Chad's News

When the US Internal Revenue Service first came out with e-filing, I was annoyed that you had to buy tax preparation software or pay for tax preparation in order to e-file. This is no longer the case. If your adjusted gross income is $54,000 or less, you can use a free e-filing service called Free File. The linked article has a list of services from which to choose—I’ve used the H&R Block TaxCut Free File for two years now, with no problems. Sure beats mailing in those returns. Note, however, that this only applies to federal taxes, and that you may get marketing emails from the service that you choose.

Link: http://www.irs.gov/…

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)

A class action lawsuit has been brought against members of the DeBeers Group for inflating the price of diamonds. You can get part of the settlement if you belong to this group: “All persons located in the United States who purchased any diamond or diamond jewelry or other products containing gem diamonds for personal use and not for resale between January 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006.”

Link: https://diamondsclassaction.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/…

If you purchased a Seagate hard drive in the United States between March 22, 2001 and September 26, 2007, then you are part of a class-action settlement and can get useful stuff or money. Note that you have to have purchased the hard drive by itself—it doesn’t count if it came with a pre-built system.

Link: http://www.harddrive-settlement.com/…
(via engadget)

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)