Saab's Not Dead Yet
Autonews is reporting that, even though GM's deadline for acceptable bids for Saab has passed, Spyker has submitted an 11 point proposal for aquisition of Saab.
Eleven points! With eleven points, it has to be good. After all, anyone who has seen Spinal Tap knows eleven is better than ten.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
79.9% Credit Card - What a Deal
First Premier is up to New Tricks
First Premier Bank is famous for its high fee credit cards that are available to anyone, no matter how bad your credit. How do they do it. They charge as much as $259 in an annual fee for a credit card with a balance of $250 to $300.00. It's not uncommon for someone to call us and complain that they are being charged an over limit fee before they've even charged anything. The new credit card bill was supposed to outlaw such practices by capping account fees to 25% of the credit line. According to this article in USA Today, apparently First Premier has found a way around the new law. They'll be charging 79.9% interest to go along with a $75.00 first year fee on a credit card with a maximum credit line of $300.00. The reason for the change: under the new law, annual fees are capped, but interest rates aren't. For more on First Premiere, check out the ripoffreport link here.
The clip is from a great documentary on the credit card industry called Maxed Out.
First Premier is up to New Tricks
First Premier Bank is famous for its high fee credit cards that are available to anyone, no matter how bad your credit. How do they do it. They charge as much as $259 in an annual fee for a credit card with a balance of $250 to $300.00. It's not uncommon for someone to call us and complain that they are being charged an over limit fee before they've even charged anything. The new credit card bill was supposed to outlaw such practices by capping account fees to 25% of the credit line. According to this article in USA Today, apparently First Premier has found a way around the new law. They'll be charging 79.9% interest to go along with a $75.00 first year fee on a credit card with a maximum credit line of $300.00. The reason for the change: under the new law, annual fees are capped, but interest rates aren't. For more on First Premiere, check out the ripoffreport link here.
The clip is from a great documentary on the credit card industry called Maxed Out.
BREAKING NEWS - SAAB TO TAKE A DIRT NAP
Sale to Spyker falls through
Although this should come as a surprise to nobody, it was officially announced today that General Motors' sale of Saab to the Spyker company was not going to consumate. The company will immediately begin winding down operations. At least to start, there will be no bankruptcy involved. Autonews.com has some interesting statistics on Saab that tell the story.
Saab's U.S. sales fell 61 percent in the United States through November, to 7,812 units, meaning this year will be the lowest total under 20 years of GM ownership.
GM's peak for Saab was 47,914 in 2003. The company's U.S. high was 48,181 in 1986.
Nationally, Saab had 2,100 vehicles in U.S. inventory as of Dec. 1 -- a 130-day supply. The brand sold just 371 units in November.
The article said that Saab had about 3000 employees. At current sales levels, that's more than 1 employee for every two Saab cars sold. If you figure dealership employees, the ratio is probably greater than 1:1. It's no wonder nobody came through with a package to buy Saab. I always kind of liked Saabs, but never well enough to actually buy one. Apparently I was in good company.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
NewsFlash: Arcade Claw Games are Rigged
We've always known that claw games were rigged, but we couldn't prove it. Asylum.com that explains just how the games are rigged. They came up with a pdf of a manual for the ACC-1 Arcade Crane Controller. According to the manual, you can set the machine to a winning/losing percentage. In a "winner" round, the pinchers of the crane grasp with maximum force locking in anything it grabs, and the machine can be set so that in a "winner" round, if no prize is dropped in the slot, the player can keep playing until the prize drops. In a predestined "loser" round, the pinchers are set to grab but bleed off pressure until there is just enough pressure to close the jaws without a load. In other words, there's no skill involved. Winning is either a matter of luck or a pure impossibility depending upon how the game is set.
Here's a youtube.com video of a claw game that picks up live lobsters - maybe, sometimes.
We've always known that claw games were rigged, but we couldn't prove it. Asylum.com that explains just how the games are rigged. They came up with a pdf of a manual for the ACC-1 Arcade Crane Controller. According to the manual, you can set the machine to a winning/losing percentage. In a "winner" round, the pinchers of the crane grasp with maximum force locking in anything it grabs, and the machine can be set so that in a "winner" round, if no prize is dropped in the slot, the player can keep playing until the prize drops. In a predestined "loser" round, the pinchers are set to grab but bleed off pressure until there is just enough pressure to close the jaws without a load. In other words, there's no skill involved. Winning is either a matter of luck or a pure impossibility depending upon how the game is set.
Here's a youtube.com video of a claw game that picks up live lobsters - maybe, sometimes.
Look Who's Going to Save Saab - Maybe
This from TTAC.com, a weeka fter SAIC, a Chinese automaker, sealed a deal to buy the tooling for the Saab 9-3 and 9-5 models, Sweedish sportscar maker Stryker is the only bidder to take over Saab as a going concern. As TTAC points out, Stryker Stryker lost more money in the first half of this year than they recorded in revenue for all of 2008. Also according to TTAC, Stryker has extensive ties to the Russian mob. All in all, you know that this story is going to have a happy ending.
This from TTAC.com, a weeka fter SAIC, a Chinese automaker, sealed a deal to buy the tooling for the Saab 9-3 and 9-5 models, Sweedish sportscar maker Stryker is the only bidder to take over Saab as a going concern. As TTAC points out, Stryker Stryker lost more money in the first half of this year than they recorded in revenue for all of 2008. Also according to TTAC, Stryker has extensive ties to the Russian mob. All in all, you know that this story is going to have a happy ending.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Cool Auto Gadget
GARMIN EPS OBD-II Module
Earlier this year, I finally broke down and Garmin GPS for my car. Like my tie, my Garmin 265WT is a clip-on. Wow, I thought, this has a computer, a touchscreen, a GPS sensor, Bluetooth, why doesn't it have any of the cool programs available for the iPhone? Here's something cool that's coming next year.
Garmin's EPS module is a small box that attaches to your car's OBD-II computer in your car's engine bay. You know all that data that they read off your car when you take it into the shop, EPS should be able to convey all that information to your Garmin Nuvi GPS device. The EPS sends the signal to the GPS display unit via wireless Bluetooth signal. In addition to checking and clearing fault codes, you can monitor instantaneous fuel flow and even set up your own customized set of engine gauges. Think of it as a glass cockpit for $200.00. (I'm just guessing the price. No actual prices have been announced.) For those who can't wait until next year, a system with similar capabilities is advertised online by Zeitronics for $749.00. Oh, yes, there are OBD-II reader programs available for the iPhone, but it doesn't look like there's a standard and inexpensive way to get the signal from the automobile's computer to the iPhone. Besides, I don't have an iPhone, and I'm not going to get one soon. I don't a phone it would kill me to lose, and I don't want to be an indentured servant to AT&T for three years.
More info on the Garmin EPS at the Crave.com site is here.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
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