shopping
Recommendation: Roomatlas – a great site for finding hotels
Dec 2nd
Roomatlas (LINK: Roomatlas.com (http://www NULL.roomatlas NULL.com/)) combines Google Maps with the extensive information database of Expedia and adds TripAdvisor reviews in one place. What you get is a simple way to not only to locate hotels but also a simple way to compare hotels in a specific area.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/image NULL.png)
In the example (Below) I just types in New York, and receives a map showing me all the hotels in the area of south Manhattan. The hotels are color coded to show the average rates for each one.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/image1 NULL.png)
Once you select one of the choices you get a bubble (below) telling you information about the hotel (Name, Address, Stars, and a brief explanation). You also get a spot where you can click to see additional hotel details and room availability or TripAdvisor reviews to this hotel. It also includes various filters to allow you to narrow down your search.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/image2 NULL.png)
So far there is no premium fee for using this service, making it worth a try.
And More!: Black Friday 2009 Ads – Finding deals for the 2009 Holiday season.
Nov 9th
With financial situations being as tight as they are this holiday season, it’s important to try and get the most for your money. A recommendation we can give is to visit Black Friday 2009 (http://bfads.net/ (http://bfads NULL.net/)).
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/blkfriodayadsmain NULL.jpg) The Black Friday site shows discounts for a large groups of retailers such as Walmart, Kmart, Sears, Lowe’s among others.
Alert: Walmart 1 Day Sale – November 7th has a couple of GREAT DEALS
Nov 5th
I don’t normally see Walmart ads as a tech feature, but in this case I’ll make an exception. It seems to drive more traffic to Walmart between now and “black Friday”, Walmart has decided to select a couple of items every Saturday for the next few Saturdays for a 1 day only sale (No rain Checks). In this 1st sale on Saturday (In-Store only not online), they have 2 specific items that caught my eye
HP 15.6″ Pavilion G60-519WM Entertainment Laptop PC with Intel Celeron Processor 900 & Windows 7 Home Premium
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/hplaptop298 NULL.jpg)
It includes according to the ad
Presents 1366 x 768 resolution (WXGA)
Provides 2.2GHz speed, an 800MB frontside bus, and 1MB L2 cache
Furnishes enough memory for today’s demanding applications and can be expanded to 4GB
Stores up to 71,000 photos, or up to 62,000 songs, or up to 30 hours of HD video, and more
Plays and creates CDs and DVDs with support for 11 different formats
Connect to a broadband modem (cable or DSL) wirelessly or using the wired 10/100 Ethernet port
Which for a Geek user may not be enough, however, I’m sure most home users will find these spec’s to be more than enough to get full enjoyment out of the laptop. Keep in mind that the price is not after rebates, its the in-store price.
Xbox 360 Arcade Console w/ Bonus* $100 eGift Card (Available for $199 in stores starting 11/7/2009. While supplies last)
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/xboxw100gc NULL.jpg)
It includes according to the ad
Includes a Bonus* $100 eGift Card
*One (1) per customer, limited time offer while supplies last, online only gift card.
The Xbox 360 Arcade Console offers everything you need to begin playing right out of the box. Plug in the console, connect the wireless controller and you’re playing. The Xbox 360 Arcade Family Settings allow parents to restrict game access for younger players. The console comes with a wireless controller and 512MB of memory. There is also an HDMI port, so you can experience your games in the highest definition possible, up to 1080p (HDMI cable sold separately).
- Connect the Xbox 360 Arcade to your broadband connection, attach a storage device (hard drive or memory unit) and get instant access to Xbox LIVE Silver.
- Express your digital identity through your gamertag and gamer card, talk with others using voice chat and access Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
- Xbox 360 Games redefines what games look like, sound like, feel like and play like to engage your like never before.
- Every Xbox 360 title supports a minimum of 720p, and up to 1080p high definition resolution or 480 standard definition resolution, in 16:9 widescreen, with anti-aliasing so you enjoy smooth, movie-like graphics and multi-channel surround sound.
- Vibrant characters display depth of emotion to evoke more dramatic resonses, immersing you in the experience.
- Digital Entertainment: Amplify your music, photos, video and TV; watch progressive-scan DVD movies and share your digital pictures with friends.
- Xbox 360 also instantly streams the digital media stored on your MP3 player, Media Center PC or any Microsoft Windows XP 2005 or Vista -based PC.
The price is the same as usual for the XBOX360, the big thing here is that you get a $100 gift card (It’s an online gift card). If you were planning on getting an XBOX360, I would say Saturday is the day you want. The ad says 8am for both items, but I’m sure you will want to get there early.
“This has been a money saving tip from TGM for the holidays.”
To see the full ad you can go to the Walmart Ad Online (Walmart Advertisement (http://www NULL.walmart NULL.com/catalog/catalog NULL.gsp?cat=648061&povid=cat14503-env172199-module110409-lLinkSP1))
And More: (Soapbox) There isn’t always truth in advertising and Dell customer service/support has “NO CLUE”
Jul 25th
(Notice: This post is entirely based on what just happened to me while attempting to discuss an order I placed Online with Dell, all the information posted is based on my experience)
My son has been wanting an XBox360 for a while now because it has a number of games that are Xbox only games that he wants to play. He has worked very hard in school and at home (doing everything asked of him), to show me that he deserves to get his Xbox. So for his birthday (after seeing how hard he has tried) I started looking around the net to order him an Xbox, and found the best deal from the Dell Website. (I have screenshot of the page from Dell’s site, I also found the discount coupon code 65G7RQ11J?M2LH from the dealnews site ( http://dealnews.com/Xbox-360-Arcade-Console-for-170-free-shipping/309111.html (http://dealnews NULL.com/Xbox-360-Arcade-Console-for-170-free-shipping/309111 NULL.html) ) which brought the price to $169 dollars).
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/xbox360arcadepackage NULL.jpg)
The Dell page for the 360 Arcade bundle seemed to me to be a little lacking in formation, but this is Dell, this isn’t some person I’ve never met on an e-Bay auction, this is Dell one of the biggest players in the computer and technology markets so I didn’t make much of it. Additionally, prior to making my order, I saw the posting on Microsoft’s own 360 website concerning the XBox360 arcade edition ( http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360arcadesystem/ (http://www NULL.xbox NULL.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360arcadesystem/) ) which told me that the 360 arcade bundle came with a 5 game CD (Pac-Man, Uno, etc……). Even though the information was lacking on the website, Dell posted a picture that shows the console, cable, controller, memory card, and arcade CD and its Dell so that what I should get, or so I figured. WRONG!!!!!!!
So there I was and I placed the order online with dell. Received the order and waited for my son’s Birthday which is today. He was so happy when he unwrapped his gift and saw it had gotten his wish. Then we started opening the box and in that’s when the fun began.
In the box was the Xbox console, a wireless controller, the power supply, and the cable to the TV. That it. So where was the memory card and the game (Check out what they show on the Dell picture)
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/xbox360arcadepackagemissing NULL.jpg)
So I called Dell, and that’s where the “fun” part of my story comes in. My calls started at 9:30a (EST) and as of 1:30p (EST), I have now been so frustrated and given up to the point where I will just go to my local store (probably GameStop) and buy a used edition of each. That’s not where my problem is, because if it was just about the $10 or $15 that the 2 missing pieces would cost, I guess this post would have never even occurred. Its about principle and the fact that I called Dell (Using both the 800-999-3355 and the 800-624-9897 numbers) and started with customer support (after a 20 min hold time) who said they couldn’t help me because this was not their issue (using those words) and sent me to customer care who told me that …………….ding ding ding. Wait they could have told me something after I explained what was up but suddenly I was disconnected and all i got was a loud tone. (**I’m not saying I was hung up on but lets see if someone sees a pattern). So I called back (again 15 min waiting) until I got to customer support and they sent me to customer care who then said that the Xbox comes with only what they sent. I explained that what I received isn’t on what is showing on the ding ding ding ding ding…wait again I didn’t get to finish what I was explaining because the same loud tone, and again I’m disconnected). So I called again, this time, I called customer care directly because I was able to find that number (the 3355 one) on-line. This time (30 min wait) I was told that they have no one of knowing what was supposed to be in the package and that I need to speak to the sales department, they transferred me to sales to confirm what’s on the order. Sales gets on the line and starts asking me if i want to start a new order, of which I explained the story to them and they said they could tell me what was in the package and was told that yes a game and memory card comes with the package…..when I then asked to get back to customer ding ding ding ding (lets see is there a pattern here or what……) , again I’m disconnected with the same loud tone as before. So I now call customer care back and get back to the same person as before (at least she gave me her extension) and told her that sales said that yes I should have gotten a game, I am now told that what they need to do is order me a new system, for $199 dollars I may add because they had no way of adding the discount code I used online. Then I would go back to a different department that would then arrange a return of the system I just got and that I would then get a refund from Dell in a few weeks, The refund of course would be for what I paid on the 1st one, which was less than $199 dollars. When I questioned as to why I would have to pay 2x’s (in my opinion at least) and if this was just a game issue why they couldn’t just send me the missing pieces, ding ding ding ding…..I again get that loud tone and I’m disconnected. I was going to ask her if I would actually get that I expected if I bothered to jump thru that many hoops since sales said I should but customer care wasn’t sure, but with it “disconnecting” again, I was never even able to ask.
So with that, my son has been able to enjoy his xbox360, due to the fact that a friend from work was nice enough to let me have some of his 360 games this week (after I told him we were getting the Xbox for my son), so that my son would be able to enjoy a few games while we built his collection. So to Andrew I say thanks, and to Dell I say, (well I can’t say what I really want) NO THANKS!.
And to you, who read my posts, I just have this caution, even if the site your on is as big a Dell, pay very close attention to orders online, you may not always get what you are expecting. A good thing to do is look at the customer rating comment which I didn’t do, as I now see from Dell’s own site that I am not the only one who was expecting something that he didn’t get.
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dellreview NULL.jpg)
(http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dellreview2 NULL.jpg)
(End of the soapbox for now)
(http://www