet on TopGear:


Bugatti Veyron Races Eurofighter Jet - Watch more free videos

Portfolio: Auto Erotic, May 9, 2008

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Would You Rather Have a Mansion Abroad or a Crappy Apartment in the U.S.?

The housing market in the United States is in shambles, but looking at some of these comparisons will definitely make you want to buy elsewhere.

Take for example, the beautiful Stratford Castle in South Africa. You can buy this thing for $500,000 and reenact all your favorite Lord of the Rings scenes everyday. The castle comes with stained glass windows and a great proximity to a beautiful lake and golf course.

Compare that to what you might find for $500k in the San Francisco market and you're looking for a big disappointment. Hippies everywhere, pretentious neighbors, tiny apartment, all for the same price.

vs.



Now we travel to Europe where everyone's favorite, the French, are offering a jewel of a chateau in a quiet town with 5 bedrooms, sauna, swimming pool, and gardens. Plus all the frog legs you can eat for that same $500,000.

Compare that to the Downey neighborhood of Los Angeles, where you can get what appears to be an old crack house with some serious landscaping issues. Jennifer Lopez's nanny dated a guy in the 80s who lived here!


vs.



In the Ukraine you can use $1.8 Million to buy this sweet medieval castle. It's gotta have all sorts of crazy torture chambers, Soviet riches, and Siberian babes in it somewhere. Try not to use them all at once.

Compare that to mutha effen New York City where $1.8 Mil gets you a little converted 2-bedroom in Chelsea. The thing was probably an industrial revolution-era factory not more than 10 years ago. But now it's close to Penn Station and you can barely fit your twin-sized bed in it.


vs.


Let's not forget that South Africa, the Ukraine, and France, might not be your ideal places to live. Even though you bought yourself a cheap house, all those dollars you saved will disappear when you start converting your money into Euros.

Plus South Africa is hosting the next World Cup in 2010, are you sure you want soccer hooligan nonsense all over your doorstep?


via [DivineCaroline] +photos

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The 90s Finally Sellout

10 years ago, you could walk down the street and buy an old beat up guitar used by Kurt Cobain for $10,000 easily. Now good luck getting one for less than $100,000.

What happened to non-conformist Nirvana fans recently? Ironically, the've got plenty of money now. According to an article in Portfolio the Generation X buying blitz is on. Everything from collectible skateboards, 90s grunge flannels, mint condition Transformers, original Mac computers are hitting the auction block.

Now that the baby boomer generation has bought all the useless Beatles and Elvis crap up, it's the Brat-Pack kids and the Grunge Revolution's turn to take the wheel on eBay. I hope trapper-keepers are worth a lot in a few years, because I could make a killing off my collection.

One of the more surprising facts from the Portfolio piece is that stupid tools are also making their presence felt at the auction houses:

A pretty ordinary Led Zeppelin T-shirt went for $1,625. "Younger buyers might not even listen to Led Zeppelin," Lipman says, "but they want the T-shirts because they're cool."

I can't believe this guy actually thinks someone would buy a limited edition Led Zeppelin t-shirt without ever listening to their music. That kind of stuff just makes you sick. What about the guy who wiped his ass with those incredibly rare WWI stamps? Didn't that happen? Well even if it didn't, I'm sure it's a cause for concern.

In a stark contrast to all the hype over 80s and 90s nostalgia, it seems Marilyn Monroe is having a bit of a resurgence as well:

"For the last six years, Marilyn Monroe has been our biggest seller at auction," says Margaret Barrett, director of entertainment memorabilia at auction house Bonhams & Butterfields. "She died in 1962, so she's pre–baby boom. Yet she appeals to collectors in their twenties and seventies—male and female. Every generation seems to discover her."

Maybe they're just trying to 'discover' her secret sex tape. The guy who owns it now is gonna die sometime, and then Joe Francis is going to make it the lamest Girls Gone Wild video ever.


Portfolio: Reality's Bites, May 5, 2008

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Stimulus-Check Advertising Floods The Airwaves

I just heard a cringe-inducing Sears ad on the radio for new refrigerators. At the end of the ad the voice-over guy interjected, 'Sounds like a great way to spend those stimulus checks!'

Are you kidding me with these? I'm pretty sure spending your money on anything is 'a great way to spend' your stimulus check. Home Depot has also launched a campaign in the coming weeks to capitalize on all those much-anticiapted $600 checks. The thinking behind the Home Depot market grab is to take advantage of all those housing fears. Maybe if you add a new little 'breakfast nook' on your kitchen, you won't have to worry about all those foreclosures and homeowners unable to sell.

As we 'reported on' last week, Wal-Mart is very excited to cash in on some of that precious stimulation.I'm just hoping every local TV ad and mom and pop store doesn't come at me begging I 'use that stimulus check here!'

It's kind of like when you walk past a homeless guy begging for money, and you fake checking your pockets to tell him you don't have any money, but all that fake checking makes some change jangle around and then he's on to you. That's how I feel with all these stimulus ads. They know we're getting $600 in our pocket soon and we're supposed to increase consumer spending with it, for the good of the economy.

Of course it's a smart business plan to plant the association of those checks with a certain purchase through advertising. Even local community colleges classes are being pitched as the best investment you can make with those extra funds. An investment in your education. The underlying fear driving that effort is the one people have of losing their jobs and being unqualified for anything else.

I say spend your money where you usually do, and definitely pay off your debts first. Other than that, might I suggest purchasing two $300 pens? In case you lose one.


CNN Money: Smart Moves For Your Stimulus Check, April 28, 2008

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What Ruins Beer and What Doesn't: An Important Consumer Experiment

Every guy thinks he knows how to take care of his beer. In the same way every guy thinks he knows what his girlfriend is thinking. In both circumstances we are usually wrong.

Lew Bryson, a writer for Portfolio (who should be considered a saint or at least granted a Nobel Prize for all his hard work), rigorously pushed beers to their physical ends to find out how to properly treat one.

Some excerpts of what we found in his report:

1. Bottles of beer kept in a glass-door cooler are slowly being skunked by light. Beer is like a vampire that craves darkness. (in Britain they don't have skunks, so they call it "cat-piss beer")

2. Beer can get skunked from being in less than 10 seconds of direct sunlight.

3. Brown bottles offer the best protection, while green and clear bottles are not good protection from light . Miller uses hops that are more resistant to light than most beers. (Good call, Miller)

4. Chilling and warming beer does not effect it. (Hard to believe, right?) It goes through so many different heating and warming processes that you wouldn't notice a change in taste unless you chilled and warmed it everyday for a month.

5. Freezing beer makes it taste better, but exposing beer to extreme heat can lead to a gross frothy taste. (This one is kind of obvious. Why would you put a beer in an oven?)

6. Beer won't spoil like milk, so don't worry about those 'born on dates' too much. It's still drinkable after 110 days.

7. Beer with more than 7% alcohol gets better with age.

Another good tip I learned from MythBusters is that the fastest way to cool a six-pack of beer is in a cooler filled with an ice/water/salt concoction.

Now armed with this wisdom, go out and stop wasting your money on skunked beer.

Any other helpful tips for caring for beer? Let us know in the comments section.



Portfolio: Defending Your Beer, May 2, 2008

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Rocket Belts And Training, Now Only $125,000

Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana (TAM) is a private Mexican company that specializes in hydrogen peroxide rockets. But here's the good news for us, now they're offering discount rocket belt specials including training and fuel.

TAM was featured on Wired.com recently with their plans for a rocketman personal helicopter. Which seems like an interesting idea, but what caught my eye was their half price drop in Rocket Belt technology. From what I can understand, rocket belts are a 'real life version' of sci-fi jetpacks, powered by hydrogen peroxide fueled rocket thrusters.

Last year the very same services of a custom-built rocket belt, housing, training, a machine to make an unlimited supply of rocket fuel, and 24/7 maintenance cost a whopping $250,000 as reported and mocked in various blogs.

It appears that with all the personal helicopter enthusiasm, the desire for rocket belts is waning. The company is hoping a 50% discount will help potential sales, making rocket belts modestly priced at a new low price of $125,000.

According to TAM's website, these rocket belts will earn back the initial $125k investment in no time flat because of the high demand for rocket belt performances at:

"special events, promotions, advertising, elections campaigns, concerts, movies, TV commercials etc."

Rocket belts may be exactly the thing that these Democratic presidential campaigns need to secure the party's nomination. However, and I feel I need to stress this point, there are many alarming warnings for this product on TAM's poorly translated English site:

* Important:

Be aware of people that offer plans, parts or a rocket belt that has not flown and tested because you could be killed.

The Rocket Belt is NOT a machine that you can make and fly easily, if someone offers to you plans or parts to make a "cheap" Rocket Belt ask for a demonstration and see an actual flight, don't be the test pilot of a deadly machine.

I wouldn't take these warnings lightly. Additionally, videos from TAM's website of the test pilot's first flight raise some serious questions. Are rocket belts real or just a load of crap? If they are real, why does it appear that the 'pilots' are being hoisted and lowered by a rope attached to a metal pole?

Either way, $125,000 is a great deal for the unlimited rocket fuel making machine alone. If that is also real.



(Rocket Belts from Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana - $125,000)

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Wal-Mart Wants Your Stimulus Check Real Bad

Wal-Mart has big plans for those nifty stimulus checks coming to Americans across the land, but are they really helping anyone?

Wal-Mart, love them for their low prices and winning business strategies, or hate them for mistreating employees and skirting tax laws, it's your call.

There are two differing schools of thought on Wal-Mart's stimulus check plan. The first adheres to the belief that this is a brilliant business strategy designed to help the consumer. CNBC lauds the price-slashing consumer giant for its powerful industry-leading tactics. Wal-Mart will:

1) Cash rebate checks free of charge.

2) Allow customers to redeem checks for Moneycards free of charge.

3) Cut prices on key food items including meat, pasta, frozen food, shampoo, juice and other consumables.

In contrast to many of its competitors, Wal-Mart will not charge a fee for cashing checks and won't make you redeem your stimulus money for a Wal-Mart specific giftcard. They are offering the consumer an option of taking the cash or applying it to an in-house giftcard.

But why doesn't 'the big yellow smiley face' tack on a few extra bucks to these giftcards like Krogers, K-Mart, and Supervalu are doing? Answer: Because the 'Wal knows that if they cut their prices enough on the big ticket grocery items, no one will want to shop anywhere else. This could be true, and it would mean a lot of added revenue for Wal-Mart stores this month.

The flip side of this coin is posed by David Nassar of the Huffington Post. He believes spending your stimulus check at Wal-Mart only hurts the American economy in the long run. Nassar explains:

With its low price focus, Wal-Mart may appear to help the U.S. economy. But, the reality is that with its poor wages and benefits, massive China sourcing and tax avoidance, Wal-Mart makes its workers and the communities where it operates poorer. [...] Higher salaries, quality affordable healthcare and paying what they owe like any good American, are just three things Wal-Mart can do tomorrow that will make them a company worthy of our money.

This argument also raises a good point and it makes one ponder, should we be held captive by the wills of an already powerful consumer brand? At what cost are these savings coming from?

Regardless of where you fall in this debate, it seems like one of the best options for these checks is to pay off your outstanding debts first and foremost, and then after that maybe alcohol and gambling?

Let us know your spending plans for those $600 in the comments section.



CNBC Retail Detail: Wal-Mart 'Banking' On Your Stimulus Rebate Check, April 29, 2008

Huffington Post: Why Wal-Mart Does Not Strengthen Our Economy, May 1, 2008

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Changing The High-Def Business?

An 11-inch screen worth $2,500 has a picture that will put your HDTV to shame! This is being heralded as the future of high-definition.

I was blown away by the description of the Sony XEL-1 O.L.E.D that New York Times tech writer David Pogue described today. Firstly, this guy knows what he's talking about, he's one of the world's top technology writers and for him to cream his proverbial pants over this thing was surprising.

But check out his description:

There’s a new TV on the block, and its picture is so amazing, it makes plasma and L.C.D. look like cave drawings...Name a drawback of plasma or L.C.D. — motion blur, uneven lighting across the panel, blacks that aren’t quite black, whites that aren’t quite white, limited viewing angle, color that isn’t quite true, brightness that washes out in bright rooms, screen-door effect up close — and this TV overcomes it.

Over the top, right? Well it all comes with a big catch. (more pictures) Apparently this screen that will change life on earth as we know it, only comes in an 11-inch display. That's absolutely tiny. What could this thing possibly be used for?

Sony is describing the product as a 'desktop television', but what does that mean? Don't we have those already, and aren't they called computers?

Let it be known that this is supposed to only be the beginning for this product. As it is now, the screen is only 3 millimeters thick, which is almost as thin as that cardboard that 30-packs of Milwaukee's Best come in (and that's some cheap-ass packaging). But imagine what this thing will be like when they bust out the 27 or 40-inch versions. Your eyeballs might not be able to handle the incredible colors and contrast ratios. A 200 pack of Crayola crayons will melt with embarrassment in comparison to the plethora of hues and color gradients coming out of these O.L.E.D. TVs.

Remember how lame you were for having a VCR months after everyone else had DVDs players, and aren't you currently shopping for a Blu-Ray player? Here's your chance to be one of those super cool 'early adopters'. Then again, we're there Beta-Max early adopters, too?

Even if a $2,500 11-incher doesn't earn your money, it's definitely worth giving Sony a notice as the first to preview the O.L.E.D. technology. Expect big things coming soon from these captains of industry.



Does the new OLED TV charm the pants off you? Will it put Sony ahead of the pack in the high-def world? Let us know your opinion in the comments section.

New York Times: TV Images to Dazzle the Jaded, May 1, 2008
SonyStyle.com: OLED Digital TV

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Nude Vacations On The Rise

This might be a great potential investment given the growing trend among wealthy vacationers. It could also be a top spot for you vacation, if you're into the naked old people thing.

The photo pictured is a perfect example of the uncomfortable nude shenanigans I am inclined to want to avoid. (Cannon-balls!) However, according to an article in Sunday's New York Times, these places are where the big vacation money is going:

The real boom in nude vacations is coming at the high end, as upscale hotels and resorts have begun seeing the economic potential in the no-clothes crowd. In 2007, nude recreation represented a $440 million industry -- up from $400 million in 2001 -- and it's still growing.

The all inclusive luxury hotel, Hidden Beach Resort, in Mexico along the Mayan Riviera charges $300 per person. Which sounds like a good deal, but when we're talking about nude hotels, how inclusive does that go? Apparently it also includes nude dining, nude open bars, and nude games of tennis and volleyball. Nothing beats dipping your balls in a stiff cocktail after a sweaty game of nude tennis.

Now that all sounds great and gross and everything, but with the current real estate market where it is, is investing in new luxury nude condos the way to go? The reason these new resorts are doing so well is because of the clientèle they attract. Most nude-cationers earn over $100k, drive a luxury car, and spent over $3,000 on travel. Many of these spas and resorts have no problem filling rooms priced from $300 to $900 a night. Those are some attractively financed individuals. The problem for the rest of us is that those people very rarely tend to be attractive.

This is a great little vacation for anyone out there with these 'liquid asset', but they must not being going there looking to see unwrinkled young nude people. All butlers, wait staff, and guest relations personnel are under a strict very formal dress code.

Fun Fact: According to the article in the NY Times, both founding father Ben Franklin and famous transcendental author Henry David Thoreau enjoyed naked walks in the woods, which they referred to as 'air baths'. I believe there are some parts of Europe where air baths are referred to as 'regular baths'.

Although this might not be your ideal vacation, it might be a good potential investment to look into. Or at least read about, without any unnecessary photographic evidence.

Let us know in the comments section if you've ever been to one of these places and if they're decent. Otherwise feel free to voice your disgust at the accompanying slideshow.


New York Times: No Shirt, No Shoes, No Worries, April 27, 2008

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How To Make The Smart Moves With Money After College

Goodbye frat house, hello poor house?

If you're one of those lucky few who was able to land a job right out of college, congrats! Now, before splurging/splooging your first paycheck on a trip to Atlantic City or Las Vegas, you might want to read the rest of this.

According to an article on MainStreet.com, most people without a pre-thought-out plan end up wasting their newfound money and going into substantial debt. So here's the best plan of attack:

1. Pay off high-interest credit card debt - this stuff can get out of control real quick. Make sure you know what kind of interest your credit cards are charing you. If it's something around 12 or 13%, your best bet is to put all your extra funds to kill that monster before it grows another head.

2. Take out a chunk of those student loans - even if you have less than $25k in loans, you are in the minority. Most students graduating college have well over that amount in loans.That can be a major burden on you later in your 20s if you want to buy a house, a car, or start a family. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, you guys are just messin around and having some fun, but think ahead a little bit. For the baby's sake.

3. Savings - Now is the perfect time to start building some up. No matter how awesome this job is, remember things can be kind of unpredictable in the job market. Just look at all those bright strapping young grads who thought they would have nametags at Bear Stearns this summer. So put a portion of your earnings into a high-interest CD savings account or a money market savings account.

4. New duds - If you're starting a new job, first impressions are key. Everyone will notice if you keep wearing the suit you interviewed in everyday to work. So go out and prep out your wardrobe with some decent shoes, belts, ties, dress shirts, dress pants, and a couple of blazers/ suit jackets. Note: don't dress like your favorite outrageous SportsCenter commentator. Keyshawn (wearing a gray pinstripe suit, pink polka dot tie, and blue checked shirt) is probably blind.

5. Little splurge - After all the debts and necessities are taken care of, feel free to treat all your most loyal homies to feel cold brews down at the local saloon. Even the experts from the MainStreet article agree that going out and getting obliterated is a good idea. Also suggested: getting a massage. Not specified: what kind of massage, and how it will end. Just show up for work, I guess.


MainStreet: How To Get Your First Job Bonus To Go The Extra Yard, April 24, 2008

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Buried Jersey Auctions For $175,000, Winner Rakes in Publicity

If you have an extra $175,000 and really want a torn and battered replica Ortiz jersey, you just missed the chance of a lifetime, my friend.

The auction for the Red Sox jersey found buried at the new Yankee Stadium site ended yesterday. The winning bid of $175,000 came from a car dealership owner in Mendon, Mass.

Kevin Meehan, who is a lifelong Red Sox fan, typed in 175000 and hit enter on eBay just minutes before the auction ended. He is proud that his purchase will serve as a donation to the Jimmy Fund, a charity affiliated with a Boston cancer institute. Meehan is also getting some big publicity out of the spectacle. He owns a chain of car dealerships in Mass. and has been pitching his company's website in interviews.

CNBC Reporter Darren Rovell's estimated guess of a $156,000 winning bid came up short, but now the Sportz Biz reporter is saying that Kevin Meehan will receive $15 million worth of publicity from his expensive purchase.

Rovell also points out that Meehan has made plenty of other big ticket eBay purchases in the past. With the hopes of opening a Rock n' Roll themed dealership, he bought $17,000 worth of tour jackets from rock stars ranging from Kenny Rogers to Marilyn Manson to MC Hammer. Don't act too surpised, the Hammer "Please Don't Hurt 'Em" tour jacket only cost 25 bucks.

I say good for Kevin Meehan. He put down a load of cash on a piece of crap jersey in bad condition, and came out of the deal looking like a diehard sports fan, a noble philanthropist, and a marketing genius.

CNBC Sports Biz: Who Bought the Ortiz jersey?, April 24, 2008

Huffington Post: Red Sox jersey sells for $175,000, April 24, 2008

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The Car/Motorcycle of The Future?

In honor of Earth Day, let's take a look at a very different electric hybrid that might one day solve our high oil price problems.

The Aptera is a weird, bug-looking car that costs $30,000 and can go 300 miles on a gallon of gas. It's currently in pre-production, but preorders are available to California residents only (an attempt to minimize distribution and repairs issues).

Later this year a fully-electric-no-gas-needed version will be released, but will take 8 hours to re-charge. You'll be paying somewhere between $50 to $100 this summer each time you refill your gas guzzlers. Imagine how much extra money could be in your pocket if you drove around this golf ball-with-wheels. (more photos after the jump)

Worried about safety? The Aptera, because of its 3-wheel design, is technically registered as a motorcycle. Then just ask Ben Roethlisberger about motorcycle safety and you'll see why Aptera started out with a strike against them. However, this thing is made out of superlight and superstrong composite plastic that exceeds requirements for rollover strength and door strength. This thing is built like a big, white, gun-less, hybrid tank.

I will admit, with all those features it sounds great, but why is it so strange looking? Some surveys have shown that hybrid owners are so proud of their planet-saving vehicles, that they want others to know how eco-friendly they are. Either or both the pretentiousness of its buyers and the fuel-efficiency of its aerodynamic shape could be the reasons behind the design.

Is this thing going to be awesome, or is it way too space-age and weird for anyone to be caught dead in it? Let us know in the comments section.



Newsweek: 10 Fixes for the Planet, April 14, 2008

Wired: Aptera Future Car Set For Production, October 1, 2007

Aptera: Official Site

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Buried Ortiz Jersey Brings In Big Bucks

The Boston Red Sox jersey buried at the site of the New Yankee Stadium, brought on a lot of anger from the Bronx, but now it'll bring some serious dough to Boston.

The David Ortiz Sox 'replica jersey t-shirt' cost the Yankees $50,000 to dig up. A Bronx-native working at the construction site for the new stadium showed his secret allegiance to Red Sox Nation by placing a David Ortiz jersey in wet cement. Last Friday he blabbed about it to a few untrustworthy bros. The Yankees organization caught wind and showed how badly they didn't want a 'curse' on the new ground by setting up an elaborate 'unearthing dig.'

But the Yanks showed what a fine bunch of philanthropists they are and decided to donate it to The Jimmy Fund, a Boston-based charity benefiting cancer patients.

The Steinbrenner family came out on top again because marketing experts are saying its the most brilliant publicity stunt since 'Free Hat Day'. Sports PR guru, Joe Favorito said:

…they got some great exposure, helped out a charity and did what the Yankees have done best this spring, seized a mundane moment and made it special…

The shirt is currently on eBay with a bid of $33,000. If you're a big Red Sox fan with some cash to blow, this might be a good fit for you. Also, if you're a Yankee fan who takes things too seriously, but also wants to help cancer patients, here's your chance to go nuts. Darren Rovell, a sports business reporter from CNBC shared his estimates on the buried jersey curse commodity market:

It's at $30,000 and there are six days left. My official prediction is $156,000.

That's an amazingly high price for a piece of memorabilia in terrible condition. But given that Marc Ecko spent $752,000 to humiliate Barry Bonds, anything is possible.

Any other guesses on how high the bids will go for this item?


CNBC: The David Ortiz Jersey: What Will It Go For?, April 18, 2008

Sports Marketing and PR Roundup

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Money Shot: Give Your Phone Bill Some Shrinkage

The guys over at billshrink.com think you're probably spending too much money on your cellphone bill each month. But instead of being all pretentious about it, they have a cool web service that will help you save money each month.

Fill in some information about your current plan, bill total, location, and whether or not you like getting dropped calls (only every second attempted call, right?) and the machine will spit out some recommendations for you. It'll take into account which providers offer the best signal strength in your area, which routes you take to work, and what type of termination fees you could face for changing plans.

Their slogan is "Our Science. Your Savings.", and although I'm not sure this qualifies as "Science" in the same way as curing cancer or exploring the moon, this site does offer a pretty helpful service.

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Things To Spend Your Money On: Mak'n Bacon

I'm going to start a new series about things I've blown my money on that actually turned out to be a good buy. As we all know, we have that good trading day or week where we made some good cash and we blow our money on stupid things without thinking. Well, I'm going to introduce you to the things I've bought. I will try and concentrate on the good but of course I'll have to talk about the bad as well. I have also NOT been paid for any of these reviews. I use them and like them, or don't like them.

Mak'n Bacon

There are a few things in life I know are not good for me in quantity but I eat anyway. Bacon is one of them. I think man invented the microwave just to have crispier bacon and to be able to make faster popcorn. The pan bacon was terrible, just cooking in it's own grease. It taste good but there are limits to where I'm going to take my body. I don't mind clogging my arteries slowly but I don't want to do it after one breakfast. Then came the microwave. I eventually learned from my wife to put 3 paper towels below AND above the cooking bacon to help take away the grease and keep the microwave from having a protective cover of grease all over the inside. This took my bacon to a whole new level. Crispy and salty will not too much cleanup. There was still a decent amount of cleanup but not too bad. Little did I know life could get even better in the bacon world.

As I'm going through the store I notice this little plastic device sitting there called Mak'n Bacon. The premise of the device was that you hung the bacon over the plastic "T"s and let them cook above a dish. This lets the grease fall down into the pan and keeps the bacon crispy. The second benefit is cleanup. You take off the bacon, pour the grease out of the plastic pan, take the Ts out and there is a holder for all of this that lets you put it all in the dishwasher.

Believe it or not, it works. I use it two or three times a week and the bacon comes out perfect every time. The only bacon that seems to cook wrong is the maple sugar bacon. I'm not sure why but it always burns on the outside and not done on the inside. I think it's too thick and needs the grease to cook right. Other than that, it saves me time in the morning and make the perfect side dish to a pair of farm fresh eggs. After a mile run each morning, I don't have much time and I need real food. Mak'n bacon gives me a quick grand slam breakfast. The best $12 I've spent this year.

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