I'm just surprised that it's a major chain, and it's that blatant. It was a major corporate fuckup when Sears was paying commission to their auto mechanics (resulting in mechanics doing unnecessary work), or when Dominos promised 30 minute delivery or your pizza was free (resulting in managers pressuring their drivers to drive fast, which resulted in accidents). In both those cases, a corporate mistake just created conditions for employees in the local stores to fuck things up. This is worse, as it had to have been approved at a high level. This would be like Ford deciding all their cars would be rustproofed without including that cost in the advertised price, rather than individual dealers pulling this bait-and-switch. Except even then, rustproofing could be considered useful, which this Best Buy service is not.

I helped my MiL buy a netbook there over Thanksgiving and didn't encounter any of that, but I guess there's not much "optimizing" you can do with a netbook anyway.

I'm sorta' amazed that a major retailer engaged in such a scam.

How are you surprised? It's just "rustproofing" for the 21st century.

And? Just like undercoating/rustproofing in the right hands, it can actually work. Unfortunately, 99% of hands? Not right. (Well, technically around 50%, but not IRT the subject)

My dad was a mechanic who did undercoating of new cars, and he basically detailed the underside of the cars, and then got the rustproofing and undercoating into every nook and cranny as possible. Dad told me once back in the 70's he was criticized for using more than the recommended amount of the undercoating, when his coworkers got three cars "done' for the same quantity.

I'd wager that if they haven't been driven to death or in accidents, there are some of my dad's cars out there driven by very old people who bought them new.

In-Ear Headphones Face Off

8 pairs under $450 compete for the rights to your ear canals.

I had a nice pair of in-ear earphones that I picked up at the Apple store for $150. They were great, but the cables were tiny, so a wire broke after a year or so. I bought another pair and they lasted about the same time.

Your headphones last a lot longer than mine, tommyrot.

I've had worse luck with cheaper earphones.

My headphones that I just bought (a big over-the-ear set) has a cable that can be unplugged completely, so that can be replaced when it goes bad.

The Data-Crunching Powerhouse Behind ‘Avatar’

Cable quiz: [link]

Cables, plugs, wires, cords...that connect your TV, audio, computer, iPod to each other and the rest of the world. You use them all the time, but do you know what they're called?

I got 80% - I missed an obvious one, and a new one that I haven't ever used....

I got 90%, I missed S-Video because I thought it had more pins than that. Shoulda gone with my gut on that one.

So, if you were asking your job to buy you a netbook, which would you choose and why? Price IS a consideration.