By Colleen Rothe

It’s estimated that nearly 42 percent of American households have the newest version of at least one gaming system – whether it’s PlayStation, Nintendo, or Microsoft’s XBox. That’s not including folks who play games on their PC. Or those who play online in huge community games dubbed Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO’s for short). This includes games like Runescape, Everquest, Guild Wars and the dominant World of Warcraft, which has 11 million players worldwide.

By Linsey B. Knerl

Owners of a certain model of Sony rear projection HD television may be due for a free in-home repair, thanks to a recently settled class action lawsuit. The suit affects only models KDS-R50XBR1 or KDS-R60XBR1, but it grants the owners of this popular television extended rights, replacement options, and possible refunds for repairs. (You'll have to act fast to get full reimbursement, however.)

What is wrong with the TV's to begin with? Allegedly, the televisions (models mentioned above only) contain a defect in the optical block that causes “green blobs, yellow stains, green haze, yellow lines, and other discolorations to be displayed on the screen.” It has also been alleged that Sony’s attempts to fix the alleged defect have resulted in, among other things, a softer and washed out picture, lack of color uniformity, poorer rendition of dark colors, "blotchy" rendition of the color black, problems with "grayscale," and convergence problems.

By Colleen Rothe

The holiday shopping season is upon us, whether you like to shop or not. I’m in the latter category and will do most of my shopping online, as I have for nearly 3 years now. But what to buy – what’s on the list of every good little girl and boy – well, many of us adults are out of the loop on that. Also, we may not be prepared for the price tag of hotness this season.

According to the hot list by MSNBC, there are not a lot of toys out there that do not have an electronic component. None of them are inexpensive.

By Gene Ayres

This coming Friday, the day after Thanksgiving (during which many of us will be hard pressed to remember what to be thankful for, but I will have a short list), is known as “Black Friday.” It is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the Holiday Season if not year, the day when the stores go all out to get us in, and we go on our traditional annual Holiday Spending Spree.

This year may prove to be a bit different.

It is important to remember (because the powers-that-still-be want you to forget) that this isn't you, the consumer's fault. It is we, in fact, who have held up this planetary bubble as long as we could, by being good patriots and following our President's leadership and advice eight years ago in the aftermath of 911 and going shopping like he said to do.

By A. Simpleton

A while back, my wife told me she wanted to start gleaning. Gleaning? Isn’t that when peasants comb harvested crops for any missed produce? I pictured my wife out bent over a muddy crop all day, our child strapped to her back, searching for remains of vegetables to bring home and salvage into a stew. I don’t know of many farms in close proximity to Seattle. Would modern day gleaning in the suburban sprawl be more along the lines of, say, dumpster diving? Not very appetizing. I quickly passed by the thought of my wife partaking in anything as demeaning as gleaning. She persisted, however. And it turns out that gleaning is nothing like I thought and it has been a great tool to allow us to save money each month.

By Linsey B. Knerl

A recent class action lawsuit filed against Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM) looks to compensate customers who allegedly didn’t receive entitled dividends payments. But it doesn’t end there. Accusations of using unethical sales and marketing tactics have the company facing legal trouble in California Courts.

By Gene Ayres

Just when you thought you could finally sleep again comes news that all those nightmares and sleepless nights and tossing and turning and hours of insomnia weren't because of the election or visions of Todd Palin in the Oval Office.

Nope. There may be an actual physiological chemical cause behind your sleep impairment. And it isn't good news for most of us. Remember way back when a couple of geezers fell asleep smoking cigarettes in bed and burned the house down? You'd think they should have known better. Or even, maybe, they might just have been, at least a teeny little bit, at fault. Especially given that they tended to be alcoholics with a tendency towards passing out. But no, not in our litigious society. Instead, an action committee went to work and got some laws passed to protect our chain smoking loved ones from singeing themselves.

By A. Simpleton

Like retailers, I have started looking past Thanksgiving and am already awaiting the big Kahuna of the holiday season. Christmas. It’s quickly approaching and I am desperately trying to prepare my pocketbook for the devastation the holiday holds. If only Santa stuffed stockings with cash.

Last week, I commented on the grossly increased price tags on popular wish list items and ways to accommodate gift giving in large families. I thought that this week I would offer up a few suggestions of where to find and buy gifts that won’t deplete the Christmas bonus. Well, at least not too much.

By Colleen Rothe

Over the next few weeks my family will really go into overdrive with preparations for winter. The last of the firewood will get chopped, the leaves will be raked and mulched for compost, the last of the vegetable garden will be harvested, and the summer patio furniture will get stored away.

But we’ll be adding a few more things to our “Winter’s Coming” to do list. My furnace has only been on 10 days in the new billing cycle for my local energy company, and my bill has already jumped $100 dollars. The home heating cost battle begins! So it’s necessary to save money wherever possible.

By Linsey B. Knerl

Product recalls are all the rage, with many of them becoming downright scary for consumers. But what happens if you stumble across an unsafe product that hasn’t been recalled yet? How do you seek action?

There are several steps you can take in handling the matter. While they can be done in any order, it is recommended that you do the following:

Now that we have a mandate from and for the new administration to find alternative fuels, build a green economy, and free us from the grip of Big Oil, creating a pollution-free car shouldn’t be far off. But too often we have seen great ideas, innovative patents, and alternative products developed, announced, and then somehow banished to oblivion. Detroit is to blame for a lot of this (case in point, the Tucker automobile). If not all of it. So with today's news that U.S. car makers are hurting, there's a definite sang freud to all this. Or as my Chinese friends would say, huo gai. Serves them right. L.A. used to have a good mass transit system of street cars that was bought up by a consortium of General Motors, Firestone Rubber and Sinclair Oil back in the 1930s, and shut down in order to force people to use cars to get around (on tires, using gas, of course). We have seen carburetors that get 100 miles per gallon patented, bought by Detroit, and buried. We have seen electric cars come and go for decades. I watched a cross country race back in 1981 of solar powered cars using no other energy source. Where did those go? And a company called Sun Motors was around for a while in the 90s making solar cars in Florida, which made perfect sense. They too disappeared. Dick Cheney's handiwork?

By A. Simpleton

Ah, the holiday season. Family, friends, and big meals. Songs, lights, and decorations. It is truly the “most wonderful time of the year.” Unfortunately, it is also the most expensive time of the year. With the food prices the way they are, I am starting to think the only way I’ll afford a turkey is if I shoot it myself. But that still doesn’t put the rest of the meal on the table. The more pressing expenses, however, seem to be the ever-growing Christmas lists.

By Colleen Rothe

The Halloween stuff is hardly out of the way and Santa and red and green dot everything the retailers have to offer. Oh! Don’t forget to get your eggnog latte too!

Ugh. Bah humbug! Let them eat cake! Go ahead…grumble. Get it all out of your system. Now it’s time to face the calendar and make a plan.

The Holidays are approaching – whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanza, Christmas or Yule – Americans, whatever their proclivities, are waxing grateful this year on Nov. 27. If you’re like me and tasked with hosting the family feast, there’s some easy tips to making sure you save some money and ease the stress of the holiday, at least in that regard. None of these tips will make Cousin Eddie Johnson, along with his Hamburger-Helper-loving family, decide not to park their motor home outside your house; but these tips might just allow you the energy to deal with wayward relatives because you’re not stressing about the monetary cost of your Thanksgiving Day meal.

By Linsey B. Knerl

Healthcare isn’t cheap, and for those of us who require prescription eyeglasses, contacts, and medications, getting by can be nearly impossible. I won’t tell you that skipping your regular appointment is a good idea. In fact, seeing a qualified physician before trouble starts is the best way to take control of your healthcare costs. But when you leave your appointment, your obligation to pay extra ends.

A regular eye exam, for example, may cost between $50 and $200 dollars. Did you know that you can take your prescription and measurements with you and have anyone fill your glasses or contacts order? Assuming you don’t have special needs for eyewear, you can save big bucks by having contacts ordered from one of several online wholesalers. Savings can range from 10-50% over retail (and more if you stock up). Eyeglasses can also be purchased online for considerable savings. Don’t have your prescription info? Most retailers will get it directly from your doctor and process your order in 2-3 days.

By Gene Ayres

What a surprise. It turns out the most important election in any of our lifetimes (does that sound hyperbolic?) is going to come down to a consumer issue.

Yes, it's all up to us consumers. And here's why: this entire global house of cards that has just collapsed, was based on luring, misleading, hyping, and ultimately betraying us consumers into spending beyond our means, which these days, is approximately zilch.

We were told that housing prices can only go up forever and ever (strangely, unlike, say, wages and incomes). Hence all those great adjustable rates for those nifty 1200 sq ft $500K bungalows.