Hilton Amex upgraded

Amex and Hilton have spiffed up their partnership card, making the Citi Hilton Visa Signature seem even paler in comparison, with its 2 points per dollar.

What you have now
• No annual fee
• 3 HHonors bonus points for every eligible dollar spent
• 5 HHonors bonus points for every eligible dollar spent at Hilton Family hotels
• Complimentary upgrade to Silver VIP status in the HHonors program
• No cap on the number of points earned
What we've added
• 5 HHonors bonus points for every eligible dollar spent in select categories
- Restaurants
- Supermarkets
- Drugstores
- Gas Stations
- U.S. Postal Service
- Wireless phone bills
• 500 HHonors bonus points for booking online
• Gold VIP upgrade for spending more than $20,000 per calendar year

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Lexus Pursuits Visa

The Lexus Pursuits Visa® Card goes above and beyond what other credit cards do by earning you rewards that can be applied toward purchases at Lexus dealerships (excluding Hawaii). For starters, you earn points equal to 5% on purchases made at Lexus dealerships and 1.5% on purchases everywhere else, which can be applied toward Lexus parts, service, and even your next vehicle purchase. You can also choose to opt for the Lexus Pursuits Travel Program and redeem your Lexus Reward points for airline travel.

You can't apply online, but can fill out a form expressing your interest.

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Google Print

Google has a beta version of Print online. It's their version of Amazon's Look Inside the Book.

What is Google Print?
Google's mission is to organize the world's information, but much of that information isn't yet online. Google Print aims to get it there by putting book content where you can find it most easily – right in your Google search results.

How does Google Print work?
Just do a search on the Google Print homepage. When we find a book whose content contains a match for your search terms, we'll link to it in your search results. Click a book title and you'll see the page of the book that has your search terms, along with other information about the book and "Buy this Book" links to online bookstores (you can view the entirety of public domain books or, for books under copyright, just a few pages or in some cases, only the title’s bibliographic data and brief snippets). You can also search for more information within that specific book and find nearby libraries that have it.

Where do these books come from?
The book content in Google Print comes from two sources: publishers and libraries.

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IconLock

A very useful little program. Keeps your desktop configured how you like.

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Ceo Traveler

A travel "newsletter", but it is online and free.

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Jethro Tull remasters

There are some new Jethro Tull remasters out. There's some bonus tracks as well, actually quite a few on Broadsword.

The next batch of digitally remastered Tull classics are released (April 2005 in USA). "Broadsword" now includes eight bonus tracks from the extensive recording sessions for the album. "Under Wraps" contains the full "Lap of Luxury" video which made medium-rotation on MTV. "Crest of a Knave" adds "Part of the Machine," previously only on the 20th Anniversary box set.

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older remasters:

The next batch of remastered Tull classics are released (April 2004 in USA, UK already released). "Bursting Out" now includes the entire original LP track list and "A" even includes a DVD quality copy of the "Slipstream" video, the long out of print VHS. "Stormwatch," Tull's dark, political classic focusing on environmental concerns, marks the end of the group's "folk rock" period of the late 1970's.

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The next batch of remastered Tull classics are in stores and they are among fan favorites. The often controversial "Play," to many fans Tull's best concept album, and two of the best folk rock albums ever produced, "Songs from the Wood," and "Heavy Horses." Here's the scoop with liner notes and included bonus tracks.

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m3uEdit

Nice little program for creating m3u playlists for media files. For example, so you can make a playlist for an album instead of playing each mp3 individually. Works well with windows media player. I prefer this to a resource hog like iTunes.

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Wallypower 118

This is probably the coolest boat around. Made by Wally, a company based in Monaco, that specializes in advanced carbon fiber composites. With a price somewhere between $15 and 30 million, you have to be mighty wealthy to afford one of these. I believe upkeep costs for boats are quite a bit as well, though the carbon fiber body is probably easier to take care of than a wood hull. This company also makes upmarket skis.

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Profit drops at Subaru parent

Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru cars, said Thursday that its annual profit dropped 53 percent because a stronger yen reduced its earnings in the United States and the development of an airplane fell behind schedule.

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Wolverines

New research about the wolverine, already known for its strength and roaming ability, shows that it moves at about 5 miles per hour whether the terrain is rough or easy.

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Volcom IPO

Volcom filed on April 29th to go public under the symbol VLCM.

We are an innovative designer, marketer and distributor of premium quality
young mens and young womens clothing, accessories and related products under the
Volcom brand name. We believe that we have one of the world’s leading brands in
the action sports industry, built upon our history in the boardsports of
skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing. Our position as a premier brand in
these three boardsports differentiates us from many of our competitors within
the broader action sports industry and has enabled us to generate strong growth
in revenues and operating income. We have increased revenues from $36.6 million
in 2000 to $113.2 million in 2004, representing a compound annual growth rate of
32.6%. We have increased operating income from $1.5 million in 2000 to
$24.4 million in 2004.

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