ONLY No-Catch Free Credit Reports

Review of: Annual Credit Report

By: Myk OLeary

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

There are a bevy of sites that offer free credit reports. Many of them request your report for you from one of the big three (1-Experian { http://www.experian.com/consumer/ }; 2-Equifax { http://www.equifax.com/ }; 3-TransUnion { http://www.transunion.com/ }) reporting services and then subscribe you to a credit monitoring service trial. They will then charge you if you forget to cancel the trial.

EACH of the big three credit reporting agencies allow every US resident to receive a free credit report every 12 months. That means you can effectively get three free reports per year.

Go to AnnualCreditReport.com ( http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ ) to sign up and receive the only TRULY free credit reports. This site is sponsored by the big three reporting agencies and results in nothing but your credit report. Go there and check out their FAQ, it will answer all your questions.

TMO Sidekick 3 is Datalicious

Review of: TMobile Sidekick 3

By: Myk OLeary

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

I got a Sidekick 3 a couple weeks ago and have been using it almost exclusively (I still have $40 and $60 prepaid on two other phones I need to blow through – let me know if you want to buy either for the minutes…

This is pretty much the only reasonable data choice for prepaid minutes. Amp’d does offer a VERY cheap data plan for their prepaid plans, but the form factor there is not as nice, the features aren’t as full, and the voice minutes are more expensive.

SIDEKICK PROS:
1) Delicious data goodness. And, at only $1/day for all I can eat.
2) IM, E-mail, web, SMS, camera, and music player in one device
3) Always on. I have several alert systems setup to get data to me when deals are announced online. Now that I have this phone, they all come to my hip instead of my laptop. I don’t need to be near it when the latest Woot! or Steep and Cheap offer come out. I can order from anywhere. I have made money on deals above and beyond the cost I have paid for service to date. talk about a device that pays for itself!
4) Access to AIM bots. Yeah, they are the bane of desktop existence, but when you’re out and about, being able to track down an address or phone number from YellowPages, or a weather forecast from SmarterChild just plain rocks.
5) The form factor is improved over previous models that I never bought for being too clunky
6) The thumb wheel is device navigation at it’s finest. The 4 “major” keys top out the UI as a masterpiece of mobile user experience.

SIDEKICK CONS:
1) Even with a 1GB mini-SD card I can’t increase the amount of stored information. I’m limited to 6MB mail, 2000 contacts, 50 tasks, etc… I can understand this since the data sits replicated on the Danger servers; however, allow me a storage folder for email at the very least that is no longer synced but just sits on my device’ storage card.
2) Only 3 POP/IMAP accounts past my main TMO one are allowed. I squeaked a 5th one on by using the AOL Mail application now that AOL Mail just went free.
3) No custom mp3 ringtones despite having a player able to play them. My wife’s Sony|Ericcson W600i can do mp3 ringtones…
4) IMAP accounts are not true IMAP, they do NOT sync changes back to the mail server. Why have the option if all they do is act like POP?
5) The OS changed so much, the entire catalog of applications needs to be re-written. That makes the download catalog temporarily weak, but it will improve (and has over the past two weeks…)
6) No real alarm clock. I have to set calendar alarms, which really bites since I sync the data with iCal, since these appointments show up on my laptop… >:|

There are other pros and cons, but these are the ones that float up to the top of my head. There may seem like there are more cons, but they really don’t come near to outweighing the pros. Not even close. I just list them to be fully candid for others who may think they do. Also, they are the reason this device only gets a 4 star rating from me.

Regardless, this is THE data device to get if you’re prepaid, and one of the TOP choices to look at for postpaid service.

The Wonder of Drive In Movie Theaters

Review of: Drive-Ins.com

By: Myk OLeary

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

I remember going to drive in theaters when I was younger. The one specific time I remember to this day is the Jungle Book/Zorro/Jungle Book/Zorro back to back double feature we went to with my parents.

If you want to re-live this miracle of cinematic experiences, go to Drive-Ins.com ( http://www.drive-ins.com/ ) and search through their list of operating theaters.

My wife and I have been to at least a dozen movies with our kids since they were born four and one year(s) ago (two different kids…) We go to the Valley Drive In in Auburn, WA.( http://valleydriveins.com/ ) although for Puget Sound residents there are also ones in Kitsap and Everett. The Auburn one is best at 5 screens strong.

Let me just tell you how much regular theater crying rooms suck. Stuffy, crowded, and only four seats at the main Seattle one. Plus, you get ONE choice. With our drive in, we can see any major release we want and not have to worry about bothering anyone at all. They are THE way for parents to see movies when they have kids and can’t get a babysitter. Netflix only works for so long before you want to be “up to speed” on culture.

Drive-In.com is a great resource for finding drive in theaters near you. They even have a drive in movie reward card accepted at some theaters for gifts, prizes, and discounts.

Costco Photos Are Cheap and VERY High Quality

Review of: Costco

By: Myk OLeary

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

They aren’t online, but if you know someone with a membership, you can get prints for 0.19 cents apiece.

They are of good enough quality to sell (trust me, I’m a digital photographer and have sold the 4×6 prints in custom greeting cards at art fairs)

Service is quick, and you bring the photos in on CD or flash cards. For the more serious photographers, you can even download and use a custom .icc profile file that EACH lab provides.

They usually can get them done within a couple of hours. Go early and you have a better shot of getting them by the time you’re done shopping.

Just remember that here and with any online processor that you’re images WILL be truncated. The aspect ratio of digital camera files is different than the aspect ratio of prints. This means you’ll get bars cut off the top or sides until the two match. If you have an image editing software you should try cropping to the ratio of 4×6.