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CheckingFinder finds high-interest free checking - we’re giving away one $150 account!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Internet,
With checking fees and interest rates being below 1%, we know that it feels like your bank makes more money from you than you do from them in the current economic climate.
We can all use a little more money, and CheckingFinder aims to help by finding free checking accounts that pay interest rates like it's 1992 – I'm talking about 4% or more in some cases. In fact, a friend of mine in Austin was able to get a free checking account with 4.11% interest rate -- that is more than 4 times greater than you'd get at Wells Fargo or Bank of America.
CheckingFinder focuses its efforts on the best checking accounts from smaller, regional banks. Since these free, online accounts are a big part of their business, these banks make it easy for anyone with basic computer skills to deposit, withdraw or use the bank as if it were next door.
We are going to be giving away one $150 starter account to one of our readers. All you need to do to enter is head on over to the Gear Live Facebook page, Like us, and leave a comment on our wall. You've gotta be in the US to win, and we will pick a winner on April 15th.
So, there has to be a catch right?
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Attention Great Britain!
If you're going to be around what you folks call a telly on Monday evening April 11, you might want to check out a TV series called Leonardo that's airing on CBBC at 5:15pm (17:15).
The first episode is called "Anything Goes." UK's Telegraph has already given the show a thumbs up, saying it "has its roots in traditional adventure drama. And thoroughly engaging it is too."
Click to continue reading Leonardo On CBBC
Weekend Reading: Maberry, Wes Craven, Tamara Drewe and Dave Dorman
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: DVD, Editorials, Marvel Comics,
Everyone who’s anyone in the indie comics scene is currently at MoCCA Fest 2011 in New York. But me? I’m just linking to stuff.
Write: Comic book retailer and blogger Mike Sterling is part of a group that runs Fake AP Stylebook. They’ve got a book out, Write More Good, and for those of us who love to laugh, it’s a must-have. Back away from the DC and Marvel relaunches and put your money to a better use. Here's a taste from the book: "While it's tempting to call them baristi because of the Italian roots, the plural of barista is journalism majors."
It even got a nice review in The New Yorker. “Write More Good, like the account from which it grew, is a tongue-in-cheek takedown of an industry already on shaky ground.”
Maberry: Marvel Comics writer Jonathan Maberry is also a novelist. SF Signal breaks down his latest Joe Ledger novel and gives it thumbs up. “Great conspiracy thinking with large events; misdirection; interesting, complex criminals who don't like each other; a great dog and destruction of one of Maberry's favorite writing places!”
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Maberry, Wes Craven, Tamara Drewe and Dave Dorman
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Apple working on hybrid E-Ink LCD display?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Displays, Rumors,
One of the features Amazon champions on its Kindle e-reader is the black-and-white E Ink screen, which puts less stress on the eye than the iPad or iPhone's LCD screen. A recent patent application, however, suggests that Apple is looking to produce a device with a hybrid E Ink-LCD screen.
Not only that, Apple's hybrid screen might have the ability to split into quadrants, with some segments displaying images via LCD and others displaying via E Ink. That, according to Patently Apple "would work very nicely with Apple's proposed use of Spaces on future iOS devices."
Specifically, Apple's patent covers a system for switching between an electronic paper display and a video display based on visual content.
"Based on the one or more features, the control circuitry could selectively enable the device's electronic paper display or the device's video display," Patently Apple said.
Click to continue reading Apple working on hybrid E-Ink LCD display?
US House bars limitating lithium-ion battery shipments on planes
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Misc. Tech, Transportation,
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a law that would bar the Obama administration from limiting shipments of lithium-ion batteries by air.
The proposed rule by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the FAA would have eliminated exceptions for small lithium batteries, classifying them as "Class 9" hazardous cargo, and requiring a number of labeling and other safety regulations.
The House will have to reconcile its legislation with the Senate before President Obama can sign a unified joint bill, as Bloomberg noted.
There have been numerous incidents of batteries short-circuiting, and many of those have involved airplanes. (The last major battery incident involved Sony, in 2008; that recall then, however, did not cover airplanes.) The proposed rule noted that out of 21 and 44 incidents involving lithium batteries since 1991 involved passenger aircraft; of those, 16 involved carry-on luggage, and one involved checked baggage. Twenty-three incidents involved cargo aircraft, presumably in pallets of batteries being transported by air.
Click to continue reading US House bars limitating lithium-ion battery shipments on planes
The real story on why Apple is less than pleased with Best Buy over the iPad 2
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Handhelds, Rumors,
Over the past couple of days, rumors have been spreading that Best Buy has been ordered by Apple to halt sales of the iPad 2. The story is that Apple got wind of the fact that Best Buy had been stockpiling iPad 2 units, and didn't like that. However, we've got a very reliable source who just hit us up to give us the real scoop, and it turns out that it's a bit more sinister than a plan to stockpile iPad 2 units for a big weekend event.
Comic Book Jobs: Checking Out Craigslist
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Movies,
It's that time of the week again! Time to check out my favorite website for job listings in the wide-ranging and eclectic field of comic book jobs.
Here's what's happening on craigslist:
A production company in the San Fernando Valley (California) is "seeking a lead actress for a live action comic book film." For the right superheroine, they'll be $350 per day. "Think comic book meets really goofy lines and fight scenes."
And if you're a guy, they're also looking for a villain. But comic book movie villainy pays less, $125 per day.
The Los Angeles Comic Book And Science Fiction Convention is looking for vendors interesting in setting up at their April 17th show.
Nostalgic Books and Comics in San Gabriel (California) is looking for "any comic-related costume people who may be interested in showing up and being a part of" their Free Comic Book Day celebration.
Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Checking Out Craigslist
Word has reached us that crazed Fox News commentator Glenn Beck was recently pitching around Hollywood to create an animated series based on his life as a child.
I'm sure someone saw this as a good idea in the same way that someone thought Happy Days, Gilligan's Island and The Harlem Globetrotters would make good cartoons.
But Beck will need something now that his Fox TV show is going to be cancelled at the end of this year.
We asked around the various Hollywood studios and got a list of the rejected pitches for various Beck-based cartoon shows, none of which have materialized.
"Development Hell" must also be part of a vast conspiracy.
Here then, are the Top 10 Beck cartoon projects that may yet find their way to your flatscreen:
Click to continue reading The Glenn Beck Animated TV Show
Apple set to release iOS 4.3.2 in two weeks?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Rumors, Software,
Apple will fix bugs and address security issues on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with the release of iOS 4.3.2 in about two weeks, according to Boy Genius Report.
The latest in what's becoming a regular schedule of tweaks to Apple's mobile operating system will also include a few unspecified "enhancements," BGR wrote Thursday, citing "one of our Apple ninjas."
The last update to the operating system, iOS 4.3.1, arrived in late March.
The news doesn't indicate whether iOS 4.3.2 will fix vulnerabilities that allowed hackers to jailbreak iOS 4.3.1, or the iPad 2 just days after it was released. One managed to get Cydia running on the device and another exploited a flaw in Apple's Safari mobile Web browser that may have been fixed without comment from Apple.
Click to continue reading Apple set to release iOS 4.3.2 in two weeks?
Facebook ‘Open Compute Project’ aims to change the server industry
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Features, Social Networks,
Facebook began showing off its plans for a new data center and server design on Thursday. It will be called the "Open Compute Project," executives said.
Facebook is making the design documents and specifications public at OpenCompute.org. The company claims that the design of the new servers is 38 percent more power efficient than its older designs, and costs 24 percent less to make.
Graham Weston, the chairman of Rackspace, said that his company would use the new Open Compute servers in its own designs, and Zynga's chief technical officer said that his company would take a serious look at adding the new technology to its own cloud.
Industry executives said that the new server designs will have a positive impact not just on the IT industry, but also with emerging countries that may not have the R&D resources to design their own power-efficient servers and data centers. Instead, they said, they can leverage the collective expertise. With the cost savings that the new server designs enable, those savings can be passed along to service companies that use web hosting to drive their businesses.
"This is how Facebook kicks Google's ass," said Robert Scoble, a blogger for Rackspace, one of the companies that will use the technology. The new data center does not use a "chiller," he said. Instead, it puts fine particles of water in the air and cools the server through evaporative cooling.
Click to continue reading Facebook ‘Open Compute Project’ aims to change the server industry
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