Chad’s News

Astute Chad’s News readers have heard about the US government’s economic stimulus plan. The linked article has the facts. Essentially, the law creates a one-time tax cut for the 2008 tax year (the cut is in the form of a tax credit). The credit will be estimated, based on your 2007 tax return, and will be distributed this May. Then, when you file your 2008 return, you’ll have to determine the actual credit amount. There is also a rebate calculator to determine how much you’ll receive—looks like mine will be $600.

Link: http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/…
(via The Consumerist)

In an update to this post about the analog television coupons, there are some further details that could cause problems. Chief among them is that the coupons have a 90-day expiration, even though most converter boxes are not yet widely available. So the wise move would be to wait, but don’t wait too long, because the total number of available coupons is limited.

Link: http://consumerist.com/…

“At midnight on February 17, 2009, all full-power television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch to 100% digital broadcasting.”

What does this mean for you, the informed Chad’s News reader? First, this won’t affect you if you have cable or satellite TV. The digital TV transition only applies to over-the-air broadcasts (think rabbit ears). Second, most newer televisions can handle digital, so it will only apply to older, analog-only TVs. In order to continue using an older TV after the transition, it will be necessary to have a converter box.

When passing this bill, the US Congress realized there is a specific demographic that has older televisions without cable or satellite: poor people. Not wanting to anger this group, Congress wisely created a coupon program, whereby the US government will pay up to $40 towards the purchase of a converter box. Apparently demand is quite high, as over 1 million households requested coupons in the first 4 days or so.

Should you have questions about the transition or if you want to sign up for the coupons, check out the link below.

Link: https://www.dtv2009.gov/
(via ars technica)

Come 2012, US retailers will no longer be able to sell “normal” incandescent light bulbs. This means that either most people will have to switch to compact fluorescents (CFLs), or manufacturers will have to design incandescents that are more efficient. LED-based light bulbs are also a possibility. For me, first thing I did when I moved in was replace all my light bulbs with CFLs.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/…
(via Engadget)

Chad’s News has no political views. This anti-government cartoon, however, is humorous and thought provoking enough to merit a post. It’s done in the same style as those old Schoolhouse Rock clips.

Link: http://www.piratesandemperors.com/…

GCHQ, the surveillance arm of British intelligence, is trying to recruit computer-savvy employees by putting advertisements in the virtual worlds of video games. Reminds me of this post.

Link: http://ap.google.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

Smokers rejoice! Starting Aug. 4th, you can take cigarette lighters on an airplane. According to the article, 22,000 lighters are currently confiscated each day by airport security officials.

Link: http://consumerist.com/…

A teenager in Washington state was using a MySpace account to send bomb threats to his school. The FBI was able to infect his home computer with spyware that harvested enough information to identify him. Details are not clear about exactly how the FBI managed to get the spyware installed on his computer, but the article covers several ways in which it might have been done.

Link: http://www.computerworld.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

This is the story of a heavily misused Social Security number. I’d read about this in a fiction book, but wasn’t sure if it was actually true or not.

Link: http://www.ssa.gov/…
(via digg)

I’m all for à la carte cable television, where consumers get to choose (and pay for) only those channels they want to receive. I can understand why the cable companies are reluctant to provide this service, but I don’t see why the FCC has been dragging its heels. It really seems like a no-brainer.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

Starting next Monday (2007-05-14), first class postage in the US will increase to 41 cents. In addition, the previously mentioned “forever” stamps are already on sale. These forever stamps are a great deal, but I’m spending my money on the Star Wars stamps.

Link: http://www.usps.com/…
(via Lifehacker)

TurboTax customers who e-filed at the last minute this year ran into some serious problems. The company’s servers were overwhelmed—I heard a report on the radio saying they were getting 50-60 requests per second. Some customers printed out the forms and made a midnight run to the post office, while others missed the deadline. Fortunately the IRS was merciful and gave TurboTax users a 48-hour reprieve.

Link: http://news.com.com/…