Jeff Milner

Corry Doctorow over at BoingBoing.net summarizes the important parts of Scoble’s blog post on the ins and outs of iTunes DRM, Microsoft DRM, and whether you should get an iPod. The bottom line is that in order to save music, the consumer should only buy music that isn’t in a lock-in format, and to break the locks on any music you do own, while you can. He gives many examples – and the one most familiar to most of us is probably the VCR. Remember how in the early 80’s the movie studios were trying to get the VCR banned because of the worry of piracy? “With the VCR, though, Sony delivered what its customers wanted, and the movie companies got rich off of it, dragged kicking and screaming to the money-tree again.”

What really goes on in the back rooms of car dealerships across America? What does the car salesman do when he leaves you sitting in a sales office and goes to talk with his boss? What are the tricks salespeople use to increase their profit and how can consumers protect themselves from overpaying? These are the types of questions that undercover journalist Chandler Phillips answers in his informative account of day-to-day experience on the car lots.

Reading this article will broaden your understanding of the dealership sales process and cast a new light on the role of the car salesman. Most importantly it will help you get a better deal — and avoid hidden charges — the next time you go to buy or lease a new or used car.

Favorite quote:

I was an undercover car salesman for Edmunds.com, sent to a dealership, which sent me to a seminar, which sent me to another dealership as an undercover shopping evaluator. I guess that made me a triple agent. Very good lines.

CNN reports that Mike Rowe has agreed to a settlement with industry giant Microsoft. They even threw in an Xbox to seal the deal.