The Jetsons.

The flying luxury hotel of tomorrow, a cruise ship that sails through the air, not the water.

Are your student loans killing you?

Mine are. I consolidated a few years back with a shady company called ACS--avoid them like the plague. My loan has been sold three times already. Anyway, if you are being screwed like I am, you must know about this loop hole that I have discovered.

Once you consolidate your student loans, you are stuck. Or at least, that used to be the case. But now there is a loop hole that will no longer exist starting in July 2006.

So what is the loop hole?

The loop hole is a two-prong approach that lets you transfer your student loans to the government aka Direct Loans and then to the company of your choice, like Collegiate Funding Services (CFS) or Sallie Mae.

Is it worth it? Hell yeah, it is. Especially if your company is a piece of crap, like mine is. As a result of this magnificent finding, I will save $70,000 and pay off my loans 8 years earlier.

Here's some findings between the top two dogs.

CFS offers you a .25% saving if you sign up for automatic payments and an additional 1% saving after 24 good payments.

Sallie Mae also offers the .25%, but gives the 1% after 36 good payments.

And with both, if you pay more than your minimum, it will go to the principal only.

Remember you must do this soon, it takes 6-8 weeks for the government to process the paperwork. And it goes away indefinitely starting in July.

"Hold Ya Head" B.I.G. featuring Bob Marley

Juicy Fruit is going to move ya

Knight Rider flashback

Quote of the Day

"Technology is always evolving, and companies-not just search companies-can't be afraid to take advantage of change."
Eric Schmidt

Get a free credit report

I talked with Equifax recently and they informed me that I could get a free credit report from all three credit bureaus once a year. So I tried it. And it's true. Annualcreditreport.com lets you view one report at a time and it's relatively easy. Just make sure you print them immediately. If you idle too long or close the window, you can't view the report again. You can also pay $5 and get your FICO score. It's around $15 or so if you buy the FICO score report directly from a credit bureau site.

Anyway, I thought some of you might be interested in checking out your credit history.

Wendy sponsors ESPN's Oddcast chat room

It looks like everyone and their mama is using or has used Oddcast. As I mentioned in a previous email, Oddcast is an artificial intelligence you can do a lot of things with, mainly creating custom avatars (aka characters) to push brands and engage users in a very cool interactive experience.

ESPN has used Oddcast for awhile in their "Voice of the Fan" chat rooms. Here, users pick characters and their features as well as their clothing.

Wendy is the first brand to advertise on ESPN's chat rooms and has built a contest around it. They are offering a lucky winner a trip to ESPN's Effy Awards.

You can learn more about Oddcast at www.oddcast.com