However, if you already have a shiny new HDTV hanging on the wall or simply must have one before the Superbowl, then below are some suggestions for other things you can do with your stimulus package (when it finally arrives):

1. Pay off your debt (Americans carry nearly $10,000 in credit card debt)
2. Put it in savings (Americans save -0.5% of their disposable income)
3. Give it back (annual interest on national debt is over $2,755 per taxpayer ²)

Of course, keep in mind that improving your personal long term financial outlook goes against the government’s plan, which revolves around the so called “multiplier effect.” This is the economic theory “that an initial spending rise can lead to even greater increase in national income.” In other words, by dangling a carrot the government ³ hopes that its citizens will take a bite and continue to mirror its own irresponsible spending habits. No wonder we have such a hard time saying “no” to ourselves.

¹ If I recall correctly, the $200/$400 Technically speaking the $300/$500/$600 tax rebates of 2001 were deducted from any tax refunds that appeared on returns filed in the next year for the 2001 tax year (though they were generated by temporary tax cuts). One would assume that the proposed stimulus package of 2008 will work the same.

² $405 billion divided by an estimated 147 million wage earners.

³ Rather than spending your rebate you could instead donate it to the campaign of the only major party candidate running for president who supports sound long-term economic policies (just don’t tell him where you got the money).

Below you will find my bowl picks in bold. I will highlight the winners and post scores as the games are completed. Click here to see last year’s results.

Results:18 for 28 or a percentage of 64.43%.

One of the criticisms of the Palm Foleo was that it had a price point of $600 ($500 after rebates for early adopters) in a market where $400 to $600 laptop computers are a dime a dozen. Sure, you are giving up on size, but gaining in processing power and storage capacity. “There was nothing innovative [enough] about the Foleo” was another complaint, although similarly sized PC’s have previously sold for more than double or triple the cost. Enter the Asus Eee PC; offspring of the one-laptop per child project; affordably priced at $249.

Have you looked at what they are asking for desktop PC’s lately? Even Macs have come way down in price with the introduction of the Mac Mini. You can now get a home computer with a blazingly fast processor, beau coups of memory and all the bells and whistles for less than $600. However, try to get those same specs in a laptop and you are talking $1,000 minimum, if not more like $1,700 to $2,500 for the wider screened editions (sadly, this is the range I paid for a Win98 Compaq desktop in 1995 and my current WinXP box that I have had since 2003).

There will always be exceptions — mobile professionals running resource intensive applications, hardcore gamers, the space conscious, etc. — but when I travel for both business and pleasure I end up using two, sometimes three, features on my IBM ThinkPad: email, web browsing and the working on the occasional office document (spreadsheet/text). Each one of these tasks can be easily handled by a modestly sized and moderately priced mobile companion. I also believe that there are many people in the marketplace who fall into this same category.

It may seem like a stupid idea to go out and buy a mobile companion that can do less for a slightly lower price than many Windows laptops, but when you factor in the size, simplicity, short boot-up times, savings and (most importantly) intended usage; it makes spending $2200 on an “entertainment laptop” look like buying a dump truck when all you really need is a small pickup to get the job done. In fact, you might even find yourself waiting less and less to use that powerful desktop back at the home or office.

Part II will explore some of the practical considerations of owning a mobile companion relative to smartphones, mobile computing and changing lifestyles.

…the majority of survey respondents said that existing community-based support forums would meet their technical support needs. So while Dell is hammering out the details of which Linux distribution(s) to use and how to support it/them, it seems most users don’t really need vendor help.

I would think that if Linux requesters are savvy enough to rely on their peers for tech support, then they could probably save themselves a few bucks and load any of the popular Linux distros themselves. In other words, it appears to me that Dell is taking square aim at “gnubies” (first time Linux users). Hopefully this a big step forward in terms of making Linux more mainstream.

My Wife: You seem to have a lull in here…the day before Valentine’s.

Manager: Yeah, the wives have already bought for the husbands and the boyfriends for the girlfriends. It won’t be until tomorrow afternoon when the husbands will buy for the wives. Then we’ll be busy.