Decoding the Expiration Date Wording

"Although this next bit of info isn't technically frugal, it may save you some money by wasting less.

The actual term 'Expiration Date' refers to the last date a food should be eaten or used. Last means last -- proceed at your own risk

'Sell by' date: This tells the store how long to display the product for sale. You should buy the product before the date expires. This is basically a guide for the retailer, so the store knows when to pull the item. This is not mandatory, so reach in back and get the freshest. The 'sell by' date is the last day the item is at its highest level of quality, but it will still be edible for some time after.

'Born on' date: This is the date of manufacture that has been resurrected recently to date beer and soda pop. These drinks can go bad after three months.

'Guaranteed fresh' date: This usually refers to bakery items. They will still be edible after the date, but will not be at peak freshness.

'Use by' date: This is the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality. The manufacturer of the product has determined this date.

'Pack' date: You will find this one on canned or packaged goods, as a rule, but it's tricky. In fact, it may be in code. You may find it best to call the manufacturer for how good it is.

Work At Home Places and Warnings

Today while I was at work, a woman came into to send 6 thousands dollars to a man in Nigeria for real estate she was going to buy. It seemed like a scam to me considering all the scams that come from Nigeria, but she seemed determined to invest her money in this property, site unseen anyway.

The sayings that are out there, like: 'If it seems to be to good to be true, if probably is' or 'Buyer beware' come to mind when I think of buying real estate site unseen or getting jobs that are sent via email.

The BBB.org has some good words of wisdom when it comes to specifically looking for jobs - some good info at the site.

# Employer e-mails are rife with grammatical and spelling errors -

Job postings with grammatical errors seem like a give away to me as spellchecker is a common tool online now.

# E-mails purporting to be from job posting Web sites claiming there’s a problem with a job hunter’s account-

Fraud websites phish for your information to gather data on you or even install malicious spyware on your computer.

# An employer asks for extensive personal information such as social security or bank account numbers -

This is a huge red flag to me, I would much rather give this information in person and only if I am sure the job is a guarantee; like setting up my w-2 forms

# An employer offers the opportunity to become rich without leaving home-

Even though there is the occasional good job out there can be worked from home, this to me falls under the 'too good to be true' idea.

# An employer asks for money upfront -

Via bbb.org: 'Aside from paying for a uniform, it is rarely advisable for an applicant to pay upfront fees or make a required purchase to get a job.'

# The salary and benefits offered seem too-good-to-be-true -

# The job requires the employee to wire money through Western Union or MoneyGram-

I think the final two items are the biggest red lights to me, if the job offer makes me scowl and say 'Hmmmm?' I am on guard.

However, there are some good jobs out there and Clark Howard and CNN both put together a few, with some overlapping.

CNN - Companies that will hire you to work at home. They list Alpine Access, Convergys, Extended Presence, Internet Girl Friday, LiveOps, Spheris, Staffcentrix, West At Home, Voicelog and VIPDesk

Clark Howard - Work from Home options are: alpineaccess, arise.com, convergysworkathome.com, elance.com, intellicare.com, liveops.com and msvas.com. There are others as well.

But I want to let you know that some of these jobs fall in the BBB.org's idea of a red flag in that they ask for money upfront and for background checks so I would do much more research on those websites if you are interested.

Will eBay reveal street artist Banksy’s secret identity?

Secret identities are pretty valuable. Street-artist Banksy knows that pretty well, having never revealed his (or her) own.

But not all things can stay secret in the age of the internet. An intrepid seller on eBay is offering the identity of the anonymous artist for a cool $1 million.

Banksy is the pseudonym for a British street artist known for painting traditionally satirical and black humor paintings on the walls of buildings across the world. The artwork relies on a stencil-like style and has become a bit of a cult phenomenon, even spurring the creators of the Simpsons to commission an opening couch gag from the eccentric artist.

But Banksy’s identity has never been revealed. Even when creating the couch gag episode, the Simpsons creators went through a series of representatives for the artist and never had direct contact with him (or her). That’s actually been part of the appeal of the enigmatic artist — that, and Banksy’s contempt for auctioneers that try to sell his art for profit.

The eBay seller, Jaybuysthings, claims he has confirmed Banksy’s identity by matching the price he sold his artwork for with some tax records. That’s a pretty crafty way to go about doing it, although the seller didn’t give any additional details about how he came by the tax information.

Regardless of the validity of the claim, it’s already attracted 38 bids and the price has gone all the way up to a cool $999,999.00. The auction started just last week and ends on Wednesday. The winner will receive a piece of paper that will have the name of Banksy on it — because eBay originally wouldn’t let Jaybuysthings sell something that wasn’t a physical object.

The seller has a 100 percent positive feedback rating, but then again, he only has 9 reviews in the past 12 months. Mad props to Jaybuysthings if the sale actually goes through without a hitch — that’s quite a way to generate a cool $1 million for some extra work.

To the rest of the Internet (especially those bidding on the identity) — seriously? The identity of Banksy is probably worth that much, but eBay doesn’t seem like the most productive way to go about discovering it.

At least Jaybuysthings is offering free shipping.

[Photo: Leeks]

Tags: internet detective, secret identity, street art

People: Banksy

Preview: Test Drive Unlimited 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is due in about a month. I’ve had my hands on some beta code for a couple of days, exploring the racing-meets-affluence world of high-fliers. So if you’d be so polite as to click on, you can hear my early-day thoughts on the matter.

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Met to release new NoW hacking files

Met to release new NoW hacking files: "

• Police to release previously undisclosed records
• Details may put pressure on Andy Coulson

The scandal threatening to engulf the News of the World will intensify this week when the Metropolitan police hands over previously undisclosed documents relating to the hacking of celebrities' mobile phones while the paper was edited by Andy Coulson, David Cameron's communications director.

The documents are expected to trigger fresh allegations that phone hacking at the paper was extensive and not the work of 'one rogue reporter' as it has maintained. The fear for News International, the parent company of the News of the World, owned by Rupert Murdoch, is that the documents may contain the names of commissioning journalists.

Scotland Yard has until Wednesday to comply with a court order obliging it to provide lawyers representing the sports agent Skylet Andrew with material relating to the hacking of his phone which was recovered by police from the offices of Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator in the pay of the newspaper.

Andrew, who represents Ashes hero James Anderson, the former England footballer Sol Campbell and the Stoke City player Jermaine Pennant, is one of the leading sports agents in the UK.

The imminent disclosure comes as the News of the World defends itself against a legal action brought by the actor Sienna Miller. Ian Edmondson, the News of the World assistant editor, has been suspended amid allegations he sanctioned the hacking of Miller's phones. His suspension triggered a request from Scotland Yard for the newspaper to share any new information it had on the scandal.

Disclosure of Andrew's files is viewed by lawyers as of equal significance to the Miller revelations. The documents relate to the original 2006 hacking case involving the interception of royal aides' phones that resulted in the jailing of Mulcaire and the paper's former royal editor and gossip columnist Clive Goodman. During the trial, Mulcaire also pleaded guilty to intercepting the phones of Andrew and four other high-profile figures.

At the time the News of the World denied knowing anything about this additional hacking which, along with Andrew, involved the supermodel Elle Macpherson, the MP Simon Hughes, the publicist Max Clifford, and the former head of the Professional Footballers' Association, Gordon Taylor.

Clifford, however, sued the newspaper, dropping his case only after accepting a reported £1m to settle out of court, a move that meant all the files taken from Mulcaire's office by the Met and disclosed to the publicist's legal team never made it into court. Taylor also settled for a substantial sum, a decision that again meant potentially damaging files never entered the public domain.

But Andrew has pursued a low-profile legal action, and the release of the Met's files relating to his case, which must also be shared with lawyers representing the News of the World, means the newspaper could yet be forced to defend itself in court.

Andrew's legal team will be keen to discover to what extent, if any, the files refer to Goodman, Edmondson, Greg Miskiw, the paper's former assistant editor, and its chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, who all face allegations they knew phone hacking was taking place. Rupert Murdoch, when questioned about the affair last year, said: 'There was one incident more than five years ago ... the person who bought the bugged conversation was immediately fired. If anything was to come to light, and we have challenged those people who have made allegations to provide evidence ... we would take immediate action.'

Coulson, who resigned as editor of the News of the World after Goodman and Mulcaire were sentenced, has denied knowing hacking was taking place on his watch. David Cameron has staunchly defended his director of communications. But investigations by the Guardian suggested phone hacking was widespread on the newspaper under Coulson.

News International faces questions about whether it will offer Edmondson a pay-off to leave the paper or whether it will itself take legal action against its senior employee. Further pressure on News International will come this week when a cross-party parliamentary committee again discusses the scandal. The Observer understands that in the past few days several more celebrities whose phones were also allegedly hacked, have signed up with law firms to bring actions against the newspaper.

Today a spokesman for News International said it had no comment. A spokeswoman for the News of the World also declined to speak.

• News of the World phone-hacking scandal
• Newspapers & magazines
• News of the World
• National newspapers
• Newspapers
• Police
• Rupert Murdoch
• Andy Coulson

Jamie Doward

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Nintendo’s 3DS handheld launch plans: 4M units to ship

Nintendo revealed this weekend that its 3DS handheld game player launch is on schedule, and it announced more details about its release plans.

The 3DS will go on sale first in Japan on Feb. 26. It debuts in the U.S. and Europe in March. For the Japanese market, Nintendo is targeting a $300 price and plans to ship around 1.5 million units there by the end of March. Worldwide, the company aims to ship 4 million units. The Kyoto, Japan-based company made the announcement at its Nintendo World conference in Japan.

The 3DS is Nintendo’s attempt to revive the handheld game industry, which has been pummeled by sales of Apple’s iPod Touch and iPhone devices, which feature good-quality games that are either free or sell for as little as 99 cents. Against this good-enough competition from smartphones and other general-purpose mobile entertainment devices, games-focused handheld makers like Nintendo have struggled.

The 3DS features stereoscopic 3D viewing without the need to wear special glasses and so represents one of the great hopes that consumers will embrace 3D viewing of both movies and games.

Ten games will be available at the launch in Japan. They include Nintendogs + Cats (three versions), Konami’s Winning Eleven 3DSoccer, Capcom’s Super Street Fighter IV, Tecmo Koei’s Samurai Warriors: Chronicle, Square Enix’s Tobidasu! Puzzle Bobble, Namco Bandai’s Ridge Racer 3D, Ubisoft’s Combat of Giants, and Level-5’s Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle.

Nintendo said the portable device will have a battery life of 3.5 – 5 hours when playing games, depending on factors such as screen brightness and use of wireless. While playing DS or DSi games, the handheld will have a battery life of 5 to 8 hours. That’s pretty similar to the battery life for a DSi handheld. It will launch in Japan in two colors: Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black.

The device will come with a charging dock, an AC adapter, an extendable stylus, augmented-reality cards, and a 2 gigabyte SD memory card. Nintendo said it would launch its own first-party games. Steel Diver, Pilotwings Resort, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D are set for the spring. Starfox 64 3D and Kid Icarus are coming in the summer; and Mario Kart 3DS, Animal Crossing 3DS, and Paper Mario 3DS will come after that. Nintendo is expected to announce its launch date for the 3DS on Jan. 19.

Nintendo recently warned that children six years and younger shouldn’t play the handheld in 3D mode because of potential health risks.

[pictured: Satoru Iwata, chief executive of Nintendo, announcing the 3DS last June]

Tags: 3DS

Companies: Apple, nintendo

People: Satoru Iwata

Bloody Hell

It feels lovely, getting to say stuff like “Recettear has sold 100,000 copies” and “Amnesia has sold 200,000 copies.” Those figures mean that small groups of people’s lives have changed, improved, had nice sofas and bigger TVs added to them. Truly, it warms the cockles of EARTH_MAMMAL_HUMAN_ORGAN_HEART.

Then Blizzard announce that they’ve sold 4.7 million copies of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and you just think “God, that’s a lot of goblins.”

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