Oreck XL Professional Air Purifier $99.99

Alas, Pure Oreck
(cough, cough) Oh, hey, uh, come on in. Did we have a meeting today? Oh, right, right, I was preparing a brief for…uh…(cough) I’m sorry, refresh my memory again?

Of course, yeah, your custody case. Well, I was researching some (cough, cough) precedents over at the university law library, and they, (cough) they, uh, have the most incredible little coffee stand outside that library there. I don’t know what it is, but (cough) I took one sip, and I was like “Oh, my God, this is the most awe-inspiring experience of my (cough) life.” It tasted like fine wine or something. I was all, man, did I go into the wrong field when I became a lawyer! Think of (cough, cough) how amazing it would be to make that coffee every morn-

OK, you’re right, sorry. (cough, cough) Back to the case. Of course, custody cases (cough) can be (cough) unpredictable, but I think we’ve got a strong case if we cross all our i’s and dot all our t’s. Now, where did I (cough) put that file? Is that it? No. Man, I’m always (cough) doing this. Hey, let me ask you something: do you (cough, cough) smell anything in here? No?

Awesome. See, I, I, uh (cough), sometimes I get these, uh, strong smells in the office, so, uh, (cough) I had to get this Oreck XL Signature Series (cough) Professional Air Purifier. You can’t even hear it, either, can you? (cough, cough) Right on. It’s totally quiet, exceeds (cough) HEPA standards – man, that’s a weird word, “HEPA”, isn’t it? Say it a couple times. HEPA. HEPA. Whoa. (cough, cough) And yeah, you never need to (cough) change the, uh, what do you call it, the filter (cough) . Good for me, because I’m always (cough, cough) forgetting to do stuff like that.

So yeah, uh, (cough) here’s your file. Now, let’s see… (cough) Oh, man, is that clock right? Seriously? Aw, dammit. Listen, I’m sorry, but (cough) I was supposed to be in court, like, (cough, cough) twenty minutes ago, so I gotta ramble. But I think we (cough) made some progress here on your probate case (cough) – or, right, yeah, your custody case, so I’ll call you sometime (cough) or whatever, and uh, hey, could you hand me that (cough) Visine?

Warranty: One year Oreck


Features:

Traps up to 95% of particles as minute as 0.1 microns.
Removes air pollutants like dust, lint, pollen, pet dander, smoke, and dust mites.
Uses the same clean-air technology that U.S. submarines use.
Silence Technology® for quietest operation
Captures and destroys bacteria, viruses, molds and fungi
Permanent filter never needs replacing
Powerful fan cleans 30’ x 30’ room every hour
Air Revitalizer helps to freshen stale air
Compact design: Use on tabletop or mount on wall (wall mount optional)
Status indicator: Turns red when it’s time to clean the filter
Optional Charcoal Odor Absorber removes stubborn, troublesome odors
Optional Fragrance Cartridges for aromatherapy
Available in Black, White, and Walnut Burl.
Dimensions: 16" x 10" x 5" (approximate)



5-Stage Purification Process:

Pre-Filter: Fan draws in dirty air and air filter traps large particles such as hair, lint, etc.
Positive Charging Wires: Electricity is used to positively charge small particles such as dust, smoke and pollen.
Collector: A series of alternately charged collection plates attract and lock in dirt particles like a powerful magnet.
Charcoal Odor Absorbers: Activated charcoal absorbs common household odors. (replace periodically).
Air Revitalizer: Emits negative ions to freshen stale air.
Clean, pure air is then returned back into the room.

www.woot.com

$5 Bill to Have Splashes of Purple, Gray

In this image provided by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the front of the new five dollar bill is seen. Honest Abe is becoming colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray. The government unveiled the newly designed bill Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007, in Washington. (AP Photo/Bureau of Engraving and Printing)

Honest Abe will become Colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray livening up the $5 bill.

The government showed off the new bill Thursday in an Internet news conference — a high-tech unveiling that officials say is entirely appropriate for a 21st century redesign of the bill featuring the Civil War president, Abraham Lincoln.

The changes are similar to those already made, starting in 2003, to the $10, $20 and $50 bills. In those redesigns, pastel colors were added as part of an effort to stay ahead of counterfeiters and their ever-more-sophisticated copying machines.

Originally, the five wasn't going to be redesigned. But that decision was reversed once counterfeiters began bleaching $5 notes and printing fake $100 bills with the bleached paper to take advantage of the fact that some of the security features were in the same locations on both notes.

To thwart this particular scam, the government is changing the $5 watermark from one of Lincoln to two separate watermarks featuring the numeral 5. The $100 bill has a watermark with the image of Benjamin Franklin.

The security thread embedded in the $5 bill also has been moved to a different location than the one embedded in the $100 bill.

"We wanted this redesigned bill to scream, 'I am a five. I am a five,'" Larry Felix, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We wanted to eliminate any similarity or confusion on the part of the public between the $5 bill and the $100 bill."

Circulation is planned for the spring so operators of millions of vending machines have plenty of time to make the changes necessary so their devices will accept the new $5 — a denomination used heavily in the machines.

The bureau will start printing the new notes next week at its facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The goal is to have 1.5 billion $5 bills ready to be put into circulation, at a date still to be determined.

The new $5 design also incorporates a number of other state-of-the-art security features.

Perhaps the most striking change is a new large-size 5 printed in the lower right-hand corner of the backside of the bill in high-contrast purple ink. That feature was added to help the visually impaired.

Lincoln remains on the front of the bill and the Lincoln Memorial is still on the back, but both images have been enhanced and the oval borders around them have been removed. In place of a border around Lincoln's portrait, the new bill will feature an arc of purple stars. Small yellow "05" numerals will be printed on both the front and the back.

The center of the bill features light purple which blends into gray near the edges.

Officials hope all the changes will make it harder for counterfeiters to pass fake bills. In the United States last year, there were 3,945 arrests related to counterfeit bills, equaling a loss of $62 million, according to the Secret Service.

The next bill to get a makeover will be the $100. It will feature the most advanced safeguard yet, a new security thread composed of 650,000 tiny lenses that will magnify micro-printing on the bills to give the effect of having the images move in the opposite direction than the bill is being moved.

The government is only about one-third of the way through the redesign of the $100 and hopes to have that process completed by this time next year. Extra effort is going into the $100 makeover since this bill represents more than 70 percent of the $776 billion of currency in circulation, two-thirds of which is held overseas.

Pocket TV gives some lip of its own

As if incessant infomercials and volume-blasting deodorant ads aren't enough, now there's a handheld TV from Japan that will talk to us all on its own. An unholy alliance of toy giant Takara Tomy and a company called E-Revolutiona has produced a pocket TV dubbed "Segnity" that has some mysterious "talking abilities" along with its 2.7-inch QVGA screen and 1Seg TV tuner.

Akihabara News speculates that it will say something like "Are you leaving already?" when it's being turned off, but that could be only the beginning. If U.S. companies ever get into this act, you can surely expect more commercials or other irritating messages. And if you find yourself engaging in conversations with it, we suggest counseling.

Sandisk Sansa e270 6GB Media Player $79.99

Crank Dat Personal Media Player

Unh, unh
Here we go y’all
This is what the streets sound like
Laying it down in oh-seven
That’s right – drop!

You got a question, yo I got the answer
Ask me “who’s the boss?” yo it ain’t Tony Danza
Growing on you, incurable like cancer
The Sandisk e270 Sansa
Drop the crunk or the hyphy or the nerdcore or the grime
Ask Billy Dee – works every time
Six gigs, yo, fifteen hundred cuts
You’ll like it more than Mix-A-Lot likes big butts
And I cannot lie – I was straight-up hooked
On the Sandisk Sansa when I got a look
At that one-point-eight inch TFT
And the expandable flash memory
Got me begging for another hit like a junkie
Shaking that cup like an organ grinder’s monkey
You party like a pod star, keep it wanksta
‘Cause it feels so empty without my Sansa

Unh, unh, yeah
I ain’t tired of using technology, nuh-uh
MP3 history in the making, y’all
What you know about that?
And I’m out

Warranty: 90 days
Features

Sleek, thin design with large 1.8” TFT color screen for easy viewing
Strong alloy metal casing provides excellent durability and scratch resistance
Simple to use, backlit controls for fast device interface navigation
User replaceable and rechargeable Lithium Ion battery for up to 20 hours of battery life (Battery Life Based on Continuous, Standard Playback, 128 Kb MP3 file)
Features microSD™ expansion slot for additional memory capacity
Supports SanDisk TrustedFlash and Gruvi content cards
Digital FM tuner*, on-the-fly FM recording*, and voice recording
No FM-tuner (and no FM-recording) is available in Europe
Supports Subscription Music Stores


Minimum System Requirements

Windows XP
Windows Media Player 10+
Intel Pentium class PC or higher
CD-ROM drive
USB 2.0 port required for hi-speed transfer


Package Contents

Sansa e200 Series Player
Stereo headphones
Lithium Ion rechargeable battery
USB cable
Quick Start Guide, CD with User Guide

Clooney Presents Weintraub With Award

George Clooney praised producer Jerry Weintraub as a good friend, then presented the maker of "Ocean's Eleven" and its sequels with the Lifetime Achievement Award at a Boston Film Festival tribute dinner.

"He is more than the consummate producer, he is one of the greatest friends you could ever have," Clooney, who starred in the film franchise, said Saturday while presenting the award at the Intercontinental Hotel.

The 23rd Boston Film Festival opened Friday with John Cusack's film, "Grace is Gone." Previous festivals honored William H. Macy, Susan Sarandon and Jeff Bridges.

Weintraub, 69, said he was happy Clooney was on hand to present the award.

"I'm starting the second half of my life, so it is nice to get it now," Weintraub said.

The Boston Film Festival runs through Sept. 21.

(George Clooney, left, poses with filmmaker Jerry Weintraub, right, before a Boston Film Festival event where Clooney would present Weintraub with a lifetime achievement award, Saturday, Sept. 15, 2007 in Boston.)

Apple Posts iPhone Credit Instructions

Apple Inc. has begun allowing people who bought iPhones before the higher-end model's price was abruptly slashed to apply for a $100 store credit.

The company said the credit would be available for people who bought either the $599 8-gigabyte, iPhone or the $499, 4-gigabyte model before Aug. 22. People who bought the phones more recently are eligible for refunds.

Those early buyers must fill out a form on Apple's Web site to have the retail or online store credit delivered to them electronically.

The credit can be redeemed only inside the United States, and cannot be used inside the iTunes store or for Apple store gift cards, according to terms listed on the company's Web site.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs announced the credits a day after irking early iPhone buyers Sept. 5, when he cut the price of the expensive model by $200 and said the cheaper device would be discontinued. The price cut came less than 10 weeks after the hybrid cell phone-iPod's highly anticipated June 29 launch.

The credit claim form on Apple's Web site requires users to enter the phone number and serial number of their iPhones. They then get a text message with an access code that's needed to generate the store credit in the form of a credit number and PIN. The deadline to submit a claim for the $100 is Nov. 30.

The deadline for people who purchased iPhones between Aug. 22 and Sept. 4 to submit refund claims is Sept. 19.

Apple shares dropped 5 percent the day Jobs announced the price cut, which the company said would boost holiday sales. The stock regained some of the ground lost on Monday, when Apple announced it had sold its one-millionth iPhone.

Apple's stock rose $1.02 to $138.22 in midday trading Friday.

GM-UAW Bargainers Resume Labor Talks

DETROIT — Contract negotiations resumed Sunday between General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers following widespread reports of progress over the weekend but with several tough issues remaining.

Bargainers returned to the table about 11 a.m., GM spokeswoman Katie McBride said.

Local union leaders said the UAW continued to work hour-by-hour under the terms of a national contract that expired at midnight Friday.

Many local union halls across the nation had mobilized for GM's 73,000 U.S. auto workers to go on strike, but those preparations were put on hold as it appeared that progress was being made in Detroit. Local 276 at a GM sport utility vehicle plant in Arlington, Texas, told workers on its Web site to report to work as scheduled.

"The instructions for all employees at the General Motors Assembly Plant in Arlington, Texas, remain the same: You are instructed to report to work at your normal time on Monday," a notice on the Web site said.

Workers again gathered at the union hall near the Spring Hill, Tenn., assembly plant awaiting word from Detroit. Local 1853 President Mike O'Rourke said he also was told by bargainers in Detroit that progress was being made.

"We're just hanging out," O'Rourke said Sunday morning.

Only two GM plants in Flint and Lansing were scheduled to operate Sunday, and McBride said to her knowledge the plants were running as scheduled.

Negotiations ended about 9 p.m. Saturday without an agreement after a daylong bargaining session.

Some union subcommittees — which handle issues such as pensions, benefits and job security — have wrapped up talks, but negotiators were still dealing with some key issues, according to a person who was briefed on the negotiations.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private, said GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger were involved in the discussions.

Several local union officials who have been in touch with bargainers said the main outstanding issue was retiree health care expenses. GM wants the union to take over responsibility for retiree health care costs using a company-funded trust, and the union was asking for job guarantees in exchange for taking on the costs.

The local officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the talks.

This year's contract talks are considered crucial to the survival of GM and its U.S.-based counterparts, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. Ford and Chrysler were also in talks over the weekend, but they extended their contracts with the UAW indefinitely Thursday after the UAW named GM the lead company in the negotiations. Once the union wraps up talks with GM, it will try to implement similar agreements at Ford and Chrysler.

All three companies want to cut or eliminate what they say is about a $25-per-hour labor cost gap with their Japanese competitors. The gap, the companies say, is one reason why the Detroit Three collectively lost about $15 billion last year, forcing them to restructure by shedding workers and closing factories.

The UAW is also fighting for its survival. The union represented 302,500 active workers during the last contract talks in 2003. This year, that number fell to 180,681.