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Changing planet revealed in atlas

BBC has an article that shows satellite images taken over the past few decades. The images are extremely detailed and help to point out changes in the landscape due to deforestation, urbanisation, and climate change.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Changing planet revealed in atlas

Another performance enhancer in Major League Baseball

Ran across this article while surfing today. A new type of contact lens work like sunglasses. They are being used in sports on a daily basis. Not only do they help to see the ball, they also protect your eyes from sun damage.

FOXSports.com - MLB- Performance-enhancing contact lenses?

Apple to use Intel chips in '06-CNET

This is quite interesting. Why would Apple move to Intel when Intel just got their 64 bit chips out recently. IBM has had their 64 bit chips out for quite sometime. Thoughts?

Apple to use Intel chips in '06-CNET - Yahoo! News

Ford sales decline AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN

Well what do you know? Ford sales were down again. At least this time, they didn't disguise the fact by only pointing out the rising Mustang sales. Look at these stats:

Lincoln sales down 20.2%

Mercury sales down 7.6%

Ford sales down 13.9% (F-Series down 9%, Taurus & Focus down considerably, Mustang up 47%)

Yes, SUV sales were down, but they were up for Nissan who posted an impressive 15+% sales increase over last year.

Ford's Sales Decline

AIM Triton Beta Test, NEW INSTANT MESSENGER

Take a look at the latest offering from AOL. As most of you know, AOL is looking to become more of a portal such as Yahoo! or MSN. With their latest instant messenger offering, you can see this to start to take place.

First of all, I must disclose that I currently prefer using Trillian because of how poorly AIM looks. I have always thought it looks quite childish and needs to update its look. With that being said, the new Triton version of AIM looks much better. It uses tabbed messaging which always comes in handy. It helps to reduce the number of windows open on your taskbar. The other feature that they have added is better contact management for your buddies. The contact info is now accesible within the IM conversation. Lastly, they have added an image window, file transfer window, and VOIP window for easy access.

Although it is in beta, I suggest checking it out. I just wish you could upload your Microsoft Outlook contacts. BTW, what is with the beta thing? Did everyone copy Google?

AIM Triton Beta Test

Hilton Hotel users gain automatic upgrades!

For those of you that are road warriors or just travel a lot, here is a code for Hilton Hotels and their customer loyalty program. By just calling the Hilton Honors customer service line and mentioning "CTCH," they will give you instant access to their preferred Gold membership. The Gold membership privileges include free breakfasts and automatic upgrades to suites if they are available. I have included another link below that lists all of their brands under the Hilton Honors name. They include Doubletree, Hampton, and Conrad! Thank me later and help support thelaggard! Also, please let me know via the comments box if you are looking for more promotions such as these....

Hilton Hotels

Hilton Brands

Your credit card payment just doubled

Interesting article that talks about how the major card companies such as MBNA, Citibank and Bank of America have increased minimum payments from 2% to 4%. I believe the government pushed for this as they have see the average debt levels for households dramatically increase as consumer spend has gone up.

MSN Money - Your credit card payment just doubled

Economic Report: U.S. PPI up a larger-than-expected 0.6% in April

Some of you may have seen my posting concerning the lowest trade deficit in 6 months posting. Just to add to that, I have provided a link to the PPI report from this week. Some economists have said that with the yuan is is undervalued by about 40%. This makes all of China's exports extremely cheap for the major consumers such as the US. What could a revaluing of the yuan do to the US economy? Considering Walmart plays a major role in keeping inflation lower, we could see much higher prices. Energy wouldn't be the only contributing factor.

So what can we do? To counter the potential increase in inflation, you may consider picking up inflation protected securities. I recommend taking a look into Vanguard's VIPSX. Although it has already seen a decent run up in the short term, this could be a great hedge pick for the next couple of years. You can't beat the expected 3 year expense projection of just $58 for a $10,000 investment.

Economic Report: U.S. PPI up a larger-than-expected 0.6% in April