As Life Goes Digital

Borders is having in-store printable coupon that can be used on any Blu-Ray DVDs, 5 books and 7 hit CDs . Here is printable coupon link.

Caribou Cofee is promoting its "wild Collers" coffee through a Facebook application. If you have a Facebook account and you live in US then its worth trying out.

Here are the steps -

> Approve "Wild It Up" application on Facebook.
> Take any of your Facebook photo and add some wild accessories to it from the application
> Print Caribou coupon with your wild photo.

Enjoy the free coffee.

Government national parks all over US will have free admissions on two weekends - July 18 - 19, 2009 & August 15 - 16, 2009. This is a good deal to plan for a trip to those parks that charge admission fees.

Here are some useful links to plan for park visit -

> All Free Weekend Admission parks list
> Other concessioner services in specific parks.
> All national parks list
> Summer Activities Calendar list.

Source : nps.gov/feefreeparks

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• No entrance fee at Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest on Saturday (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Labels: National park, National Parks and Monuments, United States

Last year I wrote an article if its worth buying an HD-DVD player. At that time the High Definition format war ended with Blu-Ray player emerging as winner. After a year the things are still in favor of HD-DVD.

This post from hothardware has stats that "11% of Americans own an HD-DVD player, while just 7% own a Blu-ray player". The price of Blu-Ray is still in $300 plus range where as HD-DVD player in its peak days were around $100 plus. After the format war ended I myself bought Toshiba A3 HD-DVD player for only reason that it is just $53. It filled the gap of up conversion DVD player. I can view all my existing standard DVD at better resolution rates with HD-DVD player.

Besides that DVD prices in HD-DVD format is now available for less than $4. Here are some of the great collection available at fir-sale prices -

Here is the link with all HD-DVD deal -

Some of the best movies at deal prices -

Meet the Parents [HD DVD] - $3.94
Apollo 13 [HD DVD] - $5.94
Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition) [HD DVD] - $4.94
Meet the Fockers [HD DVD] - $3.48
Scent of a Woman [HD DVD] - $3.48
Pride & Prejudice [HD DVD] - $3.81

June 9 2009 US House approved cash-for-clunkers bill. The bill summary is that up to $4 billion in cash vouchers are given to those who buy fuel efficient cars in exchange of their Gas-guzzling cars or trucks.

Note that you don't get this money directly from government but Dealers will get these cash vouchers who can then give $$ off on your trade-in car.

If you own a Gas-guzzling vehicle then check if your auto is qualified or not to get trade-in offer from dealer who can discount up to $4500 on your new car purchase -

> Trade in a car that has been registered and in use for at least a year, and has a federal combined city/highway fuel-economy rating of 18 or fewer miles per gallon.

> Buy a new car, priced at $45,000 or less and rated at least 4 mpg better than the old one (gets a $3,500 voucher). If the new one gets at least 10 mpg better, you get the full $4,500.

CNBC Report is here

The bill would direct dealers to ensure that the older vehicles are crushed or shredded to get the clunkers off the road. It was intended to help replace older vehicles — built in model year 1984 or later — and would not make financial sense for consumers owning an older car with a trade-in value greater than $3,500 or $4,500.

Willow TV bagged the telecast rights for ICC World Twenty20 tournament from ESPN Star Sports (ESS). The ESS has distribution rights of T20 2009 world cup on television, radio, broadband and internet.

Here are few options available for T20 live streaming from Willow.TV

Willow.TV package for $79

To watch Twenty20 2009 live streaming from willow.tv website you will need to have a broadband connection, which can be either a DSL or High-Speed Cable Internet connection. Willow.TV warns that the streaming may not work with slow dial up connections

Package which is available for $79 for all 27 games includes Live Video Streaming, On-Demand Replays, Video Scorecards and Commentary.

Details are available in this link.

ICC Twenty20 World Cup - Live video streaming and On Demand Replays of all matches of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup starting June 5th. Also includes live streaming of Warm Up Games, and replays of all matches of the IPL 2009.



If you have questions of how to purchase the package, The below FAQ from Willow.TV will help.



For UK residents watch T20 for £3.99

Subscribe to Eurosport Player to get live streaming of the channel to a computer for £3.99 a month. Go to Player.Eurosport.co.uk.

Mobile Video streaming

Reliance Communications has tied up with ESPN Star to provide live broadcast of International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup matches being held in June to subscribers' mobile handsets.

This telecast will be available on the R-World value-added services (VAS) platform.

ICC World Twenty20 2009 starts on June 5 2009 and ends at June 21 2009. Here is detailed Twenty20 2009 schedule with match start times , venues and T20 team vs team details -

Date	ICC World T20 2009 match starts in	Match#	Venue
Friday June 05 at 16:30 GMT	England v Netherlands, match starts in - -	1st Match, Group B	London (D/N)
Saturday June 06 at 9:00 GMT	New Zealand v Scotland, match starts in - -	2nd Match, Group D	London
Saturday June 06 at 12:30 GMT	Australia v West Indies,  match starts in - -	3rd Match, Group C	London
Saturday June 06 at 16:30 GMT	India v Bangladesh,  match starts in - -	4th Match, Group A	Nottingham (D/N)
Sunday June 07 at 12:30 GMT	South Africa v Scotland, match starts in - -	5th Match, Group D	London
Sunday June 07 at 16:30 GMT	England v Pakistan, match starts in - -	6th Match, Group B	London (D/N)
Monday June 08 at 12:30 GMT	Bangladesh v Ireland, match starts in - -	7th Match, Group A	Nottingham
Monday June 08 at 16:30 GMT	Australia v Sri Lanka, match starts in - -	8th Match, Group C	Nottingham (D/N)
Tuesday June 09 at 12:30 GMT	Pakistan v Netherlands,  match starts in - -	9th Match, Group B	London
Tuesday June 09 at 16:30 GMT	New Zealand v South Africa, match starts in - -	10th Match, Group D	London (D/N)
Wednesday June 10 at 12:30 GMT	Sri Lanka v West Indies, match starts in --	11th Match, Group C	Nottingham
Wednesday June 10 at 16:30 GMT	India v Ireland, match starts in - -	12th Match, Group A	Nottingham (D/N)
Thursday June 11 at 12:30 GMT	D1 v A2,  match starts in - -	13th Match, Group F	Nottingham
Thursday June 11 at 16:30 GMT	B2 v D2, match starts in - -	14th Match, Group E	Nottingham (D/N)
Friday June 12 at 12:30 GMT	B1 v C2,  match starts in - -	15th Match, Group F	London
Friday June 12 at 16:30 GMT	A1 v C1,  match starts in - -	16th Match, Group E	London (D/N)
Saturday June 13 at 12:30 GMT	C1 v D2,  match starts in - -	17th Match, Group E	London
Saturday June 13 at 16:30 GMT	D1 v B1, match starts in - -	18th Match, Group F	London (D/N)
Sunday June 14 at 12:30 GMT	A2 v C2,  match starts in - -	19th Match, Group F	London
Sunday June 14 at 16:30 GMT	A1 v B2, match starts in - -	20th Match, Group E	London (D/N)
Monday June 15 at 12:30 GMT	B2 v C1, match starts in - -	21st Match, Group E	London
Monday June 15 at 16:30 GMT	B1 v A2,   match starts in - -	22nd Match, Group F	London (D/N)
Tuesday June 16 at 12:30 GMT	D1 v C2, match starts in - -	23rd Match, Group F	Nottingham
Tuesday June 16 at 16:30 GMT	D2 v A1, match starts in - -	24th Match, Group E	Nottingham (D/N)
Thursday June 18 at 16:30 GMT	1st Semi-Final match starts in --	1st Semi-Final	Nottingham
Friday June 19 at 16:30 GMT	2nd Semi-Final match starts in - -	2nd Semi-Final	London (D/N)
Sunday June 21 at 14:00 GMT	Final match starts in - -	Final	London

T20 2009 picked up greater momentum as in last world cup arch rivals India and Pakistan entertained all cricket fans with atense game. For the first time Twenty20 matches will be telecast on high definition (HD).

A total of 216 countries will showcase the ICC World T20. Here are TV Channels and Countries list -

Channel	Countries
ART Prime Sports	Middle East & North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen)
ATN - Schedule here	Canada
BSKYB - SkySports Schedule here	United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland
Caribbean Media Corporation	Caribbean islands
Eurosport	Austria, C.I.S, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, France and Monaco
Direc TV (Willow TV)	USA
BTV terrestrial	Bangladesh
ESPN STAR Sports	India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan.

On April 23, Senators Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin reintroduced the H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud & Abuse Prevention Act of 2009, which puts new restrictions on the widely used H-1B and L-1 visa programs that respectively let skilled foreign workers and foreign employees of American corporations work in the U.S. US Senators Grassley and Durbin have proposed that firms should not be allowed to hire employees under H-1B and L-1 visas if more than half their workforce already holds these visas.. This is affecting big Indian outsourcing firms like Wipro and Infosys.

These companies can no more bring people from india on H1-b or L1 visas and they need to depend on local US hires.

Rediff did a interview with with Wipro's chairman Azim Premzi who reflected on Grassley-Durbin bill in US senate on H1-B visas. His concerns are loud about the proposed bill.

Here are some excerpts from Rediff.

Talent shortage in US will further widen -

In my opinion it's a very drastic initiative that these two senators are trying to get through the senate. It will choke the United States of talent coming in. You will not be able to substitute the absence of this talent with local hires, because it's not easily available.

Protectionism and Global economy -

Also, you'll generate a trade war with countries such as India. It's a freedom-of-trade issue. It's precisely what President Obama said in the G20 meeting: The United States will not get into a spate of protectionism.

Impact on low-cost countries - Philippines, Vietnam, China

Please don't underestimate its impact. Every low-cost country today is putting bets on IT: Philippines, Vietnam, China. They're all there. Eastern Europe is there. Global trade in IT is as vital as global trade in manufacturing. If anything, it's more vital because the economies of all countries are getting more and more the dominance of services, versus manufacturing and agriculture

Here is all other growing list from SD -

Restaurant	Grades	Offer	Restaurant Locator
Chick-Fil-A	A or B	Free 8 pack nuggets	restlocator
Streets of New York	Straight As	FREE 10 inch cheese pizza and a FREE soda	locations
Chuck-E-Cheese	Report Card	Up to 15 tokens maximum per child	locations
KrispyKreme	A	free donut for each A (up to 6 A's)	storelocator
Kiwanis	straight A	A report card with straight A's gets you in FREE!	special_events
PizzaHut	A	Each marking period. any child who has 3 A's or the equivalent thereof will receive one Personal Pan Pizza and a small soft drink or carton of milk by presenting his or her report card to the manager. This offer is good for Elementary and Middle School students. Dine-in only. Student must be present and the original report card must be presented. Available at participating locations	store_locator
Sbarro's Pizza	A or B	Sbarro restaurants across the United States are giving elementary schoolers a delicious reason to get good grades… any student with A’s and B’s on his or her report card automatically becomes one of our PizzAchievers! Sbarro will then provide every PizzAchiever and an accompanying adult with a free slice of cheese or peperoni pizza and a small soda!	locations
McDonalds	straight "A" report card	he/she can receive a FREE Happy Meal	rest_locator

Back in 2007 who thought that a Fox and NBC joint video venture - Hulu will become so popular and ultimately become a "YouTube" Killer. The days are not so far with Hulu adding a long awaited feature to its computer viewers - Hulu desktop.

Hulu desktop is downloadable app that supports both the Windows Media Center remote and the Apple Remote. What does this mean ? If you already have a media center PC at home then watching TV Episodes, Movies from Hulu is now near TV experience with controlling via media center remotes.

Earlier this experience was achieved with Boxee and Hulu to have TV like experience in watching Hulu content. This will be a blow to cable and satellite TV industry if the young users watch TV on their computers from video sites like Hulu.

Hulu became so popular by providing full episodes of South Park, The Colbert Report/Daily Show, Family Guy and numerous movies for free and legally too.

Tech Smith is giving away SnagIt 7.2.5 screen capture/image editing software for free if you fill out a simple registration form.

> Click here for registration form



> Get registration code from your email
> Download and install from this FTP link
> Follow the activation instructions from the email.

Skype 4.1 Beta available for download now has very useful features added. Of them significant additions are Screen Sharing, Importing Contacts and Birthday Reminders.

Screen Sharing

To start sending your screen, use the “Share” button in the IM typing area, or via the “Call” menu

Importing Contacts

Our current offering of 3 address books has been increased to include email and contact providers such as, Gmail and AOL.

Birthday Reminders

Alerts you when one of your contacts has their birthday date stored in their user profile· The alert will appear at midnight (your local time)
· If you do not use Skype that day, then the alert will not be seen

Source : Skype 4.1 release notes