IT's finally been announced. Yes, IT. The thing that was a secret to the point that it got annoying.

Well, IT's not annoying anymore and I really want one.

I'm not a big fan of Macy's and the only time I go to Bloomingdales is when you have one of those annoying malls that force you to go through a department store maze on the way to the food court. Well, apparently even fewer people are going to Bloomingdales.com, they just shut it down. And they fired some people from Macys.com and are going to make it smaller. Bloomingdales and Macys are owned by the same company. Isn't that like a monopoly on overpriced stuff and stores with snooty salespeople?

In what I think is pretty cool news, people are finally using their debit cards more than their credit cards.

This isn't really news, but it's worth mentioning, for those of you who set your calendars by it... Microsoft announces a re-org. Big shock. I guess that's the only way to keep a big kettle of mud moving, stir it regularly. Yes, I'm a stockholder, but the company is big and tries to be nimble. I have high hopes for the XBox, but I dunno... some of the commercials have been cool, but some have been lame.

So if you're part of the majority of cable modem users, you might just be wondering when your connection is going to go down. Yes, Excite@Home's going down, and with less grace than the Titanic. I have Earthlink DSL. It doesn't work half the time and it's actually Covad, but at least when they went bankrupt, they somehow kept us online.

This is kinda cool... they've invented a jumpstarter for cell phones and PDA's. If you have a dead battery, you just plug this thing in and start it. Oxygen and zinc react and charge your phone in no time flat. Pretty slick. Expensive, but handy when power isn't.

It was hard enough actually selling cars online, and now MSN and Carpoint think there's a market for pre-ordering Volvo's. I priced and spec'd my car online with Carpoint, but I still ordered it from the dealer. And even then it took them a month to build (two or three weeks quicker than promised). And I'm told that most people don't even have the patience that I had to wait.

Where are you going to be February 3rd.? I know it's late in the year, but yes, this is Superbowl Sunday. Apparently lots of big advertisers are passing on Superbowl ads this year in favor of the cheaper Olympic Games ads. Me, I watch the Superbowl. I don't watch the games. And I watch for the commercials.

This isn't exactly new, but I guess it's finally happening... Verified by Visa... you set up a password for online stores, another level of security. Pretty cool. My American Express card lets me set up something even cooler. I tell it a dollar amount, it generates a one-time use credit card number for me. I use that at the site to shop and the site never knows my real credit card number. Because even if Visa has a password, someone could hack the database and use the card somewhere that didn't require a password. Whereas the semi-fake Amex number wouldn't work anywhere.

And lastly, something slightly cool... Turn your cell-phone into a remote control for a soda machine. Almost. Actually, you go to a website and you deposit money into an account. Then when you're out and about, if you're thirsty and find one of these enabled machines, you dial it up and enter a code and out comes the soft drink. Although some other quicker technologies also exist, like the radio wands that Mobil uses for FastPass and other similar devices. But it's a step towards not having to carry cash, and great for kids, not having to carry credit cards, either.

And those bastards at Disney are adding outtakes to Monsters, Inc., which I've already seen twice in the theaters. I guess I'll have to wait for the third or fourth DVD release to get all that bonus stuff.